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“It’s Being Done.” Academic Success in Unexpected Schools (Chenoweth, 2007) #3 THEY HAVE HIGH EXPECTATIONS FOR THEIR STUDENTS. |
THEY KNOW WHAT THE STAKES ARE.
THEY LIKE KIDS.
“The gains Granger has made can be linked to organizational and instructional changes in the school. But all the changes began with a change in expectations. Esparza expects all students to succeed and believes they can, and he expects his faculty to believe the same thing. Many didn’t when he first arrived.” “ ‘I don’t want missionaries,’ Elder said, ‘I tell my teachers, Don’t worry about whether they get love. That’ll come. Worry about teaching them.” “ ‘It’s a hard process, but it’s achievable,’ said Brittingham, ‘But first you have to believe it’s achievable,’ and ‘Teachers have to believe that they <themselves> are capable of achieving it.’” “All the battles over whether children can learn are now over at Frankford. Almost all conversations at Frankford is about how to make sure they do learn.” “On most of the tests, in most of the grade levels, more than 90 percent of the students me or exceeded state standards even though the ‘cut scores’ had increased for some of the tests – that is, children needed to answer more questions correctly in order to be considered as meeting or exceeding standards.” “ ‘Excused for poor performance are no longer permitted.’ Poor performance is now a signal that instruction needs to improve in some way.” Principal Adderley “Keeping the emphasis on teaching techniques and strategies means the discussion stays on instruction. ‘It’s not about feeling sorry for kids,’ Adderley said, ‘It is about making sure they know what they are expected to do.’” “…the difficulties of the children’s lives outside of school intrude regularly… “The constant refrain she has had to battle in high-minority, high-poverty schools is ‘Our kids are different, and we’re not going to get the same results’ as schools where the children are white and middle class….She has had to battle low expectations on the part of teachers and schools and knows how crippling that can be…. ‘We can’t give up on the children.’” “ ‘Unachievable’ is a word often tossed around in discussions of No Child Left Behind…But while the debate swirls in national policy circles, the principal of East Millsboro Elementary School simply states, ‘It’s achievable. We did it last year.’” “…because of the way time and instruction are organized and the way struggling students are identified and provided help, Brittingham said he does expect to ‘hit the high 90’s’ every year.” “Albano and all the members of his staff are passionate about their mission – to educate all their students and to demonstrate that well-run schools with enthusiastic, knowledgeable teachers are not only possible but necessary in order to give today’s children a chance to succeed and thrive. ‘We can’t give up on a generation of children.’ ” Albano “When the 2006 state report cards were issued, Capitol View posted 100 per-cent proficiency rates in reading, math, science, and social studies. This, in spite of higher standards that began to be phased in this year.” “ ‘A critical mass essentially developed.’ Coletti said. ‘Now teachers do their own policing.’ By that he meant in part that teachers no longer tolerate their colleagues saying negative things about the capacity of their students to learn.” “Dayton’s Bluff is proving that students who do terribly elsewhere can achieve academic success. Not only that: It also demonstrates that a school’s improvement can be both rapid and sustained.” Return to Success Page
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