“There are many schools that are effective in helping students learn, even in very poor communities,” said Sean Reardon, a Stanford sociologist who was part of the team that created the Stanford Education Data Archive. “The TNTP report uses our data to identify some of them and analyze them to understand what makes them work best. That’s exactly what we hoped people would do with the data. “
TNTP identified seven of the 1,345 high-achieving schools that chose to study intensively. Only one of the seven schools has a Black majority, reflecting the fact that Black students are underrepresented in high-performing schools.
Seven schools were separate. Some were big. Some were small. Some were urban schools with large Hispanic students. Most of the others were white, rural schools. They used different teaching materials and did many things differently, but TNTP teased out three things it thinks these schools have in common.
Seven of the 1,345 schools where students started behind but experienced significant learning gains over the decade from 2009 to 2018.
“What we found was not a silver bullet panacea, a perfect curriculum, or a rockstar principal,” the report said. “Instead, these schools share a commitment to excellence in three key areas: creating a culture of belonging, providing a consistent grade-level education, and creating a coherent curriculum.
According to TNTP classroom observations, students received good or strong instruction in nine out of 10 classrooms. “In every classroom, a collection of good—not completely unattainable—classes distinguish schools that make a difference,” the report said, contrasting this consistent rating of “good” with its previous observation that most US schools have good teaching, but there is considerable variation from one class to another. .
In addition to being well taught, TNTP said students in the seven schools are receiving lower-grade content in their English and math classes even though most students are lagging behind. Teachers at each school use the same assigned curriculum. According to the TNTP report, only about one-third of elementary school teachers nationwide say they “mostly use” their school’s adopted curriculum. At Trousdale County Elementary in Tennessee, one of the model schools, 80 percent of teachers said they did.
While many education advocates call for the adoption of a better curriculum as an incentive to improve schools, “It is possible to find transformative results without a comprehensive curriculum,” TNTP wrote in its report.
Teachers also had regular, scheduled times to collaborate, discuss their instruction, and note what worked and what didn’t. “Everyone has the same big expectations and is working together to improve,” the report said.
Schools also provided students with additional education to fill knowledge gaps and additional practice to strengthen their skills. These extra support classes, called “intervention blocks,” are now common in many low-income schools, but TNTP noted one big difference in the seven schools they studied. The intervention blocks were linked to what the students were learning in their main classes. That requires school leaders to ensure that interventionists, classroom assistants and classroom teachers have time to talk and interact during the school day.
These seven schools all had strong principals. Although many principals came and left during the ten years TNTP studied, the schools maintained strong results.
Seven schools also emphasized student-teacher relationships and created a caring community. At Brightwood, a small charter school in Washington, DC, that serves immigrants, the staff strives to learn the names of all students and take collective responsibility for both their academics and well-being. In one staff meeting, teachers wrote the names of more than 250 students on large pieces of paper. Teachers assign marks to each child with whom they feel they have a real connection and devise ways to reach students without testing.
At New Heights Academy Charter School in New York City, each teacher contacts 10 parents a week—by text, email, or phone—and logs the calls. Teachers don’t just call when something goes wrong. They also reach out to parents to talk about an “A” on a test, academic improvement, or good attendance, the report said.
It is always dangerous to highlight what successful schools are doing because some teachers may be tempted to simply copy ideas. But TNTP cautions that every school is different. What works in one place may not work in another. The association’s advice to schools is to change one practice at a time, perhaps starting with an area where the school is already doing well, and build on it. TNTP warns against trying to change too many things at once.
TNTP’s vision is that any school can be a high-performing school, and there are no specific educational philosophies or learning materials that a school must use to achieve this elusive goal. Much of it is about increasing communication between teachers, between teachers and students, and with families. It’s like a weight loss diet that doesn’t dictate what foods you can or can’t eat, as long as you eat less and exercise more. It is the most important basic principles.
Contact a staff writer Jill Barshay at (212) 678-3595 or [email protected].
