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This article represents the perspectives of Susan Talley, a research analyst in the National Institute on the Education of At-Risk Students. Susan's work with the Department over many years has focused on educational research and development programs to improve achievement for urban, inner-city students. For the past 6 years, she has provided assistance related to promising research-based practices to key personnel in the District of Columbia Public Schools. The article discusses the six critical elements Susan has concluded must be present in a school reform model to turn around low-performing schools.
Three decades of research on school reform has led to the identification of four basic elements that students need from their schools: relevant schoolwork, a nurturing and supportive environment, opportunities for academic success, and help with personal problems. Unfortunately, studies of schooling for students at risk of academic failure demonstrate that schools often fail to address the special circumstances—including economic, family, community, ethnic, and racial status—that characterize students placed at risk (Natriello, McDill, & Pallas 1990).
The challenges that low-performing schools must address are substantial. It is not uncommon for 80 percent or more of the students in such schools to be performing significantly below grade level and living in poverty and conditions that are inhospitable to healthy child development. For these schools, a reform model must encompass elements to meet student needs that might not be prevalent in other schools.
Based on close examination of school reform models funded by this Institute and the research associated with those models, the author concludes that there are six critical components integral to comprehensive school reform models with potential to turn around low-performing schools. They are: a strong literacy curriculum, extra help, a focus on smallness, parental outreach and community building, social skills development, and sustained staff development. The research literature and decades of experience demonstrate that taken piecemeal these components are not sufficient to make a difference. All six must be present in very structured, explicit terms, providing a blueprint for teachers and an academic safety net for all students. Each component is described below and references for research supporting this theoretical framework are provided at the end of the article.
A strong research-based literacy curriculum. Children develop an understanding of the basic concepts of language from early experiences with oral and written language. These preliteracy skills are a strong prerequisite to learning to read. As a result of low parental literacy and other factors, many children in low-performing schools come to school without the benefit of strongly developed language skills. Comprehensive reform models for such schools must incorporate research-based literacy curricula that focus on helping students develop strong preliteracy skills and acquire strong reading skills.
A significant extra help component. With significant numbers of students performing below grade level in many subjects, an effective school reform model for low-performing schools must incorporate opportunities for students who are behind to catch up to grade level. Creative scheduling, innovative use of technology, and summer school are strategies that can enable participation in regular classes offering rigorous standards-based curriculum. They also provide opportunities for extra help. All students should be assessed regularly in order to measure progress and to ensure that extra help instruction is tied appropriately to gaps in learning.
A focus on smallness. The concept "smaller is better" applies to both the classroom and the school itself. Smaller classes are likely to encourage the development of closer student-teacher and student-student relationships. They also permit teachers to employ more individualized and interactive instructional strategies. They can also help offset the challenges many students in low-performing schools face, such as lack of support for completing homework and for coming to school ready to learn. Smaller schools or the division of large schools into schools within a school encourage the caring relationships between students and school staff that can help students make successful transitions from one grade level to another.
A commitment to parental outreach and community building. Fostering partnerships with parents, community groups, businesses, and social service agencies is especially vital to low-performing schools. Many students in these schools do not have adequate access to good nutrition, health care, and social services. Schools are often located in communities with few thriving businesses and few resources to support healthy child development, such as quality recreation programs, adult mentors, and role models. Reform models for turning around low-performing schools must incorporate explicit strategies to help the schools build partnerships with parents and other strategic groups.
An ongoing, schoolwide program of social skills development. Low-performing schools frequently serve significant numbers of students who could benefit from school programs that focus on improving or enhancing social skills that help children adjust to the demands of the school environment. Rules and expectations learned in children's homes and community may contribute to behavior at school that not only interferes with their own academic performance but also that of their schoolmates. Reform models for low-performing schools must provide explicit and consistent instruction in how to get along with others, resolve conflicts peacefully, and develop other life skills.
A comprehensive, sustained staff development program. Having seen many new programs come and go with few lasting benefits for their students, teachers in low-performing schools are often cynical and reluctant to buy into further "promising" reform efforts. Promising school reform models are very complex and often require intensive study and arduous effort and time to implement effectively. School reform models for low-performing schools must include intensive staff development in which teachers are in contact with skilled trainers in a variety of professional development settings at the school and in the classroom. The availability of classroom-based mediated assistance for teachers is an essential ingredient of models designed to turn around a low-performing school.
If you are interested in obtaining a copy of one of these publications, but are unable to locate it from your local library, the Internet, or the publisher, please contact Susan Talley at 202-219-2239 for more information.
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[Research Program of the National Institute on the Education of At-Risk Students]