“If we’re going to close that achievement gap we’re going to have to anchor it in research, and we’re going to have to involve our stakeholders and be data driven in our decisions. And we will have to ensure that we have capacity building in leadership,” Inside the School online seminar presenter Vera Blake, Ed.D. said.
Former principal Blake said developing a plan and using data to close the achievement gap are very important.
Before starting a lesson, Blake recommends beginning your plan with assessment when closing the achievement gap.
“The value of pre-assessment is tremendous. We use them to determine what students already know and can do in order to determine their readiness for a particular lesson, or concept,” Blake said. “We are a little bit weaker in the pre-assessment arena, because we design our lessons, we work very hard, we do the best we can, and then we start to teach. Sometimes, we don’t always realize that some children know everything and more than we were going to teach on any given concept or topic, and there are others who don’t have a clue. We have to make decisions about the collection of this type of data, and that should be done prior to our instruction.”
Beyond the initial assessment, Blake said to look at the big picture of teaching and be prepared mentally. Understand the entire group of students you are about to teach, that will help you when closing the achievement gap.
“What are the things I can also control about the kids mastering the concepts? And what are the areas of greatest needs? What are the best practices and best strategies that I can use in that,” Blake said.
When it comes to research and implementing a teaching strategy, Blake referred to research that Robert Marzano compiled. Marzano said there are nine instructional strategies. To get ahead it is important to be using data to close the achievement gap
“Marzano has used about 40 years of research to determine nine instructional strategies, they don’t work with every single thing, but they do work most effectively as we start to apply them with different concepts that we are teaching,” Blake said. “The nine strategies are: identifying similarities and differences, which is comparing, contrasting, classifying, using analogies and metaphors with the content; summarizing and note taking.”
Marzano’s strategies are applied to the most accepted teaching practice; differentiated instruction. Blake said when using differentiated instruction to look at all the students the same way and realize they’re all very different.
“[Students have] different gifts and talents and abilities and strengths, that’s an added enrichment to our classroom. This brings us to look at differentiated instruction, which is a teaching philosophy. It’s a way of thinking,” Blake said.
Blake said that all students do not learn in the same way, at the same time, or in the same timeframe. To close the achievement gap she said teachers must approach their students differently.
“I can think of numerous students, and I know we all can, who sometimes I feel, ‘oh, my goodness, I would really like to go back and re-teach this child, or apologize, because now I know so much more about how students learn,” Blake said.
The essential elements of differentiated high-quality curriculum are ongoing assessment, a sense of belonging and contribution in a classroom community and flexible grouping.
“You may have a kinesthetic learner, and an auditory learner, and a verbal learner, and match them by ways they perform best, or they like to perform best,” Blake said.
Blake said one of the biggest misunderstandings about differentiated instruction is thinking that it is a set of strategies.
“Differentiation really doesn’t work that way. It responds to students’ variation in their readiness to learn and master certain concepts, their interest. We all learn best on things that we are interested in,” Blake said.
Other then teaching strategies, teaching preparation techniques can help close the achievement gap. Blake said that professional development is key to helping educators improve their teaching.
“It is just outrageous to continue to think that we are going to improve, that we are going to get better and better without investing in professional development that supports the instruction we’re asking teachers to do,” Blake said. “As we continue to work together to close the achievement gap, professional development is a key to making that happen.”
Blake said closing the achievement gap is not just about finding a lot of different strategies to implement. She said creating a learning environment and including the community and parents will help too.
“It’s about getting better and better about our own best efforts. How do we remove barriers to student achievement? We have to continue to remember that, while we can, as educators, do this alone, we are not the only stakeholders,” Blake said. “Others should be invested, involved, parents should be involved. The school’s best ally in the task of nurturing students and their education, is, foremost, first, always, the parents, who are the first educators.”
Blake said perfecting instruction strategies, understanding how different students learn, continuous professional development and creating a positive environment will all help close the achievement gap. She said educators need to be proactive.
“Putting down grades in a grade-book is not enough,” Blake said.
