Techlearning blog

Here are my ten requirements.

It requires a guaranteed and viable curriculum. Every kid is assured of the same curriculum (guaranteed) and there is the time and the resources required to make it happen (viable). No pet curriculum allowed-sorry, you can't teach your favorite volcano unit anymore. Check out Robert Marzano's meta-analysis of What Works in Schools-guaranteed and viable curriculum is the number one factor that contributes to successful schools. Is everybody together at your school, or are they all over the place with what they teach? Do they have the resources? And don't forget that curriculum can include process skills as well.

It requires assessments that are of two types: assessment for learning and assessment of learning. Classic Rick Stiggens. Let's use assessment to motivate kids! Yes, it's possible. This involves moving away from the perspective that assignments are used to determine a grade, which then contributes to a student's overall course grade. What it does mean is that teacher's give carefully prepared assessments that enable teachers to determine what a student knows, and how well the lesson worked. Data (oops, I said a four-letter word). Meaningful assessments. Meaningful data. No more worksheets graded four days later which help no one. No more styrofoam animal cells. Meaningful data from purposeful assessments that flows back into the quality of instruction and gives students the opportunity for mastery of the guaranteed and viable curriculum.

It requires collaborative and de-privatized practice. It's not about every teacher saying they know what's best for their kids, it's not about isolation and shutting the door. It's about getting together, sitting down, and working together-sharing lessons and assessments. It requires experienced teachers helping younger teachers and younger teachers helping the more experienced veterans. Now there is an idea. And it requires the time to do so.

It requires a highly professional and qualified staff (teaching, administrative, and support) that see and believe in the same vision-passionately and fearlessly. Vision is a future preferred state-it's collaborative-everyone is on board. It's about saying I'm concerned for the education of all kids in my school, not just the all kids in my classes.

It requires research-based, classroom-tested pedagogy. For instance, it requires that technology not be integrative, but integral. For more ideas of what works, see Marzano's What Works in Classroom Instruction. The number one strategy from that meta-analysis? Compare and contrast