Prior to working for New York City Schools, I was involved in a number of interesting projects in Ohio. Here's a sample:
Value Added Statistical Analysis
All Ohio schools have a "value added" score as part of their state-mandated report card. Although value added scores are computed based on a complex mixed statistical model, the concept is straightforward. Value added analysis looks at how students actually perform on standardized tests compared to how they are predicted to perform, based on a large pool of students with similar testing histories. Value added analysis measures how much students have learned in a year. This is inherently more fair than comparing schoolwide standardized test scores, because it measures how far students have come from their own starting points. Essentially, value added analysis answers the question, "Have students in this school, or this classroom, gotten one year's worth of academic growth in one year's worth of school?"
In Ohio, Battelle for Kids has worked with over a hundred school districts to pioneer value added analysis, based on the work of Dr. William Sanders. Working for Battelle for Kids, I surveyed value added statistical measures in education, examined the purposes for which value added measures have been used, and analyzed the issues that have surfaced as value added measures have been introduced in jurisdictions around the country.
I designed and conducted a quantitative research study that sought to identify the characteristics of elementary schools that produced high value added growth and looked closely at the patterns of elementary school value added scores. I also participated in a team of researchers that conducted qualitative case studies of elementary and middle schools in which students showed unusually high growth. Schools in these studies spanned the spectrum from urban to rural, poor to affluent, small to large, traditional to progressive. The work to identify aspects of schooling that lead to high growth is ongoing.
Teaching Principals
Working with an Ohio State University professor and staff of Columbus Public Schools, I developed and taught a course for principals who were slated for new or redeveloped schools as part of the district's large school construction project. We worked with principals to analyze information as diverse as test item analysis and census tract data in order to inform assessments of school and neighborhood needs. The principals then crafted goals for new partnerships and programs to address the unique needs of their schools and school communities. Most importantly, they produced concrete, detailed action plans designed to reach those goals. I developed a set of Excel-based templates for principals to use in assessing their schools, developing school goals, and formulating an action plan. The course got great reviews.
Designing a School-Based Quality Control Process
Many schools do not use routine quality control measures. Quality control is simply not a concept that we think about much in education, yet principals typically have so many teachers to supervise that it is impossible to devote enough time to each teacher to be sure that he or she is providing quality instruction. Often, whether a student is getting what he or she needs depends completely on his or her luck in getting assigned to the right teacher. Working with a principal who recognized this, I developed a simple process for the school to identify the lowest performing students, see their histories at a glance, and work with teachers and specialists to get them the help and interventions they needed. It wasn't rocket science, but it took a new systems perspective to frame the question: How do you know that kids in this school are not falling through the cracks, and what is your process for seeing that everyone who needs special help is getting it?
Teaching University and Middle School Students
I believe that successful strategies and hard work are more important to success in school than natural ability. Successful students have habits of mind, organization and memory that facilitate learning. Many students have never been taught how to learn. They struggle along with the same unsuccessful strategies, losing more and more confidence.
Ohio State's Academic Learning Lab offers "Individual Learning and Motivation," a 5 credit hour, research-based class that covers the attitudes that lead to success as well as techniques for increasing attention, motivation, organization and memory. I taught the course in the classroom and as a distance learning class. My students made significant breakthroughs in how they managed their study habits and their lives.
I also taught study skills to middle school students. For this course, I used a hypothetical 8th grader---Jason---who, in his words, "had a messed up life". Although he wanted to succeed, Jason couldn't seem to get his act together in school. He needed a lot of help developing new strategies for getting his schoolwork done. Using games, brainteasers and simulations, the class developed realistic goals and strategies to enable Jason to succeed in high school. Working through Jason, the students not only learned new study skills, but, more importantly, they developed new perspectives and attitudes toward academic success.