1. Gap Closed: Ten Essential
Best Practices
Asad Zaman
June 20, 2012
Gap Closed: Ten Essential Best Practices
National Charter Schools Conference

2. What is the Achievement Gap?
 Disparity in student performance of different
genders, ethnicities, and socioeconomic
statuses
 The gap exists in standardized test scores,
grade point average, dropout rates, and
college-enrollment and college-completion
rates
 Minnesota has one of the largest
Achievement Gaps in the nation
 Minnesota’s Achievement Gap has persisted
for more than two decades

3. Percentage of MN 8th-graders proficient in math
(Source NAEP via 50can.org)

4. Percentage of MN 8th-graders proficient in reading
(Source NAEP via 50can.org)

5. Defining the Problem
 The thousands of papers and books
mostly seek to define the problem or
identify their root causes
 Very few works seek to identify
solutions
 We come across as “celebrating the
problem”

6. Identifying Solutions
 A “practice” typically employed by the “best”
participants in a specific industry
 Several Gap Closing Schools identified by
Charter School Partners (CSP) met in 2011 &
2012 to deliberate on the Achievement Gap
 Gap-Closing schools tend to have many
common features or practices
 Ten of these “Best Practices” are employed
by ALL the Gap-Closing schools in MN

7. 10 Essential Best Practices
1. Coherent Instructional Philosophy
2. Culture of Achievement & High Expectations
3. Rigorous Curriculum
4. Data Driven Decision Making
5. Continuous Formative Assessments
6. Frequent Informal Observations
7. Targeted Student Support & Intervention
8. Reading & Writing Across Curriculum
9. Teaching the Whole Child (Beyond Academics)
10. Staff Training & Development

8. Coherent Instructional Philosophy
 All staff members understand the
purpose of the school
 The school exists to facilitate student
success
 Success does not just happen
 “Begin with the end in mind”
 Student success is measurable

9. Culture of Achievement & High
Expectations
 Every student can grow
 Every student must grow
 Growth and Learning are the norms
 Student needs are accommodated
 Student excuses are not
 Real life examples of student success

10. Rigorous Curriculum
 Gap-Closing schools don’t just wing it
 The curriculum is used as a road map
 The curriculum is not a straight jacket
 Deviations from the curriculum are
planned & analyzed, not ad hoc
 Gap-Closing schools self develop a
curriculum map to align the curriculum
with the benchmarks

11. Data Driven Decision Making
 Live and die by the data
 Claims of student growth need to be backed
by objective data
 Data is pushed down to the grass-roots
 Data is used in real-time (daily or weekly)
 Teachers are intimately familiar with the data
of their students
 Students are familiar with their data
 All data is used: Summative, Formative &
Informal

12. Continuous Formative
Assessments
 Assessment does not cause growth
 Assessment paired with instructional
modifications can generate growth
 Student mastery of each benchmark is
verified immediately after the benchmark is
taught (Weekly or bi-weekly)
 Student intervention is delivered throughout
the year, not at the end of the year

13. Frequent Informal
Observations
 Formal teacher evaluations are used for
evaluation purposes and drive salary
increases, bonuses, etc
 Informal observations are used
fromatively to help improve teachers
throughout the year
 Teacher improvement protocol

14. Targeted Student Support &
Intervention
 Student intervention is delivered
throughout the year, not at the end of the
year
 Gap-Closing schools do whatever it takes
 If a student genuinely needs some
support, the Gap-Closing school will find a
way to give it to her or find a viable
alternative for her
 Teachers stubbornly keep at it until the
student gets it

15. Reading & Writing Across
Curriculum
 Most disadvantaged students are significantly
behind their peers in language acquisition and
mastery
 Every teacher (Math, Science, Social Studies)
teaches reading and writing
 Every teacher incorporates ESL and SpEd
techniques even in mainstream classes
 This maximizes language acquisition
throughout the school day

16. Teaching the Whole Child
(Beyond Academics)
 Although Gap-Closing schools live and
die by the data, they also understand
that the child cannot be reduced to a
test score
 Many essential aspects of education
cannot be adequately measured
 Behavior, student well being,
happiness, etc

17. Staff Training & Development
 Staff at Gap-Closing schools want and
appreciate regular staff development
 Training is targeted to student needs
using student data
 Professional Learning Community
 Practitioner Focused