The document outlines strategies for closing the achievement gap and increasing student achievement. It discusses that achievement gaps exist where minority students are behind white students and this gap grows from elementary to high school. It states that teacher efficacy, or a teacher's belief in their ability to help students learn, is highly correlated with student achievement gains. The document proposes several strategies like differentiating instruction, developing cultural competence, focusing on early learning, and strengthening family/community connections to increase teacher efficacy and student achievement.

1. MY VISION FOR CLOSING THE
ACHIEVEMENT GAP AND INCREASING
STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
Tracey I. Maccia, Ed.D.

2. FACTS ABOUT THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP
 A racial achievement gap exists where the average African-
American or Latino student is roughly 2-3 years of learning behind the
average white student.
 A racial gap exists today regardless of how it is measured, including
both achievement (e.g., test score) and attainment (e.g.,
graduation rate) measures – Averaging math and reading across
fourth and eighth grade, 48% of African-American and 43% of Latino
students are "below basic," while only 17% of whites are; this gap
exists in every state.
 This racial achievement gap grows in magnitude as a child nears
entry to the workforce from grade 4 to grade 12 – Between fourth
and twelfth grade, the gap grows 41% for Latino students and 22% for
African-American students.

3. SUCCESS IN COLLEGE CAN BE PREDICTED
BY ACHIEVEMENTS
IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
 Achievement levels in fourth grade are correlated with
achievement in eighth grade
 Achievement in eighth grade is in turn highly correlated with a
student’s probability to go to college and eventually graduate
from college
 Attainment levels are then highly correlated with lifetime earnings–
A bachelor’s degree, for example, translates into a 73% lifetime
premium over just graduating from high school– A professional
degree holder earns more than three times what a high school
graduate makes, despite the opportunity cost of six to eight years
of additional education

4. CHANGING THE LANDSCAPE
System differences exist from the state to the classroom level
even after accounting for income and race, showing that
policies and school districts can influence student
achievement.
School districts also vary in their performance relative to the
state average, implying that individual districts can lead the
way in improving minority achievement.
Within the classroom, factors such as teacher efficacy
influence student achievement.

5. TEACHER EFFICACY
TO IMPROVE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
 Teachers who believe they can teach all children in ways that
enable them to meet high standards are more likely to exhibit
teaching behaviors that support this goal.
 School administrators must intentionally help teachers develop a
sense of efficacy because, it is not enough to hire and retain the
brightest teachers— they must also believe they can succeed to
fully meet the challenges of the task at hand.
 A large collective body of research reveals that the most powerful
way to improve student achievement is by working to raise the
collective efficacy beliefs of their faculties.

6. STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND
TEACHER EFFICACY
 Good teachers increase student gains and the effect is amplified
over time.
 Commitment to creative teaching and inquiry learning, rather than
to scripted instruction.
 Opportunities to team with a critical mass of highly skilled teachers
who share responsibility for every student’s success.
 Sufficient resources to get the job done, including new
technologies, classroom libraries, and instructional supplies, in
addition to connections with social and health services.

7. INCREASING TEACHER EFFICACY
THROUGH A GROWTH MIND-SET
 Teachers need to be humble enough to accept that there are things
about themselves and their practices that can improve.
 Teachers need to become part of professional learning teams that value
constructive critique instead of criticism.
 Teachers need to treat setbacks as formative struggles within the learning
process instead of summative failures.
 Teachers need to realize the restrictive role that timelines can play in
reaching high standards and utilize UDL and DI to map systems so that all
student’s growth is supported.
 Teachers need to create flexible grouping at all times so that no student
is trapped in any one course level or particular type of work.

8. GOAL
STUDENTS WILL DEMONSTRATE THE
KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS NECESSARY
TO TRANSITION SUCCESSFULLY TO THEIR
NEXT STEPS OF ADVANCED LEARNING,
WORK AND CITIZENSHIP

9. Key Steps to Achieving this Goal
A common core of rigorous standards for all:
Set rigorous curriculum standards so that all students
are challenged and acquire the knowledge and skills
to be successful in their next steps.
An aligned P-16 system:
Implement a continuum of learning by creating fluid
transitions at every point through the education
system so that all students have access to high quality
life-long learning.
A personalized learning experience for each student:
Schools need to be safe, culturally competent and
provide engaging learning environments so that the
individual needs of all students are met.
A connected educational community:
Strengthen relationships between schools, community
colleges and local communities so that all students
enter school/ community colleges ready to learn and
have access to relevant life-long learning experiences.
A corps of quality educators prepared and ready to
take on new challenges:
Train and support teachers for
excellent teaching for every student.
A system to provide adequate & appropriately allocated
resources:
Provide effective and efficient resource allocation,
infrastructure and governance to improve student
achievement.

10. INTEGRATIVE STUDIES
 Connections between core academic subject and the students’
own lives is important for effective instruction.
 Integrated studies involves bringing together typically disconnected
subjects so that students can arrive at more meaningful and
authentic understanding.
 Researchers have found that interdisciplinary understanding is the
hallmark of contemporary knowledge production for our 21st
century learning skills.
 It is vital for the 21st century teacher to include only those concepts
and skills that fit together naturally and validly in an integrated unit.
 Project Based learning is the gateway for integrated studies.

11. DIP-STICKS: EFFICIENT WAYS TO
CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING
Research reveals that formative assessment—frequent, interactive
checking of student progress and understanding to identify learning
needs and adjust teaching appropriately will increase academic
achievement.
Asking students questions like:
 How much time and effort did you put into this?
 What do you think your strengths and weaknesses were in this
assignment?
 How could you improve your assignment?
 What are the most valuable things you learned from this
assignment?

12. WHY IS GRIT SO IMPORTANT?
 A large body of research found that one characteristic emerged as a significant
predictor of student success. And it wasn't social intelligence. It wasn't good looks,
physical health, and it wasn't IQ. It was grit.
 Using the “Grit Scale” that Duckworth developed with Chris Peterson, they found
that grit is a better indicator of GPA and graduation rates. (IQ, however, is very
predictive of standardized test scores.)
 Add to this the findings (from Bowen, Chingos and McPherson's Crossing the Finish
Line) that high school grades have a more predictive value of college success
than standardized tests, and you may just see a shift from standardized test scores
to high school GPA by some college admissions officers. As GPA becomes more
important, grit will become more recognized as a vital part of 21st century student
success -- as well it should be.

13. DIFFERENTIATION OF INSTRUCTION
To differentiate instruction is to recognize students
varying background knowledge, readiness, language,
preferences in learning, interests, and react
responsively. The intent is to maximize each student’s
growth and individual success by meeting each
student where he or she is which assists the teaching
and learning process.

14. PROMOTING TEACHERS’ CULTURAL COMPETENCE
TO BETTER SERVE
CULTURALLY DIVERSE STUDENTS
 Value diversity
 Be culturally self-aware
 Understand the dynamics of cultural interactions
 Institutionalize cultural knowledge and adapting to diversity

15. FOCUS ON EARLY LEARNING
TO IMPROVE SCHOOLS
High quality early childhood education-researchers
found that it produces substantial
educational, social and economic benefit to
children and society as a whole.
Response to Intervention in grades K-3 is a
researched based model having a positive
effect on student achievement.

16. FAMILY-SCHOOL-COMMUNITY
CONNECTIONS
Parent, family and community involvement in education
correlates with higher academic performance and school
improvement.
Supporting teaching and learning requires addressing
students’ social service needs, as well as their academic
ones, and this broad-based support is essential to closing
achievement gaps.