This document discusses strategies for improving achievement for economically disadvantaged students. It identifies four keys for helping at-risk kids: setting high expectations; involving parents and community; communicating effectively with families; and facilitating effective curriculum planning. It also discusses differentiated instruction, effective instructional strategies including vocabulary, summarizing and note-taking, and cooperative learning. Strong student-teacher relationships, parental involvement, and principal support of interventions are emphasized as important for helping disadvantaged students succeed.

1. Improving Student Achievement for Economically Disadvantaged Students Christy Lawrence and Crystal Werkheiser EDLD 5333—Lamar University Spring 2009

2. Disadvantaged Students?

3. The Four Keys to Helping At-Risk Kids

4. Principal Competency--1 A principal knows how to… create a campus culture that sets high expectations, promotes learning, and provides intellectual stimulation for self, students, and staff. ensure that parents and other members of the community are an integral part of the campus culture. use strategies for involving all stakeholders in planning processes to enable the collaborative development of a shared campus vision focused on teaching and learning.

5. Principal Competency--2 A principal knows how to… communicate effectively with families and other community members in varied educational contexts. communicate and work effectively with diverse groups in the school community to ensure that all students have an equal opportunity for educational success.

6. Principal Competency--4 A principal knows how to… facilitate effective campus curriculum planning based on knowledge of various factors (e.g., emerging issues, occupational and economic trends, demographic data, student learning data, motivation theory, teaching and learning theory, principles of curriculum design, human developmental processes, legal requirements). facilitate the use of sound, research-based practice in the development, implementation, and evaluation of campus curricular, co-curricular, and extracurricular programs.

7. Principal Competency--6 A principal knows how to… diagnose campus organizational health and morale and implement strategies to provide ongoing support to campus staff. engage in ongoing professional development activities to enhance one's own knowledge and skills and to model lifelong learning.

8. Differentiated Instruction No two children are alike. No two children learn in the identical way. An enriched environment for one student is not necessarily enriched for another. In the classroom we should teach children to think for themselves. --Marian Diamond

9. Differentiated Instruction To differentiate instruction is to recognize students varying background knowledge, readiness, language, preferences in learning, interests, and to react responsively. Differentiated instruction is a process to approach teaching and learning for students of differing abilities in the same class. The intent of differentiating instruction is to maximize each student’s growth and individual success by meeting each student where he or she is, and assisting in the learning process. ---Tracey Hall, Ph.D

10. Content Several elements and materials are used to support instructional content. Align tasks and objectives to learning goals. Instruction is concept-focused and principle-driven.

11. Process Flexible grouping is consistently used Classroom management benefits students and teachers

12. Products Initial and on-going assessment of student readiness and growth are essential. Students are active and responsible explorers. Vary expectations and requirements for student responses.

13. Ten Effective Research-Based Instructional Strategies—Marzano (2000) 1. Vocabulary. Research indicates that student achievement will increase by 12 percentile points when students are taught 10-12 words a week; 33 percentile points when vocabulary is focused on specific words important to what students are learning.

14. Ten Effective Research-Based Instructional Strategies—Marzano (2000) 2. Comparing, contrasting, classifying, analogies, and metaphors. These processes are connected as each requires students to analyze two or more elements in terms of their similarities and differences in one or more characteristics. This strategy has the greatest effect size on student learning.

15. Ten Effective Research-Based Instructional Strategies—Marzano (2000) 3. Summarizing and note-taking. To summarize is to fill in missing information and translate information into a synthesized, brief form. Note-taking is the process of students’ using notes as a work in progress and/or teachers’ preparing notes to guide instruction.

16. Ten Effective Research-Based Instructional Strategies—Marzano (2000) 4. Reinforcing effort and giving praise. Simply teaching many students that added effort will pay off in terms of achievement actually increases student achievement more than techniques for time management and comprehension of new material. Praise, when recognizing students for legitimate achievements, is also effective.

17. Ten Effective Research-Based Instructional Strategies—Marzano (2000) 5. Homework and practice. These provide students with opportunities to deepen their understanding and skills relative to presented content. Effectiveness depends on quality and frequency of teacher feedback, among other factors.

18. Ten Effective Research-Based Instructional Strategies—Marzano (2000) 6. Nonlinguistic representation. Knowledge is generally stored in two forms— linguistic form and imagery. Simple yet powerful non-linguistic instructional techniques such as graphic organizers, pictures and pictographs, concrete representations, and creating mental images improve learning.

19. Ten Effective Research-Based Instructional Strategies—Marzano (2000) 7. Cooperative learning. Effective when used right; ineffective when overused. Students still need time to practice skills and processes independently.

20. Ten Effective Research-Based Instructional Strategies—Marzano (2000) 8. Setting objectives and providing feedback. Goal setting is the process of establishing direction and purpose. Providing frequent and specific feedback related to learning objectives is one of the most effective strategies to increase student achievement.

21. Ten Effective Research-Based Instructional Strategies—Marzano (2000) 9. Generating and testing hypotheses. Involves students directly in applying knowledge to a specific situation. Deductive thinking (making a prediction about a future action or event) is more effective than inductive thinking (drawing conclusions based on information known or presented.) Both are valuable.

22. Ten Effective Research-Based Instructional Strategies—Marzano (2000) 10. Cues, questions, and advanced organizers. These strategies help students retrieve what they already know on a topic. Cues are straight-forward ways of activating prior knowledge; questions help students to identify missing information; advanced organizers are organizational frameworks presented in advance of learning.

23. Student Relationships Key requirements for students feeling connected: High academic expectations and rigor coupled with support for learning Positive adult-student relationships Safety: both physical and emotional ---Ruby K. Payne

24. Student Relationships Strong student connection to school promotes: Educational motivation Classroom attendance Improved classroom attendance --Ruby K. Payne

25. Marzano Research-Based Instructional Strategies Classroom Instruction that Works- Research-Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement 2004 Identifying Similarities & Differences-comparing, classifying, creating metaphors, creating analogies Summarizing & Note Taking- analyzing, synthesizing, prioritizing data, restating, organizing Reinforcing Effort & Providing Recognition- student self-recognition and goal setting, correlation between effort and achievement, effective praise, recognition tokens, pause-prompt - praise technique Homework & Practice- establishing and communicating a homework policy, purpose of homework, student assignment sheets, commenting on homework, masses and distributive practice Nonlinguistic Representations- creating graphic organizers, using other nonlinguistic representations

26. Marzano Research-Based Instructional Strategies Cooperative Learning- elements of cooperative learning, varying grouping criteria, managing group size Setting Objectives & Providing Feedback- setting, personalizing, and communicating objectives, negotiating contracts, using criterion- referenced and assessment feedback, peer feedback, student self-assessment Generating & Testing Hypothesis- systems analysis, problem-solving, decision making, historical investigation, experimental inquiry, invention Cues, Questions, & Advance Organizers- focusing important information, explicit cues, asking inferential and analytical questions, expository and narrative advanced organizers, skimming, specific types of knowledge, vocabulary, details, organizing ideas, skills and processes.

27. Parent’s Role Parental involvement encourages: Higher grades, test scores, and graduation rates Increased motivation, better self-esteem Lower rates of suspension Decreased use of drugs and alcohol Fewer instances of violent behavior ---Ruby K. Payne

28. Principal’s Role Support interventions financially Properly trained staff Collaboration with staff Design community participation Modify interventions using data

29. Sources http://www.cast.org/publications/ncac/ncac_diffinstruc.html http://www.texes.ets.org/assets/pdf/testprep_manuals/068_principal_55017_web.pdf http://www.cast.org/publications/ncac/ncac_diffinstruc.html http://www.edutopia.org/strategies-help-at-risk-students