District Learning Tied to Student Learning

Abstract

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Finalists for the annual Broad Prize for Urban Education consistently demonstrate a learning loop that influences the district's ability to learn, which ultimately influences student opportunities to learn. The barrios of Brownsville, Texas, bear little physical resemblance to the boroughs of New York City or the coast of Long Beach or the tropical communities of Miami. On the surface, the educational practices of the school districts in these communities are as distinct as their geography. Yet, those school districts have all been recognized by the Broad Prize for Urban Education because they have consistently outperformed districts serving similar student populations. What makes the difference? To be sure, the Broad Prize winners and finalist districts aren't perfect. They contain failing schools and failing students. All of them struggle with graduation rates, and none claim to be satisfied with their current results. Their success is best characterized as a matter of pace and stamina in a race to provide effective education to urban students. While none is close to turning the final corner to proficiency for all students, their rate of improvement and their ability to close achievement gaps distinguishes these districts from their peers. But these districts do share much in common beyond their promising results. They share practices and policies that enable them to truly be learning organizations. The goal of their work is high levels of student learning. They achieve improved student learning because of processes that make possible organizational learning at all levels. LEARNING CYCLES Looking beyond textbooks and committee titles, bond issues and strategic initiatives, one can see that these districts share two interrelated learning cycles. The first is a Student Learning Cycle in which student learning is driven by coherence and connections between curriculum, instruction, and assessment. The second is the Organizational Learning Cycle. From the superintendent's cabinet to grade-level teams, human resources are carefully organized for teaming, communication, knowledge capture, and professional learning. These human networks allow information about curriculum, instruction, and assessment to flow throughout the district. Individuals throughout the system drive ongoing improvement of curriculum, instruction, and assessment by setting goals, measuring progress, and making adjustments. Belief in a mission that is transformational for children motivates personnel to continually review and improve their work in--you guessed it--curriculum, instruction, and assessment. We know from research that teachers' actions in the classroom have the greatest impact on student achievement, so the Broad finalists' tight focus on curriculum that truly guides teachers' work, approaches to instruction that help teachers adjust to the needs of each student, and assessments that help teachers understand student learning is a powerful triad of support. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] None of this is new thinking. One can turn to many years of research to hear the importance of coherence between curriculum, instruction, and assessment. What the Broad finalists offer are examples of great execution --how to get the work done across tens or hundreds of schools, thousands of teachers, and tens of thousands of students. HOW DO THEY DO IT? Based on the example of Broad finalists, success in the Student Learning Cycle is driven by success in the Organizational Learning Cycle. To achieve higher student learning through coherent curriculum, instruction, and assessment, Broad finalists develop an Organizational Learning Cycle that links belief in the district's mission and vision to organizational structures and improvement processes. [FIGURE 2 OMITTED] Effective districts don't simply do things well with few mistakes. …