Bridgman Buzz

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Fall, 2008

From The Principal:

Why Are Some Schools More Successful Than Others?

Several years ago, The Center for Performance Assessment conducted a study to determine why some schools are more effective than others.  This landmark research, called the 90/90/90 Study, looked at data from more than 130,000 students in 228 buildings across the country, including inner-city, suburban and rural schools.  The student populations ranged from schools that were overwhelmingly poor and/or minority to schools that were largely white and/or economically advantaged.  Regardless of the students’ background, the authors identified five characteristics that were common to all high-achieving schools:

Focus On Student Achievement.

Teachers in successful schools check their students’ achievement frequently.  They give quizzes, ask questions and have the students evaluate themselves constantly.  Teachers use this data to adjust their instruction.  The teachers display student data on bulletin boards, in the hallways and even in the school office.  The most casual observer could not walk down a hallway of one of these schools without seeing walls covered with student work, charts, graphs, and trophy cases showcasing the students’ achievements.

Clearly Defined Curriculum

Highly successful schools spend most of their time focusing on reading, writing and mathematics and less time on other subjects. Despite the disproportionate time spent on language arts and mathematics, students from these schools significantly out-performed their peers on science and social studies tests.  This is because students who can read and write well do better in school, regardless of the subject. 

Frequent Assessment

Not only do highly successful schools check their students’ progress frequently, they give students multiple opportunities to improve.  If a student fails a test, they are required to re-take it until they can pass it.  The consequence for poor performance is not a bad grade (and a discouraged student), but more work, improved performance and respect for teacher feedback. 

Emphasis on Writing

The most common characteristic of these high-performing schools was their emphasis on writing.  There are two major benefits to requiring students to write frequently.  First, students process information in a much clearer way when they are required to put their thoughts to paper.  Second, teachers learn more about what the student knows (and doesn’t know) from a student’s writing sample than they would from a simple true/false, multiple choice assessment. The association between writing and performance in other subject areas, especially science, was striking in this study.  Schools that emphasized writing had higher test scores across the board.

Collaborative Evaluation of Student Work

Teachers in high-achieving schools use common assessments.  For example, students in an English 9 course all take the same tests, regardless of who their teacher is.  These tests were developed collaboratively by the teachers.  Not only are the tests the same, they are scored consistently.  Teachers often exchange their tests to be scored with each other, thereby increasing the reliability of how students are evaluated.  Common assessment practices in these schools appear to improve student performance.

What Do These Findings Mean for Bridgman High School?

Writing Across the Curriculum

During the upcoming school year, we will focus on improving our students’ writing skills in every classroom.  Whether it’s PE, Biology, Algebra or a business class, teachers will be asking students to do more writing.  Every end-of-chapter test will have a writing component.  Teachers will score students’ written responses for grammar, punctuation and spelling in addition to content, regardless of the subject area.  Common writing assignments will be given to all students periodically throughout the year during Achievement Block.  The English teachers will develop a common scoring rubric to assess each student’s writing ability.

Reading Apprenticeship

Last year the English faculty trained the staff in a Reading Apprenticeship program to improve students’ reading skills.  Each teacher was assigned to try two techniques in the classroom to improve reading.  This year we will expand that program.

Formative Assessments

This fall, we will implement new assessment strategies.  Formative assessments are the small, frequent assessments given informally (and often daily) to determine whether students understand what is being taught.  Formative assessments help teachers determine the next steps and what they need to adjust in their instruction. 

The four years of high school go quickly.  We have limited time to make an impact.  I hope that by implementing these research-based practices our students will be better equipped to enter the competitive workplace of tomorrow.  If you are the parent of a Bridgman High School student, please keep an eye out for these initiatives.  I welcome your feedback.

Jim Hutfilz

Principal