Inoculating against low achievement: our job as educators is to mitigate the effects of adversity by accelerating achievements and building resiliency

Leadership, Jan-Feb, 2005 by Michelle Karns

* Target population: English language learners and students impacted by poverty

Intervention: Visual representations

Rationale: The more pictures or visuals, doodling, body language and props that we can use for vocabulary, context, theme and story, the easier it is for students to understand and retain what they have learned. "Seeing" the lesson provides students who don't have the prior knowledge, language or life experience to make sense of what we are teaching. It creates a model from whicb they can build new learning (SEDL, 1994; Marzano et al, 200l).

* Target population: Students having difficulty comprehending text (grades 2-8)

Intervention: Read Naturally

Rationale: Read Naturally is a well-developed program that can be used in a variety of ways to build fluency, comprehension and vocabulary. The procedures utilized are very attractive to students, who will clamor to use the program. The self-competition is beneficial and helps underscore that success is possible! The Read Naturally strategy was originally developed by reading teacher Candyce Ihnot in 1989. Call (800) 788-4085; www.readnaturally.com.

* Target population: Students with language difficulty

Intervention: Class-Wide Peer Tutoring

Rationale: The Class-Wide Peer Tutoring (CWPT) protocol demonstrates that trained peer interaction can benefit students instructionally. In fact, using these strategies can be more effective than teacher-led instruction (Greenwood, C., 1988). Contact Class-Wide Peer Tutoring--Learning Management System at www.lsi.ukans.edu/jgprojects/cwptlms/html2002.> Taking on the achievement gap

Taking on the achievement gap is a serious undertaking requiring commitment from the faculty, continuity in the delivery of the inoculations and interventions chosen, and celebration of the incremental successes. It is the people who make schools successful, not programs. However, heartfelt commitment can only go so far. You need instructional methods that will work with the students who are sitting in front of you. You will have greatest success using research-based strategies.

Closing the achievement gap is one of the biggest challenges of our time. No other school system in the world has taken it on for such a diverse population as ours. With nearly 5,000 high-poverty, high-performing schools on record (www.edtrust.org), we now know it can be done. But because there is still truth in the statement, "Tell me your zip code and I'll tell you your API," the medical model suggested here can serve as a good blueprint for beating the odds.

To prevent cases of highly predictable poor achievement, we use inoculations schoolwide to provide the best possible chance to stabilize school culture, motivate students and eliminate obstacles to learning. Even the best inoculations do not work 100 percent of the time, so we take recourse in effective interventions for selected groups of students. And most importantly, by using this approach we do not have to waste time and emotional energy blaming anyone. Just find the best response For the symptom and everyone wins.