From equal access to equal outcomes: if the adults in a school collaborate around student learning through data-driven professional learning communities, student achievement can be raised in all subgroups

Leadership, Jan-Feb, 2007 by Diana Walsh-Reuss, Jane Moore

A significant shift has occurred in the definition of success in public schools from one of equitable access to learning to one of equitable learning results grounded in standards-based instruction and accountability.

Equity of access threads through public policy from Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 to the special education legislation of the 1970s to Title IX. When "A Nation at Risk" called attention to the need for a skilled workforce, the shift to a results-based focus became pre-eminent, culminating in 2001 with No Child Left Behind. With the reauthorization of IDEA, students with disabilities were brought into the success model and given equal rights to curriculum mastery.

Over the past three years, the Riverside County Office of Education's County Achievement Team, as a recipient of a California Department of Education grant, has worked with eight pilot schools and districts in the state to bring about systems change with equitable attention and results for each subgroup.

The project, RCAT Plus, has targeted urban, suburban and rural districts in Northern and Southern California that were invited to participate by the CDE on the basis of their historically low performance, specifically their ratings on key performance indictors for students in the special education subgroup. These were schools performing in the lowest quartile of the evaluation system for special education.

The project has operated under the belief that if we can move the adults in a school to collaborate around student learning--through data-driven professional learning communities at the grade, departmental and/or leadership levels--we can raise student achievement in all subgroups.

Data from 2003-2005 strongly demonstrates that the RCAT Plus schools have met and exceeded the performance levels of each group of students preceding it. RCAT Plus schools, in almost every case, are achieving continuous progress.

As project evaluator Susan Leddick, concluded, "The rates of percent change for all students scoring at or above proficiency in both English language arts and mathematics have been substantial, and the rates of percent change for students with disabilities have been dramatic" (Leddick, 2005).

Since the 2003 baseline year, the rate of change in proficiency for AYP for all students in RCAT Plus schools has increased by 16 percent in English language arts, compared to the state's rate of 8 percent and similar schools' rate of 9 percent. In mathematics, the RCAT Plus schools rate of change in proficiency increased by 30 percent, compared to 10 percent for state schools and -8 percent for similar schools.

For students with disabilities, the rate of change in ELA proficiency in RCAT Plus schools has risen by 67 percent, compared to 13 percent for the state and -25 percent for similar schools. In RCAT Plus schools for mathematics, the rate of percent change for students with disabilities has risen by 267 percent!

A proven model

RCAT Plus was built upon the already-proven RCAT model--an innovative approach to school change at the time it was conceived in 1999 by Dave Long, Riverside County superintendent of schools.

The idea was to bring together a group of county once experts in data, literacy and mathematics to serve low-performing and aspiring schools, create a comprehensive data profile of student achievement and demographics, and then partner with the school to affect significant, targeted change in curriculum and instruction that could be evidenced by the next year's achievement data. Students with disabilities were included in the vision, but emphasis was given to general education.

When RCAT Plus was developed in 2003, students with disabilities became part of improvement central. The goal was to use the RCAT model to increase student achievement for all students, with a focus on special education. The teams sought to change the belief system that special education students were "back forty" participants to one that valued the fact that:

* students with disabilities are the responsibility of the entire school and district, not just the special education teachers;

* special education students must have equal access to the core curriculum accessed by others;

* teachers of these students with disabilities should participate in regularly scheduled collaborative core curriculum grade level/department meetings;

* instructional practices can be changed to affect closer achievement parity for special education students; and

* all students, including those with disabilities, can learn and can make continuous progress.

Professional learning communities became the vehicle for these philosophical shifts, with the emphasis on three core principles: collaboration, results focus and concentration on learning rather than teaching.

A unique feature of the project was the pairing of a county office lead with a CDE special education consultant to serve each of the eight schools--four high schools, three middle schools and one elementary/middle school.