Best practices of high performing high schools: reform begins with understanding why schools need to change, using good data to determine what needs to change, and then knowing how to carry out the change

Leadership, March-April, 2005 by Willard R. Daggett, Raymond J. McNulty

In 2004, 30 high schools identified as successful by national organizations or state education commissioners participated in the "Bringing Best Practices to Scale" initiative, co-sponsored by the International Center for Leadership in Education and Council of Chief State School Officers, with financial support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The findings reveal that a school usually needs to progress through three consecutive stages in order to achieve high academic standards for all students:

1. Convincing educators, parents and community members as to why the school needs to change.

2. Using good data to determine what needs to change.

3. Determining how to change the school once people embrace the why and the what.

Regrettably, many schools begin their improvement efforts in the reverse order--they find a "solution" without articulating the need. Yet, if staff and stakeholders do not believe the school must change or understand what needs to change, the suggestion for how to change is likely to be rejected.

Why we need to change high schools

High school reform begins with a desire to change what exists in order to keep pace with society. The leaders in successful high schools embrace change as exciting rather than threatening. They believe we must equip all students with the skills to be lifelong learners in a technologically based society. Technological change is inevitable, and they are ready to deal with it.

Working in the context of a digital society requires breakthrough thinking. The leaders of the 30 high schools have accepted the reality that today's students will need a different set of skills from their predecessors to enjoy success in adult roles, and that schools need to reinvent themselves to prepare students to meet the future demands that will he placed upon them. The old rules simply do not apply.

More extensive scientific and technological advances will occur in the next few years than have happened in the last two centuries. Dealing with these advances requires a different education system from the one in which we were educated.

Determining what to change

1. Creating the vision

Once stakeholders are aware of the economic and human reasons why education must change, the successful schools use that knowledge to develop a student-focused vision and common purpose that helps to identify the changes needed. The vision creates a collaborative spirit among staff and community.

In high-performing schools, fostering intellectual development, teaching students to be responsible citizens and getting them ready for higher education remain high priorities. The leaders also understand the importance of preparing students for careers, because working will be a common denominator for all students and because the academic skills used in the workplace are often at a higher level than and different from those needed for college.

2. Changing the mind-set

Over the past 40 years, our economy has gone through dramatic changes that require workers to possess different skill sets from those traditionally provided in school. As the demands to raise standards have become steeper, schools tend to rely on tried-and-true curriculum content and teaching approaches. However, this old methodology was intended for an education system whose mission was to select and sort students, not to move all students to high levels of proficiency.

The successful schools focus on the future, with the goal of teaching students how to think--not simply what to know. These schools teach students how to apply high levels of cognitive knowledge to real-world unpredictable situations.

3. Identifying what to teach

Once the schools had created a student-focused vision embraced by all, they turned to identifying what to teach. Many schools had an overcrowded curriculum, so they used data to make hard decisions about what is essential for all students to know, what is nice to know, and what should be taken off the plate.

Literacy was identified as a critical competency area, and many of the schools have made a major commitment to reading and writing across the curriculum. Teachers are trained and expected to teach reading in their courses.

In addition, some schools have ninth-graders who are not proficient enough in reading and math to benefit from the instructional materials used in high school. For them, the schools provide an intensive program, often around a theme, to ready them for 10th grade, so that they will not struggle academically and possibly drop out of school.

The 12th grade also looks different. The successful schools have a rigorous 12th grade program. Instead of electives, students take advanced courses, sometimes in articulation with community colleges. The schools may also require a senior project for graduation.

4. Optimum organization of instruction

To provide rigorous academics to all students, most of the schools developed small learning communities--typically theme academies. Academics are taught within the context of the theme. The schools have found that when they built programs around students' interests, learning styles and aptitudes, the students did better in school.