Targeting specific students can make a big difference; well-defined interventions for students in need result in huge gains

Leadership, May-June, 2002 by Dennis R. Parker

Making school work for every student by name is an unprecedented challenge. That many educators in the United States have made it their life's work is a tribute to their belief in kids and their teachers. And since "one-size-fits-air' is anathema to this quest, there is a constant demand for ways of differentiating instruction and providing alternative programs.

This year, several authors in Leadership have advocated the need to be "strategic." Both Schmoker (Results, 1999) and Reeves (Accountability in Action, 2000) have predicated their work on pursuing "laser-like" targets for optimal results. These targets usually involve curriculum, but they can also include students!

Indeed, Wang et al (Dec./Jan. 1993-94, Educational Leadership) have found "teacher-student social interactions" to rank fifth among 28 factors that affect student achievement. And, according to David Ramirez of Technological Innovations Inc. (San Antonio), some schools and districts in Texas -- by assigning from one mentor to a "swat team" of five per student -- actually moved up to 80 percent of students below the 25th percentile to grade level in a single year.

Special attention to targeted students

I have worked with a number of K-12 schools to target specific students, based on this research, and those efforts are showing great promise. Teachers simply choose a few students to whom they will give extra attention: usually overt attention in elementary schools and often covert in secondary schools to avoid embarrassing students in front of their peers.

Students are usually chosen using SAT-9 data, with a high priority for students near the 20th and 40th percentiles for maximum gain on the Academic Performance Index. Although they are an even higher priority, students below the 20th percentile are most often served by well-defined, effective interventions including pull-out or in-put programs, before- and after-school programs, Saturday school, summer school, etc. If there are no SAT-9 scores available (grades K-2 or 12), students are chosen based on poor attendance, behavior problems, working significantly below potential, etc.

At the secondary level, teachers choose two students per period for at least four weeks at a time. In elementary schools, teachers choose two to five students, also for a given period. The goal is to provide these students with some extra social, emotional and/or academic attention. Teachers may:

1. Confer one-on-one with each student about his or her SAT-9 student report, highlighting strengths and choosing two to four "focus areas" to work harder on this year. Although this is usually best done by teachers, one principal in Fontana actually met with each student herself!

2. Smile, make eye contact and engage in some social conversation daily over and above what they would do normally. This could include asking about the student's weekend; commenting on any new article of clothing; or asking an opinion about a popular topic, entertainer or news event.

3. Look up and recognize students' birthdays. A middle-grade teacher reported dramatic, positive effects on students' behavior after doing so.

4. Give students a job in class: passing out papers, moving books, erasing the board, preparing a graphic organizer, bringing in some material or prop for an upcoming lesson. Erin Gruwell (Freedom Writers, 1999; Wilson High School, Long Beach, CA) made good use of this strategy to "hook" her "chiefs" or student leaders into participating in class.

5. Assign target students as cross-age tutors for younger students.

6. Give target students special status for one week. One elementary teacher chooses five students a week to occupy special seats up front on the carpet each day, carry with them all day the class's five stuffed monkeys, complete classroom chores and eat lunch with the teacher on Friday.

7. Use TESA (Teacher Expectations for Student Achievement) strategies with target students each day beyond what is normal. Pass by and pause next to the student; ask an extra academic question per day with sufficient wait time; coach, delve or extend the student's answer; and provide positive feedback on performance and reasons for the praise.

8. Make a parent contact to highlight only a positive behavior or trait exhibited by the target student.

9. Share information about target students at grade level or department meetings for additional support and suggestions.

Small kindnesses can make a big difference

Fortunately, these strategies cost nothing, are easy to implement and do not cut into a teacher's day very much, if at all. They can, however, make a huge difference in students' investment of effort, attitude and connectedness to school. Because they are easy, they are also easy not to do! But there is nothing to lose by trying them schoolwide. And sometimes the smallest daily kindnesses make the biggest differences.

Dennis R. Parker is a faculty member of the School Management Program at UCLA.