Improving All Schools

Ben Levin, OISE/University of Toronto

Loen, Norway

October 3, 2012@BenLevinOISE – TwitterWebspace.oise.utoronto.ca/~levinben/

Outline for the Morning

• Working in a second language• Start with your views, ideas• What is most important?• All of us together are smarter than any of us

individually– Need to hear and respect diverse views

Ethics and Motivation

• An ethical question – what do we owe our students?

• A psychological question – how high can we aim?– Lots of evidence people can do better– Increasing evidence we can help them believe

and do this

Current Status

What is good/not as good about your system?

What do you want to know or think more about?

Ontario

• Big system – 2 million students• Since 2004

– Improved all student outcomes– Improved teacher morale– Improved public confidence

Key Actions

• Will and skill

• Focused plan with a few clear goals• Consistent leadership support• Positive approach• Focus on teaching and learning• Relentless implementation

Focused Plan

• No more than 3 key goals• Simple to understand, broadly accepted• Central goals sustained for years• Clearly linked to action and implementation

Leadership

• Leadership is all about teams• ‘Guiding coalition’• Political and civil service working together• School and system• Teachers and principals• Students and parents

Leadership – continued

• Key skills for leaders• Operations – have to be managed, but with

minimum effort• Teaching and learning – leading this effort• Politics – also vital to success

Positive Approach

• Respect for all partners and for different opinions

• Build on and spread what is already good• Building capacity is key• Forums for debate and working together• Feedback on progress

Focus on Teaching and Learning

• Avoid organizational and structural issues• Do not lead with accountability• Seeing teaching as a difficult technical skill

– That can be learned, like any other skill

• Helping teachers improve their work– Moving towards common/shared practice– Using evidence

Improving Teaching and Learning - 2

• Much more than courses• Must be rooted in daily practice and life of

the school• A collective activity among teachers• Using ‘real’ practice as well as other

evidence• Student (and parent) voice

Relentless Implementation

• All schools, all students– Lateral learning

• Building implementation capacity• Aligning all parts of the system• Nowhere to hide from the key goals• Using research and data to guide

Responses?

• What resonates?• What does not seem appropriate?• What is missing?• What do you do next?

Infusing Equity

• Understanding who is not successful– Within schools, not just between schools– Which differences really matter?

16

J Hattie – Meta analysis of Strategies

Infusing Equity

• Understanding who is not successful• Understanding those students’ situations• Infusing equity concerns in every part of what the

school does– Teaching practices– Curriculum and resources– Relationships with students

• Reaching out to parents and communities

Fighting Complacency

• Generally – appealing to rather than frightening people

• Students – Building on their interests and passions

Fighting Complacency

• Generally – appealing to rather than frightening people

• Students – Building on their interests and passions

• Parents and communities – Showing examples of what is possible

• Focusing on skills as well as knowledge

Politics of Change

• Nature of politics– Keeping people interested, aroused

• Challenge for education– Finding changes that are worthwhile– Explaining them to people

• Influencing political process– Indirect more than direct

• Storylines, narratives

Working With Parents

• Parents have to be advocates, not must monitors

• Parents resent being homework managers– Especially when much homework is not

meaningful

• Important to build partnerships with parents– Listening, not just telling

Other Issues?