Six Drivers of Student Success: A Look Inside Five of the World’s Highest-Performing School...

7/29/2019 Six Drivers of Student Success: A Look Inside Five of the Worlds Highest-Performing School Systems

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Six Drivers o Student Success

A Look Inside Five o the Worlds

Highest-Perorming School Systems

GLOBALEducation Study


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ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThank you to the ollowing organizations who helped support the distribution o this monographor activities at the Global Education Summit in Columbus, Ohio, November 5, 2012. Thiswork will inorm the development o uture resources or educators. To learn more, visitwww.BattelleorKids.org/go/global.

Cleveland Foundation

Columbus Partnership

Martha Holden Jennings Foundation

Pearson

School Improvement Network

University o Cincinnati

Note: This monograph reects the personal viewpoints o individual Global Education Studyteam members as well as inormation gathered by Battelle or Kids during the Study in thespring o 2012 and does not reect the ofcial content rom the school systems profledwithin the piece.

Contributing monograph writers: Dr. Jim Mahoney, Dr. Brad Mitchell, and Dr. Judy VanVoorhis,

Battelle for Kids, as well as Dr. Tom Lasley, University of Dayton.

2012, Battelle or Kids, All Rights Reserved.

2 SIX DRIVERS OF STUDENT SUCCESS


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction................................................................................................................................4

A Snapshot o Five o the Worlds Highest-Perorming

School Systems .......................................................................................................................7

Learning

Student Success Driver 1: Early Learning ..................................................................................8Student Success Driver 2: Personalization and Pathways or Student Success ..............12

TeachingStudent Success Driver 3: Teacher Selectivity, Quality, and Growth ..................................17

Student Success Driver 4: Focus on Learning .........................................................................21

Conditions o SuccessStudent Success Driver 5: Education Linked to Economic Development ...........................24Student Success Driver 6: Cultural Expectation o Value ......................................................27

Learning and Collaborating Across the Globe ...................................................31

AppendixStudent Success Driver Defnitions ...........................................................................................32Reerences .....................................................................................................................................35

3SIX DRIVERS OF STUDENT SUCCESS


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INTRODUCTION

There is a story oten told o a armer who wins at the County Fair each year or several best crops. Whenasked the secret o his success, he surprises people with his answer. The secret, he says, is that he shares hisbest seeds with his neighbors. He urther explains that, with winds and proximity, i he didnt do this, the crosspollination would do damage to his crops; but in this way, the armer protects his own and elevates that o his

neighbors. It was in this same spirit that Battelle or Kids decided to learn rom the highest-perorming schoolsystems in the world. What were the common seeds that might be planted in America?

In the all o 2011, we began researching which school systems were the fnest in the world. We wanted to know,given the best data available, what systems continuously achieve the highest perormance or their students.These were the places that had remained exceptional despite leadership changes, a changing world context, andturnover o sta over time. They had seemed to institutionalize high perormance. We werent looking or a singleyears worth o great improvement, but rather those systems whose students were improving while remaining at ahigh level o achievement over multiple years.

What is a High-Perorming System?

We defne a high-perorming system as one in which low-perorming students perorm not much dierentlythan top-perorming students, and where amily socioeconomic status is not a signifcant driver o studentperormance. High-perorming systems are in the top ranks on quality, equity, and productivity and recognizethe importance o international benchmarking.

Ultimately, we choose Finland; Hong Kong; LongBeach, California; Ontario, Canada; and Singapore

rom a larger list o high-perorming systems.

These are fve o the 12 high-perorming school systems ranked as sustained improvers that have seen morethan fve consistent rises in student perormance across multiple data points. Criteria or the fve sustainedimprovers are that they participated in national and international assessments (e.g., Trends in InternationalMathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), Programme or International Student Assessment (PISA), NationalAssessment o Educational Progress (NAEP), and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS)) withsustained gains o fve years or more o improvement with at least three data sets in an upward trend acrossmultiple subjects and/or assessments and with signifcant gains.

Our goal was to visit these places and see, frsthand, what seems to account or their unique, continued success.

I a picture is worth a thousand words, then a visit is worth much more. We invited people rom Ohio who viewededucation rom dierent vantage points to join us in what can best be described as a learning adventure. Ourpartners in this journey included leaders rom the teachers unions, charter schools, higher education, schoolboards, and the business community, as well as superintendents and school business ofcials.

At the center o our journey was the quest to answer the questions: What did these

school systems do that seemed to account or extraordinary student success? What were

the drivers o this sustained perormance?

During the spring o 2012, fve dierent teams made three-day, on-site visits with the leaders o these school

systems. The teams visited schools, observed classrooms, and learned what teachers do, how they do it, and thedierent policies that guide student success.



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These systems success maniested itsel into student and community

benefts.

This monograph is a thoughtul reection o our learning. There is no magic bullet to dramatically improve student

achievement. There are dierences among schools within countries and certainly across them. In some cases, itwould be impossible to make changes without becoming more like the culture itsel. But above all the noise, thereis a consistent pattern in these drivers o success.

The monograph outlines these drivers in detail to give readers the necessary background to understand what we

learned beore jumping to immediate application. With limited resources, we cant keep making bets that may ormay not work. This monograph highlights some practices that have led to outstanding results or students.

Each driver o success is addressed through a systemic approach grounded in FOCUS,ALIGNMENT, andFEEDBACK. These school systems are disciplined to maintain FOCUS on their goals or improvement. ALIGNMENT

reers to the practices they use systematically to maintain the ocus, and FEEDBACK is how they use inormationto drive desired results, behaviors, and investments.

DRIVERS

OF STUDENTSUCCESS

EARLY LEARNING

PERSONALIZATION AND PATHWAYS FOR STUDENT SUCCESS

TEACHER SELECTIVITY, QUALITY, AND GROWTH

FOCUS ON LEARNING

EDUCATION LINKED TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

CULTURAL EXPECTATION OF VALUE

FOCUS ALIGNMENT FEEDBACK

While there remain great dierences within and among

systems, there were six common drivers leading

to student success.



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FOCUS ALIGNMENT FEEDBACKAnother way to understand this systemic approach is to consider:

n FOCUSas the what;n ALIGNMENT as the how; andn FEEDBACK as the how we make it better.

At the end o each section is an In Summary page that highlights key fndings or each driver o successillustrated through the lens o FOCUS, ALIGNMENT, and FEEDBACK. Also on these pages, essential questionsare proposed or educators to consider related to their own experience and how they can improve the uture ostudent learning.

Despite the enormous complexity o developing young people in any culture, there are lessons rom these tripsthat we must consider in the U.S. i we want to improve the educational perormance o all students. While ourmeasure to identiy the high-perorming systems rested largely on sustained student achievement, we also knowthat we are not engaged in a quest to become the worlds best test takers.

Unwrapping these stories demonstrates how education is linked to the economy and that the cultural value we

place on its role within our society counts. We talked to countless practitioners about what they do each day tohelp their students. Superior perormance may be described simply, but we know the execution o it is anythingbut simplistic. The act that we visited countries across the world is testimony to the shrinking world itsel.

Our students will no longer compete or jobs across the county, state, or country, but rather across the globe. Weare, indeed, preparing children or a world that is distinctly dierent rom the one many o us grew up in. Whilechildren may represent 25 percent o our population, they represent 100 percent o our uture.

Its our hope that by reading this piece and thoughtully discussing its implications, we can improve our policies,practices, and most o allour students perormance. We also hope that this monograph will encouragea commitment to creating pathways or the unique success o every child because student perormance is

inextricably linked to our economy, to individual student lives, and to our uture as a society.

HONG KONG



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A Snapshot o Five o the Highest-Perorming School Systems

Inormation gathered rom several sources, including the Organization or Economic Cooperation & Development (2010).Confrmed by a leader rom each school system.

FINLAND HONG KONG LONG BEACH, CA ONTARIO, CANADA SINGAPORE

Population 5,359,538 7,136,300 462,257 13,372,996 5,183,700

Students 561,000 972,200 83,000 2,061,391 498,563

Schools 3,170 2,263 84 4,931 356

Types o Schools

Finnish andSwedish publics;

very ew private

schools

Government,

government-aided,

direct subsidy,

and privateschools

Public, private,

and charter

5,000 public

schools; 4 types:

English public,English Catholic,

French public, and

French Catholic;971 private

schools

Public schools:Government and

government-aided

schools; some

independentschools. Very ew

private schools

Focus on Children All children All children All children All children All children

Preschool8 months6 years

(play-based)

3 months2 years(playgroup);

3 years(kindergarten)

Early start

program ages

35 years providesassessment

services

Full-daykindergarten;

Education Ministry

has responsibilityor childcare

programslicensing begins 2012

Privatelike

U.S. (communityoundations,

business, aith-based, and social

organizations)

Intervention

Early, oten, and

or all kids;non-punitive part

o the instructional

process

Ater schoolremediation

(private tutors)

Intervention

preschool upward

Early, oten, and

or all kids; non-punitive part o

the instructional

process

Part o

instructional

process;ater-school

remediation

by teachers orprivate tutors

Assessments

In basic education,

sample-based

assessment o

learning outcomesin dierent

subjects, noranking lists

Chinese, English,

math, and liberalstudies in DSE

Standard U.S.

assessments

and year-roundschools

Assessments o

students so school

and teacher canadjust instruction

Various

school-basedassessments

throughout the

year; nationalexaminations

at the end o

key stages

Teacher

Education

1 in 10 applicants

selected

95100% have abachelors degree;

requirements now

more rigorous

Teachers and

adjunct proessors

at local collegeshelp fnd teacher

talent

Top third o

college cohort

Selected rom the

top 30% o cohort

Per Student

ExpenditureOECD.org $7,092$8,659 $6,047$6,814 $9,982$12,097 $7,648$8,388 $7,491$9,092



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LEARNING

Student Success Driver 1: Early Learning

High-perorming countries invest in early learning (birth to age fve). They know investing in early learningcontributes to the development o highly skilled, knowledgeable, and caring citizens who add to a strong economyand save money in the long run in comparison to those who try to catch up in primary grades and beyond.Historically, most U.S. education systems try to repair learning problems in primary grades, with an emphasison intervention rather than prevention.

School systems in Finland; Hong Kong; Long Beach, California; Ontario, Canada;

and Singaporedemonstrate their value o education as a human right linkedto their uture economy. In these systems, the ocus o all goals and decisionsdemonstrates that children o all ages, birth through grade 14, matter, andeducators have responsibility or each childs success.

Finland, Ontario, Hong Kong, and Singaporehave early and regular intervention orchildren with learning disabilities and equitable unding o schools throughout their

educational systems. The dierence between the emphasis that schools in the United States place on testing andaccountability and the Finnisheducators emphasis on each schools ability to cope with individual dierencesand social inequality is driven by a FOCUS on excellence and equity, respectively.

The early learning experiences students have beore frst grade are a critical step to strengthen school readinessand to close the achievement gap. The development o language and literacy skills in a childs frst language isimportant, including listening, speaking, oral language, reading, and print expression. Research also suggests thatlearning two languages at a young age benefts the brain through the increased density o brain tissue in areas olanguage, memory, and attention (www.preschoolcaliornia.org).

While most U.S. educators believe in and value early learning, they may not be aware o its impact. As earlychildhood education enters its golden years, 3060 percent o young children in the United States are not readyto be successul when they begin kindergarten. Quite simply, they are not ready to learn. O the U.S. children who

drop out o high school, hal were behind beore entering kindergarten. Hal o those children never make up theirachievement gap.

Early learning in high-perorming systems makes a huge dierence or a childs entire education, with earlydiagnosis o needs through intensive, ree interventions with teachers who possess a clear understanding owhat each learner needs or academic success, and knowledge o how best to ALIGN classroom experiencesand ormative instructional practices to oster each students growth.

Many high-perorming school systems have created a reinorcing cycle o FEEDBACK and support with consistentpolicies in place that channel unding to support their commitment to reach every child. They have raised the barto encourage the highest achievement or all students, and have closed the gap to help all students learn.

Extensive research has shown the value o early education in academic and social progress. However, the UnitedStates does not equally provide state-unded, high-quality preschool or all. Pre-K children participate on avoluntary basis in programs that do not have a coherent governance, unding, or implementation structure.



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According to the National Institute or Early EducationResearch, Ohio has had the largest drop in the nation inpublic preschool enrollment over the past decade. How dowe let this circumstance continue when economic studiesfnd that early intervention is critical to the developmentand long-term success o all students? Why have we madeonly marginal progress in providing all children and amilieswith access to early learning opportunities that so greatlyimpact our nations economic and education uture?

The United States is known or researching and using excellentteaching and instructional practices, such as inquiry learning.High-perorming school systems have implemented classroominnovation and school improvement practices developed andresearched in the United States. Cooperative learning, masterylearning, inquiry, and ormative assessment, Response toIntervention, Invitational Learning, and portolio assessmentare a ew examples o the United States contributions to theworlds educational system.

The United States has many excellent schools and teachers. The dierence lies, in part, with its policies thatcohesively and continually support high-perorming systems or every school and every child. As Secretary oEducation Arne Duncan said at the National Association or the Education o Young Children Annual Conerence& Expo in 2009, I we are to prevent the achievement gap and develop a cradle-to-career educational pipeline,early learning programs are going to have to be integrated with the K12 system.

Studies have ound that early intervention or young, at-risk children increases retention rates and academicachievement. We know children who struggle with reading in grades 13 are at a serious disadvantage. Theyincreasingly all behind in other subjects and are more likely to drop out o school. The Perry Preschool Studyound that one dollar invested in high-quality early childhood education programs by policymakers resultsin a return o seven dollars in preventative costs associated with incarceration, truancy, school dropout, andteen pregnancy (Stegelin, 2004). Birth-to-three preventive strategies include placing inants and toddlers instimulating, developmentally appropriate environments or part o each day and training amily members to helptheir childs development.

Finlandis known or its systematic FOCUSon students with special needs with an aligned instructionaldelivery system. Finlandvalues early recognition o learning difculties and social and behavioralproblems with appropriate proessional support provided to young people as early as possible.

Finlandsinclusive special education strategy has up to hal o the students in part-time special educationwith minor dysunctions in speaking, writing, reading, mathematics, or oreign languages at some point beorecompleting the nine-year basic school. Thus, the proportion o students in special education in the primary gradesis higher, but the need or special education decreases as students age.

The special education paths have individualized learning plans that may ollow the regular or adjusted curriculum.One path provides permanent special education either in the students school or in a separate institution.Remediation occurs at a timely point in the learning process, and the student receives eedback that helps him/her learn content at a point beore he/she experiences ailure in the classroom.

The United States provides many essential supports, but these oerings and services do not impact all childrenand amilies in need. This is where our statewide system has regressed in equity or children age one throughhigh school graduation. As many as hal o our children who enter frst grade are one or more years behind in

terms o language and social emotional development.


FINLAND


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Ontariohas a major fnancial commitment ($300 million) that provides ull-day early learning or youngchildren. This goal requires government, community, and school support. To close the literacy gap,Ontariosearly learning bridges the kindergarten gap by operating Parent and Family Literacy BestStart Hubs or children rom birth to age fve and their parents. This approach bridges the entry-levelgap oten seen among kindergarteners.

Caregivers are engaged rom the start and tend to stay connected as a result, impacting their childs success.They oer guided, intentional play-based learning that promotes school readiness and parent engagement.Full-day junior and senior kindergarten will be phased into Ontarioby 2015. This git o time and resources,primarily or summer and all birthdays, will provide a two-year kindergarten experience, as needed.

All o the high-perorming school systems we studied have discovered ways to build in processes or parent and

community engagement, believing that early childhood education is a part o the community. These systems haveestablished supporting conditions or early learning through secondary school learning with a FOCUSon childdevelopment, equity, arts, character, proessional learning, and leadership. Personal and social development

and academic achievement dovetail to provide early learning that is nurturing, ALIGNED,hands-on, stimulating, exploratory, and integrated across the disciplines. In Hong KongandFinlandssystems, the importance o parent involvement is demonstrated by having parentsobserve lessons and discuss with the teacher and other educators.

Many o these systems have internal structures o support (e.g., welare state) that play a crucial role inproviding children and amilies with equitable conditions or success. More than 95 percent o children attendpreschool, and comprehensive health services and preventive measures begin beore starting school. In severalhigh-perorming school systems, ree lunch is provided every day or all studentsregardless o their homesocioeconomic situation.

Finlandsstrategy selectively employs and trains teachers in research, child development, and diagnosingchildren with possible learning and development defciencies. Then, they provide support with a regular cycle oearly intervention and prevention with amilies at no cost. To prevent young children rom being ranked on theireducational perormance too soon, grade-based assessments are not normally used during the frst fve yearso school in many high-perorming school systems. All children in Finlandhave, by law, access to childcare,comprehensive health care, and preschool in their own communities. Since education is a human right, Finnish

schools are unded based on a ormula guaranteeing equal allocation o resources to each school regardless olocation or the wealth o its community. Every school must have a welare team to advance child happinessin school. All education rom preschool to post secondary is ree or anybody living in Finlandmaking highereducation aordable and accessible or all.

We know socioeconomic status has a signifcant impact on achievement, and high-perorming schoolsystems have ound ways to address these issues. Most Singaporepreschools are privately unded,but the government provides unding or schools with low-income students. Singaporehas identifedamilies in need and provides a range o support during early learning years with intensive, dailysystematic intervention beginning in frst grade. Finally, Singaporehas a exible system that valuesand channels unds and resources to low-achieving students.

The Hong Kongsystem is very similar to Singaporesinsoar as most kindergartens are privately unded. TheHong Konggovernment also provides unding to strengthen its support to parents and provides incentives orproessional upgrading and sel-improvement.

Since Hong Kongintroduced the Pre-Primary Education Voucher Scheme, an average o some 85 percent o

kindergarten children have beneftted rom the voucher subsidy annually.



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IN SUMMARY


n

Focus on the well-being oall children starting wellbeore kindergarten andthroughout grades K14.

n Focus on parents andcommunity engagementbelieving early childhood is apart o the community.

n Focus on the whole child,the arts, creativity, and

lie-long skills.

n

Provide systematicattention to students withspecial needs, diagnosingwhere children are,and providing continualinterventions aligned toindividual needs.

n Develop alignedinstructional delivery systems.

n Share stellar teacher-

developed lessons alignedto core curriculum acrossthe system.

n

Ensure that remediationoccurs at a timely point inthe learning process, and thestudent receives eedbackthat helps him/her learncontent at a point beore he/she experiences ailure in theclassroom.

n Reinorce a cycle oeedback and support withconsistent policies in place

that channel unding tosupport every child.

QUESTIONS

As we continue to shape the uture o education in America, we need to ask ourselves:

1. How did these high-perorming school systems ocus multi-proessional groups rom dierentagencies to ensure the success o all children in literacy and numeracy?

2. How did these high-perorming school systems partner with parents rom early learning years through

high school?3. Many high-perorming systems provide educational equality ree to all children, including books,meals, transportation, and health care plus well organized, aligned, and eective special education.What steps can we take to address these issues?

4. How do the high-perorming systems teach the whole child, including play, the arts, and languages,and provide whatever is needed to ensure student success?

5. What do we do to help amilies support student learning rom an early age?6. How can our systems diagnose toddlers and provide individually tailored support and learning plans or all

children to be at similar academic levels as they enter frst grade?

Student Success Driver 1: Early Learning

11


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LEARNING

Student Success Driver 2: Personalization and Pathways orStudent Success

Education is essential or health, well-being, and economic growth. But national averages mask the actthat certain populations are consistently underrepresented or post-secondary achievement and workorcepositions. Twenty percent o teenagers between the ages o 15 and 19 are no longer pursuing an education in

the United States.

Successul high-perorming countries have a system in which their lowest-perorming students are rankednot much lower than their best-achieving students. There is not a signifcant academic achievement gap.This success stems rom coherent and accessible pathways or all students. These pathways exist rompre-elementary to post-secondary, rom basic education to vocational education, and rom job training to theworkorce. These are systems in which all schools, rom kindergarten through the end o lower secondary school,are open to children o all races, ethnicities, genders, and socioeconomic statuses and are committed to bringingstudents up to the same high standards, irrespective o their socioeconomic backgrounds.

Academic and vocational connected pathways begin in the early learningyears where there is:

1. A FOCUS on the well-being o individual children that provides or childcare, health care, and preschool;

2. An accessible transition gateway rom elementary to secondary education to post-secondary; and

3. An ALIGNED vocational education and connected pathway between the academic and vocational thatdelivers core competencies and educational programs relevant to students personal and career interestsas well as the needs o the overall economy.

The high-perorming school systems we visited had a strong core curriculum based on internationally

benchmarked, world-class standards, which are matched to college entrance and work-ready requirements,as well as to curriculum rameworks that speciy what topics should be taught each year or each subject. This,in turn, leads to the creation o gateway exams based on standards and curricular exams. These school systemshave a well-defned syllabus or high school courses and high-quality examinations based on those syllabi, aswell as training or their teachers in how to teach these courses to students rom very dierent backgrounds.

All essential components within and between the pathways are ALIGNED with one another and provideFEEDBACK to all stakeholders throughout the system. These pathways ALIGN closely between the secondarycurriculum, the secondary exams, and university requirements and entrance exams. Likewise, there is closeALIGNMENT between industry and employer requirements and the secondary curriculum and secondary exam.



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At each end o the pathway or gateway (not grade-to-grade), there is some orm o exam tied to nationalstandards. All exams and instructional materials are tightly aligned to the national curriculum. These systemshave ensured coherence and ALIGNMENT within instructional systems to assure that students acquire academicand technical skills. With gateway exam systems, every student has a strong incentive to take rigorous coursesand work hard in school. When the high schools assure that students are college- and career-ready, colleges andemployers agree.

Finlandand Singaporehave multiple pathways that are highly developed and successulat leveraging occupational skills at the secondary level and that have perormance-basedvocational qualifcations and vocational learning-or-work programs with modular content

rather than annual curricula. Students earn credentials that they know will be honored bythe industry and where colleges and employers have had input and agree on college- andcareer-readiness.

The high-perorming school systems we visited have amazing systems o career and technical education thatFOCUS on developing strengths rather than exacerbating weaknesses and on providing experimental andcollaborative learning. As a result, students make an eective transition rom school to work with the academicskills needed to enter the workorce and engage in more learning on the job under the supervision o anexperienced mentor. Student pathway experiences use multiple networks o people who have jobs, internships,or apprenticeships.

Long Beachapplies a pathways program that is implemented statewide in Caliornia. As the second-busiest port in the U.S., and with its proximity to Los Angeles, the Long Beach Port Authority is asignifcant jobs creator or the area. From truck drivers to aerospace specialists, the port requiresskilled workers to drive the business engine or the region. Long Beachs high school pathway

programs are closely tied to the needs o business through advisory boards that ensure curricula in the 16pathways include the elements required or graduates to be ready to enter the workorce. Campuses areorganized by the pathways, and students identiy themselves with uture career options by the time theyare sophomores.

In Singapore, pathways include an internationally acclaimed Institute o Technical Education (ITE) and technicaleducation where nine o the 10 graduates secure jobs. In the past, this program was meant or lower-achieving

students, but is now a high-value system with mathematical skills needed in careers and requires completion oall secondary academic requirements. Their two-year ITE program enables students to successully progress topolytechnics. Classrooms are as close as possible to real work environments with parallel real world training. Insome respects, the community college system in the United States is a combination o the Singaporepolytechnicand ITE system.

LONG BEACH



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Ontariosgoal is to provide more engaging and relevant secondary paths to ensure that 85 percento students graduate within fve years o beginning secondary studies. This starts with personalizedpathways to support 7th into 8th and 8th into 9th grade transitions. Ontarioprovides innovation pathsin secondary schools that also encourage adults 2040 years o age to come back and continueeducation. This education and training path is essential or the countrys economy and social

well-being o individuals and communities. States and partners support these programs or wideaccessibility and better coordination rom training, jobs, higher education, citizenship, and immigration.

In the high-perorming school systems we studied, the standards are fxed, and the support system varies. Thismeans fnancial resources are allocated so that students who need more help, get the help. It also means that thestudents who are arthest behind get the best teachers. Additionally, the students who need help get more timeater school, on weekends, and during the summer. Summer learning helps reduce the student perormance gaps.

High-perorming school systems expect all students to achieve. Few o these high-perorming school systems usetracking or ability grouping. They have systems in place to enable teachers to identiy any issue and to ALIGN theinstructional techniques or resources needed to ensure the students get back on track.

Many o the high-perorming systems identifed schools that were not successul in bringing all their students tohigh standards. They closed underperorming schools and reassigned the students to high-perorming schools.Or, they assigned key sta rom better-perorming schools to take leadership positions in the low-perormingschools. These systems also sent key sta rom low-perorming schools to the high-perorming schools or havehad the management within the high-perorming schools begin managing the low-perorming schools.

High-perorming school systems have moved away rom local control toward systems designed to distributeresources to provide necessary supports or all children to learn and achieve high standards within the pathwaythey chose. This does not mean equal unding or all students, but dierential unding. Students rom low-incomeamilies, students rom amilies who do not speak English at home, and those with some orm o disability bring

more money to the school. Schools have the same high expectations or all students, and they provide additionalsupport to students who need them to master standards.

The systems FOCUS on the whole childand every child.

Highly equitable systems are committed to social values learning and support the investment inpublicly-unded schools. Ontariosand Finlandspublic schools are the heart o their communities,with 95 percent o students attending their publicly-unded schools. Supplementary schooling betweenlower and upper secondary school is provided or students in need.

Hong Kong, Finland, and Ontariouse a three-tiered intervention model. Summer programs in priority

neighborhoods have access to programs and support. Tutoring initiatives and successul onlineoerings ater school help deliver services without substantially adding costs.

SingaporesFOCUS values educating the whole child and considers not only academic, but alsoemotional dispositions. The system emphasizes competencies, such as being sel-directed, activelycontributing, and becoming a concerned citizen or uture 21st-century jobs and living. Singaporeslack o natural resources has led to the deeply held value that Our people are our only resource. Theschool system extensively uses Gallup student, teacher perception, and climate surveys to gauge itsglobal school house vision. Singaporewants students who embrace diversity and can travel anywhereand be successul. The school system provides ongoing, cyclical eedback loops between school andcommunity with student-led curiosity teams that engage in research-based project work presented to

groups o external business and community members.



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The introduction o Liberal Studies is an attempt toequip Hong Kongstudents with 21st-century skills.Senior Secondary Liberal Studies is a response to thecommunitys expressed needs or a cross-curricularlearning opportunity or all senior secondary students.

It complements other senior secondary subjects in providing oracademic excellence, broadening perspectives, and connectinglearning more closely to real-lie experience. The subject isrooted in the curriculum contexts o Hong Kong and aims toachieve the learning goals, which have been identifed orsenior secondary education.

Hong Kongsstudent-based, personalized learning system keepstrack o every student with embedded assessment or learningormative checks as a daily routine while emphasizing personalgrowth and character development.

All teachers teach to the core curriculum but have the latitude to crat the best lessons supporting thecore curriculum to meet the needs o each child. Continuing proessional development and curriculumare ALIGNED in all high-perorming school systems. Faculty work together to develop stellar lessons,demonstrate to one another, and receive FEEDBACK on their teaching and practices. They use

ormative and summative assessments and careully monitor student learning to provide FEEDBACK. Parentgroups in Finlandtalk with teacher groups about what quality looks like. Together, they have created qualitycards that enable the teacher, student, and parent to know what the learning target looks like. Proessionaldevelopment or educators and the process o improving instruction are tightly aligned in high-perorming schoolsystems.

Finlandscurriculum emphasizes creativity and innovation. The culture, community, and amily units emphasizeacademic success or a healthy lie and positive work ethic. These are ALIGNED and woven throughout the entirecurriculum and teaching practices. Educational policies do not change based on who is in political ofce.

When you put the child at the center, it brings continuity. When a minister or

director changes, there is still continuity.

Teachers select and design their own projects using subject-based knowledge and skill to rame problems,design solutions, identiy sources o inormation, analyze inormation, synthesize what was learned, rame asolution, and then communicate the solution. Teachers not only design great lessons, but motivate, acilitate,

mentor, and partner with students in this learning process. Classrooms are more like workshops that have a solidmastery o core subject background with various content and integrated learning.

Hong Kongand Finlandhave strong traditions in languages, arts, music, and other specials (e.g., sewing, woodworking). The emphasis is on applied learning paths (e.g., creative studies, media and communication, business,law, services, applied science, engineering, and production).

The high-perorming school systems we visited are highly equitable where actors o race, gender, andsocioeconomic status do not prevent students rom achieving high outcomeswhere FEEDBACK is provided toensure that what is being taught reects the reality and diversity o students livesand where gateway examstest or content mastery and problem solving, and require students to demonstrate creativity and innovation.Additionally, these high-quality exams require all students to master complex thinking skills in mathematicsand English Language Arts as well as science, social studies, the arts and music and, in some cases, morals orphilosophy. Finally, support is provided early and regularly through preschool into the workorce and the post-secondary system.

HONG KONG



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IN SUMMARY


n Focus on the whole child

and every child.n Focus on building a system

where actors o race, gender,and socioeconomic statusdo not prevent students romachieving high outcomes.

n Oer career and technicaleducation that ocuseson developing strengthsrather than weaknesses,

and experimental andcollaborative learning.

n Oer accessible, aligned

gateways rom elementaryto secondary education topost-secondary with highbenchmarks or academicand technical skills.

n Align academic andvocational pathways todeliver core competenciesand educational programsrelevant to personal andcareer interests.

n Ensure close alignmentbetween industry andemployer requirements andthe secondary curriculum andsecondary exam.

n Tightly align all exams andinstructional materials to thenational curriculum.

n Provide eedback during the

ongoing cycle o curriculumreview to ensure that whatis being taught reectsthe reality and diversity ostudents lives.

n Use ormative and summativeassessments as eedback tomonitor student learning; usePISA as a relative ormativeassessment that providesbenchmarked eedback.

n Foster communicationsand eedback between schooland external business andcommunity members.

QUESTIONSAs we continue to shape the uture o education in America, we need to ask ourselves:

1. How do coherent pathways impact our global economy?2. How do we provide pathways or all children regardless o their background and socioeconomic status?3. How do we provide all children with deep math and science content knowledge, as Singapore has included

in its pathways?4. What weekend, evening, and summer supports could help decrease the learning gap?5. What are the implications or our community, school system, and way o lie?6. Should the U.S. incorporate values and non-academic skills back into the curriculum like the

high-perorming systems do to build character and morally conscious citizens?

Student Success Driver 2: Personalizationand Pathways or Student Success

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TEACHING

Student Success Driver 3: Teacher Selectivity, Quality, and Growth

Teacher quality. Regardless o context or culture, the quality o the teacher who works with young people isimportant. Quite simply, teachers make a dierence. Teachers inuence what students learn and how muchthey learn.

The critical unanswered question or researchers and practitioners is: How do weprepare and mentor high-perorming and highly eective classroom practitioners?

Teacher quality is being addressed by policymakers as well as politicians, and part o the problem with ensuringquality relates to how one interprets the phrase teacher quality. Most recently, teacher quality has beenconnected with a teachers ability to oster student academic achievement. In essence, what qualities orcharacteristics must an individual possess to enhance the likelihood o his/her success in the classroom(i.e., an ability to increase student achievement)?

High-perorming school systems have a very clear FOCUS on identiying the best and brightestteachers or their classrooms. Finlandis highly selective, and draws rom the top 10 percent o

college graduates.

Singaporeand Ontarioare only slightly less selective. For example, Ontariodraws romthe top one-third o college graduates, and Singaporereceives approximately 16,000applications or 2,000 teaching positions. In Hong Kong, the top 18 percent enter theteaching proession. In every country that outperorms the United States, eorts havebeen made to recruit and select teachers drawn rom the most academically talentedstudents. In essence, those countries make an assumption that high-perorming studentsare a byproduct o teachers with high academic ability.

Teacher selectivity in high-perorming countries is oten easier because o atter economic social structures.

For example, Finlandcompensates teachers at a rate that is comparable to other high-status proessions, butbecause salaries or all proessionals are in the same relative range, excellent candidates are attracted toteachingit oers air pay coupled with high prestige.

In Shanghai, teachers are among the highest-paid civil servants in the country, and in Singapore, the Ministry oEducation regularly adjusts teacher compensation to ensure that its competitive with other proessional felds.



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Policymakers in high-perorming school systems implicitly and explicitly believe only academically talentedteachers are able to teach in ways that ensure students learn what they need to know and be able to doto be college- and career-ready. It takes academically talented teachers to challenge the critical thinkingand problem-solving abilities o their students. These teachers are successul because they possess thelanguage skills and conceptual understandings o content to make more inormed decisions about appropriateinstructional methodologies that engage students as problem-solvers and disciplined critical thinkers who have

globally shared values and exchange o ideas.

Many educators in the United States worry about alignment between curriculum, instruction, and assessment.But there is another alignment that is even more important: ALIGNMENT between the quality o the teacher inthe classroom and the expectations or success that educators have or students.

Quite simply, school quality never exceeds the quality o the teachers and leaders in a school.ALIGNING teacher quality with the expectations or high perormance is a key ingredient orsuccess in high-perorming school systems. Finlandrequires teachers to have a research-basedmasters degree beore entering the feld. Ontariobelieves that successul teaching is, in part,about personalization and precision. How can we prepare teachers to support the personalization

and precision needed in teaching and enhance proessional growth with their own classroom-basedresearch and investigations?

The high-perorming school systems we studied select candidates. Further, these systems have developedcompensation systems that enable teachers to receive enhanced pay throughout their careers.

What separates high-perorming school systems is the way in which they close the

FEEDBACK loop between the teachers they attract and the way they recognize andreward them.

In the 1960s, James Coleman argued that the amily, not the school, was essential to a childs academicachievement. In the 1990s, Dr. William Sanders oered a counterpoint: the teacher was the key to a studentsacademic achievement. Sanders ailed to defne exactly what teacher qualities make the value-added dierence,but he did clearly document that dierences in teacher quality existed. Some teachers are simply better thanothers at communicating and clariying content.

ONTARIO



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With the adoption o the Common Core State Standards in the United States, the teacher selection processbecomes even more signifcant. When teaching FOCUSES more on skill development and memorization, teacherscan more easily manage content without engaging that content. The Common Core changes the pedagogicaldynamics o the classroom. Teachers must not only know their content, but must also know how to help studentsFOCUS on the most important ideas o a discipline.

As other high-perorming countries illustrate with teacher quality and with enhanced teacherselectivity, teachers can actually teach less, but students will learn more. And, students can be

in schools less time (e.g., Singaporesschool year is 171 days), but will achieve more, especially asteachers in those countries place more emphasis on dynamic classroom instruction. High-qualityteachers are more academically efcient and able to clearly and logically communicate ideas inways that oster student engagement and achievement.

The answer to the teacher quality conundrum is simple: enhance the teacher selection process. Somemight question the easibility o enhanced selectivity, but clearly some high-perorming countries andcities are hitting the selectivity mark. Long Beachis one such example.

Long Beachteachers are comortable sharing best practices with their colleagues and asking or help. Teachersare invested in the district (70 percent live within the district), and the district invests in them by providing

systematic and in-depth proessional development.

Teacher selectivity is about much more than simply choosing the best to enter the proession. Teacher selectivityimplies that a school district creates an atmosphere in which partnerships are established, and proessionalrelationships are encouraged. It also creates the conditions or high-quality proessional development wherebyteachers receive opportunities that are ALIGNED to their pedagogical expertise and that grow their proessionalskills. In this kind o atmosphere, strong teachers personally thrive and proessionally grow.

Long Beachuses two other approaches that have policy and practice efcacy. First, the district workscollaboratively with a regional higher education partner to manage the quality o novice and master teachersemployed by the district. The district is closely tied to Caliornia State University-Long Beach. Many Long Beach

employees teach pre-service courses at the college, grooming teachers or The Long Beach Way prior to theirwork in the district. This intentional approach to preparation and selection begins to build a consistent set oapproaches and behaviors across the district.

Second, Long Beachrelies heavily on in-house rather than vendor proessional development, with highly skilledinstructional coaches assessing and inorming the classroom instruction o peers. An important element o thisapproach is a common language or proessional learning or principals and teachers. Additionally, the culture ohigh expectations is ollowed through at all levels. For example, the district has no terminal assistant principalpositions. Sta promoted to assistant principalships are expected to learn and grow into the principal positionwithin a set timerame. I they do not, these sta move to another career path.

In Hong Kong, the government continues to increase support to provide ongoing and continuousimprovement o teacher quality and growth. Schools also receive strong support rom the EducationBureau (EDB). The EDB sta work with teachers to make new initiatives stick, develop criticalriendship with schools, and oer additional resources to support instruction and ensurestudent success.

In high-perorming school systems, policymakers have decided that teacher quality is connected to teacher

selectivity. Again, candidates are chosen rather than sel-selected. This subtle, but real dierence is

signifcant. Teacher selectivity results in a measure o proessional status that causes those selected

to view their role and opportunities in a positive light. The consequence is that classrooms are staed by

individuals who know they are respected by parents and community members. And, they understand the

exceptional nature o their responsibilities.



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Student Success Driver 3: TeacherSelectivity, Quality, and Growth

IN SUMMARY


n Identiy the best and thebrightest to be teachers.

n Select the top collegegraduates.

n Elevate teaching as ahigh-status proession.

n Align teacher selectivity withinnovative career options and

opportunities.

n Align teacher quality withschool quality.

n Align teacher quality withhigh student perormanceexpectations.

n Recruit and chooseteachers to enter the

proession more oten thansel-selection.

n Oer teachers the opportunityto participate in meaningulproessional development.

n Establish ongoing interactionbetween schools and teacher

preparation institutionsto identiy the strongestcandidates and to enhancepreparation.

QUESTIONS


1. How can we balance the support and pressure we place on teachers in our schools?2. How can we invest in teacher proessional growth to ensure student success?

3. Asking teachers to collect, document, and analyze evidence o student learning requires a high degree oanalytical skills. Are colleges preparing teachers to be 21st-century thinkers?4. How can we create innovative and diverse career opportunities or teachers?5. What needs to occur or school and teacher preparation institutions to work together more eectively?6. How could schools provide eedback on the quality o the teachers they employ rom higher education?

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TEACHING

Student Success Driver 4: Focus on Learning

All the school systems we visited place the learner and learning at the center o the system. The Dean othe National Institute o Education in Singapore told us, Todays students are EPIC learnersexperiential,participatory, imaginative, and connected.

Singaporestudents go to school or 171 days a year and receive only about fve hours o actual

instruction each day. I we build the desire and capacity or student ownership o learning to masterylevels, then we will have more exibility to determine how education is designed and delivered.

The Finnisheducational leaders we met emphasized that learning is the FOCUS, nottest results. Good test results are a byproduct o helping students own and master theirown learning. This is one o the reasons why as part o The Long Beach Way,studentshelp set their own learning goals and perormance targets. As a part o this approach,

each student receives a combination o large group, small group, and individualized instructionincludingcoaching and intervention whenever needed. With a large population o immigrant students rom Latin America,each classroom welcomes new students and integrates their learning throughout the year. Instead o beinga disruption, new students receive wraparound intervention services immediately, so that they can become

accustomed socially and academically while they learn a new language. Another approach Long Beachusesis common learning tools across grades. For example, elementary and high school students alike use thinkingmaps to organize their writing.

Formative assessment is an essential part o most o the systems to advance a teach less, learn more andensures that the curriculum is ALIGNED to what students need to know and be able to do. These school systemsocus on culture and avoid the negative eects and uses o external accountability tests and systems. Theseschool systems recognize that strong and sustained research evidence identifes eective eedback as one o themost critical inuences on student achievement.

Formative assessment FEEDBACK oers an eect greater than student socioeconomic background, prior

cognitive ability, and traditional practices, such as ability grouping, homework, and packaged instructionalprograms. One Finnishofcial observed, We value eedback over regulation.

A principal in Ontariosaid, We provide support, support, support, then pressure.

There is a belie in most, i not all, o these high-perorming systems that students and teachers want to do a goodjob. They believe i people are not doing what is expected or making unwise choices, it is more likely becausethey do not have the knowledge or appropriate support to succeed. Extensive and punitive accountabilitymeasures and perormance regulations will not remedy the situation, and most likely will make things worse. Asone system leader said, FEEDBACK leaves us no choice. It is the ultimate accountability. Good FEEDBACK loopsenable us to identiy and close learning gaps.

Perhaps the most striking common dynamic across the fve systems is a systematic, deliberate, and unrelentingFOCUS on FEEDBACK. Trusted and appropriate eedback is considered a decisive element to promote high-qualitylearning and teaching. They defne eedback as a learning practice used to identiy and close the gap betweenactual and desired perormance.



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Ontarioprovides a clear example o a systemic approach to FEEDBACK in how they assess, evaluate,and report in (not on) Ontarioschools. In their system-wide curriculum policy document, GrowingSuccess, they require teachers use practices and procedures that:

n Provide ongoing descriptive FEEDBACK that is clear, specifc, meaningul, and timely to support improvedlearning and achievement; and

n Develop students sel-assessment skills to enable them to assess their own learning, set specifc goals,and plan next steps or their learning.

We live in a digital age in which most learners are wired or and by immediate and motivational eedback. Bygrounding the work o learning and teaching around eedback, high-perorming school systems are able todemand and support collective responsibility, collegial exchange, visible learning, and student engagement.Similar to the earned points systems embed in most video games, success and error become eedback loopsto adjust ongoing learning and teaching to improve achievement o intended learning targets at the individual,classroom, school, and system levels.

All fve school systems we studied FOCUS considerable time, attention, and resources to incentivize theimplementation and improvement o eective FEEDBACK and build the ormative assessment capability opre- and in-service teachers.

The implementation o Common Core State Standards and next generation assessments in the United Statesoers an unprecedented opportunity to initiate major changes in teaching and learning eedback practices andsystems. In act, they demand deep and broad capability building in eective FEEDBACK by and with learners,educators, and educational systems.

All fve high-perorming systems recognize that the uture o learning must increase human capacity tosuccessully address major global opportunities and challenges o the 21st century. They see a compellingneed to broaden conventional notions o student success to include the creative and entrepreneurial talentsnecessary or personal, national, and global prosperity. This is possible because 1) technology enables studentsto learn 24/7 and authentically demonstrate what they know, while well-trained and well-supported teachers workwith students to defne, measure, and acilitate learning success; and 2) communities, parents, and

students are demanding educational experiences that develop sel-regulated learning, critical thinking,collaboration, creativity, multicultural understanding, and communications skills.

FINLAND



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Student Success Driver 4:Focus on Learning

IN SUMMARY


n Teach less, learn more.

n Drive or mastery.

n Assess forcognitive andnon-cognitive learneroutcomes.

n Embed ormative instructionalpractices.

n Establish common rigor, andmultiple student pathways.

n Grow proessional expertiseand provide autonomy.

n Reduce noise and increasesignal at the classroom,

school, and system levels.

n Increase eectivenessand efciency.

n Promote strong individual andcollective efcacy and trust.

QUESTIONS

As we continue to shape the uture o education in America, there is a compellingneed to place the learner and learning at the center o the conversation. We need toask ourselves:

1. What is the uture o learning and student success?2. What are the barriers to eective assessment across systems, and how do we overcome them?3. What kind o eedback matters at the classroom, school, and system levels?4. How do we properly manage eedback fdelity, quality, and accessibility?5. How can we ensure we act on eedback appropriately?

6. How do we nurture and provide eedback or cognitive and non-cognitive learner outcomes?

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CONDITIONS OF SUCCESS

Educational attainment and economic development are closely ALIGNED. Every community needs a certainamount o intellectual capital to thrive. That belie has always been evident, but is especially so in a 21st-century,globalized economy.

Historically, the United States has been the global leader in terms o intellectual capital. That is no longer true.Each year, the United States drops in relative terms in comparison to the number o college graduates it produces,rom 1st in the 1990s to 14th in 2012. Quite simply, the U.S. is an under-producer o intellectual capital, and countriessuch as China and India are quickly emerging as overproducers. That act will inuence everything rom GDP topatents to innovation and entrepreneurshipto quality o lie!

Results rom the PISA test suggest that the perormance o students in the United States is, at best, mediocre.The consequence o underperormance means ewer students have access to the intellectual capital and thepossibility o middle class incomes in the 21st century. A smaller middle class signifes real problems or ournational economy.

Education has always been the ticket to the middle class way o lie and to sustaining ourdemocracy. In countries such as Finlandand Singapore, there is a clear understanding thateconomic vitality is closely associated with educational attainment. A similar imperative isnot part o the culture o communities in the United States.

For whatever reason, ar too many students are ailing to graduate rom high school college- and career-ready. Thejobs o the uture are going to require some sort o post-secondary credential, and achieving that credential meansALIGNMENT rom the point o entry into the education system to the point o being college- and career-ready.

Experts assert that two out o three 21st-century jobs are going to require a two- or our-year college degree. Atthe current time, about one out o three 25 to 64-year-olds in the United States possesses such a credential, whichis ar below the ratio needed or economic vitality.

The link between the economy and education in high-perorming school systems is tight. In essence, there is aFEEDBACK loop between what the education system provides and what the marketplace demands. For example,in Singapore, the Ministry o Manpower meets regularly with the Ministry o Education to provide a eedback loopbetween the needs and demands o the economy and the manpower produced by the education system to meetthose needs.

In the United States, a premium is placed on an individuals personal choices and sense o autonomy. Marketdemands oten shape career choices, but individuals are oten encouraged to pursue occupational choicesconsistent with their interests, which may or may not be aligned to marketplace needs.

Student Success Driver 5: Education Linked toEconomic Development



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In educationally high-perorming countries, there is a greater FOCUS on the collective needs and the workorcedevelopment necessary to meet those needs. Those cultures appear to understand the essential nature o globalcompetitiveness. These countries have benchmarked their systems to ensure that students are completing theireducation with the skills necessary to make them competitive in the international marketplace and to ensure thatthey have the talent necessary to ulfll workorce needs. The tight ALIGNMENT between the education systemand the countrys economic needs leads to a very efcient system.

The Lumina Foundation estimates that by 2025, 60 percent o the United States population should hold some type

o post-secondary credential or the country to be economically competitive. That goal is essential i the UnitedStates is to be in a position to create not just jobs, but good jobs. Good jobs demand intellectual capital and the

pursuit o good jobs is one reason that the Common Core State Standards and other curriculum reorm eortshave been initiated across the 50 states.

With intellectual capital and an enhanced FOCUS on productivity, high-perorming school systems are able toaddress equity issues and ensure students receive the opportunities they need or personal success. These samesystems understand that efciency and eectively managing resources enables them to secure cost savings thatcan be reallocated to serve the needs o all studentsparticularly those who struggle to succeed.

In Finland, high percentages o students receive special education during the early grades. The

system invests heavily at the early grades to ensure all students readiness to pursue a more rigorousacademic curriculum as they mature. The United States allocates its special education services in amuch more restrictive way, and the result is that many students who need or who would beneft rom

additional assistance simply do not receive it. Students in Finlandare ready to read by the time they enter third

grade because they have received the education they need through just-in-time service delivery. Students in theUnited States are much less likely to possess the reading skills necessary or profciency because learning needshave been unaddressed. As a result, ar too many U.S. students are not able to complete their studies, graduaterom high school, and pursue post-secondary credentials. The impact o this circumstance is real or the studentsin terms o lietime earnings and to communities in terms o lost intellectual capital.

The 21st-century world is an international marketplace. Corporate leaders can tap the intellectual skills

o people rom around the world. The countries that provide that intellectual capital, the countries thatthrive and survive the economic challenges o the uture, are going to be the countries that ensure thattheir P12 systems are preparing students or educational opportunities beyond a high school diploma.

In Hong Kong, schools are very engaged internationally. Most schools partner with schools in other countries, andregular exchange programs in both student and teacher levels are ongoing. Teacher-level exchanges also includesharing good practices and proessional development. The United States is still ar too ocused on high schoolgraduation as the educational endpoint. The world o the uture will be FOCUSED on post-secondary, college,and career. High-perorming countries clearly understand the nexus between education, the economy, and theglobal community.

The Gallup Global Wellbeing Surveys show that the single most desired eature o a good lie is the attainment o

a good job. O the seven billion people on the planet, three billion people tell Gallup they seek good work. Mostdesire ull-time, sustainable employment. Currently, there are only 1.2 billion such jobs around the world, leaving aglobal shortall o 1.8 billion good jobs. Gallup calls this situation The Coming Jobs War (Cliton, 2011).

How can communities, rom small rural settings to large metropolitan areas, manage to

grow good jobs?

The high-perorming school systems we visited are FOCUSED on this question. Whether it is designing anddelivering a post Nokia phone uture in Finlandto making Toronto the worlds largest city o globally educated andcompetent proessionals, the coming jobs war will demand new collaboration curves between educational,business, and civic systems. By collaboration curves, we mean ways to increase local perormance and

prosperity through new platorms o engagement centered on growing skills, talent, and entrepreneurial capacity.

High-perorming school systems must be well-connected not just to local stakeholders and assets, but also toglobal networks that help them achieve exponential perormance improvement in educational quality and advancepositive and shared relationships between learning and livelihood.



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Student Success Driver 5: EducationLinked to Economic Development

IN SUMMARY


n Provide a rigorous curriculum.

n Focus on academiccompetitiveness.

n Link educational attainmentand economic development.

n Understand that jobs inthe uture will require post-

secondary credentials.

n Align the curriculum toensure college- andcareer- readiness.

n Closely align post-secondaryachievement and productivity.

n Adjust educationalprogramming to respond

to market demands.

n Align market demands topersonal career choices.

n Ensure that workorcedevelopment inuenceseconomic vitality.

QUESTIONS


1. Is a national curriculum necessary or educational excellence in the United States?

2. How do we educate the whole child to ensure economic prosperity or all?3. Why are economic productivity and intellectual capital so closely aligned?4. How should educators work to align the curriculum that they provide to students with community

expectations?5. What is the appropriate role o business in schools?

6. Why should young people consider market demands when making learning choices?

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CONDITIONS OF SUCCESS

Student Success Driver 6: Cultural Expectation o Value

These 10 statements express the cultural expectation o value that drives the fve

high-perorming school systems we visited.

The keep it simple ethic tends to rest on the notion o a clear FOCUS, an ALIGNED eort, and trustedFEEDBACK systems. As one principal outside Toronto shared, The everything agenda is an energyvampire that sucks all o our energy and leaves us tired and rustrated because we can never ullyaccomplish what we hope to do.

For nearly the last decade, Ontariohas stayed steady on three goals:

1. Seventy-fve percent literacy and numeracy rates;

2. Eighty-fve percent high school graduation rate or all student populations; and

3. Increased public confdence in the educational system.

1Seek broad andsustainableprosperity.

2Everybody needs

to succeed iwe are all tosucceed.

3Education is acommon good.

4FOCUS on thewhole learnerand engageamilies.

5Stay FOCUSED.

6Reducedistractions.

7Keep it student-centric, simple,sincere, andsustainable.

8Be air andhonest.

9Stay the courseand ensureALIGNMENT.

10Constantlygrow educatorcapacity andproessionalstatus.



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Long Beachhas been able to stay FOCUSED and staythe course partly because o the relative continuity oleadership across the district and partly because morethan 70 percent o their employees live in the district.

Additionally, despite a high amount o mobility, including new

English Language Learners across many classrooms, everystudent is expected to perorm.

From an early age, students select their desired college, major,and career. In all classrooms, the students sel-expressed,personal high expectations are posted on the walls, as areminder that everyone can and will go ar in lie. To supportthat perormance, state standards are also posted, along withthe path or meeting and exceeding them.

Finlandand Ontario, like most o the systems we

studied, do not change educational reorm eortsevery ew years based upon political and/or policy whims. Instead, these systems ollow anestablished and accepted game plan that places the individual and collective expertise o teachersat the core o the work. When they do make changes, they involve teachers because they know thattheir teachers are the experts and to ensure ALIGNMENT o the desired goals or student learning.Nobody in the United States thinks o substantively changing proessional medical practice withoutconsulting doctors, nurses, and other health providers.

In high-perorming school systems, teaching is a revered proession held in high regard with clear perormanceexpectations, standards, and support.

In some ways, everything comes down to FEEDBACK systems grounded in strong relationships and mutual trust.We recognize that we explored relatively small airly homogenous educational systems, and this can makecommon cultural expectations and value a bit easier to recognize and realize. But regardless o size, eedbacksystems that promote airness and honesty set the various social contracts that ensure the value and efcacy opublic education particularly as diversity grows. Every learner and educator are oered a air chance to succeedregardless o background or residence.

Simple, sincere, and honest eedback promotes student ownership o learning and teacher ownershipo powerul proessional practice and integrity. In Hong Kong, educational ofcials once publishedcomparative perormance data o teachers and schools in the newspapers and quickly stoppedthis practice once they saw the negative repercussions on public trust and confdence. There are

dierent and more productive ways to be transparent and trustworthy. Community and/or nationalprosperity and competitiveness require a great deal o collaboration and eedback within and acrosseducational, business, and civic enterprises.

Being a small country with limited natural resources located in a populous and competitive part othe world, Singaporehas made education its signature brand. The Singapore Ministry o Educationspends considerable resources every year marketing the importance and value o being a teacherand encouraging the best and the brightest to seek a teaching career. The Singaporegovernmentrecognizes that the nations uture health and prosperity rest on the talents o all o its people. Theyview the path to student success as not a race to a single mountain peak, but as a multiple ascentacross a mountain range. The ties between the Singaporeaneconomy and educational system are

very, very tight. The Ministries o Manpower and Education work together under the same signaturebrand to ensure that the blend o learning and livelihood lead to personal and collective prosperity.

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Nearly a fth o Hong Kongsgovernmental budget is targeted or education. Unlike theAmerican context in which there is a steady and oten contentious FOCUS on generating,using, and managing dwindling fscal resources, educational leaders in Finland, Singapore,

and Hong Kongseem to be able to devote more time and attention on cultural and notfnancial expressions o value.

In Hong Kong, cultural expectations are critical to school success. The schools establish acommon language, mission, and objectives together or the common good. Nearly all o the

students we met had a global view o education and o their utures. Most students are bi-lingual, and many aretri-literate at a very young age. Students spoke o traveling to other countries or their learning in addition to theirstudies in Hong Kong. Many leaders shared that undamental to their success has been their combination o theculture o the East and the problem-solving, creative, and worldly view o the West.

The East ocuses on moral development, eort, and a hard-working ethic. Also, it is a cultural belie among the

Chinese that the way to move up the social and economic ladder is through education. Thereore, Hong Kongstudents tend to stay in education or longer than students in other countries. Also, most Hong Kongparents willask their children to stay in education or as long as possible. Parental involvement and fnancial support arecritically important to student success.

Ontarioand Long Beachace a more turbulent fnancial climate. But, they as well havekept mission over money as the driving orce behind most o their decisions. Like Finland,they do not treat No Child Let Behind as a hollow political slogan or a regulatory schemethat ails to build the undamental capacity to succeed.

Instead, Ontarioand Long Beachhave worked hard over the last decade to build a common language and

proessional learning system to equip and support all system personnel to deliver on the No Child Let Behindpromise. Most o our Global Education Study team, i not all o the participants, knew prior to our trips that therewere no silver bullets, and that we needed to be careul applying cultural expectations and values rom distantcultures to the American circumstance.

What perhaps we did not realize beore our planes lited o or distant lands is that our journey would result in auniversal sense o going homerediscovering what our Long Beachcolleagues emphasize all the timeto besuccessul we need to act as a amily.

nWe learn rom the company we keep. Families and school systems, like all living systems, survive and thrive oneedback and natural exchanges o energy and resources.

nTeaching is nurturing the whole individual. Strong and stable amilies help everybody grow in their ownwayat their own pace within a culture o clear and high expectations. In the classroom, powerulpedagogical practice provides a FOCUS through clear learning targets, gathers evidence to ensureALIGNMENT o teaching and mastering the targets, and provides eective FEEDBACK to promote studentownership o learning. This is done over and over again. Learner development is not a linear progression omastering new knowledge. It is a cyclical dynamic involving experience, expertise, application, and reection.Good teaching is centered more on how students learn.

nIndividual and collective efcacy is essential. I people do not eel they have the power and autonomy tosucceed, then they will not persevere and grow.

The next generation o educational innovation will increase access to the tools, resources, and expertise thateach student will need to succeed regardless o time, space, and cultural limitations. More and more borders willbe breached, and student ownership and mastery o learning will drive the ways we design and deliver education.



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IN SUMMARY


n Communicate a commonmission, objectives, and

messaging.

n Reduce political and policydistractions.

n Stay the course in a air andhonest ashion.

n Make a clear and consistentinvestment in what works.

n Strive or continuity oleadership.

n Adopt education as asignature brand.

n Track and build stakeholderand community trust and

confdence.

n Connect education tojob creation and economicdevelopment.

n Get results through goodeedback.

QUESTIONS


1. What partnerships and collaborations are necessary to increase and spread educational value?2. How can we improve the publics perceived value o teaching and education?3. How do we think and act innovatively while staying true to our undamental values?4. What is the relationship between transormational and sustainable educational reorm?5. How do we identiy, connect, and reinorce local educational capacity?6. What are the key strategic investments that need to be made to build creative and entrepreneurial talent?

Student Success Driver 6: CulturalExpectation o Value

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LEARNING AND COLLABORATINGACROSS THE GLOBEThe Global Education Study that Battelle or Kids initiated inthe spring 2012 was just the beginning o our commitment tocollaborate with educators and stakeholders rom around theworld to discover the drivers that truly make a dierence instudent learning.

On November 5, 2012, more than 300 educators, business, and

community leaders gathered to attend a Global EducationSummit in Columbus, Ohio. Education leaders rom each o thehigh-perorming countries profled in this monograph gave

presentations about their journey to student success.Participants used this monograph to inorm table talk anddiscussed the essential questions and strategies or actionwithin the In Summary pages or each success driver aswell as some o the ollowing:

1. Early Learning: What is needed to provide earlypreventative, individually tailored support orall children?

2. Personalization and Pathways o Student Success: How can we prepare students to be sel-directed

and engaged in educational relationships that advance them to mastery at an appropriate pace?

3. Teacher Selectivity, Quality, and Growth: How can we attract, prepare, and retain teachers withthe right proessional pathways, systems, and support to succeed pedagogically?

4. Focus on Learning: How can we ensure that teachers are prepared to and engaged in practicesgrounded in descriptive eedback?

5. Education Linked to Economic Development: Are we producing graduates who have the rightknowledge and skills to succeed economically?

6. Cultural Expectation o Value: Are students, parents, employers, and citizens confdent in the capacityo the system to deliver value?

Access presentations, videos, and resources shared or developed as part o the Global Education Study andSummit at www.BattelleorKids.org/go/global.

Keep the Conversation Going

What are some actions we could take to collaborate and put powerul strategies into practice to acceleratesuccess or all students around the world?

Email your questions, ideas, and FEEDBACK to [email protected] and keep theconversation going. Share your ideas on Twitter@BattelleorKids (#bkglobaled)or on Facebookat www.acebook.com/BattelleorKidsorg.



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APPENDIXSTUDENT SUCCESS DRIVER DEFINITIONS

Following are high-level defnitions o the drivers o student success described in this monograph and that theGlobal Education Study team observed during its trips. Additional strategies related to each driver arehighlighted as well.

LEARNING

Student Success Driver 1: Early learning.

nEarly learning (PreK). Early childhood learning reers to the experiences a child has during the period betweenone and fve years o age, including the toddler and preschool years (The American Academy o Pediatrics).

nEarly and ongoing intervention so that no children are let behind. Remediation that occurs at a timely point inthe students learning process. The student receives FEEDBACK that helps him/her learn content at a pointbeore he/she experiences ailure in the classroom.

Student Success Driver 2: Personalization and pathways or student success.

nMultiple, connected pathways to student success. Academic and vocational pathways are designed anddelivered so that all students secure both core competencies and engage in educational programs that arerelevant to their personal and career interests. Clear and accessible gateways exist rom elementary tosecondary education to post-secondary and vocational education.

nImportance o equity and access or students. Finance and accountability systems provide a air allocationo resources or all students with transparent communication on who gets how much, or what, and withwhat results.



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TEACHING

Student Success Driver 3: Teacher selectivity, quality, and growth.

nTeacher selectivity. Hire great teachers. High-perorming countries place a premium on selecting the verybest individuals or appointment to classroom assignments. Only the highest-quality candidates are consideredor selection as teachers or classroom assignments with elementary and secondary students.

nTeacher/school autonomy. System encourages and supports proessional and organizational exibility and

expertise to ensure all students succeed.

nProessional development. Teachers receive additional pedagogical training ater they have completed theirinitial preparation or classroom assignments. Proessional development occurs when the teacher hasresponsibility or a classroom, understands the next steps on the career ladder, and receives training orcontinued career progress.

nMaintain ocus and minimize distraction. The ability or teachers to make pedagogical decisions about what isessential or student learning and ocus primarily on that content during the instructional process.

Student Success Driver 4: Focus on learning.

n Emphasis on learning, not (or less on) accountability. System improvement ocuses on building capacityand does not overly rely on using test results and perormance evaluation to reward or punish educatorsand schools.

nQuality and rigor o the core curriculum.

nClear vision o the learner and what learning is (student centric). The teachers ability to possess a clearunderstanding o what each learner needs or academic success and the understanding o how best to shapeclassroom experiences to oster student growth.

nOngoing assessment or learning. Across the curriculum, learning targets are understood by teachersand students in a context where students assess their own learning and teachers use a

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