Transformed by LiteracyHigh Standards,

High Expectations, NO EXCUSES!!!

Sue SzachowiczSenior Fellow, ICLEPrincipal (retired)

Brockton High

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My Lesson Plan Why am I here? Our Brockton High story WHAT did we do?

FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS: LITERACY FOR ALLThe power of whole school literacy

Lessons Learned (if we can do this, ANYONE can!!!)

Wicked Awesome Results

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But please remember…Ours is a story of every school, every teacher,

every student.This IS NOT just about high school, NOT about urban, NOT about size of school.This IS NOT about any individual, any principal, any teacher… it is about us ALL.This IS about change.This IS about being the best you can be.

If we can do this, anyone can!!!3

The Brockton High Story:10 YEARS!!!

Sustaining a Decade of Continuous

Improvement

Boston

Brockton

Brockton, City of Champions

Massachusetts

Brockton High, School of Champions

School of Champions

• Comprehensive 9 – 12• Enrollment: 4,155• Poverty Level: 80.2%• Minority population: 78%• 39 different languages • 39.3% speak another language in the home• Approximately 17% LEP Services• Approximately 11% receive Special Educ. Services

Some info about Brockton High?

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60% Black - includes African American, Cape Verdean, Haitian, Jamaican, and others

22% White 12% Hispanic

2% Asian 2% Multirace 2% All Other

Who attends Brockton High?

Cape Verde Islands

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Countries of the 888 members of the Class of 2014

CanadaCameroonKenyaPeruPakistanSenegalEl SalvadorThailandBarbados

ChinaColumbiaFranceGuinea-BissauGuadeloupeGuyana

ItalyJamaicaLiberiaMexicoRussiaSomalia

United StatesCape VerdeHaitiPuerto RicoDominican RepublicNigeriaPortugalBrazil

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Mass. implemented a high stakes test (MCAS) Three-quarters of our students would not be earning a

diploma Culture of low expectations – “Students have a right to

fail” (former BHS Principal) Negative image in our city, in the state (nasty comments!) Yet we were living in DENIAL!!!! Who is responsible???? We had silos (My kids, your

kids, not OUR kids) Success by chance – depended on who your teacher was

– are you lucky???

WHAT we faced… Any of these sound familiar???

MCAS arrived, and here we were:

MCAS 1998Failure

ELA – 44%(Sped – 78%)

MATH – 75%(Sped – 98%)

MCAS 1998Advanced+Proficient

ELA – 22%

MATH – 7%

Remember, they MUST pass to graduate – NO EXCEPTIONS!!!

Just in case you were thinking MCAS is easy, take a look…

2013

2013

Readings from Previous Years Include:

Burial at Thebes from Sophocles’Antigone

Shakespearean Sonnet # 73 Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (3 page excerpt) Making Humus by Composting by

Liz Ball Proof (4 page play excerpt by

David Auburn) The Trial (2 page excerpt by Franz

Kafka)

ELA MCAS 2013

2013

2013

Math MCAS 2013

Science MCAS (Biology) 2013

Pressure for accountability in education and closing the

achievement gaps among students will continue

to increase.

Accountability and the Achievement Gap:

That’s where we were…

Here’s a preview of where we are now… Then, at the end some WICKED AWESOME

stuff!…

MCAS 1998Advanced+Proficient

ELA – 22 %

MATH – 7 %

MCAS 2013Advanced+Proficient

ELA – 88% MATH –70%

THEN NOW

THEN NOWMCAS 1998

Failure ELA – 44%

MATH – 75%

MCAS 2013Failure

ELA – 1.8% MATH – 11%

It’s cool and fun to be smart

Honor Roll Statistics

1998859 STUDENTS

(4400 students)

19%

2013 1608 STUDENTS

( (4155 students)

39%

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How Did BHS go from this to a Model School???

Turnaround at Brockton High

BROCKTON - Brockton High School has every excuse for failure, serving a city plagued by crime, poverty, housing foreclosures, and homelessness.Almost two-thirds of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, and 14 percent are learning to speak English. More than two-thirds are African-American or Latino - groups that have lagged behind their peers across the state on standardized tests.But Brockton High, by far the state’s largest public high school with 4,200 students, has found a success in recent years that has eluded many of the state’s urban schools: MCAS scores are soaring, earning the school state recognition as a symbol of urban hope.

Principal Susan Szachowicz, shown chatting at lunch with Yiriam Lopez, is in many ways the school’s biggest cheerleader. (Essdras M Suarez/ Globe Staff) By James Vaznis Globe Staff / October 12, 2009

Emphasis on literacy brings big MCAS improvement

GO

Boxers!!!

September 28, 2010

Boxers in the NEW YORK

TIMES

High Expectations NO Excuses!!!

Transforming a Culture

through Literacy

A.K.A. - It’s COOL to

be smart at Brockton

High!!!

As we say in Boxer Country,we are WICKED AWESOME!!!

Our Turn Around Story… We did it our way!

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Brockton and ICLE philosophy Rigor Relevance RelationshipsALL students-and ALL means ALL!!!

So, that’s who we are… What did we do?

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So, what did we do??? Our turnaround: 4 Steps

1. Empowered a Team2. Focused on Literacy –

Literacy for ALL, no exceptions- all means all

3. Implemented with fidelity and according to a plan

4. Monitored like crazy!

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Restructuring Committee – our “think tank” Every department represented with a

mix of teachers and administrators Balance of new teachers and veterans,

new voices, and voices of experience

Challenge for Change funding (NOT grant $)

Step ONE: Empowering a Leadership Team

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We looked at the data And, our first plan:

Let’s figure out the testThe result of that:

The Great Shakespearean Fiasco

After our Shakespearean fiasco, a better approach:

Asked “What do our students need to be able to do to be successful on the MCAS, in their classes, and beyond BHS? (Read challenging passages, difficult nonfiction, write – a LOT, solve multistep problems, explain their thinking… etc.)

Examined our data: what did we need to focus on, what skills did we need to target for ALL

LITERACY – First, defined it, then trained ourselves how to teach these literacy skills to our students. It HAD to be about LITERACY!!!

The “WHAT”:LITERACY for ALL:

Step TWO: Focused on Literacy for ALL

Reading, Writing, Speaking, Reasoning

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How did we determine our focus?Literacy Skills Drafted:

LITERACY CHART: WRITING

to take notes to explain one’s thinking to argue a thesis and support one’s thinking to compare and contrast to write an open response to describe an experiment, report one’s findings, and report one’s conclusion to generate a response to what one has read, viewed, or heard to convey one’s thinking in complete sentences to develop an expository essay with a formal structure

c Brockton High School, 2002

WRITING

SOCIAL

SCIENCE

MATH

ELECTIVE

ENGLISH

SCIENCE

Engaging the faculty:After each discussion, back to Restructuring for revisions.

This process went back and forth to the faculty four or five times

that year.Review, discuss, revise, repeat!

LITERACY CHART: READING

for content ( both literal and inferential ) to apply pre-reading, during reading and post-reading strategies to all

reading assignments, including determining purpose and pre-learning vocabulary

to research a topic to gather information to comprehend an argument to determine the main idea of a passage to understand a concept and construct meaning to expand one’s experiences c Brockton High School, 2002

READING

SOCIAL

SCIENCE

MATH

ELECTIVE

ENGLISH

SCIENCE

LITERACY CHART: WRITING

to take notes to explain one’s thinking to argue a thesis and support one’s thinking to compare and contrast to write an open response to describe an experiment, report one’s findings, and report one’s conclusion to generate a response to what one has read, viewed, or heard to convey one’s thinking in complete sentences to develop an expository essay with a formal structure

c Brockton High School, 2002

WRITING

SOCIAL

SCIENCE

MATH

ELECTIVE

ENGLISH

SCIENCE

LITERACY CHART: SPEAKING

to convey one’s thinking in complete sentences to interpret a passage orally to debate an issue to participate in class discussion or a public forum to make an oral presentation to one’s class, one’s peers, one’s community to present one’s portfolio to respond to what one has read, viewed, or heard to communicate in a manner that allows one to be both heard and

understood c Brockton High School, 2002

SPEAKING

SOCIAL

SCIENCE MATH

ELECTIVE

ENGLISH

SCIENCE

LITERACY CHART: REASONING

to create, interpret and explain a table, chart or graph to compute, interpret and explain numbers to read, break down, and solve a word problem to interpret and present statistics that support an argument or hypothesis to identify a pattern, explain a pattern, and/or make a prediction based on a

pattern to detect the fallacy in an argument or a proof to explain the logic of an argument or solution to use analogies and/or evidence to support one’s thinking to explain and/or interpret relationships of space and time c Brockton High School, 2002

REASONING

SOCIAL

SCIENCE

MATH

ELECTIVE

ENGLISH

SCIENCE

We had cool looking charts on the walls… SO WHAT…

The KEY to our implementation is HOW we trained teachers to teach these Literacy skills to our students.

So now what…

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It’s about teaching, stupid…

Says Mike Schmoker in Results Now

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Faculty Meetings becameLiteracy WorkshopsKEY = Adult Learning

Teachers teaching teachers – GOOD stuff!

Step THREE: Implemented with fidelity and a plan

We started with writing! Writing is

thinking

FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS

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LITERACY CHART: WRITING

to take notes to explain one’s thinking to argue a thesis and support one’s thinking to compare and contrast to write an open response to describe an experiment, report one’s findings, and report one’s conclusion to generate a response to what one has read, viewed, or heard to convey one’s thinking in complete sentences to develop an expository essay with a formal structure

c Brockton High School, 2002

WRITING

SOCIAL

SCIENCE

MATH

ELECTIVE

ENGLISH

SCIENCE

Our First Training: Open ResponseOPEN RESPONSE STEPS TO FOLLOW

1. READ QUESTION CAREFULLY. 2. CIRCLE OR UNDERLINE KEY WORDS. 3. RESTATE QUESTION AS THESIS (LEAVE BLANKS) 4. READ PASSAGE CAREFULLY. 5. TAKE NOTES THAT RESPOND TO THE QUESTION. BRAINSTORM & MAP OUT YOUR ANSWER. 6. COMPLETE YOUR THESIS. 7. WRITE YOUR RESPONSE CAREFULLY, USING YOUR MAP AS A GUIDE. 8. STATEGICALLY REPEAT KEY WORDS FROM THESIS IN YOUR BODY AND IN YOUR END SENTENCE. 9. PARAGRAPH YOUR RESPONSE. 10. REREAD AND EDIT YOUR RESPONSE.

Now I will model the ten steps students will use when answering an open-response item. The following chart includes the training steps that the facilitator will use and an explanation of the work to be done by the participants.Let’s go through the ten steps using The Book of Ruth as our sample text.

5: Take notes that respond to the question. Brainstorm and map out your answer. Remind students that they should be doing ACTIVE reading. They should use strategies to develop their answer, such as taking notes, circling and underlining key words, and using brackets. Follow reading strategies developed in the workshops.

Here’s an example of explaining a step:

First step:Training – ALL facultyNext step – HOW to bring this

into the classroom Lessons developed Implemented according to a

calendar

So then what… Success by design!

We didn’t leave it to chance. (Success by design, not by

chance!)The implementation was

according to a specific timeline…

Step THREE: Implemented with fidelity and a plan

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As a follow up to this activity, I am requiring Department Heads to collect from each teacher at least one student sample from each of the teachers’ classes. The student samples should include:

Student NameTeacher NameDateCourse Name and LevelPeriodA copy of the reading selection and questionEvidence of the student’s active readingAll pre-writing work that the student has done, e.g. websA copy of the written open response The new scoring rubric and completed assessment

 After you have collected the samples from each teacher and have had the opportunity to review them for quality and completeness, please send them to me in a department folder with a checklist of your teachers. Again, please be sure that your teachers clearly label their student samples.

The Open Response calendar of implementation is as follows:

Nov 2-6: Social Science, Social Sci Biling.Nov 30-Dec 4: Wellness, JROTC Dec 14-18: Science, Science BilingualJan 11-15: Business, Tech, & Career Ed.Jan 25-29: Math, Math BilingualFeb 22-26: Foreign Lang, Special EdMar. 7-11: English, ESL, GuidanceMar 20-24 Family &Cons. Sci, ProjGradsApr 5-9: Music, Art

What gets monitored is what gets done!

Monitoring the work of the students (rubrics and collection and review of the work)

Monitoring the implementation by the faculty (walkthroughs, evals)

Step FOUR: Monitored like crazy!!!

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How do we know the students are learning it?

What gets monitored is what gets done!

Implementation set by calendar Admin team present in

classrooms observing the literacy lesson

Follow up walkthroughs Frequent feedback provided

Monitoring the implementation

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Remember:It’s about the adults, not the

kids!We taught ourselves to teach

these literacy skills to the students.

And we will ALL do it THIS WAY!

From Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin

The factor that seems to explain the most about great performance is something the researchers call deliberate practice… Deliberate practice is hard. It hurts. But it works. More of it equals better performance. Tons of it equals great performance.

Third Key TrendSo what does this look

like in the different subject areas???GOOD STUFF!!!

Emily Dickinson is a poet who often wrote about her own emotional struggles. In two poems “Heart, We Will Forget Him” and “Knows How to Forget” she writes about how difficult it is to forget. Please read the two poems and the brief biography and answer the following three questions:1. What were some of experiences in her life that

influenced her writing?2. What do the two poems have in common?3. How are the two poems different?Please use one quote from the poems or

biography in each paragraph.

Social Science /History Open Response

Explain how the article and the spiritual show John Brown’s commitment to the welfare of black people. Support your answer with relevant and specific information from the article and the spiritual.

ScienceOpen Response

AlgebraOpen Response

ChineseOpen Response

ArtOpen Response

Wellness/P.E.Open Response

There are ALWAYS critics…

The cookie-cutter comment

How did we incorporate these Literacy Skills in every discipline?

Even in our discipline policies and procedures we

incorporate our Literacy Initiative… remember,

WRITING IS THINKING!

Our Classroom Incident form requires students to write when they come into the office

Don’t think for a moment that everyone was happy…

BUT, if we waited for buy-in, we’d still be waiting.

SO, what did we do?? Meet Sharon and Penny

BUT….

INSERT PBS NEED TO KNOW VIDEO ON PENNY AND SHARON

To view the entire Need to Know segment on Brockton High, go to YouTube and search Need to Know Brockton High.

Here’s what gets the buy-in.

RESULTS!!!

BUY IN???….

Changes in ELA Results Year One of School Wide Open Response

Changes in Math Results Year One of School Wide Open Response

Active Reading Strategies

1. Read the question.

2. a. Circle key direction verbs. For example – write, draw,

explain, compare, show, copy

b. Underline important information. Often there is information in a

question that is irrelevant to finding the answer.

3. In your own words, write what the

question is asking you to do.

4. Develop your plan/Answer the question.

Changes in ELA Results Year One of School Wide Open Response

Added a Literacy

Workshop on Active Reading

Strategies:

200222142513

TEACHER LEADERSHIP

Some Schools Stand Out

Comparisons of Complacent HS and Brockton HS

Ronald F. Ferguson, PhDTripod Project for School Improvement (www.tripodproject.org) and

Achievement Gap Initiative at Harvard University (www.agi.harvard.edu)

Proportions of students scoring in each decile of the MCAS 8th grade ELA distribution

MCAS ELA gains 8th to 10th grade, compared to others from the same 8th grade decile

(School rank percentile/100)

Listen to what Dr. Ferguson says about us

Video from PBS Need to Know

“The main lesson was that student achievement rose when leadership teams focused thoughtfully and relentlessly on improving the quality of instruction.”

- Prof. Ron Ferguson, AGI Conference Report

• The Achievement Gap Initiative At Harvard UniversityToward Excellence with Equity

Conference Report by Ronald F. Ferguson, Faculty Director

Pedro Noguera

“Brockton High demonstrates that you don’t have to change

the student population to get results, you have

to change the conditions under which

they learn.”

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Our improvement over the past five years is perhaps even more impressive than the big jumps we had early on.

Wicked Awesome!

2008

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

78 79.5 8186.1

83.989.1

91.488.2

90.693.9

63.866.9 66.8

74 74.377.4

80.9 79.9 81.185.8

Brockton HS Proficiency Index Gains

ECPI MCPI

Composite Performance Index (CPI) measures progress towards the goal of narrowing proficiency gaps

If these results don’t convince you…

Just listen to the students… Meet Nephie and Tatiana

•Video from CBS Evening News

Recap: The 4 Steps in our Turnaround

1. Empowering a team 2. Focusing on literacy:

Literacy for ALL – NO exceptions3. Implementing with fidelity and

according to a plan4. Monitoring, monitoring, monitoring

The Result = Changing the Culture

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You can get some WICKED

AWESOME results!

And when you do those things

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Brockton High SchoolBrockton School District

Plymouth County 470 Forest Avenue

Brockton, Massachusetts(508)580-7633

AWARDS, AWARDS, AWARDS, AWARDS!!!

2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014

JOHN & ABIGAIL ADAMS BHS SCHOLARS 2014

293 SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS

33% of the class! Most ever!!!Most in Massachusetts!!!

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Class of 2014 – over 90% went off to college!

College for ALL:Changing students’ beliefs:

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GO

Boxers!!!

September 28, 2010

Boxers in the NEW YORK

TIMES

High Expectations NO Excuses!!!

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Advice… for whatever it’s worth. This is totally

NOT research based. It’s the “walk a mile in

my shoes” advice…

Leadership Lesson #1: FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS

Make Literacy your target.Literacy for ALL, no exceptions.Resist the “next new thing” – LITERACY, LITERACY, LITERACY

You are on the right track!!!

Leadership Lesson #2: It’s ALL about

instruction!!! (the adults)You want to improve your

school? It’s about instruction!!!The key to our success had

nothing to do with the kids. It was about adult learning.

Leadership Lesson #3: Implement with a plan

Implement with a plan. Success by design, not

by chance. ALL students deserve

the best!

Leadership Lesson #4: What gets monitored

is what gets done• Leave nothing to chance.• Direct observation of the

implementation.• Be visible, even coteach• Follow up with collection and review

of student work.

Leadership Lesson #5: NO EXCUSES!!!

No excuses…life isn’t fair. Use the challenges to your advantage.

Changing expectations is FREE!!!

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High Expectations, THEY believe!

Amarr: “It’s not us against

them.” Terrence: “No one here would let

me fail. I know, because I tried to.”

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Here’s what we know Making change takes

tenacity, not brilliance!

(If we can do it, ANYONE can!)

FINAL THOUGHT:If we can do this, anyone

can! In 1999 we were called a “Cesspool” in our local media. Now

we are called the “Jewel of the City.”

Check out more on the Brockton Story and

many of our scripts in our new book!!!

Proceeds go to Brockton High

Available at www.leadered.com

For more info:

Thank You!!!

Sue Szachowicz, Senior Fellow ICLE, Brockton High Principal (retired)

If we can do this, so can you!!!