- Driving Real Results to Ohio’s High Schools
Through EdWorks, KnowledgeWorks Foundation continues to support existing OHSTI and ECHS sites. Each site receives intensive, on-site technical assistance, targeted professional development and frequent data collection and analysis, all integrated into a tightly-woven fabric of online and on-site support. After six years of intensive and productive work, Ohio’s KnowledgeWorks high schools are demonstrating significant results, including:
*High school graduation rates in OHSTI schools increased by more than 31% to 82.4 percent in 2007
- *The graduation gap between OHSTI high schools and all Ohio high schools closed dramatically, by more than 77%
*The growth in graduation rates for white, Black, and Hispanic OHSTI students exceeded the state growth rate for those groups between 2002 and 2007
*89% of OHSTI sites reported improvement on both the math and reading pass rates on the Ohio Graduation Test
*ECHS students earned more than 10,000 hours of college credits between 2003 and 2007
*52% of ECHS students are on track to complete 60 hours of college credit before high school graduation
*99% of 10th grade ECHS students are enrolled in a college course
*ECHS 10th graders outperformed the State in reading, writing, math, social studies, and science on the 2008 Ohio Graduation Test
The Keys to High School Improvement
There is no magic bullet to high school improvement. It requires hard work and determination. To start, the adults in the school must believe, really believe, that EVERY student in the school will be successful in college.
KnowledgeWorks Foundation’s work with OHSTI and ECHS schools resulted in a clear set of understandings that drive effective secondary school improvement. What was learned?
1. These schools succeeded because they realized failure was not an option.
2. Working together, teachers, school administrators, community leaders, and parents set high expectations
with a common focus.
3. Schools provided time for staff to collaborate and offered performance-based instructional strategies.
4. Leaders invested in ongoing, job-embedded professional development while holding teachers and students
accountable for success.
5. Through shared responsibility, the learning community experienced shared successes.
Building a Receptive Learning Environment for School Improvement
These best practices for a research-based approach to high school improvement include the following lessons:
* State, district, and school policies and practices must first address institutional structure, including the implementation of small, personalized schools in previously failing traditional high schools
* Curriculum must be constructed to meet the needs of tomorrow’s colleges and tomorrow’s workplaces, reflecting 21st century realities and opportunities
* Ongoing data monitoring , at the individual student level, the classroom level, and schoolwide is a key and essential component to school improvement
* Instructional approaches must be personalized through growth plans and short-term benchmarks
* Teachers must be empowered to bring change and improvement, and they gain that empowerment through relevant professional development opportunities
* Districts must identify ways to reduce teacher loads, both in terms of number of students and number of classes taught each day
* Successful high schools must establish planned, purposeful connections with postsecondary education, business, and the community at large.
The Power and the Passion
The lessons learned through six years of focused high school research and development in some of Ohio’s most challenged urban school districts are now resident in the EdWorks Model for High-Performing High Schools TM. This model is targeted at the classroom and the individual student, but is reverberating throughout the district and into the state. EdWorks has a detailed process scope and sequence. They also have accompanying products and services. EdWorks has a fully-developed benchmarking process with clear targets. They have the organizational capacity, experience, and discipline to deliver the model, and most importantly, EdWorks has the organizational passion and power to deliver on the promise.