SISI - Standards and Indicators

Standard 1 - Academic Performance – Curriculum
1.1c The district initiates and facilities discussions between schools in the district in order to eliminate unnecessary overlaps and close gaps.

Standard 2 - Academic Performance - Classroom Evaluation/Assessment
2.1d Test scores are used to identify curriculum gaps.
2.1e Multiple assessments are specifically designed to provide meaningful feedback on student learning for instructional purposes.
2.1h Samples of student work are analyzed to inform instruction, revise curriculum and pedagogy, and obtain information on student progress.

Standard 3 - Academic Performance – Instructional
3.1b Instructional strategies and learning activities are aligned with the district, school, and state learning goals and assessment expectations for student learning.
3.1c Instructional strategies and activities are consistently monitored and aligned with the changing needs of a diverse student population to ensure various learning approaches and learning styles are addressed.
3.1f Instructional resources are sufficient to effectively deliver the curriculum.
3.1g Teachers examine and discuss student work collaboratively and use this information to inform their practice.

Standard 4 - Learning Environment - School Culture
4.1a There is leadership support for a safe, orderly, and equitable learning environment (e.g., culture audits/school opinion surveys).
4.1b Leadership creates experiences that foster the belief that all children can learn at high levels in order to motivate staff to produce continuous improvement in student learning.
4.1e Teachers recognize and accept their professional role in student success and failure.
4.1f The school intentionally assigns staff to maximize opportunities for all students to have access to the staff's instructional strengths.
4.1i Multiple communication strategies and contexts are used for the dissemination of information to all stakeholders.

Standard 5 - Learning Environment - Student, Family, and Community Support
5.1a Families and the community are active partners in the educational process and work together with the school/district staff to promote programs and services for all students.
5.1c The school/district provides organizational structures and supports instructional practices to reduce barriers to learning.
5.1d Students are provided with a variety of opportunities to receive additional assistance to support their learning, beyond the initial classroom instruction.
5.1e The school maintains an accurate student record system that provides timely information pertinent to the students'academic and educational development.

Standard 6 – Learning Environment - Professional Growth Development and Evaluation
6.1a There is evidence of support for the long-term professional growth needs of the individual staff members. This includes both instructional and leadership growth.
6.1b The school has an intentional plan for building instructional capacity through on-going professional development.
6.2a The school/district provides a clearly defined evaluation process.
6.2b Leadership provides the fiscal resources for the appropriate professional growth and development of certified staff based on identified needs.

Standard 7 - Efficiency – Leadership
7.1b Leadership decisions are focused on student academic perfomrance and are data-driven and collaborative.
7.1d There is evidence that the school/district leadership team disaggregates data for use in meeting the needs of a diverse population, communicates the information to school staff and incorporates the data systematically into the school's plan.
7.1i Leadership provides a process for the development and the implementation of council policy based on anticipated needs.
7.1j There is evidence that the SBDM council has an intentional focus on student academic performance.

Standard 8 - Efficiency - Organizational Structure and Resources
8.1a There is evidence that the school is organized to maximize use of all available resources to support high student and staff performance.
8.1c The instructional and non-instructional staff are allocated and organized based upon the learning needs of all students.
8.1d There is evidence that the staff makes efficient use of instructional time to maximize student learning.
8.2d State and federal program resources are allocated and integrated (Safe Schools, Title I, IDEA, FRYSC's, ESS) to address student needs identified by the school/district.

Standard 9 - Efficiency – Comprehensive and Effective Planning
9.2a There is evidence the school/district planning process involves collecting, managing, and analyzing data.
9.3a School and district plans reflect learning research and current local, state, and national expectations for student learning and are reviewed by the planning team.

Scenario

I ask Marta, since it is so close to the end of the semester, how she thinks her year at Red Middle School has turned out. Her expression immediately shifts from delight to indifference. "I’m getting pure F’s," she says flatly. "I don’t know if I’ll even graduate, but there’s nothing I can do about it now, even if I tried. I don’t like school. And anyway, hardly anyone in the gang finishes school, so it doesn’t really matter.”

“I started this year really ready for something special," Marta says, "because we’re in eighth grade and it’s our last year here. But it’s the same thing. Go in the class, read the book, do the work sheet. Mr. Krieger forgets what he’s saying in the middle of a sentence half the time." She gestures at Ms. Raynes. "And she doesn’t teach us nothing. I hate school now. I’d rather work. At least then I would be doing something. And I’d make some money to spend on clothes and things, instead of coming here and being bored. This is stupid."

I ask Marta if she is thinking about dropping out. "Yeah," she says dully, nodding her head. "I mean no. I don’t know. My parents wouldn’t let me, but I would like to." (Orenstein, 1995)

Introduction

School reform efforts have been numerous over the last two decades. Despite these reforms, there continues to be a marked achievement gap that appears by income, race, and ethnicity. Large percentages of low-income, African American, Latino, and Native American students appear at the lower end of the achievement ladder while middle and high-income white and Asian students are at the top (Johnson, 2002).

However, Ruby Payne (1998) notes that affluent minority students have similar achievement levels as affluent white children. Johnson says there are gaps among these groups regardless of socioeconomic level. Minority groups are over represented in special education. The technology divide is "denying large numbers of students exposure to the kinds of software that give students access to high levels of knowledge," (p. 5).

In stating current statistics about poverty, Payne (1998) explains, "Regardless of race or ethnicity, poor children are much more likely than non-poor children to suffer developmental delay and damage, to drop out of high school, and to give birth during the teen years (p. 11-12).

There is also a gender divide. In 1998, A. I. F. Research reported that:

• 6 percent of women are in nontraditional careers
• women cluster in 20 of the more than 400 job categories
• two of three minimum-wage earners are women
• one study of 14 School-to-Work sites found that more than 90 percent of the young women were clustered in five traditionally female occupations

A 1997 review of School-to-Work initiatives across the country similarly found that:

• boys tended to dominate-almost to the point of exclusion-in many industrial and engineering programs
• boys repeat grades and drop out of school at a higher rate than girls
• girls who repeat a grade are more likely to drop out than boys who are held back
• in 1995, 30 percent of females that were Hispanic, of ages 16-24, had dropped out of school and not yet passed a high school equivalence test

These are only some of the findings listed in the report. These statistics indicate that the problems with equity in schools are far reaching, yet many schools have found success.

Carter (2000) identified seven common traits of 21 high performing, high poverty schools:

1. Principals must be free to make decisions in the best interest of their schools
2. Principals use measurable goals to establish a culture of achievement
3. Master teachers bring out the best in a faculty
4. Rigorous and regular testing leads to continuous student achievement
5. Achievement is the key to discipline
6. Principals work actively with parents to make the home a center of learning
7. Effort creates ability

While stated differently, Johnson (2002) sites a number of references indicating that the following factors mitigate perceived achievement barriers in schools with large populations of low-income students and students of color:

• High goals, standards, expectations, and accountability for adults and students
• Whether or not students receive well qualified and culturally competent teachers
• Curriculum content and rigor
• Continuous inquiry and monitoring through the use of data (p. 6)

Middle school may be the most crucial time for changing trends for future dropouts. It is often around the time of puberty and preadolescence that students find themselves distracted and involved with activities for which they are not necessarily prepared.

For certain groups of students, these changes can signal a profound and significant decline in self-esteem and, consequently, in academic work. For example, Latinas appear particularly susceptible to dropout problems at this age as, according to the American Association of University Women, Latino girls have one of the highest dropout rates (30%) in the United States. (Ginorio and Huston, 2001).

For girls like Marta in the scenario, an equitable learning experience in schools should involve a curriculum and teaching methods that speak to Marta’s interests and desires, while addressing her personal needs, such as counseling. While many schools allow girls like Marta to fall through the cracks, an equitable learning environment provides ways to reach students like Marta who may be in danger of dropping out.

Whether it is a counseling program that deals with gangs and drugs, or a new awareness of hands-on curriculum methods that engage all students, an equitable learning environment is needed. An equitable learning environment engages students through their own experiences and through attention to all their needs, both personal and social, needs that become increasingly complicated and diverse in middle school.

Providing an equitable learning environment involves more than just teachers knowing their students; it involves knowing themselves as teachers, as well as considering how and what they teach. Moreover, it also involves understanding the way that school culture functions to create or inhibit a congenial atmosphere of sharing and community.  Louis & Smith (1996) describe four distinctive types of teacher engagement for vital and effective teaching:

1. Engagement with the school as a social unit
2. Engagement with students as unique, whole individuals rather than as "empty vessels to be filled"
3. Engagement with academic achievement
4. Engagement with a body of knowledge needed to carry out effective teaching

Secada defines equitable learning as making a distinction between equal and equitable. Equitable learning provides more specifically for the individual needs of a student.

Equality is quantitative and concerns parity among groups along some index, e.g., access to computers.

Equity is qualitative and concerns issues of justice; equity may demand inequality, being even-handed may not always be the answer.

For some groups to have an even chance may require special efforts” (Secada, 1989). In other words, equity ensures that, not only will students have equal access to materials, they will also have the special instruction and environment they might need, above and beyond what other students might need at that particular time, or for that particular subject or skill.

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Strategies

See "Resources" to find ordering or web access to all the materials or references identified throughout this document not otherwise indicated.

There are many different ways in which equitable learning can and should be encouraged in schools. According to Nieto, however, a successful equitable learning environment implies a multicultural education that encompasses all aspects of the schooling experience:

"A true multicultural approach to education is pervasive. It permeates everything: the school climate, physical environment, curriculum, and relationships among teachers and students and community" (Nieto, 1998).

Therefore, equitable learning strategies can be approached through all stages of the educational process, including school culture, classroom structure, curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional development.

But in middle school, there are new challenges in the task to engage students who are at very different physical and developmental levels, and so the complexity increases as their needs multiply.

At this sensitive age, students’ needs are especially different from student to student and vary greatly according to gender, race, class, disability, physical maturity, and emotional maturity.

Strategy #1                                   School Culture

Culture shapes the lens through which we see the world and how we interact with it.  It forms the bases for our perceptions and affects how we learn.  Culture consists of the following components:

• Value (worth, assessment, cost, importance, appreciation, price)
• Beliefs (conviction, principles, confidence, ideas, faith)
• Attitudes (approach, stance, outlook, manner, position, feeling, thoughts, mindsets, ways of thinking)
• Language (communication, ways of communicating including verbal/non verbal, actions, and reactions)

These components interact and systemically impact each other.  They are further influenced by our environment, experiences, and relationships and are reflected in our behavior.  Sometimes this behavior can be misunderstood when the hidden rules of one culture are assumed understood by all cultures. 

School culture can clash with home/community culture.  For instance, some Navajo students found it embarrassing to be singled out when their names were displayed on a high achievement board in a classroom and their parents complained (National Research Council, (2000).

School culture can be either accidental or intentional.  Accidental culture is largely based on assumptions and misinformation; connections are made at random, and relationships are mandated, not valued.  These traits are in sharp contrast to desirable, intentional culture:

• Driven by an understanding of its value
• Celebrates differences
• Connection constantly sought
• Relationships valued
• Often measured, constantly monitored

Intentional culture influences focus and efforts.  The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) has developed standards for school culture.  The traits listed above are reflected in the standards:

Standard 4 - Learning Environment - School Culture

The school/district functions as an effective learning community and supports a climate conducive to performance excellence.

Performance Expectations:
The school leader sets high expectations for all students to learn higher-level content.

Standards for this Indicator:
4.1a - Leadership support for safe, orderly environment
4.1b - Leadership beliefs and practices for high achievement
4.1c - Teacher beliefs and practices for high achievement
4.1d - Teachers and non-teaching staff involved in decision-making
4.1e - Teachers accept their role in student success/failure
4.1f - Effective assignment and use of staff strengths
4.1g - Teachers communicate student progress with parents
4.1h - Teachers care about kids and inspire their best efforts
4.1i - Multiple communication strategies used to disseminate information
4.1j - Student achievement valued and publicly celebrated
4.1k - Equity and diversity valued and supported

The culture of a school and the way it works together as a community can greatly affect the way students feel about their education. The school culture refers to norms cemented over time and becomes the history of the school.  School culture is often majority driven, intangible, and hard to describe.  It can be difficult to change, especially in a short period of time (Stolp, S., & Smith, S. C., 1995).

Stolp & Smith (1995) distinguish between school culture and school climate.  School climate is the shared perceptions and communication of a school's norms, beliefs, and values through various behaviors and interactions of staff and students.  The daily interactions of leadership, staff, students, and parents drive school climate. 

 It is often leadership driven, more easily manipulated than culture, and sensitive to change.  Presence, absence, or degree of school collegiality, communication, decision-making, trust, expectations, ideology, leadership, recognition, celebration, support, and experimentation are traits through which climate can be monitored.

If the school climate reflects pride in its appearance and the accomplishments of all its students with wall displays, reward ceremonies, and honorable mentions in public settings, students begin to feel connected to the goals of the school as a whole, and part of something larger. Equitable learning involves a close tie with outside communities supporting the school, and strong bonds between parents, teachers, and administrators within the school.

In middle school, it is especially important to help students feel a part of a community because they are facing many transitions and many changes in their lives and are often beginning to feel the outside pressure of peers in the form of cliques and gangs. In addition, they are attending a new school with different classes and teachers throughout the day, which adds to an already unstable environment.  Following are some strategies to improve school climate and culture.

Develop Relationships with Students

Payne states, "When students who have been in poverty (and have successfully made it into middle class) are asked how they made the journey, the answer nine times out of ten has to do with a relationship-a teacher, counselor, or coach who made a suggestion or took an interest in them as individuals." (p. 143). 

 She cites the work of Steven Covey in explaining how to develop these relationships.  Successful relationships occur when emotional deposits are made to the student, and emotional withdrawals are avoided.  Following is a synopsis of deposits to be made and withdrawals to be avoided:

• Seek first to understand rather than first to be understood.
• Keep promises rather that break promises.
• Show loyalty to the absent rather than disloyalty and duplicity.
• Apologize rather than display pride, conceit, arrogance

School Pride Award Ceremonies and School Displays

Schools should try to hold pep rallies, display school achievements, and hold recognition ceremonies where school community can be established and maintained. These types of activities can also be open to parents and the community and can help build bonds between the school and home.

Beware that certain types of award ceremonies may make certain groups feel left out. There is a danger that athletic award ceremonies outnumber academic ceremonies, and that the students who may really need a boost will feel ignored.

Mentors

Mentors can be especially helpful for middle school students who are at risk of dropping out because they can often feel isolated from their peers and parents. Having another role model, counselor, friend, or advisor can help students to feel connected to their goals, and motivated to remain in school. Sistermentors is a successful mentoring program in Washington, D. C. .

Uniforms

While research is inclusive, some success has been found with school uniforms. Uniforms have been found to help create a sense of community and discipline in schools. Uniforms do not have to be dull or boring, and a number of schools have adopted more fashionable, easy-to-wear uniforms that students like. Jefferson County Schools and their success and strategies with regard to uniforms are documented in a news article from the Courier Journal.

Workshops for Students and Teacher/Equity Awareness

Both teachers and students can benefit from awareness workshops that might address a number of topics, such as sexual harassment, gangs, violence and drugs, and other areas that specifically address at-risk groups and their specific needs in middle school.

Business Partnerships/Community Partnerships

Connections with community businesses can help schools to develop partnerships and programs that can help at risk students through unique projects and educational programs. Kentucky Country Day School in Louisville, Kentucky is increasing their connections to the local community.

Homerooms

Since middle school is often the first time that students will travel back and forth from classrooms, one way to establish more community and lessen the feeling of anonymity is to establish homerooms where students will remain for the entire year. Homerooms can be spaces where students familiarize themselves with other students, school policies, and engage in school-related activities as a smaller sub-community.

The following link describes The Middle School Program, a homeroom project in San Francisco, where students meet twice a week to discuss social, emotional, and academic problems with advisors, in addition to developing school policy in a student council.

School Support Systems

Payne (1998) describes support systems as, "…the friends, family, and backup resources that can be accessed in times of need" (p. 90). The following is a list of suggested support systems that could be implemented in the schools:

• Schoolwide homework support:  some schools build homework support into their school day.  Many poor students do not have adult support at home to help with homework.
• Supplemental schoolwide reading programs:  e.g. Accelerated Reader
• Keeping students with the same teacher(s) for two or more years or having a school within a school
• Teaching coping strategies
• Schoolwide scheduling
• Parent training and contact through video
• The direct teaching of classroom survival skills
• Requiring daily goal-setting and procedural self-talk
• Team interventions:  This requires positive and supportive intervention with parents (pp. 95-96).

Strategy #2                              Curriculum and Materials

The curriculum is also another way that inequities can be reinforced or transformed in schools. From the gender bias in textbooks to the computer-student ratio, the material artifacts of schools are an important part of the ways a "hidden curriculum" can be passed along. Foremost among these, in terms of gender differences, are the resources allocated to different athletic programs, and the materials that schools use to promote extra-curricular activities, such as art and band.

Overall, the curriculum should be closely tied to students’ own personal experiences and backgrounds, and should attempt to engage the student through a variety of flexible approaches to curriculum. Resnick, L. B. (as cited in National Research Council, 2000) reported three major differences between everyday settings and the school environments that impact how students learn:

School environments place much more emphasis on individual work than most other environments.  In everyday settings people often must work collaboratively.

Tools are heavily used to solve problems in the everyday setting, compared with mental work in the school environment.  In practical environments, people use tools to work almost error free.
Abstract reasoning is often emphasized in school, whereas contextualized reasoning is often used in the everyday environment.  Problem solving is done in concrete contexts.

In middle school, these differences become especially important because students are reaching an age when nonacademic activities are becoming an integral part of their educational experience and can work to shape young identities in potentially powerful ways. In addition, students need access to rigorous tools, curriculum, and skills to deal with more complex and mature materials that may require additional guidance from teachers and parents. 

Following are some suggestions for improving curriculum and instruction:

Textbook Selection

One of the first steps in creating an equitable learning environment is to understand the subtle bias in text and curriculum materials. For example, textbooks can present a one-sided or distorted view of gender by the stories that they include and by the roles that characters play in these stories. Unfortunately, what is left out of textbooks can often be just as damaging. See Some Practical Ideas for Confronting Curricular Bias by D. Sadker to evaluate school textbooks for stereotypes using seven forms of bias in instructional materials.

Rigorous Curriculum

It is imperative  that the inequities in what gets taught to whom are changed.  Schools that place students in lower curriculum tracks will relegate those students to receiving a watered-down curriculum and low-paying service positions.  Based on test scores, an A in a low-income school would be a C in a high-income school.   When a curriculum is labeled as "on grade level" when it is, in fact, below grade level, students are cheated and mislead.  Low-level instructional strategies, curricula, and expectations can become accepted, institutionalized practices (Johnson, 2002). This may be based on institutionalized racism.

Cummins (as cited in Johnson, 2002) describes institutionalized racism:

Institutionalized racism can be defined as ideologies and structures that are used to systematically legitimize unequal division of power and resources between groups that are defined on the basis of race….  The term "racism" is being used here in a broad sense to include discrimination against both ethnic and racial minorities.  The discrimination is brought about both by the ways particular institutions (e. g., schools) are organized or structured and by the (usually) implicit assumptions that legitimize that organization.  There is usually no intent to discriminate on the part of educators; however, their interactions with minority students are mediated by a system of unquestioned assumptions that reflect the values and priorities of the dominant middle class culture.  It is in these interactions that minority students are educationally disabled (p. 15).

Instruction

Duckworth (as cited in National Research Council, 2000) describes an accomplished teacher as one who is successful with students, "…by respecting and understanding learners' prior experiences and understanding, assuming that these can serve as a foundation on which to build bridges to new understandings” (p. 136).  Allen (2002) describes five precepts (a conviction that certain things are true) of instruction:

1. Teach People not Content-Learners are first and foremost people, and each person is unique (pp. 9-10).
2. Awareness Leads to Choice-Teachers make choices that affect how learners encode, process, and relate to information (pp. 13-14).
3. Learning + Enjoyment = Retention-Connecting positive emotions with new information should produce longer retention levels (pp. 17-18).
4. Application is Everything-Learners must be able to see it for themselves (pp. 20).
5. Stories are Great-A good story creates a lasting impact and assists the learner in remembering information (pp. 23-24).

Connecting Curriculum to Everyday Life Experiences

As stated above, application is everything.  Connecting the curriculum to what students already know is essential for their assimilation of knowledge. Students bring many different kinds of experiences and expectations to the classroom, and sometimes, in schools, knowledge is packaged in different ways.

Research suggests that schools are more likely to reach at risk students if they vary the curriculum and connect it to the real life experiences of students (Buckingham, 1998). An example is a study of the Civil War brought to life in Graves County through activities such as preparing a civil war newspaper, staging a battle reenactment, or learning music of the time period (September, 1999 issue of Kentucky Teacher).

The following link to Bob Moses’ Algebra Project for Middle Schools is an example where the curriculum ties to the community and everyday experiences. For instance, a ride on a subway, a trip on a bus, or a walking tour becomes the basis for understanding displacements.

Vision in Progress is a program where businesses work with Elizabethtown Independent Schools to create stronger bonds through such activities as visits by local police and fire fighting organizations.  These activities increase awareness of public safety and citizenship. Contact Marlane Youngblood by phone at (270) 765-6146 or by email at: myoungbl@etown.k12.ky.us .  A description of the program can by found in the February, 2002 issue of Kentucky Teacher.

Increasing Access to Technology

Research suggests that access to technology in schools will help prevent an information or knowledge gap among disparate groups. Computer proficiency and knowledge of the Internet are increasingly becoming essential components of a well-rounded education in this technological world. However, Johnson (2002) states that the "technology divide" has the potential to perpetuate a gap between those that have and have not.  This is not only in the area of hardware, but more importantly, by denying large numbers of students exposure to the kinds of software that gives them access to high levels of knowledge.  Kohl (as cited in Johnson, 2002) discusses the technology divide:

Schools with predominantly minority enrollments are more likely to use their state-of-the-art technology for drill, practice, and test-taking skills.  Meanwhile, white students in more affluent communities are creating Web sites and multimedia presentations.  The computers become nothing much more than trivial workbook and control mechanisms for kids in the heavily minority schools….  In other communities, they are instruments used toward the success and the futures of kids (p. 5).

It must be our goal as educators to prevent the technology divide.  The National Research Council (2000) identifies five ways that technology can be used to help meet the challenges of establishing effective learning environments:

1. Bringing real-world problems into classrooms through the use of videos, demonstrations, simulations, and Internet connections to concrete data and working scientists.
2. Providing "scaffolding" support to augment what learners can do and reason about on their path to understanding, allowing them to participate in complex cognitive performance.
3. Increasing opportunities for learners to receive feedback from software, tutors, teachers, and peers; engaging in reflection on their own learning processes; and receiving guidance toward progressive revisions that improve their learning and reasoning.
4. Building local and global communities of teachers, administrators, students, parents, and other interested learners.
5. Expanding opportunities for teachers' learning (p.243).

Following are some successful practices and programs for increasing access to technology:

GEAR-UP Kentucky: a program that works with low-income, middle school students to use technology during a summer program camp at the University of Louisville to write, design, take pictures and produce "zines."

Technology Integration Lesson Plan Links: provides a number of different lessons, specifically for middle school level, for technology integration of computers and television to learn subjects like math, science, and language arts.

Closing the Equity Gap in Technology Access and Use: A Practical Guide for K-12 Educators: provides an overview of technology use, checklists for technological inequities, and funding search strategies.

Kentucky Department of Education Technology Page: provides valuable resources related to how technology is a part of standards, curriculum documents, teaching and learning strategies, and assessment instruments.

Extracurricular Activities/Out-of-School Enhancement

While some argue that a back-to-basics curriculum provides the best sort of educational experience for students, it seems to be the case that extracurricular activities are essential for providing students with non-academic connections to the school.  These activities make it more likely that the students will achieve in other, more academic, endeavors, and will have a positive effect on social behavior and self-esteem. 

Extracurricular activities also provide enrichment for students in at-risk situations.   The Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed at Risk (as cited in Schargel, F. P. & Smink, J., 2001) distinguishes among three different types of out-of-school arrangements:

1. Daycare Programs-Daycare programs provide a safe, supervised environment for children whose parents are working or otherwise engaged.  They do not necessarily have an academic focus; instead, they tend to emphasize recreational and cultural activities.
2. After-School Programs-These are more likely to emphasize academic as well as nonacademic, recreational activities.  Examples include Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCA and YWCA, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, 4-H, ASPIRA, church programs, and municipal parks and recreation programs.
3. School-Based Extended Day Programs-These programs, housed in a school, are directly connected to what takes place during the school day.  Most extended day programs have an academic focus but may also include enrichment, recreational, and cultural activities (p.128).

Schargel & Smink (2002) explain that high-quality programs should include the following components: academic, recreational, and cultural/social.  The following factors are critical in order to implement effective out-of-school programs:

• Train staff and volunteers
• Create a program with structure
• Evaluate the program
• Include families and children in planning
• Have an advisory board

Following are some links that highlight components of successful out-of-school programs:

Afterschool.Gov connects to federal resources that support children and youth during out-of-school hours. 

Afterschool Alliance is a non-profit organization that raises awareness of after-school programs.

Kentucky's 21st Century Community Learning Centers are school/community partnerships for after-school programs. These partnerships are supported by U. S. Department of Education grants. The focus of this partnership, re-authorized under Title IV, Part B, of the No Child Left Behind Act, is to provide expanded academic enrichment opportunities for children attending low performing schools.

Tutorial services and academic enrichment activities are designed to help students meet local and state academic standards in subjects such as reading and math. In addition, 21st Century Community Learning Centers programs provide youth development activities, drug and violence prevention programs, technology education programs, art, music, recreation programs, counseling, and character education to enhance the academic component of the program.

Title IX states that:

No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, or denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal assistance.   (Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to the Civil Rights Act of 1964)

What Is Title IX?  provides a good description of the components of Title IX.

Language Instruction for Limited English Proficient and Immigrant Students

Language instruction for limited English proficient and immigrant students is generally classified in one of two ways: English immersion or bilingual education. In English immersion programs, such as those seen in California and Arizona, students receive all instruction in English; thus the term “immersion.”

In California, scores on standardized tests given in English have risen dramatically for the past several years, since the state passed a proposition to switch from bilingual education to English immersion. Introducing English immersion programs is on the ballot in a number of states (e.g., Massachusetts, Colorado). Bilingual education, on the other hand, is the gradual introduction of the English language whereby students learn math, science, and other subjects in their native language as they slowly receive instruction in English.

The Kentucky Department of Education page for Title III Language Instruction for Limited English Proficient and Immigrant Students provides information about funding allocations, program requirements, and resources.

Strategy #3                               Professional Development

Equitable learning can also be addressed through attention to professional training and development. Perhaps, of most use are professional resources for ongoing theory in diversity and equity management through means of workshops and professional development. Other aspects of professional development that may increase attention to an equitable learning environment are the informal and formal networking and sharing possibilities that may occur through professional organizations and other teacher networks and communities.

According to the U. S. Department of Education (as cited in Schargel & Smink, 2000) a high-quality professional development program:

• is focused on teachers as central to student learning, yet includes all other members of the school community.
• is focused on individual, collegial, and organizational improvement.
  respects and nurtures the intellectual and leadership capacities of teacher, principals, and others in the school community.
• reflects the best available research and practice in teaching, learning, and leadership.
• enables teachers to develop further expertise in subject content, teaching strategies, uses of technologies, and other essential elements in teaching to high standards.
• promotes continuous inquiry and improvement in the daily life of schools.
• is planned collaboratively by those who will participate in and facilitate that development.
• requires substantial time and other resources.
• is driven by a coherent and long-term plan
•  is evaluated ultimately on the basis of its impact on teacher effectiveness and student learning, and this assessment guides subsequent professional development efforts (p.148).

Both teachers and students can benefit from awareness workshops that might address a number of topics, such as multicultural awareness, gender awareness, sexuality, and other areas that specifically address at-risk groups and their specific needs.

Teachers or administrators can take the Equity Quiz to determine the gender-awareness of their school.

KDE's Equity page provides a link to Resources for Schools. This site has other links for teacher learning. View the following topics for a wealth of information: What's New?, Equity Links, Conference Registrations, Underground Railroad, Jewish American Heritage, Multicultural Curriculum Resources, Diversity Clubs, and Division of Equity E-source Center.

Assessment

Ruth Johnson (2002) proposes a strategy of self-examination for all schools.  She explains that a data-based evaluation can:

• highlight the gaps between rhetoric and reality by breaking data down by race and grade to determine the schools most meaningful learning opportunities.
• point to the steps that must be taken to close achievement gaps.
• bond teachers together in a common understanding that they are part of a larger team of professionals responsible for creating a culture of high achievement for all students (p.xii). 
  

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Barriers

Barriers to learning for minorities, according to Fayette County Public Schools, 2003:

• A curriculum that is basically Majority European male.
• A professional staff that is Majority white and/or middle class black and does not relate to the life styles and values of poor children, or minority children.
• The acceptance of mediocrity and social incorrigibility in minority children as normal.
• An educational system based on theories arrived at almost exclusively by European males from their observation of European males.
• A refusal to study the how the influence of minority cultures shapes minorities into cultural entities district from the majority culture.
• A faculty that does not believe strongly enough in the academic capabilities of minority children and is afraid to challenge minority children to strive for excellence.
• Too few minority faculty to serve as mentors and leaders for minority children.
• A school environment that allows minority children to self-destruct, and then be expelled from school.

Negativity in school culture or climate:

• No or low expectations
• Little or no communication among stakeholders
• Resistance to change
• No ownership
• Little or no sense of learning community
• Disrespect/hostility
• Low morale and distrust
• Isolation of staff
  Examples:
  Dread coming to school
  Criticize those who are innovative
  Politics drive decision-making
  Do just enough to get by
  Judgmental/critical of other's motivation
  Fear reprisal
  Distrust colleagues or administration
  "Me first"
  Operate in a vacuum (Saphier, J., & King, M., 1985)
  

Professional Development

Professional development programs often violate the principles for optimizing learning because they frequently:

• are not learner-centered.  Teachers are frequently asked to attend prearranged workshops rather than asking teachers where they need help.
• are not knowledge-centered.  Teachers may simply be introduced to a new technique without being given the opportunity to understand why, when, where, and how it might be valuable to them. 
• are not assessment-centered.  Teachers often are not given the opportunity to try a new technique in their classroom in order to receive feedback.  They are unable to judge successful transfer of the technique to the classroom or its effects on student achievement.
  are not community-centered. 
• many workshops are conducted in isolation with limited contact for support as teachers incorporate new ideas into their teaching (National Research Council, 2000).

Others

• Mentor programs need additional workers and volunteers, which can often be hard to find.
• Mentors need to be provided with training.
• Uniforms are sometimes strongly resisted by students, and enforcement can become difficult for teachers and administrators.
• Workshops take time and planning to work well. Sometimes one-shot workshops are not sufficient to address the ongoing problems that are complex and deeply embedded in attitudes and dispositions.
• Homerooms can take time away from other basic curricula needs and require advisors or other staff members and volunteers to make them work. 
•  It is difficult for schools to meet the curriculum requirements of all students when states and districts are mandating textbook curriculum. There are also limitations with respect to finances and what schools can reasonably afford.
• Bias is subtle and can be difficult to detect. Most textbooks have some form of bias, no matter how hard publishers attempt to eradicate it.
• Financial concerns are perhaps the most obvious concern, but technology also brings about new problems as many teachers and professional may lack training to implement technology in their schools, and software and systems are constantly being upgraded.
• Research is largely inconclusive on the benefit of English immersion versus bilingual education, partly due to the difficulty of ascertaining cause effect relationships between instruction and learning.
• The costs of childcare, transportation, fundraising, committee expectations, and fees for books, fieldtrips, and other necessities are difficult or impossible for many low-income families, causing them to be inclined to withdraw from contact with the school (Cameron, P., Madden, K., & Flanagan, J., 2002).
• "Without the time, resources, or experience to make the data work for them and their students, many educators shrug off reports of 'indicators' of performance as just one more way to put down schools (Johnson, 2002, pp. xii).
  

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Resources

Kentucky Specific  Resources

Equity.  Retrieved on June 22, 2003, from the Kentucky Department of Education Web Site: http://www.kentuckyschools.net/KDE/Instructional+Resources/Equity/default.htm 

This site provides equity resources from the Kentucky Department of Education.

Middle School. Retrieved on June 22, 2003, from the Kentucky Department of Education Web Site: http://www.kentuckyschools.net/KDE/Instructional+Resources/Middle+School/default.htm  This site provides a list of middle school resources from the Kentucky Department of Education.

Kentucky Department of Education (2003).  Kentucky's 21st Century Community Learning Centers.  Retrieved on June 25, 2003 from:  http://www.kentuckyschools.net/KDE/Instructional+Resources/Community+Engagement/Kentucky%27s+21st+Century+Community+Learning+Centers+.htm

This program supports school/community partnerships for after-school programs.

Kentucky Department of Education (2003).  Program guidelines for multicultural education.  Retrieved on June 25, 2003 from the KDE Web site: http://www.kentuckyschools.net/KDE/Instructional+Resources/Equity/Program+Guidelines/Multicultural+Education.htm 

Kentucky Department of Education (2003).  Standard 4 - Learning environment - School culture.  Retrieved June 23, 2003 from: http://www.kentuckyschools.net/KDE/Administrative+Resources/School+Improvement/Standards+and+Indicators+for+School+Improvement/Standard+4/default.htm

Kentucky Department of Education (2003).  Technology.  Retrieved on June 25, 2003 from the KDE Web site: http://www.kentuckyschools.net/KDE/Instructional+Resources/Technology/default.htm

In these pages, you will find valuable resources related to how technology is a part of standards, curriculum documents, teaching and learning strategies, and assessment instruments.

The Kentucky Department of Education.  Title III Language Instruction for Limited English Proficient and Immigrant Students. Retrieved on June 25, 2003 from the KDE Web site: http://www.kentuckyschools.net/KDE/Instructional+Resources/High+School/Language+Learning/English+Language+Learning/Title+III%3a++Language+Instruction+for+Limited+English+Proficient+and+Immigrant+Students.htm

This page provides information about funding allocations, program requirements, and resources.

Kentucky Virtual High School. Retrieved on June 22, 2003, from the Kentucky Department of Education Web Site: http://www.kvhs.org

The Kentucky Virtual High School is a statewide educational service delivering high school courses and online learning opportunity to Kentuckians. A PowerPoint tour of KVHS may be viewed at http://www.seirtec.org/Academy2001/KYVHS01.ppt 

YES (Youth Enhancement Services). Retrieved on June 22, 2003 from Jefferson County Delinquency Prevention Council Web Site: http://www.oyes.org/about.asp 

Provides information on a diverse range of quality prevention and intervention services that support the development and well-being of children and youth, and their families.

CAT (Community Accountability Team) (2003). Retrieved on June 22, 2003 from http://www.prichardcommittee.org/cat/index.html

This is a site designed as an aide to improve middle school learning in Jefferson County.

Other Resources

American Association of University Women (2003).  Equity quiz.  Retrieved on June 27, 2003, from http://www.american.edu/sadker/equityquiz.htm

Teachers or administrators can take the quiz to determine the gender-awareness of their school.

Buckingham, D., ed. (1998). Teaching Popular Culture: Beyond Radical Pedagogy. Bristol, PA: UCL Press.

Campbell, P. B. (1995). One project, many strategies: making pre-service teacher education more equitable, The Teacher Education Equity Project (TEEP), Campbell-Kibler Associates, Inc. Retrieved June 22, 2003 from http://www.wri-edu.org/equity/teep.html 

This project assisted instructors in teacher education programs nationwide with materials, resources, and teaching activities for instructing their preservice (student) teachers in gender equity.

Cameron, P., Madden, K., & Flanagan, J., (2002).  The cost of education:  Two classes in one room (ISBN 0-9580475-1-0).  Australia:  Anglicare Tasmania Inc.

Email: j.flanagan@anglicare-tas-org-au .  This is an excellent resource on the school costs passed onto families and the significant barriers it causes to low-income children's participation in school.

Childs, R. A. (1990). "Gender bias and fairness." ERIC Digest. The Education Resources Information Center, Washington DC. ED328610

Closing the equity gap in technology access and use: A practical guide for K-12 educators.  Retrieved on June 27, 2003 from http://www.netc.org/cdrom/equity/html/index.htm

This site provides an overview of technology use, checklists for technological inequities, and funding search strategies.

Education Development Center, Inc. (2000). The national forum to accelerate middle-school reform. A website for middle grades reform. Retrieved on June 22, 2003 from http://www.mgforum.org

This is a resource page for middle school equity.

GEAR UP Program (2003).  Retrieved on June 25, 2003 from the University of Kentucky Web site: http://www.louisville.edu/edu/collaboration/gear.html 

GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) is a federal initiative that encourages young people to stay in school, study hard and take the right courses to go to college. The program provides a range of services to low-income students by creating new or expanded initiatives to strengthen schools. It also offers professional development opportunities for teachers.

Everybody counts! Helping your child succeed: Gender equity, multicultural links (2003). Retrieved on June 22, 2003 from the New Mexico State University Web s ite: http://mathstar.nmsu.edu/teacher/multi_links.html 

This site includes many good multicultural resources, including bilingual resources.

Ginorio, A. & M. Huston. (2001). Si, Se Puede! Yes, We Can: Latinas in School. Washington, DC: American Association of University Women Educational Foundation.

Hartwick, P. (1999). Gender equity in schools: Is your daughter being forced to choose between pretty and smart? Retrieved on June 22, 2003 from the Preteenagers Today Web Site: http://preteenagerstoday.com/resources/articles/genderequity.htm

This website focuses on females in middle school and discusses research-based findings on gender equity.

Hoff-Sommers, C. (1996). Where the boys are. Education Week, June 12. Retrieved June 22, 2003 from the Education Week Web Site: http://www.edweek.org/ew/vol-15/38sommer.h15#author

This article explores the gap in reading proficiency between males and females [favoring girls].

Horn, J. Technology integration lesson plan links.  Retrieved on June 25, 2003 from the MiddleSchool.net Web site: http://www.middleschool.net/less_tut/lessplanlk/techintlp.htm

This link provides a number of different lessons, specifically for middle school level, that help students use technologies such as computers and television to learn subjects like math, science, and language arts.

Jackson, A.W., & Davis, G.A. (2000). Turning Points 2000: Educating Adolescents in the 21st Century. New York: Carnegie Corporation.

Jacobson, C. (1995). Non-sexist language, Purdue University. Retrieved June 22, 2003 from the Stetson University Web site: http://www.stetson.edu/artsci/history/nongenderlang.html

Provides notes on using non-gender specific language.

Johnson, R. S. (2002). Using data to close the achievement gap. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, Inc., http://www.corwinpress.com

Louis K. S., & Smith B. (1996).  Teacher engagement and real reform in urban schools.  In Williams, B. (Ed.), Closing the achievement gap (pp. 120-147). Alexandria, VA:  Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

McGroarty, M. (1993). Cross-cultural issues in adult ESL literacy classrooms. ERIC Digest. ERIC Clearinghouse on Literacy Education for Limited-English-Proficient Adults, Washington DC. ED358751

Mackinnon, A. (1997).  Working together:  Harnessing community resources to improve middle schools. Edna McConnell Clark Foundation.  Retrieved on June 23, 2003 from http://www.middleweb.com/WTtitlepg.html 

This site describes some community partnerships with middle schools in Louisville, KY and in other parts of the country.

Middle School.Net. Disability & special education site. Adaptive technology resource. Retrieved on June 22, 2003 from http://www.middleschool.net/curlink/spedu.htm 

This is a link to middle school technology resources focusing on disabilities and special education.

Middleweb. Retrieved June 22, 2003 from http://www.middleweb.com/index.html .

This is a web site for middle school professionals with articles, information, discussion boards, chat space, and a newsletter.

Moses, B.  The algebra project.  Retrieved on June 25, 2003 from http://www.algebra.org/index.html 

The National Research Council (2000).  How People Learn ( Expanded ed.)..  Washington, D. C.: National Academy Press.

Nieto, S. (1998). Affirming diversity: The sociopolitical context of multicultural education, 2nd ed. White Plains, NY: Longman.

Orenstein, P. (1995). School Girls: Young Women, Self-Esteem, and the Confidence Gap. New York: Anchor Books.

Payne, R. K. (1998). A framework for understanding poverty. Highlands, TX: RFT Publishing.

Research, A.I.F. (1998). Gender gaps. Washington, D. C., AAUW Educational Foundation: 21.

Sadker, D. (1999). "Gender equity; still knocking on the classroom door." Educational Leadership (April, 1999): 22-26.

Sadker, D., Some practical ideas for confronting curricular bias.  Retrieved on June 25, 2003 from the American Universities Web Site: http://www.american.edu/sadker/curricularbias.htm

This site identifies seven forms of bias that can be used to evaluate instructional materials.

Sanders, J. (1997). "Teacher education and gender equity." ERIC Digest. ED408277

San Francisco Schools.  The middle school program.    Retrieved on June 25, 2003 from http://www.sfschool.org/programs/middle/index.shtml 

Saphier, J., & King, M. (1985). Good seeds grow in strong cultures. Educational Leadership, 42(6), 67-74.

Schargel, F. P., & Smink, J. (2002).  Strategies to help solve our school dropout problem.  Larchmont, N. Y.:  Eye on Education. 

This book offers hope and suggestions on how to resolve the dropout problem using effective strategies taken from research and observations of dropout prevention programs in many school settings across America.

Secada, W.G. (1989). Educational equity versus equality of education: An alternative conception. In W.G. Secada (Ed.), Equity in Education (pp. 68-88). New York, NY: Falmer.

Sistermentors.  Retrieved on June 23, 2003 from http://www.sistermentors.org/home.htm  

A program that offers mentors for girls of color in middle and high school in the Washington D.C. area.

Stolp, S., & Smith, S. C. (1995).  Transforming school culture (ED No. 386783).  ERIC/Clearinghouse on Educational Management.

The Public Policy Assessment Society, Inc. (December, 1997). Gender equity - secondary education in the ACT. Retrieved June 22, 2003 from The Public Policy Assessment Society Inc. Web Site: http://members.optusnet.com.au/~polsoc/ppas_ed6.htm .

Wellesley College Center for Research on Women (1992). How schools shortchange girls. Annapolis Junction, MD, AAUW Educational Foundation: 8.

What Is Title IX?  Retrieved on June 27, 2003 from http://www.american.edu/sadker/titleix.htm

This link supplies a good description of the components of Title IX

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Key Words

School Culture, Equitable Environment, Elementary,Curriculum,Equal,Academic,Engagement,Multicultural,School Climate,Resources,Community,Leadership,Relationships,Celebrations,Ceremonies,Partnerships,Classroom,Ability Grouping,Textbook,Technology, Programs,Title IX,Team Teaching,Language,Immigrant Assessment,Professional Development,Alternative Portfolios, Barriers,Best Practice

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