with tools such as the five-finger summary method, in which students learn
a format for recalling and retelling
key events. They noticed substantial
improvement in English learners’ performance in listening comprehension.
Not only do teachers have a clear
idea of students’ academic needs, but
students themselves also know where
they stand. As we began to examine
our high school ELLs’ results, we found
18 schools vary in the depth of their
collaboration, all use data to determine
what supports students need. In looking at data together, teachers identify
groups of students with particular
needs and group them for instruction
on the basis of those needs. PLCs that
collaborate effectively shift students all
the time, rather than having stagnant
groups. As PLCs have matured and
grown at every school in the district,
Not only do teachers have a
clear idea of students’ academic
needs, but students themselves
also know where they stand.
that a large number of ELLs had made
little or no English-language growth
over five or more years. We began to
meet with these students to ask what we
could do to better meet their needs. We
were shocked by what we learned. The
students had never been told what they
needed to accomplish to exit ELL status.
We organized a presentation in which
we simply told students the criteria
they needed to meet to become classified as fluent in English. We also shared
with students their current test scores
and grades so they could see where
they stood. Many were already close to
meeting the criteria and were able to be
reclassified quickly because they knew
which assessments and classes to focus
on. Teachers were then able to provide
extra intervention for the smaller group
of students who needed more significant
help.
teachers tend to refer to students as “our
kids,” not “my kids.”
Last year at Washington Academic
Middle School, after assessing students’
ability to use various sentence types in
their writing, the 6th grade PLC realized
that many students were still struggling.
For three days, the teachers regrouped
students during students’ language
arts period. Those who struggled the
most with this skill were placed in
a group with the teacher whose stu-
dents had scored highest. Those who
already understood the differences
between the sentence types, on the
other hand, completed an extension
activity under the direction of another
teacher. On the third and final day of
this regrouping, teachers administered a
follow-up assessment to check students’
understanding.
Our Kids, Not My Kids
Sanger’s use of data is the touchstone for
our professional learning communities
(PLCs). Although the PLCs at Sanger’s
;L Online
Learn how another school
district used data and stan-
dards to increase student learning
in the online-only article “Making
Standards Serve the Student” by
Jennifer Tuzzeo at www.ascd.org
/publications/educational-leadership
/feb12/vol69/num05/Making-
Standards-Serve-the-Student.aspx.
A Job Never Completed
To properly maintain the Golden Gate
Bridge, painters must constantly repaint
it. When the painters reach one end,
they start back over on the other end.
Sanger’s initiatives and efforts work the
same way. District leaders continue to
train and support principals and teachers over and over in the key elements
of district initiatives. With each subsequent training, teachers’ and principals’
knowledge deepens.
A recent independent report explains
what’s behind Sanger’s success:
There is nothing esoteric about Sanger’s
focus on professional learning com-
munities or direct instruction or English
language development. What is unusual
is the professional commitment with
which they have taken on the challenge
to teach all students to their potential and
a corresponding set of strategic actions
