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Book Study: Becoming a Great High School: 6 Strategies and 1 Attitude That Make a Difference by Tim Westerburg

Reading Schedule:
 * Chapters 1 & 2:
 * Chapters 3 & 4:
 * Chapters 5 & 6:
 * Chapters 7 & 8:

=Study Guide=

Chapter 1
1. What do you think the defining characteristics of a great high school are? 2. How would you rate the high schools in your district? Great? Good? Average? Struggling? What evidence supports your conclusion? 3. What role does improving the quality of classroom teaching play in creating a great high school? How does it affect the school-improvement initiatives underway in your high school? 4. Is school improvement in your high school guided by a comprehensive, research-based model? If so, what are its critical components? If not, what drives the school improvement efforts in your school or district?

Chapter 2
1. What does a “we-expect-success” attitude look, sound, and feel like in a high school setting? 2. Based on the culture, policies, and practices in your high school, what messages are students receiving about the source of their academic achievement? Are the messages promoting academic achievement as a function of their efforts in the classroom or their natural ability? 3. Students in great high schools receive three critical messages every day— a. What we're doing here is important, b. You can do it, and c. We are not going to give up on you. What messages are your students getting from you? For example, how do you convey messages about your homework and grading policies, ability-grouping and tracking practices, and how instructional time is used and protected? 4. Does your high school have a "culture of high expectations"? What data support your assessment? 5. Are //all// students in your high school enrolled in high-quality college-prep or career and technology programs? Are some students enrolled in dead-end general and remedial tracks?

Chapter 3
1. Is teaching and learning in your high school focused on learning goals or learning activities? Discuss the distinction between these concepts. 2. When teachers in your high school teach the same courses, are they teaching and assessing common learning goals, or does every teacher do his or her "own thing"? 3. What makes a curriculum "rigorous"? Is there a relationship between quantity and rigor? Quality and rigor? Has the staff at your high school had a discussion about rigor? 4. Is the traditional teacher supervision and evaluation model the best way for building administrators to affect instruction?

Chapter 4
<span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana; msobidifontfamily: Verdana; msofareastfontfamily: Verdana; msolist: Ignore;">1. Does the culture of your high school encourage and support teachers to talk about effective teaching and learning? Or are teachers stuck in a culture of autonomy, egalitarianism, and deference to authority? <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana; msobidifontfamily: Verdana; msofareastfontfamily: Verdana; msolist: Ignore;">2. Several prominent researchers and authors call for schools and districts to adopt a common "language of instruction." Does your high school have //and use// a common framework as a reference point for discussions about best practices? <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana; msobidifontfamily: Verdana; msofareastfontfamily: Verdana; msolist: Ignore;">3. At your school, does the schedule allow teachers to have opportunities to talk with each other during the day?

Chapter 5
<span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana; msobidifontfamily: Verdana; msofareastfontfamily: Verdana; msolist: Ignore;">1. Many researchers have distinguished the difference between formative and summative assessment based on the purpose of the assessment and the audience. What are your definitions for formative and summative assessment? Develop your own definition for each concept. <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana; msobidifontfamily: Verdana; msofareastfontfamily: Verdana; msolist: Ignore;">2. Formative assessment can produce profound effects on student achievement, but only if it is given under certain circumstances. What are the essential characteristics of //effective// feedback? <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana; msobidifontfamily: Verdana; msofareastfontfamily: Verdana; msolist: Ignore;">3. Assessment expert Rick Stiggins asserts that the most important assessments in high schools today are those designed and used by classroom teachers on a daily basis; however, most teachers lack the necessary assessment literacy and tools to do the job well. Is this statement true for the staff at your high school? What could be done to improve the assessment literacy of teachers in your school? <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana; msobidifontfamily: Verdana; msofareastfontfamily: Verdana; msolist: Ignore;">4. On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 representing "to a great extent" and 1 representing "not at all," to what extent are teachers in your school providing students with feedback that shows them what good work looks like and how to do their work better next time? <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana; msobidifontfamily: Verdana; msofareastfontfamily: Verdana; msolist: Ignore;">5. In the book, the author argues that grading policies in most high schools in this country are "a mess." As you think about that statement, begin evaluating the consistency and transparency of grading policies and practices in your school or academic department. How does the staff at your school tackle issues such as giving zeroes for missing work, averaging formative assessment scores to arrive at a final unit grade, counting extra credit, and weighing academic and nonacademic factors (e.g., attendance, work ethic, behavior) together for a student's final course grade? <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana; msobidifontfamily: Verdana; msofareastfontfamily: Verdana; msolist: Ignore;">6. Are the grades that students receive from your high school or academic department an accurate reflection of their demonstrated mastery of identified learning goals? Is the grading system used in your school or department fair to your students?

Chapter 6
<span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana; msobidifontfamily: Verdana; msofareastfontfamily: Verdana; msolist: Ignore;">1. Many researchers, including Stiggins, Fuchs and Fuchs, and Marzano, have pointed out the positive effects of allowing students to track their progress on their learning goals by using graphs. Why does tracking progress motivate students to continue learning? <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana; msobidifontfamily: Verdana; msofareastfontfamily: Verdana; msolist: Ignore;">2. Discuss ways in which tracking results might inform your decision making as a teacher. Think about what this kind of tracking would look like at the individual, course, grade, and school level. <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana; msobidifontfamily: Verdana; msofareastfontfamily: Verdana; msolist: Ignore;">3. How might tracking student progress be gradually incorporated into the instructional process in your classroom, course, department, or school?

Chapter 7
<span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana; msobidifontfamily: Verdana; msofareastfontfamily: Verdana; msolist: Ignore;">1. Good high schools hold high academic standards for all students; great high schools have a high proportion of all students actually meet those standards. What does the data from your high school suggest about the success rates of students across gender, socioeconomic, and ethnic groups? <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana; msobidifontfamily: Verdana; msofareastfontfamily: Verdana; msolist: Ignore;">2. Motivation theory tells us that a student's level of engagement is based on their perceptions about their ability to learn, and the importance of and their emotional response to content and skills. Discuss ways in which you and others members in your department or school can address these important perceptions. <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana; msobidifontfamily: Verdana; msofareastfontfamily: Verdana; msolist: Ignore;">3. Great high schools have planned, structured, and timely intervention strategies built into the instructional process (e.g.; literacy centers, tutoring, mandatory help sessions, summer academies, double-block classes, Saturday school, differentiated instruction, temporary regrouping strategies). How does your high school provide //timely// intervention to students who are struggling?

Chapter 8
<span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana; msobidifontfamily: Verdana; msofareastfontfamily: Verdana; msolist: Ignore;">1. Many researchers have indicated that a focus on performance standards and effort, rather than a focus on task completion and intelligence increase student engagement and learning. Why do you think this is the case? <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana; msobidifontfamily: Verdana; msofareastfontfamily: Verdana; msolist: Ignore;">2. When it comes to contributing to a student's long-term engagement and performance, all praise or verbal recognition is not created equal. Generate a list that includes the characteristics you think are essential for effective praise. <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana; msobidifontfamily: Verdana; msofareastfontfamily: Verdana; msolist: Ignore;">3. Recognizing and displaying student work are just two ways that great high schools acknowledge students' mastery of performance standards and effort. What strategies does your high school use to celebrate students' success? <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-fareast-font-family: Verdana; msobidifontfamily: Verdana; msofareastfontfamily: Verdana; msolist: Ignore;">4. Does the 6+1 Model for High School Reform make sense to you and your colleagues? How could you incorporate these practices into your high school?