Sarah Sharkey!

6/30/2014!

S3a1!

S3a1) What are the characteristics of a quality school?

A quality school acts as a recipe with many ingredients. The ingredients may act as

standard ingredients everyone can purchase. This is similar to the First Generation of Correlates
for Effective Schools found in the article by Lawrence W. Lezotte. In order to make the recipe
taste better, higher quality ingredients can be added to enhance flavor. This is similar to the
Second Generation of Correlates. Below is a summary of four main components of the correlates
- Collaboration, Culture, Interdisciplinary Learning, and Content - and how they connect
together with other research to create an effective school.
The first key component to a quality school is collaboration. Collaboration begins with
school staff. Time must be set aside for teachers to create a positive professional school culture
characterized by high-expectations, collegial learning and responsibility, and supportive nonbureaucratic leadership (Strauss, 5). Examples of this would include PLCs, Peer Coaching, and
Team Teaching. Staff meetings should focus on creating a team of leaders where all efforts point
in the same direction. For example, our school will create a vision for Literacy during this
upcoming school year. Our principal decided to incorporate our new Peer Coaching team into
this initiative. The Literacy team and Peer Coaches will work with other teachers to broaden
knowledge and experience, incorporate technology, and bring Literacy into higher level thinking
for students. Pointing the efforts of both teams in the same direction helps build an exciting
train that encourages everyone to hop on board.

Once staff can demonstrate collaboration as an important step along the road to success,
students will adapt that attitude as well. Many times I have tried to teach someone how to use
Google Docs. Each time the person understands how to use the program, but he or she does not
know how to apply the program. Later, I use the program in a collaborative effort not only to
enhance the topic at hand, but to demonstrate a practical use for the program. Once
demonstrated, the teacher usually walks away with an idea or two for application in his or her
classroom as well as a more positive outlook on using Google Docs. This same idea applies to
students. Once teachers demonstrate how to collaborate, students will soon follow suit. This
helps students learn positive behaviors, and also brings student learning to a higher and more
meaningful level (Lezotte, 1).
Rigorous Teacher Development should occur, placing emphasis on collaboration, rather
than competition. Allowing preservice teachers to learn through collaboration provides a rich
experience. Fast-tracking individuals through a teacher education program removes many
opportunities for collaboration. It also proves no educational gains (Strauss, 4). In my opinion,
preservice teachers should spend a large amount of time in a school with high poverty rates. This
increases experience working with children who live in poverty as well as creates connections
between people in the education profession who can share strategies and techniques to create
success in all schools.
Another key component to a quality school is culture. Within schools, two important
themes occur. First, the school setting should reflect a multicultural education. Emphasis can be
placed on the sub-cultures represented throughout the school. However, all cultures should be
welcomed through visual representations, celebrations, the curriculum, etc. This can be further

emphasized by spreading the multicultural idea beyond school. This can include cultural
integration in housing and zoning programs to increase residential integration (Strauss, 4).
Government programs can be created to assist families with needs that occur beyond the school
setting, therefore leveling the playing field for all families in the areas of health care, quality
housing, access to substantial healthy meals, and after-school and summer recreation and
educational enrichment (Strauss, 4). In addition to that, funding should be evenly spread to all
schools, rather than relying on local property taxes to cover the cost of educating students
(Strauss, 4). With more equitable funding, all students have a better chance at an education
comparable to their peers in other neighborhoods.
Intrinsic motivation is another theme that addresses culture in schools. Teachers must
focus on teaching students how to be intrinsically motivated in order for students to reach the
high expectations set by the teachers and principals. Fostering intrinsic motivation is the only
strategy for deep sustainable change (Strauss, 3).
Interdisciplinary Learning is the third component to a quality school. The big idea of this
being there should be an opportunity for ALL students to learn. Interdisciplinary Learning
involves many aspects, including arts integration, STEM programs, music an movement as well
as project-based learning (Strauss, 5). It also includes social and emotional health in the
curriculum (Strauss, 5). This allows the teacher to cover more content in the limited amount of
time given with the students (Lezotte, 4). When utilizing the idea of Interdisciplinary Learning,
assessment can take on many different forms, including the assessment of Products and using
Technology as a tool for timely and immediate assessment (Lezotte, 5). These two examples of

assessment provide more opportunities for students to take control of their learning by setting
goals and striving to meet them.
Finally, Content needs to be a focus in a quality school. This should center around deep
learning through initiatives such as the Common Core State Standards rather than around
standardized tests (Strauss, 5). Direction in content is great for facing all educators the same way,
but too much direction leads to baseless, compliance-minded, creativity-stifling,
rigidity (Strauss, 5). Included in the deeper thought processes are basic skills that are truly
prerequisite to their mastery (Lezotte, 4). Teachers in quality schools use backward mapping to
identify the basic skills the students need to master in order to move on to the higher-level
thinking skills (Lezotte, 4).
A key component to content is the creation of a Universal Preschool. I hold an early
childhood license, and I find this to be an important area of focus in a multicultural country
where poverty rates are on the rise. Much of Wisconsin has implemented half-day 4K programs.
This is a great beginning, but it is not enough. As Valerie Strauss puts it, The evidence is
compelling enough that it should be universally available in the same way as current K-12
education (4). Creating a universal preschool program lays a foundation for students to enter
Kindergarten with school readiness skills necessary for further learning.
Collaboration, Culture, Interdisciplinary Learning, and Content intertwine to create an
effective school. The qualities create a complex web of ingredients that can be adjusted in the
recipe to create an environment where effective teaching and learning takes place.

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Lezotte, Lawrence W. Correlates of Effective Schools: The First and Second

Generation. Effective Schools Products, Ltd., Okemos, MI, 1991.

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Strauss, V. (2013, May 30). How School Reform Preserves the 'Status Quo' -- and What Real
Change Would Look like. <i>The Washington Post</i>.