A recent study from the Learning Policy Institute analyzed the first three years of data from the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, tests created to measure student proficiency in the Common Core English and math standards. While the test results reflected growing achievement gaps in many districts, the report also identified California districts that were leveraging the new and more challenging standards to produce higher-than-expected achievement levels for their African American, Hispanic and white students. To identify the high-achieving districts, the study analyzed the performance of the identified groups across the 435 California school districts with at least 200 African American or Hispanic students and compared student groups of similar racial/ethnic backgrounds from families of similar income and education levels, said Anne Podolsky, lead author of California’s Positive Outliers: Districts Beating the Odds. The study also looked at predictors of achievement. “Our findings show that districts in which a greater proportion of teachers have full credentials and more years of experience are associated with higher student achievement,” Podolsky said. The full report can be read here.

While the study concluded that experienced and fully credentialed teachers are the most important factor in raising achievement levels for underserved student groups, representatives from some of the outlier districts identified teachers as an integral piece in a systems approach in which all stakeholders contribute to, understand and feel invested in the goal of graduating all students prepared for college and career. Other factors, such as rigorous curriculum and the belief that all students can achieve, emerged as essential to the outlier districts’ success, and are all elements that governance teams can support through their leadership.

Collaboration

Felton Williams is a four-term board member in the Long Beach Unified School District, identified in the Outliers report as a district with above-average achievement for Hispanic and African American students, with particularly high results for the latter. Williams emphasized the importance of having a strategic plan that guides the district in its work — a plan that everyone in the district is familiar with. “People have to have buy-in in organizations in terms of how that organization is going to perform, and they get that buy-in by participating in and building a strategic plan,” he said. Over a two-year period, Long Beach USD convened stakeholder groups including teachers, principals, board members, community groups and labor representatives to determine the direction of the district. The group’s discussions were centered around student achievement data from state and national testing, as well as other data sources, including social-emotional health surveys and district-designed assessments, that directed attention to where extra support was needed. The district’s Local Control and Accountability Plan is made and assessed with the strategic plan goals in mind.

ith more than 72,000 students at 85 schools, Long Beach USD is the third-largest school district in California. Long Beach USD’s strategic plan is the culmination of two years of examining the district’s policies and programs and assessing how each element fits into the district’s vision of making “every student a responsible, productive citizen in a diverse and competitive world” and boosting student achievement. As part of the strategic plan, the governing board approved the Academic & Career Success Initiative. Williams said the ambitious initiative helped to unite the board, solidify its governance and ensure everyone is working toward the same goal. Key partners Long Beach City College and California State University, Long Beach work with the district to align academic standards, teaching methods and student assessments to guarantee college admission. Other goals of the initiative are to educate students and their parents about the A-G college entrance requirements beginning in sixth grade and to align higher education goals with career technical education to ensure that students have as many post-graduation options as possible. As a result of this effort, district graduation rates increased for the sixth straight year in 2018, surpassing state and county rates. African American student graduation rates improved by 7 percent from 2013 to 2017.

In order to make these goals a reality, the students themselves are key contributors in Long Beach USD. When data revealed that many African American students were struggling in math, district staff conducted interviews with 12th-grade students who had struggled with the subject. They also spoke to those students who had excelled to identify what types of instruction helped or didn’t, and what the students think would have helped them excel.

Long Beach USD Deputy Superintendent of Schools Jill Baker said it is often the students in the classrooms who best know what is working and what isn’t, and the district has worked to include student voice in its conversations through student boards and district committees. “What the data has shown us, in terms of classrooms, is that the students can more clearly tell the story of what they’re experiencing and what they need,” she said.

In the Chula Vista Elementary School District, identified in the Outliers report for above-average achievement for both Hispanic and African American students, collaboration takes the form of an interdependent system, said Gloria Ciriza, the district’s executive director of curriculum and instruction. “We’re really proud of the collaborative approach to seeking input from stakeholders and really bringing the right people together to help us make the right decisions for kids,” Ciriza said. “We believe that we need each other to really be at our best to be able to provide the best for kids in classrooms.”

A key area of collaboration for Chula Vista ESD — a district near the U.S.-Mexico border with about 30,000 students attending 48 schools — is its LCAP. Ciriza said that parent and community member participation increased over the last three years due to intensive district outreach, as written input from stakeholders rose from about 150 comments to almost 4,000. The district also convened community members, board members, parents, teachers, labor leaders and members of the business community in person to review data and see in which areas Chula Vista was doing well and where it was struggling — and to decide on direction together. The data revealed that many students struggled with language development. The group zeroed in on implementing language development strategies in all of the teaching and learning happening in the district.

Winton School District in Central California is home to about 2,000 students and was identified as one of the top schools for above-average Hispanic achievement in the Outliers report. Like the larger districts in Los Angeles and San Diego counties, Winton SD focuses on a collaborative approach to setting priorities and helping its students achieve. The district reaches out to everyone from principals and teachers to custodians and groundskeepers when gathering input from school staff and has a robust outreach program to connect with parents and members of the community as well.

“Having the parents/guardians fully engaged in their child’s education is vital to the successful instruction for all students,” said Winton SD Superintendent Randall Heller. He credits partnerships with parents, community members and organizations with contributing to the district’s culture of commitment, good communication and respect. One area that collaborators have focused on in the district is building a strong early literacy foundation. Winton SD school board President Kelly Thomas said the district’s focus on early learning has prioritized having preschools at each of the district’s four school sites. “When you have one or two years of learning before kindergarten, you are already entering school with above-average skills,” she said.

High Standards

“The key to changing the narrative that we have in education in America is for people to understand that every kid is capable of learning, every kid is capable of producing results,” said Williams of the Long Beach USD board of trustees, “but you’ve got to have an atmosphere and environment that allows that to happen and provides support.” As the only African American trustee on the Long Beach board, Williams said he understands the bias that many students of color face and has spent much of his time on the board raising awareness of implicit bias and working with staff and community groups to overcome that dynamic.

Williams has contributed to an overt focus on equity, respect and accountability for students in Long Beach USD. One area in which this focus has shown results is the makeup of students taking Advanced Placement courses. When Williams came to the district, he noticed that very few students of color were taking AP courses, and that number remained stagnant year to year. Staff and a working group examined how students were enrolled in AP courses, with the aim of enrolling more students of color, and a new data-informed system was implemented. In just over three years, enrollment in AP classes for students of color has gone from 500 students to more than 3,000; African American student enrollment has risen by 3 percent, which coincides with a 3 percent increase in the number of AP exams passed by African American students. Students are encouraged to challenge themselves and support is provided, especially to new AP students, through their teachers and an AP coordinator who can connect students with resources.

In Chula Vista ESD, a shared district motto recognizes that each student is an “individual of great worth.” The philosophy aims to ensure that students are treated with dignity and respect, remembering that each student brings their own needs, culture and experiences to their education. The district believes that each child is a “high-achieving, innovative thinker.” One of the district’s strategic goals is a commitment that all students will have access to academic programs and resources that will enable them to achieve their full potential. Chula Vista ESD has also invested in a strong visual and performing arts program. Social-emotional learning is a strong focus in the district. All of these elements combine to enhance students’ sense of belonging in schools, which research says contributes to academic achievement.

Supporting Teachers

With the advent of the Common Core State Standards, a new way of thinking and deeper engagement with learning is expected of students. By extension, this deeper learning must be understood and practiced by teachers. As the adults on the frontlines of classrooms, research confirms that effective teachers have a positive effect on student achievement, especially for students in poverty and students of color. A recently released report from the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, What Matters Now: A New Compact for Teaching and Learning, found that a series of invested, knowledgeable and prepared teachers can overcome the achievement gap between low-income students and their more affluent peers.

Chula Vista ESD’s focus on shared decision making has resulted in a districtwide commitment to high-quality language development practices woven throughout all of its teaching. Collaboration time and professional development is provided to all teachers around research-based and Common Core-aligned learning strategies. “Because the practices were developed collaboratively, we have a cohesiveness across the system around those high-quality instructional practices,” Ciriza said. The district makes hiring and retaining fully credentialed and experienced teachers a priority. New teachers work with a teacher induction coordinator to ensure they are not only meeting the requirements to clear their credentials, but have the foundation to be able to function in a system that has high expectations for teachers and learning in classrooms, Ciriza explained.

In Long Beach USD, teaching is centered around six key factors that are implemented throughout the district. The foundation is a firm understanding of the state standards along with strategies to teach them. In addition, teachers are provided time to work in teams with administrators as they review student data and collaboratively design instruction and programs to help their students achieve. The importance of a “warm and demanding” teacher is another focus of instructional practice, said Pamela Seki, the district’s assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction. A 2016 review of 46 educational studies found that strong teacher–student relationships were associated with higher student engagement, better grades and better school attendance, along with a decrease in disruptive behaviors and suspensions.

Seki said the district’s collaborative approach to professional development gives teachers a sense of agency and ownership. “We all acknowledge that the most important person in the room is the teacher for those students,” she said, “and so supporting the teachers and our administrators is really the backbone of the work that we do that is advancing our students.”

Winton SD also emphasizes teacher professional development through collaboration and using data to zero in on student needs. “Rigorous internal training from successful teachers sharing successful ideas ensure a positive working environment,” said Superintendent Heller.

Board President Thomas said supporting teachers and making sure they are fully qualified is the best way to support students. “We have a saying in Winton that once you come here to teach, you never leave,” she said. “We have teachers that have been with the district for 30-plus years. We make sure our teachers have what they need.”

Continuous Improvement

Each district in this story acknowledged that while they were honored to be recognized for the advances they are making in student achievement, there is still much work left to be done to truly close achievement and opportunity gaps. The districts all point to the importance of regular data collection and analysis in order to target funding and intervention strategies.

Chula Vista ESD was recently identified as a “Model of Continuous Improvement” by the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence, a key partner in the state’s System of Supports. CCEE representatives have visited many of Chula Vista’s schools to observe their vision, collaboration and instructional development in action and will disseminate these best practices to other districts. In a recent installment of the CCEE’s podcast, Chula Vista ESD Superintendent Francisco Escobedo said that the district has worked diligently to improve student outcomes. “Hopefully [Chula Vista] can be a place where other cities can learn from. If it’s a possibility in a town five minutes away from the border of Mexico, it can be done anywhere.”

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Kimberly Sellery is managing editor for California Schools.