That gap exists because so few assignments actually gave students a chance to demonstrate grade-level mastery. To be clear, “grade-level mastery” doesn’t mean students must have read a particular list of books. It means they have had the chance to practice a core set of grade-level-appropriate competencies for processing information, thinking critically about texts, and solving problems using evidence. Those are essential skills that can make the difference between graduating ready for college or the workplace, or not. When students had access to more of these resources, their outcomes tended to improve. On average, students in classrooms with stronger assignments or higher levels of engagement experienced about two additional months of learning ( Figure 2). 14 And the resources interact with each other in ways that also influence students’ experiences and outcomes: We saw a relationship, for example, between stronger instruction and higher levels of engagement. In classrooms in the top quartile for instructional practices, engagement was 31 percent higher than in classrooms with weaker instruction. Notably, these resources were particularly influential for students with the most to gain academically. In classrooms serving high proportions of students behind grade level, stronger instructional practices amounted to about six months of additional learning. When students who started the year behind had greater access to grade-appropriate assignments, they closed the outcomes gap with their peers by more than seven months ( Figure 3). 15 Those classrooms did not set an unattainable bar for assignment quality: On average, they offered grade-appropriate assignments 52 percent of the time, compared to 26 percent of the time across all classrooms. In fact, across all classrooms in our study, the average top-quartile classroom typically used grade-appropriate assignments only about 50 percent of the time. Relatively small improvements in assignment quality, instruction, and engagement offer a real chance for students who have been previously under-served by school to begin catching up to their peers. Students’ perceptions of their teachers’ beliefs also aligned to stronger academic outcomes.
0 kommentar(er)
