Helping Students Meet High Standards
Helping Students Meet High Standards
The following is from the research of Ronald F. Ferguson and his work on the Tripod Project for School Improvement.
Students invest more effort when one of two classroom conditions are met. The first is high help where the teacher communicates a love for the students, their questions and has a means of providing students with feedback and help when they get confused or make mistakes. The second desirable condition is high perfectionism. This occurs when the teacher pushes students to go beyond understanding.
Ferguson’s research team found that when these two conditions are met all students thrive but particularly students in predominantly Black and Latino classrooms. From his research he concluded, “combining cheerful helpfulness with pressure for producing correct answers in an antiracist strategy for raising achievement and narrowing achievement gaps.”
Teachers in high help-high expectations classrooms embodied the following five beliefs:
- I have several ways of explaining things that students find difficult to understand.
- I welcome questions, even if it slows the class down.
- I try to pay special attention to students who seem sad or upset.
- I talk to students about their lives outside of school.
- I talk about the joy of learning.
Instructionally, they applied the following strategies:
- When planning lessons, they thought about whether students would enjoy them.
- They tried to call on low achievers as much as on high achievers.
- They often waited for students to answer when called on, even if it took a long time.
- They encouraged low achievers to ask questions and did not fear that this would slow the class down too much.
- They felt equally effective at teaching students from various racial backgrounds.
Ferguson concludes with this powerful reminder. “Every teacher should seeks ways to communicate, ‘I truly love to answer your questions, but I also insist that you concentrate in order to complete your work accurately.’ A consistent and compassionate effort to transmit this message, especially to students of color, is an anti-racist strategy for improving behavior, increasing persistence, raising performance levels, and narrowing achievement gaps.
Other research findings
- His research focused on elementary classrooms.
- In white majority classrooms the dominant type was high help-low perfectionism.
- In classrooms where students of color made up the majority, low help-high expectations.
- Having high expectations without the absence of assistance or scaffolding is dangerous, especially for students of color.
- Open-ended, higher-order thinking questions and assignments proved most valuable.
For more visit www.tripodproject.org
School Announcements
New! Announcements for secondary. Please play in first period.
Elementary Announcements
Middle and High School Announcements
Monday https://youtu.be/LVfojl_ujLw
Tuesday https://youtu.be/WxJpYuepmbA
Wednesday https://youtu.be/hhpgXgHkXek
Thursday https://youtu.be/1k5M0SZuM54
Friday https://youtu.be/mH7tqGDPlu4
Information and Tasks
ALL Staff: Please Complete SpeakUp Survey (we are aiming for 100% staff completion) speakup.tomorrow.org/S/KHKJ
On Wednesday, February 2 all students in grades 6-12 are asked to complete this ACPS survey. We will add 30 minutes to 1st block to minimize lost instructional time. https://survey.k12insight.com/r/it3c5t.
Culturally Responsive Teaching
Virtual School_Official Modules, Culturally Responsive Teaching, 2021-22
Grading and Report Cards
- Secondary Teachers:
- Please check assignment dates in your gradebooks and adjust them as necessary. All existing assignments with the dates of 1/25/2022 – 1/30/2022 were previously part of Q3/S2 grade calculations. Those assignments will now be part of Q2/S1 grade calculations unless the assignment dates are changed. It is likely that this is not the desired date and you will need to move those assignments to a date on or after 1/31/2022 if you want to keep the assignment as part of the Q3/S2 grade calculations.
- Grades are due February 4 or the morning of February 7
Assessment and Grading Practices Please review the following videos for information and changes to be implemented for second semester. The video is in 3 parts because apparently there are some problems with our contract with Screencast-o-matic. Sorry for it’s length.
o https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bjGFlhwONRo_WYX4x5fwtUuCR31LiiIj/view?usp=drivesdk
o https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gBYdaSxq7-t_WGwo1cet5uFLqozXEv62/view?usp=drivesdk
o https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qCBrJ0syZi3w_KNzd-ny409VqDYlMBwK/view?usp=drivesdk
o Here’s the powerpoint
- Elementary Teachers
- Display of grades & report card data will be disabled for students and families until February 10. Report cards should be updated by February 10.
Black History Month
Culturally responsive pedagogy posits that we incorporate Black history year-round and that our lessons are relevant to all students at all times. Like Hispanic Heritage Month, February provides us with the opportunity to dig deeper and expand on our curricula with an eye towards Instead of focusing on heroes and holidays, we will aim to incorporate themes like social justice, bravery and change. Rather than isolating Black history, we will explore the historical, political and social contexts of past and present and we shall aim to provide students with the opportunity to discuss and reflect upon these themes and their relevance today. Lessons incorporating such themes are not “easy” to teach but by tackling these real-life issues in developmentally appropriate ways, we strengthen our commitment to all students and the realities of our world.
Below are historical figures (all but a couple are Black Virginians) that I will highlight in my school announcements. Again, this is much more surface-level than what we should strive for. I encourage you to develop your own lessons that focus on their points of view, such as inequalities that they have experienced or observed.
I’ve also included some Black History Month resources for educators. Obviously, there are countless resources and it’s important that we appropriately vet all of our lessons.
The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross Grade 6-12, Numerous themes and lessons
Scholastic Magazine: Stories/Videos for elementary students
Civil Rights Lessons from Smithsonian
Meet Harriet Tubman (National Archives Comes Alive) Video/Re-enactment
Black History Resources for Teachers (US Gov Site)
Black History Resource Guide and Part 2
Survey Calendar
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