Running head: ELEMENTS OF QUALITY INSTRUCTION 1

Elements of Quality Instruction

Michael Miller

University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

OLPD 5321 The Principal as Leader of High - Performing Schools

Katie Pekel, Ed.D.

December 3, 2016
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Elements of Quality Instruction

K-12 Scope and Sequence. In Minneapolis Public Schools, the scope and sequence of

each subject area is laid out in Focused Instruction. One theme that can be identified in grades

kindergarten through fifth grade is the focus on numbers and operations in the beginning of the

school year. Before students experience geometry or any algebraic thinking, they are exposed to

numbers moving from single digits to 100,000s to rational numbers moving from kindergarten to

fifth grade. Once students get to sixth grade they build upon their knowledge of rational numbers

before moving into more algebraic thinking.

The goal in Minneapolis is to have each student complete algebra in eighth grade.

According to Mr. Irsay students need to have a really strong sense of numbers and an ability to

difficult addition, subtraction, multiplication and division problem without a calculator and they

just cant do it (eighth grade teacher, personal communication, December 1, 2016). If students

begin to fall behind in middle school, they may lack the basic skills in algebra they need to be

successful in high school. The biggest challenge is that we have to work so hard on algebra

review because the kids just arent ready after middle school (Agrimson, personal

communication, November 18, 2016). One possible strategy for improve K-12 math instruction

could be to ensure that the transition from numbers and operations to algebraic thinking to

advanced algebra are fully mastered at the designated grade level.

Quality Instruction. While many of the best practices in teaching and learning are

commonly discussed in research today, the practices are not always used in classrooms. One

example of this is having learning targets that convey high expectations for students that are

posted in the classroom. When earning targets are used appropriately they can provide clear

directions to students and help students become more engaged and empowered in a lesson (Moss
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& Brookhart, 2012). Unfortunately, this is not always the result that comes from learning targets.

Occasionally, teachers will post learning targets that are based on low expectations or targets that

only marginally connect to the planned lesson.

One example of this was a high school class this author observed where the learning

target read, I can code switch into school mode (personal communication, December 5, 2016).

While this author is not exactly sure what this particular learning targets tells about what students

should know or be able to do, he does know that the learning target did not relate to the proofs

the students were solving in the Geometry class. Another example comes from a third grade

classroom where the learning target read, I can math strategies to solve addition and subtraction

problems (personal communication, November 10, 2016). While it is important for students to

understand specific strategies, this author is wondering how students know which strategy they

are expected to use and whether the strategies are specific to addition or subtraction problems.

Clear learning targets that convey high expectations to students can be very helpful to improving

student learning, but if learning targets are based on low expectations or do not relate to the

lesson, then they are of little use to classroom teachers.

Another strategy that constitutes effective instruction is using differentiation to meet the

needs of all learners. Tracy Huebner (2010) asserts, a growing body of research shows positive

results for implementation of differentiated instruction in mixed-ability classrooms (p. 79). While

differentiation can take many forms, one effective example this author has observed was the use

of differentiated groups in guided math in a third grade math classroom. The classroom observed

had students divided into four different groups based on ability and included four different

rotations including: hands on, technology, individual and with the teacher. The lowest of the

groups started with the teacher to learn the content and skills needed for the lesson. Since most of
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the students in the lowest group had an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) a Special Education

Resource Teacher (SERT) worked with this group for the other three transitions.

As the groups that came to work with the teacher became more advanced, the teacher

adjusted instruction to give the students more difficult problems to solve and allowed more time

for the students to struggle. This allowed each of the groups to be challenged while also having

the support of their teacher to help them be successful. The support of the classroom teacher is an

important component in successful differentiation. In an eighth grade math class this author

visited, students were given differentiated worksheets, but very little teacher support, and many

students struggled to complete the worksheets. The key difference between the successful and

unsuccessful differentiation was the level of teacher support.

A third quality of effective instruction is academic feedback. Helping students better

understand a standard and providing clear direction of what was done well and how students can

improve to show mastery of the standard can have a significant impact on student achievement.

According to John Hatties research, Feedback is one of the top ten most effective practices for

improving student learning with an effect size of .75 (Hattie Rankings, 2016). Hattie discovered

that .40 was the average effect size and decided to use that number to judge the success of all of

the interventions (Hattie Rankings, 2016). Unfortunately, this author did not find a good example

of academic feedback in any of the classrooms he observed. In all three classrooms, the feedback

students received was either yes, or good. The problem with this level of feedback is that it

does not tell students what was done well or how they could improve even more. Quality

academic feedback can place a significant role in improving student learning, but feedback that

lacks specificity or doesnt help students understand how they can improve is not quality.
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Instructional Leadership. The first step to improving instruction is frequently observing

classrooms and Professional Learning Communities. Once instructional leaders have a good

understanding of what classroom instruction looks like within a school they have an opportunity

and responsibility to begin to develop high quality professional development. Professional

development could be delivered through staff meetings, specified professional developments

days, in PLC meetings or in optional sessions on teachers prep time. Another way to improve the

quality of instruction is to provide coaching to teachers, either in individual meetings or through

PLCs. The advantage of focusing coaching on PLCs is that it allows instructional leaders to

reach more staff in a shorter period of time, which could allow the instructional leader to have a

greater impact on classroom instruction and student achievement.

After completing more than 100 classroom observations, this author has determined that

there is a need for professional development and coaching on the effective use of learning targets

and providing specific academic feedback to students. To help teachers improve in this area, this

author has already begun coaching teachers on an individual basis during their prep time. While

this may have a positive impact on these teachers and their classrooms, the benefits have not

been widespread enough to have a significant impact on the school as a whole. The next step for

this author, as an instructional leader, will be to build the capacity of staff through professional

learning opportunities in order to ensure the improvement is long-term. Kaplan and Owings

(2015) assert, a growing body of evidence within the school improvement field identifies

capacity building as a means to sustain improvements (p. 217). Building capacity through

professional development will not only improve staff knowledge of the effective use of learning

targets and academic feedback, but it could also play a significant role in guaranteeing that the

impact on student learning in widespread and long-term.

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References:

Huebner, T. A. (2010). What research says aboutDifferentiated learning. Educational

Leadership, 67(5), pp. 79-81.

Kaplan, L. S. & Owings, W. A. (2015). Introduction to the Principalship: Theory to Practice.

New York, NY: Routledge.

Moss, C. M. & Brookhart, S. M. (2012). Learning Targets: Helping Students Aim for

Understanding in Todays Lesson. Alexandria, VA: ASCD

Visible Learning. (n.d.) Hattie effect size list 195 Influences Related To Achievement.

Retrieved December 06, 2016, from http://visible-learning.org/hattie-ranking-influences-

effect-sizes-learning-achievement/.