By Joan Richardson

Results, May 2000

Copyright, National Staff Development Council, 2000. All rights reserved.

Evaluating schools and their impact on student achievement has been one of Gordon Cawelti’s passions for over three decades.

Now, as a researcher for the Educational Research Service, Cawelti devotes his energies to finding successful schools and exploring what led to their successes.

"I want to know how we can make this happen in other schools. I want to know how we can enlist support for these kinds of changes,’’ he said.

Initially a science teacher and principal in Iowa, Cawelti went on to become superintendent of the Tulsa, Oklahoma schools and executive director of both the North Central Association and ASCD. As Tulsa superintendent in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Cawelti said he "first faced head-on the problem of having significant numbers of kids who were not achieving.’’

Tulsa, of course, was not alone. "In the ’60s, lots of schools were innovating but they were innovating for the sake of innovation. They would try team teaching or putting televisions into classrooms because they thought these things would make schools more interesting or maybe more personal. But there was no thought to making schools more challenging or more productive. And there certainly was not a deep level of concern for levels of achievement,’’ Cawelti said.

Since then, Cawelti said he perceives a dramatic change in educators’ perception of achievement. "It’s taken quite a while to inject a sensitivity that low levels of achievement are serious. But I think attitudes have shifted to the point where there is very clearly a concern that we must improve the achievement of all students,’’ he said.

"Public schools have been complacent. The bureaucracy is sluggish. They haven’t really tried very hard. Even today, urban schools are a lot more concerned about operations. They have so many schools and so many problems that they can’t muster a serious effort towards improving achievement,’’ he said.

Cawelti’s research has challenged the idea that schools filled with low-income students can’t achieve. Over the years, he has found some common characteristics in schools that have been successful with those students. These schools have:

But Cawelti found that not every successful school uses test results to measure its effectiveness. In some schools, the standard may be ensuring that large numbers of graduates go on to four-year colleges; in another, improving performance on a statewide exam; in still another, "learning how to learn.’’

What’s clear however is that the staff in the building understands and accepts the goal and works to achieve it, he said.

Each was able to develop a staff that was deeply committed to the school’s goals and willing to invest a great deal of themselves in achieving those goals.

But Cawelti said the teachers in these schools often do not recognize that the time they spend working with each other is staff development time.

Nonetheless, in these schools, Cawelti found teams of teachers examining their practice, how students are learning, and then determining what teachers need to learn to improve student learning.

For most of these schools, this means looking closely at testing data. They are often helped in this area because their states provide them with rich information about test results.

"It’s very practical, down-to-earth staff development. It’s here and now and it makes a difference,’’ he said.

"These teachers are willing to work hard, damn hard. Everyone knows that you don’t go to work in that school unless you’re willing to work hard. That message gets out and it attracts the kind of teachers who keep it going,’’ he said.

At the same time, however, many of these schools have had the ability to remove teachers who could not meet the standard set for teachers in that building.

Cawelti said all five of these factors must mingle to create a successful school. For example, principals must be able to attract the staff they need. They must be able to convey to new and veteran teachers the expectations for the school. Without a committed staff that is focused on clear standards, those standards cannot be achieved. The staff must be willing to work closely and respectfully with each other to achieve those standards, no matter how difficult the task. And they must be willing to work on multiple improvements at one time.

If any of those factors is missing, Cawelti suspects a school cannot make significant progress in improving student learning.