Displaying objectives focuses instruction in Youngstown classrooms

The Challenge

Volney Rogers Middle School in Youngstown, Ohio, is an inner-city public school with approximately 400 students, 92 percent of whom are economically disadvantaged. In the 2009–2010 school year, Volney Rogers was put on Academic Watch, having met only 30–50 percent of its indicators and having failed to reach its Average Yearly Progress (AYP) goal. Inconsistent instruction was largely to blame, according to Principal Diane Hunsbarger, so she set out to ensure that all students experience high-quality learning every day.

Strategic Solution

Principal Hunsbarger and McREL Principal Consultant Mel Sussman began conducting several classroom visits to formally assess instruction and gather data. They were looking, in particular, for what McREL considers the "non-negotiable" instructional strategies—Setting Objectives, Reinforcing Effort, Providing Recognition, and Providing Feedback—from McREL's Classroom Instruction That Works. The data they gathered confirmed there was instructional variation throughout the school. "Objective posters," as they came to be known, included the unit objective and benchmark, lesson objective, grade-level indicator, activity description, related vocabulary, and assessment type. Teachers used the posters to focus their instruction by beginning the lesson discussing the objective and ending the lesson by asking students, "Did we accomplish this objective today?" Students also knew what was expected of them and what to expect from teachers in class. 

Results

Hunsbarger conducts walkthroughs to ensure that teachers are referring to the posters and effectively implementing the four essential strategies. Now that they have a consistent instructional framework, staff members use monthly meetings to support each other and give feedback on using the strategies in their lessons. At the end of the 2010–2011 school year, Volney Rogers moved up from Academic Watch to Continuous Improvement as its students scored higher than or equal to the district's average. Their assessment results showed a 7.7 percent increase in 7^th-grade mathematics scores, a 12.9 percent increase in 8^th-grade reading scores, and a 4 percent increase in 8^th-grade science scores. Further attesting to their success, all of the middle schools in Youngstown City Schools have adopted the Volney Rogers objective poster.

Next Steps

Like any school initiative, change takes time. While the success of the poster has kept everyone motivated, the staff realizes this is just a start. They plan to continue their momentum of student learning by exploring other researched-based instructional strategies. With validation that the change they've started is working, Volney Rogers Middle School is committed to reaching the highest state ranking and to becoming a school that teachers, administrators, and parents are proud of.