When the (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System) became real-that is, when we got the word that our elementary students wouldn't get a high school diploma if they didn't pass the rigorous 10th grade test- we go hold of the 4th and 8th grade standards (the only grades with standards at that point) and sample assessment items and teased out the most essential standards for grades 3,2,1, and kindergarten and then up to grade 5. We then produced compact booklets of curricular expectations for each grade level, with sample reading passages and student writing exemplars, and printed copies for all staff and parents.

Put simply: the leadership team clarified the curriculum. And Marshall began to make frequent visits to classrooms to ensure that the curriculum was being faithfully taught. He then arranged for teachers to meet regularly in grade-level teams to help each other develop effective lessons aligned directly with the essential standards.

In Marshall's words, his school's focus on curriculum, collaboration, and frequent monitoring raised achievement levels "with amazing speed" (Marshall, 2003, p. 112). As was the case at Brockton High, some of the largest gains at Mather came in the first year, when scores rose from the bottom to the top third in citywide standings- the greatest gains of any large elementary school in Massachusetts.

Such is the power of a systematic if imperfect effort to move toward a "guaranteed and viable curriculum"-perhaps largest factor that affects school achievement (Marzano, 2003, p. 22).

Example 2 (p.66-68) Adlai Stevenson High School: Curriculum-Focused PLC's

...at Stevenson High School, departments and course-alike teams took the lead on curriculum. Improvement efforts began with a charge to severely reduce the number of standards that teachers taught in each course. This mandate became the basis for constructing a common curriculum and curriculum-based assessments for every course and grading period, taught on a common but not overly restrictive schedule (about 15 percent of each course was left to teacher's discretion). the clear, common curriculum and assessments were essential to each team's collective focus and a boon to productive, improvement-oriented collaboration. Once the curriculums were completed, teams continued to meet on regular basis to improve the effectiveness of their daily lessons- work that can only occur where a common curriculum in in place.

One of the primary reasons for Stevenson's success was a brief, focused quarterly review of each course-alike team's performance. The work was distributed among teh principal, assistant principal, and department heads. At those meetings, leaders asked simple, common-sense questions: How well did students in each perspective course perform that quarter? Was performance even somewhat higher than last quarter? If not, what could leaders do to improve performance in the coming quarter?

Moreover, Stevenson embraced the same model of effective instruction discussed in Chapter 2. The assistant principal and successor as principal and superintendent, noted that his primary objective when conducting classroom observations was to promote purposeful, curriculum-based lessons that featured chunked lessons, guided practice, and checks for understanding- for each step of instruction. he was especially emphatic about the importance of checking for understanding and circulating around the classroom during student guided practice: for him, such "real-time, same-day" assessments of progress are the heart of effective lessons (see Focus, p. 66). After conducting his walkthroughs, he would report his finding to the relevant departments or at faculty meetings with a clear expectation for targeted improvements. They have found that very few schools do this.

...This school had remarkable results...ACT scores rose from 22 to 26.5-even as the state began to require all students including the non-college-bound, to take the test. During this same period, the school achieved an 800 percent increase in the number of students passing AP exams (DuFour, 2014). The leadership team accomplished all of this with a deep, intensive focus: DuFour was emphatic that during the first five years of the improvement effort Stevenson conducted no additional or external professional development whatsoever- and, like brockton, without any additional expenditures.