Five Keys

Letter to Supporters of Academic Achievement

A shared understanding among all of us is essential to close Dingle's academic achievement gap.  Parents, guardians, staff, and the Woodland community all have an effect on academic achievement at Dingle and in all Woodland schools.

As a first step in February 2021 members of Dingle's Leadership Team, PTA Board Members, the PTA President, Chair of the Dingle School Site Council, parents and teachers, with the support of Dingle's Principal, Ms. Ruffalo, together read the book 'I Got Schooled' by M. Night Shyamalan.  The book was a study of schools with a high percentage of socio-economically disadvantaged children that were closing the academic achievement gap in the U.S.A.  The book was written for non-educators to understand.

The book's findings resonated with all of us.  It described "five keys", summarized below, that a school like Dingle must do well to succeed in academics.  Many of our projects and communications since reading the book tie back to the five keys.

Please help us by learning about the five keys, spreading its message, and helping us achieve them.  Thank you!

Research-Based

M. Nigh Shyamalan hired a team of researchers to review available studies, research, and literature on high-poverty schools that were closing the academic achievement gap in the U.S.A.  They also visited some of those schools, speaking with their staff and families.  The five keys were identified using statistical significance and effect size showing the largest achievement gains at schools with the keys compared to schools without one or more keys. 

Five Keys

Schools must have all five to close the academic achievement gap:

Key #1 No Roadblock Teachers.  Roadblock teachers block the path to closing the achievement gap. Teachers committed to following the path will commit to a growth mindset in order to improve upon their craft through professional development, coaching and teamwork.  A school must identify and remove teachers who are roadblocks to student progress. 

Key #2 The Right Balance of Leadership.  Leadership that includes a principal who is committed to closing the gap by spending most of their time coaching teachers and building school and staff culture.  A school must create time and training for principals to be instructional leaders, not operations managers; divide the job duties.

Key #3 Feedback. Data driven instruction with regular feedback shared between students, teachers, and the principal.  A school must offer real time, data-driven (e.g. weekly test scores, classroom technique, etc.) feedback to teachers often, and expected to act on it.

Key #4 Smaller Schools.  Small schools allow instructional leaders more time with teachers, a more cohesive team of teachers, and more staff reinforcing student culture.  Dingle is a small school, but it must take advantage of it.

Key #5 More Time in Schools.  Maximizing or extending the day with intentionally chosen activities that close the gap which includes opportunities for all students that extend the school day with ASES, extend the school year with summer school, or by extending the school week such as Saturday school.  “Five hundred additional low-quality hours taught by a teaching staff full of below-average instructors who are not observed regularly by their principals nor given the quantitative and qualitative feedback they need is an expensive waste.”  A school must have more high-quality academic time spent learning.

Results from the Five Keys

Real examples at high-poverty schools:

• Moving from below to above district and state averages within 1-3 years

• Earning the National Blue Ribbon within 5 years

• Increase between 19%-37%* in 'year one' if using the whole program

• Increase up to 28%* in 'year one' for data drive instruction alone

• Increase by 54%* over 3 years (one example)

* The % increase refers to "% of students proficient" in math, reading, or both.  For example, if Dingle is X% proficient, then an increase of 19% means X% + 19%.  These numbers were reported by Uncommon Schools training programs: 'Leverage Leadership 2.0' for principals and 'Driven By Data 2.0' for all staff.

Comments on the Five Keys

"The thing that makes teachers happiest is their students’ success in learning what they’re being taught. Teachers can thrive, students can learn when several key components are present in a school." - Parent

"System changes don’t occur in isolation. They require integration of more than one key." - Teacher