New Blog Site

Abeo has been working to make it easy as possible to follow our work. To that end, we have migrated all our previous work here on blogger to our main website. Please continue to follow our work on twitter and at our new and improved blog. Please let us know how we can help your work for school change!

Rethinking Professional Development

In order to effectively change schools, to engage in true reform, and to put students first, the learning of educators must model this process and go through some changes. Education for children has gone through some serious structural changes, from competency based learning and online learning, to emphasis on 21^st century skills like collaboration and problem solving. Adult learning can and should mirror these structural changes, but in order for this to happen, there must be power given up by administrators to empower the teachers around them. John Stewart in a conversation with Melody Barnes spoke of this empowerment to change:

“Do you think ultimately we will find ourselves changing our entire model of education? I have always found with education that individuals are the ones that make the enormous difference, and the more that you're able to empower a great teacher, a great principal, a great superintendent, can make enormous differences. How do we empower the individual to have the authority and the responsibility to make those changes, and not tie them to arbitrary objective realities or goals?”

The big question is how can we use Professional Development to empower educators to better themselves? There are tools out there in professional development that can help with it. The key is protocols, structures, and inquiry. Instead of “workshops” on a regular basis, where it is mostly driven by the speaker, let’s allow for different structures. Workshops must still happen, but only when timely and needed. Not everything has to be workshop. If we want the instruction to be diverse in structure and discourse, then the same must be made for teachers so that they can internalize the practice, and most importantly be empowered to learn. 

We should be allowing time for teachers to collaborate on specific objectives, problems and issues. Teachers can be held accountable through a variety of products, from presentations to plans and briefings. If we are allowing for voice and choice in the way students present their learning, we should do the same for teaching. Teachers need to be allowed to delve into in depth inquiry of learning within the framework of the administration, but also related heavily to the practice. Instead of a workshop on culturally responsive teaching, have teachers create driving questions and investigations to explore and apply to their practice around the topic of culturally responsive teaching. When we start to broaden our scope of what professional development is, we can start to differentiate professional development for teachers, from whole school PD, to PLCs, to individual coaching. Allowing teachers to come to the table with their concerns, and then allowing them to explore solutions, we can empower teachers to be reflective and continue their growth.

When we talk about developing the practice of teachers, let’s stop using the word “training” and use the word “empower.” I know Abeo is committed to this model of PD, and all schools should embrace it in order to improve teacher and student achievement.

From Andrew Miller, Abeo New Media Innovations

Use Wordle to Unpack Standards

Sometimes standards can be a little cumbersome to look through. Complex in language and phrasing, standards take a lot of time to unpack. It is crucial that teachers take the time to unpack these standards, so that they understand what students really need to be able to do to meet standard and pass not only standardized assessments, but district and class assessments. Unpacking standards allow teachers to create aligned, rigorous assessments that show this learning.

Teachers need scaffolding in their professional learning just as much as students do in their learning. In our growing world of technology, Wordle is a great tool to create word clouds. I can help summarize articles, showing the most frequently used words, and more. I have seen many teachers use Worldle in their classrooms to help scaffold learning and create engagement, so why do the same for teachers?

Above, you will see a wordle, for a 5th grade common core standard. As per the normal setup of standards, the "main" or "power" standard is listed and then many sub standards are located beneath to help show all components of the power standard. From this wordle, we can see the variety of concepts that students need to understand, from being able to "interpret" to understanding "fractions." This can help teachers not only see connections in the concepts needed, but also unpack into specific targets. Just this simple tool can help teachers unpack standards, providing them with scafolding analyze the standard. Try using it with you staff!

From Andrew Miller, Abeo New Media Innovations

College Prepared Project

Want to learn more about the College Prepared Project and Abeo? Enjoy this Prezi!

The College Prepared Project on Prezi

From Chris Hoyos, Abeo School Change Partner

The Alignment of AIW and PBL

Last week’s blog from Chris and Harriette reminded me of the work I have done as a teacher as a both a practitioner of PBL and of AIW. Both AIW and PBL aim for the same goals and can align quite well. The four components of AIW were explained in the previous blog, although elaborated communication is explained a little more explicitly here. So how do the elements of AIW explained in the previous blog align to PBL?

Construction of Knowledge - When students create products for a PBL projects, they should not simply be regurgitation of knowledge in a new genre. PBL products are not low level performance assessments. Instead, PBL products demand that students innovate with the content being assessed. Instead of a podcast on World Religions, students would create a podcast to debunks myths and stereotypes of a specific world religion. They must grapple with the content to create something new with it.

Disciplined Inquiry - PBL is inquiry. Students are given the project up front, as well as a driving question to help focus and engage students in the inquiry. An entry event is utilized to spark the inquiry and get students excited. Students research, ask questions, interpret the information found for their project and critique. This in turn demands this process of inquiry continue until the project is completed. Students delve deep in the content by being a complex and engaging project to address.

Elaborated Communication - In PBL, both presentation and written communication on demanded as part of the assessments. Related to the last component of "Value Beyond School," PBL also demands presentation to an authentic audience. This might be in the form of pitch or defense, or could even be expository in nature. PBL leverages communication as critical  whether it is verbal or written.

Value Beyond School - This component is the crux to any good PBL project. The work that students do must have value. It must mean something beyond the classroom. When I visited High Tech High, a PBL school, one of the teachers told me that they never ask students to make something or do something that they would great rid of. They demand that their PBL projects have students created products that will be valued now and into the future. 

If you do want to learn more about AIW, go to AIWs website. There are links to literature, resources and more. It remains one of Abeo's areas of expertise and is utilized in our school coaching frequently.

From Andrew Miller, New Media Innovations

Engaging Student Minds with Authentic Intellectual Work

In our work as educational coaches, we find that the challenge at the forefront of most teachers’ minds is engagement.  How do I engage my students?  Why aren’t my students motivated? What are ways I can get and keep my students interested? Across the country, across disciplines, and across grade levels, questions like these are echoed time and again.  

These are critical questions and ought to focus any consideration of teaching practices that produce higher levels of learning.  Our view is that student engagement is the most authentic driver for deep learning.  Engagement is like being in the zone, where kids – totally engrossed in an endeavor to the point where time almost stands still and outside distractions almost disappear – are fully immersed and invested. To push learning beyond acquisition of basic skills and inspire perseverance, students need to feel connected to what is being learned.  If learners are not greatly interested and involved in the task at hand, we are lucky to get compliance, let alone real engagement.

This is, of course, not new thinking.  Engagement is a frequent topic at conferences, school-based professional development, and has inspired many “how-to” books and articles.  We find, however, that teachers sometimes assume that engagement requires “fun” assignments.  Often engagement and intellectual rigor are seen as a trade-off.  We’ll make it fun or we’ll make them work their brains hard.  But can we do both?  And can we afford not to?

At Abeo’s College Prepared Project, we’re turning these assumptions inside out as teachers learn how to engage students with work that is both relevant and intellectually challenging.  Using a framework known as Authentic Intellectual Work, we support teachers through collaboration, reflection and inquiry to ask students to construct knowledge and use disciplined inquiry to produce products or performances that have value beyond school. In the Project, cohorts of teachers learn to assess and fill the gap between the work they are asking students to do and the expectations students will be asked to meet in college. Teachers learn to design tasks and deliver instruction that encourage students to research into a particular discipline and create new knowledge for a real purpose and a genuine audience – the work of adults.  As teachers examine their own assignments and those of their peers, they’re asked to consider how each task expects students to use their minds well.  Is it rigorous and relevant?  Will it prepare them for college and beyond?

Why are the three elements of AIW so significant to college preparedness and engagement?  As we’ve guided teachers to be researchers into their own practice, here’s what we’ve learned.

Students need to construct knowledge.  In many facets of life we are required to problem-solve in order to make sense or meaning of a particular situation.  If successful, we have used information to make inferences and predictions; we’ve interpreted and synthesized input from a variety of sources.  If successful, we’ve analyzed and exercised some level of evaluation to make decisions.  And, if successful, we have created something purposeful.  These cognitive processes are routine for all of us in every day life; students exercise them routinely as well, but rarely in association with academic work.  We find that an expectation of creativity touches the spirit of what it is to be human and connects students to academic work in a powerful way.  

CPP participants link this element of engagement to intellectual rigor by considering the authenticity of the task and evidence of thinking.  Questions guide their work:  What is the purpose of the task? How are students being asked to think? Will there be a new idea or simply an evaluation of an old one? What will be evidence of new thinking?

Students need the opportunity and expectation to learn deeply. Disciplined inquiry emphasizes depth of knowledge versus breadth of knowledge.  When students are taught and asked to approach content or subject as disciplinarians, students learn the ways of thinking, reading, writing, and communicating that occur within the field. Students engage deeply with the subject to understand the content, processes, and forms of communication unique to the discipline.

As CPP participants collaborate around their work, they look for evidence of disciplinary research, thinking and communication. Questions guide their work:  How is knowledge acquired? How are students being asked to think and use knowledge?  Is there deep knowledge and how is that expressed?

Students respond powerfully to real work.  Purposeful work is relevant work.  No one wants to engage in tasks that are pointless and serve no purpose.  We have learned that student detachment isn’t a sign of low motivation or laziness; it’s a natural response to work that lacks purpose. When students are asked to tackle the kind of open-ended and undefined tasks that are encountered in daily life, we see an investment of energy that comes from doing something that matters.  There is a “so what” to the hard work they are being asked to do.

CPP participants examine and design tasks to ensure that this dimension of relevancy is present and that student assignments provide opportunities for authentic purposes. Critical questions become a lens for their scrutiny: What value does it have beyond exhibition of knowledge? Are there a purpose and an audience for the work? Does it mirror the adult world?

So what engages students? Authentic intellectual work that incorporates rigorous and relevant tasks, where learners are asked to use their minds well and to originally apply knowledge and skills.  If you ask students to go beyond the routine use of facts and procedures, carefully studying and resolving a challenging problem that has meaning beyond success in school, they will engage authentically and learn well and deeply. If we want students to be fully present and interested in learning, we need to routinely ask ourselves if what we’re offering them is authentic intellectual work

From Abeo Partners, Chris Hoyos and Harriette Thurber Rassmussen

Collaboration - Integral in Common Core Assessment

One on the most striking and pleasant surprises that I encountered in the Common Core Standards, was the prevalence of Collaboration. This alone says that we are on the right track with common core.  What is a needed 21^st Century Skill? Collaboration. What does Sir Ken Robinson say is required for a change in education? Collaboration. He says eloquently, that “collaboration is the stuff of learning.” What are experts and writers calling out for in books such as Curriculum 21 edited by Heidi Hayes Jacobs, and 21^st Century Skills by Bernie Trilling and Charles Fadel? Collaboration. Whenever I conduct a training with teachers as ask them what they want their students to be able to do when they leave their classroom or school, what is the hot word? Collaboration.

If we truly want and need this for our students, they will need to teach and assess it. It needs to be leveraged in the grade book. This of course means we need to arm educators with the skills to effectively teach to the standard of Collaboration in the classroom. 

Let’s be honest. I doubt many of us have our state standards by our bedside as inspiration reading. But I would say the standards including collaboration can allow for exciting and engaging teaching and learning. Here is the power from the English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies,

Science, and Technical Subjects. 

K-5 and 6-12 Speaking and Listening

1. Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners,

building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

This standard is even broken down with specific criteria for each grade level. Collaboration is going to look similar and different across grade level. Your job is to figure out an assessment that will accurately show that they have performed that criteria and made that criteria clear to all partners in the student’s learning, from the parent, to the administrator. Collaboration is best seen in solving a problem, so of course, I am bias towards PBL, Project-Based or Problem-Based Learning. This sets an authentic task in motion for students to work on collaboratively to problem solve.

So what could an assessment look like? Let’s use the example above as our focus. Here the content of the actual collaborative effort is completely open. In fact, this could be done across the classroom. Although this is defined as a Listening and Speaking Standard, there is no reason why it couldn’t be leveraged in a variety of disciplines, as it is a 21^st century skill. So what could show these criteria regardless of the content?

Perhaps students create a portfolio defense for a one on one with the teacher, bringing a variety of pieces of evidence. Perhaps students create a podcast articulating how they solved problems and met criteria for collaboration. Perhaps students journal daily to critical thinking prompts on their collaboration, which is then collected as a summative assessment at the end of the unit or project. Perhaps teachers use a rubric to grade them as they actually work in class on specific day.

Of course these great summative assessment ideas need to be supported with ongoing formative assessment. Journals could be used as this as well as a summative. If you plan on grading students on collaboration, then you must provide feedback to the students using the rubric as the focus piece. You can set goals with groups and let them know you will specifically look for that in the future. You will need to collect drafts of a podcast and give specific coaching on what they can do to make it better. Again, you cannot assess what you do not teach, and good teaching includes useful, ongoing formative assessments. 

There of course are more places to “push” and explore in terms of assessment of Collaboration. Perhaps you have students work collaboratively on a Common Core in a project that has a culminating product that showcases they know that standard. The key is to have both a Collaborative product, to grade them on collaboration, and an individual product that holds students accountable to the other Common Core Standard. If students are creating a research project that is targeted toward to a Common Core Research standard, have them create one product collaboratively and a separate on their own. Look, you have head students accountable to two powerful Common Core standards that are rigorous and real.  Just remember you must teach your students how to collaborate before you can assess how well they do collaborate. This is good practice. 

From Andrew Miller, New Media Innovations

Abeo Partnership - Lincoln High School's Success

Lincoln High School in Tacoma, WA is one of Abeo’s success stories. It has been a long term partnership with Abeo that has allowed Lincoln to become an exemplary program in Washington State. Recently, Algebra 1 and Geometry end of course assessment scores were published and the results are amazing: 90% pass rate with no achievement gap. This alone should cause eyebrows and wonder, what is going on at this school? What is fostering this community of scholars? In addition, Fisk University, after being impressed by Lincoln students and the city college fair, visited the school to meet one-on-one with students. 5 students were offered admission on the spot, and one is being flied out to interview for a full ride scholarship. Clearly, when we are talking about education reform, we need to be talking about Lincoln High School.

Lincoln has been mentioned in the Tacoma News Tribune often, chronicling its journey from one of the lowest performing schools in Washington State to a school with much to celebrate. One of the key structural changes mentioned was creating Lincoln Center with an extended school day. Students can choose to participate in the program, while some are counseled into it. The school day runs from 7:30am to around 5pm. This extra time provides structural support for students including homework help, clubs and other programs that help students complete their work and meet standard.

There are many other best practices in terms of instruction and structures that Lincoln boasts. Staff have common planning to work on integrated projects across grade level and provide intervention support for students needing it. Late arrival on Wednesdays allows for further staff development on a regular basis to foster reflection and implementation of best practices. Classrooms have an open door policy where essential questions and clear learning targets are posted. The staff is reflective and constantly seeks feedback from teammates and Abeo coaches on an individual basis. Staff loop with students in order to build relationships, and students look at data often to set and meet goals.

The culture of excellence is evident. Teachers constantly exert the phrase “You will go to college” They have unfailingly high expectations, so much so that they commit to this ongoing professional development in real ways. Teacher efficacy is seen in everyday conversations between teachers and coaches. The teachers openly tell students that hey have coaches. How was this culture built? As one teacher says, “If we have high expectations for our students, then we need to have the same for ourselves.”

Great work is occurring at Lincoln High School, both in terms of student work and in terms of teacher practice. Through shared leadership, clear vision, and commitment to excellence, Lincoln has created a safe place for students to learn at their highest potential.


From Andrew Miller, New Media Innovations

Fall Forum of the Coalition of Essential Schools

Holli Hanson, partner at Abeo School Change and director of the CES NW Center travelled along with Abeo Executive Director, Andrew Kelly to Providence, RI to participate in “A Conversation among Friends.”

The forum kicked off with a series of school visits to area schools known for their progressive work around schooling in the Boston, MA and Providence, RI communities. Participants were invited to join in discussion and learn from practitioners in schools that are working to continually improve through the implementation and growth of the 10 Common Principles.

Over the two days of the conference there were a variety of teacher-led presentations about improving pedagogy in classrooms and serving students better. Focused conversations around inquiry, helping students to use their minds well, crafting essential questions and using various methods to allow students to show what they know and are able to do. Highlights from the teacher-led conference were two exceptional presentations by Washington teachers. Amy Lavold, teacher at Lincoln High School/Lincoln Center from the Tacoma School District facilitated a session titled: I am the Master of My Fate: Understanding Resiliency. This session focused on the real work that has occurred at the Lincoln Center to equitably crate high-level rigor in every classroom ensuring that kids graduate college ready and that the achievement gap ceases to exist. Jennifer Zamira, also of Lincoln High School shared: The Classroom’s a Stage: Building a Bridge to College Preparedness through the Canon, giving participants practice in bringing the classics to “life” for urban kids through creative interaction, drama and fun.

Highlights also included some of the great thinkers of our time inspiring us all to continue to dream for the future and continue to press on in the work. Dennis Littkey, founder and co-director of Big Picture Learning and The Met center put student voice front and center as he shared his vision for continued expansion of personalized learning. His work to capitalize on kids’ passions as a strategy to overcome obstacles has truly created a model worthy of consideration and/or replication for all of us. Many at the conference were thrilled to hear that he is launching a college to counter the dysfunction in post-secondary education. Statistically, 86% of first generation students who make it to college fail to earn their degree and/or drop out. His work may very well reshape how we think about post secondary learning.

Deborah Meier and Alfie Kohn invited us as a group to consider the ideas of work, play and learning and how all three interface within schools today. Their conversation reminded each of us to consider the whole child and whenever possible resist the lock step initiatives that have time and time in our nation failed to yield consistent results. Perhaps the most powerful quote of the dialogue came from Kohn who challenged us to “consider that the most important factor in schools isn’t engagement, but rather joy.” Inspiring to think about the learning that could happen and the challenges that could be overcome if there were more joy in each classroom, each day, for the benefit of students and teachers alike.

Debbie Meier’s quote, “Only secretly rebellious teachers have ever done right by our least advantaged kid,” left us with encouragement to think outside the box and push the assumptions of the systems, schools and leaders around us.

Both Hanson and Kelly return to Seattle from Providence, RI eager to engage our colleagues, schools, teachers, and leaders to continue to push for more innovative ways to meet the diverse needs of our students.

Look for several innovations from Abeo School Change in the months to come to offer more support and keep the Coalition ideals alive and well in the Pacific Northwest.

From Andrew Kelly, Abeo Executive Director

Online Learning Needs True Student Collaboration

Steven Johnson, the author of “Where Good Ideas Come From,” was featured on CNN last year where he shared his ideas from his TED talk aired earlier this summer. Learning does not occur in isolation. Great ideas do not occur in isolation. Why then are most online courses structured in a way that fosters mostly the teacher-student relationship?  

If we look at the way many learning management systems and courses are setup, it is still very traditional. Students have an assignment, they complete it, and they turn it in. The material is geared toward multiple learning styles, but authentic learning style of collaboration may not exist. Now there may be occasions where discussion board posts are required, or peer review. In fact the best online teachers are using these tools synchronously and asynchronously. The best teachers are doing their best to create activities and routines that foster student interaction and collaboration.  But is the curriculum and structure set up in a way that requires collaboration, problem-solving and critical thinking?

One of the biggest strengths of online learning is fosters true student-teacher relationship in order to create an individualized education plan. Parents say this, teachers say this, and students say this. Julie Young, CEO of Florida Virtual Schools, recently shared in an article that “it is perhaps one of the greatest ironies of online learning that teachers and students often find it more personal than the classroom experience.” She then goes on to advocate for more hybrid programs, in order to balance face-to-face learning with online. I would agree that with the hybrid model, you can build face-to-face experiences that foster more collaboration, but this is one idea.

If we truly want the 21^st century skills, we need to create online environments that truly require collaboration, problem solving and critical thinking. Are students working together to problem solve and create while still being held accountable individually? Are the student forums open so that students may collaborate? Are students leading discussions and live class meetings?  Are students allowed voice and choice in their assessments? These are just some of the questions that educators of the online world need to consider. 

In online education, we are in danger of replicating a system that has only worked well for some. The traditional classroom, where the teacher is the center and the students do the assignment, has not worked for all. We in the world of education reform agree on this. We believe in these 21^st century skills. We have seen brick and mortar and hybrid programs that have worked, where collaboration and innovation is occurring regularly. We need to look at these examples and learn from them. We need to ensure the structures and curriculum foster not only online individualized instruction, but collaboration for the purposes of innovation.  As Steven Johnson says, “Chance favors the connected mind.”

From Andrew Miller, New Media Innovations