5 Keys to Closing Achievement Gaps

Teresa has spent her entire career working to close achievement gaps, from her first year as a Kindergarten Teacher to her current role as Superintendent (entering her 14th year). In her book and in our conversation, she outlines 5 keys to closing achievement gaps that school leaders should focus on and support throughout their schools: Key 1. Meaningful Assessments -- You have to use the right type of formative assessments to know where the gaps are Key 2. Language & Literacy can be gatekeepers or bridge-builders. Make sure your teachers have high expectations and focus on language and literacy throughout the curriculum. Key 3. Experience & Exposure -- Are all of your teachers exposing their students equally to experiences like field trips, which are powerful ways to build students’ knowledge if they’re done right Key 4. Consolidation of Knowledge -- All students need time to reflect and process knowledge so they will truly and deeply learn, not just our higher-achieving students Key 5. Perfect Practice -- We have to make sure students aren't automatically given intervention without opportunities for practice and repetition. This means all students need access to practice, and we need to do the intervention right. This was a highly useful conversation for leaders working to close achievement gaps at their schools. If you would like a summary of this book, sign up for my subscription service: www.TheMainIdea.net To purchase the book, you can find it at ASCD: https://ascd.org/books/the-instructio... To learn more about Teresa D. Hill's work, go to https://www.tdhilledd.org/ Learn more, lead better!