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Narrowing the achievement gap and sustaining success: a qualitative study of the norms, practices, and programs of a successful high school with urban characteristics

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Narrowing the achievement gap and sustaining success: a qualitative study of the norms, practices, and programs of a successful high school with urban characteristics

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NARROWING THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP AND SUSTAINING SUCCESS:
A QUALITATIVE STUDY OF THE NORMS, PRACTICES, AND PROGRAMS OF A
SUCCESSFUL HIGH SCHOOL WITH URBAN CHARACTERISTICS

by

Donald Raymond Senesac

________________________________________________________________________

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

May 2010

Copyright 2010 Donald Raymond Senesac
ii

DEDICATION
This dissertation is dedicated to my wife, Karen, whose unwavering emotional
support and outstanding editorial skills were invaluable throughout the program and with
this culminating work.
To my daughter, Elizabeth, who has been very understanding during my absence
from vacations during each summer session and during all those weekends of study and
days when her mother served as both mom and dad. Elizabeth, I look forward to our first
true family trip in three years with our trip to the Poconos this summer.
To my father, Donald E. Senesac, who through example, instilled in me and my
siblings that we can accomplish many things in life and all things are possible.
Finally, in memory of my mother, Rita Senesac, who was supportive of all my
educational endeavors and who will be greatly missed at my final graduation ceremony.
iii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to acknowledge and thank Dr. Stuart Gothold for his guidance and
perspectives as the chair of my committee and as the advisor to our cohort. His insights
and flexibility were invaluable to the group.
Thanks are also extended to Dr. Hocevar and Dr. Schwartz for their participation
in the dissertation process as committee members. I would like to additionally thank Dr.
Schwartz for serving as a shining example of dedication in completing this program
several years earlier, while undergoing severe medical treatment. She has served as an
example of what can be accomplished under stressful conditions.
Not enough can be said of the Thursday night cohort, and the camaraderie and
support that was shared within this group. While, due to distance, I was unable to share
in many of the events, just to be associated with this fine group of individuals has and
will be a source of pride.
I also need to acknowledge Ron Pirayoff and Theo Sagun, my dissertation group
comrades. Knowing I could call on either or both for support and advice at anytime was
helpful and a comfort.
A final thank you goes to Rocke DeMark, who kept us all informed of what we
needed to do to stay on track from semester to semester.
iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEDICATION ii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iii
LIST OF TABLES vi
LIST OF FIGURES vii
ABSTRACT viii
CHAPTER ONE: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 9
Introduction 9
Background of the Problem 10
Statement of the Problem 14
Purpose of the Study 15
Research Questions 16
Importance of the Study 16
Assumptions 17
Limitations 17
Delimitations 18
Definition of Terms 18
Organization of the Study 20
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 21
Introduction 21
Achievement Gap 26
Practices 28
Summary 38
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY 40
Introduction 40
Research Methodology 43
Research Development 46
Instrumentation 52
Conclusion 59
v

CHAPTER FOUR: RESEARCH FINDINGS 60
Introduction 60
Criteria 61
Research Questions 63
Methodology 64
Participants 66
Findings by Research Question 67
Research Question 1 67
Research Question 2 77
Research Question 3 86
Study Findings as Viewed Through the Perspective of the Four Frames as
Outlined by Bolman and Deal 91
SSHS and the Structural Frame 91
SSHS and the Human Resources Frame 94
SSHS and the Political Frame 96
SSHS and the Symbolic Frame 99
Summary 101
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 103
Introduction 103
Purpose of the Study 104
Summary of Findings 104
Conclusions 112
Implications for Further Research 113
REFERENCES 114
APPENDICES 121
Appendix A: Staff Survey 121
Appendix B: Interview Questions 127
Appendix C: Document Review Master List 130
Appendix D: School Observation Form/Guide 133
Appendix E: Alignment of Research Questions to Data Sources
and Instrumentation 136

vi

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Percent and Number of Students at SSHS by Ethnicity 61
Table 2: API Growth at SSHS from 2004 to 2009 62
Table 3: Results of Staff Survey for Questions 2 and 3 68
Table 4: Results of Staff Survey for Question 4 74
Table 5: Results of Staff Survey for Questions 1,5, & 19-21 78
Table 6: Results of Staff Survey for Questions 5, 10, 13-14, & 18 82
Table 7: Results of Staff Survey for Questions 6 & 8 88
vii

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Conceptual Model Based on Clark and Este's Gap Analysis Model 45
Figure 2: Growth of CDUSHD from 2000-01 to 2007-08 49
Figure3: Growth of SSHS from 2003-04 to 2007-08 51
Figure 4: API Growth for SSHS from 2004-05 to 2007-08 52
Figure 5: API Growth for SSHS from 2004 to 2009 62
Figure 6: API Student Group Comparison 2005-2009 63

viii

ABSTRACT

The academic achievement gap is the manifestation of differential learning
outcomes for students typified by membership in an ethnic minority sub group or
economically disadvantaged sub group. Addressing the achievement gap has become
vital for the nation as a whole, and even more critical for the state of California
because the majority of students in California are composed of low achieving minority
student groups. The lower academic achievement status of minority groups limits an
individual‘s ability to accumulate social capital, pursue a post secondary education,
and limits their lifetime earnings.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the norms, practices and programs
implemented at an academically successful high school located in California‘s central
valley with urban characteristics, including a high percentage of minority sub group
and low socio-economic students, that has sustained academic success over three
years.
The factors that were identified as having an impact on student achievement were:
a culture with an academic focus, shared leadership, administrative leadership that
empowers the staff members, structured collaboration, data driven decision making,
standards based assessment and re-teaching, and multiple levels of student
interventions to ensure success.
9

CHAPTER ONE: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY

Introduction
The achievement gap is, and has been, a persistent and important issue in
American education for over four decades. It is manifested in the low academic
achievement of specific minority groups, both ethnic and economic, as compared to the
ethnic majority student group composed of white students. Addressing the achievement
gap has become vital for the nation as a whole, and even more critical for the state of
California because the majority of students in California are composed of low achieving
minority student groups (O'Connell, 2008).
As societal needs are creating a demand for an increasingly educated population
in the United States (D. o. Education, 2000), the persistent achievement gap continues to
have negative impacts on individuals and society as a whole. The lower academic
achievement status of minority groups limits an individual‘s ability to accumulate social
capital, pursue a post secondary education, and limits their lifetime earnings (O'Connell,
2008; Orr, 2003). The primary impact on society is directly related to economic stability
and growth. The globalization of the economy is creating increased competition in
sectors that were once well insulated from foreign competition. The result is a shift in
demand for a more educated work force that can ensure the economic future of the
national and California economy.
The causes of the achievement gap are multidimensional, entrenched and not
easily resolved. Despite the difficulties involved in finding solutions, the educational and
political systems have ―an economic and moral imperative to close the gap‖ (O'Connell,
10

2008). Although a panacea for the problem remains elusive, the achievement gap has
been narrowed by individual school sites utilizing specific strategies, programs, and
practices. The purpose of this study is to examine a California school that has been
successful in narrowing the achievement gap and identify the strategies, programs and
practices that have contributed to this success.
Background of the Problem
The achievement gap is a social, economic, and educational phenomenon that is
not unique to the United States. Research studies have documented and studied this issue
on an international scale (Bynner & Joshi, 2002; Driessen, 2001; Gorard, 2000) with
findings that resemble those of studies conducted in the United States. These studies
identify the achievement gap as a discrepancy in academic achievement between two or
more groups distinguished by social, economic, and/or ethnic differences. In the context
of this study, the achievement gap will be defined as a persistent academic disparity
between white and Asian students, and ethnic minority, English Language Learners
(ELL) and low income, socially-economically disadvantaged students (SES).
Within the United States, the achievement gap gained notoriety in 1966 with the
publication of the Coleman Report (Jackyung Lee, 2002). While educational disparities
based on social, economic, and ethnic factors had long existed prior to 1966, it was
during this era in the United States history that social awareness along with political
resolve merged to create an environment in which educational resources would be
focused on historically disadvantaged students. The Secondary Education Act of 1965
(ESEA) was designed to reduce socio-economic and racially based educational disparities
11

and provide focused educational funding to accomplish this task. The ESEA was a
pivotal piece of President Lyndon B. Johnson‘s War on Poverty and exemplified his
belief that, ―Poverty must not be a bar to learning, and learning must offer an escape from
poverty‖ (Johnson, 1965). The law is organized into five titles, the largest and most
important is Title I. Title I funds are designed to target educationally disadvantaged
students who typically are members of low SES families. In 2002, the federal
government provided $8 billion in funding for the Title I program which serves 90% of
the public schools in the United States. The ESEA of 1965 has been reauthorized several
times since its inception. The most recent was in 2001 as the No Child Left Behind Act
(NCLB) which reflected a growing sentiment among politicians that schools need be held
accountable for this large investment of monetary resources.
The underlying causes of the achievement gap are complex and multi-faceted and
therefore, difficult to identify. The achievement gap is the result of the interaction of
academic, societal, cultural and political forces (Bidwell & Kasarda, 1975; Evans &
Anderson, 1973). The amount of influence each of these forces has on the achievement
gap is dependent upon the particular societal group, ethnic minority, ELL or SES, and
how that group interacts with society as a whole. The Coleman Report identified
contributing factors as family background, the composition of the school, teacher‘s verbal
ability, and the student‘s sense of control within and over their environment (Coleman et
al., 1966). Since the publication of the Coleman Report, additional researchers have
refined and added to this list with theories involving cultural mismatching, stereotype
threats, the nature of the curriculum, and the pedagogical practices of teachers (Ladson-
12

Billings, 2006). Barton (2003) names fourteen correlates contributing to the achievement
gap: rigor of the curriculum, teacher preparation, teacher experience and attendance, class
size, technology-assisted instruction, school safety, parent participation, student mobility,
birth weight, lead poisoning, hunger and nutrition, reading to young children, television
watching, and parent availability. Despite the complex nature of the achievement gap,
Barton (Barton, 2003) creates a simple framework to help bring some clarity and focus to
the issue. Barton separates the causes and correlates and places them into one of two
groupings: school or before and beyond school. While the broad identification of the
causes and correlates can be achieved rather easily, solutions to the achievement gap are
more difficult to enact. The forces that created an achievement gap for one individual or
student group may differ from the forces that created an achievement gap for different
individual or student group. Alvermann and Reinking (2007) suggest, ―there is no one
achievement gap and, thus no one best approach to attaining what is often construed as a
common goal.‖
The NCLB act is a federal legislative approach to achieving this ―common goal‖
through a focus on school system accountability for student achievement. This
accountability focus requires Title I schools and districts to meet specific educational
growth targets or face sanctions for failing to meet these targets. California has instituted
an accountability system that utilizes a group of grade level criterion referenced tests, the
California Standards Tests (CSTs), as the main component of the system. The NCLB act
also requires that states establish proficiency levels based on the assessment they use.
The percentage of students reaching these established proficiency levels must increase
13

over time according to a set schedule such that by 2014, all students are proficient in the
core academic subjects. These politically set, educational goals are intended to create an
educational system in which all students enjoy academic success and also narrow the
achievement gap. If these goals are consistently not met, a series of punitive
consequences may be enacted ranging from replacement of the administrative staff to a
state takeover of the school.
At the national level, data used to track the achievement gap is derived from the
National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The NAEP program uses
representative sampling of students to provide information on how the nation as a whole
is performing academically. Data is collected and analyzed at the group level; no
individual scores are reported. Testing is limited to critical junctures of academic
achievement, specifically at grades 4, 8 and 12 (Statistics, 2009). NAEP data shows that
the achievement gap was narrowing during the 1970s and 1980s, but began to stagnate or
widen during the 1990s when the accountability movement in education began to be
implemented (Jackyung Lee, 2002). Lee and Wong (2004) point out that the
accountability movement of the 1990s shifted the focus of education from teacher and
school inputs to student based outcomes. Based on the NAEP data, Lee and Wong
suggest that the accountability movement did not improve progress in closing the
achievement gap, but it did not create setbacks in the gap either. Their conclusion is that
performance based accountability alone cannot create equity in the United States
educational system. Harris and Herrington (2006) make a similar conclusion and
14

suggest accountability strategies need to be augmented with increased student exposure
to resources and/or content.
In order to comply with NCLB requirement for a state-wide measure of academic
success, California created the Academic Performance Index (API). The API for K-8
schools is based on student performance on a writing assessment given in the 4
th
and 7
th

grades, and the CST assessments given in grades 2 to 8. The API for high schools is
based on student performance on the CSTs, pass rates on the California High School Exit
Exam (CAHSEE), and dropout rates. Unlike the NAEP data, the California program
allows for the data to be disaggregated at many levels. Data is available at the state,
district, school, and even the individual student level and can be separated by specific
student groups including ELL, SES, and ethnicity. Thus districts and schools can track
achievement gap data within their district and school site and have knowledge of each
individual student‘s level of achievement. This allows schools to focus efforts and
resources on individual students that need targeted assistance in order to achieve
academically. Baker et al. (2008) suggest such a student-centered focus is a requisite for
narrowing the achievement gap.
Statement of the Problem
The goal of an educational system is to prepare all students to fully participate
economically and socially in a society. Due to multidimensional issues, minority student
groups are marginalized within the educational system and do not academically achieve
at the same level as the majority group students. This lack of achievement is evident in
standardized test scores, on instruments such as the National Assessment of Educational
15

Progress (NAEP) and the California Standards Tests (CSTs); as well as in lower high
school graduation rates, lower college attendance rates and higher dropout rates.
Educational success is directly linked to economic and social opportunities in life; while
lower levels of educational attainment are related to lack of economic success,
imprisonment, lower levels of general health, and a shorter life expectancy (O'Connell,
2008).
Despite over four decades of focused attention to the achievement gap, it still
persists. The achievement gap has defied many attempts to eliminate it through
nationwide and statewide programs and policies. Against such odds, some schools in
California have been successful in sustaining progress toward narrowing the achievement
gap as evidenced by their annual Academic Performance Index (API) scores. This study
seeks to identify and examine the cultural norms, practices and programs of a California
school that has been successful in narrowing the achievement and sustaining this success
over three years.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to identify and examine, and gain an understanding of
the cultural norms, practices and programs of a California high school, with urban
characteristics, that has successfully narrowed the achievement gap and has sustained this
accomplishment over a three year period. Once identified and understood, these
practices may prove to be transferable to other schools and effectively narrow the
achievement gap in a new setting.

16

Research Questions
The three research questions addressed by this study are:
1. What are the cultural norms that have been employed by the school that have
allowed them to close the achievement gap and sustain success?
2. What are the practices that have been employed by the school that have
allowed them to close the achievement gap and sustain success?
3. What are the programs that have been employed by the school that have
allowed them to close the achievement gap and sustain success?
Importance of the Study
In the context of national and state social and educational priorities, this study is
important because it seeks to identify and understand possible strategies to narrow the
achievement gap. This can help alleviate the enduring socioeconomic impact of the
achievement gap and its implications for large groups of minority students. The issue
regarding the achievement gap is that it is no longer a mere measure of educational
inequality, but rather ―a direct cause of socioeconomic inequality‖ (Harris & Herrington,
2006). This socioeconomic inequality is being thrust upon the fastest growing segments
of the student population, and can create future economic and social problems.
In a local context, the importance of this study is that it identifies the cultural
norms, practices, and programs of a school, with urban characteristics, that has
successfully narrowed the achievement gap. The implications and applicability of the
findings from this study will be of interest to local school board members, administrators,
17

teacher leaders, and involved community members as they strive to narrow the
achievement gap in their communities.
Assumptions
For the purposes of this study the following assumptions were made:
1. Schools are engaged in purposeful educational activities and are striving to
close the achievement gap.
2. The instrumentation developed and utilized in this study accurately gauge and
reveal the practices and programs that create and sustain success in narrowing
the achievement gap.
3. The cultural norms, practices, and programs identified in this study can be
successfully utilized at similar school sites.
4. Participants in the study were open and honest in their responses.
5. Participants in the study had sufficient knowledge of the cultural norms,
practices and programs employed at the school site to provide meaningful input
for the study.
Limitations
The following are limitations of this study:
1. This qualitative study was conducted at a single high school. Validity is
restricted to this study alone and although the findings may be of interest to
those in the field of education, the findings are not generalizable to other
settings.
2. The study was conducted during a ten week period during the Fall of 2009.
18

3. Participation in the study was voluntary. Participant responses and
observations were restricted to those staff members that agreed to participate in
the study.
4. Interview subjects were selected by the researcher and limited to those
participants determined to have substantial knowledge of and influence in the
formation of norms, practices and/or programs that narrowed the achievement
gap.
5. Efforts were made to control bias, but the researcher could not identify nor
control latent participant bias.
Delimitations
Delimitations for this study are:
1. This study is confined to a single California public, comprehensive high
school.
2. The school is a Title I school.
3. 50% or more of the school‘s population are minority students.
4. The school met or exceeded its API for the school and all significant sub-
groups for three consecutive years.
Definition of Terms
For the purposes of this study, the following terms will be defined as follows:
Academic Performance Index (API): A numeric measure that summarizes a
school's academic performance and progress on statewide assessments.
19

Achievement Gap: a persistent academic disparity between white and Asian
students, and ethnic minority, English Language Learners (ELL) and low income,
socially-economically disadvantaged students (SES).
California Assessment Tests (CAT): Norm referenced assessments that were used
to measure student achievement. These assessments were phased out in favor of standard
based assessments.
California Department of Education (CDE): State governmental body whose
educational purpose is to lead and support the continuous improvement of student
achievement, with a specific focus on closing achievement gaps.
California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE): A statewide minimum proficiency
exam required of students to earn a high school diploma. It consists of two standards
based assessments, one in English Language Arts (ELA) and one in mathematics.
California Standards Test (CST): Assessments used to measure the degree to
which students are achieving the academically rigorous content standards adopted by the
State Board of Education (SBE).
National School Lunch Program (NSLP): Program that ensures students from
low income families receive nutritious meals while at school. Children from families
with incomes at or below 130 percent of the poverty level are eligible for free meals.
Those with incomes between 130 percent and 185 percent of the poverty level are eligible
for reduced-price meals. High participation rates in the NSLP at a school site is an
indicator of a low SES community.
20

Socioeconomic Status (SES): is based on family income, parental education level,
parental occupation, and social status in the community; which includes, contacts within
the community, group associations, and the community's perception of the family
(NCREL, 2009).
Social Capital: ―the sum of the actual and potential resources embedded within,
available through, and derived from the network of relationships possessed by an
individual or social unit. Social capital thus comprises both the network and the assets
that may be mobilized through that network‖ (Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998).
Title I: Portion of the 1965 ESEA act that provides school districts financial
support for the education of low income students.
Organization of the Study
This study is reported in five elemental chapters. Chapter One focuses on the
introduction of the achievement gap and the importance of this study. Chapter Two
contains an in-depth review of the research literature related to the achievement gap,
assessments and measurement causes of the gap. Chapter Three describes the research
methodology employed in this study including: the selection process of participating
schools, the research design, and the methodology used to conduct the study. In Chapter
Four, the data and research findings are presented along with discussion of the findings.
Chapter Five is composed of a summary of the findings and implications for further
research related to the achievement gap.
21

CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Introduction
There exists a rich body of literature that provides a background to assist in the
understanding of the achievement gap and the strategies successful schools are
employing to reduce this gap. As discussed in Chapter 1, the achievement gap is
reflected through scores on educational assessments. Within this chapter, a review of the
literature will discuss the history of assessment practices in California, changes and
cycles in those practices, including movement from mental ability assessments to norm
referenced and criterion referenced achievement assessments, and the impact of the 2001
NCLB Act. In order to provide focus, the operational definition for the achievement gap
from Chapter 1 will be reviewed, discussion will include those students most impacted by
the achievement gap, its impact upon those students, and the possible roots of the
achievement gap. Finally, literature that discusses successful practices being employed
by schools and districts in California to reduce the achievement gap will be reviewed, and
of those practices, additional attention will be given to the ones that are sustainable and
replicable.
The goal of an educational system is to ensure knowledge is gained by all its
participants. It can be easily argued that the educational system within the United States,
including California, is flawed because it does not accomplish this fundamental goal.
Particular groups of students are not academically achieving at the same level as other
students groups as measured on standardized assessments. The problem that has
developed is a persistent academic disparity between white and Asian students, and
22

ethnic minority English Language Learners (ELL) and low income, socially-
economically disadvantaged students (SES). This disparity has become known as the
achievement gap.
The methods and systems for gauging knowledge have evolved and cycled over
time, as have educational theories and practices. Early efforts to gain data on students
were driven by the concept of individualizing education for each student and move away
from education administered to a single mass of students. Under this individual
achievement model, data was needed by the teacher to address the educational needs of
each student. In order to gain as much data as possible from each student, three levels of
testing and data analysis were suggested: reading tests, intelligence or academic aptitude
tests, and academic achievement tests (Traxler, 1940). As early as 1940, the California
Testing Bureau (CTB) created a battery of mental ability assessments, the California Test
of Mental Maturity (CTMM), that were designed to measure intelligence. A decade later,
in 1950, the California Achievement Test (CAT) was introduced. The CAT is a norm
referenced test designed to assess the academic achievement of children from
kindergarten through grade 12. Such norm referenced assessments, by default of design,
have inherent restrictions that limit usefulness and applicability to all student groups,
particularly ethnic minorities and low SES students. (Garcia & Pearson, 1994; Goldstein,
1993; Popham, 1980; Ruch & Ash, 1969; Sharma, 1986). Due to the norm referenced
structure of the CAT, successive assessment versions also suffered from the same basic
limitations of the earlier versions. Intelligence tests, such as the CTMM, were scrutinized
to a much greater degree than were achievement tests due to the subjective nature of their
23

conclusions when viewed through a socio-cultural perspective. It was not until 1970‘s
that intelligence tests were deemed to be constructed with such a restrictive cultural and
social focus that they were viewed as unreliable for specific population sub-groups such
as Hispanic and African-American students (Michigan Law Review, 1973).
By 1961, the focus of the testing shifted from data collection for individual
achievement and program differentiation to a focus on statewide group academic
achievement and accountability (Causey-Bush, 2005). The assessments would be utilized
to analyze data to identify and determine the causes of differences in achievement
between groups. The Coleman Report is considered a seminal work in the discussion of
the achievement gap. In an era of United States history rife with racial and social change,
it identified the existence of an achievement gap and suggested schools alone could do
little to alter the educational outcome of its under achieving students (Coleman et al.,
1966). Critics of the report focused in on several aspects of the report and scrutinized its
pessimistic findings. An important aspect brought forward was the fairness of norm
referenced standardized tests that were used to identify the gap (Airasian & Madaus,
1983).
As criticism grew regarding the use of standardized testing and its applications to
particular minority groups, the use of the objective test format with discrete question
responses came into question. The vast majority of students were not taught their daily
lessons using multiple response questions as an integral part of the lesson and when faced
with discrete response options, an incongruence occurs (Airasian & Madaus, 1983). The
method of instruction does not mesh with the method of assessment. An educational
24

movement of authentic assessment gained steam and political support which culminated
in the creation of the California Learning Assessment System (CLAS) in 1987. The
CLAS was an English language arts (ELA) assessment created by ELA teachers in which
students completed writing prompts that were later evaluated by certificated ELA
instructors. In 1990, a reading assessment with writing prompt was added to the CLAS.
Due to socio-political issues raised by religious groups regarding the selection of the
reading samples and the nature of the writing prompts coupled with issues of subjectivity
and a perception of low inter-rater reliability and loss of political support, the CLAS
funding was canceled by Governor Pete Wilson (Dudley, 1997). The experience with the
CLAS demonstrates that educational assessments have political influences and political
purposes (Kirst & Mazzeo, 1996; Paris, Lawton, & Turner, 1991) and as such, cannot
exist without political backing and funding. Unlike the early roots of standardized testing
in the 1940‘s that was focused on providing data to classroom teachers to tailor
educational objectives and instruction to individual students (Traxler, 1940), standardized
assessments are now routinely used for political and policy objectives including:
evidence of school and program effectiveness and determining educational parity for
student groups (Airasian & Madaus, 1983). In 2001, the No Child Left Behind Act
(NCLB) was instituted to address both of these concerns: educational program
effectiveness and accountability, and academic achievement equity for all students
(EdSource, 2004; Kim & Sunderman, 2005).
The NCLB act of 2001 is a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) which was designed to reduce racial based educational
25

disparities. NCLB includes an accountability piece that requires Title I schools and
districts to meet specific educational growth targets or face sanctions for failing to meet
these targets. Each state selected or created an assessment system to track academic
growth of groups and sub-groups of students. California has instituted a system that
utilizes a norm referenced test, the CAT 6, and criterion referenced tests, California
Standards Tests (CSTs), as the main components of the system. The NCLB act requires
that states establish proficiency levels based on the assessment they use and that the
percentage of students reaching this proficiency level increase over time according to a
set schedule such that by 2014, all students are proficient in the core academic subjects.
This situation has encouraged some states to set the proficiency level low to ensure
students can meet this NCLB mandate. Other states had set higher proficiency
expectations and are now decreasing this proficiency level, through diminished
expectations with respect to test item rigor or adjusting cut scores, to allow more students
to be qualified as proficient. California has set high proficiency levels but these levels
have declined slightly from 2003 to the present (Cronin, Dahlin, Adkins, & Kingsbury,
2007).
Educational assessments and their purpose have evolved and cycled during the
past six decades in the state of California. Initial emphasis was upon gathering data on
individual students to differentiate instruction and this has evolved into a process of data
collection that serves to guide educational policy as directed by political forces. Along
with this evolution of purpose, test designs cycled from norm referenced objective tests to
26

authentic assessment and back to norm referenced objective tests with the inclusion of
criterion objective tests in 2001.
Achievement Gap
The achievement gap is a social-political issue that has been laid on the doorstep
of the educational system. It is a multi-faceted issue that has no simple, single solution
that can easily be legislated, enacted, and provide an equitable education for all students.
Lack of a simple solution does not pardon society from delving deep into the issue in
order to seek out possible strategies and answers to reduce and eventually close the gap.
Prior to solving a problem, it must be understood, and in order to gain a better
understanding of the achievement gap, various aspects of the issue must be examined.
First the definition of the achievement gap will be reviewed, discussion of the individuals
impacted by the achievement gap, followed with possible factors contributing to the gap,
how the gap is measured, and based on these measures, what the status of the gap is
today.
The literature contains many slight variations on the definition of the achievement
gap, but all of those definitions share common factors. Each refers to a differential in
learning outcomes for at least two groups participating in the educational system within a
society (Committee, 2009; Ladson-Billings, 2006; WestEd, 2007). For purposes of this
study, the achievement gap is defined as a persistent academic disparity between white
and Asian students, and ethnic minority, English Language Learners (ELL) and low
income, socially-economically disadvantaged students (SES). The definition for this
study, identifies the three groups impacted by the achievement gap as ethnic minorities,
27

ELL and low SES students. In California, the largest non-Asian ethnic groups are
Hispanic and African-American, Together these two groups account for over 50% of the
students attending primary and secondary schools in California (Statistics, 2006-2007).
ELL students represent approximately 26% of the primary and secondary school
population, and SES students, students that qualify for free or reduced meals, constitute
47% of the student population (Statistics, 2003). Spanish-speaking students constitute
85% of the ELL student population (C. D. o. Education, 2008). Students impacted by
the achievement gap are more likely to attend schools in an urban school system as
opposed to a suburban school system (Hoffman & Shen, 2008). Membership in the three
groups is not mutually exclusive; a student may be a member of a single data group or
counted in all three of the data groups. The main concept is that these students represent
a large portion of the primary and secondary students in California.
The causes and roots of the achievement gap are difficult to identify. There is
neither a single cause nor group of causes. The achievement gap is the result of the
interaction of academic, societal, cultural and political forces (Bidwell & Kasarda, 1975;
Evans & Anderson, 1973), each of which has a variable influence on the achievement
gap. The amount of influence each of these forces has on the achievement gap is
dependent upon the particular group, ethnic minority, ELL or SES, and how that group
interacts with society as a whole. The Coleman Report identified several possible causes
as family background, the composition of the school, the teacher‘s verbal ability, and the
student‘s sense of control within and over their environment (Coleman et al., 1966).
Since the publication of the Coleman Report, additional researchers have refined and
28

added to this list with theories involving cultural mismatching, stereotype threats, the
nature of the curriculum, and the pedagogical practices of teachers (Ladson-Billings,
2006).
Practices
As there is no single cause of the achievement gap, there is no single solution to
closing it. With the enactment of NCLB in 2001, national attention was refocused on the
achievement gap and strategies to reduce the gap. In California, the need for strategies to
reduce the achievement gap was echoed by State Superintendent of Education, Jack
O‘Connell, in his State of Education Address in February 2007 (O'Connell, 2007). The
current body of research indentifies strategies to close the gap from the national and state
policy level to the school practices level. Reforms in the areas of income equality and
stable housing are national level policy issues that would address one of the basic roots of
the gap which is socio-economics (Rothstein, 2004).
While educational leaders may not have the ability to create policy changes at the
national level to address the socio-economic status of the nation, researchers have
identified varied educationally focused reforms that can be implemented at the state level
in an effort to reduce the impact of the achievement gap. Some of these reforms are very
broad and include many recommendations; other reforms focus on very specific areas of
need.
Darling-Hammond and Friedlander (2008) suggest four policy areas that state and
national governments need to address in order to reduce the achievement gap. These
include organization and governance, human capital, curriculum and instruction, and
29

funding. Within each category Darling-Hammond and Friedlander make further
recommendations for policy makers to implement to reduce the achievement gap. Chief
among these recommendations are flexible funding for innovative approaches in
education, rigorous and relevant curriculum, assessment and instruction tied to 21
st

century job skills, improved teacher preparation and development, expand grants for new
small schools and those establishing small learning communities, provide finding for ten
staff development days per year, provide planning and collaboration time for staff,
provide support for principal and leadership preparation programs, improve assessment
systems, rethink curriculum and include interdisciplinary and applied learning through
the use of new technologies, increase and equalize funding to direct funds to students
with the greatest need, and create less-fragmented, more flexible funding streams.
In contrast, Plank et al. have identified five basic components for closing the
achievement gap (2008). These are: setting high standards with aligned curriculum and
instruction, provide effective teaching, offer extra learning opportunities, provide early
interventions for college and create early childhood interventions. Plank et al. explain
that the basis of overcoming the achievement gap lies in, ―setting high academic
standards statewide and maintaining high expectations for all students- as opposed to the
still common lower expectations for poor and minority students.‖ These expectations are
next bolstered through ―effective teaching‖ which includes effective pre-teaching
programs, ensure properly credentialed teachers are employed in every classroom,
provide focused professional development that equips and supports teachers in the low
performing schools, and pair the best teachers with the most academically needy students.
30

Some of these students may require ―extra learning opportunities‖ that offer additional
learning time before school, after school, during the school day or on the weekend. Plank
et al. suggest targeted intervention funds be utilized to fulfill this need. Funds that states
can apply, ―to the pinpointed needs of struggling groups of students‖ who are not
succeeding academically. The final components to the solution proposed by Plank et al.
are early interventions for college and pre-school. Early college interventions include
access to rigorous college prepatory curriculum such as Advanced Placement courses,
and information and support regarding how to academically plan and prepare for college,
as well as assistance with the process of selecting and applying to a school and for
financial aid. The early childhood interventions Plank et al. recommend to state
governments focus on school readiness skills for minority and low-income students.
Powers (2004) recommendations are even fewer than those Plank et al. suggested.
She argues that with the passage of the NCLB act, the academic success of a school is
being judged on the level of the API obtained by the school. Powers suggests that if low
performing schools composed of minority and low SES students are to improve
academically, as indicated by the API score, they need access to the resources that are
associated with schools that have higher API scores. Powers distills these resources
needed to improve academically needy schools into three basic components: qualified
teachers, sufficient and current textbooks, and adequate and safe facilities. Powers
acknowledges that her analysis could be thought of as an oversimplification of a complex
issue, but she argues:
[W]hat it accomplishes is to help us to identify some broad parameters for
educational policy making. A more equitable distribution of resources
31

across schools should be viewed as the first crucial step in a broader
process that would, ideally, include more fine grained analysis of how to
use resources most effectively.

While some of the state level reforms could be implemented in some manner at
the school level, many of the state level reforms are beyond the scope of what school
sites can accomplish individually.
Individual schools can and some are implementing practices that reduce the
impact of the achievement gap. Researchers have identified these reforms as:
implementing a rigorous and relevant curriculum with high standards (Darling-Hammond
& Friedlander, 2008; Haycock, 2001; Resnick & Resnick, 1985), employing quality
teachers (Darling-Hammond & Berry, 1999; Peske & Haycock, 2006), creating a
professional learning community (Darling-Hammond & Friedlander, 2008), offering
extra learning opportunities (Plank et al., 2008), and fostering a culture of student
connectiveness (Friedlander et al., 2007; Yonezawa, Jones, Mehan, & McClure, 2008)
The implementation of a rigorous and relevant curriculum is a key component
(Haycock, 2001) in improving student achievement and is a frequently cited strategy to
close the achievement gap in the research literature . To be successful, a rigorous
curriculum needs to be wed to high achievement expectations for all students. Haycock
(2001) notes that lower expectations exist for minority and low-SES students when she
points out that, ―national data make it clear that we expect so little of students in high-
poverty schools that we give them As for work that would earn a C or D anywhere else.‖
The importance of a rigorous and relevant curriculum coupled with high expectations that
prepares individuals for 21
st
century occupations cannot be understated. Adelman (1999)
32

explains that rigor and quality of the high school curriculum is a greater determinant of
success in college than are college admission test scores or class ranking. In California,
an exemplar of a rigorous curriculum is established by the University of California‘s A-G
course requirements. These requirements set the minimum curricular standards students
must attain in order to be considered for admission into the University of California
system. The purpose of such requirements is, as Adelman explained, to help determine
potential success in post secondary educational setting. The University of California
(2010) explains:
This pattern of study assures the faculty that the student has attained a
body of general knowledge that will provide breadth and perspective to
new, more advanced study. Fulfillment of the "a-g" pattern also
demonstrates that the student has attained essential critical thinking and
study skills.

A rigorous, relevant curriculum coupled with high expectations is most effective
when presented by a high quality teacher. Data from a 2002 study conducted in Texas on
student achievement led the researchers to state, ―Teacher quality is a very important
determinant of achievement‖ (Rivkin, Hanushek, & Kain, 2002). When addressing the
narrowing of the achievement gap, Haycock et al. (2004) argue, ―the thing that matters
most is good teaching.‖ Applying the economic concept of added value to the academic
achievement levels of students, researchers can study the relationship of individual
teacher quality to the academic growth of students. Research in this area indicates
teacher quality has an impact on student achievement. One researcher estimates that,
―the difference in annual achievement growth between having a good and having a bad
teacher can be more than one grade level equivalent in test performance‖ (Hanushek,
33

1992). This impact of poor teacher quality has a cumulative effect on student
achievement. Haycock et al. (2004) cite research data that indicates if students are
assigned to a series of highly effective teachers over a three year time span these students
will score 50 percentile points or more higher than similar students assigned to a series of
low effective teachers.
Having made a case for highly qualified teachers, researchers have identified four
proxy traits of highly qualified teachers. These traits are termed proxy in that they are
predictors of teacher quality, not a guarantee of teacher quality. Haycock and Peske
(2006) reviewed relevant research on teacher quality and identified teachers‘ academic
skill and knowledge, mastery of content, experience, and pedagogical skill as the four
areas related to teacher quality. Teachers‘ academic skill and knowledge is a measure of
general literacy in math and vocabulary based on standardized assessments. Studies
indicate a positive relationship between student achievement and the performance level
of a teacher on a basic literacy assessment, such as the American College Test or ACT
(Ferguson, 1997). The relative importance of this factor compared to the others is not
universally agreed upon, but Peske and Haycock (2006) note that, ―Two reviews of the
research on teacher quality concluded that teachers‘ levels of literacy accounted for more
of the variance in student achievement than any other measured characteristic of
teachers.‖
The second trait related to teacher quality is mastery of content. Mastery of
content is the instructors‘ knowledge in the specific area or areas of instruction.
Typically mastery of content is ascertained by successfully completing college course
34

work in the area of instruction that leads to a major or minor in the field of study.
Alternately, mastery of content can be demonstrated by successfully passing an
assessment of content knowledge. Research indicates there exists a clear connection
between teacher mastery of content and student performance in the content areas of math
and science (Monk & King, 1994). Because this belief that mastery of content is a
primary indicator of teacher quality, the NCLB act required that by 2006 all teachers
instruct in the content areas of their mastery.
As the body of research surrounding teacher quality builds, views have shifted to
accommodate the new research findings. In an article Haycock (1998) suggested,
―Neither education courses completed, advanced education degrees, scores on
professional knowledge sections on licensure exams nor years of experience seem to have
a clear relationship to student achievement.‖ By 2006, Haycock has shifted her views on
the importance of teacher experience as evidenced when she states, ―The evidence is
incontrovertible that experience makes teachers more effective‖ (Peske & Haycock,
2006). The research Peske and Haycock have reviewed suggests that teacher
effectiveness increases dramatically in the first three years in the profession (2006).
When reviewing the final trait of teacher quality, pedagogical skill, Haycock has
changed her views very little from 1998 to 2006. Haycock (2006) notes, ―large scale
research is less clear about the value of measurable proxies for teaching knowledge like
coursework in pedagogy, advanced education degrees, and scores on exams about
pedagogy.‖ Despite this lack of clarity in the research on the connection between
pedagogical skill and student achievement, she does concede that, ―Teacher licensure has
35

been correlated with some measure of quality, though it is not a very strong predictor of
student achievement.‖ In opposition to this view are those of Darling-Hammond and
Youngs (2002) who state, ―there is evidence that verbal ability and content knowledge
contribute to teacher effectiveness, there is also evidence that teacher preparation….
contributes at least as much to outcomes ranging from teacher effectiveness to teacher
retention.‖
The second reform identified in the literature as a method that ―can result in
increased student achievement‖ is the establishment of professional learning communities
(Yonezawa et al., 2008). Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) are, ―composed of
collaborative teams whose members work interdependently to achieve common goals
linked to purpose of learning for all‖ (DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, & Many, 2006). These
teams form the ―driving engine of the collaborative culture of a PLC‖ (Edgerson &
Kritsonis, 2006). The PLCs use the elements of a shared mission, vision, values, goals,
collaborative teams, collective inquiry, an action orientation, and continuous
improvement to improve student achievement (DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, & Karhanek,
2004). In a study of five urban high schools that have improved, ―the day to day
learning experience for low-income students of color, as well as the aggregate outcomes
of those experiences‖, researchers identified professional learning as a key component to
the success of the schools in the study. Friedlander et al. (2007) refer to the schools in
their study when they state:
All the schools work to continually improve the quality of instruction by
making it the consistent focus of their professional learning time. Part of
this commitment includes allocating considerable time for teachers to
collaborate, design curriculum and instruction, and learn from each other.
36

While the creation of PLCs requires some structural adaptations to allow for the
collaboration time, a key outcome is enhanced teacher efficacy resulting in improved
student achievement. In their study of 21 schools, Hausman and Goldring (2001) found,
―that forming a community of learners for teachers is a powerful strategy for enhancing
teacher commitment.‖ A committed teaching staff participates in the PLC process and
collaboration sessions. In his study, Strahan (2003) described these sessions as place for:
―identifying needs, developing strategies for improvement, and linking school-based staff
development to daily practice. These dialogue sessions seemed to encourage a stronger
sense of agency and efficacy.‖ The establishment a professional learning community at a
school has ―a positive relationship with the organization of classrooms for learning and
the academic performance of students‖ (Louis & Marks, 1998). Elmore sums up the
process of PLC concisely when he states:
[W]hen the values and norms of the school focused attention on
instruction and teachers took responsibility for student performance,
teacher empowerment seemed to lead to significant changes in pedagogy
and changes in pedagogy seemed related to changes in student learning.

Haycock (2001) identifies the third reform to narrow the achievement gap as
providing low performing students with additional learning opportunities. Haycock
clarified her position by stating, ―Ample evidence shows that almost all students can
achieve at high levels if they are taught at high levels. But equally clear is that some
students require more time and more instruction.‖ Mitchell et al. (2008) point out that
―effective schools often offer additional tutoring afterschool as well as classes on
Saturday mornings, and their summer vacations usually last only about a month.‖
37

Mitchell et al. (2008) further clarify that the extra help should be targeted and focus on
those students with the ―most challenges‖ and they should, ―be given disproportionately
large doses of these supplementary services.‖ According to the research, extra learning
time is less effective if it is limited to simply tutoring afterschool. While easy to
implement, ―low-intensity supplemental services such as tutoring… had little or no
impact on student outcomes, such as grades, test scores, attendance, or the drop-out rate‖
(Christianson & Thurlow, 2004). While afterschool tutoring may be of limited
usefulness, as Mitchell et al. (2008) stated they are an element in the repertoire of
programs at successful schools. Haycock (2001) notes some schools, particularly in San
Diego, have created additional instructional time within the school day to double or triple
up on the time dedicated to English language skills and mathematics.
An ―essential component‖ of an intervention program is the ―personalization‖ of
education, that is gaining an understanding of the student‘s academic, personal, and
social issues and creating personalized supports and connections between the student and
the school (Christianson & Thurlow, 2004). This connectiveness is the fourth of the
reforms identified to narrow the achievement gap. In a five high school study of
successful urban high schools, Friedlander and Darling-Hammond (2008) found a key
element in all five schools was the level of personalization. They concluded that:
―Personalization substantively influences students‘ investment in learning by nurturing
strong relationships and accountability between students and teachers, both in the
classroom and through advisory periods.‖ School-wide structural changes, such as the
creation of advisory periods is one element that is being utilized within schools to create
38

personal connections between students and staff. Changes within the classroom have an
impact on the personalization of the educational experience and increased student
achievement. Yonezawa et al. explain:
Modifying the structure of teacher-student interaction to include small
group discussions, individualized instruction, and multiple ways of
displaying knowledge encourages students, especially those from cultural
minority backgrounds, to participate more actively in classroom lessons
and thereby improves their learning.

Summary
The review of the achievement gap literature has revealed a history of assessment
practices, changes and cycles in those practices including a movement from intelligence
tests to norm and criterion referenced objective assessments, and the impact of the 2001
NCLB Act.
The definition of the achievement gap focuses on differential student learning
outcomes based on characteristics of the students, including ethnicity and social
economic status. The most recent research and empirical data demonstrate that several
policies and practices are successful in narrowing the achievement gap. The most
common of these are: creating a implementing a rigorous and relevant curriculum,
employing quality teachers, creating professional learning communities, offering extra
learning opportunities, and fostering a culture of student connectiveness and
personalization.
This study will contribute to the knowledge base of the achievement gap issue by
examining a school that has urban characteristics and that has successfully narrowed the
39

gap over time. It is important to identify and understand how the specific policies and
strategies are utilized to create and maintain that success.
40

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
Introduction
The structure of the research methodology utilized in this study is based upon the
purpose of the study: to examine the practices and programs of an urban high school that
has been successful in narrowing the achievement gap over a three year period. The
basic underlying assumptions for this study are: that schools are engaged in purposeful
educational activities and are striving to close the achievement gap, the instrumentation
developed and utilized in this study accurately gauge and reveal the practices and
programs that create and sustain success in narrowing the achievement gap, and once
identified, these practices and programs can be utilized successfully at other school sites.
The following research questions are designed to illuminate the successful practices and
programs at several different levels of the organization:
1. What are the cultural norms that have been employed by the school that have
allowed them to narrow the achievement gap and sustain success?
2. What are the practices that have been employed by the school that have narrowed
the achievement gap and help sustain this success?
3. What are the programs that have been employed by the school that have narrowed
the achievement gap and help sustain this success
The first is related to the specific culture of the school site and seeks to identify
any specific traits or norms that help promote sustained achievement and narrowing of
the achievement gap. This question seeks an answer to the cultural norms that have been
employed by the school that have allowed them to narrow the achievement gap and
41

maintain the success over time. Input from the data collected relating to this question
will identify underlying beliefs that permeate the staff, students and community, that help
create the milieu in which sustained academic success is possible.
The second research question focuses on specific practices or actions that are
collectively utilized to reduce the achievement gap and create sustained academic success
for traditionally under achieving student groups. This line of investigation seeks to
identify specific practices, strategies, tactics, and pedagogy that are universally, or near
universally, implemented inside and outside the classroom amongst the staff, students
and community.
The third and final research question focuses on specific programs implemented
by the school site. This query seeks to pinpoint programs that have contributed to
narrowing the achievement gap and have maintained this success over time. These
programs may originate at the school level, the district level, the state level, or at the
national level.
This study is one of nine conducted by a thematic dissertation group of nine
doctoral students at the University of Southern California (USC). The studies share a
common theme of urban schools, or schools with urban characteristics, that have
narrowed the achievement gap and sustained that success over time. The doctoral
students openly discussed and created the selection criteria for the schools that would
qualify for this study. The criteria centered on school demographics and sustainability of
student achievement.
42

Demographic factors for selection of the school site included: status as an urban
school, or a school having urban like characteristics, and significant student sub groups
within the school population. The Council of Urban Boards of Education (CUBE)
defines an urban school as one that serves a city population of 100,000 or more residents,
or possess urban characteristics (2009). Urban characteristics are defined as including a
student population that is typically low SES, high minority, and consisting of a high
concentration of second language learners (Lippman, Burns, & McArthur, 1996). The
sites selected to participate in the current study were required to have significant sub
group representation of low SES students, minority students and ELL students. The
doctoral students agreed to use the definition of significant sub group representation as
defined by the California Department of Education for its Standardized Testing and
Reporting (STAR) program. This definition describes a significant sub group as 100
students or 15% of a school‘s overall student population, whichever is smaller.
The criteria of sustainability of student achievement was included as an indicator
of a systemic, school wide effort to narrow the achievement gap and to avoid studying
schools and programs that experienced only temporary success. The doctoral students
discussed and agreed to base sustainability on the Academic Performance Index (API).
The API is an academic performance measure, used in California, based on the results of
statewide testing. The API reflects the achievement level of a school or the sub groups
within a school. The API is a measure of growth and each year the target API is
increased for the school and its significant sub groups. The doctoral students decided
43

sustainability is achieved when the school and its significant sub groups met their API
targets for two or more consecutive years.
Research Methodology
The methodology of a study is determined by the purpose of the study and the
type of data that is gathered. In order to fully understand the phenomena of this study,
the practices and programs that created the success of the identified urban high school,
the researcher will need to conduct an in-depth study of the phenomenon in the natural
context which includes the emic perspectives of the staff, students, and community of the
high school. By definition, this type of research is a case study; Gall et al. define case
study research as, ―the in depth study of instances of a phenomenon in its natural context
and from the perspective of the participants involved in the phenomenon‖ (Gall, Gall, &
Borg, 2003).
The focus of this study centers on teaching and student learning which are
complex activities. Such complex endeavors are not easily captured through quantitative
means. It is in such settings that qualitative studies are of value (Hammersley, 2000).
Working from Hammersley‘s understanding of qualitative studies in an
educational setting the connection is easily made to Patton‘s (2002) recommendation that
qualitative methods are appropriate when focusing on understanding and illuminating
quality issues and evaluating outcomes. The purpose of this study is based on
educational quality issues and the academic success of students at a high minority, low
socio-economic (SES) high school. In essence, this study is centered on understanding
and illuminating quality programs and practices based on what the study criteria has
44

evaluated and defined as successful outcomes and as such, a qualitative method of
inquiry is appropriate.
Based on the needs and purpose of the study, the methodology selected to conduct
this inquiry is a qualitative case study. Multiple methods of data collection were utilized
to gather data and provide an opportunity to validate emergent themes and findings via
triangulation. These methods included document reviews, surveys, interviews and
observations.
This study uses purposeful sampling of a single school site that meets the criteria
established by the researchers. The school being studied is a high school with urban
characteristics, it has been successful in narrowing the achievement gap for two or more
years as measured by the Academic Performance Index (API), its student population
consists of at least 40% ethnic minority students, and the school has at least 40% of the
student body that qualifies for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), which
provides free or reduced priced meals for students with economic need.
The conceptual model for the study is based on Clark and Estes‘ Gap Analysis
model (2002). In this model, a performance gap is identified and the underlying
performance inputs of knowledge, skills and motivation are examined in order to identify
areas of improvement. In the current study, the achievement gap is the performance gap
being studied, and the programs, practices, and cultural norms equate to the knowledge,
skills and motivation inputs of the model. Successful schools have managed to
synthesize these inputs and create an environment that produces academically successful
students.
45

Figure 1. Conceptual Model Based on Clark and Este's Gap Analysis Model

The graphic in Figure 1 shows the six step flow of the conceptual model. Step
one was the identification of the successful school that narrowed the achievement gap.
Step two involved identifying the sub group performance within the successful school. In
step three, the school‘s and sub groups‘ performance on the California Standards Tests
(CSTs) was analyzed. Step four involved the field work portion of the study. In step
four a document review, observations, surveys and interviews were conducted and factors
contributing to sustained success were identified. These growth factors were coded and
categorized as relating to cultural norms. School programs, or practices is step five. The
results of the study were analyzed and synthesized in the final and sixth step of the
process.

Identify a
High Achieving
School
Identify
Student
Subgroup
Performance
2008-2009 School Achievement
Goals and Subgroup
Performance on CST
Identify Factors
Contributing to
Growth
Programs/
School
Structures
Analyze and
Synthesize
Results
Practices
Cultural Norms
Document
Review

Observation
s
Interviews
Surveys

46

Research Development
The general research design for this study was created collaboratively by the nine
doctoral students of the thematic dissertation group. This group was formed in the late
summer of 2008 based on a common interest in further developing applied knowledge
related to the educational achievement gap. Group members met, both as a core group
and as smaller focus groups, from October 2008 through August 2009. The core group
collaborated on and designed the research model, while the focus groups met to
accomplish specific tasks such as developing common instrumentation tools such as
survey instruments and interview queries aligned to the research questions.
The discussion of the group‘s common interest in the achievement gap lead to the
development of the problem statement: ―There are schools, many of which are urban
schools in low SES, that show a disparity in academic success, while some do not.
Common factors to close the achievement gap are unclear; further, these factors do not
appear to be easily sustainable nor transferable. Therefore, how do schools close/narrow
the achievement gap?‖ In order to provide a common language for the studies and allow
for cross study comparison of data and themes, the group created common operational
definitions for achievement gap, urban schools, low SES, sustainable, and academic
success.
This problem statement lead to the group to develop three research questions that
are designed to identify and clarify what practices and programs are academically
successful schools implementing in order to sustain academic achievement. The
following questions were formulated to guide this study:
47

1. What are the cultural norms that have been employed by the school that have
allowed them to close the achievement gap and sustain success?
2. What are the practices that have been employed by the school that have
allowed them to close the achievement gap and sustain success?
3. What are the programs that have been employed by the school that have
allowed them to close the achievement gap and sustain success?
The basic theme within these questions is to differentiate among the strata of
approaches the school is utilizing to close the achievement gap. The study viewed the
issue through three perspectives, the first is the underlying belief system of the school
and community that has allowed them to move forward and achieve sustained academic
success for their students. The second perspective focused on individuals collaborating
within a group, while working independently utilizing common agreed upon practices
and how these practices impact sustained academic success for their students. The final
perspective examined formalized and structured programs that have been implemented
that assist students in achieving academic success and closing the achievement gap.
In focusing the study, the dissertation group decided to concentrate on urban
schools. Nationally, urban schools are more likely to serve minority and low SES
students and are having more difficulty than their suburban and rural counterparts in
closing the achievement gap (Loveless, 2008). Identifying successful practices and
programs that can be emulated or applied to similar schools, compliments the current
statewide focus on narrowing or closing the achievement gap spearheaded by State
48

Schools Superintendent Jack O‘Connell. Purposeful sampling of the schools selected for
this study was based upon specific criteria:
1. The school must qualify as a Title I school. Title I designation indicates that
40% or more of the students that attend that school qualify for free or reduced
meals under the NSLP.
2. The majority group of students attending the school are composed of ethnic
minority students.
3. The school as a whole and all significant sub groups, as defined by NCLB,
have met or exceeded their AYP and API goals for the past two to three years.
Based on the selection criteria, each member of the group researched possible
school sites and made a selection for their study. In April of 2009, contact was made
with the principal of the selected school to explain the study and its purpose and solicit
the participation of the school in the study. Following the initial contact, a meeting was
set up to detail how the school site met the selection criteria of being a Title I school,
having a majority of the student population being composed of ethnic minority students
and have sustained academic success as demonstrated by all students, including
significant sub groups in meeting or exceeding AYP and API goals for two to three
consecutive years and to help further clarify questions the principal may have regarding
the study. This meeting included a discussion outlining a preliminary visitation schedule
and the types of instrumentation used for the study. These instruments include a
document review, surveys, observations and interviews. Discussion also included which
staff members would participate in the study.
49

Sustained Success High School (SSHS) is a member of the Combined Districts
Union High School District (CDUSHD). The district serves 4,561 students from four
communities in its attendance area. The district is a union high school district and
consists of three comprehensive high schools, a continuation high school and an adult
education school. CDUSHD has experienced rapid growth, from the year 2000 to the
year 2008. The student population in the district has increased over 36% (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Growth of CDUSHD from 2000-01 to 2007-08.

This growth has been ethnically balanced, with the Hispanic population
increasing only 3% in relation to other ethnic groups. The multi-racial district is
composed of 82.4% Hispanic students, 12.6% Filipino students, 3.1% White students, 1%
African-American students, and less than 1% of Asian, American Indian and Pacific
Islander students. English Language Learners (ELL) constitute approximately 38% of
the district population, over 90% of these students speak Spanish while the remainder
3,200
3,400
3,600
3,800
4,000
4,200
4,400
4,600
4,800
2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08
Year
Number of Students
50

speak Ilocano, Filipino, Arabic, and Punjabi. Over 75% of the students in the district
qualify for free or reduced price lunch (EdData, 2009). Of the three comprehensive high
schools, one opened in the fall of 2008, SSHS opened in fall of 2003, and the third high
school was named one of U.S. News and World Reports Best High Schools at the bronze
level. The SSHS and the other fully established high schools have received full WASC
accreditation and none of the schools in the district are in program improvement (PI)
status.
Sustained Success High School is a Title I school of 2,015 students, that was
recognized by the California Department of Education as a Title I Academic Award
winning school in 2007. Hispanic students comprise the largest student ethnic group
representing 85.5% of the student population. Filipino students account for 8.7% of the
student population and White students are a minority group at 3.6% of the student
population. The remainder of the student groups are: African-American students, 1.1%,
Asian students, 1%, and American Indian students, 0.1%.
SSHS serves a rather small migrant population that encompasses approximately
7% of the student body. Over 76% of the students at SSHS are eligible for the free or
reduced lunch program. Since opening its doors in 2003, the student population at SSHS
has doubled as new students enrolled. SSHS opened in 2003 with 1,024 students and as
of spring 2007, that number reached 1,974 (Figure 3) and the student population has
leveled out in 2008 at 2,015 students (EdData, 2009).

51

Figure 3. Growth of Enrollment at SSHS from 2003-04 to 2007-08
1,000
1,250
1,500
1,750
2,000
2,250
2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08
Years
Number of Students

This rapid growth is due in part to district wide growth but mainly attributable to opening
the school with a freshmen and sophomore class and allowing the population to increase
with the addition of each successive freshman class.
While the absolute level of academic achievement for SSHS is not exceptionally
high, the academic progress of these students has been steady and sustained. In 2005,
SSHS had an Academic Performance Index (API) statewide ranking, reported in deciles,
of 3 and a similar school ranking, also reported in deciles, of 8. The following year,
SSHS stagnated when its statewide ranking remained 3 and its similar schools ranking
slipped to 7. In 2007, the students of SSHS demonstrated a large gain by achieving a
statewide ranking of 4 and a similar school ranking of 8. Sustained and progressive
achievement is also evident when reviewing the API growth for SSHS (Figure 4).

52

Figure 4. API Growth for SSHS from 2004-05 to 2007-08.
SSHS API Growth 2004 -2008
500
550
600
650
700
750
800
2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08
Year
API Score
Target API Achieved API

Staff at SSHS includes one principal, one assistant principal, one learning
director, four counselors, and 88 teachers. Of these 88 teachers, 72 are fully credentialed,
11 are participating in alternative routes for certification, four are teaching on emergency
permits, and one is teaching with a waiver. Across the staff, only one teacher is teaching
outside of their subject area (SSHS, 2008). The ethnic composition of the teaching staff
is: 54.5% White, 30.7% Hispanic, 4.5% Filipino, 3.4% Asian, 3.4% Pacific Islander,
2,3% African American, and 1.1% American Indian.
Instrumentation
The instrumentation designed for this study was created to reveal underlying
themes and patterns that are at the core of a qualitative study. In a qualitative study, the
researcher is in essence the instrument (Perry, 2000) and the researcher uses tools, such
as documents, surveys, interviews and observations, to uncover, reveal, and chronicle the
53

process being studied. To uncover themes and patterns, the researcher strives to create a
thick and rich contextual description of what is occurring (Patton, 2002), while taking
note of the participants‘ input. Participants will discuss what is important to them, and
while their identities must be held anonymous, their voices must be recognizable in the
study (Perry, 2000). The dissertation group designed data collection instruments and a
process for this study which includes: document review, surveys, interviews, and
observations. A description and discussion of each of these tools follows below and an
example of each is located in the appendix.
The study process was initiated with the document review process. In order to
identify a school site that met the selection criteria, each co-researcher compiled and
reviewed documentation that revealed the data regarding the school‘s success in closing
or narrowing the achievement gap. These documents were procured from the California
Department of Education (CDE) website, specific district and school websites and from
the school site. The document review process for this study included the following: 1.
CDE website to review API and AYP data, and verify sustained success, 2. EdData
website to obtain demographic data for staff and students, 3. District website to obtain
district data, 4. The school website to access the School Accountability Report Card, the
most recent Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) accreditation report,
and information regarding site leadership and contact information.
A brief 34 question survey was created by the thematic group to gain insights
from staff members as to their perspectives on the practices and programs that have
contributed to the sustained success of their school site in closing or narrowing the
54

achievement gap. This survey consists of five sections on specific areas that were
identified in the research literature as having an impact on academic success for students:
collaboration opportunities, school leadership, data analysis, interventions, and classroom
instruction. Each section consists of several questions; the majority of which are multiple
choice, but each section ends with an opportunity for each participant to give an open-
ended response related to that section. This allows for the participant to provide input the
co-researcher may not have anticipated, but may wish to explore in more detail.
Interviews were based on questions developed by the co-researchers which were
designed to illuminate the practices and programs the participant felt were related to the
success of the school site. The interviews are based on 13 open ended questions, some
of which contain several sub questions, which cover the primary areas of collaboration,
support for learning, professional development, and data analysis. The participants
selected for the interviews were chosen for their involvement in the process of closing or
narrowing the achievement gap at the school site. At SSHS, the principal, assistant
principal, the learning director, and a lead teacher were interviewed. Visitation time at
SSHS is a limited resource and conducting interviews consumes this resource, so the
interviews were limited to those participants that were deemed to be able to provide the
deepest insights into the academic success of the school. Electronic consent forms were
completed and filed for each participant interviewed. Interviews were scheduled in
advance at a mutually agreed upon time and location. Additionally the interviews were
scheduled to allow for approximately a one hour uninterrupted block of time, with buffer
time at the end of the block should the participant wish to expand and add depth to any
55

issue that was discussed, or bring up an issue that was not discussed. Each participant
was allowed to answer freely without time constraints on any of the interview questions,
and elaborate on each answer as they chose. The content of each interview was recorded
electronically on a digital voice recorder and stored on the researcher‘s computer. A
digital copy of the interview was transcribed by a professional transcription service and a
word for word text version was given to the researcher. The participant in each interview
was sent an electronic version of the interview in Microsoft Word format. The researcher
requested that each interview participant review the interview transcript, to ensure the
validity of the written record, and respond to the researcher with any needed clarifications
regarding the interview.
Observations and interviews were conducted during the fall semester over a three
month time frame from August to October 2009. Observations were conducted: in
classrooms, across the curriculum and at varying times of the school day, at a staff
meeting, at collaboration meetings for various departments, and at various school
activities. Observations were recorded on an observation log and when possible self
spoken notes by the researcher were captured in a digital voice recorder. Following
Patton‘s guideline of inconspicuous observation (Patton, 2002), the digital voice recorder
was not used if in doing so interrupted the activity or drew undo attention to the
researcher.
Data collection for each school site was the responsibility of the researcher at that
particular site. At SSHS, the researcher began the process of data collection in April
2009 by reviewing information available via the internet. This information included a
56

2008 WASC accreditation report, school accountability report cards for the years 2004-
05 to 2007-08, and data from the CDE website on school performance. On the initial
visit, the researcher requested copies of staff meeting agendas and school bulletins to gain
further insights.
The principal introduced the researcher at the first staff meeting and the
researcher was allowed to briefly describe the purpose of the study and what types of data
would be collected, and to ensure the staff, that care would be taken to avoid or minimize
any intrusion on academic instructional time. Surveys were administered to the staff on
line over a two month period and the researcher gathered the results from the survey site.
The interviews and several classroom observations were scheduled during this
visit and updates to the school calendar were given to the researcher. During the data
collection phase, caution was utilized to avoid premature identification of emerging
themes so as not to exclude further themes as they developed (Perry, 2000).
Following the data collection data, the six step analysis and interpretation process
described by Creswell (2002) was utilized to unveil the themes that arose from the data.
Creswell‘s six steps are: 1. Organize and prepare the data for analysis, 2. Read through all
the data, 3. Begin detailed analysis with a coding process, 4. Use the coding process to
generate a description of the setting or people as well as categories or themes for analysis,
5. Advance how the findings will be represented in the qualitative narrative, 6. Make an
interpretation or meaning of the data.
The first step of this process included the researcher transcribing all the interviews
and typing observation notes, as well as making copies of school documents reviewed.
57

These typed records were then sorted, based on the source of the information. In some
cases, more than one copy was created to allow for inclusion of the material in more than
one category.
The second step of the process required the researcher to read through all the data
and source materials to gain an overall sense of the data and reflect on the possible
meanings of the data.
The second step dovetailed into the third step in which the researcher began to
analyze the data, and in doing so, began to categorize the data. These categories were
assigned a two or three letter descriptive designation or code to facilitate the analysis
process.
The results of the third step were then used to create a description of the school
site and its practices and programs. From this description, several themes began to
emerge and these themes will be discussed in detail in chapter four of this study.
The fifth step of this process involves communicating or conveying the
description and themes to the reader of the study. In this study, the primary means of
accomplishing this task is the use of the narrative passages. These passages in chapter 4
will give a thick and rich description of the themes in the context of the study site.
The final step in this process was to derive meaning from the data. In the case of
this study, what are the practices and programs that are being implemented at the study
site that ensure closing or narrowing of the achievement gap and sustaining those gains?
Throughout the study process, the dissertation group and this researcher have kept
the concept of validity in the forefront of the process. There is an astute awareness
58

among qualitative researchers that validity is a paramount issue if the findings from a
study are to be deemed credible. While each researcher may utilize a different term such
as validity, verification or credibility, the concept is the same, was the study conducted
properly and can the study and conclusions stand up to peer review. Creswell (2002)
suggests eight verification strategies and recommends that at least two of the eight are
utilized in any given study (Creswell, 1998). Creswell‘s strategies are: triangulation,
member-checking, use rich and thick descriptions to convey findings, clarify researcher
bias, present discrepant information uncovered in the study, spend prolonged time in the
field, use peer debriefing, and use an external auditor to review the study. Anfara et. al
(2002) have defined research rigor and quality into four themes: credibility,
transferability, dependability, and confirmability.
These researchers have attributed specific strategies to each theme to ensure
quality and rigor in qualitative research. There are several verification strategies that are
common to both Anfara et. al and Creswell‘s recommendations among these are:
triangulation, member checking, provide thick and rich descriptions, and peer
review/debriefing. All four of these strategies were employed to ensure the quality and
rigor of this study. Triangulation is the process of using more than one data source to
verify the credibility and dependability of the data. This study used triangulation of data
sources to ensure the veracity of the data collected. Member checking is the process of
verifying themes or specific descriptions by having participants review the data for
accuracy. This process was used to ensure descriptions were accurate and credible
(Anfara et al., 2002) through the participant‘s perspective (Schwandt, 1997). A thick and
59

rich narrative was employed to allow readers to gain contextual knowledge of the
phenomenon understudy and make decisions regarding transferability to similar cases
(Anfara et al., 2002). Finally, peer review/debriefing functioned as a test of credibility
and rigor of both findings and process. This review process was conducted as a part of
the study, not simply at the end of the study. As peer questions or concerns arose,
adjustments were enacted to ensure that a quality, rigorous and credible study was
conducted.
Conclusion
The research methodologies detailed in this chapter are based upon the work of
established qualitative researchers, including references to the works of Patton, Creswell,
and Gall, Gall and Borg and is representative of a quality and rigorous design. The study
was conducted following this design and includes data acquired from document reviews,
surveys, interviews and observations. The collected data was processed using the steps
of data analysis as described by Creswell (2002). Further, the validity of this study was
ensured by employing four methods of verification which included: triangulation,
member checking, thick and rich narratives, and peer review/debriefing. Chapter 4 will
discuss the execution of the study and include discussions, narratives, and findings
related to the data and the themes that emerged from the data.
60

CHAPTER FOUR: RESEARCH FINDINGS
Introduction
Before my first visit to Sustained Success High School (SSHS), I drove through
some of the neighborhoods that were served by the school. The majority of the houses in
one area that I drifted through were comprised of older single family homes; many of
which were coated in several tired layers of faded and peeling paint. As I passed, some
of these homes seemed to release a weary sigh from partially opened doors into the hot
still air of a summer evening. The streets leading to these homes rode rough under the
wheels of my car, with an occasional pothole punctuating the well worn condition of the
street bed below. The blue and open July skies stretched wide and open above the great
central California valley in which these humble tenements rested. These same skies,
overarch and connect this neighborhood with many others in this same California valley.
Many of these valley neighborhoods would count themselves as being more fortunate in
life than the one I passed through, few would admit to being less fortunate.
This type of disparity is evident in living conditions and educational outcomes
throughout the state of California and beyond. As California continues to struggle to
maintain its economic status in an increasingly global economy, it needs to address the
negative impacts of the educational achievement gap between social majority and social
minority groups. Addressing the achievement gap has become vital for the nation as a
whole, and even more critical for the state of California because the majority of students
in California are now composed of low achieving minority student groups (O'Connell,
2008).
61

This chapter provides a description of one school‘s efforts, SSHS, to demonstrate
sustained improved educational achievement for its ability to reduce the achievement gap
between SSHS‘s predominantly low SES, Hispanic student population and the high
achieving Asian and White students populations residing in California.
Criteria
Sustained Success High School (SSHS) was selected as the focus of this study
because it met the criteria selected by the nine member thematic dissertation group.
Selection criteria focused on three areas: the school population must include 15% or 100
students of a significant sub-group; at least 40% of the students are considered low SES
as measured by participation in the national school lunch program (NSLP); and the
school must have experienced sustained academic success as gauged by California‘s
Academic Performance Index (API) . Over 76% of SSHS students participate in NSLP
and at 85.8% of the student population, the Hispanic sub group far exceeds the 15%
student population threshold established by the dissertation group. While 138 students
are members of the Filipino student sub group, this sub group is considered an
academically high achieving student group based on results from the standardized testing
program in California and therefore are not used as a qualifying student group for this
study.
Table 1. Percent and Number of Students at SSHS by Ethnicity
Student Group # of Students % of Student Population
American Indian/Alaskan Native 3 0.2%
Asian 14 0.8%
Pacific Islander 1 0.1%
Filipino 138 8.4%
Hispanic/Latino 1,416 85.8%
62

The doctoral students in the dissertation group decided sustainability in academic
achievement is achieved when the school and its significant sub groups met their API
targets for two or more consecutive years. SSHS has demonstrated sustained growth in
their school wide and subgroup APIs for five consecutive years. This growth is evident
in Table 2 and Figure 5.
Table 2. API Growth at SSHS from 2004 to 2009
2004-2005 2005-2006 2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-2009
Base API 545 649 645 675 698
Growth API 649 663 675 698 744
API Growth Target 13 8 8 6 5
Actual Growth +104 +14 +30 +23 +46
Met Target Growth n/a Yes Yes Yes Yes
Met All Sub Groups
Growth
n/a Yes Yes Yes Yes

Figure 5. API Growth for SSHS from 2004 to 2009
500
550
600
650
700
750
800
2004-
2005
2005-
2006
2006-
2007
2007-
2008
2008-
2009
SSHS Growth API
SSHS Base API

The magnitude of the narrowing of the achievement gap is apparent when multi-
year API data from SSHS‘s sub group populations is compared to state wide data for the
higher performing white and Asian student groups in Figure 6.

63

Figure 6. API Student Group Comparison 2005-2009

Using the base API from 2005 and the growth API from 2009, the state wide
group of white students improved their API score by 43 points. During this same time
period, the state wide Asian student group increased their API score by 47 points. At
SSHS, the Hispanic students increased their API scores from 634 to 730; this is an
increase of 96 points. In a similar manner, the SES and ELL student sub groups
increased their scores by 111 and 83 points respectively. Each one of SSHS‘s relevant
sub groups achieved greater percentage gains than did the higher achieving state wide
white and Asian student groups.
Research Questions
The qualitative case study conducted at SSHS involved collecting data through
four instruments: observations, interviews, a staff survey, and a document review. The
data collected through these instruments was used to answer the three research questions:
64

1. What are the cultural norms that have been employed by the school that have
allowed them to close the achievement gap and sustain success?
2. What are the practices that have been employed by the school that have
allowed them to close the achievement gap and sustain success?
3. What are the programs that have been employed by the school that have
allowed them to close the achievement gap and sustain success?
These research questions focused on sustained success in closing the achievement
gap at various levels within the school structure. The normative level which is based on
beliefs, values and philosophy of education; the level of everyday practices, these are
things that contribute to closing the achievement gap but are not a formal education
program; and finally the program level, this level includes formal educational programs
that are created by staff or brought into the school via an educational program provider.
The findings of this study will be discussed in relation to the research questions and
through the four frames of reference as outlined by Bolman and Deal (2003) which
include the structural, human resource, political, and symbolic frames or perspectives.
Methodology
The findings and themes that surfaced within this qualitative case study
permeated throughout the data and the data analysis process revealed the manifest factors
that led SSHS‘s success in narrowing the academic achievement gap between their
Hispanic, ELL and Low-SES students and the traditionally higher achieving white and
Asian student groups in the state of California. As per Gall et al (2003), this in-depth
study was conducted in the natural setting and from the emic perspective, that is from the
65

perspective of the participants in the study. Data collection and analysis were conducted
following Creswell‘s (2003) six steps of data collection and analysis which includes
coding, analyzing and interpreting the data. To ensure reliability and validity of the
emerging themes and findings, data consistency was assessed by triangulating the data
between sources.
The data obtained from the document review was drawn from a variety of
sources, including the California State Department of Education, the school site, and on-
line resources. The document review consisted of reading and analyzing the following
documents: the school accreditation self-study for the Western Association of Schools
and Colleges (WASC), the School Accountability Report Cards (SARC) for the years of
2005, 2006, and 2007, Schools Moving Up Webinar focusing on SSHS in April 2009,
SSHS School Leadership Committee meeting agendas from October 2007 to August
2009, school master schedule for 2008 and 2009, copy of teacher evaluation pre-
observation conference form, student behavior contract, collaboration meeting agendas
from the math, social science, ELD, and English departments, the school map and bell
schedule, the school and district website, the California Department of Education (CDE)
website, and CST scores and data. The researcher triangulated the document review
findings through the use of staff surveys, staff interviews, and observations in
classrooms, on campus and in meetings. The data was assimilated, analyzed and coded
into groups. Through this process, the manifest norms, practices, and programs that help
to narrow the achievement gap emerged.

66

Participants
The onsite portion of the study consisted of an initial meeting with the principal,
the learning director, who was recently promoted to a principalship at another school in
the district, and the new learning director, followed by five days of study, observation,
and data collection. The first of these visits was a pupil free day which consisted of a
district wide breakfast meeting which included the district superintendent, the school
board, the city council, the city manager, and several of the feeder school district‘s
superintendents. After this large group meeting, the individual school sites met as a staff
and held their first staff meeting of the school year. The remaining four visits were spread
out over a four week period during the month of October in 2009.
Prior to the October visits, a staff survey was administered via an on-line survey
site. The staff had five weeks to log on and take the survey; which did not have to be
completed in a single session, it could be completed over multiple sessions. Forty-eight
staff members, which is approximately 60% of the staff, participated in the survey. The
October visits consisted of classroom observations, school wide observations,
collaboration meeting observations, and interviews. Interviews were conducted with the
principal, the assistant principal, the former learning director, the current learning
director, the math department chairman, the English language development department
chairwoman, and the AVID resource teacher. The researcher had complete access to the
entire campus during the period of the visits and was given a private office space to use
as a base during visitations. There were no restrictions placed on the researcher by the
school administration and the researcher enjoyed unfettered access to the entire staff.
67

Findings by Research Question
Research Question 1
What are the cultural norms that have been employed by the school that have
allowed them to close the achievement gap and sustain success?
While there are many normative factors that seem to have had a positive impact
on sustained student achievement at SSHS, two paramount factors that are clearly evident
throughout this study are the creation and maintenance of a school-wide academic culture
and the style and approach to leadership demonstrated by the administration of the
school.
Factor Number 1: Creation and Maintenance of a School-wide Academic Culture
―I think I‘m going to be a trucker,‖ SSHS Principal, on his post high school life
expectations.
The primary goal of the administration and staff at SSHS is to foster, recognize
and celebrate academic achievement. When SSHS first opened its doors in 2003, the
primary focus was opening the school and to set the curriculum into motion. Soon after
this in 2005, the leadership and staff made a conscious decision to create an academic
culture with high expectations for student outcomes. The current learning director
describes the focus by saying, ―Other schools have football teams and great basketball
teams and you know, we love sports but our goal is academics.‖ I conducted seven
interviews, four with current or former administrators at SSHS and three with current
teachers at SSHS, and each individual communicated to me the same message; academic
achievement is the primary focus of the administration and staff at SSHS. For at least
68

one staff member, the principal, the belief of having every student succeed academically
regardless of the student‘s upbringing is grounded in personal history. As a student in
high school, his aspiration was to get the highest paid job that he knew of, being a truck
driver. Coming from a family in which the highest educational level attained by his
parents was third grade, he did not consider further education beyond high school. His
counselor saw that he had more potential than he realized he had and she completed and
sent in his application for college enrollment. The concern and caring exhibited by this
counselor has impacted the principal‘s philosophy regarding his students and his
awareness of school culture and norms. The SSHS principal points out:
I know the power of culture to destroy or kill people‘s dreams, .. or the
power of a culture where you believe that students can achieve and we try
to create that cultural norm in this school to make it a place to ensure that
students do achieve and do aspire to go to college or move toward their
dreams.

High expectations for student achievement are necessary for this cultural norm to
become entrenched. Questions two and three from the staff survey demonstrate that a
large majority of the staff hold the belief that students can achieve at high levels and that
the administration creates a positive culture for both students and staff members.
Table 3. Results of Staff Survey for Questions 2 and 3
Survey Question #2. The teachers at this school believe that students can achieve at high
levels.
Answer Options Response Percent Response Count
Strongly Agree 75% 36
Agree 25% 12
Somewhat Disagree 0% 0
Strongly Disagree 0% 0
69

Table 3: Continued
Survey Question #3. School administration creates a positive school culture for teachers
and students.
Answer Options Response Percent Response Count
Strongly Agree 91.7% 44
Agree 8.3% 4
Somewhat Disagree 0% 0
Strongly Disagree 0% 0

One hundred percent of the respondents of the SSHS staff survey hold the belief
students can achieve at high levels. The degree to which this belief is held varies slightly
as seventy-five percent of the SSHS staff strongly agree that students can achieve at high
levels while twenty-five percent responded at the slightly less confident level of agree.
Similarly, one hundred percent of the respondents believe the school administration at
SSHS is creating a positive school culture for teachers and students. The majority of staff
responses indicate a high level of agreement with over ninety-one percent responding that
they strongly agree while just over eight percent responded at the agree level of
confidence.
The importance of the academic culture is demonstrated through the creation of
the Academic Culture Committee. In a webinar that focused on SSHS broadcast in April
2009, by the educational consortium Schools Moving Up, the former Learning Director
of SSHS identified the Academic Culture Committee as one of the more important
mechanisms for building the school vision and culture. This committee is composed of
ten to fifteen staff volunteers and is chaired by the assistant principal and one teacher
leader. The assistant principal explained they meet, ―about once or twice a month to
discuss things that deal with creating an academic culture.‖ Aspects of the academic
70

culture and expectations of post-high school education are evident in simple ways and in
very apparent ways. A simple example is the display of college pennants from over 30
different colleges from around the United States in the student cafeteria. The principal
explained that in the near future the staff will begin to list the names of SSHS graduates
that attend those universities beneath the corresponding pennant. This becomes a way to
personalize and demonstrate to current students, that SSHS graduates have attained
passage into higher education. A very apparent example of the academic culture is the
renaming of each classroom building on campus. Before the end of the 2009-10 school-
year, each classroom building will shed its alpha designation and be renamed after a
college or university. For example, the A wing will become the USC wing, the B wing
will become the UCLA wing, etc. In this manner, students will have a concrete reminder
of what educational possibilities exist following high school. When discussing the
academic culture of SSHS, the principal proudly points out:
Every single program here, we talk about preparing kids for college
and then trying to have the kids have the tools and make it part of
our culture, make it part of the norm.

This norm includes placing academics before athletics. One of the teachers explained,
So kids are encouraged, even by the coaching staff to skip out on
practice if they‘re behind in school. We give them a pass from tutoring
to go back to football practice, and the coaches don‘t mind it because its
academics first.
The acceptance and impact of the academic culture is evident at all levels within the
school from the administration to the students. During an interview discussing the
academic culture of the school, a teacher explained, ―our kids are buying into it and our
71

teachers are buying into it, and our whole culture is shifting because of it.‖ He continued
to say, ―that if you have a certain expectation the kids will raise to it.‖
In five of the seven interviews conducted during this study, the staff being
interviewed initiated conversation on the subject of high expectations for students. The
emphasis on expectations is also shared by the administration. In his opening meeting of
the 2009 – 2010 school year with the staff of SSHS, the principal took some time to
discuss what he termed the four R‘s: reading, writing, re-teaching, and raising
expectations. The principal views these concepts as basic to the academic success and
culture of SSHS. SSHS has a large population of ELL students many of whom are not
proficient in English reading and writing, therefore SSHS emphasizes this curriculum.
Additionally the concept of re-teaching is important to the academic culture. The
teachers focus on the students learning the material, not on the teacher‘s presentation or
teaching of the curriculum. The former learning director explained, ―you just have to
start with your teachers and good instruction and monitoring, and then working on that
culture with kids.‖ She further emphasized the principal‘s concept of raising
expectations and the connection of an academic culture to student achievement when she
simply stated, ―We have high expectations of the kids here, and they know it, and they
perform.‖
Within the classroom, an example of setting high expectations was observed in an
ELD classroom. The young teacher, for whom English is a second language,
demonstrated high expectations for her students when during the course of the lesson,
she refused to accept single word responses from students as she checked for
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understanding. If a student responded to her in a single word or with a few loosely
connected words, she gently but firmly directed the student to rephrase the answer in a
complete sentence. As I left the room at the end of the period, I asked about this practice,
and she explained that she holds high expectations for the students within her classroom.
She continued to explain that SSHS is preparing all students for college, including the
ELL students. Allowing these students to respond in one or two word answers is not
pushing them to succeed, but rather allowing them to become mediocre students.
The motivation to maintain the academic culture is not unilateral, the staff is not
alone in pushing for higher student achievement. Students are motivated to improve
academically by an ongoing system of celebrating success. This system of celebration
includes ice cream or other food awards, students of the month recognitions, monthly
postcards sent to homes of students, special t-shirts given for recognition of doing well on
the annual STAR assessment within your grade level and school wide, trips to an
amusement park, and a school wide STARnival in recognition of meeting the API growth
target for the school. When establishing a targeted after school reading intervention
designed to assist students in performing well on the California High School Exit Exam,
the principal appealed to the students‘ sense of pride in wanting to do well on the exam
for themselves and the school, but he also informed the group that each week the school
would provide an ice cream treat for students that attended each day, and at the end of the
intervention, the school would provide a pizza for all the students that successfully
finished the program. As additional motivation, the school was able to offer 2.5 credits to
those students that completed the course.
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An additional aspect of the academic culture is evident in the administrative
structure within the school. Originally when SSHS opened with only a freshmen and a
sophomore class, there were only two administrative positions. The first of these was the
principal who was the instructional and staff management leader and the associate
principal who handled discipline issues and instructional implementation issues. Within
a couple of years, the associate principal was promoted to a principalship at another high
school in the district and SSHS added two more levels of students so it covered grades 9
through 12. At this time, the associate principal‘s duties were divided between an
assistant principal and a learning director. The assistant principal assumed those
responsibilities aligned with student services and discipline, while the learning director
became aligned with curriculum, collaboration, assessments and student academic
achievement. This shift allowed the learning director to focus on student achievement
and the academic culture of the school, while the assistant principal handles more of the
day to day student issues that arise at a large comprehensive high school. The former
learning director described her former position as taking on the role of instructional
leader for the school, and being intimately involved with collaboration groups and
teachers on campus.
Factor Number 2: Servant Leadership Style
A second normative factor that became very apparent from analyzing the data is
the administrations‘ leadership style. As previously discussed, the staff shares a very
strong belief that the administration creates a positive school culture, and one factor in
creating this positive culture is the leadership style adopted by the principal and the
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administration. There are two aspects to the leadership style that have the greatest
impact on the positive school culture and help create the academic cultural norm that
exists at SSHS; the first is shared leadership among the administration and staff, and the
second is the concept of servant leadership.
Table 4. Results of Staff Survey for Question 4
Survey Question #4. Leadership is shared among school personnel.
Answer Options Response Percent Response Count
Strongly Agree 70.8% 34
Agree 27.1% 13
Somewhat Disagree 2.1% 1
Strongly Disagree 0% 0

Shared leadership is prevalent at SSHS. The staff survey indicates that nearly
98% of the respondents believe that shared leadership occurs at SSHS. Of these, nearly
71% responded that they strongly agree that leadership is shared with the staff. Only one
of the respondents did not feel leadership was a joint venture between the staff and the
administration. This high degree of consensus on the issue of shared leadership is
supported by the leadership structure at SSHS. The administration consists of the
principal, the learning director, an assistant principal, and an athletic director. The
principal considers the athletic director to be part of his administrative team and is
involved in many aspects of the school, rather than simply a position singularly focused
on athletics. Among the teachers, the leadership positions include the department
chairpersons, eleven resource teachers, an AVID coordinator, and members of the
academic culture committee. When interviewed regarding shared leadership, a teacher
described her perspective on the issue:
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I know that leadership is shared amongst all of the administrators, but also
many of us have been appointed to leadership positions. A lot of the
resource teachers have a leadership role in their own departments. Club
advisors serve leadership roles. Myself, I am the AVID Coordinator.
There‘s a new program coming up that I was just asked to join, actually, it
is called CalServe. It‘s a coach position for community service here on our
campus. So, they are good at delegating leadership responsibilities.
At SSHS, the goal of sharing leadership is not an end unto itself; rather, sharing
leadership has a purpose. Ultimately, its purpose is to improve student achievement.
One aspect of improving student achievement is staff collaborating and being creative in
addressing student needs. The principal explained his views on shared leadership,
empowerment and creativity.
It is shared and delegated and empowered and imparted. There is much,
much more empowerment than what you may believe or what you may
think. There are a lot of principals or leaders that feel that they have to be
in on every meeting and pretty much directing every decision and pretty
much making every call. I don‘t believe that. I believe that that will stifle
creativity.

The results of this staff empowerment and creativity are channeled back up to the school
administration for further discussion and to be placed into action. Resource teachers and
department chairpersons are the typical conduit for this transfer of information, but they
are not the exclusive means of staff to administration communication on issues related to
student achievement. The administration maintains an open-door policy for teachers and
staff, and values the input the teachers bring forth. The current learning director
explained that, ―there is an open door policy for teachers and they are coming in
constantly, making suggestions, and recommendations,‖ he continued by stating, ―the
teachers are the experts, and so leadership decisions are definitely shared with teachers,
resource teachers, and department chairs.‖ Teachers are aware of the access they have to
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the administration and they use it. When discussing the principal, one teacher
interviewed stated, ―He‘s approachable. He‘s always easy to get a hold of, and he really
tries to communicate with all the teachers and be available to us.‖
The philosophy of the open door policy and being available to teachers and staff
stems from the concept of servant leadership practiced by the administration team at
SSHS. The basic concepts that servant leadership emphasize are collaboration, trust,
empathy, and the ethical use of power. During my observations at SSHS, I was able to
see evidence of the administration subscribing to this philosophy of leadership. The
principal is a well dressed professional, who speaks in a deliberate but not loud manner.
His tone is one of calmness and when he speaks to individuals, he maintains eye contact
and may place a reassuring hand upon the individual‘s shoulder to create a human
connection. While observing a meeting with the principal and a group of approximately
35 students, it was noted that he did not know the names of all the students present.
When a student, unfamiliar to him, asked a question he asked for her name and then
responded to her using her name several times during his response to her. It was clear he
was demonstrating respect to this student and seeking to make a personal connection with
her.
During the first staff meeting of the year, the principal took a few minutes before
ending the meeting to read a brief inspirational story entitled Three Letters from Teddy by
Elizabeth Silance Ballard. The story recounted a young school teacher‘s experience with
a young, low performing, 5
th
grade child she had nearly given up on; but she overcame
her indifference for this child and developed some empathy for the student‘s situation.
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The young school teacher rededicated herself to helping this child and the student
succeeded that school year and went on to graduate from high school, university and
finally medical school. As the principal finished reading the story, I could see it had an
impact on the staff. The room was completely silent, and I could see many of the staff
dabbing tears from their eyes. He then spoke of how the SSHS staff can have a similar
impact on one of their own students. His message of empathy, one of the tenants of
servant leadership, was well received by the staff.
The philosophy of servant leadership is not only modeled by the administration, it
is discussed and disseminated to the cadre of staff leaders. The leadership committee‘s
agendas I reviewed, demonstrated that at the first leadership committee meeting from the
past two years servant leadership is reviewed and discussed.
Research Question 2
What are the practices that have been employed by the school that have allowed
them to close the achievement gap and sustain success?
Reviewing the data collected for this study, two practices stand out as having a
positive impact on student achievement and closing the achievement gap: structured
collaboration and data driven decisions.
The SSHS school motto is SSHS is a learning community where academic
achievement is fostered, recognized, and celebrated. The practice that has had a large
impact on fostering academic achievement is the collaboration that occurs at SSHS. The
structured collaboration at SSHS is a highly developed, well utilized, and very valued
practice. At SSHS, eleven teachers have a daily release period that is focused on
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preparing for and conducting collaboration meetings. The collaboration process is
structured and organized by courses and/or grade levels. Each of these course/grade level
groups is called a cohort. The cohorts are targeted in the core subject areas of English,
math, science, social science and English Language Development (ELD). The cohorts
for the 2009-2010 school year included 9
th
grade English, 10
th
grade English, 11
th
grade
English, 12
th
grade English, Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry, United States History,
Chemistry and AVID. Overall the staff returned very positive responses to questions
related to collaboration on the staff survey.
Table 5. Results of Staff Survey for Questions 1,5, & 19-21
Survey Question #1. The school supports collaboration among teachers.
Answer Options Response Percent Response Count
Strongly Agree 79.2% 38
Agree 20.8% 10
Somewhat Disagree 0% 0
Strongly Disagree 0% 0

Survey Question #5. Teachers collaborate to discuss student data to improve student
learning.
Answer Options Response Percent Response Count
Strongly Agree 79.2% 38
Agree 20.8% 10
Somewhat Disagree 0% 0
Strongly Disagree 0% 0

Survey Question #19. Who leads the collaboration sessions?
Answer Options Response Percent Response Count
Teachers 87.9% 29
Administrators 45.5% 15
Counselors 15.2% 5
Coaches 3% 1
Other* 9.1% 3
*Write in responses included department chairs and resource teachers
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Table 5: Continued
Survey Question #20. What topics are discussed in the collaboration sessions?
Answer Options Response Percent Response Count
Curriculum 93.9% 31
Instruction 93.9% 31
Intervention 51.5% 17
Data Analysis 63.6% 21
Operation 24.2% 8
Standards 66.7% 22
Other* 3% 1
* Write in response included All of the above

Survey Question #21. How does the school make collaboration possible?
Answer Options Response Percent Response Count
Substitute Release Time 78.8% 26
Minimum Days 21.2% 7
Partial Day Release 12.1% 4
After School Time 27.3% 9
Bank Time Activity 6.1% 2
Preparation Periods 39.4% 24
Other* 6.1% 13
* Write in responses included Saturdays, Cohort Meetings

It is very clear that the staff is aware that the school supports collaboration. All of
the respondents to the survey either strongly agreed or agreed that collaboration is
supported by the school. It is also evident that the staff values the cohort process and the
collaboration time that is created. A teacher commented on the staff survey:
Our cohort meetings enable us to discuss any problems and successes in
our common classes, and come up with new methods and ideas to
continue being successful in the classroom. These meetings also help the
new teachers see what else they can do to have a successful year.

Being successful in the classroom equates to student success and academic achievement.
According to another teacher comment on the survey, ―Cohorts are always looking for
additional ways to help students close the achievement gap.‖ This dedication is evident
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in the cohort meetings which are held approximately every month to every other month
depending upon the course. The resource teacher that serves as the cohort leader arrives
prepared with an agenda and ancillary materials for what will be discussed and decided
that day. The professionalism that is exhibited at these meetings transcends friendships
and even family bonds. While there is a friendliness to the meetings, each participant is
keenly aware of what needs to be accomplished during their hour together. On October
22
nd
during the ELD cohort meeting, I was made aware of how professionally the cohort
meetings are conducted. The ELD department chair also serves as the ELD resource
teacher and she is in charge of conducting the meeting. As the meeting began, she
distributed the agenda and second quarter pacing guides to the two other teachers in the
meeting. Two other teachers were absent on this day and therefore unable to attend.
Despite the small turn out for the meeting, the department chair maintained a professional
focus on the tasks to be completed and the two attendees maintained a similar posture.
Later during discussion in the meeting, I was made aware that the department chairperson
was married to one of the teachers in the meeting, and the other teacher present was her
sister-in-law. The interesting perspective on this was that there was no hint of these
relationships evident in the meeting. An unknowing observer, such as this researcher,
would have no indication of such a familial relationship between these staff members
based upon their very focused and professional behavior.
The second practice that is very evident at SSHS is data driven decision making.
Data is analyzed and utilized by counselors to ensure students are placed in the most
appropriate course based on their abilities and educational needs, by teachers to
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differentiate instruction, by the administration to create intervention groups and offer
additional learning opportunities for student achievement, by cohorts to review common
formative and summative assessments and provide additional opportunities for student
success, and by instructional leaders to review student achievement on standardized state
assessments and correlate longitudinal assessment data to how well particular standards
and sub-strands are being taught in the classroom. One teacher described the importance
of data to the academic success of students at SSHS, ―Huge!! The more we know about
how the students are learning the more we can revise curriculum to meet student learning
needs.‖
Responses from the staff survey show over two thirds of the staff believe that
most of the time the school administration provides an analysis of student assessment
data for the staff; while just under a third of the staff believe the administration
sometimes provides student assessment analysis. The crucial aspect of this questionnaire
item is that it demonstrates that the administration is involved with data analysis on a
wide scale. The disagreement in responses is centered only on the frequency that data is
provided to the staff, not if data is provided to the staff. A portion of the disagreement
might have been confusion on what level of data is provided to the staff. Information
collected during the interviews differentiated between data collected and analyzed from
state wide assessments and course/cohort specific assessments. In the interviews, the
staff clarified that the administration collected and analyzed data from the state wide
assessments, but the resource teachers were responsible for the data analysis of course
and cohort specific assessments. Survey item 10 did not differentiate between the levels
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of data and therefore the teacher participating in the survey was required to make an
interpretation regarding this slight ambiguity and they responded accordingly. At the
beginning of each school year, the school administration collects and analyzes the state
wide assessment data from the California Standards Tests (CSTs). The analysis includes
a longitudinal perspective in order to shed light on how the curriculum and instruction at
SSHS is preparing students for the CSTs. Data from these tests, which include math,
science, social science and English language Arts (ELA), is broken down and analyzed to
the curricular strand level in an effort to focus instructional efforts on the specific areas in
which students have a demonstrated need. The principal of SSHS shared that the data is
broken down to the department level and disseminated and then further analyzed to the
course/cohort level and shared with the members of that cohort.
Table 6. Results of Staff Survey for Questions 5, 10, 13-14, & 18
Survey Question #5. Teachers collaborate to discuss student data to improve student
learning.
Answer Options Response Percent Response Count
Most of the time 79.2% 38
Sometimes 20.8% 10
Rarely 0% 0
Never 0% 0

Survey Question #10. School administration ensures the analysis of student assessment
data.
Answer Options Response Percent Response Count
Most of the time 68.8% 33
Sometimes 31.3% 15
Rarely 0% 0
Never 0% 0
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Table 6: Continued
Survey Question #13. CST scores and District Assessments are used to plan your
instructional program.
Answer Options Response Percent Response Count
Most of the time 84.8% 39
Sometimes 13% 6
Rarely 2.2% 1
Never 0% 0

Survey Question #14. Student data is used to identify the instructional needs of my
students.
Answer Options Response Percent Response Count
Most of the time 80.4% 37
Sometimes 19.6% 9
Rarely 0% 0
Never 0% 0

Survey Question #18. The school utilizes a specific program to analyze student data.
Answer Options Response Percent Response Count
Most of the time 64.4% 29
Sometimes 28.9% 13
Rarely 6.7% 3
Never 0% 0

Survey item 13 provides information that, most of the time, 84.8% of the
respondents utilize the CST data, provided by the administration and data from district
level assessments to plan their instruction. This planning is not only done on an
individual basis but within cohorts, as a collective group. Referring to the CST data, a
math teacher explained, ―We take it by department, and then we work in the different
cohorts analyzing that data.‖ He further clarified the process by describing how the data
is used within the math department to target department wide curricular needs and not to
focus attention on individual teachers.
…the resource teachers break it down by courses, and then when we meet
in the cohorts, not necessarily targeting certain teachers, but we target
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where our Algebra I was weak, and here is where our Algebra I was
hurting and this is what we were doing right and we were doing wrong, or
where we can improve. So when you're teaching, you're focusing on those
standards that were weak, whatever strand it was. So we don't target
individuals; we target where we're all weak and where we all need to
improve.

In addition to the school wide data used by the staff at SSHS to address the
instructional needs of the students, individual student level data is used to help ensure the
students are academically successful. Counselors use student level data when creating
schedules for students to properly place them in courses that address their specific
academic needs. This would include academic programs such as the Advancement
Through Individual Determination (AVID) which seeks to motivate and prepare students
that are academically capable but are not performing up to their potential for entrance to a
college or university. Within the cohorts, the instructors are empowered to utilize student
achievement data within classrooms to reassign students to a class level more appropriate
to their academic needs. During the 9
th
grade English cohort meeting, an agenda item
focused on student placement based on achievement during the first quarter of the school
year. The teachers present at the meeting discussed the reassignment of two students
from the present academic level to the next lower level that would offer more academic
supports for these academically struggling students. The discussion was specific to the
students and they were discussed by using the students‘ names. This was done to allow
teachers that may know the student to offer input regarding the student that may not be
evident when simply examining the data alone. By using the students‘ names, it
reminded the teachers the decision they are making will impact an individual student and
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it allowed them to humanize the discussion. Each teacher present was included in the
discussion, and the ultimate decision to reassign the students was done collectively with
the involvement of all the teachers present. No administrative, nor counselor oversight is
required once the reassignment decision is made; this is an additional example of the
administration believing the teacher is the expert in the classroom and sharing leadership
with the staff. Responses to survey question 5 indicate this type of discussion is not
unusual. Eighty percent of the respondents revealed that they collaborate to discuss
student data to improve learning most of the time, while the remaining respondents
admitted to such discussions at least some of the time.
The district, CDUHSD recognized a need for a comprehensive assessment tool
which could be used by the staff to administer district wide assessments and to create
school or cohort level assessments and analyze data gathered from these assessments.
The CDUHSD supplied all the schools in the district with Prosper, an assessment creation
and analysis program. The responses to question 18 on the staff survey indicate that over
90% of the staff at SSHS utilizes this program at least some of the time. Almost two-
thirds of the respondents replied that the data analysis program is used most of the time.
During each observation of a cohort meeting, at least one item on the agenda focused on
assessments and data. These assessments either involved cohort developed benchmarks
or the district wide assessment, Assessment of Core Essential Standards (ACES). Each
of these assessments can either be partly or entirely processed through the Prosper
program and yield aggregate student performance data which is then disaggregated by the
resource teacher and discussed within the cohort. The results of the formative
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assessments create the basis for a data driven discussion which focuses on student
achievement and re-teaching and retesting as needed to ensure student success. A
teacher‘s comment on the staff survey provides a summation of data use at SSHS, ―Data
must drive your instruction.‖
Research Question 3
What are the programs that have been employed by the school that have allowed
them to close the achievement gap and sustain success?
The final level of analysis for this case study focuses on the programs that are
employed by CDUHSD to ensure student academic success. Analysis of the case study
data creates a clear picture that two programs, among several, at SSHS have had the most
significant impact on student achievement. The first of these programs is the district
wide Assessment of Core Essential Standards (ACES), and the second is the extensive
intervention program for student achievement.
The ACES program is a district program that builds upon the common underlying
premise that the California learning standards are the foundation of the learning
experience for students in the CDUHSD. The ACES program was created to provide a
high level of academic expectations for all students and focus student achievement on the
most essential of the California state learning standards within each academic core area.
This program consists of three main components, assessment, intervention, and re-
assessment. The assessment component is composed of several mastery level tests based
on the most essential of the California state learning standards within particular academic
area. The number of tests and when they are administered is dependent upon the
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academic area being assessed. Some academic areas require more assessments based
upon the standards being covered, while other academic areas do not require as many
assessments based upon the standards for that academic area. Typically an ACES is
given every three to four weeks throughout the school year. One aspect remains constant
across all of the ACES, the students must pass all of the ACES given in a course in order
to pass that course. In this respect, the ACES serve as a mastery level, summative
assessment. The purpose of the ACES in this perspective is to ensure that when a student
passes a given curricular course, they will have mastered a set of core standards
representing a minimum level of academic proficiency in that area. If a student fails to
pass an ACES, then the test is used as a formative assessment that pinpoints areas in
which the student needs additional instruction. This is the second component of the
program, remediation or intervention. Students that fail an ACES assessment are given
additional academic support or instruction in after school tutorials to overcome the
academic needs identified by the ACES. When speaking of interventions, such as the
ACES tutorials, one SSHS teacher clarified the purpose succinctly when she commented,
‖Intervention helps struggling students get caught up to grade level.‖ The third
component of the program is the reassessment phase. After a student as had academic
intervention, they are given the opportunity to demonstrate mastery by taking the ACES
again and passing it. If the student passes, they have fulfilled the requirements of that
section of the course; if they fail again, the process of intervention and retesting is
repeated. The philosophy behind the ACES program, of high academic expectations, re-
teaching and retesting, meshes seamlessly with SSHS theme of the four ―Rs‖, reading,
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writing, re-teaching and retesting. While the program was established as a district wide
program, the tests are reviewed and revised at each school site annually based upon the
academic needs of each site. A key aspect of the ACES program was parental buy in and
the establishment of clear student expectations.
When a student fails an ACES test, it alerts the staff of SSHS that a student needs
additional assistance and it triggers a response in the form of a tutorial class. The tutorial
assistance given to students that fail an ACES is only one of many that are available to
students at SSHS that need additional help to pass a class or to enhance academic
performance on the CSTs or the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE).
SSHS‘s staff is confident that the school addresses the needs of struggling students. In
the staff survey, 83% of the respondents felt the school addresses the needs of struggling
students most of the time, while 17% believed SSHS addressed the needs of struggling
students some of the time. In total 100% of the survey participants expressed a belief that
SSHS is attending to the needs of academically at-risk students.
Table 7. Results of Staff Survey for Questions 6 & 8
Survey Question #6. The school addresses the needs of struggling students.
Answer Options Response Percent Response Count
Most of the time 83% 39
Sometimes 17% 8
Rarely 0% 0
Never 0% 0

Survey Question #8. The school has a systematic process for identifying and assisting
struggling students.
Answer Options Response Percent Response Count
Strongly Agree 43.8% 21
Agree 47.9% 23
Somewhat Disagree 8.3% 4
Strongly Disagree 0% 0
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The intervention efforts are systematic and focused. Over 90% of the staff
surveyed agreed that the school has a systematic process for identifying at-risk students
and providing academic assistance to these students. Interventions occur at several levels
including: support classes within the school day, 7
th
period tutorial classes, Mandatory
Afterschool Academic Tutoring (MAAT), and Saturday School. The support classes,
which are offered in the core areas of English and mathematics, are designed to support
the primary core curriculum students are exposed to in their English and math classes and
provide an opportunity to improve academic understanding in the core classes. The 7
th

period tutorial classes are scheduled after the regularly scheduled school day and are
taught by teachers credentialed in the specific curricular subject area. The MAAT
program is designed to motivate reluctant students to attend tutorials that will help them
improve academically. Those students that miss tutorial sessions in this program are
assigned consequences ranging from Saturday School to parental conferencing. If these
means fail to motivate the student, then the student‘s schedule would be shifted to
accommodate a support class within the regularly scheduled school day. The after school
tutorial programs are scheduled such that tutoring in the core subjects occurs two days
per week on alternate days to avoid conflicts with students that need assistance in
multiple academic areas.
SSHS is acutely aware of the important role standardized testing plays in the state
of California. Students must pass the CAHSEE in English language arts and mathematics
in order to earn a high school diploma, and student achievement on the California
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Standards Tests (CSTs) as well as the CAHSEE greatly impact academic achievement
indicators such as the API. The API is used as a gauge of how successful a school‘s
academic program is performing. With a focus on the importance of such assessments,
SSHS has dedicated efforts to ensure students are aware of the school‘s level of
performance as well as the student‘s own level of performance on these assessments. In
conjunction with this student awareness, teachers commonly connect daily lesson goals to
doing well on these standardized tests so students can tie the daily lesson to their goal of
performing well on the CSTs and the CAHSEE. The SSHS administration provides
interventions to assist students in improving their scores on these assessments including
the Targeted Almost Proficient (TAP) program and CAHSEE preparation classes in math
and ELA.
The TAP program focuses on English language learner (ELL) students whose
CST scores in ELA were in the Basic level of achievement ranging from 300 to 379.
These students are given an extended school day which includes a 7
th
period class that
focuses on ELA skills. The CAHSEE preparation classes in math are conducted over
four Saturdays approximately one month prior to the administration of the CAHSEE in
March of each school year. These sessions are open to all sophomores, on a voluntary
basis, who are required by law to take the CAHSEE. The math resource teacher is the
leader of this program and he organized it by breaking the content of the CAHSEE exam
into eight curricular strands. Participating teachers volunteered their time and each was
assigned a curricular strand to teach each Saturday. Students rotated from teacher to
teacher in groups. Over the course of the four Saturdays, the students would have been
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exposed to all eight curricular strands. In addition to a teacher, each classroom was
staffed by six calculus students serving as volunteer tutors during each session.
According to the learning director, in the 2008-09 school year, over 200 students attended
these sessions.
Study Findings as Viewed Through the Perspective of the Four Frames as
Outlined by Bolman and Deal
In their book Reframing Organizations (2003) Bolman and Deal outline four
frames or perspectives through which events or organizations can be viewed. These
frames consist of the structural, the human resources, the political and the symbolic
frame. While conducting a qualitative study, it is beneficial to be mindful of these frames
and the insights that can develop when collecting and reviewing data whether it is a
document review, a survey, an interview, or an observation. Analyzing data through
these frames gives perspective and insight as to what an organization values, and the
manner in which it operates.
SSHS and the Structural Frame
The central concepts within this frame are the rules, roles, goals, policies and
environment of the organization.
I arrived early on the first day of my data collection at SSHS. It was 6:45 a.m. as
I pulled into the smoothly paved, well marked parking lot in front of the school. The
U.S. and California state flags were already hoisted high on the flag pole in front of the
office. The exterior walls were very clean and graffiti free and the parking lot was free
of trash. The care and attention given to the appearance of the school demonstrated
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SSHS was striving to provide staff and students with a learning environment exemplified
by neatness and order. The school rules echo the tidiness and order sought by the
administration of SSHS, such rules include: keeping the campus clean, no food is allowed
in the classrooms, and shirts being tucked into pants. This orderliness includes reminders
to the staff to maintain common areas; in the staff restroom located in the office a neatly
printed paper sign reminded the staff, ―This is not your personal restroom, do not leave
your newspaper behind.‖ At times the order and cleanliness can be disrupted, during an
interview with a teacher regarding graffiti and the apparent lack of it on campus, she
clarified that it will happen on occasion but the security and maintenance staff will clean
or cover it expediently.
The roles within the school are fairly well defined with relation to tasks to be
accomplished and who needs to accomplish them. During the interview process, when
the staff being interviewed were asked to identify the school leader, all quickly named the
principal as the school leader. Emanating down from the principal is a simple hierarchy
with respect to job responsibilities, but all staff members have direct access to principal.
The principal fills the top position in this hierarchy, with the learning director and then
the assistant principal directly below him. From this point, a parallel structure branches
out to department chairs and then resource teachers filling leadership positions within the
departments. The layout of the office reflects administrative organizational structure, the
principal and the learning director occupy offices very near each other in the front of the
administration building, while the assistant principal‘s office is in the rear of the office
with windows overlooking the quad and classrooms. Each morning, teachers enter the
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main office to collect their mail from their mail boxes located near the principal‘s office.
This proximity reflects the open access staff has to the administration.
Collaboration is a key aspect of the educational process at SSHS and this is
reflected in the architecture of the school. Each wing is a standalone building, typically
consisting of six classrooms occupied by teachers teaching the same subject matter. Each
classroom has an exterior door and a bank of windows along the exterior wall. Four of
the classrooms in each wing are clustered around a common meeting room that has
interior doors to the four rooms surrounding it along with an exterior door and a few
windows on the exterior wall. This architecture facilitates collaboration not only for the
scheduled cohort meetings but also encourages ad hoc collaboration before school, at
lunch, and after school. This meeting space was created for the purpose of collaboration.
The main goal of SSHS is to foster, recognize and celebrate student achievement;
this goal is communicated widely and often to the students, staff and community. The
structure of the master schedule and the course offerings are designed to foster and
facilitate student achievement. In general, classes are offered at three levels: a standard
level, a college prepatory level, and a Honors or Advanced Placement (AP) level. This
tri-level approach allows students to be placed in a course that best fits their individual
academic needs. The learning director explains ―Our counselors …[are] experts at
knowing which students are underperforming or are needing to be tapped or targeted and
they schedule them appropriately.‖ The counselors obtain this expertise, in part, through
screening and testing of students. During an interview with the principal, he described
the process for placement of students into classes, ―I think that we‘ve done more
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screening and better testing to place kids, so we have a screening and a testing for student
placement of students correctly, especially the incoming freshmen.‖
SSHS and the Human Resources Frame
The human resources frame as described by Bolman and Deal, focus on the needs,
skills, and relationships within the organization.
Bolman and Deal point out that, ―Organizations exist to serve human needs rather
than the reverse‖ (p.115), the goal of SSHS exemplifies this concept. This goal, to foster,
recognize and celebrate student achievement, is centered on academic needs of the
students, and a key component in this is the celebration of student success. The
celebration on success is aimed at motivating students and fostering a relationship
between the student and the school. Research has shown that positive feedback is
correlated with improved student motivation (Gross, 2009), and deepens the student
connection to the school community. SSHS is making this connection. In a survey
conducted for SSHS‘s WASC accreditation in 2008, 80% of students and 96% of the
staff agreed student school relationships demonstrated respect, fairness and
understanding.
The celebrations of success at SSHS range from individual recognition to whole
school recognition, at times the celebration includes a food or treat component where as
sometimes the act of recognition of success is the celebration in itself, and some
celebrations are private or in small groups while others are very public and recognition
includes a posting on the school web site for the entire world to view. During the
interviews, the most mentioned examples of recognition and celebration include:
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postcards to parents, the student of the month, CST top 100 students, and the STARnival.
The criterion for recognition for a postcard home or for student of the month is that the
student did well and improved in some meaningful manner. The improvement is not
limited to an upswing in grades, but rather may include an improvement in on time
behavior, scoring well on an assignment, or an improvement in class participation. The
concept of the postcard home is to provide the family with positive feedback on their
student‘s performance, and increase the connection between family and school. The
student of the month award can be given by each teacher to a student in each of their
classes, this allows for many students to be singled out for recognition during the school
year. The students of the month have their names posted on the school website and are
treated to an ice cream social during a sixth period class and given praise for their efforts.
The CST top 100 award recognizes the students that have the highest 100 CST scores in
the freshman class, sophomore class, junior class, and school wide. Each CST top 100
student receives a special edition T-shirt that identifies them as an award winner. The t-
shirts are created so each class has a different color and the school wide CST top 100
shirts are printed on black shirts. The STARnival, which includes approximately 10-12
inflatable attractions and several portable rock climbing walls, is a school wide
celebration that recognizes the contribution of all the students in reaching the API growth
goal in the standardized STAR tests.
The importance of relationships within the school is not limited to the student
school relationship. The staff to administration relationship is an important component
and the needs of the staff must be taken into consideration. A positive and healthy
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administration to staff relationship improves student learning by creating a positive
learning environment. One measure of a healthy and positive administration to teacher
relationship is the level of teacher morale. In the 2008 WASC survey, 94% of the
teachers agreed that morale at SSHS was high. This high level of morale is echoed in a
teacher‘s comment from the staff survey which clarifies the administration to staff
relationship, ―Everyone‘s opinion or ideas have always been taken into consideration,
which makes us a true ‗Titan Family‘.‖
SSHS and the Political Frame
Central to the political frame is the concept of scarce resources and the allocation
of these resources. The concepts related to this frame include: power, conflict,
competition, and organizational politics.
Conflict and competition are not manifestly apparent at SSHS among the staff nor
the administration. There is a sense of a common mission, that of fostering, celebrating
and recognizing student achievement, and it appears the staff is behind this mission and
the strategies to accomplish it. Bolman and Deal point out that, ―Agreement and
harmony are easier to achieve when everyone shares similar values, beliefs, and culture.‖
At SSHS, the value placed on student achievement , the belief in shared leadership and
collaboration and the college going culture are shared foundational concepts by the staff
and administration.
When speaking of leadership the principal notes, ―It is shared, delegated,
empowered, and imparted.‖ He does point out that there are some limits imposed on the
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sharing of leadership, but that there is more flexibility as opposed to restrictions. During
an interview he pointed out,
You‘d be surprised in the cohort meetings how much they decide what
direction to take the curriculum, and there are prescriptions, and there are
parameters, but I think it‘ll surprise anyone that would come and take a
good look at this community, at how much at every level individuals are
imparted the opportunity or shared with and challenged to take that up, to
be leaders in their own right, to communicate, collaborate, and then bring
recommendations and say, ―Can we do this,‖ or, ―We‘d like to move this
forward.‖

At SSHS the principal sees himself as the person with ultimate accountability and
responsibility for achieving the goals of the schools, but he is also the helmsman who sets
the course of the school. Citing the learning director, the principal is the ―vision caster"
for the school; he is the person to bring a collective focus on the goals of the school and
lead the staff in accomplishing these goals.
The principal has established a cultural norm of servant leadership which is
attuned to meeting the needs of those being lead and ensuring they have the resources to
attain the goals of the organization. When describing leadership he explained,
―leadership is somebody who is willing to assume accountability, not authority or power,
but I subscribe to the leadership of being a servant leader,‖. While he may not use
coercive power to accomplish the school goals, he is able to effectively use other sources
of power, as detailed by Bolman and Deal (pp. 194-195), without compromising his
servant leadership philosophy. Specifically, he is able to use personal power, alliances
and networks, and positional power. When one first meets the principal of SSHS, it is
easy to understand his ability to use personal power. He is professionally dressed,
articulate, and a charismatic individual. He has the ability to make personal connections
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with staff and students. Prior to start of the district wide beginning of the year staff
meeting, he was observed walking up the aisles of the performing arts center informally
speaking one on one with staff members. As he did so, he would bend over to be in close
proximity to the other person and quite often would place his hand on the shoulder of the
person he was speaking with in order to create a human connection or bond.
As a result of building relationships with the staff, he is able to utilize power of
alliances and networks. Bolman and Deal explain the advantages of cultivating this type
of power in very simple terms, ―Friends and allies make things a lot easier‖ (p. 195). By
meeting with the staff leaders on a regular basis, he is able to be attentive to maintaining
established links with these influential staff members and provide direction through them
to the staff. The principal meets with his administrative team on a weekly basis, and with
the department chairs once per month, and the resource teachers meet with him as a
group monthly also.
The former learning director explained in her interview that one of the most
important aspects of maintaining a successful school is through the hiring and placement
process. The right person needs to be hired for the right job. If there is a mismatch
between the employee and the position, unwelcome consequences arise and this can
disrupt the culture of the organization. The principal is the individual who, through his
position, has the ability to implement and monitor the hiring and placement of staff.
While the hiring of the proper teacher is important, it is equally important for the
principal to have like minded staff members on his leadership team. The principal can
influence the placement of administrators, and has the opportunity to select the resource
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teachers, but in the CDUHSD, the selection of the department chair is determined by
specific language contained in the contract. Thus the possibility exists that a staff
member could be promoted to department chair whose values and philosophies are not
aligned with the administration‘s plans and policies. When this fact arose during the
interview with the principal, he indicated he is prepared to assert his positional power to
remedy the situation.
The department chair, much of that position is based on contract language
within our school district and as a principal I have some say. Not so much
if they get the job, but I definitely have say whether they keep the job. So
if somebody does transition because of seniority or because of contract
language that is germane or specific to that situation, and that person is not
operating within the expectations of this principal, then I take steps to
ensure that that person does not continue in that position if they are not
being effective and being a supporter of the vision and the values of our
administration.

SSHS and the Symbolic Frame
The symbolic frame centers on the culture of an organization. This perspective
focuses on the meanings of rituals, stories, ceremonies, or objects within an organization.
SSHS has enjoyed tremendous success in achieving its API growth goal for
several consecutive years. In 2008, a tradition was started of creating a rhyming motto
that is easy for students to repeat and remember that will encourage and motivate them to
be successful in school and on the STAR tests. In 2008 the phrase was ―Good in 2007,
Great in 2008‖, the following year, the phrase became ―Titans shine in ‗09‘‖, and for the
current school year the motto is ―Titans transcend in 2010‖. With each passing year,
this annual motto is becoming part of the SSHS culture.
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Another, very important aspect of the culture at SSHS is the emphasis on
preparing students for college. This college going culture is apparent in the attitudes of
the administration and staff and it is symbolically being integrated in to the school itself.
In the student cafeteria, approximately 100 pennants from colleges and universities from
across the United States hang along the walls in clear view of anyone in the cafeteria.
This school year, names of SSHS graduates will be placed below the pennant of the
school they now attend. This serves to recognize the efforts of these students and
encourage current students to pursue education beyond high school. Each graduate
represented below the pennants are exemplars of what can be accomplished by students
from SSHS. Another change that further enhances the college going culture is the
renaming of the building wings in the school. For example, the ―L‖ might now become
the Stanford wing, and the ―K‖ wing might now become the Fresno State wing. The
teachers in each wing are involved with the decision on the new name of their building.
By making this simple change, the school is making it very clear what it values. Any
visitor coming on to campus will be able to understand in a very quick moment that
SSHS values and promotes education beyond high school. In an effort to personalize this
college going culture, SSHS has instituted College Day. On the designated day, the
instructors are asked to share with their students, information about the college they
attended or information about the college the building is named after. This process
allows the students to gain firsthand knowledge of various universities and colleges in a
very personal manner.
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SSHS exhibits aspects of staff appreciation through symbolic rituals such as the
new year luncheon and the end of the year barbecue. These events are used to
demonstrate appreciation to the staff but also function symbolically to create a sense of
staff cohesion and build the Titan culture. The new year luncheon invigorates staff at the
start of the school year and the end of the year barbecue serves as an event to provide
closure to the end of the school year. The teaching staff are also given SSHS polo shirts
as a token of appreciation. These build the sense of a collective culture among the staff.
This aspect of the polo shirts take on greater meaning when coupled with the fact that all
of the campus supervisors/security staff have staff polo shirts and even the grounds men
are clad daily in a district issued uniform of work pants and shirt complete with an
embroidered district logo patch on the shoulder and a name patch above the left breast
pocket. In total, this presents a very professional image and projects a culture based on
organization and order.
Summary
The purpose of this qualitative case study was to identify the norms, practices and
programs that have allowed SSHS to narrow the academic achievement gap. Analysis of
the data collected via a thorough document review, staff surveys, interviews, and direct
observation have revealed several factors that have contributed to the success of SHSS in
narrowing the academic achievement gap. The cultural norms that emerged were the
creation and maintenance of a school wide academic culture that focuses on preparing
students for college and the servant leadership model employed by the administration that
emphasizes the needs of the staff and students, and shared leadership. The practices that
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surfaced as the most influential in narrowing the academic achievement gap are the well
developed and structured system of collaboration and the utilization of data to make
academic and curricular decisions. The programs employed by SSHS that have help to
narrow the academic achievement gap are the ACES program, which ensures students
meet a specific level of achievement in the core academic areas, the intervention
programs which include academic support within the school day, after school and on
Saturdays.

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CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Introduction
The achievement gap is, and has been, a persistent and important issue in
American education for over four decades. It is manifested in the low academic
achievement of specific minority groups, both ethnic and economic, as compared to the
ethnic majority student group composed of white students. Addressing the achievement
gap has become vital for the nation as a whole, and even more critical for the state of
California because the majority of students in California are composed of low achieving
minority student groups (O'Connell, 2008).
As societal needs are creating a demand for an increasingly educated population
in the United States (D. o. Education, 2000), the persistent achievement gap continues to
have negative impacts on individuals and society as a whole. The lower academic
achievement status of minority groups limits an individual‘s ability to accumulate social
capital, pursue a post secondary education, and limits their lifetime earnings (O'Connell,
2008; Orr, 2003). The primary impact on society is directly related to economic stability
and growth. The globalization of the economy is creating increased competition in
sectors that were once well insulated from foreign competition. The result is a shift in
demand for a more educated workforce that can ensure the economic future of the
national and California economy.
The causes of the achievement gap are multidimensional, entrenched and not
easily resolved. Despite the difficulties involved in finding solutions, the educational and
political systems have ―an economic and moral imperative to close the gap‖ (O'Connell,
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2008). Although a panacea for the problem remains elusive, the achievement gap has
been narrowed by individual school sites utilizing specific strategies, programs, and
practices. The purpose of this study is to examine a California school that has been
successful in narrowing the achievement gap and identify the strategies, programs and
practices that have contributed to this success.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to identify and examine, and gain an understanding of
the cultural norms, practices and programs of a California high school, with urban
characteristics, that has successfully narrowed the achievement gap and has sustained this
accomplishment over a three year period. Once identified and understood, these
practices may prove to be transferable to other schools and effectively narrow the
achievement gap in a new setting.
Summary of Findings
Research Question 1
What are the cultural norms that have been employed by the school that have
allowed them to narrow the achievement gap and sustain success?
At SSHS, two factors at the norm level standout as having a significant impact on
the school‘s success in narrowing the achievement gap. The first of these two factors is
the creation and maintenance of a school wide academic culture. Two years after SSHS
opened its doors to students, the administration and the staff made a commitment to focus
on and create a high school that emphasizes academic achievement. This commitment is
based on high expectations for students. The entire teaching staff at SSHS holds the
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belief that students can achieve at high levels, and as indicated by the school‘s ever
increasing API scores, SSHS students are demonstrating their ability to achieve at high
levels. The efforts of the school administration to create a positive school culture based
on academics is succeeding, as 100% of the staff believe SSHS has a positive school
culture.
Two structural components that contribute to the academic culture are the position
of the learning director and the Academic Culture Committee. The learning director is an
administrative position that focuses on curriculum and student academic achievement.
While this position is on the same organizational level as an assistant principal, the
learning director is focused on student academic success based on curricular and
assessment issues. The assistant principal‘s focus is on student behavioral success
including such issues as consistent attendance and unacceptable or disruptive student
behaviors. The second structural component is the Academic Culture Committee which
was given the mission of ―creating an academic culture‖ within the school. Efforts from
this group include projects or changes on the school site that help to maintain an
academic focus and promote the academic culture. In an effort to demonstrate to students
that academic success can be achieved by students at SSHS, a project is underway to
place the names of SSHS students that have been accepted to or are attending colleges or
universities under pennants of those schools. In order to achieve maximum exposure,
this project will be posted in an area frequently visited by students. Since over 76% of
SSHS students qualify for free or reduced cost meals at school, a majority of students will
sit in or pass through the cafeteria at some point during the school day. Thus the
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pennants have been placed in the cafeteria. In parallel to this effort, another means of
promoting and maintaining an academic culture and awareness on campus is the
renaming of the school buildings with the names of colleges and universities. The
desired goal of this effort is to engrain in the students, through daily contact, an
awareness of what lies beyond high school and promote discussion and formulation of
plans to continue their education beyond SSHS.
An element in maintaining the academic culture is the celebration of success.
Individual success is celebrated for improvement, for completion of a course of study,
and for demonstrating high academic excellence. Teachers select students monthly for
celebration of improvement, students that finish intervention programs experience a
celebration event, and the highest scoring students on the CST assessments are
celebrated. Group celebrations also occur when the school reaches or surpasses its API
goal; the entire student body celebrates during the STARnival.
Acceptance of this culture by students and parents and the promotion of this
culture by teachers and administration have created the milieu in which academics are the
core value at school. Activities, including athletics, are subservient to student learning.
The second factor at the norm level that has promoted the narrowing of the
achievement gap at SSHS is the administration‘s leadership style. The staff holds a very
strong belief that the administration creates a positive school culture, and one factor in
creating this positive culture is the leadership style adopted by the principal and the
administration. There are two aspects to the leadership style that have the greatest
impact on the positive school culture and help create the academic cultural norm that
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exists at SSHS; the first is shared leadership among the administration and staff, and the
second is the concept of servant leadership. The administration at SSHS holds the belief
that leadership should not be vested solely in the principal, learning director and the
assistant principal. The principal includes the athletic director, a position typically solely
devoted to athletics, as a member of his administrative team focusing on academic issues.
This inclusion helps to promote the cultural norm of academics before athletics. The
philosophy of shared leadership was explained by the principal during an interview.
It is shared and delegated and empowered and imparted. There is much,
much more empowerment than what you may believe or what you may
think. There are a lot of principals or leaders that feel that they have to be
in on every meeting and pretty much directing every decision and pretty
much making every call. I don‘t believe that. I believe that that will stifle
creativity.

The shared leadership with teachers is evident in the organizational structure of
the school. SSHS has the traditional department chairs as leaders of the departments, but
in addition, SSHS has eleven resource teachers that take a leadership role within a cohort
of teachers that all teach a specific course such as Algebra 1 or English 9. These resource
teachers lead collaboration sessions and serve as curriculum and assessment guides for
their cohorts. The efforts to create an environment of shared leadership and decision
making is evident amongst the staff. On a staff survey, 98% agreed that leadership is
shared among the school personnel.
The philosophy for shared leadership supports and is supported by the concept of
servant leadership. Servant leadership concentrates on tending to the needs of the
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members of an organization. Leaders that adhere to this style of leadership demonstrate
high degrees of collaboration, trust, empathy and the ethical use of power.
Research Question 2
What are the practices that have been employed by the school that have allowed
them to close the achievement gap and sustain success?
Data collected for this study indicate two practices which stand out as having a
positive impact on student achievement and closing the achievement gap: structured
collaboration and data driven decisions. The structured collaboration at SSHS is a highly
developed, well utilized, and very valued practice. At SSHS, eleven teachers have a daily
release period that is focused on preparing for and conducting collaboration meetings.
The collaboration process is structured and organized by courses and/or grade levels.
Each of these course/grade level groups is called a cohort. The cohorts are targeted in the
core subject areas of English, math, science, social science and English Language
Development (ELD). The cohorts for the 2009-2010 school year included 9
th
grade
English, 10
th
grade English, 11
th
grade English, 12
th
grade English, Algebra I, Algebra II,
Geometry, United States History, Chemistry and AVID. The staff values the cohort
process and the collaboration time that is created. A teacher commented on the staff
survey:
Our cohort meetings enable us to discuss any problems and successes in
our common classes, and come up with new methods and ideas to
continue being successful in the classroom. These meetings also help the
new teachers see what else they can do to have a successful year.

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Being successful in the classroom equates to student success and academic
achievement. According to another teacher comment on the survey, ―Cohorts are always
looking for additional ways to help students close the achievement gap.‖
The second practice that is very evident at SSHS is data driven decision making.
Data is analyzed and utilized by counselors to ensure students are placed in the most
appropriate course based on their abilities and educational needs, by teachers to
differentiate instruction, by the administration to create intervention groups and offer
additional learning opportunities for student achievement, by cohorts to review common
formative and summative assessments and provide additional opportunities for student
success, and by instructional leaders to review student achievement on standardized state
assessments and correlate longitudinal assessment data to assess how well particular
standards and sub-strands are being taught in the classroom. One teacher described the
importance of data to the academic success of students at SSHS, ―Huge!! The more we
know about how the students are learning the more we can revise curriculum to meet
student learning needs.‖
Research Question 3
What are the programs that have been employed by the school that have allowed
them to close the achievement gap and sustain success?
Analysis of the case study data identifies two programs at SSHS which have had a
significant impact on student achievement. The first of these programs is the district
wide Assessment of Core Essential Standards (ACES), and the second is the extensive
school based intervention program for student achievement at SSHS.
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The ACES program is a district program that builds upon the common underlying
premise that the California learning standards are the foundation of the learning
experience for students in the CDUHSD. The ACES program was created to provide a
high level of academic expectations for all students and focus student achievement on the
most essential of the California state learning standards within each academic core area.
This program consists of three main components, assessment, intervention, and re-
assessment. The assessment component is composed of several mastery level tests based
on the most essential of the California state learning standards within particular academic
areas. Students must pass all of the ACES given in a course in order to pass that course.
In this respect, the ACES serve as a mastery level, summative assessment. If a student
fails to pass an ACES, then the test is used as a formative assessment that pinpoints areas
in which the student needs additional instruction. This is the second component of the
program, remediation or intervention. Students that fail an ACES assessment are given
additional academic support or instruction in after school tutorials to overcome the
academic needs identified by the ACES. The third component of the program is the
reassessment phase. After a student has had academic intervention, they are given the
opportunity to demonstrate mastery by taking the ACES again and passing it. If the
student passes, they have fulfilled the requirements of that section of the course; if they
fail again, the process of intervention and retesting is repeated.
The second level of interventions include: support classes within the school day,
7
th
period tutorial classes, Mandatory Afterschool Academic Tutoring (MAAT), and
Saturday School. The support classes, which are offered in the core areas of English and
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mathematics, are designed to support the primary core curriculum students are exposed to
in their English and math classes and provide an opportunity to improve academic
understanding in the core classes. The 7
th
period tutorial classes are scheduled after the
regularly scheduled school day and are taught by teachers credentialed in the specific
curricular subject area. The MAAT program is designed to motivate reluctant students to
attend tutorials that will help them improve academically. Those students that miss
tutorial sessions in this program are assigned consequences ranging from Saturday
School to parental conferencing. If these means fail to motivate the student, then the
student‘s schedule would be shifted to accommodate a support class within the regularly
scheduled school day. The after school tutorial programs are scheduled such that tutoring
in the core subjects occurs two days per week on alternate days to avoid conflicts with
students that need assistance in multiple academic areas.
The SSHS administration provides interventions to assist students in improving
their scores on these assessments including the Targeted Almost Proficient (TAP)
program and CAHSEE preparation classes in math and ELA. The TAP program focuses
on ELL students whose CST scores in ELA were in the Basic level of achievement
ranging from 300 to 379. These students are given an extended school day which
includes a 7
th
period class that focuses on ELA skills. The CAHSEE preparation classes
in math are conducted over four Saturdays approximately one month prior to the
administration of the CAHSEE in March of each school year. These sessions are open to
all sophomores, on a voluntary basis, who are required to take the CAHSEE. The
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CAHSEE prep classes in ELA are conducted as an after school program to targeted
students through the use of the prior year‘s CST ELA data.
Conclusions
SSHS has demonstrated sustained student academic success over time as
measured on the API. Over the past four years, the school-wide API increased from 650
to 744. The Hispanic sub-group increased from 646 to 730, and the SES sub-group
increased from 641 to 733 during this same time frame while statewide the white and
Asian subgroups increased from 755 to 788 and 806 to 843 respectively. The focus of
this study was to identify the norms, practices, and programs at SSHS that promoted
student academic achievement that lead to this narrowing of the achievement gap.
The norms that have contributed to the success at SSHS are the establishment and
maintenance of a school-wide academic culture based on high expectations and a
rigorous standards based curriculum; and the servant based leadership style of the
administration which includes a strong component based on shared leadership.
Structured collaboration and data based decision making constitute the practices
that SSHS has successfully implemented that contributed to the narrowing of the
achievement gap. These practices coupled with the academic culture and servant
leadership and its associated tenant of shared leadership create an organizational
environment in which the teachers and administration share a collective ownership of
their students‘ success.
The programs at SSHS that had a significant impact on student academic success
are the standards based ACES assessments which is designed as a summative assessment,
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but also serves as a formative assessment for those students that do not successfully pass
the test and are required to retake it until minimum proficiency is attained. Additionally,
the system of interventions designed to assist students in reaching academic success.

Implications for Further Research
The goal of this study was to identify the norms, practices and programs that have
contributed to the narrowing of the achievement gap at a high school with urban school
characteristics, such as more than 50% of the student population is composed of minority
student groups and a majority of students receive free or reduced price meals at school.
The findings of this study may not be generalizable to other high schools, but the findings
can have implications for similar schools. The findings suggest that educators need to
establish and cultivate a school culture focused on student achievement that incorporates
multiple levels of interventions and supports for students coupled with a system of
assessment that ensures all students are succeeding on core academic standards. Further
implications for school leaders are an establishment of a organizational structure that
allows for staff collaboration in conjunction with shared leadership supported by a
supportive leadership style.
Further research is needed to fully understand the extent to which each of the
findings within this study separately impact student achievement. Corroborative studies
of similar schools would assist in identifying common norms, practices and programs,
and once these common factors are identified, research on each separate factor could be
conducted to measure the individual factors, impact on student success.
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121

APPENDIX A: STAFF SURVEY
The Staff Input Survey
Your school was chosen for this study based on the success and sustainability in
student achievement. The purpose of this study is to identify your school’s cultural
norms, practices and programs that contributed to the closing or narrowing of the
achievement gap. The results of this study could be useful to schools with a similar
student population. Your input on this survey is anonymous. This research project is
being conducted by a doctoral student from the University of Southern California.
The survey will take about 10-15 minutes to complete.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Please circle the appropriate response:
1. The school supports collaboration among teachers.
a) Strongly Agree b) Agree c) Somewhat Disagree e) Strongly Disagree
2. The teachers at this school believe that students can achieve at high levels.
a) Strongly Agree b) Agree c) Somewhat Disagree e) Strongly Disagree
3. School administration creates a positive school culture for teachers and students.
a) Most of the time b) Sometimes c) Rarely d) Never
4. Leadership is shared among school personnel.
a) Most of the time b) Sometimes c) Rarely d) Never
5. Teachers collaborate to discuss student data to improve student learning.
a) Most of the time b) Sometimes c) Rarely d) Never
6. The school addresses the needs of struggling students.
a) Most of the time b) Sometimes c) Rarely d) Never
7. School administration conducts classroom observations frequently.
a) Strongly Agree b) Agree c) Somewhat Disagree e) Strongly Disagree

122

Appendix A continued

8. The school has a systematic process for identifying and assisting struggling students.
a) Strongly Agree b) Agree c) Somewhat Disagree e) Strongly Disagree
9. School administration communicates vision and goals to the staff.
a) Most of the time b) Sometimes c) Rarely d) Never
10. School administration ensures the analysis of student assessment data.
a) Most of the time b) Sometimes c) Rarely d) Never
11. School administration provides support for implementation of new instructional
practices.
a) Most of the time b) Sometimes c) Rarely d) Never
12. School administration provides ways to improve instructional strategies to meet the
needs of students with diverse backgrounds.
a) Most of the time b) Sometimes c) Rarely d) Never
13. CST scores and District Assessments are used to plan your instructional program?
a) Most of the time b) Sometimes c) Rarely d) Never
14. Student data is used to identify the instructional needs of my students.
a) Most of the time b) Sometimes c) Rarely d) Never
15. You utilize the California State Standards to plan and deliver instruction.
a) Most of the time b) Sometimes c) Rarely d) Never
16. You provide differentiated instructions to meet the needs of all students.
a) Most of the time b) Sometimes c) Rarely d) Never
17. School administration initiates programs that promote student achievement.
a) Strongly Agree b) Agree c) Somewhat Disagree e) Strongly Disagree
18. The school utilizes a specific program to analyze student data.
a) Most of the time b) Sometimes c) Rarely d) Never
123

Appendix A continued

Please circle all that apply:
19. Who leads the collaboration sessions?
a) Teachers b) Administrators c) Counselors d) Coaches
e) Other:___________________
20. What topics are discussed in the collaboration sessions?
a) Curriculum b) Instruction c) Intervention d) Data Analysis
e) Operation f) Standards
g) Other: ___________________________________________________________
21. How does the school make collaboration possible?
a) Substitute release time b) Minimum Days c) Partial Day Release
d) After School Time e) Bank Time Activity f) Staff Meetings g) Preparation
Periods
h) Other: ____________________________________________________________
22. What type of intervention practices are used for struggling students?
a) Peer Tutoring b) After School Tutoring c) In-class intervention
d) Pull-Out Intervention e) Homework Assistance f) Summer School
g) Off-Track Classes h) Other:__________________________________
23. Who organizes professional development sessions related to intervention programs?
a) Teachers b) Administrators c) Department/Grade Level Chairs
d) Coaches e) Other:_____________________________________________
124

Appendix A continued
24. Rate the following instructional strategies you used to enhance student learning.
Extremely Important 1 2 3 4 5 6 Not Important
___ Direct instruction ___ Guided practice
___ Pre-teaching ___ Re-teaching
___ Visual aids/graphic organizers ___ Note-taking
___ Summarizing ___ SDAIE Strategies
___ Cooperative grouping ___ Peer tutoring
___ Individual instruction ___ Higher Order Thinking Questions
___ Scaffolding ___ Using Prior Knowledge
___ Metacognitive Skills ___ Other (please list) ________________
25. What specific program does the school use to promote collaboration? ___________
_____________________________________________________________________
26. What intervention program(s) at your school have contributed to closing the
achievement gap?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
27. What instructional programs do you use in your classroom that has helped close the
achievement gap?
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
125

Appendix A continued
28. Comments about the role of intervention in closing the achievement gap at your
school:
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
29. Comments about the role of data analysis which helped close achievement gap at
your school:
____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
30. Comments about the role of school leadership which helped close the achievement
gap at your school:
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

126

Appendix A continued
31. Comments about the role of collaboration which helped close the achievement gap at
your school:
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
32. Comments about the role of your classroom instruction which helped close the
achievement gap at your school:
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

Even though this survey is anonymous, please provide the following information:
Your position at the school:
For Elementary Schools -- Administrative Team Teacher Grade level
Chair
For Secondary Schools -- Administrative Team Teacher Department
Chair
Number of years as an educator: ________________________________
How long have you worked at this school?: ________________________________

Thank you for completing this survey. Your responses are appreciated!
127

APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Closing the Achievement Gap
Interview Questions
1. Collaboration:
a. What does collaboration look like at this school?
b. Who leads the collaboration sessions?
c. With whom do you collaborate? How often?
d. What are the outcomes for student learning?
e. What programs, practices, and cultural norms does the school have in
place to ensure that students achieve?

2. School Leadership:
a. What is the school mission and vision?
b. What is the primary goal for this school?
c. How is the mission/vision/goal communicated?
d. Who is the school leader? Why?
e. How does the leadership foster or help student learning?
f. Is the leadership shared among the various school personnel? How?
g. How does the leadership meet the needs of at-risk populations?
h. Are school decisions based upon student needs? Give an example

3. Program Implementation
a. What programs have been employed that have allowed the school to close
the achievement gap?
b. Are there programs that have improved attendance? And how is this
affecting achievement?
c. What programs have improved the school climate?
d. What programs have improved content learning for all students but
specifically for students with diverse needs?
e. What programs have improved student achievement in literacy skills?
f. What programs have improved student achievement in mathematics?

128

Appendix B continued
4. Data Analysis
a. How is data used to support student learning?
b. Who is responsible for disaggregation, dissemination, and review of data?
c. How is this information shared among the various school stakeholders?
d. Does your school utilize a specific data analysis program? If so, which
program?
e. How often is data analyzed at your school site?

5. Intervention:
a. What are the supports that are in place for students and their families?
b. Who determines which students get support?
c. How are supports implemented and monitored?
d. What is intervention is offered to students who are underperforming
academically?
e. How are these implemented? Who is involved?
f. How do you make sure that every student has his or her academic needs
met?
g. What is the way things are done that supports learning in student groups
that are traditional underperforming?

6. Practices that Support Closing the Achievement Gap:
a. What are the school-wide practices that support student learning?
b. Who determined that this practice happens?
c. How is effectiveness measured? Or what data is collected?
d. How do you know that it is successful?
e. Has this practice been modified since the beginning?
How do you know that all (EL, low SES, Special Ed, African
American, Hispanic) students have access to these practices?
How do you know students are appropriately placed in
classrooms or courses?
f. What are the departmental or grade level practices that support student
learning?

7. Classroom Instruction
a. What are the classroom practices that support student learning?
b. What are teachers supposed to know and be able to do?
c. How do you know that they have done it?
d. How is classroom instruction differentiated to meet the needs of all
students? List some classroom examples.

129

Appendix B continued

8. Professional Development Practices that support closing the achievement gap:
a. What are the professional development opportunities available to
teachers?
b. What is the role of the teacher in professional development?
c. What is the role of the administrator in professional development?
d. How do you know that teachers are utilizing skills learned?
e. In the classroom? In specific content areas?

9. Sustainability
a. Have you sustained success?
b. How have you sustained success?
c. What advice would you give to other schools that want to emulate your
cultural norms, programs and practices to close the achievement gap?

Do you have anything you would like to add to this interview in terms of closing the
achievement gap and sustaining success?
130

APPENDIX C: DOCUMENT REVIEW MASTER LIST
Document Review Master List
Categorized
District
1. Textbook adoption list
2. Modified or year-round school
3. Board policy
4. Vision statement
5. Mission statement
6. Staff development plan to meet the needs of diverse learners
7. LEA Plan
8. District policy for ELM placement
9. District policy for SEI placement
10. LEA code of conduct policy
11. LEA discipline policy
12. LEA drug/alcohol use prohibition policy
13. LEA firearms/weapons policy
14. LEA Gun-Free Schools Act policy
15. LEA plan describing availability of Tobacco Use Prevention Education services
16. LEA policy regarding tobacco use
17. Full desegregation
18. District-established criteria/procedures for reclassification
19. LEA catch-up plan for monitoring and overcoming any academic deficits
20. District policy on qualifications for instructional aides

School level artifacts
1. Meeting schedules
2. Staff Development plan/School site plan
3. Instructional minutes/Master Schedule
4. Assessment tools
5. Preschool availability or pre-kinder offerings
6. Literacy programs
7. Character education
8. SST
9. RTI
10. Tutorial programs
11. Saturday school
12. Interventions during the school day
13. Summer school
131

Appendix C continued
14. Student-parent handbook
15. Discipline assembly
16. Vision statement
17. Mission statement
18. Staff development plan to meet the needs of diverse learners
19. Equitable groupings of minority students in classrooms
20. Parent Involvement Policy
21. School Accountability Report Card
22. Teacher and paraprofessional assignments
23. Student profile data
24. Counseling availability and function
25. Entitlement funding i.e. Title I funding
26. School-parent compact for NCLB/Title I
27. Public reports of suspension, expulsion, and truancy rates from Uniform
Management Information and Reporting System
28. Safe school plan (including disaster procedures, crisis management, or emergency
plan)
29. Attendance reports

Instructional
1. Department meeting notes
2. Common planning/Common Assessments
3. Classroom Objectives or standards posted in rooms
4. SMART goals or action plan documents
5. Teacher lesson plans

Differentiated or special services
1. Re-classification of LEP
2. Descriptions of English-language mainstream program
3. Descriptions of structured English immersion program design
4. English learner program evaluation report
5. GATE student identification criteria
6. GATE teacher specifications
7. Analysis of California Healthy kids survey (CHKS) core module data
8. Analysis of CHKS resiliency and youth development module
9. California Healthy kids survey
10. Physical education instructional minutes report

132

Appendix C continued
California Department of Education website
1. School data to analyze student proficiency (CST and CELDT)
2. School demographic data
3. School data on Program Improvement status i.e.: AYP and API information

Pertains to High Schools only
1. College prep/AP/IB offerings
2. School data to analyze % of students in CP/AP/IB/Honors courses
3. Freshman advisory
4. AVID
5. Freshman assembly/freshman first day
6. Student placement criteria into CP/Honors/AP/IB
7. CST data, CAHSEE, AP, and college-bound statistics
8. District career technical education plan and course offerings
9. Work Experience Education District plan
10. Process for adding new courses
11. Description of alternative programs
133

APPENDIX D: SCHOOL OBSERVATION FORM/GUIDE
School Observation Form/Guide
In all observation situations keep in mind the 4 frames of Bolman/Deal
o Structural Frame: organization and structure of groups and teams to
achieve goals
o Human Resource Frame: organizational ability to meet human needs,
positive interpersonal and group dynamics
o Political Frame: power and conflict, coalitions, internal and external
politics and their impact on the organization
o Symbolic Frame: positive culture that gives purpose, esprit de corps
through rituals, ceremony, story, shared experiences

An organization demonstrates what is important to it by what it emphasizes in daily
practice

First Impressions
o Note time of observations and what expected activity at those times may
look like
o Condition of surrounding neighborhood
o Approach to school
 Exterior condition of structures
 Plants and foliage
 Bus turn-arounds, parking lot: teachers and students
 Supervision around/ in front of school
o The Office
 Entrance/security
 Condition of office compatible with exterior?
 Staff interaction, with guests, parents, community, and peers
o Initial Meeting
 With whom? Principal, Asst. Principal…
 Restrictions on access?
 Are you greeted?
 Staff traffic to administration, open door or appointments
134

Appendix D continued
o Staff
 Designated representatives, restricted choice, or free access to staff
 Teacher leaders
Empowered? Figure heads?
Emergent leaders or formal structures of leadership
Experienced or non-experienced?
 Collaboration?
Structured, non-structured
Common assessments, formative, summative
Attitudes towards collaboration
o Students
 Student centered culture?
 Connection with staff at all levels? Any levels?
 Student run events?
 Posters? School spirit?
Curriculum
o Levels of curriculum
 ESL
 SDAIE
 SPED
RTI
Full Inclusion
Co-teaching Model
RSP
SDC
ED/SED
SH
 Standard Levels
 College Prep
 Advanced Placement
 International Baccalaureate
 Open Access or restricted entrance
o Support Programs
 AVID
 Credit Recovery
 Concurrent Enrollment with junior college
 Distance Learning credit
135

Appendix D continued
Classroom Observations
o Physical condition of room
o Desks or tables
o Student work displayed
o Learning Goal
o Related to Content standard
o Demonstration of Learning
o Asset Development
 Caring
 High Expectations
 Meaningful Participation
o Strategies
 Direct instruction
 Guided practice
 Scaffolding
 Visuals/Graphic Organizers
 Compare and Contrast
 Summarizing or note taking
 TAPPLE (Teach, Ask, Pick, Pause, Listen, Explain, Expand,
Emphasize)
 TPR
 Check for Understanding, summative
o Technology
 Extent available
 Extent used
 Teacher use
 Student use
Student/teacher feedback on its use
136

APPENDIX E: ALIGNMENT OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS TO DATA SOURCES
AND INSTRUMENTATION
RQ 1: What are the cultural norms that have been employed by the school that
have allowed them to close the achievement gap and sustain success?
Data Needs Data Sources Instrumentation
Teacher Collaboration—
common planning,
common assessment, data
review

Dept. meeting notes
Meeting schedules
Staff development
plan/school site plan
Document Review
Challenging, rigorous
curriculum
Textbook adoption
list
College prep/AP/IB
offerings
Instructional
minutes
Assessment tools
School data to
analyze % of
students in
CP/AP/IB/honors
courses
Document Review, survey
Preventions for at-risk
populations
Preschool
availability
Literacy Programs
Pre-kinder offerings
Character education
Freshman advisory
AVID
Interviews, document
review, observations
137

Appendix E continued
Interventions for at risk
population and whole
school
SST
RTI
Tutorial Programs
Saturday School
Intervention during
the school day
Summer school
Modified year-round
school
Document review
Behavioral Expectations Character education
Student-parent
handbook
Board policy
Discipline assembly
Freshman
assembly/freshman
day
Document review,
observations,
Leadership--Vision for
success with high
expectations
Vision
Mission statement
Teacher evaluations
Assessment tools
Document Review
Professional
development/Staff
development focusing on
at-risk and ethnic minority
students
Staff development
plan to meet the
needs of diverse
learners
Document review, surveys,
interviews
Data-driven decision
making
SMART goals
Assessment tools
School demographic
data
Student profile data
Student placement
into
CP/AP/IB/honors
classes
CST data, CAHSEE,
AP, and college-
bound
Document review, surveys,
interviews
138

Appendix E continued
Recognition of diverse
student population
Re-classification
Equitable groupings
of minority students
in classrooms
Full desegregation
Counseling
Entitlement funding
Document review, surveys,
interviews
Standards are key to
curriculum and instruction
Textbook adoption
Standards posted in
every room
Teacher lessons
Assessment tools
Document review,
observations, surveys

139

Appendix E continued
RQ 2: What are the practices that have been employed by the school that have
allowed them to close the achievement gap and sustain success?

Administrative leadership
on instructional practices
of teachers
Teacher‘s observation
student performance data
Teacher interview, teacher
survey
Instructional practices of
teachers
Classroom observation
Teachers practice in
Professional development
PD records, PLCs Teacher interviews,
observations during PD
meetings
Response to Intervention School data Documents; Interviews

Classroom organization on
SLC, class size, block
schedule
School-wide record Master schedule,
observation
ELD CELDT scores, course
placement
Course placement,
benchmarks
Documents; interview,
observations
School safety, student
behavior
Emergency
Suspension records Interventions
140

Appendix E continued
RQ3: What are the programs that have been employed by the school that have
allowed them to close the achievement gap and sustain success?

Information on the
program:
How program
works/description of the
program
Who is involved in the
program
Length of program
Goal of program
Level of implementation
Key
players/Stakeholders:
Start up sources/
Implementation

Questions on
Interviews/Survey

Assessments: Test scores;
CST Benchmarks
District Wide Assessments
(DWA)
Test scores/assessments

CDE / Benchmark data
system

School Artifacts:
Attendance,
Agendas/minutes:
Agendas/minutes/student
and teacher attendance
List of documents that are
being reviewed
Professional Development
Who
Material
What type: trainer of
trainer/facilitator
Program Environment
Observations

Classroom observation
forms

Abstract (if available)

Abstract The academic achievement gap is the manifestation of differential learning outcomes for students typified by membership in an ethnic minority sub group or economically disadvantaged sub group. Addressing the achievement gap has become vital for the nation as a whole, and even more critical for the state of California because the majority of students in California are composed of low achieving minority student groups. The lower academic achievement status of minority groups limits an individual‘s ability to accumulate social capital, pursue a post secondary education, and limits their lifetime earnings.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Senesac, Donald Raymond (author)

Core Title Narrowing the achievement gap and sustaining success: a qualitative study of the norms, practices, and programs of a successful high school with urban characteristics

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Education (Leadership)

Publication Date 04/30/2010

Defense Date 02/26/2010

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag norms,OAI-PMH Harvest,practices,Programs,successful high school,Urban

Place Name California (states)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Gothold, Stuart E. (committee chair), Hocevar, Dennis J. (committee member), Schwartz, Kyunghae (committee member)

Creator Email ray.senesac@ouhsd.k12.ca.us,senesac@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-m2977

Unique identifier UC1327483

Identifier etd-Senesac-3644 (filename),usctheses-m40 (legacy collection record id),usctheses-c127-311216 (legacy record id),usctheses-m2977 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-Senesac-3644.pdf

Dmrecord 311216

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Senesac, Donald Raymond

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Repository Name Libraries, University of Southern California

Repository Location Los Angeles, California

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu