University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Closing the achievement gap in a high performing elementary school

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Closing the achievement gap in a high performing elementary school

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CLOSING THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP IN A HIGH-PERFORMING
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: A CASE STUDY

by

Vicki Soderman Roloff

_________________________________________________________________

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

May 2009

Copyright 2009 Vicki Soderman Roloff

ii
DEDICATION
This dissertation is dedicated to some very special people in my life. First
and foremost I want to acknowledge the love and support of my family. For your
belief in me, encouragement when I got frustrated, and understanding when I was not
able to fly home to see you.
To my nine nephews and nieces, Travis, Alex, Jacob, Kyle, Rachel, Derek,
Morgan, Timothy, and Jillian, I hope one day I can serve as an inspiration for all of
you to set your goals high and to aspire to whatever it is you want in life. It is
because of you that I continue to strive to work at making the educational system
better for you and your futures.
To my mother who is now in Heaven, thank you, mom for all of your love
and support. Thank you for believing in me, and all my dreams. I love you and miss
you.
To the love of my life . . . what can I say, besides I am so lucky. Thank you
for your understanding with the demands of education. I was a package deal when
you met me … me and all my homework! Thank you for supporting my dreams and
most of all, thank you for the constant encouragement to finish . . . and finish well.

iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to take this opportunity to thank several people that have
provided the necessary support, encouragement, and guidance to complete this
rigorous process. First of all, thank you to the members of my dissertation
committee: Dr. Stuart Gothold, chair, Dr. Dennis Hocevar, and Dr. Kathy Stowe. I
appreciate the time you provided for me during my study. I am grateful for your
dedication and commitment to higher education and our learning. Thank you for
sharing your knowledge, insight, and expertise through our coursework as well as
during the dissertation phase of my degree.
Thank you to my dissertation team. I truly enjoyed being a member of our
Trojan family. With your support, teamwork, drive, motivation, and collaboration
we did it! With the vast compilation of our personality traits and characteristics I
believe we made a strong team that was dedicated to an amazing project and to
finishing on time.
Thank you to my study school, for allowing me to highlight all of your
amazing accomplishments. I learned a lot from all of you. Thank you.

iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dedication …………………………………………………………………. ii
Acknowledgements ……………………………………………………….. iii
List of Tables ……………………………………………………………… v
List of Figures …………………………………………………………….. vi
Abstract …………………………………………………………………… vii
Chapter One: The Problem ……………………………………………….. 1
Chapter Two: Review of the Literature ………………………………….. 17
Chapter Three: Research Method ………………………………………... 48
Chapter Four: Presentation and Analysis of Findings ……………………. 63
Chapter Five: Summary, Conclusions, and Implications of Findings …… 125
References ………………………………………………………………… 134
Appendices ………………………………………………………………... 138

v
LIST OF TABLES
Table 3.1. Significant Subgroup API Scores ……………………………. 55
Table 3.2. School Rank ………………………………………………….. 55
Table 3.3. API Growth …………………………………………………... 55
Table 4.1. School-wide Programs Promoting Student Achievement …….. 93
Table 4.2. School-wide Practices Promoting Student Achievement …….. 108
Table 4.3. Instructional Strategies Implemented to Improve Student
Achievement …………………………………………………………….. 118

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.1. CA Dropout Rates ………………………………………………. 3
Figure 1.2. CA Dropout Rates for Ethnic Groups …………………………... 4
Figure 3.1. The Conceptual Model ………………………………………….. 50
Figure 3.2. Creswell's Six-Step Process ……………………………………... 61
Figure 4.1. The Conceptual Model ………………………………………….. 65

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ABSTRACT
For decades, the achievement levels for disadvantaged students, students of
color, non-Asian minority students, and English Language Learners fall behind the
academic performance levels of their White and affluent classmates (Darling
Hammond, 2007). The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, which requires all
students to be proficient in both English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics by
2014 created horrendous demands on schools to increase student achievement and
close the gap between all students. The challenge of NCLB is inflated even more for
the State of California as the state has experienced a dramatic change in
demographics over the last few decades.
This study employed a qualitative single case study design focused on one
high performing urban elementary school setting in a city twenty miles east of Los
Angeles, California. The purpose of this case study was to examine the programs,
practices, and instructional strategies implemented to promote student achievement
and close the achievement gap. For the purpose of this study, “achievement gap”
was defined as the persistent disparity in academic performance between groups of
students, particularly between affluent, White, or Asian students and students of
poverty, color, minority students, and second language learners.
Four data collection methods were utilized to triangulate the data and analyze
the findings. The methods used included document reviews, teacher and
administrative surveys, interviews, and field observations.

viii
The findings of this study were organized by internal and external factors
identified to influence student achievement. The internal factors included
instruction, curriculum, safety, and relationships. The external factors, those that
occur outside of the school setting, were family, environment, income, and health.
The research findings identified common practices utilized to close the achievement
gap. These included highly qualified teachers, a standards-based curriculum,
professional learning through collaboration, the use of data from frequent formative
and summative assessments, and a culture of response to student learning.

1
CHAPTER ONE
THE PROBLEM
Introduction
For decades, the achievement levels for disadvantaged students, students of
color, non-Asian minority students, and English Language Learners fall behind the
academic performance levels of their White and affluent classmates (Darling
Hammond, 2007). The disparities in scores are blamed on the lack of access and
opportunities given to minority students through the American education system
including the lack of qualified teachers, safe adequate facilities, and a rigorous
instructional curriculum with high expectations (Darling Hammond, 2007; Scribner,
2001; Johnston & Viadero, 2000). By considering a student’s race or ethnicity,
one’s success in school, attendance in college, and income level could be predicted
(Harris & Herrington, 2006, Johnston & Viadero, 2000). Despite action taken in the
1960s with the civil rights movements and desegregation efforts, schools returned to
segregated places of learning, with more than one third of African American and
Latino students in schools with minority enrollments of 90% to 100%. In addition
to the high rates of minority enrollment, the schools are filled with high
concentrations of poverty (Orfield, 2001).
Can the gap be closed? Although the Coleman Report of 1966 concluded
that family background was the major determiner of student academic success and
not the school, a number of large-scale studies have provided convincing proof since
then that what is done in education does matter (Marzano, 2003; Haycock). Kati

2
Haycock (1998), executive director of the Education Trust, also stated that the
achievement gap can be closed if school districts work on improving three things:
standards, curriculum, and teachers.
What progress has been made in closing the Achievement Gap? From 1970-
1988 the American education system made progress in reducing the achievement gap
between minority and non-minority populations bringing up the level of academic
achievement of minority students. In the 1960s gains in achievement between White
and black populations existed due in part to the desegregation of schools (Johnston &
Viadero, 2000) as well as President Johnson’s Title I Policy under the Elementary
and Secondary Education Act which provided additional resources, programs, and
services specifically targeted for poor and minority students (Cross, 2004; Haskins,
2004). In the 1970s when the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
showed an interest in student achievement, the gap between minority and majority
groups shrank by nearly half (Johnston & Viadero, 2000). Despite these academic
gains of the 1960s and 70s, there were other disparities that needed attention,
specifically the number of minorities who were graduating from high school and
college (Johnston & Viadero, 2000). This gap continues as high school dropout rates
for poorly educated children are increasing. Figure 1.1 displays the dropout rates for
the State of California in grades nine through twelve since 2004 as reported by the
California Department of Education. Statistics show that graduation rates have
declined from 71% in 2004 to about 68% in 2007. Figure 1.2 displays the dropout
rates for the State of California in grades nine through twelve since 2004 for

3
particular ethnic groups; specifically Hispanic/Latino, African American, White, and
Asian. It is apparent from the data that the dropout rate is increasing for all ethnic
groups identified in Figure 1.2. With more expansive student data collection the
State of California shows from recent 2006-2007 data an estimated 20.4% derived
four year dropout rate for Limited English Proficient (LEP) students and a 21% four
year derived dropout out rate for low socioeconomic students.

Figure 1.1. CA Dropout Rates

4
Figure 1.2. CA Dropout Rates for Ethnic Groups

While college attendance rates were actually equivalent for a short period of
time during the 1970s for White, Black, and Hispanic students, attendance rates have
reduced dramatically. In 2007, only about 19% of African American and 13% of
Hispanic youth between the ages of 25 and 29 had earned a college degree compared
to 32% of White and 52% of Asian youth (U.S. Census Bureau, 2008).
The achievement gap between minority and non-minority as well as affluent
and non-affluent populations must be solved. As the lack of education is linked to
crime and welfare dependency and the demographics of the nation and California
continue to increase in student underserved populations, finding solutions are
necessary for global and economic success (Darling Hammond, 2007). Haycock
believed the standstill in progress that showed up in 1988 was a time the education

5
system should have shifted strategies (Johnston & Viadero, 2000). This case study
hopes to do just that, find effective strategies to change or shift the approach to
educating all students.
Statement of the Problem
The inequality of educational achievement across racial and ethnic groups
continues to plague schools throughout the nation despite interest and effort from
policy makers (Harris & Herrington, 2006). The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act,
which requires all students to be proficient in both English Language Arts (ELA) and
mathematics by 2014 created demands on schools to increase student achievement
and close the gap between all students. NCLB dictates what must be done yet is
backed by limited solutions and lack of funding. It is up to the educational
community to find the solutions to close the gap between the student populations,
specifically the White and Asian affluent students and the students of poverty, color,
minority students, and second language learners. The challenge of NCLB is elevated
even more for the state of California as the state has experienced a dramatic change
in demographics over the last few decades. The percentage of persons of Hispanic or
Latino origin living in the state has continued to grow at a rapid rate reaching 36%,
almost two and a half times higher than the national average of 14.8% (U.S. Census
Bureau, 2006). According to the California Department of Education, the Hispanic
student enrollment for California public schools had risen from 37% in 1993 to
48.6% for the 2007-2008 school year. This growth is quite the opposite with the
White population for the public schools in California. In 1993 42% of the students

6
attending K-12 public schools were White and for the 2007-2008 school year
28.56% are White. With the increasing Hispanic student population, and the wide
achievement gap between minority and non- minority populations, there is a critical
need for answers to close the gap. Since most high minority, high poverty schools
have not been successful in achieving this feat it is necessary to identify strategies,
practices, and programs that have worked.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this case study was to examine a high poverty, high minority,
and high performing elementary school that made great strides in closing the
achievement gap. For the purpose of this study, “achievement gap” was defined as
the persistent disparity in academic performance between groups of students,
particularly between affluent, White, or Asian students and students of poverty,
color, minority students, and second language learners.
The research study also set out to identify school-wide practices, school-wide
programs, and instructional strategies that contributed to the gap closure. It was the
hope of the researcher and the dissertation team members to contribute to the
educational field significant findings that could be utilized for similar schools that
have yet to close the achievement gap.
Research Questions
The three research questions, which guided the investigation of the effective
school-wide programs, school-wide practices, and instructional strategies in a high
performing, high minority, and low socioeconomic urban school, were:

7
1. What school-wide programs promoted student achievement, in particular,
the closing of the achievement gap?
2. Which school-wide practices promoted student achievement, in
particular, the closing of the achievement gap?
3. What instructional strategies were implemented to target the closing of
the achievement gap?
Significance of the Study
This study is significant because it increases the knowledge of the practices,
programs, and instructional strategies that may have led to increased student
achievement in a high performing, highly diverse, high poverty elementary school.
This topic is important for educational stakeholders and researchers because not
many schools have succeeded in closing the achievement gap for the minority and
economically disadvantaged student populations. Information from this study will
contribute to the research and dialogue on what works in schools.
Another significance of the study is the contribution it will make to the
education of Hispanic learners. With the majority of the clientele in California K-12
public schools being the Hispanic or Latino population it is essential that our schools
know how to best serve the customer and provide a rigorous education that is
achievable, accessible, and rigorous.
Lastly, a point of significance for the study is the ability to take the findings
from the single school sample and share them with the other thematic dissertation
team members. The findings can then be compared with nine other case studies that

8
examined high performing, high minority, high poverty schools that were successful
in closing the achievement gap. Collectively, the findings can provide insight into
possible solutions that educational stakeholders could utilize in their search for ways
to eliminate the achievement gap. The findings also contribute to additional areas
that need to be researched.
Assumptions
The following presents the assumptions of the study.
• The sample school can be illustrative of other schools within a similar
school category.
• The participants in the study would give honest answers and responses on
the surveys and in the interviews.
• It was assumed effective programs, practices, and instructional strategies
were identifiable at the school site.
• The study participants would have sufficient knowledge about the
programs, practices, and instructional strategies at the school site to
provide knowledgeable answers.
Limitations
The following presents the limitations of the study.
• This study was conducted at a single school site and the findings are not
generalizable to other districts and schools.
• The findings are limited to the time of the study; it is a snapshot in time.

9
• The small number of teachers interviewed may not reflect the viewpoints
and perspectives of the majority.
• Staff members were asked their own perspectives about instructional
strategies, practices, and programs. Their responses may have been
limited due to their amount of experience, knowledge, or even bias.
• Although the survey was offered to every teacher, some teachers chose
not to participate.
Delimitations
The following presents the delimitations of the study.
• The study was delimited to a single high performing elementary school
that met the criteria of high performing as defined by the thematic
dissertation team.
• The study was delimited to the number of days of fieldwork.
• The site administrator was interviewed to identify teachers who made
significant academic growth in student achievement.
Definition of Related Terms
API (Academic Performance Index):
Per the California Department of Education, “the Academic Performance
Index is the cornerstone of California's Public Schools Accountability Act of
1999 (PSAA). The purpose of the API is to measure the academic
performance and growth of schools. It is a numeric index (or scale) that
ranges from a low of 200 to a high of 1000. A school's score on the API is an

10
indicator of a school's performance level. The statewide API performance
target for all schools is 800. A school's growth is measured by how well it is
moving toward or past that goal. A school's API Base is subtracted from its
API Growth to determine how much the school improved in a year.”
Growth Targets:
Per the California Department of Education, “Schools must meet their annual
school wide API growth target as well as API growth targets for each
numerically significant ethnic/racial, socioeconomically disadvantaged,
English learner, and students with disabilities subgroup at the school. If the
school's (or subgroup's) Base API is between 200 and 690, the growth target
is 5 percent of the difference between the school's (or subgroup's) Base API
and the statewide performance target of 800. If the school's (or subgroup's)
Base API is between 691 and 795, the growth target is a gain of five points. If
the school's (or subgroup's) Base API is between 796 and 799, the growth
target is the following:
API of 796 - a gain of four points
API of 797 - a gain of three points
API of 798 - a gain of two points
API of 799 - a gain of one point
If the school's (or subgroup's) Base API is 800 or more, the school (or
subgroup) must maintain an API of at least 800.

11
AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress):
Per the California Department of Education, “The federal No Child Left
Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 requires that California determine whether or
not each public school and local educational agency (LEA) is making
Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). An LEA is a school district or county
office of education. AYP criteria encompass four areas: participation rate,
percent proficient (also referred to as Annual Measurable Objectives or
AMOs), API as an additional indicator for AYP, and graduation rate. Each of
these four areas has specific requirements. Participation rate and percent
proficient criteria must be met in both English-language arts (ELA) and in
mathematics.”
Four Frames:
Bolman and Deal (2003), in their research focuses on the four aspects or
traits that a leader may or may not encompass; structural, human resource,
symbolic or political.
High Performing School:
A High Performing School is a school that has a large percentages of students
who traditionally perform in the upper deciles of standardized tests such as
the California Standards Tests and the High School Exit Exam. Often such
schools have high numbers of students who excel in Advanced Placement or
International Baccalaureate programs. Often such schools are recognized by
the United States Department of Education as National Blue Ribbon Schools

12
or the California Department of Education as California Distinguished
Schools.
Outperforming School:
An Outperforming School is a school that has consistently performed in the
upper deciles of similar schools rankings for 2 or more years.
“Outperforming” is a relative term; it means the school is outperforming
other schools like it (schools of the same type and similar demographic
characteristics).
Similar Schools Ranking:
Per the California Department of Education, “The similar schools rank
compares a school to 100 other schools of the same type and similar
demographic characteristics.”
Urban School:
An Urban School is a school that either 1) is located within the city limits of
what is considered a large city, or 2) has two or more traditional
demographics or characteristics of schools that are located in large cities. A
dictionary definition of urban is 1) of, pertaining to, or designating a city or
town, 2) living in a city, or 3) characteristic of or accustomed to cities;
citified (Random House, 2008). Characteristics that are typical of large city
schools are a diverse student body or high numbers or non-White students, a
diversity of commonly spoken languages, low attendance rates, high
suspension rates, low test scores, low teacher attendance, high numbers or

13
uncredentialed teachers, high drop-out rates and low graduation rates, low
college-going rates, low parent participation, and high rates of crime in the
areas surrounding the school.
National Lunch Program:
The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is a federally assisted meal
program operating in public and nonprofit private schools and residential
child care institutions. It provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free
lunches to children each school day. The program was established under the
National School Lunch Act, signed by President Harry Truman in 1946
(United States Department of Agriculture, 2008)
Achievement Gap:
According to the University of Southern California’s thematic dissertation
group, the achievement gap is the persistent disparity in academic
performance between groups of students, particularly between White and or
Asian and affluent students and students of color, minority, poverty and
second language learners.
SARC (School Accountability Report Card):
Per the California Department of Education, “In November 1988, California
voters passed Prop.98, also known as The Classroom Instructional
Improvement and Accountability Act. This ballot initiative provides
California's public schools with a stable source of funding. In return, all
public schools in California are required annually to prepare SARCs and

14
disseminate them to the public. SARCs are intended to provide the public
with important information about each public school and to communicate a
school's progress in achieving its goals.”
CST (California Standards Test):
Per the California Department of Education, “The California Standards Tests
in English-language arts, mathematics, science, and history-social science are
administered only to students in California public schools. Except for a
writing component that is administered as part of the grade 4 and 7 English-
language arts tests, all questions are multiple choice. These tests were
developed specifically to assess students' performance on California's
Academic Content Standards. The State Board of Education adopted these
standards that specify what all California children are expected to know and
be able to do in each grade or course.”
ELL (English Language Learners):
Per the California Department of Education, "English learner" is defined as an
English learner or as a reclassified-fluent-English-proficient (RFEP) student
who has not scored at the proficient level or above on the CST in ELA for
three years after being reclassified.”
SES (Socio-economic Status):
Per the California Department of Education, “Socioeconomically
disadvantaged" is defined as a student whose parents both have not received a

15
high school diploma OR a student who participates in the free or reduced-
price lunch program (also known as the National School Lunch Program).”
Organization of the Remainder of the Study
Chapter one has presented the background of the study, the statement of the
problem, the purpose of the study, the research questions, the significance of the
study, the assumptions, the limitations and delimitations of the study, and the
definitions of related terms.
Chapter two presents a review of the relevant literature starting with a brief
introduction. The following topics are addressed: the definition of the achievement
gap, historical background and reform measures, and identifiable causes and
variables for the achievement gap, specifically external and internal factors.
Chapter three presents the methodology used in the study. After an
introduction, it addresses the purpose of the study, the conceptual model, the
research questions, the research design, the population and sample, the
instrumentation, the data collection methods, the issues of validity and reliability, the
strategies used for data analysis as well as ethical considerations, and interpretation.
Chapter four presents the findings of the study. After an introduction, the
chapter summarizes the findings by research questions, which are organized by
internal and external factors known to influence student achievement. The chapter
concludes by revealing the five reoccurring themes extracted from the data
collection.

16
Chapter five presents a discussion of the study, an analysis of the findings,
implications for practice, conclusions, and recommendations.

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CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Introduction
Throughout the first half of the 20
th
Century, academic achievement among
students of color continued to lag behind that of White students until the early
1970’s. Then, during the 1970s and 1980s, the achievement gap began to narrow.
By 1988 this forward progress in closing the gap came to a halt (Haycock, 2007;
Harris, 2006; Johnston & Viadero, 2000). No one knows for sure what caused the
stall, though there are many theories which include changes in testing procedures,
socioeconomic and family conditions, youth culture, and student behaviors (Lee,
2002; Haycock, 2001; Johnston & Viadero, 2000). With the gap widening as well as
the demographics of the nation and the state of California changing, the pressure to
narrow the achievement gap between demographic groups, particularly between
White or Asian affluent students and students of poverty, color, minority, and second
language learners intensifies.
The existence of the achievement gap creates detrimental consequences not
just for the students of K-12 classrooms, but for the country as well. The country’s
economic security, standard of living, and ability to support retirees are all built
around the ability to employ our nation’s citizens. Over the next fifteen years, it is
expected that African American, Hispanic, and American Indians student
populations will grow from one-third of the 54 million K-12 children to two thirds
(Johnston & Viadero, 2000). By the year 2030, one out of every four students in the

18
nation’s K-12 public school system will be Hispanic. If the achievement gap
persists, drop out rates continue, and small percentages of minorities gain college
degrees, our nation could be in for huge challenges.
The following literature review will present a synopsis of research related to
the academic achievement gap. The review will begin exploring definitions of the
achievement gap, historical perspectives, contributing factors to the gap, and then
conclude with schools that have beaten the odds at eliminating or narrowing the gap.
The Achievement Gap
Attention to the achievement gap dates back to World War I when the U.S.
Army administered achievement tests to its recruits and the results exposed a distinct
difference in proficiency between black and White soldiers (Gardner, 2007). The
disparity between White and African Americans had long been the focus of
achievement gap research studies until Latinos were recently included in the term
minority achievement gap (Lyman & Villani, 2004). Most of the current literature
agrees that the term achievement gap means the persistent disparity in academic
proficiency between various demographic groups of students. Although research
studies look at different variables related to the gap such as graduation rates or
reading levels, the comparison groups in the case studies are consistently those
between Whites and minority populations. Lyman and Villani (2004) note that
recent scholars now speak not just about the minority achievement gap but refer to
the gap in terms of minority students and low-income students. Kati Haycock
(2001) analyzes the achievement gap between students of color and low

19
socioeconomic status with White affluent student populations. Slavin and Madden
(2006) look specifically at the achievement gap between African American students
and their White counterparts. Burris and Welner (2005) compare the achievement
gap between African American and Hispanic student populations with White and
Asian American student populations.
Depending on the variable being considered, for example high school drop
out rates, college entrance rates, or access to advanced placement courses, the size of
the gap may change, however, it is reasonable to state that the populations being
compared are between various demographic groups which is consistent with the
definition, the persistent disparity in academic proficiency between various
demographic groups of students.
Historical Background of the Achievement Gap
The following section will introduce key historical events that impacted
minority students and their education, beginning with changes in the American
education system after World War II. The end of the Second World War marked a
period in time when resources and access to academic content for minorities
dramatically increased. After a brief look at changes that occurred after the war,
other historical events that will be highlighted include desegregation, Title I, The
Coleman Report of 1966, academic gains of the 1970s, A Nation at Risk Report of
1983, and NCLB of 2001.

20
WWII
Minority students’ access to higher education increased dramatically at the
end of the Second World War. This on-ramp to higher education was made available
for minority soldiers through the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, otherwise
known as the G.I. Bill. This bill paid for a veteran’s entire college or vocational
education. Many minority soldiers took hold of this opportunity for higher
education, which had a direct impact on career and educational expectations for
themselves and their children (Harris & Herrington, 2006). A much larger
representation of minority students were found in higher education systems once this
access was made available. Since then, the government continued to provide more
educational opportunities for minority families and students, one example is the
desegregation of schools under the Brown Act.
Desegregation
The start of school desegregation began in 1954 with the Supreme Court
ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. This court decision improved access to
education for minority students and allowed African Americans to attend better
schools with better teachers (Harris & Herrington, 2006). Social scientists
confidently predicted that the increased access for black students under the
Elementary and Secondary Education (ESEA) Act would eliminate the racial gap
(Slavin & Madden, 2006). Unfortunately this elimination did not occur. Fifty years
after Brown v. Board of Education, the gaps in educational achievement and access

21
between White and non-Asian minority students remain large (Darling-Hammond,
2007).
Title I
In the 1960’s the involvement of the federal government became more
pronounced especially for students who were often neglected under state education
systems. One of the many programs created during Lyndon Johnson’s presidency
was the Elementary and Secondary Education (ESEA) Act Title I program of 1965.
The Title I program was Johnson’s attempt at closing the achievement gap between
the poor and minority students by providing supplemental funds for their education
(Aud, 2007; Harris & Herrington, 2006). President Johnson stated, “By passing this
bill, we bridge the gap between helplessness and hope for more than five million
educationally deprived children in America” (Cross, 2004). It was the hope of the
federal Title I program to level the playing field for the poor and minority by
providing access to curriculum, having buildings that attracted qualified teachers,
and providing funds for needed supplies and textbooks (Cross, 2004). Despite the
additional financial support, the gap in academic achievement remains wide.
The Coleman Report
President Johnson continued to drive forward with his War on Poverty
initiative. In the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Commissioner of Education was
directed to conduct a national survey on the availability of educational opportunity
for students (Wong, 2004; Marzano, 2003). The intention of this survey was to
identify where the educational opportunities were limited for poor and minority

22
students. The culmination of the research and surveys resulted in the Equality in
Educational Opportunity report, later knows as the Coleman Report of 1966. The
report’s findings had a profound impact on the perception of the education system.
The first finding revealed school resources did not show statistically significant
effects on student achievement, thus what happened in schools made little difference
on student achievement. The second finding stated that the most significant effect on
student achievement was the background characteristics of the students (Wong,
2004; Marzano, 2003). This created a culture of blame, with poor and minority
students being targeted for their own educational failure. “It dealt a veritable
deathblow to the belief that schools could overcome students’ backgrounds”
(Marzano, 2003, p. 2). Some researchers believe that blaming students’ backgrounds
is misdirected and should be directed toward societal discrimination, racism, limited
access to opportunities, lack of access to health care and economical resources for
poor and minority students (Gardner, 2007; Rothstein, 2006; Johnston & Viadero,
2000). It is felt that the ills of the achievement gap will not be solved until societal
issues such as these are addressed.
Though the findings from the Coleman report were controversial, the
controversy sparked a wave of additional research in this area, which resulted in new
knowledge related to the achievement gap (Haycock, 2002).
1970s The Gap Narrows
From 1970 to 1988, the achievement gap in reading and math between Black
and White students was reduced by one-half, and by one-third between Hispanic and

23
White students. Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress or
NAEP, which is regarded as the nation’s report card for student achievement showed
that during this time African American and Hispanic students made gains while
White students achievement remained stable (Lee, 2002; Haycock, 2002). There
were policies in place as well that had a positive effect on the minority student
achievement gains. Some of the causal factors attributed to the gains included
school desegregation and compensatory education programs (Harris, 2006; Lee,
2002; Haycock, 2001; Johnston & Viadero, 2000).
The progress of the 1970s lost its sustainability in the late 1980’s as the
achievement gap between White and non-White populations began to widen
(Haycock, 2001; Harris, 2006). Data from NAEP showed from 1988 – 1990s, the
achievement levels for African Americans and Hispanics flattened while White
students made academic gains (Haycock, 2002; Lee, 2002).
A Nation at Risk (NAR)
In 1983, the National Commission on Excellences in Education issued A
Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform. The landmark education
reform report noted that not all students were being educated to the same high levels
as others, high expectations were missing in our schools, and schools were failing to
provide quality education that was necessary to help students succeed in a global
society (Williams, 2003). This report caused the public to demand higher
expectations and greater rigor from our schools. This sparked the creation of a

24
standards-based reform initiative as well as stricter requirements for high school
graduation (Harris & Herrington, 2006).
No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
Education has traditionally been a function of the state, however in the last
four decades federal involvement has dramatically increased in the role of education.
With the lack of academic progress being made in schools since the 1980s, the gap in
performance levels widening, and the detrimental effects undereducated citizens could
have on the nation, there was an outcry from the public for accountability on schools
for student outcomes. From this public pressure stemmed the No Child Left Behind
Act of 2001. Under this legislation, high stakes student assessments were
implemented and by 2014 the end result of the measure should show 100%
proficiency for all students in both reading and mathematics, thus closing the
achievement gap and solving the country’s economical and societal woes related to
the future work force.
NCLB measured progress annually with its Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)
accountability system. This system of measurement determines whether or not each
public school or local educational agency is making adequate yearly progress for all
groups of students. The NCLB Act represents a national commitment to raising
student achievement by working harder to close gaps between groups of students and
equip our youth with the skills and knowledge needed to participate in the global
society (EdTrust, 2005).

25
The key historical events discussed in this section display the changes and
improvements of the American education system, especially for minority students.
There is still work to be done as the existence of the achievement gap remains. The
next section of this chapter looks at the identifiable causes or influences related to
student performance and the achievement gap, beginning with internal and external
factors.
Identifiable Causes and Variables for the Achievement Gap
Internal and External Factors
In the following section two variables known to influence the achievement
gap will be addressed, internal and external factors. According to the literature
internal factors are those that occur within the school setting such as instruction,
curriculum, and relationships. External factors are referred to as those outside of the
school and may be related to the students’ family, environment, income level, and
health. Both internal and external factors will be addressed, starting with the internal
factors.
Internal Factors
Internal factors are those that occur within the school setting, specifically the
teacher, curriculum, school safety, and student relationships. Since the internal
factors are those factors directly related to what schools do, they will be closely
analyzed. The first internal factor to be considered will be teachers.

26
Teachers.
Studies conclude that the most significant single factor impacting student
achievement is the classroom teacher (Mantel, 2005; Marzano, 2003; Haycock,
2001, 1998; Rivers & Sanders, 1996). Eric Hanushek, University of Rochester
economist believes that the difference between a good and bad teacher can mean one
year’s loss of achievement (Haycock, 1998).
William Sanders and June Rivers (1996) confirm this loss of academic
achievement when students had an ineffective teacher. In their study using the
Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS) findings showed students
with the least effective teachers gained fourteen percentile points over the course of a
year, while the average percentile point gain was thirty-four. Taking the difference
into account, these student lost twenty percentile points in academic achievement
because of an ineffective teacher. Sanders and Rivers’ findings also showed that
students with an effective teacher showed a percentile point gain of fifty-three, which
is nineteen percentile points above the average achievement expectancy. Sanders
and Rivers (1996) found that the impact of the teachers’ effectiveness, positive or
not, were measurable up to two years after the student’s experience.
An ineffective teacher can have a tremendous impact on a student’s academic
success or failure. The literature revealed that students in poor, urban areas are often
instructed by ineffective teachers, teachers who are not qualified for the content area,
hold an emergency credential, or are considered ineffective through the evaluation
process (Clemmitt, 2007; Haycock, 1998). In 2006, The Education Trust found 88%

27
percent of the schools with 100% minority populations in Illinois scored in the
lowest quartile for the state’s Teacher Quality Index (as cited in Clemmitt, 2007).
Education Trust defined teacher quality as teachers with more experience, better
education, and strong academic skills. The ineffective teacher adds to the already
challenging environment of a high-poverty urban school.
The effective teachers that are working in high-poverty, low-performing
schools have a challenge to face too. Analysts believe the No Child Left Behind
(NCLB) Act encourages effective teachers to leave low performing, urban schools
because the demands and pressure to make the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) is
too overwhelming, frustrating, time consuming, and intense (Clemmitt, 2007). This
flight of effective teachers creates another challenge for districts and schools in poor,
urban areas. Low performing schools with high percentages of poor and minority
student populations struggle to attract and retain effective, experienced teachers
(Clemmitt, 2007; Haycock, 1998). Kitty Kelly-Epstein, Education Professor of the
Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, California stated, “There never has
been a time when low-income schools were fully staffed” (Clemmitt, 2007, p. 16).
Haycock (1998) states, “If we but took the simple step of assuring that poor and
minority children had teachers of the same quality as other children, about half of the
achievement gap would disappear” (p. 3).
Knowing the strong impact the teacher has on student performance, the
researcher will specifically look at the teacher, the curriculum, practices, and

28
instructional strategies utilized to increase student performance and close the
achievement gap in the case study.
Curriculum.
The demands, access, and rigor of the curriculum are much higher in high
performing schools than in low performing areas (Haycock, 2001). Students in
under performing, urban schools where student population are filled with high
percentages of low income, minority student populations have less access to a
rigorous, high-track curriculum with opportunities to take advanced placement
classes (Becker & Luthar, 2002; Haycock, 2001). The academic rigor of courses
taken in middle and high school is the single most important predictor of college
success (Kober, 2001; Viadero, 2000).
Teachers in high-poverty, high-minority schools provide students with
watered-down curriculum, cover less material, assign less homework, and award
higher grades for lower performance than in other schools (Kober, 2001). National
data confirms the low levels of expected performance in high-poverty schools
compared to the affluent, non-minority schools. Students in high-poverty schools are
given an A for performance that would receive a C or a D in a low-poverty school
(Haycock, 2001). Education Trust (2001) has found through observations in high-
poverty, high-minority schools that the expected performance is grossly low.
Students in an 11
th
grade English class were assigned to read a novel and then color a
poster about the story versus assigning the students a writing assignment related to
the book (Haycock, 2001).

29
The curriculum offered in many of the schools serving disadvantaged youth
is delivered by incompetent teachers who are incapable of providing a rigorous
curriculum with high expectations (Becker & Luthar, 2002). The curriculum taught
by the ineffective staff is geared toward lower order “rote” skills (Darling-
Hammond, 2000). If high-poverty, high minority schools in urban areas do offer
advanced placement classes, minority students’ access is limited to these courses
because the students were more than likely tracked into less academically
challenging classes (Kober, 2001).
Students in high-poverty, high-minority schools report that they are not
challenged in schools (Haycock, 2001). When students in these schools were asked
by interviewers about external factors like violent neighborhoods and single parent
households, the students stated that those things did matter, however what mattered
most was that they were taught less (Haycock, 2001). Burris and Welner (2005) take
on the topic of low-track classes and the harm these classes have on the
overrepresentation of minority students. From de-tracking the high school, the
researchers provided evidence that de-tracking showed a positive effect on students,
decreased drop out rates, and increased access to higher-level classes.
Though standards-based reform measures have helped with what students
should be taught, it is essential that the curriculum is not watered-down and remain
rigorous and challenging. A lack of access to a rigorous, high-track curriculum
impacts the ability for students to attend post-secondary school. Students who are
tracked into low-level classes will not meet the post-secondary requirements for

30
admission. Schools fail to provide the opportunity for students to take advanced
placement and high-tracked classes. Adjusting the rigor of the curriculum is vital in
lowering the drop out rates of students in under-performing, high-poverty, high-
minority schools as well as increasing enrollment in higher education (Diamond,
2006).
School Safety.
“Without a minimum level of safety and order, a school has little chance of
positively affecting student achievement” (Marzano, 2003, p. 53). Attending safe
and secure schools have been found to influence attendance and academic
performance (Marzano, 2003). High-poverty, high-minority, urban area schools are
reported to have much lower safety ratings compared to suburban counterparts
(Kober, 2001). Attendance rates are also impacted in schools with a higher
percentage of violence (Marzano, 2003). A study by Groger (1997) found that
schools with high rates of violence had lower math scores, thus impacting students’
success in school (as cited in Marzano, 2003). Academic learning is interrupted
more often in schools that have a lack of behavior management systems (Becker &
Luthar, 2002). These interruptions impede a student’s education and achievement.
Relationships.
One of the single most commonly identified factors in the literature on
student resilience is a supportive relationship with an adult (Becker & Luthar, 2002).
The literature finds direct correlation on increased student achievement when strong
relationships between the school staff and students exist. According to Becker and

31
Luthar (2002), school attachment and teacher support are two critical social-
emotional components that influence achievement performance. A study of middle
school students in Chicago showed that student learning was significantly increased
when both achievement standards and social support were emphasized, thus
combining the emphasis of teachers, curriculum with safety and relationships may be
especially important for disadvantaged students’ achievement successes (Becker &
Luthar, 2002).
Balfanz, Herzog, and MacIver (2007) found the number one concept linking
student motivation to academic achievement in middle school was teacher support.
In a study of 12,000 sixth graders, it was found that an effective prevention and
intervention strategy to reduce the number of students at risk of dropping out was to
ensure school engagement by assigning the at-risk student with a specific adult to
build a close more personal relationship (Balfanz, et al, 2007). When high school
drop out students were interviewed, one of the top reasons for dropping out was the
lack of feeling encouraged, supported, and connected to the school (Becker &
Luthar, 2002; Haycock, 2001). This intervention strategy provided students with
more support, encouragement to succeed, and believed that their teachers cared about
them. Positive effects on a student’s academic attitude, behavior, and emotional
engagement were much higher when students’ feelings of acceptance by their
teachers and school were positive (Connell and Wellborn, 1991 as cited in Becker
and Luthar, 2002). Students who were in schools that demonstrated a sense of
school community had positive academic attitudes, especially with disadvantaged

32
students (Battistich, Solomon, Kim, Watson & Schaps, 1995). Connell and
Wellborn (1991) revealed that students’ feelings of acceptance by their teachers and
school were strongly associated with classroom engagement (as cited in Becker &
Luther, 2002).
Teachers’ expectations and amount of support given to certain students may
be impeded by their own bias or attitudes for certain cultures or ethnicities. Teachers
must receive professional development which prepares them to educate and
understand students whose values, culture, and life experiences may be different
from theirs (Becker & Luthar, 2002; Gordon, 2000).
With a large body of research confirming the positive effects of strong school
connectedness on students, recommendations are made to schools to consider ways
to foster relationships, build a sense of belongingness, and improve school climates.
These actions could reduce the number of children at risk for school failure,
alienation, and dropping out of school (Becker & Luthar, 2002).
When considering ways to close the achievement gap it is imperative to
consider the internal school influences, teachers, curriculum, safety, and
relationships. The next section considers the causes influenced outside of the school,
external factors.
External factors
External factors are defined as those influences that occur outside of the
school including a student’s family, environment, income level, and health.
Although the school may not have control over external factors, it is important for a

33
school to understand them and how they influence a student’s achievement.
Knowing this will help schools make informed decisions, especially if there are
things the school can do to counter them, the better the effect this has on student
success.
Family Involvement.
Countless research studies have shown the importance of parental support
and school involvement for disadvantaged students (Becker & Luthar, 2002).
Students who have parents involved in their schooling show better academic
performance and behavior (Barton, 2003). With the large amount of research
dedicated to this topic, fostering positive relationships with all families should be a
priority for our schools due to the impact it can have on a student’s motivation,
achievement, and educational aspirations (Barton, 2003).
Teachers in high-poverty schools are more likely to label the lack of parental
involvement a severe problem (Barton, 2003). A recent poll conducted in New
Jersey found that 44 percent of urban and minority parents felt far more unwelcomed
in their child’s school, compared to only 20 percent of suburban parents (Barton,
2003).
Marzano (2003) has three action steps for schools to consider that could
promote effective involvement of parents and the community. These steps include
enhancing communication, establishing multiple ways for parents to be involved in
the school, and using formal governance structures for involvement of parents and
community members. These variables can be observed by the researcher during

34
fieldwork observations to see how the school addresses parent and community
involvement.
Environment.
Home environmental factors have an impact on students’ academic success.
Some of the key home factors include how often a child is read to, how closely the
children are supervised, as well as the availability of resources in the home, for
example books, computers, and internet access (Kober, 2001).
Home environments change often for children in urban areas. Schools with
high enrollments of minority or low-income children tend to have higher rates of
student mobility (Kober, 2001). There are many reasons for high mobility rates of
low-income families with the major one being the lack of affordable housing in
urban areas. When children move in and out of schools their achievement suffers.
Neighborhood factors also can have an influence on a students’ academic
success. Communities with high concentrations of minority families may have fewer
learning resources such as libraries, museums, and youth organizations (Kober,
2001). If resources are available, the crime rates in the neighborhoods may actually
limit the students’ access to them.
All of these factors related to a child’s environment can impact academic
achievement; however, schools should be careful not to dismiss a student’s chance
for success based on these reasons. Schools can provide many resources for children
to make up for lack of materials, resources, and organizations that the neighborhood
or home lacks. Providing after school clubs, homework clubs, summer school, and

35
field trips are all ways schools can help lessen the influence of this particular
external factor.
Income level.
It has been assumed that socioeconomic status (SES) is one of the best
predictors of academic achievement supported by the findings in the Coleman report
of 1966 (Marzano, 2003). It is tempting to conclude that equalizing economic
circumstances of our students would eliminate the achievement gap. President
Johnson may have had this same idea in the 1960s with the War on Poverty initiative
increasing funds and programs for the poor. Drew Gitomer, Senior Vice President of
the Educational Testing Service, states that income itself does not determine whether
an individual will achieve, as there are many children from families with low income
shown to excel in our education system (Barton, 2003). The belief that SES is
reliably predictive of a student’s educational success is rarely questioned. The
strength of the relationship between SES and student achievement actually varies
widely from a correlation as high as 0.80 and as low as 0.10 (Marzano, 2003; White
1982). The stereotypical belief that SES and achievement are so closely linked will
take a lot of work, education, and publicity to reverse. The following quote by
Charters (1963) illustrates the power the stereotype of SES and achievement has by
calling the relationship an empirical law. “This has been so consistently confirmed
by research that it can now be regarded as an empirical law” (as cited in Marzano,
2003).

36
Although differences in income do not fully explain the achievement gap, the
link between poverty and low achievement should not be discounted (Kober, 2001).
In the 2005 study by Duncan and Magnuson, study results showed that differences in
a student’s socioeconomic level explained only about half a standard deviation of the
initial achievement gap, mattering more in the preschool years than for older
students. This importance of income was linked to the early years in a child’s life
when health care, educational opportunities, and nutrition were critical to a youth’s
development (Duncan & Magnuson, 2005).
Health.
Without adequate health care, the achievement levels of children from lower
class families will be affected (Rothstein, 2004). Many children from lower SES
neighborhoods have health problems that impede learning. Though health care is an
external factor, schools could help with this by providing families with information
on Medicaid, community resources, or employing a higher percentage of school
nurses in urban, high-poverty, high-minority areas. For the purpose of this study, it
will be important to see how the selected school addresses the matter of health care.
When a school cannot change the external factors of a child’s home
environment, household income level, or health care, it can provide adult education.
Parental participation in education, intervention, or training courses may have a
better affect on improving young children’s school readiness than income (Duncan &
Magnuson, 2005; Marzano, 2003). Districts and schools may have to invest in more

37
programs and training and to think of creative approaches to get parents to attend and
participate.
What Has Worked?
It is clear from the literature that a variety of factors influence or cause the
achievement gap. The questions now, have schools been able to utilize this
information and close the gap between different student demographic groups? Have
schools in poor, diverse, urban areas been able to successfully make gains in closing
the achievement gap? How did they do it? The following section looks at some
schools from the literature that beat the odds and closed or narrowed the gap.
Shaker Heights
Shaker Heights School District, located in an affluent suburb of Cleveland,
Ohio may not fit the mold of a high poverty district however the student
demographics represent a district of high-minority and high-diversity enrollment.
This planned community consists of residents who volunteered to bus their children
throughout the district to maintain a racial balance in their schools. Every school in
the district nearly represents the district’s overall demographics which are 52 percent
of its student population identified as African American, 42 percent as White, and
the remaining six percent a combination of Asian American or multi-racial children.
In 1994 when racial balances were off, the district reorganized student populations to
maintain their commitment to racially balanced schools and desegregation. The
district is doing a lot to close the achievement gap and continues to do so when
things start to stall, like re-aligning the racial balance of the schools. The executive

38
director of curriculum for the district stated, “We’ve been relentless in terms of
pursuing closing the achievement gap” (Viadero, 2000). The next two sections will
address how Shaker Heights responded to the internal influences of teachers and
curriculum as well as the external factor of environment.
Response to Internal Influences on Student Achievement
Shaker Heights responded to the internal influence of teachers by ensuring
that every teacher in the district was highly qualified. Teachers hold master’s
degrees or better and are evenly distributed among the district’s eight schools.
The curriculum in the district is one of high expectations and rigor. Access to
advanced placement (AP) and honors classes is granted to all students who want to
sign up. The percent of African Americans in AP classes have increased from 10
percent to now 16 percent. An AP teacher from one of the high schools works
diligently at both middle school and high school levels to encourage more African
American students to sign up for AP classes. He offers parent information nights, he
has black students who have taken AP classes to talk with groups of students about
their experiences and stories, and he even teaches classes at the middle school to give
the students an inside look and the feel of an AP class. This commitment, support,
and encouragement provided by the teacher are perfect examples of the internal
factor of positive relationships between teachers and students.
Response to External Influences on Student Achievement
In response to the external factor of the environment, Shaker Heights has
moved aggressively to diminish it by providing resources and opportunities for their

39
students. The district offers after-school literacy clubs, provides teachers with
diversity training, has summer school and Saturday school programs for students,
holds training for community childcare providers, and through the recreation
programs provides foreign-language classes (Viadero, 2000). These are all great
examples of what a school or district can do to help decrease the variables that occur
outside the school.
Results?
Academic gains are being made for each racial group. In 1998, on the SAT
examination, African-American students scored 100 points above the average for
black students nationwide. White students score 150 points above average for their
race (Viadero, 2000). Without discrediting the growth in scores, the results bring up
an important point about the pressure on our non-Asian minority groups to perform.
In order to close the gap, minority groups need to perform almost two times better
than that of White and Asian students to make the gains to close the gap.
Conclusions
Shaker Heights is a great example to highlight ways to address the internal
and external factors influencing student achievement levels. It is important to note
that the district continues to adjust when something stops working. This ability to
recognize and adjust validates what Kati Haycock said about the standstill progress
of 1988, which was a time the education system should have shifted strategies. As
superintendent of Shaker Heights stated, “Have we been successful? Yes. Have we

40
reached the goals we want? No” (Viadero, 2000). It says a lot about the district’s
desire to continue to go forward to close the achievement gap.
Elmont Memorial Junior-Senior High School
Elmont Memorial Junior-Senior High School is located in Elmont, New
York. It enrolls almost 2,000 students in grades seven through twelve. About three-
quarters of the students are African American with a sizable portion of recent
immigrants from the Caribbean and Africa. Eleven percent of the student enrollment
is Hispanic and the remaining eleven percent Asian, Pacific Islander, or American
Indian. Twenty-four percent of the student population qualifies for free or reduced
lunch. Elmont is known for a very small achievement gap among groups of students
(Chenoweth, 2005). One hundred percent of its senior class graduates from high
school and 97 percent go on to college.
Response to Internal Influences on Student Achievement
Elmont Memorial Junior-Senior High School addresses the internal influence
of curriculum by encouraging all students to take Advanced Placement classes. The
school was recognized for having the highest percentage of African-Americans
taking and passing AP World History in the entire country (Chenoweth, 2005).
Discussions of curriculum and instruction are held throughout the day between staff
members. This practice is an inherent part of the school’s culture.
The internal factor of building positive relationships is addressed at Elmont in
several ways. The current principal was groomed for the job from the assistant
principal position. This gave the site leader the ability to learn and help shape the

41
culture of the school as well as form relationships with the staff, students, and
families.
A strategy for building and maintaining positive relationships between the
students and teachers is through the use of looping. Seventh and eighth grade
teachers loop up with their students, following them from seventh grade to eighth
and then returning back to seventh grade for a new group of students. This can be a
very beneficial strategy as research shows support networks for students fall apart or
weaken in the middle school years. The lack of supportive relationships often leave
middle school students feeling isolated and increase their risk for academic failure or
dropping out. Elmont’s use of looping helps teachers and students develop strong
personal and academic bonds that may last through their high school years and
reduces the risk of dropouts.
To address the internal influence of teachers, Elmont utilizes an intense
system of observations by administrators and peers. Until tenured, teachers are
observed seven times a year. Once the teachers reach tenure status, they then
observe each other. It is expected that detailed suggestions are made for
improvement and if very little is recommended then the teacher who taught an
outstanding lesson teaches it (or models it) to another colleague (Chenoweth, 2005).
Elmont’s daily schedule allows for teachers to collaborate every day about
instruction and student progress.

42
Response to External Influences on Student Achievement
Elmont Memorial Junior-Senior High School responds to the external factor
of environment by providing resources and opportunities for the students with
afterschool clubs, programs, classes, and sports. The athletic department has a “no
cut” rule, so everyone plays. This no cut policy tells a lot about the culture of the
school.
Results?
At Elmont, one hundred percent of its senior class graduates and 97 percent
go on to college. The state of New York has the well-known Regents Exams in math
and language arts, which is used as the marker of whether students achieve academic
success (Chenoweth, 2005). There is also a “local” diploma without the Regents
endorsement. In 2001 only nine Elmont students received the “local” diploma. By
2005 all diplomas given out at Elmont were Regents diplomas, representing the
schools high standards and expectations for all.
Conclusions
Elmont Memorial Junior-Senior High School doesn’t make excuses for
students’ low performance. The principal stated, “Because a child is poor doesn’t
mean he can’t learn. Because a child lives in the projects doesn’t mean he can’t
learn. If there are gaps, we as a society must fill those gaps” (Chenoweth, 2005).
The constant dedication to improving the teacher, holding standards and expectations
high, and making sure strong relationships are formed between the staff and students
are all effective strategies this school has used.

43
90-90-90 Schools
In 1995 Douglas Reeves investigated high poverty and high performing
schools in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The schools were identified with the following
characteristics: 90% of the students enrolled in the schools were on free or reduced
lunch, 90% were identified as minority students, and 90% or more of the students
met the district or state academic standards in reading or another area (Reeves,
2003). The analysis considered data from 1995-1998 with more than 130,000
students in 228 school buildings. The school locations included inner-city urban,
suburban, and rural areas. The findings from this large study are associative in
nature, with no single instructional intervention being said to “cause” the
achievement results. The practices in these schools are worthy of notice because of
the achievement outcomes.
Response to Internal Influences on Student Achievement
90/90/90 schools addressed the internal influence of curriculum on student
achievement through all five of its common characteristics. The schools had
commonalities that included: a focus on academic achievement, clear curriculum,
frequent assessment, an emphasis on nonfiction writing, and collaborative scoring of
student work. The schools had a “laser-like” focus on student achievement.
Information related to student progress as well as exemplary work was on display
throughout the school. The focus for student achievement was always on
improvement. The curriculum emphasized reading, writing and mathematics.

44
Response to External Influences on Student Achievement
It was not apparent from the research how the 90/90/90 schools addressed the
external influences of family, the home environment, income, and health.
Results?
Improvements of more than one grade level in a single year were common
findings in 90/90/90 schools (Reeves, 2003). Every school had consistent
intervention programs in place for students. Since the study from 1995-1998, the
90/90/90 schools in Milwaukee by 2003 were still meeting or exceeding state
standards, teachers routinely collaborated using real student work as the topic of their
discussions, and the school’s target remained highly focused on student’s academic
improvement.
Conclusions
Though the data from Reeves study from 1995-1998 is generalized to total
results, it would be interesting to locate specific schools and look at the specific
practices used to address the internal and external factors. For example, did the
schools do anything to suppress the external influences on student achievement? Did
the schools do anything to address the internal factors such as building relationship
between the teachers and students?
Summary of the Literature
The achievement gap, which is defined through the literature as the persistent
disparity in academic proficiency between various demographic groups of students
continues to exist after decades of reform measures and approaches in education.

45
Attention to the achievement gap began during World War I when the U.S.
Army administered achievement tests to its recruits and the results exposed a distinct
difference in proficiency between black and White soldiers (Gardner, 2007).
However, it was not until after World War II when educational changes and
increased access to higher education for minorities really began. Despite the
narrowing of the gap in the 1970s through the 80s and the reform measures such as
desegregation with the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling,
President Johnson’s War on Poverty Initiative with the ESEA Title I program, and
the NCLB Act of 2001 the achievement gap still exists. The public was educated on
the state of education through landmark reports including the Coleman Report of
1966 and A Nation at Risk report of 1983. It was the result of these reports that
sparked pressure from the public for school improvement and accountability.
There is still a lot of work to do as the achievement gap between White or
Asian students and minority, poor, and English language learners remain. The
literature revealed a large amount of research dedicated to the identification of causal
factors related to a students’ achievement. This was broken down into internal and
external factors. The four internal factors, which occur inside the school, included
the teacher, the curriculum, the safety of the school, and the relationships between
students and their teachers. The external influences, or factors that occur outside of
school included the family, environment, income, and health. Though the school
does not have a direct impact on the external factors, there are things the school can
do to address them. From the identification of the internal and external factors the

46
inequities of students in poor, high minority, urban schools became apparent. Work
must be done to bring qualified, highly effective teachers to the schools where a
rigorous curriculum is taught, access to advanced placement classes is offered, where
high expectations are demanded, and where the environment to learn is safe and
students are supported and encouraged by teachers.
There were a few studies that identified exemplary schools that have made
significant progress in closing the achievement gap. The schools demonstrated ways
to address both the internal and external factors that influence student achievement.
Additions to the Literature
From the review of literature the need for more studies identifying what
works became apparent. Studies of schools that have actually closed or significantly
narrowed the achievement gap were few. The majority of the schools that were
highlighted in the literature review were schools with small poverty rates. For
example, both Shaker Heights and Elmont Memorial Junior-Senior High School had
small poverty levels. The school selected for this specific research study,
purposefully has a high-poverty rate. It is hoped that the findings from the nine case
studies examining schools with high-performance and high-poverty rates could
contribute to the literature in this area as well as produce results that may be
generalized to similar schools. Although the 90/90/90 schools addressed both
criteria of high-performing and high-poverty rates, details on how the school
addressed the external factors influencing student achievement were missing.

47
Finally, a majority of the literature was focused on gaps between White and
African American students. There is little research that has been conducted on
changes in the achievement gap between Whites and Hispanics (Lee, 2002). With
the population of Hispanic learners growing at a rapid rate in the state of California,
it is the hope of the researcher to provide additional research to the area of high
poverty schools as well as strategic ways to close the achievement gap for Hispanic
learners. The school selected in this case study has 96% of its students identified as
Hispanic with 84% of the student body qualified for the Free or Reduced Lunch
Program. Utilizing a small case study will afford the researcher the opportunity to
provide rich, detailed descriptions of how the school addressed the internal and
external factors that are identified as having an influence on student achievement.

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CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHOD
Introduction
Schools are under tremendous pressure to increase student performance. One
piece of federal legislation behind the pressure on schools is the No Child Left
Behind Act. NCLB requires all students to be proficient in both English Language
Arts (ELA) and mathematics by 2014. Since most urban schools have not been
successful in achieving this feat and is closing the achievement gap, interest for
effective strategies has dramatically increased. In addition to federal pressures,
schools are experiencing challenges at the state level. One particular challenge for
the state of California is the rapidly changing demographics of the student body.
California’s diversity is increasing at an extraordinary rate, especially with students
who have historically been underserved, specifically Hispanic students.
Purpose
The purpose of this case study was to research an urban area elementary
school that is closing the achievement gap and to examine the school-wide practices,
school-wide programs, and instructional strategies that contributed to the gap
closure. For this study, the term “achievement gap” was defined as the persistent
disparity in academic performance between groups of students, particularly between
affluent, White, or Asian students and students of poverty, color, minority students,
and second language learners. Considering the demands on schools, it was the hope

49
of the researchers to provide practical information to the educational field through
this case study.
This case study was one of nine in a thematic dissertation group. The group
members met regularly from December 2007 through February 2009. The team
shared resources, designed the study, developed the research instruments, and
completed the Institutional Review Board (IRB) application, evaluated findings and
results. Each study was an individual effort; however, the collective review of
findings provided further insight into similarities and differences between the school-
wide programs, school-wide practices, and instructional strategies that contributed to
the gap closure.
The Conceptual Model
From the review of literature, the dissertation team collectively developed a
conceptual model (Figure 3.1) to guide the investigation into the school-wide factors
associated with closing the achievement gap. The framework identified external and
internal influences from the research that may impact student achievement or
performance. The dissertation team referred to the external factors as those
influences from the outside world, government, or people. These included: state
testing, accountability, community expectations, the global community, school
populations, as well as NCLB. Inside the shaded circles were the internal factors
identified from the literature shown to affect student achievement and performance.
The internal factors were categorized as influences inside a school or district. The
internal factors identified in the framework included: leadership, teacher instruction

50
and practices, professional development, school culture, programs, and personnel
practices. Besides the identification of influences on student performance, the
dissertation team identified strategies from the literature and research that impacted
student achievement and the closing of the gap. These strategies located in the
dashed circle, included parent communication, teacher quality, early intervention
strategies, and the use of collaboration and data analysis.

Figure 3.1. The Conceptual Model

51
The conceptual model helped guide the case study investigation as the
researcher looked at how the school addressed the external and internal factors of the
framework and if the school utilized any of the known strategies identified to
improve student achievement. From the case study, the researcher and dissertation
team hoped to contribute additional strategies toward closing the achievement gap.
Research Questions
From the literature and the conceptual model, the dissertation team developed
three research questions for this case study. The investigation sought to develop a
deeper understanding of the effective school-wide programs, school-wide practices,
and instructional strategies to increase student achievement in a high performing,
high minority, and low socioeconomic urban school. The three research questions
were:
1. What school-wide programs promoted student achievement, in particular,
the closing of the achievement gap?
2. Which school-wide practices promoted student achievement, in
particular, the closing of the achievement gap?
3. What instructional strategies were implemented to target the closing of
the achievement gap?
Research Design
The thematic dissertation team wanted to gain a deeper insight into the
school-wide practices, school-wide programs, and instructional strategies that
contributed to achievement gap closure. Thus, a qualitative methods case study

52
design was selected. As Patton (2002) noted, “Qualitative designs are naturalistic to
the extent that the research takes place in real world settings and the researcher does
not attempt to manipulate the phenomenon of interest” (p. 29). In addition, the
qualitative case study design approach afforded the researcher the ability to focus on
a descriptive, in-depth understanding of phenomenon in a natural context from the
perspectives of participants (Gall, Gall & Borg, 2003). Last, the qualitative mixed
methods case study approach allowed the researcher to tell a program’s story, gather
information, and generate useful findings for the readers (Patton, 2002). With the
rich and detailed descriptions the readers had the ability to compare the case study
with their school or situation. The clear, transparent, and in-depth descriptions of
information helped to clearly envision the approaches and strategies that could easily
be interpreted and transferred to their educational community.
There were four main categories of tools selected to gather data and
information for this study, surveys, document reviews, interviews, and observations.
All of the tools were specifically aligned to the three guiding research questions of
this case study. The surveys provided the researcher with a clear, concise way to
gather specific information from a larger sample size population and were used to
confirm data from the observations and interviews. The review of documents
presented the researcher with an initial sense of the school and its programs and
practices as well as a way to cross reference findings. The qualitative methods of
interviewing and observations afforded the researcher the ability to explore the
practices, programs, and strategies of the school, tell the school’s story, gather

53
information, and generate useful findings for the readers in a rich, deep manner
(Patton, 2002). The results from the interviews and observations provided detailed
descriptions of the specific strategies, approaches, and interventions used in the
school.
For all of these reasons, the researcher and thematic dissertation group
selected the qualitative case study approach which best lent itself to this particular
case study, the research questions that were investigated, and the stakeholders’
interests.
Population and Sample
This study focused on one high performing, high minority, and low
socioeconomic urban school. The selected school was an elementary and middle
school, however, for the purpose of this study, the elementary grade levels
kindergarten through fifth were the focus. The dissertation group developed the
criteria for school selection. The agreed upon criteria included: the school must have
at least a 30% free and reduced lunch rate and must meet one or more of the
following criteria: (1) the school must score 20 points higher than the statewide API
for at least two of the following traditionally underperforming subgroups (minority,
low SES, students with disabilities and ELL) for at least two or more years, or (2) the
school has shown significant growth in API for 2 or more years in one or more of its
traditionally underperforming subgroups, or (3) the school must receive a similar
school ranking as defined by the state of at least a 7 over two years.

54
Mountain View Elementary and Middle School serves 661 students in grades
kindergarten through eighth. The school is located in a diverse, urban city twenty
miles east of Los Angeles, California. According to the California Department of
Education for the 2007-2008 school-year, Mountain View Elementary student
demographic data reflects the community population with 96% of the student
population identified as Hispanic learners, 2% Asian, 1% White, and 1% other.
Forty-five percent of the students were English Language Learners.
Mountain View met all four of the selection requirements for this study. (1)
Eighty-four percent of its student population participated in the Free or Reduced
Lunch program meeting the minimum requirement of 30% percent. (2) The school
scored 20 points higher than the statewide API for three of the traditionally
underperforming subgroups, Hispanic, low socioeconomic status, and English
Learners (Table 3.1). (3) The school showed significant growth in API for two or
more years in one or more of its traditionally underperforming subgroups. Mountain
View showed growth with the Hispanic population from 2005, 2006, 2007 and then
staying stable in 2008 as well as with the EL population from 2005, 2006, and 2007.
(4) The fourth and final selection criteria was the school had to receive a similar
school ranking as defined by the state of at least a 7 over two years. Mountain View
achieved this by receiving a state rank of a nine or ten for the last four years (Table
3.2).

55
Table 3.1. Significant Subgroup API scores

2005 2006 2007 2008
Hispanic: School 740 741 764 764
Hispanic: State 642 656 666 683
SES: School 736 734 761 756
SES: State 641 654 663 680
EL: School 717 719 747 740
EL: State 631 637 647 662

Table 3.2. School Rank

2004 2005 2006 2007
Similar School Rank 9 10 9 10

In addition to subgroup growth, Mountain View made significant growth in
its overall Academic Performance Index (API) growth from 2002 to 2008 (Table
3.3). This displayed an API point growth of 138 in six years.

Table 3.3. API Growth

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
School-wide API 627 688 719 741 743 767 765
State-wide average API - - - 709 721 728 742

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Instrumentation & Data Collection
This case study used four different data collection methods, which provided
for the triangulation of data. Triangulation helped build a multi-dimensional
perspective known to enhance the validity of a case study (Patton, 2002; Gall, Gall &
Borg, 2003). The researcher worked collaboratively with the thematic dissertation
team to select key documents for analysis, to develop a close-ended survey, to create
open-ended interview questions, and to build a field observation form. All decisions
related to the instruments were guided by the study’s three research questions. Data
collection took place at the school site over a period of ten weeks. Additional
information was obtained through the websites, and a document review.
The surveys and interviews were conducted with teachers, the principal, and
the current and former assistant principals. Observations of school-wide practices,
programs, and instructional strategies were also carried out. Field notes were taken
during the observations on an observation template (Appendix F) and in field
journals.
Document Review
The dissertation team collectively identified key documents to be collected,
utilizing the three research questions during the selection process. For each
document selected, the dissertation team listed what research question the document
addressed (Appendix C). The purpose of the document review was to gather
information on the school, student demographics, and test scores. The key
documents included the School Accountability Report Card, the Single School Plan,

57
the Professional Development Plan, the daily schedule, a list of teachers and support
staff, the English Learner, Technology and Safe School Plan, local benchmark
assessment results, School Parent Handbook, any available parent surveys, and the
school website.
Teacher and Administrative Surveys
The researcher and the thematic dissertation group developed two surveys,
one survey for the administration (Appendix A) and one for the teachers (Appendix
B). The surveys consisted of 37 closed-ended questions, which were geared toward
the research questions. Responses were based on a 4-point Likert scale (1 = strongly
disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = agree, and 4 = strongly agree). A four-point scale was
selected rather than a five-point scale to avoid participants choosing a neutral
position.
The surveys were divided into three sections with each section focused on a
different research question. Questions one through six addressed the first research
question, “What school-wide programs promoted student achievement?” Questions
seven through twenty-two addressed the second question, “Which school-wide
practices promoted student achievement?” and the remaining fifteen questions
gathered information on the third research question, “What instructional strategies
were implemented to target the closing of the achievement gap?” The researcher
compared the survey results with the responses from the open-ended interviews and
observations to confirm opinions, locate patterns, and triangulate results.

58
Teacher and Administrative Interviews
The researcher conducted semi-structured one-on-one interviews with key
stakeholders in the school environment, the principal, the current and past assistant
principal, and three classroom teachers. The site administrator asked teachers who
were willing to participate to be interviewed. Recognizing the small number of
teachers to be interviewed, the researcher utilized Patton’s (2002) opinion where he
stated, “The much smaller sample of open-ended interviews adds depth, detail, and
meaning at a very personal level of experience” (p. 17).
The dissertation team developed two interview protocols one for staff
interviews (Appendix D) and one for administrative interviews (Appendix E). This
helped obtain two different perspectives, that of the staff and the administration.
Both the principal and assistant principals voluntarily agreed to participate in the
individual interviews as well. The questions were designed to elicit the most in-
depth answers to the specific research questions that were being investigated. The
researcher tape recorded the interviews and took minimal notes during the session.
The note taking was to record non-verbal gestures or body language that would not
be picked up on the tape. The tape recording afforded the researcher the opportunity
to capture a participant’s exact response, helping to ensure accuracy of quotes and
findings. The researcher gained permission from each interviewee to tape-record the
session. The researcher also told the interviewees that the tape would be kept for
three years in a secure location, and after that time period it would be destroyed. The
researcher made every effort to put the interviewee at ease keeping with the ethical

59
guidelines of the Institutional Review Board (IRB). The follow-up questions and
interviews provided for thick, rich descriptions of school phenomena associated with
the practices, programs, and strategies of the high performing school.
Field Observations
As cited in Patton (2002), Howard S. Becker, one of the leading practitioners
of qualitative methods believes, “participant observation is the most comprehensive
of all types of research strategies” (p. 21). To fully understand the complexities of
the school site, the best research method may be direct participation in and
observation of the phenomenon of interest (Patton, 2002). The observations were
conducted and notes were taken on an observation tool and field journals. The
observation tool was used as a means to organize data into a frame or category. The
categories were based on Bolman and Deal’s (2003) four frames, symbolic,
structural, political, and human resource. The four frames provided the researcher
with a mindset to look beyond the surface and notice symbolic and cultural
observations as well. Formal observational notes started when the researcher gained
access to the school site. One full day and three partial day visits were completed for
field observations. The observation times and days varied throughout the fall
semester from September to December. Various events and locations were viewed,
including the classroom, the staff lounge, a staff meeting, and the front office.
Information gathered from the observations allowed the researcher to systematically
gather and interpret school events and processes related to school-wide programs,
practices and instructional strategies.

60
The use of the four data collection methods of observations, interviews,
surveys, and document review allowed the researcher to achieve a multi-dimensional
perspective and a deeper analysis of the practices, strategies, and approaches used in
the high performing, high minority, and low socio-economically disadvantaged
school setting.
Additionally, it was hoped that the findings from this case study were
strengthened through the use of the thematic dissertation approach. In this approach,
nine team members investigated a different urban school and participated in frequent
group meetings where observations and findings from each member’s case study
were shared. This group approach afforded the researcher and the thematic team an
opportunity to consider commonalities or patterns of the nine schools that an
individual dissertation study would not be able to provide.
Data Analysis
Data was collected and triangulated using the document review, surveys,
interviews, and observations. The researcher utilized Creswell’s Six Step process
(Creswell, 2003) to analyze and interpret the findings. Figure 2 outlines Creswell’s
Six Step process utilized by the researcher.
The first step in Creswell’s Six Step Process was to organize and prepare the
data. During this step, the researcher transcribed the interviews, typed up field notes,
and sorted the data. In step two, the researcher read through all the data and made
generalizations about the depth, credibility, and use of the information. Next, the
researcher analyzed the data in detail, and organized the material into meaningful

61
chunks. This was also the step where the researcher identified patterns and themes in
the results. The fourth step involved the identification of the five themes with
detailed descriptions of each. Step five was the qualitative narrative, which
conveyed the findings of the analysis. Lastly, the data was interpreted, looked at for
the lessons learned, and what might be the next steps for future research.

Figure 3.2. Creswell’s Six-Step Process

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Ethical Considerations
The researcher completed the Human Subjects Education Course and ensured
that this research study followed the guidelines of the University of Southern
California and Institutional Review Board. The researcher made sure that
participation in this study was absolutely voluntary and that the identity of the school
and staff would be held in highest confidentiality.

63
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF FINDINGS
“As serious interest in the achievement gap grows, the stories behind several
successes are beginning to emerge.” (Johnson & Viadero, 2000, p. 9).

Introduction
The story of Mountain View Elementary and Middle School is one of those
success stories particularly with closing the achievement gap. Despite the challenges
of poverty, language barriers, and a “segregated” learning environment Mountain
View Elementary and Middle School (MVEMS) worked toward closing the gap and
as defined by this case study was recognized as a high-performing urban elementary
school. With 96% of the student population identified as Hispanic, 45% of the
students as English Language Learners (ELL), and 84% of the student body
qualifying for free and reduced lunch, the researcher hoped to identify effective
methods conducive to closing the achievement gap with additional hope that the
findings were transferable so other schools too could apply them toward the same
challenge of closing the gap.
The findings presented in this chapter answer the three research questions
developed for this study as well as highlight the five underlying themes extrapolated
from thorough analysis of the data. The findings are organized by research questions
as well as by the internal and external factors identified in Chapter Two related to the
achievement gap. The purpose of the study was to research an urban area elementary
school that made significant progress towards closing the achievement gap and to

64
examine the school-wide programs, school-wide practices, and instructional
strategies that contributed to the gap closure. For this study, the term “achievement
gap” was defined as the persistent disparity in academic performance between
groups of students, particularly between affluent, White, or Asian students and
students of poverty, color, minority students, and second language learners. This
study was part of a thematic dissertation group that included eight other case studies
of high-performing K-12 public schools which met the selection criteria developed
by the dissertation team; at least a thirty-percent free and reduced lunch rate and one
or more of the following criteria: (1) the school scored 20 points higher than the
statewide API for at least two of the following traditionally underperforming
subgroups (minority, low SES, students with disabilities and ELL) for at least two or
more years or (2) the school showed significant growth in API for 2 or more years in
one or more of its traditionally underperforming subgroups, or (3) the school
received a similar school ranking as defined by the state of at least a 7 over two
years.
The variety of data collected between October and December of 2008
included (1) relevant document reviews, (2) teacher and administrative surveys, (3)
field observations, and (4) interviews with both administrators and teachers. Cross-
referencing the data from the four different collection methods allowed for
triangulation, which reinforced the validity of the findings. The findings answered
the three research questions developed at the onset of the study:

65
1. What school-wide programs promoted student achievement, in particular,
the closing of the achievement gap?
2. Which school-wide practices promoted student achievement, in
particular, the closing of the achievement gap?
3. What instructional strategies were implemented to target the closing of
the achievement gap?
The conceptual model designed by the dissertation team also helped to guide
the investigation. The researcher looked at how the school addressed the factors of
the framework and if the school utilized any of the known strategies identified to
improve student achievement. These strategies identified in the framework included:
parent communication, improved teacher quality, early intervention, and
collaboration/data analysis.

Figure 4.1. The Conceptual Model

66
First Impressions
When arriving for the first visit to Mountain View Elementary and Middle
School the researcher had to walk down a long sidewalk that led to the school office.
One side of the sidewalk was lined with rows of wooden benches where parents
could wait for their children at the end of the school day, while the other side was
lined with a chain link fence filled with colorful banners advertising after school
classes and programs, parent education classes, and the school’s API target, “800”.
There was a pretty large grassy area behind the wooden benches for children to play
on while they waited for their parents to get them from school. As the door to the
office was opened, there were two parents standing at the counter talking with the
office clerk in Spanish. The researcher’s entrance was not acknowledged until the
clerk was finished helping the family who arrived before me. When finished she
asked, “Hola, mija can I help you?” The researcher sat and waited for the principal
who later came out to greet her and led her into her office. Her office was lined with
bookshelves filled with three-ring binders, a cart of laptops, pictures of her family,
and a paper prominently and purposefully hung on the file cabinet by her office door.
The paper listed the five priorities of the school district. 1. Every school will
implement common assessments. 2. Every school will implement time for teachers to
have data driven collaboration regularly. 3. Every school will have quality leadership
and quality teaching in every classroom. 4. Every school will implement academic
interventions within the daily schedule. 5. Every school will make sure every student
is connected and engaged in school and has the support to do so. With the exception

67
of school safety, every priority matched the identified internal factors mentioned in
Chapter Two associated with the achievement gap: instruction, curriculum, school
safety, and relationships.
The principal although not new to the school was starting her second year in
the position. Previously she had served as the school’s assistant principal for two
years and before that had worked at the district office in the curriculum and
instruction department. The conversation started off with the particulars of the case
study, its purpose, and what the researcher was hoping to do as far as gathering
surveys, doing field observations, reviewing relevant school documents, and
conducting interviews. After answering any questions, the principal then gave a
sense of the school by sharing its goals, with much of this conversation focused on
professional development (P.D.) and student learning. “We are starting something
new this year, with staff meetings being more for P.D. and other business items
addressed through email or paper.” She discussed the first professional development
topic, Thinking Maps, which is already in place at MVEMS, but with additional
training over the summer she wanted to revisit the maps and bring them to the
forefront of conversations. After discussing professional development the principal
shifted the topic of conversation to student assessments and how the school uses data
constantly to drive decisions. During this conversation she provided an assessment
calendar for the school year outlining the dates of district benchmark exams and the
Reading First assessments. She acknowledged the small dip in state test scores and

68
responded with, “Our school’s scores dropped a little, but that’s okay, we’ve got our
work cut out for us, we can do it.”
MVEMS has been doing it, and because it has been doing it, it was selected
as the focus school for this particular case study. Despite the small drop in CST
scores, MVEMS worked hard to narrow the achievement gap and over the next ten
weeks, it was the hope of the researcher to find out what effective programs,
practices, and strategies were leading MVEMS to closing the gap.
Data Collection
Despite the positive start from the initial meeting with the principal, gaining
access into the school and communicating with the principal was a bit more difficult
to attain for the remainder of the study. This limited access could have been due to
several factors. First, the start of a school year for any administrator, seasoned or
new, can be quite hectic and chaotic. Additionally, MVEMS began the year without
an assistant principal, which caused the principal to be short-handed especially
during the time of year when huge administrative tasks need to be completed.
Lastly, the emotional connectedness or buy-in with the study could have been
lacking or limited due to the short relationship between the principal and the
researcher. Thus, the findings of the study are based on the data that was able to be
collected during the investigation.
Document Review
The documents that were reviewed included the School Accountability
Report Card (SARC) available from the district website, the California Standards

69
Test (CST) assessments available from the California Department of Education
website, the school/parent handbook, the school website, as well as MVEMS staff
roster. In addition, the successful California Distinguished School Application for
MVEMS was also reviewed. Data from these documents were sorted and organized
to determine whether or not there was a link between the programs, practices, or
instructional strategies with closing the achievement gap. For a list of relevant
documents to be reviewed and the research questions each document addressed see
Appendix C.
Surveys
Teacher and administrative surveys were created by the thematic dissertation
team with the intent of providing the researcher with an initial sense of the school as
well as increasing the sample size to assist with cross-referencing and confirming the
data from the observations and interviews. Three out of three administrative surveys
were completed and returned, one by the principal and the other two surveys by the
current and former assistant principals (A.P.). The former assistant principal served
as A.P. for one year and the current one had been on the job for only two weeks at
the time of the survey. Thus, the new A.P.’s survey had many unanswered
questions.
Eleven out of nineteen teacher surveys were completed and returned, which
represented approximately 58% of the elementary K-5 teaching staff. The small
return rate for the teacher surveys could be attributed to several factors. First, the
researcher unfamiliar to the staff was only introduced to the elementary (K-5)

70
teachers once and for a very brief period of time. Thus, the buy-in or emotional
connectedness to the study was very limited or non-existent. Compounding the
problem was the disconnectedness between the introduction of the study and the
distribution of the surveys. On the prearranged date to introduce the study and
distribute the surveys, the principal informed the researcher that there would not be
enough time to present. The principal wanted the meeting dedicated to the staff
development topic, Thinking Maps. The researcher negotiated with the principal to
adjust the length of time for the study presentation and agreed to allow the surveys to
be passed out by the principal the next day. Although this adjustment was not
helpful to the researcher for gaining buy-in and participation in the study, it
displayed the goal and drive MVEMS had toward improving instruction.
When the researcher arrived for a field observation, only six of nineteen
surveys had been collected. With the help of a teacher, the researcher was able to
obtain five more teacher surveys for a total of eleven.
The survey items were clustered by research questions and the results are
shared after each research question. Appendix A and B display the surveys used for
this study.
Field Observations
Field notes were recorded on the template during observations (Appendix F)
as well as in field journals. Field observations were carried out in classrooms
selected by the administrator, in the faculty lounge, at one staff meeting, and in the
front office.

71
Interviews
Six interviews were conducted with three teachers and three administrators.
The teachers who were interviewed were the same teachers who were observed for
field observations, again, selected by the principal. The interview questions are
listed in Appendix D and E. The interviews were audio taped and transcribed.
Findings by Research Questions
In Chapter Two, the literature review identified schools that had worked to
close the achievement gap and provided details explaining what the schools did to
address the internal and/or external factors found to influence the gap. This chapter
will follow that same outline, using MVEMS as the successful school, answering in
order the specific research questions with the findings organized by internal and
external factors. The themes that emerged from the study will be revealed at the end
of the chapter.
Research Question One: What school-wide programs promoted student
achievement, in particular, the closing of the achievement gap?
Mountain View “offers a myriad of programs and resources to help students
achieve academic success.” Although this statement comes directly out of their
successful California Department of Education 2008 Distinguished Elementary
School Application, one could have easily witnessed the vast number of programs in
place to support student learning just by spending time on their campus.
It is important to note that although this research question was investigating
what programs the school had in place to promote student achievement, the intent

72
was not to dig up a specific intervention program that solved all aspects of the gap.
The researcher was certain to consider all of the findings and evidence, taking
caution not to limit the investigation to just one specific curricular program.
Johnston and Viadero (2000) gave the same caution regarding programs by referring
to a research study out of Texas A&M, where researchers found after studying the
best schools for educating blacks and Hispanics in their state that the solid,
consistent implementation of programs was more important than the type of
program. The schools studied in Texas had a variety of programs in place just like
MVEMS, but what was important to consider was the reliable and sound
implementation of the program.
Internal Factors Related to School-wide Programs
The following section will present the findings from the first research
question, which looked at the programs that helped promote student achievement.
The findings are organized by internal factors. Internal factors are those variables
found within the school setting such as instruction (or the teacher), curriculum,
safety, and relationships. The researcher identified three of the four internal factors
at the school that addressed instruction, curriculum, and relationships.
Instruction.
Mountain View Elementary and Middle School had programs in place to
improve instruction by starting with the teacher and their instructional methods.
MVEMS did this in two ways, with a staff position called a Teacher on Special
Assignment (TOSA) leading an instructional development program and through

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Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) where teachers discussed effective
instructional approaches for learning. The following section will describe the TOSA
position and the instructional development program followed by an explanation of
PLCs and one particular trait the school had that heightened its effectiveness.
From the review of literature, studies concluded that the most significant
single factor impacting student achievement was the classroom teacher (Mantel,
2005; Marzano, 2003; Haycock, 2001, 1998; Rivers & Sanders, 1996). Thus
MVEMS worked to have the highest quality of educators for their students. This
was evident prior to the current principal, as through stories shared in interviews a
much liked and well-respected principal three years prior had worked hard to ensure
this goal. A teacher reminisced about the past principal’s hiring,
“She created this school by picking the staff…she hired new people that all
had the same kind of mindset. She hired a group of people that, quite
frankly, are workaholics. A lot of us are perfectionists and we are not happy
unless it’s working.”

MVEMS hired highly qualified teachers who understood the need to stay
current in instructional theories and methodologies and who recognized that this
knowledge would benefit the needs of their diverse student population. The culture
of furthering one’s learning was evident in the school’s mission statement, the
professional development goals, the distinguished school application, and through
the observation of teachers’ actions, which included horizontal and vertical
collaboration, peer-based learning, reading and discussing current literature, and
continuing their own education.

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As mentioned, MVEMS supported the continued development of the teacher
and the instructional program. This development was achieved through the roles and
responsibilities of the Teacher on Special Assignment, or the TOSA. Although the
TOSA was responsible for leading student intervention groups, the TOSA was also
responsible for leading a pseudo-instructional development program where staff
worked with the TOSA on a regular basis looking at data, analyzing achievement
results, discussing teaching strategies, and working to refine instructional methods
all within a safe, supportive professional learning environment.
With this TOSA position in place, the teachers felt supported when analyzing
student achievement data or when reflecting upon the effectiveness of the entire
instructional program. Positive support for the TOSA position was confirmed by
both survey and interview responses.
The TOSA comes in every other week once a week for about 45 minutes to
an hour. She will ask us for feedback before she comes in to find out what
she wants us to work on. She models lessons for us and then she will give us
resources for us to continue to use in the classroom.

When we are stumped we go to our TOSA….there is also a district TOSA.
She used to come in once a week but now she comes in every other week and
she demos a lesson. It is from the Houghton Mifflin and it is usually not the
general lesson that we are always looking at, something from the back, or
from the enrichment that we usually don’t get a chance to touch on. Usually
we find it really, really helpful.

This same teacher went on to say,

I really like it because I see things that I didn’t see before. I’ll ask her where
she got that….or she’ll twist things and do things a little bit different. So it
gives us some pretty good ideas. I go to her and bounce some ideas off her if
I am stuck.

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An upper grade teacher shared:
Three of us used the (TOSA) resource teacher to re-teach anything that
students didn’t make 70% or higher on. So any test, usually it was the little
ones, meaning the common assessments, I guess you’d call them, if the child
didn’t make 70% or higher, then they were pulled to go over that standard.
The resource teacher would start with pulling the ones who were in the sixties
or close, then going into the fifties and then the forties and then the ones that
were going to need a lot of re-teaching and then they’d take another test and
so we would have that.

The administrative team positively credited the TOSA position for ensuring
the consistent and reliable implementation of curricular programs, interventions, and
analysis of student data. Although the TOSA position was not a program per se, the
duties of the TOSA acted as if a program was in place to improve instruction. Some
aspects of the TOSA program included class and grade level visits, lesson plan
development, lesson modeling, and intervention development. Sharing positive
recognition of the position, thoughts of the administrative team included,
(The TOSA) she dialogues very closely with the teachers and we have seen
that to be very, very productive . . . . . she is with the teachers often so they
can have real dialogue about what they see.

There was a pretty big push in kindergarten through 3
rd
grade for Reading
First, where the literacy coach (and now TOSA) would go in and plan with
the teachers, get feedback, and make sure they were on target with ELA
curriculum.

To ensure the TOSAs were highly trained and knowledgeable in their field,
the distinguished school application revealed how they were trained on best practices
via a coaching institute funded through the district. Coaches were able to turn
around and provide in-class demonstrations of these effective instructional practices

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and provide professional development with emphasis on essential literacy
components.
As confirmed from these excerpts, the TOSA position helped develop the
instructional program by encouraging and supporting the analysis of student data,
facilitating discussions related to instruction, modeling good teaching practices, and
allowing for collaboration in a safe, professional environment. The relationship
between the teachers and the TOSA was one based on trust and respect. This was
revealed when a teacher shared that when she was out of ideas on how to help a
student, “I go to the TOSA.” Being able to have honest conversations about the
effectiveness of ones’ instruction requires a great deal of mutual respect and trust. A
teacher who was asked what aspect of the school culture supported student learning,
she replied, “We trust each other.”
The second program MVEMS used to support instruction was the use of the
Professional Learning Community. PLCs were used as a tool for teachers to discuss
effective teaching practices and student data. The PLC helped to guide instruction
and improve student learning. When the researcher asked a teacher if their grade
level had any specific strategies that were used to close the gap for all students, she
responded with, “I would say that we are coming up with them through the PLCs.
We are working together to come up with things and focus more.” PLCs are again a
great platform for teachers to discuss good teaching approaches, techniques, and
methodologies as well as to share lessons that worked well for effective student
learning.

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MVEMS had the culture of trust already in place for the PLCs to work. A
teacher shared, “At our school there is a lot of sharing. . .if I find something that
works, then I want to share it.” Another teacher stated, “We get along very well, we
are in and out of each others classrooms all the time.” The former A.P. shared,
“MVEMS had a very different culture, they actually wanted people to be in their
classrooms.” When asked what created that culture a teacher shared a story about
the past principal, “(The past principal) put forth the message to all of us that we
need to work together, we need to have an open mind, and we need to recognize that
these are all our kids….I guess it stuck.”
Both the TOSA program and the use of the PLCs appeared to work toward
improving instruction through the use of collaboration, frequent analysis of data, and
teacher reflection. Considering the Conceptual Framework (Figure 4.1),
collaboration and data analysis were both identified in the literature as factors that
positively influenced the achievement gap. The two programs also addressed the
district’s priorities (1) teachers were provided with time to have data driven
collaboration regularly and (2) every classroom provided quality teaching. The next
section will consider the programs associated with the second internal factor
identified, curriculum.
Curriculum.
MVEMS recognized the importance of curriculum in two ways. First, the
school and the district ensured their families that students would receive a quality
standards-based instructional program. Next, the school provided safety nets for

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students who were not able to demonstrate the standards at a proficient level via
intervention programs. This section will first illustrate how the school and district
guaranteed a standards-driven educational program followed by a description of the
intervention programs in place at the school.
The expectation of the district and school was that every teacher taught to the
standards and followed the pacing guides. The former assistant principal recollected,
It is the norm . . . if you wanted to work in this district then you’re going to
have to use Houghton Mifflin, you’re going to have to follow the pacing
plans, you’re going to give all the assessments, and you’re going to use these
specific programs. It was expected that you could create your own as well,
but it was expected you used these.

“The school used effective, research-based instructional practices in its
curricular program,” as quoted in the distinguished school application. The program
consisted of six elements (1) a coherent standards-based academic program, (2) on-
going assessment tied to the standards, (3) professional development tied to
standards and curriculum content, (4) collaboration regarding students performance
on the standards, (5) knowledgeable leadership to aid in improving student
achievement, and (6) coordinated support through the TOSA and district coaches.
As you can see, standards were intertwined everywhere as the assistant principal
stated, “Everything was aligned to the standards.”
To emphasize the district’s focus on ensuring a standards based program, the
former assistant principal shared, “Everything was standards based, the report card,
instruction, pacing guides, assessments,” purposefully repeating, “Everything was
standards based.” Even the SARC mentioned teacher trainings and curriculum

79
development revolved around the standards and the state Frameworks. To help
facilitate implementation of standards-based lessons, the school provided time for
grade level planning every other Thursday and the evaluation process was used to
ensure faithful implementation. “There was a component of the evaluation that
asked if lessons were aligned with the pacing plan.” The former A.P. described how
lesson plans were reviewed for standards alignment and informal walk throughs were
conducted to monitor and assure standards were covered. “It was my role to make
sure that the teachers were in fact teaching from Houghton Mifflin and (the lesson)
was aligned to the pacing schedule.” During the informal observations the principal
and assistant principal used a check off form to give teachers feedback.
My principal and I created an informal observation form that had standards
based instruction and strategies in there that we can check off, and then an
area to leave comments. We left these forms in their boxes.

The distinguished school application clarified the checklist,
To help teachers meet their professional goals, school administrators
conducted informal class visits and used a checklist aligned to the CSTP
(California Standards of the Teaching Profession) to provide feedback to
teachers.

The current assistant principal also mentioned the same process of class visits
using the informal observation form. He added reflective questions for teachers to
ponder in the comment section. The A.P. also shared that the district expectation
intended to ensure a rigorous standards-based instructional program with quality
teaching in every classroom, “The district expects administration to spend at least
three hours a day in classrooms.” Although this can provide a challenge for

80
administration to complete other tasks, the directive clearly displays priorities. In
addition to lesson plan review and class visits, the formal evaluation worked to
guarantee a cohesive program, as a portion of the evaluation rated a teacher on their
ability to follow the standards and pacing plans. Frequent benchmark tests and
Reading First assessments also were used to gain insight on curricular alignment and
effectiveness of the instruction.
The second program that answered the internal factor of curriculum was the
school’s intervention program. MVEMS was aware of the serious outcomes that
could occur if students were not making the grade or demonstrating proficiency of
the content standards. The principal shared one tragic consequence, dropouts.
If students are failing their classes, getting F’s…they are more likely to drop
out…if that is true and there is research to back that up we can just look at
our data and say this student and this student and this student are going to
drop out. How can we in good conscience say that, knowing that they are
here and we can intervene? We cannot say to them, ‘hey this is the road you
want to choose then so be it.’ We can’t allow them to make that choice
because they are adolescents…we have to support them. We have
interventions built into the school day and that doesn’t cost us anything ….
Other things we are exploring is their lunch period and we already have a
tutorial program in place every single day.

MVEMS was dedicated to all students succeeding and staying in school. If
children did not attain proficiency levels for the standards of their grade level there
were several opportunities available to students to make the grade, or in the language
of the standards based report card, reach “proficiency.” These opportunities were in
the form of before, during, and after school intervention programs. Students were
cognizant of the help offered at the school. A student shared in their distinguished

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school interview, “I enjoy being at (Mountain View) because the teachers help you,
ever during their lunch time.” The former assistant principal validated the number of
interventions available at the school and the process,
When I was there they had a lot of interventions, two TOSAs…. Their role
was to work with students during the school day and pull students out on
their needs. For example, they worked with students for four-six weeks and
then pulled new ones in. We also had after school intervention that was
funded by the state where teachers taught interventions after-school for an
hour about three days a week. These were for at-risk students who were
below or far below basic on the CSTs and they would cater instruction to
their needs and then there was summer school as well.

When asked if he thought these interventions were successful in closing the
achievement gap he replied,
I think so. I think it was successful because students received targeted
intervention and not get something that was a blanket lesson for the whole
group in their general education classroom. They got to go to a different
room, work with an expert in a small group setting of five to ten students and
work on what they needed.

“Before school begins, students who are at risk of being retained take
intervention classes to help them meet the promotion requirements” (California
Distinguished School Application). The school had a formal process in place for
identifying students who were not on track for making it. The former Assistant
Principal explained,
We started at the beginning of the school year, in September there were
certain criteria, for example grades 2-5 it would be based on CST scores and
anyone that was far below basic or below basic were automatically placed as
‘at-risk’ and they would be entered on an at-risk form. We would hold an at-
risk meeting with the parents and say, ‘here are the data and this is what they
need to be promoted or else they are at risk of being retained’. Throughout
the school year the teachers would fill out the assessments and write down
whether they were making progress or not….students who don’t make it by

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the end of the school year are required to go to summer school where they
have the opportunity to take a test and if they pass they can be promoted.

This same process was outlined in the distinguished school application for
students who were at-risk of being retained. Reiterating the process, the students
were provided with intervention classes specifically designed to address the gap in
academic knowledge and if necessitated by student data a Student Success Team
(SST) meeting was held with the teacher, parents, administration, and student to
identify areas of weakness and strength and to develop another intervention strategy.
If upon further review more intensive interventions were needed a School
Attendance and Review Team (SART) meeting was conducted. This process
displayed a pyramid of intervention for the students.
Although many of the intervention programs were formal pullout programs,
computer-based intervention programs were offered too. The distinguished school
application mentioned the computer software programs set in place to help students
work at their own level and pace to advance their achievement, Compass Learning,
Accelerated Reader, Waterford Early Literacy, and My Access Writing were just a
few. The computer programs motivated and challenged the students. The school-
wide Accelerated-Reader program was one popular example from the interviews.
My kids love it. It has gotten to the point where everybody rushes to the
computer. To motivate them I give them first, second, and third place prizes .
. .and it goes not by how many points you have but it goes by how many
points you’ve grown since the last time.

Another teacher shared the same positive results with the Accelerated Reader
program and how she too was sure to award growth and not just total points,

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AR especially helped (in reducing the achievement gap) because it helped
students be accountable to growth. . . wherever you came in you had to make
one years growth in one year. So if you came in at a 3.3 you could go to the
Book It movie (at the end of the year) if you left us at a 4.3. That’s not grade
level for fifth grade, but you made one year’s growth...we are acknowledging
that you grew a year or more.

In addition to the computer software programs the school had intervention
programs in the classroom and implemented strategies such as flexible, small groups
with differentiated instruction. One particular in-class program was called Reading
First. This is an early elementary literacy program that worked with the district
adopted Language Arts program. Reading First was mentioned over and over again
in the interviews as an effective literacy program to help kindergarten through third
graders become proficient in reading. A teacher described the program as one that is
run with their Language Arts adopted curriculum, Houghton Mifflin (HM).
Basically what happens is we use all the components of the HM program and
after every theme the students are tested on everything from comprehension,
spelling, vocabulary, writing; all forms of the program. The test results are
compared with all of the schools who use Reading First in the district…..we
get an assessment back which gives us feedback……..we can compare
ourselves with the district in general. It shows us within our school where the
teachers are scoring. Then it tells us as a grade level how we are doing with
all the other Reading First schools in the district.

The principal described this program as one that ensured constant monitoring
of student performance,
One highly effective K-3 program is called the Reading First program
…..using the data (from the theme assessments) they identify the students
that needed intervention. The teachers would look at all the students…..not
just those in a specific classroom…… there was very, very close monitoring.

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Another component built into the Reading First program was something
called Universal Access Time, which was another way of providing intervention for
students within the school day. The former A.P. described it,
All the teachers were required to have 30 minutes a day of universal access
time where teachers would have kids work independently so teachers could
pull specific kids out to work on specific targeted skills, for example,
children that needed work on long vowel sounds with silent “e” this would be
their time. You would have other students with meaningful work at their
desks and this would be the teacher’s time to pull four to five kids to give
them focused instruction, this was something I never saw before and saw it to
be very valuable.

Reading First appeared to be a program that had three common practices
woven into it, regular assessments that provided for frequent monitoring of student
performance, collaboration to discuss effective practices for student performance, as
well as re-teaching or intervention strategies for students not displaying proficiency.
With constant monitoring of student achievement it was vital to keep all
players, including the parents informed of progress or lack of progress. As
mentioned in the SARC, MVEMS “works diligently to maintain open
communication with parents regarding their child’s progress throughout the school
year.” The school provided all families information on the programs available for
children who needed additional assistance to achieve grade level proficiency.
Programs such as tutoring, the reading improvement program, Homework Club, and
sessions with the Literacy Coach were also highlighted in the SARC. To help with
the needs of the students new to the country the school also provided a New Comers
class at the district. A teacher described this program,

85
We have a newcomers class, so if you’ve only been in the country a year or
less than a year, three times a week, the first thing you do after attendance is
get on a bus to another school and they’re all together. They are given the
very basic of English for that year.

School-wide programs associated with curriculum were afforded attention via
the comprehensive standards-based instructional program and the availability of
interventions for students. With these programs, MVEMS met the fourth district
priority, implementation of academic interventions during the day. The programs
also met two of the conceptual model variables to impact student achievement,
intervention and data analysis. The next section will address programs that foster the
third internal factor, relationships.
Relationships.
Being mindful that the simple act of building a sense of community could
reduce the number of students at risk for failure or dropping out, (Becker & Luthar,
2002), MVEMS worked to foster that feeling. There was one program in particular
that worked to establish a sense of community, belongingness, and celebration for
the students, Pride Assemblies. The following section will describe this delightful
strategy to celebrate student learning, behavior, and attendance.
MVEMS used monthly assemblies to celebrate student success. Monthly
Pride Assemblies were held at the end of each month where students received
recognition for their efforts in achievement, behavior, and attendance. This platform
for recognition, spirit, and pride allowed students to demonstrate a sense of
community. As stated in the research, students who were in schools that

86
demonstrated a sense of school community had positive academic attitudes,
especially with disadvantaged students (Battistich, Solomon, Kim, Watson &
Schaps, 1995). The distinguished school application described the assemblies,
Pride Assemblies are held once a month. Teachers from each grade level
choose their students of the month. These students receive an award, a
classroom supplies kit, and a gift certificate from a local community business.

In addition to those awards students received Accelerated Reader awards and
class attendance recognition. Attendance awards were calculated with attendance
stars. Each class kept track of their own attendance stars by tallying every day the
entire class had no absences and no tardies. The class with the most attendance stars
was recognized at the Pride Assembly. In an interview a teacher shared how the
school promoted student attendance as well as the Accelerated Reader incentive.
The last Friday of the month…attendance awards are presented (to the class
with the highest attendance rate). We also do our accelerated reader prizes,
which is the classroom with the most Accelerated Reader points. The class
gets some sort of an incentive prize.

In addition to the monthly awards, trimester awards were given out during
Pride Assemblies. The “Principal’s Award” was given to students who displayed
positive behavior, superior academic achievement, and excellent citizenship in
school. Students were also recognized each trimester with the “Assistant Principal
Award” for growth in any area, such as academics or behavior.
This monthly Pride gathering allowed students to be recognized for their hard
work in many areas of the school day, including academics, behavior, and
attendance. Getting together as the MVEMS Family allowed the school to build a

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sense of community to foster belongingness and pride in the students. By holding
assemblies, the school worked to meet the fifth district priority, which was to make
sure every student was connected and engaged in school with the support to do so.
Summing up the internal factors related to school-wide programs, MVEMS
addressed three factors, instruction, curriculum, and relationships. Highlights from
the three internal factors included: coaching, collaboration, and frequent assessments
with data analysis, standards, monitoring, interventions, and belongingness. The
next section will introduce the school-wide programs in place related to the external
factors known to influence achievement.
External Factors Related to School-wide Programs
As previously mentioned external factors are those variables that occur
outside the school, specifically family, environment, income, and health. MVEMS
clearly understood the significant impact these particular external factors had on
student achievement as the school had programs in place to address all of them. The
following section looks at how MVEMS responded to each, beginning with family.
Family.
As mentioned in Chapter Two there are countless research studies that
showed the importance of parental support and school involvement for
disadvantaged students (Becker & Luthar, 2002). MVEMS recognized this
importance and responded with the implementation of several programs that
promoted parental involvement, support, and education.

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The school recognized the benefits of parental involvement and even quoted
research in their distinguished school application to demonstrate their awareness,
MVEMS prides itself in being a ‘family friendly school.’ Research has
shown that when parents are involved, student achievement increases
(DePlanty et al., 2007; Sheldon and Epstein, 2005; Sui-Chi and Willms,
1996), student attendance increases (Epstein and Sheldon, 2002), and student
behavior problems decrease (Sheldon and Epstein, 2002).

MVEMS acknowledged the positive effect parental involvement, support,
and contributions made to the school’s success. This appreciation was evidenced in
their distinguished school application, SARC, surveys, and interviews. Two teachers
both recognized the relationship with their parents and the Booster organization as
one specific aspect of the schools’ culture that supported student achievement, “I
think that would be our Boosters and our rapport with the parents.” The teacher went
on to say, “They want to give us everything we need; they are always offering help
in the classroom…they are excited about being here….we try to promote a family
atmosphere.”
The Boosters is a parent organization that is made up of parents from the
school that works together to improve the financial, environmental, and academic
conditions of the school (California Distinguished School Application). The
Boosters Program had a key role in encouraging involvement, support, and even
keeping the school environment safe and healthy for their children. The parent
organization was recognized by a teacher for their work at providing their children
with clean drinking water while at school,

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The parents are really involved in the school. They went to the district to
complain about the water not being drinkable at the school and they actually
got the district to come in and re-pipe everything. I don’t think they would
have done that without the parents.

MVEMS believed in shared leadership. The school encouraged parents to
become involved with different school committees that relied on shared decision-
making. The principal shared,
We believe in shared decision making at (MVEMS), we seek parental
involvement through our School Site Council (SSC) and English Learner
Advisory Council (ELMAC). I also have teas with the parents to connect
with our families.

In addition to the support and involvement provided by the Boosters, the
school offered parental education opportunities for families as well. The educational
trainings provided parents with information on a variety of topics that included
homework, communication with their children and their child’s teacher, standards-
based instruction, testing, internet safety, gifted education or GATE, and
adolescence. Providing avenues for families to gain access and support from the
school expanded the community of belongingness to parents as well. MVEMS not
only supplied support systems for the family, the school offered programs to address
the environment too. The next section will explain what programs the school had in
place to deal with the external factor, environment.
Environment.
Recognizing that a students’ home environment could have a direct effect on
student achievement, MVEMS implemented several programs to counter the
challenges that come with living in home environments of poverty. The

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environmental factors identified in the literature known to influence student
achievement included supervision as well as the availability of resources such as
books, computers, and the Internet. MVEMS addressed all of these factors with
programs made available to students after school.
The school extended the library hours three days a week to provide students
access to books, computers, and a staff member who was available to help students
complete homework and research projects. In addition to the extended library hours,
MVEMS provided after school Homework Club, tutoring, dance and drama classes,
as well as sports programs. One specific program had an academic component to it
where students would have to complete homework under the supervision of their
coach and then participate in the sport.
With many students having limited access to computers and the Internet,
MVEMS was part of a grant program called the One to One Laptop program.
Students in particular grade levels all received their own laptop. There were certain
criteria that the parents and students needed to do to get the laptop, for example
attend an initial meeting and other computer trainings. There were criteria the
student needed to maintain as well such as good attendance and behavior to keep the
laptop. Families’ houses were then wired for wireless internet access so students
could use the computer at home. A teacher described,
Parents and students had to go to a meeting to be a part of the program….it
was motivating to the students to maybe like to come to school, and not be
tardy because if they are tardy too many times then it (the laptop) can go to
restrictive use.

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The current assistant principal mentioned that this group of parents involved
in this program also signed a contract to come to a certain number of trainings
throughout the school year. This was a strategy the A.P. used to increase attendance
at parent trainings with the benefit of a larger group of parents getting important
information about their child and their child’s education.
MVEMS created equity for their students by affording them access to the
resources often limited to students living in areas of poverty.
Income Level.
Although a school cannot directly help with income level, MVEMS found
ways to help supplement some of the basic needs such as food and clothing, shoes to
be precise.
First, the government’s Free and Reduced Lunch program provided 84% of
the students at MVEMS with access to both breakfast and lunch. This vital program
helped approximately 575 students start the school day well fed and able to focus on
their learning instead of their hunger.
Next, during the Thanksgiving season, the staff worked with the Boosters to
make Thanksgiving baskets filled with food items for families. These baskets had
enough food for families to make many warm meals during the holiday season.
Finally, to keep shoes on their growing feet, the school participated in a non-
profit program that supplied shoes to needy children. This simple gesture saved
many families money to use on other household needs.

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Without directly giving families money, these programs provided assistance
for the basic needs. It was through partnerships of the Boosters, teachers, and local
businesses that made this possible.
Health.
MVEMS coordinated school and community resources to foster healthy
students. As mentioned in the SARC, it was the goal of the school to assist students
in their social and personal development as well as academics.
MVEMS paid special attention to students who experienced difficulties with
behavior by providing them counseling services through a family counseling center.
In addition, several programs were in place to screen for the general health of the
students. As mentioned in the California Distinguished School Application, vision
and hearing screening was provided three to four times during a students’
educational career at the K-8 school. Dental checkups through a local dental
organization were provided for kindergarten and first grade students.
As you can see, MVEMS did a lot to address all of the external factors
related to student achievement. Highlights from the section on external factors
included: parent organizations, parent education, after-school activities, intervention
services, and health screening. Despite the influence of these factors coming from
outside the school, MVEMS proactively responded.
To conclude research question one, what school-wide programs promoted
student achievement, the researcher reflected on the survey responses that afforded
an initial sense that programs were in place at the school. By the end of the study,

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the researcher revisited the survey and was able to match evidence with the majority
of the responses confirming the findings. The survey items, general survey
responses from both the teacher and administrative surveys, and evidence are listed
below. It is important to note that the survey items listed are those that addressed
school-wide programs. The next section investigates the internal and external factors
related to the second research question, what school-wide practices promote student
achievement.

Table 4.1. School-wide Programs Promoting Student Achievement
Survey Items General Responses Evidence
1. The school has a school-wide professional
development program or programs for teachers to
enable all children in the school to meet the state
academic content standards.
All responses
supported this
statement.
Professional development
in place of staff meetings
2. The school has a school-wide program or
programs to increase parental involvement through
means such as family literacy services.
The majority of
responses supported
this statement, with two
disagrees marked.
Parent education flyer,
training dates
3. The school has a school-wide program or
programs providing training to teachers in effective
instructional methods and strategies.
All responses
supported this
statement but one
teacher response.
Professional development
on academic language,
Thinking Maps
4. The school has a school-wide program or
programs that provide effective, timely assistance for
students who experience difficulty in attaining the
proficient or advanced level of the academic content
standards.
All responses
supported this
statement.
TOSA position,
intervention programs,
after school tutoring,
computer-based programs.
5. The school has a school-wide program or
programs to assist teachers in the use of academic
assessments to provide information on, and to
improve, the achievement of individual students and
the overall instructional program.
The majority of
responses supported
this statement.
TOSA position
P.D., Reading First coach,
grade level meetings
6. The school has a school-wide program or
programs that provide teachers training in effective
classroom management and discipline strategies.
The majority of the
responses felt this was
a need.
Ca. Distinguished School
App mentioned a
conference.

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Research Question Two: What school-wide practices promoted student
achievement, in particular, the closing of the achievement gap?
The vision statement for Mountain View emphasized the commitment to
standards-based instruction through the use of effective, research-based practices.
To honor this commitment the school implemented several practices to constantly
monitor, adjust, and improve. Some of the practices included professional
development, collaboration, communication, instructional monitoring, and academic
standards. Throughout the investigation, the researcher identified a number of
different practices used to help promote student achievement.
Internal Factors Related to School-wide Practices
The following section revealed the findings of the study related to the second
research question, which investigated the school-wide practices that promoted
student achievement. Again, the findings were organized by internal and external
factors. The practices utilized at the school tackled three of the four internal factors,
instruction, curriculum, and relationships.
Instruction.
MVEMS had three practices that worked toward improving instruction (1)
professional development, (2) time to collaborate, and (3) leadership. The following
will describe each of these practices beginning with professional development.
MVEMS was committed to improve their teachers’ instruction through the
use of professional development (P.D.). During the researcher’s first visit the
principal mentioned her goal to have staff meetings focused on P.D. and typical staff

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meeting business handled through email or memos. Even the former assistant
principal shared this vision in his interview, “My principal’s goal was to make them
(staff meetings) more instructional, as we moved on into the year.”
This practice was put into action during the researcher’s field observation of
a staff meeting where P.D. on Thinking Maps occurred. “Thinking Maps” were
already an instructional strategy utilized by teachers to help students write across all
curricular areas, however, it was the principal’s objective to revisit them and
improve the practice.
According to the School Accountability Report Card, the district also
provided professional development during after-school workshops, at in-services,
through summer institutes, and at professional conferences. These P.D. sessions
were led by guest speakers and consultants from a local university in the Los
Angeles area.
After providing P.D., time was built into the weekly schedule for the staff to
collaborate and discuss instruction. This time was created through early release
days. The principal described how she used her staff meeting time on Tuesdays to
introduce a professional development topic and then on Thursdays in their grade
level meetings the teachers’ conversations revolved around that P.D. topic. The
principal shared,
I introduce topics or P.D. at a staff meeting and they were going to continue
(these topics) at their grade level, for example our topic was academic
language, as they went through the CST items …they came up with a list of
academic vocabulary and as you teach the lessons you realize what you want
to focus on, for example, the phrase, derives from, the students are going to

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be hung up on derive, because they don’t know what that word means….we
found there is some academic language that needs addressing.

The former assistant principal shared this same pattern that certain early
release days were used for planning and some were for conversations related to
student learning or reserved for the TOSA or Literacy Coach to come in,
The early out Thursdays, some of it was used to talk about grade level
business, working on field trips, some used it for collaboration, some were
used for individual planning time, and time to bounce ideas off of each other
on how to work with a difficult child, sometimes the coaches or the TOSA
would come in, to provide suggestions on whatever they were working on.

Another teacher described collaboration time as,
Early release days were on Thursday. We got to have our grade level
meetings every other Thursday during this (early release time) where we
discussed standards and then the opposite Thursdays were used for planning
time.

It was apparent that the importance of collaborating and discussing student
performance was engrained in the culture of MVEMS. One teacher described
collaboration as,
We get together and look at data and discuss it and figure out what our next
steps are with the students, where the kids need more help, and what we are
going to do to move them up.

Another shared, “We meet all the time. We get along very well and we are in and
out of each other’s classrooms all the time.”
An upper grade teacher shared,
We have grade level collaboration twice a month. We have a standards focus
for a month we ask what are we going to focus on at the grade level. (The
past principal) instituted that way back when but its evolving now into more
with this PLC really looking at data instead of just grade level standards, we
have had that in place for eight years. You’ve got teachers that can go and

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watch other teachers teach. Or I can go in and do a lesson to help a teacher.
We have our Reading First TOSA who comes in and works with K/3 and
model lessons. So collaboration is different but there is a lot of it.

Besides grade level collaboration MVEMS also provided time for vertical
collaboration. A teacher shared her experience with vertical collaboration,
We try to give feedback to the different grade levels to find out what do you
really want us to focus on before they get to the next grade. Sometimes it is
very informal and sometimes it is done at a staff meeting. Maybe four times
a year we do vertical collaboration. We find that very helpful since we really
don’t know what the other grades are looking for and they don’t know what
we are looking for.

To improve instruction it was necessary for teachers to participate in
professional development and collaborative teams. However, it was also necessary
to develop the knowledge and training of the instructional leader at the site. The
district priority, every school will have quality leadership, was met through
continued education for the principal. Principals had leadership meetings where
research-based approaches and literature were focused on and discussed. Last year,
the principal was sent to a conference on Professional Learning Communities. This
year she is part of a program called, One to Watch. This program provided her the
opportunity to work with other principals and to develop her leadership skill.
The principal was also fortunate to have a background in Curriculum and
Instruction before her years as the principal and assistant principal at MVEMS. She
believed that this experience truly benefited the school,
In that position we created many components that we now use (like pacing
maps). It helped me understand…I saw good teaching in many of the schools
I used to visit and I can use that knowledge to have teachers go and visit. I
could tap into (teachers I met) when I was at the district office.

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In addition to training and experience, the principal had access to supportive
colleagues. The principal shared many positive thoughts about her support system,
I get to visit other schools where they have great strategies and great things
going on and they are doing it as a PI (Program Improvement) school. Our
colleagues all work together, we send documents to each other, if we are
having a discipline problem, we can send that child there for awhile, “Sure”
(the principal says), and of course the child wants to go back to their home
school…we as principals come up with our own strategies and are willing to
share, our A.P. was going to visit another site about the lunch and using it for
intervention because he went to a principal’s meeting and some of the
principals were sharing how they made this work. My colleagues are
wonderful, …there are some great things happening inside our district. They
are ready to share, what do you need and the next day they email the
documents or say ‘come and visit our school.’ So our A.P. is getting a team
together to see what that (lunch intervention) looks like, so from that school
we will gain great ideas.

These practices supported the district’s goal to ensure quality leadership. It
was also the belief of the researcher that all three of these practices, professional
development, collaboration, and the development of the leader, all worked together
to improve instruction at the school site. Next, school-wide practices related to
curriculum will be considered.
Curriculum.
As mentioned in the literature review, teachers in high-poverty, high-minority
schools often provide students with a watered-down curriculum, covered less
material, and awarded higher grades for lower performance than in other schools
(Kober, 2001). To compare this statement with what was observed at MVEMS, the
school provided a curriculum that was monitored for rigor as well as solid
implementation. The amount of material covered was ensured through the use of

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pacing guides. The school also used a standards-based report card where proficiency
levels were based off of multiple measures. Students’ scores were based on common
assessments, standards, and rubrics.
The school had practices in place that ensured the reliable implementation of
the curricular program accompanied by a high degree of rigor. The former assistant
principal revealed,
It was part of my job to ensure that the pacing guides were being
followed…there was a lot of coherence in the reading program, everyone was
required to use the district adopted language arts programs, Houghton Mifflin
and the district provided everyone with the year-long pacing plan…

He went on to say,
At the lower grades they were really focused on explicit and systematic
instruction, pretty much a lot of their lessons were very explicit, teacher
driven, teacher centered, I don’t know if they were necessarily scripted, but
they followed the HM program to a tee.

Besides the district-adopted curricular programs the school used a program
called Standards-Plus. It is not the intent of the researcher to discuss the program
itself but to highlight the practices woven into the program. A teacher’s description
of the program highlights these practices,
These are mini lessons that are meant to be for re-teaching or reviewing….So
let’s say we are doing capitalization, there is a mini lesson on capitalization
and the rules that you are reviewing and there is one (follow up) worksheet
……..we have mini lessons for every standard that there is. So you do four
lessons and an assessment….It is a four questions assessment…..You have
maintenance lessons so you can come back and do the maintenance. We
looked at when we taught each standard and strand in our district pacing
calendar and then we scheduled the Standards Plus lessons to fall in
conjunction with or after we taught (the lesson) so that the kids would have it
as a review….So it’s a practice and a review and it’s ongoing. ….You can’t
use it to gauge necessarily how they are going to do on say a district test or

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something when the standards are all mixed together…but it does figure out
in a nut shell glance, do they get it or not.

These practices included quick common, formative assessments after a short
unit was conducted. If the students did not score within proficient ranges,
interventions groups could easily be identified and pulled for re-teaching. Quick
formative assessments provided for timely feedback, which is a critical element to
promote continuous learning (DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, Many, 2006). Students and
teachers were provided with immediate access to data to make informed decisions
related to learning and teaching.
In addition to formative assessments, summative assessments were used too.
The former assistant principal shared,
There would be common interim assessments that all teachers would engage
in, there were computer programs that the teachers had to use to input their
scores so that there was dialogue about data.

Frequent assessments supported the solid implementation of a rigorous,
standards-based curriculum. The next section will address practices that fostered the
third factor, relationships.
Relationships.
MVEMS had a variety of practices to foster, strengthen, and maintain
relationships between teachers and students as well as relationships between teachers
and administration. Some of the practices identified included hiring practices,
monitoring assessment results, conducting home visits, and having data chats. The

101
following section will explain all of these practices in the context of the
student/teacher relationship and the teacher/administrator relationship.
As stated in the research, it was important for teachers to understand
students’ values, culture, and life experiences. To help foster this understanding, the
past principal worked to hire a more diverse teaching staff. With all teachers now
serving an average of five to ten years at MVEMS, teachers reflected on the hiring
practices,
When I started here, there were maybe four of us (that were Spanish-
speakers). Especially with the population, I think 90% of the kids come from
Spanish speaking families. Now I think (the staff) is more fifty-fifty. There is
almost one or two teachers at each grade level that speaks Spanish.

Another teacher shared,
When I first came to this school I don’t think it (parent participation) was as
prominent as it is now….The kids see the parents helping out, they are proud
of their schools and they are excited about being here. We try to promote a
family atmosphere. Almost everyone that (the past principal) hired was a
Spanish speaker, which I think helps give our kids a role model to aspire to.

The new assistant principal shared with the researcher that he actually was a
Mountain View graduate. “I went to this school, I lived in this neighborhood.” He
shared that his parents still lived in his childhood home. He shared how he feels a
sense of responsibility to be a role model for the children of MVEMS that they know
they too can grow up in this area, go to college, and get a good job.
A teacher who does not speak Spanish acknowledged the students’ language
and culture, “I wish I spoke Spanish. I think it would be very helpful because my
students’ parents speak Spanish.” However, she outlined a number of different ways

102
she could reach out to the students and their families utilizing the many resources
available at the school,
I can have the student translate for me (if it is a quick thing). If I need to I
can get the office staff or someone here to write a note for me in Spanish. At
conference time, we have the noon aides who speak Spanish paid to translate.
The report cards are sent home in Spanish or English depending on what you
need. If it’s a long note and the office staff does not have time to translate it
for you, then I write a sentence in Spanish at the bottom of the note that says
if you need this translated please bring it into the office so the office can
translate. And I believe that at every grade level there is one teacher who can
speak Spanish so if I absolutely have to I can go to them.

Besides the practice of hiring teachers’ who were of Hispanic/Latino
background and spoke Spanish, there was a second practice the school utilized to
help with relationships. Ironically this practice had to do with testing. The practice
of frequently assessing students’ performance actually worked to build relationships
with them. Safety nets were created to catch students before they got lost in the
shuffle. This practice helped build and maintain relationships with students because
it sent a message that someone was looking out for them and was there to help. The
feeling of being supported and cared for was evident in a student’s thoughts about
MVEMS in the distinguished school application, “They (the teachers) won’t let us
get away with turning anything in that is not your best.” The school’s mission
statement also sent a message that the school watches out for every single child.
“MVEMS is a learning community committed to standards-based instruction and
continues improvement through differentiated instruction, ensuring that no child will
be left behind.” Practices such as these worked to meet the district’s goal that every
child would be connected and engaged in school with the support to do so.

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Conducting home visits was another practice in place to build relationships.
When students were not attending school or having recurrent behavioral problems, it
was not unusual for the assistant principal to knock on the front door of their home.
“I am doing more and more (home visits), as I realize the effectiveness of them. I go
down after work and talk to the families.” The former Assistant Principal also
shared his experience with home visits,
I had done home visits a couple of times, one for misbehavior, the teacher
and I went over there to talk to the parent and I remember doing another one
where we had a hard time getting a hold of the parent to seek her out. The
home visits were more of a response to ‘we tried everything we did in the
school, let’s go over and see what is going on’.

Reaching out to families by calling parents at home displayed the caring
attitude of classroom teachers. One teacher shared,
I send behavior notes home to parents letting them know of the reason… I
want to make sure that the parents always know what is going on. And if
parents have email I email frequently just to keep in touch. Because
sometimes parents can’t come in because they work late or I make phone
calls at home after I put my baby to sleep I give parents a phone call.

It is clear, MVEMS had several practices in place to create, build, and
maintain relationships between the student and the teacher. In addition to
student/teacher relationships, the school had practices that built relationships
between the administration and staff. The first practice described also relates to
hiring practices.
When the researcher was first trying to identify a focus school for the case
study, it became apparent that the current principal of Mountain View came up the
ranks from Assistant Principal. Knowing that this was an effective practice

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identified in the literature with some of the successful schools, the researcher wanted
to find out more about how she came to the position. A long-time teacher to
MVEMS shared the story,
(The principal we had that really started to implement changes to help our
school’s scores) was very liked at our school by both teachers and parents.
She created this school by picking the staff. Then she left in the middle of the
summer with no warning to us. So we had the rug yanked out from under us.
Our current principal came right after (the liked principal) left as our VP.
She was a constant through our interim principal and then through the
principal who only lasted a year, and then when that principal announced that
he was leaving, the teachers got together and we actually ironically had a
union person coming out to talk to us and take a poll of the school. So at that
meeting we said that we wanted our VP to be our principal. We don’t want
anyone else. Then the parents banded together and went to one of the board
meetings with the same request. So she was constant. She was familiar with
our school, our culture, and she speaks Spanish which is a real help.

An obvious sense of respect had to have been built if the teachers and parents
had petitioned for her to be the school’s principal. However, the school continued to
go through administrative changes with two assistant principals in two years. So to
help foster these relationships, the administrative team implemented “data chats.”
Although the intent of the data chats were to look at student data and become aware
of the needs of the school, the data chats fostered relationships between the teachers
and administration. The former assistant principal described these chats as meetings
where,
(The principal and the assistant principal) met with each teacher for about 30
minutes, looked at their data, talked about the class profile, what they were
going to do to help the kids, what they were going to do to help kids who are
not meeting standards and what we could do to support them in their
endeavors.

105
The meetings helped the administrators connect with the teachers as well as
maintain a general understanding of the achievement levels school-wide, and to keep
a pulse on the school’s morale. The meetings were a way for the administrators to
reach out to the teachers, create stronger working relationships, and spread a
message that you are not alone in the educational process of teaching our students.
Through hiring practices, home visits, and data chats relationships were
created and fostered with both the students and teachers.
To sum up the internal factors related to school-wide practices, highlights
included: professional development for the teachers and administration,
collaboration, curriculum monitoring, common assessments, hiring, communication,
and cultural awareness. The next section will look at one identified practice related
to the external factor, health.
External Factors Related to School-wide Practices
The researcher could only identify one school-wide practice that addressed
the external factors. The reader should be cautioned not to assume that the other
areas family, income, and environment were non-existent. It is possible that the
researcher simply did not see them during the time of the study.
Health.
Although health is an external factor, the school helped to attend to it by
providing families with information and services available for their children. The
Student Study Team (SST) and the School Attendance and Review Team (SART)
were two vehicles that provided the school with opportunities to share available

106
resources and information to families for their child. The following will briefly
explain each of these as well as reveal another school community partnership that
aided in supplying support for children at MVEMS.
The school had several practices in place to identify and monitor students at-
risk of falling behind. The School Success Team (SST), comprised of teachers,
administration, parents, a counselor, and a psychologist met to discuss students who
were at-risk of not making it. During this meeting, the team could give families
information on health services that may help the child. These services could be
explained and assistance to complete paperwork could be provided during these
meetings. For example, the team could assist the family with Medicaid applications
or family counseling paperwork. One teacher mentioned this process in her
interview,
We talk to the parent and see if they are interested in counseling and then we
help them fill out the paperwork and then (the counseling center) talks to the
parents and then they organized it themselves when they can meet.

The school kept an eye on student attendance patterns too. In addition to the
SST, there was a school-level attendance committee, called the School Attendance
and Review Team (SART) that met with families to discuss the importance of
consistent and timely attendance. The current A.P. had shared a story from a recent
SART meeting where a family said they did not have enough money to buy clothes
for their children to go to school. A teacher who served on the SART committee
delivered two huge garbage bags full of clothes the very next morning to his office

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for the family. This simple act of kindness displayed the commitment and care of
the teachers at MVEMS.
Besides the SST team and the SART committee, the school had a partnership
with a family-counseling center. This partnership, mentioned in the distinguished
school application, was recognized by a teacher as being very important for students
who needed intervention beyond academics. “For some students there were just
other things that they needed, especially with this population. A lot of kids needed
counseling or have just a lot of family issues.” In addition to working with students,
the family counseling works with the parents and teacher to provide them with
strategies they could apply at home or in the classroom.
To conclude research question two, MVEMS had a variety of school-wide
practices in place to promote achievement. Highlights from the external factor
section were communication and monitoring. After completing the analysis of
school-wide practices, the researcher again reviewed the survey responses related to
practices to verify answers with the evidence gathered at the end of the study. The
researcher was able to identify and match evidence supporting the survey item
responses. The next part of the study investigates research question three, which
explored the instructional strategies implemented to target the closing of the
achievement gap.

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Table 4.2. School-wide Practices Promoting Student Achievement
Survey Items General Responses Evidence
7. Teachers are encouraged to collaborate with
other teachers on instructional matters on a
regular basis.
The majority of the
responses agreed or
strongly agreed.
Grade level & staff meetings, early
outs, PLCs
8. Teachers have an active role in identifying
and implementing professional development
goals and objectives for the school.
All responses
supported this
statement.
PD was peer led ex: Thinking
maps Found statement to support
in distinguished school application
9. I regularly discuss my teaching with my
administrator(s).
The majority of the
responses supported
this statement.
Walk throughs, class visits, check
list, data chats
10. The evaluation feedback I receive from my
administrator(s) assists me to improve my
teaching effectiveness.
All responses agreed
or strongly agreed.
No evidence identified to support
this.
11. I am aware of specific areas of interest that
my administrator(s) looks at when visiting my
classroom
The majority of
responses strongly
agreed.
Walk through/ class visit sheet
12. Assessment of student learning is
accomplished to improving, rather than just
monitor, student performance.
All responses
supported this
statement.
Culture is about improving,
intervention ladder
13. The assessment of student learning is based
on specific, clearly identified academic
standards for student performance.
All responses
supported this.
Data chats, CST scores,
benchmark assessments
14. Teachers seek feedback from other teachers
to improve their teaching.
All responses
supported this
statement.
Talk in lounge, grade level
meetings
15. Decisions about school improvement are
always based upon our school improvement
plan.
A large majority of
responses supported
this.
School’s academic focus math
based on test scores
16. Teachers at this school have comparable
expectations regarding student academic
performance.
Almost all responses
agreed with this.
High expectations, lessons
observed, language in documents
17. Professional development training over the
past year has provided useful information
helping me increase my teaching effectiveness.
All responses agreed
with this.
“Thinking Maps,” academic
language
18. Teachers at this school are encouraged to
use the same or similar instructional strategies.
All responses agreed. Facilitated by TOSA modeling
lessons.
19. There is an intentional effort to improving
home-school relations and parent participation.
Almost all responses
supported this.
Parent ed trainings, one to one
Laptop program, parent
participation
20. Academic content you expect your students
to learn is dictated by district’s adopted
curriculum
All responses agreed
or strongly agreed
with this.
Curriculum maps, pacing guides,
standards based report cards
21. Academic content you expect your students
to learn do you (or you and your colleagues)
select.
Most of the responses
supported this
statement.
ELD lessons
22. Academic content you expect your students
to learn is selected by your students.
All responses
disagreed with this.
Content clearly was aligned to
standards through interviews.

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Research Question Three: What instructional strategies were implemented to target
closing of the achievement gap?
The instructional strategies utilized at MVEMS were constantly being
monitored and adjusted to ensure a rigorous instructional program. Some
instructional strategies included explicit and systematic lesson plans, rigor, effective
teaching methods, expectations, student engagement, and small and large group
instruction. After sorting through the available data related to instructional
strategies, it became apparent that only internal factors were identified.
Internal Factors Related to Instructional Strategies
The following section revealed the findings of the study related to the third
research question, which was what instructional strategies were implemented to
target the closing of the achievement gap. Again, the findings were organized by the
internal factors, with three out of four identified which were instruction, curriculum,
and relationships.
Instruction.
As stated MVEMS worked to monitor and adjust instructional strategies to
meet the diverse needs of their student population. The school did a few things to
help tackle the internal factor of instruction. First, the school responded to practices
that were no longer working effectively and made adjustments. Next, teachers used
their own strengths and areas of expertise to better instruction for student learning.
Although this could be categorized as a “practice” the researcher chose to list this as

110
instructional strategies because their strengths of the craft worked to improve
instructional approaches.
MVEMS was a school with a large population of English Learners. Taking
this into consideration the school adjusted some of their instructional strategies to
help increase student understanding. To help teachers do this, time was provided to
meet with the TOSA and grade level teams as well as opportunities to attend
institutes and observe peer-modeled lessons. The following will describe one
additional instructional approach intended to meet the needs of MVEMS’s ELL
population.
To respond to the diverse needs and challenges that come with teaching
students whose first language is not English, MVEMS had instructional strategies in
place to provide students with language instruction to help access the curriculum.
As mentioned in the school’s mission statement, the use of differentiated instruction
was in place to ensure that no child would be left behind. The researcher observed
the use of differentiation to match the students’ language proficiency for English
Language Development (ELD). This was a newer practice to MVEMS based on the
needs of the teachers and students. The former A.P. shared,
A lot of the teachers were frustrated with the huge disparity of ELL levels
they had in their classrooms. This was because their classrooms were created
to be very heterogeneous with certain criteria such as the number of boys and
girls, behavior issues, high and low academics, and ELL levels…the staff had
discussed what they could do to make their ELD time a little more efficient
so they didn’t need to differentiate their instruction as much. So the year I
was there, there were a lot of conversations about how to do that.

111
The principal shared that the solutions came from the teachers. “They
decided at each grade level when and how they wanted to do ELD.” She went on to
share, “Some grade levels decided to stay with the group, while all K through three
wanted to do rotations … some decided they’d do it for six weeks and then rotate
groups.” One teacher described their grade level solution,
That was new this year. Last year every teacher did their own ELD program.
We were all using “Into English” or the Houghton Mifflin ELD handbook,
but we basically had all the various levels of students in our classroom so we
kept our whole class which meant I had some beginners, intermediates, and
some that were basic. So this year what we tried to do was separate them into
groups where one teacher has the beginners and one teacher has the
intermediates and two teachers have the higher intermediates and English
Only’s. Our teacher that teaches the beginning ELD class, she only has about
12 students. And the ones that have the higher students like me I have 23 in
my class.

The majority of the grade levels divided the students between teachers by the
students’ language levels. One teacher took the beginners, one took the intermediate
level, and another had the high. There was also a teacher who took the students’
identified as English Only. The principal attributed the success of this practice to the
conversations that took place prior to implementing the change,
They knew it was going to be change and that’s why we talked about it last
year to prepare. When the school year started they were ready for it and now
that they see what they see and the benefits of it, they know it was the right
thing to do.

The researcher observed the ELD rotations in second grade for one of the
field observations. It was evident that the children were working on targeted skills to
help them access the curriculum. One teacher who had the high students worked out
of the Houghton Mifflin, where they discussed and identified compound words. The

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students were able to practice this skill in partners as the teacher walked around the
classroom providing assistance. In the classroom with beginning level ELs, the
teacher was working on basic needs vocabulary related to school. The children
looked at picture cards and practiced saying the words in English. Then they did an
activity where the teacher asked, “Can you find the (named object)” and a child had
to come up to find the picture. When the researcher asked a teacher where their
lessons came from, she shared,
Well we are using the Houghton Mifflin English Language Learners book,
and some of it is ‘think of it on our own’ and we are trying to add in the focus
of whatever is in our HM book which is part of the focus wall.

The former assistant principal shared,

We had the Into English, Hampton Brown English Language Development
curriculum. We also had a phonics program, and the supplemental English
Language guides from Houghton Mifflin. But basically we required
everyone taught 30 minutes of ELD each day to comply with the state
regulations and the teachers designed lessons according to the ELD
frameworks to meet the needs of their students.

When the researcher asked about monitoring and assessing EL students a
teacher shared the process her grade level utilized,
We use ELD monitoring tools. They are like the SOLOMS. We do them four
times a year. So we start with our beginning score which was like the
baseline and that is how we group the students. There is a different score for
listening, speaking, reading and writing and then we take all those scores
together and total them together. Then we assess right before reports cards
and move students accordingly into different groups. So that might mean that
we move our teachers according to what is needed. And when we are doing
our ELD class we try to focus on things that will move the student over.

In addition to constant monitoring and adjustment, the next instructional
strategy to improve instruction was through the recognition and use of one’s

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strengths. The researcher uncovered this practice through interviews It was used to
help improve student learning. This instructional strategy was found in both the
upper grades with language arts and math instruction as well as in the primary grades
with ELD instruction. The upper grade teacher shared her story of using her
strengths,
Well, this starts way back with the past principal. My first year at this school
I was a 4
th
grade teacher and then the second year at this school there was
need for writing and language…well, there was a teacher who is really good
in math and she was kind of going bananas with some of the writing stuff and
language arts stuff so I said I’ll do your writing and you do my math and so
we started teaming. And that year, I think it was, I also did another teachers
writing in the afternoon too. It was kind of a three-way teaming. And then
the following year, it was just two of us (teaming) for two or three years,
(then the teacher left to another grade level) and so when the new teacher
came, I said to him to please not make me go back to doing math it has been
so long. And he said please don’t make me go back to doing language arts so
the two of us now team. He is now known at this school for being a math
genius and because I have been teaching eight years (this way) I have 15
classes worth of experience and I’m really good at my subject. I can go deep
in language arts and I can spend time developing the lessons.

The teachers in the upper grades used their strengths for better instruction in
math and language arts. A primary teacher shared the same concept of using one’s
strength to improve instruction. She had mentioned when discussing ELD rotations
that based on the need of the students, “We move our teachers according to what is
needed.” Referring to using teachers who are bilingual for the early language
learners.
Through monitoring, adjusting, and use of strengths, MVEMS did a lot to
address instructional strategies related to instruction. The next section considered
instructional strategies related to the internal factor, curriculum.

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Curriculum.
MVEMS provided clear curricular goals and utilized the practice of frequent
assessments to help ensure programs were consistently implemented. These
practices also helped teachers to identify if their instructional strategies were
working effectively based on student outcome. In addition to reflection of
instructional strategies through the use of grade level collaboration, data chats, and
meetings with the TOSA, the demand for high expectations was also utilized. The
following section will address how teacher reflection and high expectations related to
the internal factor, curriculum.
Time to reflect on one’s teaching has shown to be an effective practice for
continued improvement. The teachers take time to reflect during grade level
meetings, especially with the TOSA. At the end of the year the TOSA led a
reflective session to identify the goals for the next school year. One teacher shared,
Toward the end of the year we end up looking at our Reading First scores
with the TOSA and then we pick a focus area for the next year. And it’s not
going to be the same students that we had last year, which is really tricky. We
look to see what we were weak in and that is what we focus on the next year

In addition to reflection, the school demonstrated a culture of high
expectations. Using the research from the literature review, national data confirm
high-poverty schools have much lower expectations for student performance than in
schools with affluent, non-minority populations; nothing could be further from the
truth at MVEMS. The first line of their California Distinguished School Application
quotes a parent, “The teachers really care about our children and they expect a lot

115
from them.” High expectations for student performance were identified not only in
school documents, but it was witnessed during observations and heard again and
again in the interviews.
High expectations are defined as “the confident belief that all students can
attain mastery of the essential learning and that the staff has the capability to help all
students achieve that mastery” (DuFour, et al, 2006, p. 216). These expectations
were noticeable from documents and interviews. One teacher shared,
I think the biggest part of our school culture is that we all have really high
expectations and the kids know it. And it’s not that I have these high
expectations for you and good luck getting there . . . We will help you to get
there and do just about whatever it takes, even if we have to bend over
backwards . . . .You will find that (attitude) in almost every classroom here.

The teacher went on to share,
It was interesting, the kids that were interviewed for our distinguished school,
one of the 8
th
grade girls said, as she was crying, they expect a lot from us
here but then they care about us and they know we can do it and they won’t
let us get away with turning anything in that is not your best.

Utilizing both reflection and high expectation, MVEMS addressed the
instructional strategies related to curriculum. Reflection helped the teachers guide
their own improvement as well as develop their grade level targets. It also met the
variable in the conceptual model (Figure 4.1) to improve teacher quality. High
expectations set the bar for what was expected for student performance and teacher
instruction. The next section will look at instructional strategies in place that worked
to create and maintain relationships.

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Relationships.
MVEMS had two instructional strategies in place to help build and foster
relationships between students and teachers. The first practice was through the use
of looping and the second was through the frequent monitoring of student
performance.
As often is the case when creating classes, students rarely come in neat
packages of twenty or thirty children. MVEMS had traditionally needed a
combination class in the upper grades. For the past two years the school needed a 4
th

and 5
th
grade combination class. The combination teacher had the benefit of
“looping up” with her fourth graders to fifth grade. She recognized the benefits of
this practice, “They all knew me.” Research states that looping provided children
with additional time to build relationships and provided more time for teaching and
learning, as the traditional beginning of the year transition time was not needed
(Burke, 1997).
The second instructional strategy that addressed relationship was the frequent
monitoring of assessments. As previously described under research question two,
the benefits of frequent monitoring fostered student/teacher relationships. Teachers
were able to keep a watchful eye on all of their students and the students’ knew it.
One teacher shared how she tracked students’ reading levels for Accelerated Reader
and made sure the students were aware that she knew. “I show them on the
computer (referring to their reading level). I bring them over and I show them,
‘Look I know what you’re reading’ (and how well).”

117
Through the instructional strategies of ELD rotations, the watchful culture
continued beyond the walls of a teacher’s homeroom list. By dispersing the children
for ELD instruction to other teachers’ classrooms, relationships between more
teachers could be fostered. This validated the school culture that ‘the students
belong to all of us’.
To sum up the internal factors related to instructional strategies, MVEMS
addressed instruction, curriculum, and relationships. Highlights from this section
included monitoring and adjusting instructional strategies, use of strengths,
reflection, high expectations, looping, and monitoring student performance. As
stated at the start of research question three, the researcher was not able to identify
instructional strategies conducive to the external factors family, environment,
income, and health. This may have been due to limited access to the school or
because of the allotted amount of time dedicated for the study. The researcher
reflected on the survey items for the third and final research question that looked at
the instructional strategies implemented to target the closing of the achievement gap.
Listed below, the researcher matched evidence with some of the survey items.

118
Table 4.3. Instructional Strategies Implemented to Improve Student Achievement
Survey Items General
Responses
Evidence
23. When developing my lessons, I consciously select
content that meets the district’s student competencies
and performance standards.
All responses
agreed with this
statement.
Curriculum, Standards Plus
program, Response to Lit
lesson.
24. When developing my lessons, I consciously select
instructional materials based upon my knowledge of my
students’ developmental needs and learning styles.
All responses
agreed with this.
Class visits – visuals
25. When developing my lessons, I consciously select
teaching methods and strategies that accommodate
individual student needs and interests.
All responses
agreed with this.
Class visits, singing, action,
class games, interaction,
rhymes
26. When developing my lessons, I consciously prepare
lessons with high expectations designed to challenge
and stimulate all students
All responses
agreed with this.
Observed during class visits,
also documented in Ca
distinguished app.
27. When developing my lessons, I consciously build
upon my students’ existing knowledge and experiences.
Almost all
responses agreed
with this.
Observed during class visits
28. When developing my lessons, I consciously
consider how to create active learning experiences for
my students to facilitate engagement
All responses
agreed with this.
Not consistently observed.
29. When developing my lessons, I consciously
consider how to create cooperative learning experiences
for my students.
Almost all
responses agreed
with this.
Did not observe.
30. When developing my lessons, I consciously create
lessons that require integration of content from more
than one content area.
Almost all
responses agreed
with this.

31. When teaching, I monitor students’ understanding
of the content and make adjustments accordingly.
All responses
agreed with this.

32. When teaching, I move among the students,
engaging individually and collectively with them during
the learning experience.
Almost all
responses agreed
with this.
Observed during field
observations – class visits
33. When teaching, I consciously employ teaching
strategies and instructional materials that stimulate
higher-order thinking skills
Almost all
responses agreed
with this.

34. When teaching, I create social interaction among
students by requiring students to work as a team with
both individual and group responsibilities.
Almost all
responses agreed
with this.
Class visits
35. When teaching, I vary the size and composition of
learning groups.
Almost all
responses agreed
with this.
Class visits, ELD rotations
36. When a student is having difficulty with an activity
or assignment, I am usually able to adjust it to his/her
level.
All agreed with
this.

37. At your school, peer tutoring is often used to assist
struggling students.
Almost all agreed
with this.

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Discussion
Before revealing the central themes of the study, this section will discuss
some concluding thoughts considering all three of the research questions and the
evidence provided in this chapter. Particularly, the researcher will summarize what
MVEMS did to address the internal and external factors as well as the variables
identified in the Conceptual Model.
MVEMS addressed all of the internal and external factors shown to influence
student achievement when considering all three areas – programs, practices, and
instructional strategies. The internal factors that were most consistently addressed
were instruction, curriculum, and relationships. Further study of how the school
addressed safety would be necessary to determine if this would be an area of need.
According to the literature, safety referred to the rate of violence on campus and the
implementation and effectiveness of a behavior management system. Inquiry into
the number of and reasons for suspensions could help with this area.
MVEMS addressed all external factors – family, environment, income, and
health. It was noted from the evidence that the all of the external factors were
managed through programs versus practices or instructional strategies. Some of the
programs that handled the external factors had funding sources tied to them, such as
after school tutoring and free and reduced lunch programs. The other programs
identified had the financial support of the parent organization or local businesses.
The researcher took time to consider whether additional areas could be added
to either internal or external factors known to influence achievement. Initially the

120
researcher considered adding culture, but through further consideration concluded
that culture runs through each and every internal and external factor.
Considering the variables in the conceptual model (Figure 4.1) that impacted
student achievement, the researcher discovered three of the four. These variables
included parent communication; improved teacher quality; and collaboration/data
analysis. The one variable that was not identified throughout the duration of the
study was early intervention. Additional investigation into this area would need to
be completed. The researcher did identify the internal factors particular to the
framework, which included - school personnel practices (specifically the hiring
practices), school programs (research question one), school culture (identified
throughout the investigation), professional development (research question one), and
schoolteacher instruction and practices (research question two and three). The
researcher would have liked to investigate school leadership by interviewing some of
the past principals, especially the one who was often referred to in the interviews as
“the past principal”. However, this was not possible at the time of the study. Three
external factors on the conceptual model were found through the study, these
included school population, state testing, and accountability. More in depth study
could be conducted for all areas of external factors particular to the conceptual
model, in particular, community expectations.
Taking into account the above conclusions and all of the data collection,
which was organized and analyzed, the researcher identified five common themes
that will be revealed in the next section.

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Common Themes
Several reoccurring themes emerged from the triangulated data collected
from documents, surveys, observations, and interviews. The five themes were:
highly qualified experienced teachers, a commitment to a standards-based
curriculum, a culture of continued professional growth through collaborative
learning, a culture of research-based data-driven decision making, and a culture of
response to student learning.
Kati Haycock (1998), stated, “If we but took the simple step of assuring that
poor and minority children had teachers of the same quality as other children, about
half of the achievement gap would disappear” (p.3). Teachers, being identified
through the literature as the single most influential factor in student learning, are the
first theme identified for this study. The school worked diligently to develop the
teachers’ practices, methods, and strategies. Through the use of regular professional
development the teachers were continually reflecting on their craft. Students were
taught by highly qualified teachers who averaged five to ten years of teaching
experience. Through hiring practices, the staff’s overall make up reflected the
culture and language of their clientele. The teachers’ drive, dedication, and devotion
for the students of the school were evident in all aspects of the school and its culture.
The second theme that emerged from the findings was the commitment to a
standards-based curriculum. The vast amount of monitoring tools such as class
visits, observations, formal evaluations, and lesson plan monitoring ensured the
implementation and displayed the school’s commitment to provide students with an

122
education aligned to the standards. Quoting the words of the former assistant
principal, “Everything was standards-based.” The use of standards was apparent
through teacher’s conversations with colleagues, administration, and parents. Grades
were reported on standards-based report cards. Professional development and
trainings revolved around standards. Standards were the driving force with
instruction, the determining factor for curriculum, and the focus of the school.
The third theme recognized the culture for continued professional growth
through collaborative learning. MVEMS was focused on providing opportunities to
learn through collaboration. Through the use of a coach, or a TOSA, teachers
discussed current literature and research, instructional strategies, shared effective
practices, and modeled successful teaching methods. Collaboration occurred in
formal staff meetings, grade level meetings, and PLCs. Not only were discussions
horizontal but vertical as well. Collaboration reached out beyond the school walls
with teachers meeting with others throughout the district to better their knowledge,
adjust their craft, and shared their expertise.
A culture of research-based, data-driven decision making was the fourth
theme pulled from the findings. Decisions were not only guided by research but by
data that was gathered through frequent and common assessments. These
assessments helped measure students’ understanding of the content standards and
curriculum being taught. Two examples of cumulative assessments were the
trimester benchmark exams as well as the Reading First tests. Data came in many
forms at MVEMS, summative and formative assessments, California Standards Test

123
(CST) data, and even computer software results (Accelerated Reader). From the data
teachers adjusted their practices, selected intervention students, and planned school
or classroom goals. Moving students between ELD rotations were based off of data,
identifying students for tutoring – data, formulating school goals – data. Data was
everywhere, which moves us to the fifth theme, a culture of response.
From the frequent analysis of data generated by regular assessments of
student achievement, the culture of MVEMS was to respond to student learning.
Response, the fifth theme, was confirmed by the availability of resources for students
who were not meeting proficiency. Response was in the form of intervention
classes, before and after-school tutoring, parent education sessions, and parent
meetings such as SST, SART, and at-risk conferences. Teachers responded to
students’ achievement by adjusting their teaching techniques to more effective
approaches, modifying the size of their instructional groups, adjusting the pace of
their lessons, re-teaching difficult concepts, or by reaching out to the student. The
school took it upon itself to make sure programs were in place for students to access
the standards and curriculum. The culture of response created safety nets for
students so they were not lost in the shuffle or slipped through the cracks. The
practice of monitoring and response helped to build relationships between the
students and the teachers. The message was sent to students that the school and staff
knew how you were performing and were there to help. MVEMS truly emulated
their mission statement not to leave a child behind.

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How did MVEMS work toward closing the gap? The findings revealed that
the school created a culture of dedication; dedicated teachers who were dedicated to
learning through professional collaborative teams, dedicated to teaching a
standards-based curriculum, dedicated to monitor student data, and use the data to
respond. It was apparent through the detailed descriptions of the findings that the
practices, programs, and instructional strategies were backed by research and
effective practices shown to influence student achievement.

125
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND IMPLICATIONS OF FINDINGS
Overview
The pressure on schools to close the achievement gap intensifies as NCLB’s
deadline of 2014 fast approaches. The urgency to find effective strategies to increase
student performance across all groups of students has become critical.
Unfortunately, the amount of literature identifying effective practices is limited.
Compounding the limited resources is the diversity that exists in our public school
systems throughout the country. With variables such as demographics, income, and
language so different at school sites, it is hard to guarantee practices that worked at
one school are transferable to another. The purpose of this case study was to identify
a diverse, urban elementary school that has met the challenge of closing the
achievement gap despite poverty levels. In addition to having a minority population
that has typically gone underserved in this country’s educational system, the selected
school for this case study made significant progress in education and achievement
levels.
Purpose of the Study
This case study looked at a high-performing, high-minority, high-poverty
elementary school that has made gains in closing the achievement gap. It was the
hope of the researcher to identify effective school-wide programs, practices, and
instructional strategies conducive to closing the gap. It was also the hope of the

126
researcher that the findings were transferable to other schools and contributed to the
literature on successful schools and effective methods.
Methodology
The methodology chosen for this case study was qualitative. This approach
allowed for thick, detailed descriptions of the programs, practices, and instructional
strategies utilized at the school site. Data collection took place over ten weeks, from
September to December of 2008. Data collection instruments included document
reviews, surveys, interviews, and observations. The researcher organized the
findings by the internal and external factors identified through the literature shown to
impact student achievement. Cross-referencing data from all of the collection
methods allowed for triangulation and to increase the validity of results. The review
and careful analysis of data provided insight into the programs, practices and
strategies. With the most significant, reoccurring findings, five common themes
were extrapolated from the data.
Significance of Findings
The five common themes were identified at the conclusion of the case study.
These themes included (1) highly qualified experienced teachers, (2) a commitment
to a standards-based curriculum, (3) a culture of continued professional growth
through collaborative learning, (4) a culture of research-based data-driven decision
making, and (5) a culture of response. While this study as an individual case is not
significant, it is possible that when the nine thematic case studies are viewed

127
together, potential common themes among them may suggest more significant results
regarding programs, practices, and instructional strategies.
Conclusions
As indicated by the data gathered at this high performing, high minority
urban elementary school, the programs, practices, and instructional strategies had an
impact on closing the achievement gap. Kati Haycock (1998) of the Education
Trust, stated that the achievement gap could be closed if school districts worked on
improving three things: standards, curriculum, and teachers. It was apparent from
the findings that MVEMS did just that.
The explicit, direct expectations from the district and the school to provide
the students a consistent, solidly implemented standards-based curriculum worked to
promote student achievement. Although one could interpret the constant monitoring
procedures in place as mistrust, it was apparent that this was not the case and was
seen as part of the culture of what one must do to help students achieve. Guidelines
and monitoring procedures were in place to guarantee a rigorous, non-watered down
curriculum. Techniques such as lesson plan monitoring, administration sitting in on
grade level meetings, supplying teachers with pacing schedules, and rating their
performance based on the ability to supply such a curriculum, all sent the message
that the district and school meant business when it came to educating students.
It appeared from the data that developing the skill and knowledge level of the
teacher through the use of professional development and collaboration had a positive
impact on student achievement. The use of frequent assessments and analysis of the

128
student data allowed teachers to reflect on the effectiveness of their own instructional
strategies. The conversations regarding practice occurred in a safe, trusting,
professional learning environment, often led by a peer-coach, the TOSA.
From the data, the use of research-based practices and data driven decision-
making appeared to work toward improving student achievement. Frequent
assessments and monitoring helped identify students at-risk of failing and allowed
for prompt intervention. The constant monitoring of student achievement levels and
identification of students at-risk eliminated the potential for students falling through
the cracks or going unidentified all year long.
The implementation of intervention programs for students who were not
making significant progress had a positive effect on student achievement. The
culture to respond provided not only a means for a safety net, but provided students
with a feeling of a caring, learning environment. The effectiveness of monitoring
students’ learning was validated by the former assistant principal who reflected on
the large number of students identified as at-risk for retention in September and by
June he recalled the number had dwindled down to less than ten students. He
believed it was through the constant monitoring of students and teachers and the
response to student learning that made it possible.
It is the belief of the researcher that the combination of all five themes
provided for the effective educational program at MVEMS. Additional investigation
into other areas at MVEMS such as the use of peer-coaches, community
expectations, safety, and trust could add to the findings of this case study.

129
Implications
As the demands from NCLB require proficiency by 2014 across all student
populations, it is necessary for schools, districts, policymakers, and researchers to
consider the following implications developed from this study and the need for
further research in each area.
Implications for Schools
Access to a Rigorous Curriculum. The disparities in scores are blamed on the
lack of access and opportunities given to minority students through the American
education system including the lack of qualified teachers, safe adequate facilities,
and a rigorous instructional curriculum with high expectations (Darling Hammond,
2007; Scribner, 2001; Johnston & Viadero, 2000). MVEMS worked hard to ensure a
rigorous instructional program was implemented. Teachers worked with their
colleagues, peer coach, and administrative team to ensure a highly effective
instructional program was employed. Teachers were provided with a peer coach to
model lessons. The peer coach had been trained in best practices and effective
instructional strategies. Teachers utilized pacing guides to monitor the curricular
plan. Schools must find ways to provide access for students to understand and attain
the demands of the rigorous curriculum.
Hiring Practices. Schools must continue to hire highly qualified teachers
who are willing to do whatever it takes to achieve improved student learning and to
hold high expectations for student performance. The results of this study indicated
that MVEMS utilized hiring practices to create a staff of professionals who were

130
dedicated to improving student learning, their own professional learning, and to
working hard. MVEMS also worked at hiring teachers who reflected the
demographics of the student body. As Collins (2001) stated, it is necessary to get the
right people on the right bus and in the right seats. School administrators must
continue to visit classrooms, observe teaching and learning, provide feedback of
instructional practices, and evaluate teachers to ensure that the ‘seats’ are filled with
the right people and their strengths are being utilized in the best possible way.
Implications for Districts
Hiring and Professional Development. Studies concluded that the most
significant single factor impacting student achievement was the classroom teacher
(Mantel, 2005; Marzano, 2003; Haycock, 2001, 1998; Rivers & Sanders, 1996).
Districts must continue to hire the right personnel for the district and to find ways to
continuously develop and improve their skills, practices, and methodologies.
MVEMS worked hard to develop the teacher through professional development on-
site and through the district. The school also worked with the district to provide time
for professional learning communities, grade level planning, data analysis, and peer
coaching.
District-direction. The district where MVEMS was located also provided the
schools with expectations, priorities, directives, and practices to ensure systematic
implementation of research-based methods. Each district priority was an effective
practice grounded in research. Districts need to consider the implementation of
certain practices, such as frequent, common assessments, time for collaboration, time

131
to analyze data, time to plan response systems, and strategies to ensure the highest
quality of teaching for effective student achievement. For example, using the teacher
evaluation system to hold teachers accountable for curriculum implementation.
Implications for Policymakers
Funding. NCLB was a rigorous, extreme initiative that lacked funding to
support the demands outlined in the legislation. Schools had to find creative ways to
address the demands. However, at the time of this study, the economic state of
California had plummeted, forcing districts to freeze budgets. Money for state-
funded programs had not even been fully released to schools from the state, with
little hope of it happening. It was apparent from the findings that the school utilized
these funds for programs to help promote student achievement and to address the
internal and external factors associated with student learning. Without this funding,
many of the effective programs identified in this case study are at-risk of extinction.
What will that mean for our future? The country’s economic security, standard of
living, and ability to support retirees are all built around the ability to employ our
nation’s citizens. With this loss of funding and money from educational budgets
constantly being reduced, students like the ones at this high-poverty, high-minority,
high-achieving school are at-risk of our state failing them. Both teachers and
administration of MVEMS shared their worries that with the loss of funding, many
of the programs and practices would end, and gaps in student achievement may
reappear. It is necessary for state-level policymakers to campaign for education. To
recognize the need to provide teachers with the recognition for their practice and to

132
fund programs fully. This is necessary so the educational professionals can do their
jobs without the constant struggle to find money to support student achievement.
Implications for Researchers
Hispanic/Latino Learners. One finding the researcher had hoped to uncover
was the effective programs, practices, and instructional strategies utilized to help the
Hispanic/Latino students access a rigorous curriculum and attain the same
opportunities for learning as non-minority students. The findings the researcher
identified were general applying to the entire student population. Some particular
practices that helped students and families access programs, curriculum, and school
knowledge were the hiring of more teachers who reflected the ethnicity of the
student population and who could speak Spanish. Office staff, office administration,
and teachers were able to speak the language, thus, better communicate with the
families, and understand the cultural values of their customers. Did the hiring
practices make a difference with closing the achievement gap? Was breaking the
language barrier helpful in building relationships and providing families with
information about school? Despite efforts to desegregate our schools, MVEMS
actually was a segregated learning environment with 96% of the student population
identified as Hispanic/Latino students. Did this impact student learning? More
research is needed in this area to identify ways to close the achievement gap between
minority and non-minority populations, specifically Hispanic/Latino and non-
Hispanic/Latino. This is critical as the population of Hispanic/Latino students in
California public schools rises each year. It is vital to meet the needs of our students.

133
Recommendations
Further research is needed to explore the implications of programs, practices,
and strategies as they impact student achievement in particular to close the
achievement gap. Information in this case study provides viable information to
consider. Adding a quantitative study to confirm findings from this study may also
provide additional insight or validity.
With the limited amount of research and literature on successful school
practices, it is recommended that furthers studies such as this one be completed to
help contribute to the literature to identify best practices toward closing the
achievement gap. In addition, if this study were to be repeated again, the study
should be opened to the entire school versus a limited sample. For instance at this
school, the study should be open to kindergarten through eighth grade to see how the
programs, practices, and strategies impact the school as a whole, especially as
students move into middle school and toward their high school years.
One of the hopes the researcher had for this study was to find particular
strategies, practices, and programs that helped the Hispanic/Latino subgroup narrow
the achievement gap. Further research could be completed to look at what successful
schools are doing to improve achievement for one particular subgroup.
Finally, it would be interesting to go back to this same school, doing a
longitudinal study to see how the school continues to do in light of the state’s
economy and the financial cuts school districts had to make to their budgets.

134
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138
APPENDIX A
ADMINISTRATOR SURVEY
Research Question 1: What school wide programs promote student
achievement?

1. My school has a school-wide professional development program or programs for
teachers to enable all children in the school to meet the state academic content
standards.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

2. My school has a school-wide program or programs to increase parental
involvement through means such as family literacy services.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

3. My school has a school-wide program or programs providing training to teachers
in effective instructional methods and strategies.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

4. My school has a school-wide program or programs that provide effective, timely
assistance for students who experience difficulty in attaining the proficient or
advanced level of the
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

5. My school has a school-wide program or programs to assist teachers in the use of
academic assessments to provide information on, and to improve, the
achievement of individual students and the overall instructional program.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

6. My school has a school-wide program or programs that provide teachers training
in effective classroom management and discipline strategies.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

139
Research Question 2: What school wide practices promote student
achievement?

7. Teachers are encouraged to collaborate with other teachers on instructional
matters on a regular basis.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

8. Teachers have an active role in identifying and implementing professional
development goals and objectives for the school.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

9. I have regular discussions with my teachers regarding their teaching.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

10. The evaluation feedback I give to teachers assists them to improve their teaching
effectiveness.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

11. The teachers are aware of specific areas of interest I look at when visiting their
classrooms.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

12. Assessment of student learning is directed to improving, rather than just
monitoring, student performance.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

13. The assessment of student learning is based on specific, clearly identified
academic standards for student performance.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

14. Teachers seek feedback from other teachers to improve their teaching.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

140
15. Decisions about school improvement are always based upon our school
improvement plan.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

16. Teachers at this school have comparable expectations regarding student academic
performance.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

17. Professional development training over the past year has provided useful
information helping teachers increase their teaching effectiveness.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

18. Teachers at this school are encouraged to use the same or similar instructional
strategies.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

19. There is an intentional effort to improving home-school relations and parent
participation.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

20. Academic content students are expected to learn is dictated by district’s adopted
curriculum.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

21. Academic content students are expected to learn do teachers select.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

22 Academic content students are expected to learn is selected by the students.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

141
Research Question 3: What instructional strategies were implemented to target
the closing of the achievement gap?

23. When teachers develop lessons, they consciously select content that meets the
district’s student competencies and performance standards.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

24. When teachers develop lessons, they consciously select instructional materials
based upon their knowledge of their students’ developmental needs and learning
styles.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

25. When teachers develop lessons, they consciously select teaching methods and
strategies that accommodate individual student needs and interests.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

26. When teachers develop lessons, they consciously prepare lessons with high
expectations designed to challenge and stimulate all students.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

27. When teachers develop lessons, they consciously consider how to build upon
their students’ existing knowledge and experiences.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

28. When teachers design lessons, they consciously consider how to create active
learning experiences for their student to facilitate engagement.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

29. When teachers develop lessons, they consciously consider how to create
cooperative learning experiences for their students.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

142
30. When teachers develop lessons, they consciously design lessons that require
integration of content from more than one content area.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

31. When teaching, teachers monitor students’ understanding of the content and
make adjustments accordingly.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

32. When teaching, teachers move among the students, engaging individually and
collectively with them during the learning experience.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

33. When teaching, teachers consciously implement a teaching strategy and
instructional materials that stimulates higher-order thinking skills.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

34. When teaching, teachers create social interaction among students by requiring
students to work as a team with both individual and group responsibilities.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

35. When teaching, teachers vary the size and composition of learning groups.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

36. When a student is having difficulty with an activity or assignment, the teachers
are usually able to adjust it to his/her level.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

37. At my school, peer tutoring is often used to assist struggling students.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

37. At my school, peer tutoring is often used to assist struggling students.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

143
APPENDIX B
TEACHER SURVEY
Research Question 1: What school wide programs promote student
achievement?

1. My school has a school-wide professional development program or programs for
teachers to enable all children in the school to meet the state academic content
standards.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

2. My school has a school-wide program or programs to increase parental
involvement through means such as family literacy services.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

3. My school has a school-wide program or programs providing training to teachers
in effective instructional methods and strategies.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

4. My school has a school-wide program or programs that provide effective, timely
assistance for students who experience difficulty in attaining the proficient or
advanced level of the academic content standards.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

5. My school has a school-wide program or programs to assist teachers in the use of
academic assessments to provide information on, and to improve, the
achievement of individual students and the overall instructional program.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

6. My school has a school-wide program or programs that provide teachers training
in effective classroom management and discipline strategies.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

144
Research Question 2: What school wide practices promote student
achievement?

7. Teachers are encouraged to collaborate with other teachers on instructional
matters on a regular basis.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

8. Teachers have an active role in identifying and implementing professional
development goals and objectives for the school.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

9. I regularly discuss my teaching with my administrator(s).
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

10. The evaluation feedback I receive from my administrator(s) assists me to
improve my teaching effectiveness.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

11. I am aware of specific areas of interest that my administrator(s) looks at when
visiting my classroom.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

12. Assessment of student learning is accomplished to improving, rather than just
monitor, student performance.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

13. The assessment of student learning is based on specific, clearly identified
academic standards for student performance.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

14. Teachers seek feedback from other teachers to improve their teaching.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

145
15. Decisions about school improvement are always based upon our school
improvement plan.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

16. Teachers at this school have comparable expectations regarding student academic
performance.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

17. Professional development training over the past year has provided useful
information helping me increase my teaching effectiveness.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

18. Teachers at this school are encouraged to use the same or similar instructional
strategies.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

19. There is an intentional effort to improving home-school relations and parent
participation.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

20. Academic content you expect your students to learn is dictated by district’s
adopted curriculum.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

21. Academic content you expect your students to learn do you (or you and your
colleagues) select.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

22. Academic content you expect your students to learn is selected by your students.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

146
Research Question 3: What instructional strategies were implemented to target
the closing of the achievement gap?

23. When developing my lessons, I consciously select content that meets the
district’s student competencies and performance standards.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

24. When developing my lessons, I consciously select instructional materials based
upon my knowledge of my students’ developmental needs and learning styles.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

25. When developing my lessons, I consciously select teaching methods and
strategies that accommodate individual student needs and interests.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

26. When developing my lessons, I consciously prepare lessons with high
expectations designed to challenge and stimulate all students.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

27. When developing my lessons, I consciously build upon my students’ existing
knowledge and experiences.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

28. When developing my lessons, I consciously consider how to create active
learning experiences for my students to facilitate engagement.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

29. When developing my lessons, I consciously consider how to create cooperative
learning experiences for my students.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

30. When developing my lessons, I consciously create lessons that require
integration of content from more than one content area.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

147
31. When teaching, I monitor students’ understanding of the content and make
adjustments accordingly.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

32. When teaching, I move among the students, engaging individually and
collectively with them during the learning experience.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

33. When teaching, I consciously employ teaching strategies and instructional
materials that stimulate higher-order thinking skills.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

34. When teaching, I create social interaction among students by requiring students
to work as a team with both individual and group responsibilities.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

35. When teaching, I vary the size and composition of learning groups.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

36. When a student is having difficulty with an activity or assignment, I am usually
able to adjust it to his/her level.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

37. At your school, peer tutoring is often used to assist struggling students.
Strongly Strongly
Disagree Disagree Agree Agree
1 2 3 4

148
APPENDIX C
DOCUMENTS AND RECORDS
DATA COLLECTION

Document Questions the document answers Question
addressed
School background and profile
SARC

Single School Plan
• Class Size
• Number of Suspensions/Expulsions
• California Healthy Kid Survey Results
• Population breakdown (ethnicity, SES,
EL’s)
• Supplemental Programs
• Vision and Mission Statements
• Teacher Groups (leadership, advisory, SSC,
etc.)
1, 2, 3
List of teachers and Support Staff • Experience
• Credentials
• Grade Levels
• Years at current site
1
Professional Development Plan • Collaboration Plan, Schedule 1, 2, 3
Daily and Instructional Schedule • Number of instructional Minutes 3

English Leaner’s Master, technology
and Safe Schools Plan

• Plan for ELL and safe campus

3
Achievement Results
CST and Local Assessments Data for
over a 2 year period.

Local Benchmarks

SARC

Website: CDE
• CST data
• API, AYP, disaggregated data by
demographics, subgroups, etc.

2, 3
Parent/Community Involvement
SARC

School/Parent handbook

Parent surveys from school or district

School Website

Single School Plan
• Parent community/outreach education
• Community Partnerships
• Parent Survey results
• Volunteer Hours
• Parent Club
• Parent/Community Communications
(newsletters, websites)
1, 2, 3

149
APPENDIX D
TEACHER INTERVIEW

HS, MS – Principal, asst. principal, and teacher leaders (6 total)
ES –One representative per grade level

1. What is your position and role in the school and how many years have
you been a faculty member of the school itself and in education overall?

2. What programs do you have in your department/grade level that promotes
student achievement? (R1)

3. How does the program work?
a. Does it target a specific population? (R3)
b. Does it require any additional funding? – source?
c. How do you measure its success?
d. Has it been successful in reducing the achievement gap? (R3)

4. Do you have any specific instructional practices that your
department/grade level uses to promote student achievement? (R2)
a. What kind of professional development have you received in
those practices?
b. How do you measure the effectiveness of the instructional
practices?
c. Has it been successful in reducing the Achievement Gap? (R2)

5. Does your department/grade level have specific strategies that target the
closing of the achievement gap for all students and what are they? (R3)

6. How do you promote enrollment in your most rigorous courses?

7. How does the school’s leadership team support your efforts in these
programs and practices?
a. Who is on your leadership team and what role do they play?

8. What does collaboration look like at your school?

9. What specific aspects of your schools culture support student
achievement? (R1 & 2)

10. How much parent participation do you receive?

150
APPENDIX E
ADMINISTRATION INTERVIEW
Principal and Assistant Principal

1. What is your position and role in the school and how many years have
you been a faculty member of the school itself and in education overall?

2. What programs does your school have that promotes student
achievement? (R1)

3. How does the program work?
a. Does it target a specific population? (R3)
b. Does it require any additional funding? – source?
c. How do you measure its success?
d. Has it been successful in reducing the achievement gap? (R3)

4. Does your school have any specific instructional practices that promote
student achievement? (R2)
a. What kind of professional development do you offer your staff?
b. How do you measure the effectiveness of the instructional
practices? (R2)

5. Does your school have specific strategies that target the closing of the
achievement gap for all students and what are they? (R3)

6. How do you promote enrollment in your most rigorous courses?

7. How do you support your teachers’ efforts in these programs and
practices?

8. What does collaboration look like at your school site?

9. How do you feel the teachers support these school wide practices and
implementation?

10. What specific aspects of your schools culture support student
achievement? (R1 & 2)

11. How much parent participation do you receive?

151
APPENDIX F
OBSERVATION TOOL
Trigger Words: Welcoming Environment
Engagement Rigor
Focus Standards
Programs Practices
Strategies Stakeholders

Four Frames:
Structural – Goals and information are clear, cause and effect understood
Human Resources - Employee morale, resources, and creativity
Political - Power, Conflict, Competition, Organizational Policies
Symbolic – Culture, meaningful, ritual, ceremony, stories

What is Happening? What do I think is Happening?

Abstract (if available)

Abstract For decades, the achievement levels for disadvantaged students, students of color, non-Asian minority students, and English Language Learners fall behind the academic performance levels of their White and affluent classmates (Darling Hammond, 2007). The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, which requires all students to be proficient in both English Language Arts (ELA) and mathematics by 2014 created horrendous demands on schools to increase student achievement and close the gap between all students. The challenge of NCLB is inflated even more for the State of California as the state has experienced a dramatic change in demographics over the last few decades.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Roloff, Vicki Soderman (author)

Core Title Closing the achievement gap in a high performing elementary school

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Education

Publication Date 04/29/2009

Defense Date 02/13/2009

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

Tag achievement gap,high performing,OAI-PMH Harvest,Urban

Place Name California (states)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Gothold, Stuart E. (committee chair), Love, Laurie (committee member), Stowe, Kathy Huisong (committee member)

Creator Email soderman@usc.edu,vroloff@tusd.org

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-m2146

Unique identifier UC1226212

Identifier etd-Roloff-2758 (filename),usctheses-m40 (legacy collection record id),usctheses-c127-225008 (legacy record id),usctheses-m2146 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-Roloff-2758.pdf

Dmrecord 225008

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Roloff, Vicki Soderman

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