The 90/90/90 Schools: A Case Study

Author: Reeves, D. B.
Publisher: Advanced Learning Press
Publication Date: 2000
Pages: 185-208
Book Title: Accountability in Action: A Blueprint for Learning Organizations, 2nd edition
Full text available online at: http://208.112.40.253/resources/custom/articles/AinA%20Ch19.pdf

Abstract (written by WestEd)

In Chapter 19 of Accountability in Action: A Blueprint for Learning Organizations, 2nd edition, Reeves provides examples from multiple school systems to illustrate the common characteristics of 90/90/90 schools (over 90 percent poverty, over 90 percent minorities, and yet over 90 percent achieving at high proficiency levels):

• A strong focus on academic achievement
  
• Clear curriculum choices
  
• Frequent assessment of student progress and multiple opportunities for improvement
  
• An emphasis on nonfiction writing
  
• Collaborative scoring of student work, with explicit guidelines

He stresses that teacher quality and effective leadership, not demographics, are the most dominant factors in determining student success. He identifies nine teaching and leadership characteristics that distinguished schools with the greatest academic gains:

1. Schools devoted time for teacher collaboration that focuses on student work and proficiency.
   
2. Teachers provided significantly more frequent feedback than a typical report card.
   
3. Schools made dramatic changes in their schedules.
   
4. Teachers engaged in action research and mid-course corrections.
   
5. Principals made decisive moves in teacher assignments, such as reassigning teachers to different grades within the same school.
   
6. Schools included an intensive focus on student data from multiple sources, and teachers compared students to themselves rather than to other student groups.
   
7. Schools consistently used common assessments (as opposed to tests) and quickly received feedback to help improve performance.
   
8. Schools employed the resources of every adult in the system (including bus drivers and kitchen staff) and provided appropriate professional development, especially around student achievement and disciplinary issues.
   
9. Schools stressed a cross-disciplinary curriculum integrating subjects currently downplayed (e.g., art, music).