NEA's Keys to Excellence: KEY 6 

Curriculum and Instruction

Curriculum and instruction are the school's core processes that affect teaching and student
learning. In high performing schools, the staff comes together to discuss, challenge and ultimately make critical decisions about: what is taught, to whom, how students are grouped for instruction, how time and content are allocated, how teachers and education support professional work with each other and relate to students, and how student learning will be assessed. Changes in school processes or organizational structures that do no affect the core processes are unlikely to have an impact on student learning and performance.

The indicators under this Key address the critical issues that have a direct impact on student learning and achievement including the breath, depth and coherence of the school's curriculum and the nature and quality of the instruction provided to students.

Indicator 1: Curriculum includes "learning how to learn" activities.
The knowledge explosion makes it impossible to teach everything worth knowing. As a result, teachers must be selective in their choice of curricular activities. This indicator measures the extent to which teachers focus on "learning how to learn" activities that require thoughtful analysis, understanding of disciplinary concepts and effective communications such as: projects that require the use of library resources, the development of models, maps or charts and opportunities to brainstorm and debate ideas.

Indicator 2: Varied, engaging, and collaborative strategies are used in instruction.
Cognitive theorists have demonstrated that students, like adults, learn best when they are meaningfully engaged in their own learning by exploring and manipulating information, synthesizing and explaining ideas, generating and testing hypotheses and arriving at new understandings.

This indicator examines the type of instruction that facilitates "higher order thinking," such as learning for understanding which can occur in collaborative contexts including such practices as: substantive discussions with instructors or peers where students must explain their reasoning, challenging small group work and hands on projects.

Indicator 3: Curriculum provides opportunities to study topics in-depth.
Curriculum provides opportunities to study topics in-depth. This indicator measures the extent to which students have opportunities to study topics in-depth.

If students are to achieve a deep understanding and an appreciation for rich knowledge, they must have the opportunity to use what is familiar to them. This will enable them to construct new ideas, integrate what they have learned, and learn more complex concepts.

Indicator 4: Curriculum includes attention to accuracy and detail.
This indicator measures the extent to which teachers, instructional aides, and other school employees set high standards and emphasize the importance of attending to details, using proper formats and conventions, being accurate in providing answers, and communicating clearly and precisely.  In high performing schools, teachers celebrate and reward accuracy and attention to detail as much as they celebrate and reward effort.

Indicator 5: Instruction includes interventions for students who are not succeeding.
This indicator documents what teachers believe about their students' learning and how they teach to that belief. Students come to school with differing needs, motivations and readiness skills for learning. When students are not progressing as expected, rather than attributing the lack of success to external conditions, the teachers and other education employees in high performing schools work together to find and apply alternative teaching strategies to help these students succeed.

Indicator 6: Studens are provided with personal instruction and feedback.
This indicator documents the instructional strategies teachers use to provide students feedback about their performance. The quality of the feedback is based on sound instructional practices, materials, and resources.  Feedback or knowledge of performance and results is essential for learning. Feedback may serve two functions: (a) it could be motivating as when an education employee makes an encouraging remark to a student, and (b) it could provide meaningful information to the student regarding the accuracy and precision of his or her performance. While both functions are essential, feedback that fails to communicate useful performance-related information, or not provided in a timely manner, may hinder rather than facilitate learning.

Indicator 7: Research conducted at school influences programs and instruction.
In high performing schools, teachers are open to new learnings and rethink their approaches to teaching and assessment practices based on teacher-directed action research and other classroom based inquiries. Decisions about programs are based on evaluation and data analysis, not political considerations; hence, you can see real continuity from one program to another.

NEA's Keys to Excellence: KEY 5

Resources to Support Teaching and Learning

For effective teaching and learning, teachers and education support professional need an adequate supply of appropriate resources. In high performing schools, the concept of resources is defined broadly to include: (1) physical resources such as space requirements, textbook and other curricular materials and computer hardware and software; (2) a safe learning environment, free from crime, violence or bullying; and (3) health, social and psychological services including recreational opportunities.

Indicator 1: Computer hardware and software supplies are adequate for students and teachers.
This indicator, which focuses on both student and teacher needs, identifies some of the physical resources that have been found to support teaching and learning in effective schools. It examines whether your school is equipped with the computer hardware and software required in instructional activities.

A 1995 survey by the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) revealed that three-quarters of schools have sufficient computers and television sets, and about two thirds have sufficient printers, videocassette recorders, and access to cable television. Very large numbers of the same schools, however, report insufficient wiring to plug in a computer. Staff development was an even more difficult issue.

Indicator 2: Support services are adequate.
This indicator identifies some of the psychosocial resources available to students in your school, as well as support services which are available to teachers. Specifically, it examines whether your school provides counseling/guidance, psychological/social work, extracurricular, and health-related services to students, and basic technical support services to teachers, all in a clean, working environment.

Indicator 3: Space for instructional activities is adequate.
This indicator examines whether or not your school adequately meets space requirements for instructional activities. It focuses on the space requirements not only for "regular" classrooms but for "special" activities as well.

Indicator 4: The school provides a safe environment for learning.
This indicator examines whether or not your school has a clear school safety policy and whether or not that policy is reinforced in all teaching and learning activities.

Tragic shootings that have taken place in schools around the country in recent years have brought home the reality that safety is an issue that every school must address. An NEA report in 1999 recommends that educators go beyond the campus to address school safety. Violence at home and in the community tends to move into the school because of a number of reasons: gang presence and activities, hate-motivated behaviors, drugs, and the availability of weapons.

Indicator 5: Academic resources are adequate.
This indicator examines whether or not the workbook, textbook and other curricular materials used in your school are appropriate for the goals of instruction.

Curriculum is a powerful determinant of student achievement. In some cases, the cost of upgrading the curriculum seems minor, but deep change is often costly. When making a decision about programs, school staff must understand the entire situation and how the curricular resources relate to needs.

Go to KEY 6.

NEA's Keys to Excellence: KEY 4 

Personal and Professional Learning

There is an evolving consensus among educators, parents, researchers, politicians and the public that high quality professional development for all school professional is essential to help all students achieve to high academic standards. There is no consensus, however, as to what is meant by high quality professional development.

In high performing schools, professional development is: (1) rooted in the context of the school's improvement efforts and the everyday practices of teachers and education support professional; (2) focused on the expansion and elaboration of the staff's professional knowledge base including content knowledge related to standards and assessment, pedagogical knowledge and process knowledge in the areas of decision making and problem solving; (3) planned, created, delivered and evaluated through a collaborative process among the school staff; and (4) provided in traditional and non-traditional modes including mentoring opportunities, co-teaching and discussion groups.

Indicator 1: Professional development has a direct, positive effect on teaching.
This indicator examines whether your professional development program has had an impact on the knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes of the entire staff. Specifically, it assesses how well the professional development program has helped teachers deepen their understanding of subject matter, make appropriate changes, understand individual differences, and align teaching with local or district standards.

Indicator 2: School administrators and staff work together to provide relevant professional development experiences.
This indicator measures the level of cooperation in your school on producing a meaningful professional development process. This indicator is closely related to indicators 1 and 3 and can help a school team assess how school staff and administrators work cooperatively to plan, develop, and share professional development activities.

Indicator 3: Teachers are prepared to use state or district curriculum assessment or performance standards.
Most states have in place-or are implementing -assessment standards. This indicator measures how well your school's professional development program prepares teachers to use the student assessment and performance standards. The issues here are also highlighted in KEY 3 and KEY 6.

Indicator 4: Classroom observations and constructive feedback from teachers and principal are included in professional development.
Observation and feedback are critical elements of successful development within a school community. This indicator examines the frequency and usefulness of staff feedback. This is a follow-up to a discussion in KEY 2.

Indicator 5: Teachers are prepared to address the needs of students with diverse learning needs and backgrounds.
This indicator examines how well the professional development program prepares staff to teach a diverse student body-among them, students with learning disabilities and limited English proficiency students.

Indicator 6: Teachers have regularly scheduled time to learn from one another.
This indicator examines the quality and quantity of teacher-to-teacher professional development in your school, including meetings and planning periods.

Indicator 7: Staff development opportunities are pursued through organized professional development activities within and outside the school.
This indicator examines the number of times in the last year that teachers have received professional development from a professional organization.

Indicator 8: Staff development is provided in the areas of decision making and problem solving.
This indicator examines the availability of developing skills in problem solving and decision making through your school's professional development program. It continues a discussion initiated in KEY 2.

Indicator 9: Staff development is consistent, comprehensive, and related to practices in the school.
This indicator examines whether your professional development program is consistent with the school improvement plan and whether it is sustained and focused. It also explores whether the activities afford opportunities for collegiality and sufficient time to evaluate their impact on subsequent schools processes (school improvement and student outcomes).

Indicator 10: Opportunities ae available for mentoring.
This indicator examines opportunities for mentoring experiences.  This indicator of school effectiveness documents opportunities for mentoring in your school. It examines the complementary situations of mentoring teachers and/or being mentored by teachers in your school.

Indicator 11: Teachers have strong knowledge of their subject matter areas.
This indicator explores the extent of content and pedagogy knowledge in your school.  The intellectual focus of education is largely driven by the existing knowledge base of a school's workforce. This indicator of school effectiveness examines the extent of the instructional knowledge base which exists within your school.

Go to KEY 5.

NEA's Keys to Excellence: KEY 3

Continuous Assessment for Teaching and Learning

Assessment is part of student learning. Teachers have always made judgments about the progress of their students as part of their regular work. The problem arises, however, when single assessment measures are used inappropriately for making high stakes, summative decisions, rather than using the information as an integral part of the teaching and learning process. In high performing schools, student assessment and evaluation of academic programs are carried out by the staff routinely using multiple measures and on a continuing basis through a Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) cycle for the purpose of gathering detailed feedback and adjusting and refining teaching and learning practices.

Indicator 1: Student assessment is used for decision making to improve learning.
The primary purpose of assessment should be to improve learning. That's why it is important for students to be partners in the assessment process.  Students should know how and be given opportunities to assess their own learning. They should also understand the purposes, formats, and criteria for acceptable performance. Feedback to students on assessment should be motivational as well as informative.

Indicator 2: Academic programs are assessed regularly.
Continuous assessment at both the classroom and school levels includes the use of everyday activities as sources of information about students, teachers, and the school. Take, for example, student writing across content areas at specific grade levels.  Using writing samples, the staff can identify areas that the current curriculum does not address, plan how to address instruction, and determine how to monitor the effectiveness of instruction.

Indicator 3: Assessment results have consequences for students and staff.
There are some common problems associated with assessment results. One is the use of a single test score to make high-stakes decisions - which teachers get bonuses or other rewards, where to place students in specific programs, whether to promote or retain students, or what recommendations to make on students' post high school career preparation. This indicator examines these issues.

Indicator 4: A variety of assessment techniques are used.
This indicator looks at student assessment at several levels -- the classroom, the school, the district, and the state. The one level over which teachers have the most control, is, of course, the classroom.  It is important that classroom assessment address a wide range of knowledge and proficiencies that schools expect students to acquire. And it's important for classroom teachers to use a variety of assessment formats that could include open-ended questions, writing assignments, projects, and performances.

Indicator 5: School programs are consistent and coherent.
When school programs are consistent and coherent, students can spiral from class to class, grade to grade, and content area to content area, applying previously gained knowledge and skills. Students can build new learning on solid, relevant foundations.   Having programs that are consistent and coherent, however, does not mean that a school should have a "one size fits all" approach to curriculum and instruction. Student learning styles are diverse, and teachers have diverse teaching styles as well. Striving for consistency and coherence in the curriculum should not curtail meeting the needs or using the talents of diverse individuals.

Always keep in mind that every child brings a unique culture to school that is more powerful than any group culture. School staff must take this into account when planning for instruction.

Go to KEY 4.

NEA's Keys to Excellence: KEY 2

Open Communication and Collaborative Problem Solving

High performing schools tend to promote collaborative cultures, support professional
communities and exchanges among all staff and cultivate strong ties among the school, parents, and community. The indicators under this Key focus on how the critical curricular, pedagogical, and organizational decisions that benefit teaching and learning in the school are made, and who is involved in making those decisions. Moving collectively on school-wide priorities fosters innovation and increases the school's capacity to engage in whole school improvement efforts.

Indicator 1: In a climate of non-threatening, two-way communication, school administrators and staff collaborate in problem solving.
This indicator focuses on the nature of interaction between the school staff and administrators in decision making. There should be deliberate efforts to build a school environment that provides collaborative opportunities-one that enriches school staff and expands student achievement and growth.

Indicator 2: Parents are involved in improving education.
This indicator examines the level of parental support for the school in a variety of ways-from parent participation in special events to fundraising, volunteerism, school-based decision counsels, task forces, and training teams. It also encourages a school team to look at the level of parent involvement in the learning environment.

Indicator 3: Teachers and staff collaborate to remove barriers to student learnings.
This indicator measures the extent to which teachers cooperate across grade levels, subject areas, and departments to solve students' problems. The indicator also measures whether staff feel prepared to address individual student differences and use staff meetings to solve problems.

Indicator 4: Teachers work closely with parents to help students learn and to improve education.
Parents to help students learn and improve education. This indicator looks at the working relationship between school staff and parents in understanding and meeting students' needs. It also measures whether or not real communication exists between school staff and parents.

Indicator 5: Teachers discuss standards and approaches for curriculum and instruction.
Using this indicator, a team can discern if the school curriculum is aligned with school district and state-defined standards and assessment. This indicator encourages teams to look at teacher involvement in implementing curriculum standards and in the development of new curricula.

Indicator 6: Teachers are involved in decisions about student learning.
This indicator focuses on how curriculum materials are selected at your school and who is involved in the process.

Indicator 7: Teachers are involved in decisions about school operations.
This indicator spotlights issues such as hiring practices and funding.

Indicator 8: Parents, community, and staff other than teachers are involved in decisions about school goals.
This indicator measures the level of business and community participation in the school. It also addresses parent involvement and possible changes in current practices to ensure a participatory process for all stakeholders.

Indicator 9: Teachers communicate regularly with each other about effective teaching and learning strategies.
This indicator documents how often teachers talk about student learning. It focuses on how often and where they meet to discuss teaching techniques and what can be done to encourage more interaction among teachers.

Go to KEY 3.

NEA's Keys to Excellence: KEY 1

Shared Understanding and Commitment to High Goals

In high performing schools, all stakeholders including teachers, education support professional, administrators, parents and community representatives demonstrate shared understanding and commitment to high level outcomes for all students. The intellectual goals are clear and specific; they help to establish high expectations for all students and guide all actions that support high levels of student learning. The staff's collective commitment to the achievement of the goals also means they assume responsibility for the success of all the school's students, not just the students they teach.

Indicator 1: Shared goals for achievable educationoutcomes are clear and explicit
This indicator examines whether or not your school's goals include high-level, well-defined learning expectations for all students and high teaching standards. It also looks at school employee involvement in defining the goals that provide a sense of direction and support student learning as well.

Indicator 2: Teachers, administrators, and other school employees take responsibility for the achievement of challenging standards for all students.
This indicator examines whether the staff has a collective commitment to and takes responsibility for implementing high standards for all students.

Indicator 3: Curriculum is student-centered.
A major priority when developing a curriculum is consideration of students' interests and needs. This indicator encourages staff to examine whether the curriculum offers intellectual substance for all students to improve critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Indicator 4: School operates under the assumption that all students can learn.
The MetLife Survey of the American Teacher 2001, which explores educators' opinions about their school environment, found that teachers in heavily minority and low-income schools generally hold lower expectations for students than teachers in high-income schools. The survey also found that there is a gap in expectations between elementary and secondary school levels.

This indicator looks at members of the school staff -- their perceptions about and expectations for the academic success of all students.

Indicator 5: School district administrators support staff efforts and monitor progress toward achievement of goals.
This indicator explores the involvement of district administrators in your school improvement program.

Go to KEY 2.

Tracing the Evolution of KEYS

In 1990, NEA researchers set out to define and quantify the critical organizational conditions of school quality, and the NEA KEYS initiative was born.  This section traces the development of KEYS from the original research to the most recent efforts to broaden the scope and improve the KEYS instrument.

The Original KEYS Research

For the original study, NEA developed a 256-item questionnaire that was based on the "effective schools" research and Edward Deming's quality and continuous improvement principles. The instrument asked teachers to rate their own schools in three areas: (1) the extent to which the conditions enumerated in the questionnaire were present, (2) the quality of education, and (3) the level of student achievement.

NEA researchers, analyzing responses from more than 1600 teachers, identified 35 indicators of school quality that fell into five KEY areas:  

1. shared understanding and commitment to high goals,
2. open communication and collaborative problem solving,
3. continuous assessment for teaching and learning,
4. personal and professional learning, and
5. resources to support teaching and learning. 

The research findings were further validated through a series of case studies in six school districts across the country.

The Original KEYS Instrument

This survey instrument was further refined (and shortened), and school staff in more than 1,000 schools across the country have used the results to spark discussion and direct efforts to improve the quality of teaching and learning in their schools. The survey also allowed them to compare their data with benchmarks relating to the 35 organizational conditions shown empirically to support effective teaching and learning and high student achievement.

The Development of the NEA KEYS 2.0 Survey

NEA recently began a process of revising and improving the survey in order to make the instrument more user friendly, to improve both data reporting and interpretation, and, most importantly, to ensure that all survey items addressed teaching and learning concepts and conditions that directly affect the core purpose of schools -- improving student achievement.

NEA revised the KEYS instrument in stages. In the first phase, existing items were revised and new items specifically related to teaching and learning concepts were developed. Phase two involved pilot testing the revised instrument in schools across the country and developing preliminary national norms and best practices benchmarks.

As a result of the revision, the instrument retained the best of the original KEYS including the five original KEYS (noted above) while also expanding its scope. While the original instrument was limited to an assessment of a school's organizational conditions that support teaching and learning, KEYS 2.0 includes a large set of questions that focus most directly on issues of teaching and learning such as the quality of content standards, curriculum, assessments, and instruction.

In the KEYS 2.0 pilot test, the questionnaire was administered to all education employees (teachers, education support professionals, and administrators) in some 38 schools (28 affiliated with NEA and 10 with AFT). The sample included elementary, middle, and high schools in urban, suburban, and rural settings.

In addition to the questionnaire data from the staff in each school, several measures of student achievement data were collected. The measures included all available school test data as well as respondents' perceptions of how well students were achieving. 

Analysis of the KEYS 2.0 Data

Some 42 indicators of quality that were grouped into six main KEYS were identified. The first five keys are the same as the ones identified in the original KEYS. The sixth key, curriculum and instruction, is new.

Based on the NEA research, as well as reports in the education research literature, all 42 quality indicators are considered important elements of a high-performing school. In addition to identifying the six major keys and the 42 indicators of a high performing school, the NEA KEYS 2.0 research allows each school the opportunity to compare its scores on each indicator with the average scores of all the schools in the pilot as well as with the school scoring in the 90th percentile of the distribution of all the schools in the sample.

Resources

High School Reform/Small Schools Conversion

The issue of school size and how it affects teachers has received far less attention by researchers than the question of how school size affects students. For teachers, there are both advantages and disadvantages to small school size.  Advantages include closer relationships with students, better discipline, easier innovation and collaboration, and greater opportunity to connect with parents.  But disadvantages may include heavy workloads, less course variety, reduced opportunities to teach students from a variety of backgrounds, and higher costs.

To fulfill New Business Item 2005-72, NEA Research conducted a review of all available literature on small schools conversion   (Word, 84kb, 6 pgs). This report contains links to additional source materials.

KEYS in Action

The Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) is supporting and promoting this innovative school improvement initiative. Read about a KEYS convocation held in Wisconsin in August 2005 in which 18 districts learned how the KEYS program can improve student achievement.

Two districts, Green Bay and Rice Lake, have already implemented KEYS, and students who need a little extra help with math are now getting it at Hilltop Elementary School in Rice Lake, Wisconsin, thanks in part to the district’s involvement in the KEYS program. Read "KEYS helps school districts unlock excellence"  on WEAC's Web site. May 2005.

"What Makes a Quality School?", from the September 2000 edition of NEA Today, examines the ways staff and students of Maryland's Walkersville Middle School are implementing NEA's KEYS Initiative.

What Makes a Good School?

What Makes a Good School?  (PDF, 26 KB, 11 pp.), from the Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards & Student Testing, uses sound research findings to identify the qualities of a successful school. Good schools, the authors say, have strong and professional administrators and teachers; a broad curriculum available to all students; a philosophy that says all children can learn, coupled with high expectations for all students; a school climate conducive to learning; an ongoing assessment system that supports good instruction; and a high level of parent and community involvement and support.

Interactive Guide to 21st Century Learning

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills is an alliance of education, business and government leaders, including NEA, addressing the education needs and challenges of work and life in the 21st century. The Partnership's Route 21: An Interactive Guide to 21st Century Learning is a collection of Web-based tools to help school-district-level groups transform existing education systems and promote literacy in information and communication technologies.

Five School Districts Share Their Strategies

A case study report from the Learning First Alliance, of which NEA is a member, shows how five high poverty school districts raised student achievement by focusing on districtwide strategies to improve instruction. Beyond Islands of Excellence: What Districts Can Do to Improve Instruction and Achievement in All Schools offers lessons from the five districts and practical steps that other school districts can take.