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How to Facilitate Deep Ownership of Instructional Reforms
Since 2014, researchers at the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (University of Pennsylvania) and Research for Action (RFA) have researched the implementation of an ambitious instructional reform at Philadelphia schools, the Ongoing Assessment Project (OGAP), that has demonstrated positive impacts on teacher knowledge and student learning in math.
OGAP is a formative assessment system that is used alongside the regular math curriculum and is based on research-based learning trajectories for core content areas (addition and subtraction, multiplication and division, fractions, and proportions.) OGAP includes teacher professional development, classroom resources, and school-based routines and supports for ongoing formative assessment.
A new brief released from Research for Action, Six Lessons to Facilitate Deep Ownership of Ambitious Instructional Reforms, features lessons learned from a school that fully embraced OGAP.
Authors Jill Pierce (RFA) and Jonathan Supovitz(CPRE University of Pennsylvania) outline six lessons that can be used by reform developers, district and school leaders, and staff to engender widespread engagement at their school. The brief concludes with tables of questions that readers in each of these roles can ask themselves when designing and/or implementing similar reforms.
About the Authors
Jill C. Pierce currently directs Research for Action's work on projects related to formative assessment practices in math as well as teacher workforce shortages and resource allocations in "turnaround" schools. While at RFA, she has also conducted research for evaluations of three federally-funded projects related to curriculum, assessment, and instruction and two out-of-school-time initiatives aimed at increasing access to academic enrichment opportunities and high-quality arts programming for low-income youth. Jill has served as a teacher, college counselor, teaching coach, adjunct professor, and editor.
Jonathan A. Supovitz is the Executive Director of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) and a professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education. He has published findings from numerous educational studies and evaluations of school and district reform efforts and the effects of professional development on teacher and leader practice. His current research focuses on how schools and districts use different forms of data to support the improvement of teaching and learning.
