Blog - The BERC Group

BAKER • EVALUATION • RESEARCH • CONSULTING

The BERC Group is an independent evaluation, research, and consulting firm focused on putting research into practice. Our mission is to skillfully gather, analyze, and use data to inform, inspire, and improve all learning organizations.

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The Business of Teaching: Encouraging Innovation, Accountability, and Professionalism in Education

2/6/2014

At The BERC Group, we visit many schools for many reasons. More often than not, they are struggling and under-performing. This fall, I had the privilege of visiting a once-failing school in a high poverty neighborhood. Despite its almost 100% free/reduced lunch status, extreme diversity, and high level of academic needs, the school had made great strides in improving student performance. Reflecting back upon many other schools I have visited, I wondered how the vibe at this particular school could be so different. Where were their excuses? Weren’t they frustrated by the deficits of the clientele they serve? Why didn’t they blame their circumstances like so many other schools?

One of the biggest differences I could identify comes down to a simple shift in philosophy: the leaders of this school ran it like a business, and everyone behaved like a professional. This is not to say that administrators and teachers at other schools are not professionals, but many schools do not adhere to such high standards. Let me see if I can explain the nuances of this difference.

Use Relationships to Motivate Student Learning

1/30/2014

Many educators ponder this question: “How do I get my students to want to learn?” Some students do not necessarily want to come to school every day and be challenged to achieve high standards. Traditionally, motivation has been applied with a simple input-output model. Teachers praise students for their hard work and support their motivation to persevere through difficult situations. This cause-and-effect model could very well work in many instances; however, educators and researchers alike need to understand that student motivation is more complex than that. Cause-and-effect may be easily replicated within a laboratory, but not necessarily in a classroom. Why? Because students come to schools with a host of social contexts, including religious backgrounds, family dynamics, race, socio-economic status, and other factors, which all affect motivation.

Why does it seem like everything in education is changing? [WA ACSD]

1/15/2014

Washington State ASCD recently published the article below, written by Duane, on their Critical Question Blog.

Why does it seem like everything in education is changing? And, is there a way to think about the work that could make the work more manageable?

Anyone working in education today knows this is a busy year. On top of local initiatives that were already underway in many districts, externally-imposed initiatives – such as the new teacher and principal evaluation systems, adoption and implementation of evaluation frameworks, student growth measures, Common Core State Standards (CCSS), and the new state assessment, Smarter Balanced (SB) – are also in full swing. So why does it seem like everything is changing? ... Read More

Via Critical Question Blog (Washington State ASCD)

How to Facilitate Productive Small Group Discussions

1/6/2014

Good teachers know how important it is to give students regular opportunities to collaborate with each other. Small group discussions can be a fantastic way to challenge students to think critically, while giving them social support to work through their ideas in a circle of peers, instead of in front of the class as a whole. However, the first time I tried a small group discussion in class, I quickly realized most of my students were more interested in talking about the latest video game or weekend plans than their assigned discussion topic. Some teachers are wary of small group discussions for precisely that reason.

So how do you give students the opportunity to share their ideas with each other, while ensuring they are actually discussing the topic at hand? If a fail-safe way exists, I haven’t found it yet. However, I have found a number of strategies that help to keep students on-task.

Classroom Clips: 6th Grade Math

12/11/2013

Observe these 6th grade math students working with each other to learn different types of angles and triangles by using strings as manipulatives. These newest additions to the Classroom Clips playlist on our Powerful Teaching and Learning channel come from Lanai High and Elementary School in Lanai City, HI.

6th Grade Math - Kristin Hera: Part 1, Part 2, & Part 3

Browse the Library of Classroom Videos

Classroom Clips: 3rd Grade English

12/6/2013

Clips from a 3rd grade English in Sedro-Woolley, WA are the newest additions to the Classroom Clips playlist on our Powerful Teaching and Learning channel. Janell Doggett facilitates a discussion on comparing and contrasting using George Washington and Abraham Lincoln as examples.

3rd Grade English - Janell Doggett: Part 1 & Part 2

Browse the Library of Classroom Videos

27 Washington School Improvement Grant Schools Outperform 1,400 Others Across the Nation

11/26/2013

The Washington Education Association (WEA) recently published a memo sharing some details about their visits to the 27 School Improvement Grant (SIG) schools in Washington to share the good news about their high level of performance compared to the others. They were joined by National Education Association (NEA) President Dennis Van Roekel for part of the tour.

"I wanted to come to Washington to meet you. I've been talking all around the country about the great work you've been doing and thought it was time to come see it for myself," Van Roekel said.

His tour was part of a much larger tour by WEA President Kim Mead and WEA Vice President Stephen Miller who have spent time this month visiting all of the 27 School Improvement Grant schools to share the news that Washington's schools outperformed the other 1,400 in the nation. Mead says she believes the success was driven by the educators and staff who took time to evaluate what is happening in their schools and focus on what would genuinely make a difference based on their students' needs.

- WEA

An overview of the SIG grants is provided in the Improving Student Achievement in High-Poverty Schools: Lessons from Washington state annual report provided by the WEA.

In 2010, the United States Department of Education provided funding for three-year School Improvement Grants (SIG) to support the lowest achieving 5 percent of Title I or Title I-eligible schools identified by each state based on state math and reading test scores and high-school graduation rates. In 2011, the Education Department funded another round of three-year SIG grants.

- WEA

Our research and evaluation team took part in this by providing a yearly Assessment of Progress (which we call School and Classroom Practices Studies) for each of the SIG schools in Washington. The Assessment of Progress provided schools with an overview of the school’s alignment to the Characteristics of High Performing Schools, an update on progress since the baseline report, and recommendations for continued improvement.

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Interested in an objective and thorough study of your own school?

Learn About School and Classroom Practices Studies

Classroom Clips: 10th Grade Science

11/20/2013

In this lesson, students start by thinking about "trends" in general and then narrow their focus into looking at trends in the periodic table. These additions to the Classroom Clips playlist on our Powerful Teaching and Learning channel come from a 10th grade science lesson delivered by Steve Cornell and his students in Lahaina, Hawaii.

10th Grade Science - Steve Cornell: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3

Browse the Library of Classroom Lessons

3 Entry Tasks to Increase Thinking and Application

11/18/2013

As a first-year teacher, I thought entry tasks had one primary purpose: to keep the students quiet and occupied long enough for me to take attendance. During my first two years of teaching, I tended to assign a lot of simple, skills-based activities as entry tasks. I was an English teacher, so my students typically had grammar or vocabulary exercises during the first five minutes of class. However, as I observed other teachers through my STAR training and grew stronger in my own instructional practices, I began to look for ways to raise the level of thinking and application in my lessons. As my lessons began to demand more from my students, so too, did my entry tasks. Although I still started one or two lessons a week with skills-based practice (there is always a place for that!), I began to focus more on activities that asked my students to think critically and to make connections from the moment the bell rang. Here were three of my favorite entry tasks.

Why are you a teacher?

11/13/2013

We asked a handful of teachers a simple question: "Why are you a teacher?" This is a collection of their responses.

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