In the book, Classroom Instruction that Works: Research-Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement (2001), Robert Marzano, with Debra J. Pickering and Jane E. Pollock, have identified, through educational research compiled over a 35-year period, the steps that schools can take to become more efficacious in their work with students. Marzano organizes the steps into three categories, school-level factors, teacher-level factors, and student-level factors. Below is a chart delineating the components in each of the levels. According to Marzano, the research is telling us that the student-level factors have the greatest impact on student achievement, which includes the home environment, but he states that the three teacher-level factors can have a great deal of impact in reversing the negative trends of poverty, lack of resources and poor motivation. More impact, in fact, than all five of the school-level factors combined. Please see the chart below.
SCHOOL-LEVEL FACTORS | TEACHER-LEVEL FACTORS | STUDENT-LEVEL FACTORS |
1. Guaranteed & viable curriculum 2. Challenging goals & effective feedback 3. Parent & community involvement 4. Safe & orderly environment 5. Collegiality and professionalism | 1. Instructional strategies 2. Classroom management 3. Classroom curriculum design | 1. Home environment 2. Learned intelligence & background knowledge 3. Motivation |
LEADERSHIP FOR CHANGE | ||
1. Most effective with a small, strong and cohesive group of educators with a director/principal 2. Leadership team provides strong guidance while still modeling respect for those not on the team 3. Characterized by specific behaviors that enhance interpersonal relationships |
Marzano adds that the impact of leadership brings the greatest possibility for change. He recommends a small group, working together in a single-minded purpose, stating that this organizational model can accomplish real change.