Julie Tollefson & Don Deshler
KU-CRL
The numbers are gratifying and optimistic. More than 1,800 of you believe so strongly in the value of the Strategic Instruction Model™ that you have dedicated considerable time and effort to become certified SIM Professional Developers. Almost half of you are active: You maintain current Strateworks memberships. You build your knowledge and skills by attending an update every two years. You work with teachers, schools, districts, and states to place the proven, research-based methods of SIM in the hands of the teachers and students who need them. Why are these numbers important? Let's say, conservatively, that 300 of you attend our 30th Anniversary Conference in July. If each person finds just one worthwhile gem—a new instructional method, a new learning activity, a new approach to a thorny problem—and then shares that gem with just 100 teachers during the next 12 months, 30,000 teachers will have a new tool to support their efforts in the classroom. If each of those teachers, in using the new tool, makes a difference in the academic achievement of 35 students, we're talking 1 million students whose educational trajectory has shifted as a result of the three days 300 of you spend in fellowship with like-minded individuals. Now, imagine all 1,800–plus of you actively promoting SIM and multiply the effect by 30 years. The picture is staggeringly hopeful.
The realities and challenges of the classroom have changed over the past 30 years, but the Center's dedication to finding solutions has not. We began as an organization focused on struggling adolescent learners in secondary schools. In large measure, that's still what we do today. Two of our main lines of research have resulted in methods and interventions that complement each other as they address the needs of students who have failed to acquire skills and strategies at the same rate as their peers: Learning Strategy interventions have been designed to change students as learners by teaching them how to learn. Content Enhancement Routines have been designed to change how teachers think about, select, and present critical subject matter to students.
New pressures on schools, such as the adequate yearly progress requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act and the serious literacy needs of many adolescents, have pushed us to broaden our thinking. Each new discovery shapes the future direction of the Center and results in new products and materials. In recent years, our research has clearly underscored the vital role of high-quality instruction in improving student achievement. We have identified an "instructional core" consisting of five elements that work together in a dynamic and powerful interrelationship. Because we see strengthening the instructional core as essential to improving student outcomes, many of the sessions planned for the 2008 conference will emphasize underlying factors that can optimize its effectiveness.
One such factor, we have learned, is that tiered and carefully differentiated instruction is essential for student success. Some students will thrive in the general education classroom, while others will need more intensive and explicit instruction. Thoughtful consideration must be given to how a school's instructional program will support widely divergent needs. Likewise, in our work with schools, we must be able to help school leaders understand how SIM fits into a tiered system of differentiated instruction. Guidance in this area will be one of the underlying messages delivered during the conference. We will review research and developments of the last few years—new strategies, new routines, school change efforts, and the five-level Content Literacy Continuum™—but we also will take a new look at our older materials in light of current thinking. In short, we will examine the last 30 years of research, development, interventions, and materials in the context of the needs of schools and learners today.
A second aspect of strengthening the instructional core that will receive special attention during the conference is the importance of careful integration of interventions. Because of the broad array of student needs and the complexity of the problems presented by struggling adolescent learners, no single program or approach can meet all needs. In adopting the multiple programs that may be needed, however, schools must deliberately act to eliminate or ameliorate the circumstances that contribute to fragmented learning and instruction in secondary schools. The best combination of programs considers both the unique needs of students and the realities of their schools. We grapple with such issues in our SIM and CLC work. Often, the schools with which we work already have other programs in place that meet some of their needs. One of our tasks is to offer leaders guidance in how to integrate existing programs and ours in seamless service to students. To help you prepare for these conversations, we will explore how SIM and other programs complement each other and illustrate how school systems can draw on the strengths of multiple initiatives in a cohesive manner.
Pearl, the traditional 30th anniversary gift, is an apt symbol for this celebratory year. For three decades, the Center has been the oyster—bumpy, slippery, and not so attractive at times, but producing some true gems for the world of education. Our "irritants"—the core around which pearls form—are perhaps better described as opportunities: Opportunities to help students write complete sentences, coherent paragraphs, and well-thought-out essays. Opportunities to design tools to help teachers plan effective courses, units, and lessons. Opportunities to bring entire classes together in community building and collaboration. Opportunities to rally districts and states toward common goals of high-quality teaching and improved academic outcomes for all students. Opportunities to build the best professional development network dedicated to improving the achievement of struggling students and the skills of their teachers. The strands of pearls that have grown around these opportunities—each strategy, each routine, each component of SIM and CLC, and the 1,800 SIM Professional Developers—now circle the globe. We challenge you to crack open another oyster by attending the 30th Anniversary Conference, where you'll find new pearls for your jewelry box and renewed enthusiasm for the important work you do.
For more information about the Center's research on elements necessary for school change—including a deeper exploration of the importance of the instructional core—see A Closer Look: Closing the Performance Gap, by Don Deshler, in the January 2005 issue of Stratenotes (Vol. 13, No. 4). This issue is available in the Stratenotes archives on SIMville (look under SIM: General Information, open only to active SIM Professional Developers).
