Large-Scale Instructional Improvement and Accelerated Schools

• In Event: Large-Scale Instructional Innovation and the Power of Education Research

Abstract

The Accelerated Schools Project was initiated in 1986 as a long-term attempt to create schools premised on academic and social enrichment for students who are considered to be educationally at-risk. It was designed to replace remediation by identifying and building an educational experience based on student strengths, approaches that are usually provided only for students who are classified as gifted and talented. An accelerated school replaces work sheets, drill, and repetition and a deliberate pace of instructional with student activities that build on their strengths and initiatives.
Many student characteristics that are conventionally viewed as obstacles to learning such as non-mainstream culture and language, students’ intrinsic interests, family and community practices, and social and emotional experiences constitute strengths that an enriched approach can enlist productively. Basic skill development is embedded in challenging student activities such as student research, community projects, and artistic endeavors. These activities can be designed to build mastery of basic skills through raising motivation and increasing engagement in deeper learning experiences and creativity. At the heart of an accelerated school is an attempt to provide all students with the gifted and talented opportunities that are normally accorded to only a small and privileged group of students.

From 1986 to 2001 the Accelerated Schools Project expanded from two schools to more than 1,000 in 41 states, Brazil, and Hong Kong. An independent evaluation by MDRC (Bloom et.al, 2001) found significant test score gains in reading and mathematics, even though these could be considered only a by-product rather than the prime focus of such schools. Evaluation of acceleration to middle school mathematics also showed large effects on high school mathematics course taking and achievement (Burris, Heubert & Levin, 2006).

However, the ASP model has not been well-embedded in the political or professional culture of American education, and has been overtaken by the pressures on schools to teach testing skills and test content directly through the implementation of the provisions of NCLB. This presentation will use the experience of accelerated schools to address the challenge of sustaining deeper school reforms that focus on a larger conception of child development and the research underlying such reforms.

Author

• Henry M. Levin, Teachers College, Columbia University