Balancing breadth and depth: Cascading that works.

• In Event: Defying assumptions: Cascade teacher education models that work.

Proposal

The government of the Dominican Republic, committed to reversing years of low performance in its schools, made a bold decision to invest in its school leaders. With help from the World Bank, the government enlisted one of its top universities, Instituto Superior de Formación Docente Salomé Ureña (ISFODOSU), to design and deliver a new instructional leadership program for an initial wave of 450 government school leaders. ISFODOSU partnered with an NGO, One World Network of Schools (OWNOS), to help make it happen.

With 73% of Grade 3 students scoring below minimum proficiency in reading, the Dominican Republic became the lowest-scoring country in the Latin America and Caribbean region (UNESCO, 2019). Understanding the country’s challenge with early literacy, ISFODOSU and OWNOS anchored the leadership training in core literacy pedagogies. To avoid training leaders in general global approaches, or traditional methodologies that may not work, ISFODOSU and OWNOS embraced an approach that would combine breadth and depth.

For depth, they selected six high performing leaders for whom they could provide targeted support. These leaders – and their lead teachers – received focused training on curricular resources and how to implement them effectively in the classrooms. They were also provided with in-person coaching. The framework for providing them support was based on One World’s model for improving student learning:
● High-quality curricular materials
● Leader focus and follow-through
● Teacher actions based on research and relationships.
● Students’ motivation and effective effort

For breadth, ISFODOSU and OWNOS provided training for 400 school leaders on three high leverage actions of instructional leaders: school culture of rigor and joy, data driven instruction, and observation & feedback for teachers. Each of these trainings took place over four days and included significant time for practice, as well as planning for implementation back in their schools.

Based on the success of the first wave of training, the government expanded the program. In an effort to reach all schools throughout the country, ISFODOSU and OWNOS identified 90 of the top performers and provided them training to become trainers. They have since trained over 2,000 leaders, with the Ministry of Education's plan being to train all principals by 2024.
Further, these trainings now include exemplar models and videos from the original six deep-dive schools, helping show what’s possible in the Dominican context.

Results from the training program are impressive. For breadth, survey and implementation data indicate that participants found the trainings highly engaging and applicable, and they are implementing the strategies back in their schools. For the depth, preliminary student achievement data demonstrates that 90% of the students in the pilot schools showed positive growth during the first year of the program, with 41% of students meeting or exceeding the benchmark. In control schools, only 9% of students achieved at a similar level.

In this presentation, we will expand on elements that contributed to the successful implementation of the Depth and Breadth approach to the cascade model. We will also detail key findings and share beneficiary impacts.

Author

• Brian Sims, One World Network of Schools