Although only about a third of students today receive a high-quality education (Gewertz, 2017; Sparks, 2022), a focus on vital knowledge and skills in math, science, art, music, and literacy remains in competition with other agendas and competing priorities in schools. This doesn’t have to be the case. The fact is, if we create a disciplined culture of academic and instructional priority, record numbers of students will acquire a rich, robust education.
As David Leonhardt (2017) from The New York Times reminds us, academic learning is “the most powerful force” for bestowing lifelong social, economic, and health benefits on young people. The path to significant, even rapid, improvement is clear: We must create and reinforce a culture that sustains a focus on the most indispensable school practices.
I like to ask educators this question: If you knew that certain core practices would have a transformative effect on student learning, would you make them your unswerving priority? After a pause (and a little prodding), the majority respond with a resounding “yes.” Well, we do know which core practices have such an effect. And the moment we make them our priority, schools will improve dramatically.
Peter Drucker, a revolutionary writer who developed organizational management theory, (1959) once wrote, “Management is doing things right. Leadership is doing the right things.” The “right things” have made their mark in every sphere:
- In medicine in 1910, the Flexner report catalyzed science-based methods in both training and practice, saving countless lives.
- In high jumping, records were shattered with the widespread adoption of a new jumping technique, the Fosbury Flop.
- In hospitals, infection rates plummeted when simple checklists were instituted and monitored to ensure their consistent use.
People don’t relish change, but as the success of these practices were highlighted, they led to dramatic, systemwide improvements (Schmoker, 2018; Schmoker, 2023a). This pattern concurs with Michael Fullan’s (2009) finding that when schools implement the “highest leverage” practices, “stunningly powerful consequences” ensue. A host of researchers agree, for the simple reason that these practices are more effective than those they replace (Schmoker, 2023a).
Focusing on What Matters
Three foundational (but rarely implemented) practices would have those “stunningly powerful consequences” in schools. These three practices must become our highest, most carefully monitored priorities:
- Coherent, content-rich curriculum. Teachers should have the authority to build a common, week-by-week curriculum for every course. They could most likely develop such a curriculum in a matter of hours, refining it at subsequent grade-level meetings. (See Schmoker, 2023b, for how to build a curriculum.)
- Whole-class structured instruction. Teaching must include such game-changing elements as a clear learning target, chunking, checks for understanding, and adjustments to instruction. These ensure that the highest number of students will succeed on daily lessons.
- Authentic literacy. Every course must be infused with more purposeful in-class reading, discussion, and writing—as well as writing instruction. That means more whole books, literature, articles, and textbook selections.
Any school could readily implement these three priorities. Any teacher team could develop coherent curriculum. Any teacher could multiply the amounts of in-class reading and reading aloud, discussion, and writing (Lemov, Driggs, & Woolway, 2016; Schmoker, 2022; Shanahan, 2021). With reasonable training, any practitioner could acquire the basic moves of effective, explicit instruction.
We must create and reinforce a culture that sustains a focus on the most indispensable school practices.
They Did It—and It Worked
Numerous scholars and schools have demonstrated that adopting these three priorities results in large academic gains in only one or two years (Schmoker, 2023a). For example, math achievement was so abysmal at Arizona’s high-poverty Tempe High School that the school was considered for closure. The math department was given a single priority: to review state standards, select the most essential, and then develop a clear schedule of Linda Darling-Hammond’s elegant definition of curriculum: “what to teach and when.” For two years, achievement rose high enough to place the school among the three most-improved high schools in the state.
Or take Mather Elementary School in Boston, Massachusetts. After nine years of the school’s frustrated efforts, Principal Kim Marshall made coherent, content-rich curriculum and its faithful implementation their highest priority. In one year, Mather made the largest gains in the Boston Public Schools system, rising from the bottom to the top third in achievement on the challenging Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exam (Marshall, 2003).
As superintendent of the Flowing Wells School District in Tucson, Arizona, Robert Hendricks built a culture of priority around one thing—whole-class, structured instruction. As an administrator in a neighboring district, I was struck by their singular focus: ensuring that every teacher was equipped to provide high-quality lessons every day. This near-exclusive priority was the basis for Flowing Wells’s hiring, retention, professional development, and teacher evaluation. Teachers loved working there—turnover was exceedingly low—because this culture made them successful. As a result of this continually reinforced focus, the district enjoyed eight years of uninterrupted achievement gains.
High-poverty Brockton High School was among the lowest-achieving schools in Massachusetts. When the Boston Globe referred to it as an academic “cesspool,” a group of teachers took action (Smithgall, 2016). Led by teacher Susan Szachowicz, they created a literacy-intensive culture and adopted the mantra “reading, writing, thinking, and reasoning” in everycourse. The leadership team reinforced the primacy of literacy by training teachers in weekly content-based reading and in protocols for students to use in their writing. Staff even posted visual reminders of the protocols in every classroom—even in the gym. Moreover, school leaders continually monitored this focus and provided honest feedback based on frequent classroom observations. In one year, Brockton made the largest gains in the state; in the next five years, the school rose to the top 10 percent in achievement. After visiting Brockton, Harvard University’s Ronald Ferguson remarked that their unwavering focus was something he “had never seen in another school” (Smithgall, 2016).
When I visited Brockton and met with Sue Szachowicz, who had then become principal, she shared with me how the school had incorporated all three priorities. I reviewed their clear, sequential curriculum, with its greatly increased amounts of in-class “reading, writing, speaking, and reasoning.” Szachowicz pointed out that the team had to quell the suggestion to supplant whole-class teaching with differentiated instruction, with its weak-to-nonexistent research base (Goodwin, 2021). Instead, they brought in a leading expert and trainer on empirically proven, explicit, whole-class instruction.
Brockton’s new culture wasn’t accidental. It was the result of a commitment to evidence and the determination to overcome a culture of complacency. Any school or district can work to create such a culture for themselves.
The following question should drive every decision that affects instructional quality: Based on an intensive review of the research, which action, more than all others, will have the maximum effect on student learning?
When Leaders Focus on the “Right Things”
School leaders can take the following actions to establish and sustain a focus on what matters most:
- Examine and discuss the evidence that shows that, historically, our schools have not operated based on the most essential practices. This is not an eccentric view. Our most eminent researchers confirm this, from John Goodlad in the 1960s to Daniel Willingham more recently (Schmoker, 2023a). Providers of professional development are typically “not members of an evidence-based culture”; that helps explain why professional practice, reflecting our misguided professional development offerings, has been dominated by “whims, fads, opportunism, and ideology” (Teacher’s College, 2015) for so many decades. As Daniel Willingham and Andrew Rotherham (2020) write, “In education, we still don’t wash our hands.” That is, we have yet to institute even the most indispensable practices in our classrooms.
- Share evidence that a serious commitment to proven practices guarantees immense and immediate benefits for both students and teachers (Schmoker, 2023a). The following question should drive every team, faculty, district office, and school board decision that affects instructional quality: Based on an intensive review of the research, which action, more than all others, will have the maximum effect on student learning? Post the question wherever meetings are held to promote research-based actions and as a reminder of how easily priorities can drift.
- Determine your highest one or two priorities: coherent content-rich curriculum, whole-class structured instruction, and/or authentic literacy. Keep in mind that the most popular pedagogic fads and initiatives, despite their claims, lack evidence. These include “unguided discovery-based” approaches (Goodwin, 2021); the routine use of early-grade literacy centers and small-group literacy instruction (Shanahan, 2024); and countless overhyped programs, such as personalized learning or those in which technology looms overly large and creates distraction (Hess, 2022).
Make your selected initiative the primary focus of frequent, emphatic communications at all school meetings. As Daniel Pink (2009) writes, “Repetition matters . . . repeat, repeat, repeat” (p. 159).
- Set measurable goals and deadlines for the completion of literacy-rich curriculum for every course. Celebrate teachers who are consistently implementing the elements of sound instruction. Share the results of successful team-built lessons in reading, speaking, writing, problem solving, and knowledge acquisition, while showcasing the power of priority practices—like checking for understanding. These small wins are vital for sustaining focused effort toward improvement.
- Focus professional development on your highest, evidence-based priorities. And shift to a more practice-based model that makes demonstrated mastery—not seat time or satisfaction ratings—the primary goal of professional development.
By taking such actions, school leaders will create a culture of evidence-based priorities that won’t fail either our teachers or students. When we embrace this type of culture, school quality will improve, as night follows day.
Reflect & Discuss
➛ In your experience, what core practice has had a transformative effect on student learning?
➛ As a school leader, which “right action” do you feel most comfortable taking?
Results Now 2.0
Mike Schmoker expands on his bestselling book and offers a broader, deeper analysis of the entire K–12 education system and how it can improve.
