Literature Review: Domain D

Zachary LeBrun
TED 690: Capstone
Literature Review: Domain D
Professor Johnson
June 12, 2015

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Abstract

The following is a review of a journal article, How High-Poverty Schools Are Getting It
Done, by Karin Chenoweth and Christina Theokas (2013). This article explores the leadership
qualities of high-achieving school that are also classified as high-poverty schools. There are four
main characteristics that these high achieving schools all shared, and are characteristics that can
be developed and implemented in other high-poverty schools around the country to shrink the
achievement gap. Following the summary of the article, there is a reflection as to how this
article provides value toward achievement in Teacher Performance Expectation, Domain D
(2013).

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Summary

Chenoweth and Theokas (2013) wrote a very interesting article called How High-Poverty
Schools Art Getting It Done. This article begins with a sad reminder that achievement in school
often directly correlates to the socioeconomic status of the students who attend, further, these
same statistics hold true when racial statistics are applied to the school. However, it is noted that
upon viewing data on student and school performance, there always seems to be an outlier, a
school that despite its socioeconomic or racial data, achieves high performance on a consistent
level.
Chenoweth and Theokas write a close analysis of those schools, the ones who manage to
obtain high levels of performance from demographics of students that time and time again show
to under-perform. Their article outlines how the leadership of the school is often the catalyst for
positive change and performance. Many principles have been capable of bringing the worst
performing school in their district to the highest. The authors of this article compiled date over a
period of time and boiled down their findings into 4 key characteristics of high-poverty schools
who manage to get it done.
The first characteristic of these high performing schools was their belief about student
potential, and allowing that belief to drive their work. Unfortunately, many low performing
school remain that way because the teachers at the school dont believe that their students are
capable of more. In the schools that are the subject of this article, teachers and school leadership
demand high expectations and ensure that their students rise to the rigor of the standards.
Leadership in high-performing, high-poverty schools also put instruction at the center of
their managerial duties (p. 58) Simply put, principles and administrators in high performing
schools put a clear emphasis on the responsibility toward achievement through instruction. They

Literature Review: Domain D

would do this by establishing routines, providing time for collaboration, and ensure that tools and
infrastructure necessary to uninterrupted instruction was provided. Finding ways to eliminate
distractions and support educators, these leaders promoted success in the classrooms of their
school.
In successful schools, another shared characteristics was the focus on the abilities of all
educators at the school. These schools would identify high performing teachers who were
effective in their classrooms and have them develop other teachers who may be
underperforming, or simply underprepared. These schools did not seek a scapegoat for failure,
but rather looked to build solutions and develop each other. Appropriate collaboration paved the
way for their success.
The final and most important characteristic of these schools were their ability to monitor
and evaluate successes and failure, and learn from them. These schools would seek out
measurable goals whenever possible and always aimed to improve on successes and learn from
failures. An example was given in the article about using field trips to broaden student
background knowledge. These field trips proved to be a wild success, and persist even today in a
school that had once been a lower performer, but now is one of the highest in the state.

Reflection
As a teacher in a school district with a very high level of students who are
socioeconomically disadvantaged, this article provided a valuable look at some things I can do to
help in my ability to learn about my students, and in my instructional planning. TPE Domain D,
is all about planning for and learning about students. The information in this piece of literature
has helped to reinforce my desire to be a self-motivated teacher, and not rely on leadership to

Literature Review: Domain D

provide the tools necessary to be effective. In order to stop the cycle of socioeconomic
disadvantage, I must set and insist on high performance standards for all students. I cannot allow
myself to be fooled into thinking that somehow my students are less capable than any other. In
order to ensure the tools and instructional time necessary, I must take extra care to ensure proper
planning time, with adequate alternatives for when planning time is compromised. As a new
teacher, I must be proactive in ensuring I have what is necessary. In a perfect world, all would
be made available to me, but I must prepare as if it is not. Finally, I must take hold of my
professional development by taking it upon myself to seek out high performing teachers and
developing myself as an educator.
I owe each and every student an opportunity to achieve success, both in my class, and
afterward. Ensuring I continue to seek out information like this article, I will continue the
process of learning about my students, and make progress toward ensuring I learn their needs,
and appropriately plan to address them.

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References

California Teaching Performance Expectations. (2013, March). Retrieved from Comission on

Teacher Credentialing: http://www.ctc.ca.gov/educator-prep/standards/adopted-TPEs2013.pdf
Chenoweth, K., & Theokas, C. (2013). How High Poverty Schools Are Getting It Done.
Educational Leadership, 70(7), 56-59.
Elsinore Middle School: School Accountability Report Card (2014-2015). (2016). Retrieved
from Lake Elsinore Unified School District:
http://leusd.ems.schoolfusion.us/modules/groups/homepagefiles/cms/568567/File/Docum
ents/ISS/201314_SARC_English_published%20Jan2015/2014_SARC_EMS_20150123.pdf?sessionid=
71282318057abb51ad262939eb676ee1
Steeg, S. M., & Lambson, D. (2015). Collaborative Professional Development: One School's
Story. The Reading Teacher, 68(6), 473-478.