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Leaders of Learning: How District, School, and Classroom Leaders Improve Student Achievement
Richard DuFour and Robert J. Marzano

The following tips from this book are designed to assist you in applying the latest research in tangible ways in your classroom, your school or your district. Below each tip, you will find the book excerpt on which the tip is based. Click on the book title above to learn more about this resource.
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Score 2.0 content that involve instructional activities for organizing students into interaction groups, previewing the content, chunking the content into small bites, scaffolding the chunks, allowing students to process each chunk, asking elaborative questions, asking students to represent the content in linguistic and/or nonlinguistic forms, and asking students to reflect on their learning.

DuFour, R., & Marzano, R. J. (2011). Leaders of Learning: How District, School, and Classroom Leaders Improve Student AchievementGet Book Info (p. 155). Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.

Multidimensional assessments, then, create substantial problems in terms of providing students with accurate feedback regarding their progress. An assessment could, however, include more than one dimension provided scores are computed and reported for each dimension in the assessment.

DuFour, R., & Marzano, R. J. (2011). Leaders of Learning: How District, School, and Classroom Leaders Improve Student AchievementGet Book Info (p. 122–23, 128). Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.

Student-generated assessments are probably the most powerful and revolutionary form of assessments made available by performance scales.

DuFour, R., & Marzano, R. J. (2011). Leaders of Learning: How District, School, and Classroom Leaders Improve Student AchievementGet Book Info (p. 131). Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.

Effective superintendents keep the message simple and consistent. They demonstrate congruency between their own actions and professed priorities... For communication to be effective, however, it must go two ways.

DuFour, R., & Marzano, R. J. (2011). Leaders of Learning: How District, School, and Classroom Leaders Improve Student AchievementGet Book Info (p. 42–43). Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.

That is, one of the most powerful things a school can do to help enhance student achievement is to guarantee that specific content is taught in specific courses and grade levels... It is important to note the two parts in the concept of a guaranteed and viable curriculum: The fact that it isguaranteed assures us that specific content is taught in specific courses and at specific grade levels, regardless of the teacher to whom a student is assigned. The fact that it is viable indicates that there is enough instructional time available to actually teach the content identified as important.

DuFour, R., & Marzano, R. J. (2011). Leaders of Learning: How District, School, and Classroom Leaders Improve Student AchievementGet Book Info (p. 89–91). Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.

Instructional rounds are intended to allow members of collaborative teams to examine the effectiveness of lessons designed by the team and to compare their individual instructional pratices with those they observe in the classrooms they visit.

DuFour, R., & Marzano, R. J. (2011). Leaders of Learning: How District, School, and Classroom Leaders Improve Student AchievementGet Book Info (p. 167). Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.

Student learning improves when their teachers are clear on the criteria they will use in judging the quality of student work and can apply the criteria consistently. Therefore, teams should establish the criteria they will use in assessing student work and practice applying their agreed-upon criteria to samples of student work until team members have established inter-rater reliability.

DuFour, R., & Marzano, R. J. (2011). Leaders of Learning: How District, School, and Classroom Leaders Improve Student AchievementGet Book Info (p. 82). Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.

Evidence of student learning is used on a regular basis to identify the specific needs of individual students. The school moves beyond using data to make general observations about the achievement of all students. It creates processes to use assessment results to respond to students by name and by need.

DuFour, R., & Marzano, R. J. (2011). Leaders of Learning: How District, School, and Classroom Leaders Improve Student AchievementGet Book Info (p. 25). Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.

Groups conducting rounds are usually small in numbers–three to five members–and a lead teacher, team leader, or instructional coach who has the respect of the team and serves as a facilitator. Administrators may also facilitate rounds, but it should be made clear from the outset that their purpose is not to evaluate the teachers being observed.

DuFour, R., & Marzano, R. J. (2011). Leaders of Learning: How District, School, and Classroom Leaders Improve Student AchievementGet Book Info (p. 167). Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.