What Research Says: Research-Based Classroom Practices and Student Achievement

Classroom teachers no longer have the lux ury of sensing that certain classroom prac tices "appear to work." The average first year teacher I supervise is often pleased with classroom activities that stimulate student involvement, foster excitement, and make her or him "feel good" about the class. Within the present accountability climate, it seems wise to expand such perceptions to include the im pact on student learning. My challenge is to help these new teachers move beyond "feeling good" about their instruction to include a focus on student learning as measured against specific standards. To help new teachers visualize the connec tions between classroom practice and achieve ment, I use an airplane analogy. Teachers in classrooms are like pilots in airplanes. They take off from Presentville at the beginning of each day with a planned destination to land in the City of Mastery. They maneuver their airship through calm and turbulent weather, periodically check their instruments, make effective adjust ments to remain on course, and eventually, with ground support from air traffic controllers, they land on the correct runway. The research base supports most aspects of the analogy.