By Margery B. Ginsberg

Journal of Staff Development, Spring 2001 (Vol. 22, No. 2)

Copyright, National Staff Development Council, 2001. All rights reserved.

There are no scripts for teaching in culturally diverse classrooms because culture is not an isolated part of life. As an adult educator who regularly provides demonstration classes to encourage teachers to question their practice, I know that it’s nearly impossible to ever "get it right." In fact, one of the beautiful things about the education profession is that we work with human beings, none of whom can be reduced to a checklist of pedagogical or cultural terms.

A framework that helps teachers identify strengths and ideas for more equitable and motivational teaching can help them focus on the core of school renewal — everyday instructional practice.

The Motivational Framework for Culturally Responsive Teaching (Ginsberg & Wlodkowski, 2000) helps the schools with which I work focus on teaching, learning, and equity. Data-in-a-Day, an action research approach, uses the framework to help teachers take a snapshot of what teaching and learning look like in their school. By disaggregating and examining the data, staff can begin planning for improvements to eliminate differences in achievement among student groups. The framework helps take the guesswork out of how to do that, once the data have been captured.

The high-poverty schools with which I work often scrutinize conventional data: standardized tests, promotion and retention rates, attendance records, and so forth. But such data don’t help teachers understand effective classroom practices or help them talk about how to create conditions that contribute to intrinsic motivation and learning among diverse student groups. Using only conventional data doesn’t help address education’s foremost challenge — how to support students’ intrinsic motivation given the diversity of experiences, beliefs, and learning modes in today’s classrooms.

Students will challenge themselves more and learn more when they value and have an interest in learning — intrinsic motivation — than when they are motivated by reward and punishment (Deci & Ryan, 1985; McCombs & Whistler, 1997).

Data-in-a-Day encourages understanding that all people have intrinsic motivations and how that motivation can be supported across all racial, ethnic, and cultural groups. The framework has four motivational conditions that apply to a range of racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds. When used as part of instructional design, these four conditions encourage learning.

When students can see that what they are learning makes sense and is important according to their values and perspectives, motivation emerges like a cork rising through water (Ginsberg & Wlodkowski, 2000). Data-in-a-Day can help to create those environments — for teachers as well as students.

Teachers on visitation teams can visit classrooms and see clear examples of practices that engage students of varying demographic groups. Schools then can design learning experiences that honor the diverse perspectives, values, and talents that students bring to the classroom and increase students’ value for and interest in learning. When educators examine student work, develop and reflect upon demonstration lessons, review videotapes of classroom interactions, or initiate peer coaching, they design their approach with questions based on the framework’s four conditions.

Generally, teachers and other members of the school community base their impressions of classroom practices on what they hear or talk about with a few teachers. By applying the Data-in-a-Day process and the Motivational Framework, staff have a truer picture of everyday practices and can begin to talk about the distance between pedagogical ideals and everyday practices. This can lead to a more cohesive school improvement plan and focused professional development.

Generally, Data-in-a-Day is a three-day self-study. It can be adapted according to a school’s logistical challenges. This outline is based on the most effective approaches for groups with whom I have worked.

The first step is establishing a planning committee of about five teacher-leaders from the school, two parents, and, at the high school level, at least two students, as well as building and district-level administrators. This committee is needed to communicate with the rest of the school, organize a team preparation dinner, and produce a brief video of a teaching segment to prepare teams to identify motivational attributes and to use the framework. Committee members also are guides and leaders for classroom visitation teams, develop visitation schedules, create folders that contain team visitation schedules, and participate in all team activities. Having a coordinator to ensure that the planning team has maximum support for each task is essential.

After the planning committee is selected, it drafts a brief letter to the faculty explaining the "what," "why," "how," "who," and "when" of the process. (See "Sample initial communication" on page 47). At this time, the committee asks for a teacher volunteer who will be videotaped to help visitation teams apply the rubric based on the Motivational Framework. As an alternative, a professionally prepared tape, such as Good Morning, Miss Toliver, can be used. As team members watch the demonstration video, they practice looking for the motivational condition for which they will be responsible during classroom visits.

The Data-in-a-Day process begins with an evening dinner to develop a sense of community and prepare teams. Throughout the next day, all of the teams visit classrooms and collect data. The teams discuss their observations with five items in mind:

At the end of the third day, generally just after school, Data-in-a-Day teams share insights with faculty. Insights can spark dialogue, generate additional inquiry, enhance individual and schoolwide goals, and focus professional development activities.

Some schools, especially the first time they initiate Data-in-a-Day, prefer simply to list examples of highly motivating practices and then to note questions the school could ask itself based on these observations. For example, after observing mostly teacher-directed instruction, one team posed this question: "How might we more actively involve students in learning?"

In another school, teams consistently reported that the fourth motivational condition, "engendering competence," wasn’t seen. The group talked about assessment and grading practices, a conversation that led teachers to use team planning time to share and design more motivationally effective approaches to assessment and grading. And the school as a whole began to talk about varying philosophies on grading and research on the limited or negative impact of grades on the performance of low and middle performing students (Stiggins, 1988; Wlodkowski & Ginsberg, 1995).

Evaluations of Data-in-a-Day have been positive. Comments included, "We were of varied backgrounds, but we often observed or shared similar feelings." Participants said the benefits were: "Hearing students’ points of view," "seeing different subjects and different approaches," "listening to the perspectives of students and parents," and "help(ing) my school make itself better."

Some common challenges noted were: "Some students seemed to be non-participants and were even excluded from the classroom community;" "It seems like the school as a whole might need more help working with groups;" "It looks like we still have many classrooms in which the teacher is dispensing information to a relatively passive class." Although students on visitation teams typically shared these perspectives, they also realized the effect of classroom behavior, as in the comment, "I never understood before how hard it is for the teacher when I talk so much to my friends in class."

Data-in-a-Day promotes attributes that successful schools share: Engaging students, parents, community members, and district-level personnel in continuous renewal; job-embedded learning with a clear focus on teaching and learning; and, in districts such as Spring Branch, Texas, Fremont, Calif., and Richmond, Calif., questioning assumptions about how effort and reward are driving forces in academic achievement among diverse learners.

Participants frequently comment that Data-in-a-Day would be an excellent precursor to schoolwide peer coaching.

More and more, states are requiring school districts to look at test scores according to race, poverty, and gender so schools will acknowledge and deal with differences in achievement. Educators may be sensitive to this requirement because schools often are caught in shifting or superficial political agendas. Yet individual schools can be inspiring examples of how looking at data and acting on it can contribute to reversing the academic effects of racism and poverty.

Deci, E.L. & Ryan, R.M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York: Plenum.

Ginsberg, M.B. & Wlodkowski, R.J. (2000). Creating highly motivating classrooms for all students: Powerful teaching with diverse learners. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc.

McCombs, B.L. & Whistler, J.S. (1997). The learner-centered classroom and school: Strategies for increasing student motivation and achievement. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc.

Stiggins, R.J. (1998). Revitalizing classroom assessment: The highest instructional priority. Phi Delta Kappan, January, pp. 363-368.

Wlodkowski, R.J. & Ginsberg, M.B. (1995). Diversity and motivation: Culturally responsive teaching. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc.

Data-in-a-Day was introduced by Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory to help students, parents, and staff examine and reflect on classroom practices in their schools. This article presents an adapted process developed with teams from Spring Woods High School in Houston, Texas, that integrates research on classroom practices that support student motivation within and across racial, ethnic, and cultural groups (Ginsberg & Wlodkowski, 2000).

Data-in-a-Day teams focus on four conditions that form the motivational framework — how classroom practices:

• Help students respect and feel connected to each other and to their teachers (inclusion);

• Help students develop a positive attitude toward learning by offering a relevant curriculum (positive attitude);

• Create learning experiences that challenge and engage diverse students (meaning); and

• Assess what matters to students and society (competence).

Time Topic Facilitator

5:30-6:00 Dinner

6:00-6:05 Introduction Principal and coordinator

6:05-6:15 Personal introductions Teams

6:15-6:45 Introduction to the External consultant, principal,

motivational framework or coach

6:45-7:00 Recording information Same as above

Using the motivational

framework

7:00-7:20 Video External consultant or coach

7:20-7:40 Discussion Expert groups

(representatives from observations

different teams who share the same

motivational condition)

7:40-7:50 Visitation protocols and Designated member of

and helpful hints the planning committee

7:50-7:55 Logistics Coordinator

7:55-8:15 Questions, comments Coordinator

This event provides an opportunity for stakeholders to observe educational practice in our school and to collect information we can use to understand the ways in which we are supporting student motivation and meeting some of the challenges we still face.

Is this really important?

We are committed to highly motivating teaching and learning and have been finding ways to strengthen classroom practice in support of the diverse students we serve. However, none of our data provide perspective on how we look on any given day — and what we can do to provide ongoing support to each other, given the range of expertise in our school. Data will be used to share successes and engage the school community in dialogue about how we might tackle challenging areas of classroom practice. None of the data will contain teachers’ names (unless teachers would like to reveal that themselves). As a school with many accomplishments, we may not easily see the gaps that exist between what we say we are doing and what we are really doing. Data-in-a-Day can enhance our commitment to always seeing ourselves as "in-progress."

Teams, Visitation Rubrics, Visitation Protocols

There will be eight teams of five people (two students, one parent, one teacher, and a team leader) to accurately reflect our demographics. Each team will visit six different classrooms during 1st, 2nd, and 3rd periods for 30 minutes. By the end of the day, teams will have collectively visited 48 classrooms. Each team member will use an observation tool that concentrates on one condition of the motivational framework (inclusion, positive attitude, meaning, or competence). They will look for ways in which classroom practice demonstrates the presence of the condition. At the conclusion of the six classroom visits, team members will meet and share their observations with other Data-in-a-Day team members who looked for the same motivational condition. For example, all of the people who looked for inclusion will meet and compare notes. After they compare results, look for trends, identify areas of strength, and areas that seem to need support to increase student success, they will develop a way to share information with the whole faculty. This information will be shared at the end of the school day that follows the classroom visitation day.

We need teachers to volunteer to be on Data-in-a-Day teams, and we also need teachers to suggest student volunteers, parent volunteers, and to volunteer their classroom for a visit. Even if these classrooms tend to reflect "best practices," it will give the school an understanding of what "best practices" look like right now. Please contact________________ (name of coordinator) by ______________ (date). Because teachers are often modest about their teaching or cautious about being visited while working with students, we will probably need to invite people to volunteer and hope that you will consider this. This process will provide a valuable service to all of us — and especially to our students. A tribute to participating teachers will precede our session with faculty as a whole.

(List events, dates, and participants. An example follows. Dates are fictitious.)

Event Date Participants

Planning meeting 9/19/00 Schoolwide leadership cadre

Planning meeting 9/21/00 Data-in-a-Day planning committee

E-mail to faculty 9/21/00 Data-in-a-Day planning committee

Team preparation 9/28/00 Classroom visitation teams

Classroom visitations 10/3/00 (school day) Visitation teams

Data analysis 10/3/00 (3-7 p.m.) Visitation teams, faculty (Dinner provided)

(List names of organizing committee). Thank you!