Jacqueline Ancess - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Jacqueline Ancess
Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education, 1996
In recent years, the school reform movement has engendered widespread efforts to transform the wa... more In recent years, the school reform movement has engendered widespread efforts to transform the ways in which students' work and learning are assessed. Much of the rationale for these initiatives is based on growing evidence that traditional norm-referenced, multiple-choice tests fail to measure complex cognitive and performance abilities. Furthermore, when used for decision making, these tests encourage instruction where the emphasis is on decontextualized, rote-oriented tasks that impose low cognitive demands rather than on meaningful learning. Thus, efforts to raise standards of learning and performance must rest in part on efforts to transform assessment practices. In addition, efforts to ensure that all students learn in meaningful ways that result in high levels of performance require that teachers know as much about students and their learning as they do about subject matter. However, teachers' understandings of students' strengths, needs, and approaches to learning are not well supported by external testing programs that send secret, secured tests into the school, and whisk them out again for machine scoring that produces numerical results many months later. Authentic assessment strategies can provide much more useful classroom information as they engage teachers in evaluating how and what students know and can do in real-life performance situations. These lands of assessment strategies create the possibility that teachers will not only develop curriculum aimed at challenging performance skills but that they will also be able to use the resulting rich information about students' learning and performance
The Ojibway People, a Native American tribe of the Great Lakes, wove webs called dreamcatchers to... more The Ojibway People, a Native American tribe of the Great Lakes, wove webs called dreamcatchers to protect their infants from harm. They hung these dreamcatchers over the infant's cradle to ensnare bad dreams but let through good ones which were believed to be the source of wisdom and possibility (Osofsky, 1992). As the dreamcatchers safeguarding the promise and possibilities of the American dream, public schools, especially those in urban areas, have come under increasing attack. Tangled in their own net, they have become renown for their high rates of violence and low rates of graduation and contributed to a crisis in the nation's confidence in public education. The bad dreams have found their way through the safety net, leaving our youngsters in harms ' way. In response to the debacle of urban school failures, newly woven dreamcatchers are appearing in several cities across the nation as diverse stakeholders in public education come together in a broad effort of new...
Bronxdale High School in New York City illustrates what a successful school looks like when its p... more Bronxdale High School in New York City illustrates what a successful school looks like when its practices are consistent with the science of learning and development (SoLD). Most students enter the school achieving well below proficiency levels; however, they ultimately outperform city averages in credit accrual, 4and 6-year graduation rates, and enrollment in postsecondary education. Factors underlying these successes include a caring, safe, collaborative community; advisory structures that build trust and social-emotional skills; the integration of inquiry instruction with strong scaffolding; educative discipline that puts restorative practices in action; and a faculty and leadership committed to “teaching the way that students learn best,” continuously learning together in a community of practice.
Choice Reviews Online, 2004
... Guiding School Change: The Role and Work of Change Agents FRANCES O'CONNELL RUST AND... more ... Guiding School Change: The Role and Work of Change Agents FRANCES O'CONNELL RUST AND HELEN FREIDUS, EDITORS Teachers ... DEAN FINK Beyond Formulas in Mathematics and Teaching: Dynamics of the High School Algebra Classroom DANIEL CHAZAN School ...
County (Delaware), has recently converted from being a shared-time vocational center to being a f... more County (Delaware), has recently converted from being a shared-time vocational center to being a full-time academic-vocational-technical school. As part of its restructuring, the school instituted a Senior Project, a three-part authentic assessment that combines a research paper, a shop product, and a public, formal, oral presentation. Students select a faculty advisor at the end of their junior year, and the student and advisor work together to orchestrate student progress through the project in a way similar to a dissertation proctss. The project supports a number of authentic teaching and learning opportunities as it encourages integrated vocational and academic learning. An intellectual component. is added to traditional competence-and performance-based vocational assessment. Its most powerful lesson is that work should be meaningful rather than perfunctory. An appendix presents a sample student paper. (Contains 3 references.) (SLD)
Central Park East Secondary School (New York) is a school committed to authentic and learner-cent... more Central Park East Secondary School (New York) is a school committed to authentic and learner-centered education. The school has developed an approach to assessing student performance that is active, authentic, and learner-centered. Students in the school's Senior Institute, a division comparable to the traditional grades 11 and 12, prepare 14 portfolio requirements and present 7 of them orally graduation requirements. These portfolios, along with a common c're of coursework and community internships, make up the Senior Institute curriculum. Portfolio requirements include: (1) postgraduate plan; (2) autobiography; (3) school and community service and internships; (4) ethics and social issues; (5) fine arts and aesthetics; (6) mass media; (7) practical skills; (8) geography; (9) second or dual language; (10) science and technology; (11) mathematics; (12) literature; (13) history; and (14) physical challenge. A more extensive final senior project, which may be an exploration of one of the portfolio items, is also required. The school constructs an evaluative frame for development by using portfolio exhibitions and by involving staff from all school divisions in the development of standards and evaluation of the portfolios. Three figures illustrate aspects of the portfolio process, and an appendix gives a sample science portfolio. (Contains 16 references.
Educational Leadership, Sep 1, 2004
Harvard Educational Review, 2006
In this article, Jacqueline Ancess and David Allen use New York City as a case study to examine t... more In this article, Jacqueline Ancess and David Allen use New York City as a case study to examine the promises and the perils of the small high school reform movement that is sweeping the nation. They analyze the varying extent to which New York City's small high schools have implemented curricular themes in order to promote academic quality and equity. After identifying a wide range in the level of theme implementation in the city's small schools, Ancess and Allen suggest that small theme high schools have the potential to boost student engagement and achievement. However, the authors also express concern about the manner in which curricular themes may serve as socioeconomic, academic, or racial codes that threaten to merely repackage old patterns of school stratification and segregation.
Issued also on microfilm. Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1997. Includes b... more Issued also on microfilm. Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1997. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 392-402).
International High School, New York (New York) is a secondary school for students who have been i... more International High School, New York (New York) is a secondary school for students who have been in the United States less than 4 years and who score below the 20th percentile on an English language proficiency test. The 310 students of 1988 came from 37 nations, and spoke 32 languages. An evaluation conducted in the 1991-92 school year indicates why this school is successful in keeping students, all of whom are considered at-risk in school until graduation. Classroom observation, portfolio committee conferences, interviews with faculty and students, and review of school documents, portfolios, and curricula show that the school is committed to a collaborative, experiential approach that combines reflection and authentic assessment with instruction. Developing English skills while using the native language as a resource for the student and society, using multiple learning contexts, providing career education, and involving teachers in decision making were cornerstones of the school...
Theory Into Practice, 2007
The authors describe how a university research center partners with intermediary organizations an... more The authors describe how a university research center partners with intermediary organizations and high schools to use research methods to support particular goals. These researcherpractitioner partnerships establish goals, articulate effective strategies, and co-construct new approaches to address the challenges of school reform. The article presents two case studies. In the first, the center collaborated with a consortium of innovative secondary schools to build organization-wide capacity to use data to inform school-based decision making. In the second, the center collaborated with a school coach from a high school redesign intermediary to develop a process for using performance assessment data to spur a cross-disciplinary professional development focus on teaching writing. The cases demonstrate the critical importance of researcher-practitioner collaboration and research partners' responsiveness to the identified goals and emerging needs of partner organizations and of the schools and practitioners with whom they work several YEARS NOW, the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching (NCREST) at Teachers College, Columbia University, has been conducting quantitative and qualitative research to inform the implementation of cutting edge reforms that aim to make breakthroughs in the frequently intransigent area of high school education. Rather than designing a study and then presenting a set of
Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education, 2000
This article discusses the reciprocal and dynamic relationship of teacher learning, teaching prac... more This article discusses the reciprocal and dynamic relationship of teacher learning, teaching practice, school restructuring, and student outcomes in three high performing public secondary schools for at-risk students. Student outcomes include improvement in student graduation rates, course pass rates, college admission rates, and academic course-taking rates. The article describes each school's context and the inquiry process that stimulated teacher learning; triggered changes in teaching practice, school organization, and student outcomes; expanded teacher learning; and extended improved outcomes to a wider population of students. It describes how the interaction of these variables produced practitioner knowledge that teachers used to the benefit of student outcomes. It discusses how in each of the three schools teachers’ learning was initially driven by their aspirations for specific student effects, which led them to develop and implement practices that drew on their school&#...
The Urban Academy (UA), an ungraded New York city a: ernative public high school, is a school whe... more The Urban Academy (UA), an ungraded New York city a: ernative public high school, is a school where structures for caring have been constructed to ensure that the young people who attend are surrounded by strong relationships that support their living and their learning. Over 90 percent of the school's students graduate, and over 95 percent of these go on to postsecondary education. UA students are ethnically, culturally, socioeconomically, and intellectually diverse. The school responds to their basic needs and pruvides caring in part through its small size and carefully adapted space. Structures and processes of the school promote selfesteem. A policy of undifferentiated staffing asks teachers to take on diverse roles that increase the opportunities and contexts in which students have access to them and in which they can be responsive to student needs. Details of school structure, schedules, and assessment practices are describP-4 Five appendixes include a graduating student survey, a course alogue, a sample weekly schedule, and a speaker's evaluation form. (Contains 19 references.) (SLD)
Executive Summary. New York: National Center for …, 1999
In 1992, a collaboration of educational reform organizations, the New York City Board of Educatio... more In 1992, a collaboration of educational reform organizations, the New York City Board of Education, a teachers' union, and private funders created a model of urban high school reform that was practitioner-driven. Two failing high schools, one in Manhattan and one in the Bronx, were phased out while 11 new, small autonomous high schools were created. Some of the new schools moved into the big buildings, which were reconceived as multi-age, multi-use campuses, while others remained external. After 7 years, an evaluation collected data via 86 interviews with students, teachers, and administrators; observations of 15 classrooms, 14 portfolio presentations, and 16 administrative meetings; and a review of project documents. Among the findings are that in 1998 the five schools in the Manhattan cohort had the highest graduation rate and the lowest dropout rate among the New York City high school reform models, with 89 percent of graduates attending college. Small school size (300-400 students) and small classes enabled teachers to support the most educationally needy students. Each school had multiple mechanisms that enabled teachers to know students well and help them succeed. Each school developed a performance assessment system using multiple instruments. Findings concerning school governance, accountability, pedagogy, board-school relationships, budgetary allocations, and practitioner-driven reform are presented. (TD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
American Journal of Education, 1996
ABSTRACT This text examines, through case studies of elementary and secondary school classrooms, ... more ABSTRACT This text examines, through case studies of elementary and secondary school classrooms, how five schools have developed "authentic", performance-based assessments of students' learning and how this work has interacted with and influenced the experiences students encounter.
The Ojibway People, a Native American tribe of the Great Lakes, wove webs called dreamcatchers to... more The Ojibway People, a Native American tribe of the Great Lakes, wove webs called dreamcatchers to protect their infants from harm. They hung these dreamcatchers over the infant's cradle to ensnare bad dreams but let through good ones which were believed to be the source of wisdom and possibility (Osofsky, 1992). As the dreamcatchers safeguarding the promise and possibilities of the American dream, public schools, especially those in urban areas, have come under increasing attack. Tangled in their own net, they have become renown for their high rates of violence and low rates of graduation and contributed to a crisis in the nation's confidence in public education. The bad dreams have found their way through the safety net, leaving our youngsters in harms' way. In response to the debacle of urban school failures, newly woven dreamcatchers are appearing in several cities across the nation as diverse stakeholders in public education come together in a broad effort of new, sm...
Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education, 1996
In recent years, the school reform movement has engendered widespread efforts to transform the wa... more In recent years, the school reform movement has engendered widespread efforts to transform the ways in which students' work and learning are assessed. Much of the rationale for these initiatives is based on growing evidence that traditional norm-referenced, multiple-choice tests fail to measure complex cognitive and performance abilities. Furthermore, when used for decision making, these tests encourage instruction where the emphasis is on decontextualized, rote-oriented tasks that impose low cognitive demands rather than on meaningful learning. Thus, efforts to raise standards of learning and performance must rest in part on efforts to transform assessment practices. In addition, efforts to ensure that all students learn in meaningful ways that result in high levels of performance require that teachers know as much about students and their learning as they do about subject matter. However, teachers' understandings of students' strengths, needs, and approaches to learning are not well supported by external testing programs that send secret, secured tests into the school, and whisk them out again for machine scoring that produces numerical results many months later. Authentic assessment strategies can provide much more useful classroom information as they engage teachers in evaluating how and what students know and can do in real-life performance situations. These lands of assessment strategies create the possibility that teachers will not only develop curriculum aimed at challenging performance skills but that they will also be able to use the resulting rich information about students' learning and performance
The Ojibway People, a Native American tribe of the Great Lakes, wove webs called dreamcatchers to... more The Ojibway People, a Native American tribe of the Great Lakes, wove webs called dreamcatchers to protect their infants from harm. They hung these dreamcatchers over the infant's cradle to ensnare bad dreams but let through good ones which were believed to be the source of wisdom and possibility (Osofsky, 1992). As the dreamcatchers safeguarding the promise and possibilities of the American dream, public schools, especially those in urban areas, have come under increasing attack. Tangled in their own net, they have become renown for their high rates of violence and low rates of graduation and contributed to a crisis in the nation's confidence in public education. The bad dreams have found their way through the safety net, leaving our youngsters in harms ' way. In response to the debacle of urban school failures, newly woven dreamcatchers are appearing in several cities across the nation as diverse stakeholders in public education come together in a broad effort of new...
Bronxdale High School in New York City illustrates what a successful school looks like when its p... more Bronxdale High School in New York City illustrates what a successful school looks like when its practices are consistent with the science of learning and development (SoLD). Most students enter the school achieving well below proficiency levels; however, they ultimately outperform city averages in credit accrual, 4and 6-year graduation rates, and enrollment in postsecondary education. Factors underlying these successes include a caring, safe, collaborative community; advisory structures that build trust and social-emotional skills; the integration of inquiry instruction with strong scaffolding; educative discipline that puts restorative practices in action; and a faculty and leadership committed to “teaching the way that students learn best,” continuously learning together in a community of practice.
Choice Reviews Online, 2004
... Guiding School Change: The Role and Work of Change Agents FRANCES O'CONNELL RUST AND... more ... Guiding School Change: The Role and Work of Change Agents FRANCES O'CONNELL RUST AND HELEN FREIDUS, EDITORS Teachers ... DEAN FINK Beyond Formulas in Mathematics and Teaching: Dynamics of the High School Algebra Classroom DANIEL CHAZAN School ...
County (Delaware), has recently converted from being a shared-time vocational center to being a f... more County (Delaware), has recently converted from being a shared-time vocational center to being a full-time academic-vocational-technical school. As part of its restructuring, the school instituted a Senior Project, a three-part authentic assessment that combines a research paper, a shop product, and a public, formal, oral presentation. Students select a faculty advisor at the end of their junior year, and the student and advisor work together to orchestrate student progress through the project in a way similar to a dissertation proctss. The project supports a number of authentic teaching and learning opportunities as it encourages integrated vocational and academic learning. An intellectual component. is added to traditional competence-and performance-based vocational assessment. Its most powerful lesson is that work should be meaningful rather than perfunctory. An appendix presents a sample student paper. (Contains 3 references.) (SLD)
Central Park East Secondary School (New York) is a school committed to authentic and learner-cent... more Central Park East Secondary School (New York) is a school committed to authentic and learner-centered education. The school has developed an approach to assessing student performance that is active, authentic, and learner-centered. Students in the school's Senior Institute, a division comparable to the traditional grades 11 and 12, prepare 14 portfolio requirements and present 7 of them orally graduation requirements. These portfolios, along with a common c're of coursework and community internships, make up the Senior Institute curriculum. Portfolio requirements include: (1) postgraduate plan; (2) autobiography; (3) school and community service and internships; (4) ethics and social issues; (5) fine arts and aesthetics; (6) mass media; (7) practical skills; (8) geography; (9) second or dual language; (10) science and technology; (11) mathematics; (12) literature; (13) history; and (14) physical challenge. A more extensive final senior project, which may be an exploration of one of the portfolio items, is also required. The school constructs an evaluative frame for development by using portfolio exhibitions and by involving staff from all school divisions in the development of standards and evaluation of the portfolios. Three figures illustrate aspects of the portfolio process, and an appendix gives a sample science portfolio. (Contains 16 references.
Educational Leadership, Sep 1, 2004
Harvard Educational Review, 2006
In this article, Jacqueline Ancess and David Allen use New York City as a case study to examine t... more In this article, Jacqueline Ancess and David Allen use New York City as a case study to examine the promises and the perils of the small high school reform movement that is sweeping the nation. They analyze the varying extent to which New York City's small high schools have implemented curricular themes in order to promote academic quality and equity. After identifying a wide range in the level of theme implementation in the city's small schools, Ancess and Allen suggest that small theme high schools have the potential to boost student engagement and achievement. However, the authors also express concern about the manner in which curricular themes may serve as socioeconomic, academic, or racial codes that threaten to merely repackage old patterns of school stratification and segregation.
Issued also on microfilm. Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1997. Includes b... more Issued also on microfilm. Thesis (Ed.D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University, 1997. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 392-402).
International High School, New York (New York) is a secondary school for students who have been i... more International High School, New York (New York) is a secondary school for students who have been in the United States less than 4 years and who score below the 20th percentile on an English language proficiency test. The 310 students of 1988 came from 37 nations, and spoke 32 languages. An evaluation conducted in the 1991-92 school year indicates why this school is successful in keeping students, all of whom are considered at-risk in school until graduation. Classroom observation, portfolio committee conferences, interviews with faculty and students, and review of school documents, portfolios, and curricula show that the school is committed to a collaborative, experiential approach that combines reflection and authentic assessment with instruction. Developing English skills while using the native language as a resource for the student and society, using multiple learning contexts, providing career education, and involving teachers in decision making were cornerstones of the school...
Theory Into Practice, 2007
The authors describe how a university research center partners with intermediary organizations an... more The authors describe how a university research center partners with intermediary organizations and high schools to use research methods to support particular goals. These researcherpractitioner partnerships establish goals, articulate effective strategies, and co-construct new approaches to address the challenges of school reform. The article presents two case studies. In the first, the center collaborated with a consortium of innovative secondary schools to build organization-wide capacity to use data to inform school-based decision making. In the second, the center collaborated with a school coach from a high school redesign intermediary to develop a process for using performance assessment data to spur a cross-disciplinary professional development focus on teaching writing. The cases demonstrate the critical importance of researcher-practitioner collaboration and research partners' responsiveness to the identified goals and emerging needs of partner organizations and of the schools and practitioners with whom they work several YEARS NOW, the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching (NCREST) at Teachers College, Columbia University, has been conducting quantitative and qualitative research to inform the implementation of cutting edge reforms that aim to make breakthroughs in the frequently intransigent area of high school education. Rather than designing a study and then presenting a set of
Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education, 2000
This article discusses the reciprocal and dynamic relationship of teacher learning, teaching prac... more This article discusses the reciprocal and dynamic relationship of teacher learning, teaching practice, school restructuring, and student outcomes in three high performing public secondary schools for at-risk students. Student outcomes include improvement in student graduation rates, course pass rates, college admission rates, and academic course-taking rates. The article describes each school's context and the inquiry process that stimulated teacher learning; triggered changes in teaching practice, school organization, and student outcomes; expanded teacher learning; and extended improved outcomes to a wider population of students. It describes how the interaction of these variables produced practitioner knowledge that teachers used to the benefit of student outcomes. It discusses how in each of the three schools teachers’ learning was initially driven by their aspirations for specific student effects, which led them to develop and implement practices that drew on their school&#...
The Urban Academy (UA), an ungraded New York city a: ernative public high school, is a school whe... more The Urban Academy (UA), an ungraded New York city a: ernative public high school, is a school where structures for caring have been constructed to ensure that the young people who attend are surrounded by strong relationships that support their living and their learning. Over 90 percent of the school's students graduate, and over 95 percent of these go on to postsecondary education. UA students are ethnically, culturally, socioeconomically, and intellectually diverse. The school responds to their basic needs and pruvides caring in part through its small size and carefully adapted space. Structures and processes of the school promote selfesteem. A policy of undifferentiated staffing asks teachers to take on diverse roles that increase the opportunities and contexts in which students have access to them and in which they can be responsive to student needs. Details of school structure, schedules, and assessment practices are describP-4 Five appendixes include a graduating student survey, a course alogue, a sample weekly schedule, and a speaker's evaluation form. (Contains 19 references.) (SLD)
Executive Summary. New York: National Center for …, 1999
In 1992, a collaboration of educational reform organizations, the New York City Board of Educatio... more In 1992, a collaboration of educational reform organizations, the New York City Board of Education, a teachers' union, and private funders created a model of urban high school reform that was practitioner-driven. Two failing high schools, one in Manhattan and one in the Bronx, were phased out while 11 new, small autonomous high schools were created. Some of the new schools moved into the big buildings, which were reconceived as multi-age, multi-use campuses, while others remained external. After 7 years, an evaluation collected data via 86 interviews with students, teachers, and administrators; observations of 15 classrooms, 14 portfolio presentations, and 16 administrative meetings; and a review of project documents. Among the findings are that in 1998 the five schools in the Manhattan cohort had the highest graduation rate and the lowest dropout rate among the New York City high school reform models, with 89 percent of graduates attending college. Small school size (300-400 students) and small classes enabled teachers to support the most educationally needy students. Each school had multiple mechanisms that enabled teachers to know students well and help them succeed. Each school developed a performance assessment system using multiple instruments. Findings concerning school governance, accountability, pedagogy, board-school relationships, budgetary allocations, and practitioner-driven reform are presented. (TD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
American Journal of Education, 1996
ABSTRACT This text examines, through case studies of elementary and secondary school classrooms, ... more ABSTRACT This text examines, through case studies of elementary and secondary school classrooms, how five schools have developed "authentic", performance-based assessments of students' learning and how this work has interacted with and influenced the experiences students encounter.
The Ojibway People, a Native American tribe of the Great Lakes, wove webs called dreamcatchers to... more The Ojibway People, a Native American tribe of the Great Lakes, wove webs called dreamcatchers to protect their infants from harm. They hung these dreamcatchers over the infant's cradle to ensnare bad dreams but let through good ones which were believed to be the source of wisdom and possibility (Osofsky, 1992). As the dreamcatchers safeguarding the promise and possibilities of the American dream, public schools, especially those in urban areas, have come under increasing attack. Tangled in their own net, they have become renown for their high rates of violence and low rates of graduation and contributed to a crisis in the nation's confidence in public education. The bad dreams have found their way through the safety net, leaving our youngsters in harms' way. In response to the debacle of urban school failures, newly woven dreamcatchers are appearing in several cities across the nation as diverse stakeholders in public education come together in a broad effort of new, sm...