Equity and Deeper Learning:

Making high standards and powerful learning opportunities available

to All Students

Pedro A. Noguera, Ph.D.

New York University
Pervasive inequality makes the pursuit of
equity difficult, but essential
Equity is:
 Addressing the needs of all students - Academic and social
 Compensating for disadvantages
 Recognizing that children learn in different ways and at
different paces
 Staying focused on outcomes – academic and
developmental
 Child and Family Poverty in the U.S.

DeNavas-Walt, C., Proctor, B. D., & Smith, J. C. (2010). Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2009. U.S. Census Bureau,
Current Population Reports, P60-238,.Washington, DC.: U.S. Government Printing Office. Available at: http://www.census.gov/prod/2010pubs/p60-
238.pdf
The Failure of Policy
NCLB moved us forward by requiring schools to
produce evidence of learning, but:
 Ignored standards related to the conditions required
for learning
 Provided insufficient guidance on how to expand
learning opportunities
 Narrowed focus of curriculum
 Relied on pressure as strategy to improve schools
 Largely ignored the non-academic needs of children
Impact of test-based accountability on teaching and
learning

Led to more scripted teaching aligned to “packaged” curricula

Greater emphasis placed on low level “testable” skills, rather
than higher order thinking in low-income schools
 Limited opportunities for “deeper learning”.
Distorted the use of testing - used to measure and monitor
achievement, rather than to improve teaching and learning
Overlooked importance of delivering high quality instruction,
particularly for vulnerable groups
Under the right conditions, Poor children are
capable of learning and excelling, but…

When conditions associated with poverty (e.g.

poor nutrition, exposure to violence, family and
housing instability, etc.) are ignored, it
significantly reduces the likelihood of
educational success.
A framework for pursuing equity
Child Development – a holistic approach to learning (social and
emotional factors) and the need for differentiation
Neuroscience – elasticity of brain requires the use of strategies to
promote cognitive development and mitigate harmful factors in
the environment
Understanding and responding to the way students are affected by:
 Family
 Peers
 Community
 Society
Toxic stress impacts learning
Children exposed to higher
levels of poverty for longer
periods of time have greater
difficulty with
• Attention
• Working memory
• Inhibitory control

Increasing evidence for the “toxic stress” hypothesis –

 Stressors associated with poverty increase wear and tear on cardiovascular and HPA axis->
hypothesized to be “biomediator” of impact on brain development and function
 Trauma exposure in military vs. urban Detroit
Type Ohio National Guard DETROIT
Combat 46.5% (n = 1151) 10.9% (n = 146)
Fire/explosion 31.9% (n = 790) --
Rape/sexual assault 10.1% (n = 251) 19.1% (n = 256)
Shot or stabbed 8.3% (n = 205) 15.7% (n = 210)
Held captive 0.6% (n = 15) 6.1% (n = 82)
Mugged/badly beaten/ threatened w/ a 38.2% (n = 946) 38.4% (n = 515)
weapon
Transportation accident 30.1% (n = 744) 31.0% (n = 416)
Other accident 18.4% (n = 456) 17.1% (n = 229)
Natural disaster 17.5% (n = 433) 21.5% (n = 288)
Sudden unexpected death 70.6% (n = 1747) 79.5% (n = 1068)
Caused injury/death 12.4% (n = 307) --
Witnessed death/human suffering 54.0% (n = 1337) 36.2% (n = 486)
Learned of other’s illness/injury 76.3% (n = 1889) 73.6% (n = 988)
Karestan Koenen in collaboration with Kate Walsh
 Students
The experiencing
overlap higher exposure
to crime had
more difficulty
with attention
and impulsive
behavior.

• Children who
were more
anxious/sad were
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Five Essential Ingredients for school
improvement

- A coherent instructional guidance system

- Ongoing development of the professional
capacity of staff
- Strong parent-community-school ties – to
mitigate effects of poverty
- A student-centered learning culture/climate
- Shared leadership to drive change
Expand access to high standards and high quality learning
opportunities

Language Arts - The Common Core State Standards create a staircase of

increasing text complexity. Students are expected to both develop their
skills and apply them to more complex texts.
The standards require students to systematically acquire knowledge in
literature and other disciplines through reading, writing, speaking, and
listening.
English teachers will still teach their students the literature and literary
nonfiction texts that they choose. However, because college and career
readiness overwhelmingly focuses on complex texts outside of
literature, the standards also ensure that students are being prepared to
read, write, and research across the curriculum, including in history and
science.
See: Common Core, Culture and Argumentation in the Disciplines by Carol
Lee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkxQ9VYP0Gs
Adams scholarship winners 2014
Brockton HS
Math standards
The standards are designed to support a student's ability to learn
and apply more demanding math concepts and procedures. The
middle school and high school standards call on students to
practice applying mathematical ways of thinking to real-world
issues and challenges. In particular, problem-solving,
collaboration, communication, and critical-thinking skills are
interwoven into the standards.
Students in control of learning at
Hollenbeck Middle School, LA
English language learners and students with
learning disabilities
In order for ELLs and students with disabilities to meet high academic standards
they must acquire conceptual and procedural knowledge and skills in
mathematics, reading, writing, speaking and listening. For this to occur their
instruction must include:
 Supports services designed to meet their unique needs.
 Fidelity in the implementation of the Individualized Education Plan
(IEP). This must include annual goals aligned with grade-level
academic standards.
 Teachers and specialized instructional support personnel who are
prepared and qualified to deliver high-quality, evidence-based,
individualized instruction and support services.
Bronx Academy of Language and
Technology
The standards will only lead to improvement if we
focus on engagement
 Behavioral Engagement
 Preparation
 Persistence
 Instrumental Help-seeking
 Cognitive Engagement
 Deep Processing
 Meta-cognition
 Affective Engagement
 Interest
 Value
Utilize strategies that are effective at
engaging students in learning

1. Active learning, interactive classroom, on-task

learning
2. Draw on prior knowledge
 Personalized learning plans
 Inquiry-based pedagogical strategies
 Simulations and experiential learning
 Socratic seminars and debate
 Project-based learning
 Student leadership in the classroom
 Public presentations of student work
Teachers focus on evidence of
learning
• Make expectations clear and standards explicit
• Model and expose students to high quality work
• Utilize diagnostic tools to check for understanding
• Learn about their students interests in order to make lessons culturally
relevant
• Expect students to revise and resubmit work
• Solicit feedback and questions from students
• Analyze student work with a focus on evidence of competence and
mastery, and with a willingness to reflect on efficacy of methods
Align the skills of teachers with the needs of
students

 Provide access to mentors and content area coaches –

selected based upon a record of effectiveness and an
ability to work well with colleagues
 Provide time for observation and feedback – from
veteran teachers and knowledgeable administrators
 Provide time to plan and collaborate with colleagues
and learn from student work
 Don’t assign new teachers to teach the most
challenging classes
 Neuroscience and
intervention
Recent advertisement for
Webinar in Education Week:
“Researchers at the University
of Wisconsin-Madison believe
new video games like Crystals
of Kaydor and Tenacity can
measure student learning in
real time while literally
rewiring kids' brains to help
them pay better attention and
improve their behavior.”
“Lure of neuroplasticity” - the rapid
development in childhood of the neural
substrate of EFs -> explosion in the number
of products that claim to “train the brain”
(Rabipour & Raz, 2013).
Efforts to improve children’s executive function:
 Laboratory-based game-like computer-based
training administered to individual children
(Loosli,Buschkeuhl, Perrig, & Jaeggi, 2012;
Mackey, Hill, Stone, & Bunge, 2011),
 Clinically oriented training targeting children with
difficulty (such as those children with ADHD)
(Klingberg et al., 2005),
 Interventions targeting children’s classroom, home
environments (Diamond et al., 2007).
Utilize CSRP and other intervention
programs to promote resilience

Communities and schools can make big difference by investing

in universal preschool.
School leaders (and teachers, students) can actively capitalize
on classic neuroscientific finding: The “social buffer”
hypothesis –
 The presence of supportive adult
dramatically reduces
 biological stress response as well as
experience of anxiety for individuals
facing major challenge or stressor
Need for a paradigm shift
Old Paradigm
 Intelligence is innate
 Job of schools is to
measure intelligence and
sort accordingly
 Students expected to meet
requirements of school,
failure is normalized
 Discipline used to weed out
the “bad” kids
New Paradigm
Intelligence and ability are
influenced by opportunity
It is the job of school to
cultivate talent and
resilience among students
Schools organized to meet
student needs and resources
are allocated based on need
Discipline used to reinforce
pro-social values and
norms
Strategies that support teaching and learning
Systems to facilitate Cultural Changes:
school effectiveness  Supportive relationships
 Diagnostic assessment between teachers and
 Early intervention students
procedures  Willingness among
 Ongoing evaluation to teachers to share ideas,
insure quality control curricula, materials
 On-site, ongoing  Peer culture where it is
professional “cool to be smart”
development for teachers  Partnerships between
 Shared leadership school, community and
parents
Undoing the effects of NCLB
 Broaden and deepen the curriculum
 Move away from scripted teaching and move toward greater
teacher responsibility in curriculum development and lesson
design
 Ensure greater opportunities for “deeper learning”.
 Use assessment to diagnose learning needs and to provide
feedback on how to improve teaching and learning
 Place priority on the development and implementation of high
quality instruction of instruction, particularly for vulnerable
groups
A holistic vision of school capacity building
to achieve equity in outcomes