ABSTRACT
In high-performing urban schools, teachers spent considerable time engaging students in writing explanations, narratives, arguments, opinions, and other text types that helped teachers gauge how well students understood a concept. It is important to note that educators in the high-performing schools provided all students access to challenging curricula, not just those deemed academically talented or gifted. Students with greater academic needs were not relegated to a daily schedule that included a triple dose of math and a quadruple dose of reading, while more successful students experienced art, instrumental music, drama, engineering, science, robotics, and dance. Leaders made sure that all students experienced the joy of a rich, broad curriculum. Often teachers taught students in heterogeneous groups, ensuring that all students had the opportunity to learn key academic content. In many schools, vertical-planning structures enhanced access to curricular rigor for all students, connecting learning expectations horizontally within and across content areas and contexts, as means to develop accurate frameworks of knowledge.
