How It’s Being Done

In addition to a careful analysis of why Massachusetts leads the nation in academic performance, HOW It’s Being Done profiles in depth eight highly successful high-poverty and high-minority schools. Although the schools are very different from each other in many ways — they are rural, urban, and suburban; they are large and small; they are elementary and secondary — they all share five things:

• They all have a laserlike focus on what kids need to learn
• They all collaborate on how to teach it
• They all use formative assessment to see if kids learned it
• They all use data to drive instruction — to identify kids who need extra help or enrichment
• They all work hard to build relationships and a culture of support