Kindergartners at John F. Kennedy Catholic School in Davenport use manipulatives for math work.
For The Catholic Messenger
DAVENPORT — John F. Kennedy Catholic School has achieved Level 2 certification in Marzano High Reliability Schools, a framework for education. Through Level 2 certification, JFK has established “Effective Teaching in Every Classroom.” The framework focuses on the responsibility of school leaders and teachers in ensuring high-quality instruction.
Schools achieving Level 2 certification continue to have met the criteria for Level 1 certification, creating a “Safe, Supportive, and Collaborative Culture.” Without this foundational culture, student achievement is compromised, said Principal Chad Steimle.
Marzano Resources created the High Reliability Schools (HRS) framework to help transform schools into organizations that take proactive steps to ensure student success. Using a research-based, five-level hierarchy, educators learn to assess, monitor and confirm the effectiveness of their schools. This framework, based on 50 years of educational research, defines five progressive levels of performance that a school must master to become an HRS in which all students learn the content and skills they need for success in college, careers and beyond. “As you move through the levels, it represents a complete transformation in how schools are run,” says CEO Robert J. Marzano.
Schools must collect data and validate their performance to climb each level of the hierarchy. Marzano Resources analysts determine certification in cooperation with school data teams. High quality instruction is the most important tool that educators have at their disposal to affect positively student learning, according to Marzano Resources.
Level 2 of the HRS framework details how to develop and maintain teacher effectiveness in every classroom by building a shared language of instruction and using this common language to raise the level of pedagogical skill individually and collectively.
JFK’s Instructional Playbook provides the details for quality intentional teaching at JFK, Steimle noted. The playbook expresses JFK’s fundamental values, efforts to address student well-being, and intentional instruction with content, research-based teaching strategies, and high-quality formative and summative assessment.
JFK is one of only 26 schools in Iowa and 402 in the United States that has achieved Level 2 certification as a High Reliability School.
