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Trajectory-Changing Schools Do a Few Things Well ��

JCCS All-Staff Keynote

Nancy Frey, PhD

August 17, 2026

Photo by Sheila C on Unsplash

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Welcome!

PPT for this session is available www.FisherandFrey.com

Click on Recordings & Resources

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Learning Intention

We are deepening our understanding of how to lead trajectory-changing schools.

Success Criteria

I can align characteristics of trajectory-changing schools to my own site.

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Building the Case for Change

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The Opportunity Myth

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TNTP’s 2018 report, �The Opportunity Myth, examined the quality �of students’ academic experiences in school and its effect on their long-term success.

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In a single school year, the average student spends about 530 HOURS OF THE APPROXIMATELY 720 HOURS in their core classes on assignments that are not grade appropriate.�

After observing nearly 1,000 hours of classroom instruction and analyzing 5,000 student assignments, we found…

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Higher expectations

Deeper engagement

Stronger instruction

Better assignments

Overlooked in The Opportunity Myth were

4 key resources that made a difference.

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But access to the Four Key Resources can make a difference. �When students get greater access to them, outcomes improve.

1.7

months

In our sample, all students made:

0.2

months

2.5

months

4.6

months

More months of academic progress when they had access to BETTER ASSIGNMENTS.

More months of academic progress when they had access to STRONGER INSTRUCTION.

More months of academic progress when they reported being MORE ENGAGED IN CLASS.

More months of academic progress when their teachers had HIGHER EXPECTATIONS.

00:44-00:35

These four resources m

This was especially true for students who are below grade level. Students who started the year behind grew significantly more when they had access to grade-appropriate assignments, strong instruction, deep engagement, and teachers with high expectations.

This flies in the face of an implicit narrative we sometimes tell about students who are behind – which is that they can’t do grade level work. It also challenges the notion that students who are behind need less challenging work in order to "meet them where they are.” What we see here is that if students who are behind don't have access to grade-appropriate assignments, they never have the chance to catch up. Instead, teachers need stronger support and training to give students real access to challenging content, regardless of their starting point. ade a difference – for all students in the sample. Students grew more when they had access to our four resources.

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That’s especially true for students who started the year below grade-level.

Students who started the year performing substantially below average made:

7.3

months

6.1

months

0.9

months

7.9

months

More months of academic progress when they had access to BETTER ASSIGNMENTS.

More months of academic progress when they had access to STRONGER INSTRUCTION.

More months of academic progress when they reported being MORE ENGAGED IN CLASS.

More months of academic progress when their teachers had HIGHER EXPECTATIONS.

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Make your learning visible.

Which of these four resources are commonly experienced at your site?

What results would you see if each were strengthened across the site (not just in a single classroom)?

Better Assignments

Stronger Grade-Level Instruction

More Classroom Engagement

Higher Expectations

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https://tntp.org/publication/the-opportunity-makers/

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There are 51,000 public elementary, middle, and K-8 schools in the U.S.

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28,000 of them average below-grade performance in ELA and Math on state tests at the initial year of testing.

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Schools with

“a long arc of sustained improvement.”

TNTP, 2024

Photo by SpaceX on Unsplash

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5% (1,345) were “Trajectory-changing Schools,” averaging 1.3-1.7 years gain annually.

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A child one year below grade level in 3^rd grade is on grade level by 6^th grade:

a potentially life-changing difference.

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In three years, students gain a full extra year of learning.

What does it mean to average 1.3 years learning, year over year, for a decade? It means that a student who starts third grade a year behind in math is on grade level by sixth – a potentially life-changing difference. We call these schools these schools “trajectory-changing” because that’s exactly what they do for students.

We defined "trajectory-changing" schools as schools where the average student was not yet on grade level in the initial tested grade and students grew at least 1.3 relative grade levels per year. This threshold, while somewhat arbitrary, is also practical. Setting the bar at 1.3 relative grade levels per year pulls the top five percent of public elementary and middle schools in SEDA. At this growth rate, compounded over several years, most students who are behind in elementary and middle school can reach grade-level proficiency during their time in school.

For the last decade, students in these schools gained more than 1.3 years of learning each school year. Growing at this rate allows most students to catch up during their time in school. In three years, students gain a full extra year of learning. A student who starts third grade one year behind in math is on grade level by sixth grade—a potentially life-changing difference.

Critically, these trajectory-changing schools have bucked the national trend for a decade. Student academic growth was consistent across different demographic groups and consistent over time. Because their trends are long-term, this isn’t about a single heroic leader or group of self-sacrificing teachers. It’s not the result of a one-time investment or a one-off initiative. This isn’t a silver bullet story.

Instead, trajectory-changing schools show us a long arc of sustained improvement by helping students gain 1.3 years or more of learning, year after year. These schools have found a way to sustain progress despite changes in leadership and the education landscape. Clearly, there must be durable systems, practices, and daily habits that can create exceptional levels of learning for all young people.

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Belonging: Schools create an emotional climate for learning that activates students’ ability to excel.

Consistency: Schools deliver consistently good teaching and grade-level content for all students.

9 out of 10 classrooms were rated as “good” or “strong” instruction.

Coherence: Schools build a unified instructional program and set priorities that are clear to all.

3 Characteristics of Trajectory-changing Schools

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Coherence is focused direction to build collective purpose.

Fullan & Quinn, 2016

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Incoherence isn’t intentional; it’s often the result

of people with good intentions trying to do too

many things.

Incoherence isn’t intentional.

It’s often the result

of people with good intentions trying to do too

many things.

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Opportunity gaps persist when learning isn’t connected to grade-level rigor.

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Meet Abdi, a ninth-grade student who loves soccer and hanging out with friends at car shows. His first language is Arabic.

His grade level’s interdisciplinary essential question this quarter is,

“How do technologies shape the human experience?”

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In Action:

4 Opportunities to Fail?

Instructional incoherence creates a disjointed and confusing experience for students.

In his 9^th grade English class, Abdi is reading the 1951 Ray Bradbury short story, “The Veldt,” a horror story about a technologically advanced home and the children who live in it.
In his intervention block, Abdi discusses cause and effect with an interventionist, using a levelled text about the rock cycle.
During after-school tutoring, Abdi practices fluency by reading 100-word passages and tries to improve his words per minute.
For homework, Abdi works on a computer adaptive program where he identifies character, setting and main idea of short passages.

HIGH-DOSAGE TUTORING

Interventions

Core/Tier 1 Instruction

Extended Time

High-Dosage Tutoring

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Trajectory-changing schools coordinate quality grade level instruction and supports.

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In Action:

A Unified Effort to Succeed

Instructional coherence feels logical, predictable, and unified for students.

Interventions

Core/Tier 1 Instruction

Extended Time

High-Dosage Tutoring

In his 9^th grade English class (Tier 1), Abdi is reading “The Veldt.”
In his intervention block, Abdi previews “The Veldt” and maps Peter and Wendy’s journey as they take command of the tech, with deadly consequences.
During after-school tutoring, Abdi works to improve fluency by reading aloud passages from “The Veldt” and related current informational texts about smart homes.
For homework, Abdi writes generative sentences using vocabulary that are central to the meaning of the text.

Adapted from

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RLA Coherence Example.

Trajectory-changing school design and implement more coherent learning experiences that accelerate student learning and support students to succeed on grade-level tasks.

In trajectory changing schools, we heard students say things like, ““In intervention, I get to see and practice some of the things that I will need to know when I get to my regular class. And then when the teacher gives me the hard problems, I can do them.”

In coherent schools, learning experiences point to grade-level learning and make sense to students.

Facilitator Note:

This example is modeled after the learning example articulated in the report, best demonstrated by Trousdale Elementary School.
In this example, the students could articulate this model (in student terms) and the rationale. “In intervention, I get to see and practice some of the things that I will need to know when I get to my regular class. And then when the teacher gives me the hard problems, I can do them.”
The idea that the learning experiences “make sense” to students is reinforced in a following slide: daily experiences are logical, predictable, unified.

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Change the face of schooling for students by changing opportunity structures.

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Opportunity structures maximize consistency, coherence, and a sense of belongingness to build RIGOR.

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The three focus areas intersect and reinforce each other.

Coherence

Schools build a unified instructional program and set priorities that are clear to all.

Belonging

Schools create an emotional climate for learning, activating students' ability to excel.

Consistency

Schools deliver consistently good teaching and grade-level content for all students.

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�

Team Talk: Make your learning visible.

What is your site’s superpower?

What does your school do well?

Belongingness

Consistency

Coherence

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Belonging

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What’s the difference between belonging

and fitting in?

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Belonging is

authentic acceptance.

Fitting in is

conditional acceptance.

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Belonging is built �by school-wide structures and practices. �

In trajectory-changing schools, students trust the school as a whole.

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Belonging is created not just by individual relationships, but by structures and practices across the school.

Research has shown that students generally trust their teachers, but that trust does not extend across the school. At trajectory-changing schools, students trusted the school as a whole. In surveys, more than 8 in 10 students at trajectory-changing schools said they felt supported by their school and cared for by people at their school, compared to around 6 in 10 students at schools with average learning.

Students at trajectory-changing schools were also more likely to feel challenged by their teacher. More than 8 in 10 students said their teacher asks them to keep trying when they felt like giving up, compared to fewer than 7 in 10 in schools with average learning.

In other words, belonging isn’t built just in individual relationships, it’s also built by school-wide structures. The whole institution must anchor all decisions in the experience of individual young people—not only because it’s right, but also because it’s the best way to build on students’ gifts and boost their learning.

----------------------------------

Additional Facilitator Notes:

- “Schools with Average Learning” is data collected from comparable schools from across the country with learning rates below 1.33 years

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Consistency

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Consistent Content

All students do grade-level work with different supports.

Adopted curriculum

All trajectory-changing schools have an adopted curriculum in math and reading.

Consistent use

Two-thirds of teachers say they use it most of the time, double the rate of teachers nationally.

High-quality curriculum

Used well, a quality curriculum makes it easier for all teachers to deliver grade-level lessons.

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At trajectory-changing schools, all students consistently get grade-level content, regardless of their learning level. In nearly 8 in 10 observed lessons, tasks were aligned to grade-level standards. In 9 out of 10 lessons, all students were expected to complete the same assignment. This, above all else, is what all “good” lessons have in common: Every student has the same opportunity to do grade-level work, and some students get more support to access the content.

One of the most powerful ways that schools create this consistency is through curriculum choices. Using a shared curriculum alone improves consistency, regardless of the quality of the curriculum. All trajectory-changing schools have a shared curriculum in math and reading—and most teachers said they use it most of the time. No matter what teacher they have, students get versions of the same lesson, built from the same scopes and sequences and anchored to the same standards.

Teachers at trajectory-changing schools are far more likely to use the adopted curriculum as their starting place. In surveys, two-thirds of teachers at trajectory-changing schools said they mostly used the adopted curriculum, rather than materials they found or created. By contrast, only about one-third of elementary school teachers nationally and one-fifth of middle school teachers say they mostly use their school’s adopted curriculum, without making major changes.�

A high-quality curriculum takes consistency to the next level. Used well, a quality curriculum makes it easier for all teachers to rely on consistent materials and deliver grade-level lessons. For example, in Trousdale County Elementary, which uses a high-quality curriculum in both math and reading, 80 percent of teachers said they mostly use the adopted curriculum—and their lessons were rated “strong” at nearly twice the rate of most of the other studied schools.

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Consistent Instruction

Trajectory-changing schools raise the bar for instruction.�

The average lesson was good or strong in 9 out of 10 classrooms.

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Consistent Collaboration in Professional Learning Communities

Teachers work in structured teams to improve instruction.

Focus on instruction

Leaders use PLCs to reinforce school expectations for instruction and identify variations in teacher or student performance.

Simple questions

Discussion questions prompt data-driven reflection focused on individual students.

Concrete actions

Teachers commit to concrete actions for individual students, rather than for groups.

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02:06-02:07

Many schools have professional learning communities (PLCs), but they vary widely in use and effectiveness. They tend to be unstructured and are often focused on administration (like planning for an upcoming test or field trip) rather than on instruction.

Trajectory-changing schools use the time to improve instruction. PLC meetings are the primary catalyst for frequent cycles of improvement centered on a core practice or the school’s area of focus. Teachers come together to analyze student data and work samples, decide how to address individual student needs, and apply strategies in class the next day. At the end of the week, teachers bring new student data and work samples to the PLCs and the cycle begins afresh. It’s one continuous, school-wide loop.

Through these structured conversations, instructional leaders reinforce shared school expectations and identify variations in teacher or student performance. Instructional leaders typically can’t join every PLC meeting, but they prioritize the ones that need more support on data analysis or focused reflection. Instead of using elaborate agendas, instructional leaders ask a few simple questions, focused on individual student learning, to guide the PLC discussion and build consistent habits.

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• A Lack of Sufficient Collaboration Time and Structure

• Lack of Clarity and Shared Purpose

• Confusion about Cooperation and Collaboration

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”Dating is a cooperative venture, while marriage is a collaborative one.”

Hord, 1980

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Even the best teams are hampered if they rarely get to learn from one another.

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Diffusion

Passive
Unplanned
Untargeted

Dissemination

Targeted distribution of info and materials to a specific audience

Implementation

Use of strategies to adopt and integrate interventions and change practice patterns

“Let It Happen”

“Help It Happen”

“Make It Happen”

Greenhalgh, T., Robert, G., Macfarlane, F., Bate, P., & Kyriakidou, O. (2004). Diffusion of innovations in service organizations: systematic review and recommendations. The Milbank Quarterly, 82(4), 581-629.

3 Ways Innovation Might Spread Through an Organization

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An implemented set of systems can reduce the silos of excellence present in every school and across a district.

2 min.

PLCs first emerged to address teacher isolation, which was common in earlier decades. The idea was that by working together, educators could support each other while positively impacting student learning. Over time, research has confirmed that well-implemented PLCs do just that—enhancing instructional practices and boosting student outcomes

Deprivatizing teaching—moving from isolated classroom practice to open collaboration—fosters a culture where educators learn from one another, leading to higher Collective Teacher Efficacy. When teachers regularly observe each other, share strategies, and engage in reflective dialogue, they develop a shared belief in their ability to positively impact student learning. Case studies show that schools implementing learning walks, co-teaching models, and collaborative data discussions see not only improved instructional practices but also increased student achievement, as teachers refine their approaches based on collective insights.

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Coherence

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Instructional coherence in a school helps students learn, while incoherence creates confusion and saps students’ confidence.

Coherence and Learning

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“Students are more likely to engage in the difficult work of learning when experiences within classes, among classes, and over time are connected to one another.”

Newmann, F.M., Smith, B., Allensworth, E.,& Bryk, A.S. (2001). Instructional Program Coherence: What It Is and Why It Should Guide School Improvement Policy. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis.

Instructional Coherence

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Coherence �at School

Leaders clear space for teachers to focus.

Focused direction

Leaders set focused goals and ensure that everyone understands the role they play.

Prioritization

Leaders look for ways to do less to create more time for what's most important.

Clearing barriers

Leaders put resources behind their priorities and remove obstacles that get in the way.

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02:16-02:17

Once they have a coherent instructional program in place, trajectory-changing schools focus on implementing it well. Everyone in the school community understands what they’re working toward and the role they play. Coherence comes to life in the way school leaders articulate and reinforce their focused direction and remove obstacles that get in the way.

For example, Center City PCS Brightwood set just two school-wide goals for the 2023-24 school year: high-quality, rigorous, and joyful learning for all students, with a specific focus on exceptional learners, and holding high expectations for adults to do what’s best for kids. Then they made sure that each teacher had one or two narrow goals with concrete actions, so educators know where to focus.

Leaders also look for ways to do less. Brightwood leaders deprioritized individual check-ins with teachers to make room for things like productive data meetings and co-planning.

Leaders also put resources behind their top priorities and removed obstacles for teachers, including shielding them from some district initiatives that would have added work to teachers' plates. In an ideal world, district and state requirements would help schools focus rather than piling more responsibilities on. But even in an imperfect environment, school leaders work within their locus of control to keep all actions intentional.

Facilitator note (if asked for examples):

At Van Buskirk Elementary, the focus for the 2023-24 school year was pandemic recovery and consistent grade-level lessons using a certain instructional approach, executed through quality lesson plans in PLCs. Teachers knew exactly what was expected, how to deliver it, and how they’d be held accountable. “My communication is consistent: this year, our focus is on the lesson plans. They should be in by 3 p.m. each Friday, and I follow-up at 3:30,” explains Principal Barajas.

On her end, Principal Barajas put resources behind the effort and removed obstacles. She found ways to use pandemic funding and a state stipend to pay teachers for extra planning time during the school year and over the summer. She pushed back on district initiatives, like a new training, that would have added work to teachers’ plates. “I said, ‘Hell no.’ We have to get back to normal first.”

It's not always possible to pick and choose from district initiatives, but Principal Barajas has a good working relationship with district leadership, and together they discuss what makes sense for the school. “I push what the district is going to do if it aligns with our goals,” explains Principal Barajas. “But if it adds too much, I shield my teachers from it.”

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�

Make your learning visible.

What current structures are in place at your site to support coherence?

What might be strengthened?

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How can we design consistent and coherent solutions in a system as complex as a school?

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Hope without a plan is just a wish.

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Stand Up

Hand Up

Pair Up

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First Action

Share one strength and one growth area.

“An area of strength I have is…

“I will strengthen my leadership by …”

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From Team to System