Beyond Alignment: The Power of Coherence in School Districts

Imagine a learning environment where every teacher clearly understands each student’s academic journey. Lessons seamlessly connect, building upon each other to create a clear path toward mastery. When students need extra support, targeted assistance is readily available, ensuring that each student has access to engaging, rigorous core instruction as well as timely supports of appropriate difficulty to maximize the learning journey. With the power of coherence, this doesn’t have to be a dream—it can be a classroom reality.

Coherence: The evidence

A quick internet search for “coherence” reveals definitions emphasizing logic, consistency, alignment, and unity. In education, coherence is often viewed as a reinforcing relationship between curriculum, instruction, and assessment. This interconnected system, sustained across time, enhances learning outcomes by creating a whole greater than the sum of its parts. The research on the effectiveness of coherence in education is conclusive. Michael Fullan’s studies reveal that high-performing school districts share a common characteristic of coherence. Fullan describes elements of coherence as a unified vision of core goals, understanding of their rationales, and agreement about the strategies to achieve them. In contrast, Susan Moore Johnson, a renowned professor at Harvard, observes that struggling school systems are plagued by incoherence, characterized by conflicting strategies, competing cultures, and ill-designed initiatives.

Coherence in education goes beyond merely aligning curriculum, instruction, and assessment components. It’s about ensuring these components work together seamlessly, creating an educational experience where students and educators flourish.

The benefits of a coherent system

When a school or district achieves coherence, there are benefits to many aspects of the teaching and learning process:

• Teacher effectiveness: Teachers have an explicit roadmap, knowing precisely what to teach and how to teach it effectively.
• Efficiency: Time, resources, and energy are deployed strategically, reducing redundancy and maximizing impact.
• Accountability: Stakeholders can easily understand how resources are being used and how students are progressing.
• Student learning outcomes: Students clearly understand expectations, leading to better engagement and achievement.

The success outcomes framework to guide coherence

The success outcomes framework, created by Dr. Stephan Knobloch, senior director of academic planning and analytics for HMH, offers a valuable tool for measuring and guiding coherence. The framework focuses on the three key elements of learning: content (or curriculum), instruction, and assessment. The formula below uses C to represent content, I to represent instruction, A to represent assessment, and O to represent outcomes. In the formula, the multiplier is the teacher’s data-driven decision-making on curriculum resources and instructional strategies, which is supplemented with assessments to monitor student learning and academic gains over time.

When these elements are thoughtfully developed, effectively implemented, and coherently aligned, we create a robust system that benefits all students.

Element 1: Curriculum coherence

Here are questions to consider when working to build coherence into your curriculum:

• Do we have clear, rigorous learning expectations?
• Are these expectations designed with a seamless student growth track across time?
• Does our curriculum help us connect different subjects and real-world experiences?
• Do we have robust resources to implement the curriculum, like high-quality instructional materials and evidence-based programs?

A weak curriculum builds our entire system on potentially poor outcomes. A coherent curriculum system clarifies the most important work to be done on behalf of students.

Element 2: Instructional coherence

Consider the following questions when working to build coherence into your instruction:

• Do we all agree on what good teaching looks like?
• Do we have a standard instructional model?
• Do we have consistent routines and use the same academic language?
• Do we have a clear plan for engaging all students?
• Do we have support for teachers and leaders to build skills and fulfill their role in instruction?

Inconsistent instructional design can create a muddled learning experience over time, especially for struggling students. A coherent instructional system clarifies how we design and deliver engaging, effective learning experiences.

Element 3: Assessment coherence

These questions will help with building coherence into your assessment:

• Are assessments aligned to our learning standards? In other words, are we measuring against what we said we'd teach?
• Do our assessments give us a clear picture of student progress?
• Are we identifying students who need extra help?
• Are we using assessments to guide our instruction?

A robust assessment system can ensure the optimal use of instructional time and avoid sending educators in the wrong direction instructionally. A coherent assessment system provides clarity about how our work is impacting students.

By aligning curriculum, instruction, and assessment, schools and districts create a more cohesive learning environment—better supporting teachers and bolstering student success. HMH provides coherence mapping, in which schools and districts work alongside their HMH team to map out resources using MTSS/RTI templates, ensuring appropriate resources are matched to student needs. Wes Gordon, assistant superintendent in Auburn City Schools, Alabama, shares his team’s experience using a process of mapping resources to guide the development of coherence in his district. “Before coherence mapping, purchases were made with no real focused direction. During coherence mapping, gaps in resources for tiers of instruction in both reading and math revealed themselves much more clearly than ever before. After coherence mapping, we regularly monitor the effectiveness of tools at each level to ensure teachers have the resources they need to meet the needs of every student. We are better educators and leaders because of coherence mapping.”

Common challenges and solutions

While the benefits of coherence are clear, achieving it can be challenging. Common obstacles include leadership and staff turnover, lack of shared beliefs, inconsistent data usage, and resistance to change. To overcome these challenges, leaders can:

• Create a shared vision: Establish a clear and inspiring vision for the school or district. Create a common definition of success.
• Build capacity: Provide professional development opportunities for teachers and administrators. Provide ample support and opportunity for meaningful collaboration around common problems.
• Use data effectively: Analyze data on a regular cadence to inform decision-making. Provide support following each assessment cycle to make data actionable for all roles.
• Provide adequate resources: Ensure educators have the necessary tools and resources. High-quality instructional materials and evidence-based programs can accelerate the journey to coherence across curriculum, instruction, and assessment.

A systems-based approach to coherence

A 2011 study of teacher quality conducted by Eric Hanushek, known as the “teacher quality” study, sought to quantify the impact of teacher effectiveness on long-term student success. This and subsequent studies are often cited as a call to action around individual teacher effectiveness and practice; however, savvy leaders ask the question behind the face-value question. If individual teachers matter (and they do), what conditions empower all teachers to perform at high levels? For that answer, I suggest we evaluate system-wide factors and our degree of coherence versus incoherence. Taken from a lens of system-wide effectiveness, a coherent plan for curriculum, instruction, and assessment is critical to scaling great practices across classrooms and sustaining efforts across time—so that teachers and teacher teams are effective and student outcomes are positively impacted.

Educators in Elkins, West Virginia, are moving from a focus on individual performance to systemic coherence. Amy Rowan Smith, director of federal programs and elementary curriculum, offers her take: “Coherence is the foundation of Randolph County’s improvement efforts. It has become a core improvement practice in our district. We understand that we all have to be on the same page to achieve our desired student outcomes. By attending to coherence, we all have the map to follow. From there, we review our processes. We have implemented a new classroom walk-through process, developed a set of non-negotiable instructional strategies, and secured agreements on student engagement routines.”

The power of coherence

A well-designed, coherent system of curriculum, instruction, and assessment creates a powerful learning environment for all. Students excel, teachers thrive, and school leaders make informed decisions. By addressing challenges and building coherence, we can ensure all stakeholders have the vision, resources, skills, and commitment needed to effectively serve every student. As Fullan states, “Focus and coherence has never been more badly needed. Now is the time for action.”

References

Fullan, M., & Quinn, J. (2015). Coherence: The right drivers in action for schools, districts, and systems. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Fullan, M., Quinn, J., & Adam, E. (2016). The taking action guide to building coherence in schools, districts, and systems. Corwin Press.

Hanushek, E. A. (2011). The economic value of higher teacher quality. Economics of Education Review, 30(3), 466–479.

Johnson, S. M., Marietta, G., Higgins, M. C., Mapp, K. L., & Grossman, A. S. (2015). Achieving coherence in district improvement: Managing the relationship between the central office and schools. Harvard Education Press.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of HMH.

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For more on data-driven assessments and instruction, explore HMH assessments that help educators gain a complete picture of student achievement. Additionally, watch our customer success stories for more examples of data-driven instruction effectively implemented in schools, plus other ways educators improved student outcomes by partnering with HMH.