School Improvement Research Series
Research You Can Use
Snapshot #11
Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum
Aloha High School
Kathleen Cotton
RESEARCH FINDINGS
In order for students to develop skill in critical thinking, several elements of classroom and
schoolwide climate and practice need to be present. According to Effective Schooling Practices:
A Research Synthesis (Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory 1984), these include:
At the classroom level:
1.2 There are high expectations for student learning.
Teachers set high standards for learning and let students know they are all expected to
meet them. Standards are set so they are both challenging and attainable.
1.3 Students are carefully oriented to lessons.
Teachers help students get ready to learn. They explain lesson objectives in simple,
everyday language and refer to them throughout lessons to maintain focus.
Objectives may be posted or handed out to help students keep a sense of direction.
Teachers check to see that objectives are understood.
The relationship of a current lesson to previous study is described. Students are reminded
of key concepts or skills previously covered.
Students are challenged to learn, particularly at the start of difficult lessons. Students
know in advance what’s expected and are ready to learn.
At the school level:
2.8 There are high expectations for quality instruction.
All staff believe that students can learn regardless of their ability level and
enthusiastically accept the challenge to teach them. When staff get together they often
discuss instructional issues.
Staff development opportunities are provided; emphasis is on skill building; content
addresses key instructional issues and priorities. Inservice activities are related to and
build on each other; incentives encourage participation.
2.11 Teachers and administrators continually strive to improve instructional effectiveness.
Throughout the school there is an ongoing concern for improving instructional
effectiveness. No one is complacent about student achievement; there is an expectation
that educational programs will be changed so that they work better.
School improvements are directed at clearly-defined student achievement and/or social
behavior problems; strong agreement is developed within the school concerning the
purpose of improvement efforts.
Priority goals for improvement are set which give focus to planning and implementation.
Goals which specify desired changes in achievement or social behavior are known and
supported in the school community.
SITUATION
Located in a predominantly suburban area southwest of Portland, Oregon, Aloha High School is
one of three high schools in the Beaverton School District and serves 1,530 students in grades
ten, eleven, and twelve.
The Beaverton district is large; over 22,000 students attend school in 35 buildings. In this
“bedroom community,” nearly all students are white/non-Hispanic, and income levels are
moderate to upper middle class. There is a wide variety of businesses and industrial complexes
in the Beaverton area, including such hightech companies as Intel and Tektronix.
CONTEXT
Aloha High School is a participant in the Onward to Excellence school improvement process ––
a process in which school leadership teams compile profiles of school performance, and school
staff select improvement goals based on the information in the profiles. Staff then develop
research–based prescriptions and plans to achieve the goals selected, implement plans, and
