Evaluation of Tribes Learning Communities
Evaluation of Tribes Learning Community Schools has examined the impact
of the Tribes process on student behavior, academic performance, school
culture, and teacher collegiality. Studies have shown that:
- Tribes TLC has a positive impact on classroom environment
- teachers report spending less time managing student behavior
- students are significantly less likely to be referred for disciplinary
problems
- the Tribes process helps teachers address performance and content
standards
- students in well-implemented classrooms score significantly higher on
standardized tests than students from comparison groups.
- teachers report increased staff collegiality and planning.
WestEd conducted a 2-year evaluation of the implementation and impact
of the Tribes process in more than 40 schools nationwide. The evaluation
combined qualitative data collected from structured interviews and
student, teacher, and principal surveys with a statistical analysis of
students’ standardized test scores. The standardized achievement test
scores of students from “high-performing” Tribes classrooms were
compared with those of two control groups (students from
“low-performing” Tribes classrooms and students from non-Tribes
classrooms) to determine which group showed the greatest improvement in
reading and math scores over the course of one academic year.
The WestEd national evaluation found that:
- Tribes TLC is being fully implemented in participating schools, and is
seen as a vehicle for facilitating continuous school improvement.
- There is evidence from teachers, students, and principals of improved
student inclusion, respect for multicultural populations, sense of value
among students, collaboration, and resiliency.
- Tribes TLC Schools enjoy safe and supportive classroom and school
environments.
- Significant and increasing student engagement is reported in Tribes TLC
schools.
- Most students work together collaboratively and build social
collaborative skills.
- Teachers, principals and Tribes trainers report declines in student
referrals and suspensions.
- There is evidence of better classroom management, and increased teacher
collaboration and planning.
- Three quarters of teachers surveyed report that the Tribes TLC process
helps them to address state performance and content standards, and that
Tribes TLC helps students master standards.
- 2nd grade reading and math scores increased significantly more in Tribes
TLC schools than in comparison schools.
- 2nd grade math, 5th grade reading, and 5th grade math increased more in
high-growth Tribes TLC schools than in comparison schools.
From 1996 through 1999, the
School District of Beloit in Wisconsin
conducted a comprehensive and award-winning evaluation of the
effectiveness and impact of the Tribes process on more than 3,000
elementary and middle school students. The evaluation was presented by
Dr. Derick Kiger at the 2001 American Education Research Association (AERA)
Annual Meeting and won the First Place Instructional Program Evaluation
Award. Click here for Press
Release.
Tribes TLC’s impact on classroom environment and academic achievement
was assessed, using qualitative information collected in teacher and
student surveys and teacher focus groups and through a statistical
analysis of standardized test scores. To assess the impact of program
implementation on student achievement, the statistical analysis compared
the test scores of students from “highly effective” Tribes classrooms
with those of students from “less effective” Tribes classrooms.
The Beloit study found that fourth graders from Tribes classrooms where
the program was well implemented scored significantly higher on the
Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills than their counterparts from less
well-implemented Tribes classrooms. In addition, 59.7 percent of the
teachers surveyed reported that they spent less time managing student
behavior because of Tribes.
Read the executive summary.
View the VIDEO of Tribes implementation in grades K-12 in the School
District of Beloit
In 1993, Judith Holt conducted an evaluation of the impact of Tribes
on discipline referrals at a middle school in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Using an
experimental research design, Holt randomly assigned 280 sixth grade
students to either a treatment or an equivalent control group. Students
in the treatment group were assigned to Tribes classrooms, where they
received at least 4 hours of core instruction each day from a
Tribes-trained teacher; students in the control group were assigned to
classrooms where the Tribes process was not used. Student and teacher
records, as well as records from the counseling and principal’s office,
were then used to track the number of disciplinary problems that were
formally reported in each group over a 1-semester period.
Holt’s evaluation of the Tribes program found that students based in
Tribes classrooms were significantly less likely than non-Tribes
students to be referred to the principal’s or a counselor’s office for
disciplinary problems. Over the course of the study period, the Tribes
students were formally referred for disciplinary action 41 times (27
percent of the study total), while non-Tribes students were referred a
113 times (73 percent of the study total). A breakdown of the different
types of disciplinary referrals that occurred in both groups indicates
that Tribes students were less likely to be referred for disciplinary
problems of all types, including disruptive behavior, refusal to
work/follow direction, and fighting.
Click here for detailed report.
See On the Road with Oklahoma’s First Lady
–
including a visit to a Tribes TLC School
See the Tulsa Public Schools Model for School Improvement
–
including the implementation of Tribes TLC
Visit one of many Tribes TLC elementary schools in Tulsa
Visit an exemplary Tribes TLC middle school in Tulsa
The State of Hawaii study of 17 Elementary Schools using the process
of Tribes found that mutual respect was the common denominator for all
students and faculty. Click
here for Executive Summary.
Spring Branch ISD, Texas: In the spring of 1999, 55 classroom teachers
and their students participated in a Tribes evaluation survey. Among the
results found in their study were the following:
- Teachers who implemented Tribes indicated that they spent less time
managing student behavior.
- Students in Tribes classes reported that they got along better with
others.
- Mutual respect was evidenced through behaviors in Tribes classrooms.
- Teachers indicated that they had more time for creative teaching, and
students saw new learning as “fun.”
- Group behaviors changed even at bus stops as students began accepting
more responsibility for their behavior.
Read a perspective from Spring Branch ISD
Administrators
Visit one of many Spring Branch Tribes TLC Schools
Region VII ESC in Kilgore, Texas found that discipline referrals were
reduced in some cases over 50%.
Suspensions in a large
Waterloo, Iowa elementary school decreased 21%
in one year. Suspensions for special education students decreased 82%.
All teachers in the school had been trained in the process of Tribes.
To learn how your school can also excel as a Tribes
Learning Community,
call (800) 810-1701 or email tribes@tribes.com
