Getting students talking in class can close opportunity gaps in STEM. That’s the big takeaway from a recent article in The Learning Professional Journal on Action for Racial Equity featuring the Detroit Public School Community District’s implementation of TeachFX.

The article contains a strong outline of the research on student talk, student learning, and opportunity gaps in addition to Detroit's recommendations for helping teachers elevate equity in science instruction. 

I’ve synthesized the main points for your reflection here:

Student talk drives student learning 

The article identifies a variety of channels linking student talk to student learning.

• At an intrapersonal level, student talk helps students process information. 

• Student talk strengthens the retention of concepts, supports and develops scientific vocabulary and meaning, and improves student understanding of concepts.

• Talk also strengthens interpersonal dynamics with teachers and peers, enabling idea sharing, feedback, and community building. 

• Talk helps with developing personal and professional skills for adulthood too, such as clear communication of ideas and the ability to collaborate. 

By changing who does the talking in class, you can change who does the learning and close opportunity gaps.

If student talk drives student learning, then changing who does the talking changes who does the learning! Unfortunately, some student groups, such as English Learners, students of color, and students from low income families, get fewer opportunities to speak in class then others, especially in STEM classes. This creates an opportunity gap in class. As a result, changing who gets to speak in a classroom can have an enormous impact on learning. In short, changing how we teach changes who gets an opportunity to learn in class. 

Translate standards, set high expectations, focus on instruction, and reflect to 

To help teachers, Detroit makes a few recommendations that any administrator or instructional leader can implement immediately. 

• Translate standards into practice: Standards are often vague or full of jargon. Engage teachers in conversation about what standards look like in practice. In NGSS, most result in more inquiry and student talk. That’s what we want to see in class. 

• Set high expectations for teachers and students alike: Expectations start with instructional leaders. Leaders must help shift teacher mindsets from getting students through the content to having them become critical STEM thinkers. Likewise, teachers must believe that the students can learn through discourse and set expectations for student talk in class. Employing discussion techniques such as asking questions or debates let anyone engage in the conversation.

• Provide meaningful instructional support: Teachers need instructional support to make instructional changes in their classrooms. Detroit provides monthly workshops on topics such as “Questioning Technique — Essential Questions,” “Relationships, Relevance, and Rigor in Science,” and “Lesson Planning for Equitable Engagement” that teachers can choose between. This maximizes agency and personalization. 

• Build a reflective culture of continuous improvement: It’s hard to make big changes overnight, so measure progress over time, iterate on what’s working, and interrogate what isn’t. DPSCD gives teachers access to TeachFX to measure teacher talk time compared to student talk time, questioning techniques, equity of voice, and more — all privately. With TeachFX, teachers can try new instructional strategies and see results without being evaluated by administrators. By reflecting on their practice with TeachFX, teachers discover what they want to work on to create more engaging and equitable classrooms. 

Results that speak for themselves

The early results from the analysis speak volumes. There has been a 45% increase in student talk in classrooms where over 90% of students are Black or Brown. Teachers took a few more risks, redesigned their questions, used “think time”, and encouraged every student to get involved in the discussion.

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I hope this summary is helpful to you! Keep in mind that educators who have truly changed their classroom talk habits need to reimagine their roles as tellers and become askers and listeners. If you want to learn more about DPSCD’s implementation of TeachFX, please email support@teachfx.com.