Antecedents of Excellence

Information for this page was taken primarily from the books Beyond the Numbers and Show Me The Proof authored by Stephen H. White (2005, Advanced Learning Press)

What are antecedents of excellence?

Antecedents are those structures and conditions that precede, anticipate, or predict excellence in performance. They lead to excellence in student achievement, excellence in implementing a new program or strategy, or excellence in performing routine tasks. Antecedents are also causes that correlate with effects in student behavior and achievement (results), such as classroom routines, grading procedures, and teacher-student relationships and connections.

When a strong correlation exists between a cause and an effect—one that is strong enough to predict with some confidence—we refer to the cause as an antecedent. Antecedents are the answer to the question - How do I determine what to select and monitor to produce the desired effects that will ensure continuous improvement? Those who wish to replicate success year after year must understand the conditions, structures, and strategies (antecedents) that correlate with improved student achievement and learning. There are three categories for antecedents, which are listed below.

Causes

Causes are routines that create specific effects or results. Causes have a specific effect on classroom performance and student achievement. Cause data can always be linked to effects (results) at the classroom level or at the individual student level. Cause data helps determine what to replicate and what to subtract, and reminds us that the interaction between teacher and students in the classroom holds the greatest promise for improved student achievement. Causes require little professional development to implement effectively. Examples of causes may include moves such as: posting and stating a learning goal at the start of each lesson, utilizing proper wait time during questioning or the use of starter/ sponge activities.

Instructional Strategies

Instructional strategies are distinguished by the capacity to engage students in thinking, and the need for training, practice, and professional development. We will want to replicate, refine, and multiply this type of antecedent to better predict improved student achievement and excellent performance. Even the most effective instructional strategy, however, will not produce breakthrough results if it is not employed as intended. Data about strategies helps determine whether a strategy was implemented and whether the strategy had its desired effect. As antecedents, strategies offer practitioners the ability to identify on the front end data that will provide the most information and value, rather than discovering the need for different data after the fact. Instructional strategies in this category might include: identifying similarities and differences, summarizing and notetaking, and generating/testing hypotheses.

Conditions & Structures

Antecedents also include conditions & administrative structures such as class size, technology literacy, availability of textbooks, and structures such as credit requirements, block scheduling, data teams, and prescribed data reflection times. Other examples include: reinforcement of writing conventions, flexibility for teacher management of curriculum, assessments, collaborative scoring, and meaningful feedback.

The strongest antecedents reflect the components of all three antecedent forms (cause, instructional strategy, administrative structure).

• The cause demonstrates that teachers are employing the antecedent, not just that they are aware of its utility,
• The instructional strategy demonstrates that the antecedent is something that must be mastered if teacher are to fully engage students with their best thinking, and
• The administrative structure ensures that the strategy and classroom application will be established to advance student learning and achievement.

Tests for Antecedents of Excellence

• How will we leverage _______for student achievement?
• How will we ensure that__________ will promote proficiency?
• What effect can we expect in classrooms that adopt ______?
• What instructional strategies have been most effective with _______?
• What professional development requirements are needed to ensure staff proficiency with ______? What measures have been developed for implementation quality?
• Describe how adoption of ____ will engage student thinking?
• Does __ lend itself to systematic introduction through administrative structures and conditions for learning? If so, what structures would you recommend and why?

Monitoring Antecedents of Excellence

The key to productive use of the Antecedents of Excellence is monitoring. There are literally dozens and dozens of antecedents that could be fostered and monitored. Deciding upon which antecedent that should be examined is the key to achievement growth. Numerous tools such as the the Critical Incident and the Wagon Wheel can be used to help discern which antecedents could be selected.

Antecedents of Excellence Resources

Click the links below to access documents that Sweet Home administrators have used to build understanding around the concept of "Antecedents of Excellence":