The Marzano Academies Model

Why Develop a Marzano Academies Partnership?

We create successful school-partnerships that build agency in all learners.

Marzano Academies works with schools to create educational communities that approach the education process in a precise manner focusing on interventions and actions that interact in specific ways to produce the highest-quality education for all K-12 students. These interventions and actions are intended to be delivered to K-12 educators across the country in the hopes that they adapt them to their specific needs and circumstances. Marzano Academies was created in 2016 with the guidance of Dr. Robert J. Marzano, a world-renowned education researcher and lecturer. Marzano Academies began serving students within school-partnerships during the 2017-2018 academic year and has grown steadily each academic year, serving students across the United States.

How does a Marzano Academy Function?

Marzano Academies is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, education support organization that promotes Dr. Robert Marzano’s research to develop and support unique, high-reliability K-12 schools. The research includes highly effective schools, school leadership innovation, assessment strategies, teacher development, and whole-school improvement.

Marzano Academies include partnership academies with traditional schools, as well as school district and independently managed charter schools. 

Dr. Marzano has identified 16-School Level Indicators that by themselves are effective but when executed together have a combined effect greater than the sum of their parts. The Marzano Academies Implementation Specialists are on-site for 22-days to monitor performance, provide feedback, and deliver the appropriate professional development to increase capacity in the schools and support the continuous improvement process.

What are the Unique Components of a Marzano Academy?

  • 16-School Level Indicators of High Reliability

  • 10 Focus Areas of the Academies Instructional Model

  • Marzano Created Proficiency Scales

  • Scales for Metacognitive and Cognitive Skills

  • 22 Days of Support from Professionally Trained Marzano Academies Implementation Specialists

What are the Interventions and Initiatives within a Marzano Academy?

  1. Measurement Topics and Proficiency Scales - All the content tackled in an academy is articulated as measurement topics with accompanying proficiency scales.
  2. Classroom Assessment - An academy uses classroom assessments that can be used to track each student’s growth. It can also determine their current status on each measurement topic.
  3. Reporting and Grading - An academy has the option to choose between a reporting system that is either standards-referenced or competency-based.
  4. Cognitive and Metacognitive Skills - An academy provides various content and direct instructions in cognitive and metacognitive skills.
  5. Blended Instruction - An academy designs online instructions in such a way that any student can receive virtual instruction independently at any time.
  6. Vocabulary - A curriculum is designed by an academy to ensure that students have adequate opportunities to learn Tier I, II, and III vocabulary terms.
  7. Inspiration - An academy systematically provides activities and events that are designed to inspire students.
  8. Student Agency - One of the most important outcomes of undergoing the academy experience is that students are able to develop a sense of agency.
  9. Personal Projects - Personal projects provide opportunities for students to pursue goals of their own design and demonstrate cognitive and metacognitive skills.
  10. Cumulative Review - Cumulative review is a strategy that academy teachers employ to provide students with systematic opportunities to review and revise their understanding of critical content.
  11. Knowledge Maps - Knowledge maps are employed by academy teachers as a framework for reading comprehension and coherence in writing.
  12. Collective Responsibility - Collective responsibility involves academy teachers operating from the perspective that each teacher has a shared responsibility for every student.
  13. Instructional Model - Teachers in an academy follow an instructional model that is based on decades’ worth of research regarding effective strategies in the traditional classroom. These strategies have been adapted and studied in competency-based classrooms.
  14. Planning and Preparing - Academy teachers must plan and prepare in a manner that is geared toward competency-based education.
  15. School Level Indicators - When an academy is functioning fully and independently, it focuses on addressing sixteen school level indicators.

What is Measured in a Marzano Academy?

Each of the 16 School Level Indicators Dr. Marzano has identified as the keys to high-reliability schools, have measurement scales associated with them. The Marzano Academies Implementation Specialists help the schools move to Applying or Sustaining on each of the indicator. When they do, they are considered a Marzano Academy.

Dr. Marzano has aligned the New Art and Science of Teaching with Personalized, Competency-based education to produce the 10-focus areas of the Marzano Academies Instructional Model.

A measure of student agency and sense of belonging has been created in partnership with Gallup for the Marzano Academies to measure what research has shown to be as important if not more important than academic measures alone.

What is the Implementation Process for a Marzano Academy?

There are three phases in the implementation process. Phases are equivalent to academic years; however, we understand the need for flexibility and sometimes components of Phases need to be rearranged, moved forward or substituted. Therefore, we call our rollout process, Phases versus Year 1, 2 or 3, so that we don’t confuse our partners and their community.

  • Phase 1

    1. 22-days of onsite, professional development and coaching, with an assigned Marzano Site Implementation Specialist.

    Phase - 1 focus:

    • Introduction to a Personalized Competency-Based Education (PC-BE) program,
    • Introduction to assessment and instruction using Proficiency Scales,
    • Development of learner-centered classroom practices.

    2. Introduction, guidance and development of customized, school-specific (Marzano) Proficiency Scales.

    3. The Marzano Academy Instructional Manual - full descriptions of the 15 components that define a Marzano Academy.

    4. Empower Software. Student user licenses; product Introduction and technical support on “getting started” with the new student, data management system.

    5. The Marzano Compendium of Instructional Resources, a vast online resource of educational research and materials to support classroom teachers.

    6. Individual teacher support. Site Implementation Specialists work with the school’s leadership and teaching staff to measure and provide feedback on PC-BE progress. They will use the Proficiency Scales created by Dr. Marzano, to measure the 10-Focus-Areas of the Marzano Academies Instructional Model and the 16 School Level Indicators.  

  • Phase 2:

    1. 22-days of onsite, professional development and coaching, with an assigned Marzano Site Implementation Specialist.

    Phase – 2 focus:

    • Development of instructional and assessment skills that help students refresh, revise, and integrate their knowledge regarding specific, Proficiency Scales both current and previously addressed,
    • Leadership coaching and teacher development,
    • Professional development to expand Proficiency Scales knowledge and application,
    • Development of engaging classroom practices.

    2. Empower Software. Student user licenses and continued technical support.

    3. Proficiency Scales review and adjustments needed.

    4. Introduction of Rachel’s Challenge, a whole-school, student leadership program.

    5. Introduction of the Marzano Vocabulary program.

    6. Individual teacher support. Site Implementation Specialists work with the school’s leadership and teaching staff to measure and provide feedback on PC-BE progress. They will use the Proficiency Scales created by Dr. Marzano, to measure the 10-Focus-Areas of the Marzano Academies Instructional Model and the 16 School Level Indicators. 

  • Phase 3:

    1. 22-days of onsite, professional development and coaching with an assigned Marzano Site Implementation Specialist.

    Phase – 3 focus:

    • Teacher development,
    • Individual student, classroom and school reporting linked with Empower.

    2. Empower Software. Student user licenses and continued technical support.

    3. Proficiency Scales continued monitoring and customization.

    4. Personal Project Development: Planning tools for student to generate, execute, and revise plans as needed to meet their project goals.

    5. Introduction of Writing to Win, a writing program specifically designed to be complimentary with the Marzano Academies’ (PC-BE) to program.

    6. The Marzano Vocabulary program

    7. Individual teacher support. Site Implementation Specialists work with the school’s leadership and teaching staff to measure and provide feedback on PC-BE progress. They will use the Proficiency Scales created by Dr. Marzano to measure the 10-Focus-Areas of the Marzano Academies Instructional Model and the 16 School Level Indicators.