.jpg)
Dr. Lyle Lee Jenkins is an author, speaker, and recognized authority in improving educational outcomes. He believes that implementing a growth mindset and celebrating progress are the keys to helping students learn more and retain their enthusiasm for school.
His education experience, that spans over 50 years, ranges from working as a teacher, a principal, and a school superintendent to being a University Professor. In 2003, Lyle Lee founded LtoJ, LLC hoping to impact and guide the way we approach education.
Lyle Lee Jenkins has authored six books showcasing continuous improvement in schools, including How to Create a Perfect School, Optimize Your School, Permission to Forget, From Systems Thinking to Systemic Action, Improving Student Learning, and How to Create a Perfect Home School. All literature offers powerful, practical suggestions for every aspect of education. The two most influential people supporting Dr. Jenkins's work are W. Edwards Deming and John Hattie.
Having spoken to educators all across the United States, Latin America, Europe, Australia, and Asia, Lyle Lee Jenkins is passionate about equipping the next generation with a true love of learning.
Dr. Lyle Lee Jenkins holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Point Loma Nazarene University, a Masters of Education from San Jose State University and a Ph.D. from the Claremont Graduate University.
Created in 2003, the LtoJ® system is built on the fundamental principals of Continuous Improvement.
LtoJ comes from the shape of the histogram. The most famous histogram in the world is the bell-curve, which paints a perfect picture for the middle of a school year. With the LtoJ process, the year begins with an "L" shaped histogram, moves towards a bell-curve mid-year, and ends the year with a "J" curve. The success of LtoJ is based upon replacing failed processes with more successful ones.
Student suggestions for both increasing effort and joy are implemented.
Weekly Quizzes
Weekly quizzes regularly remind students what they've learned throughout the year and gives them a preview of what's coming next. LtoJ®demolishes the "test and forget" cycle and replaces it with long-term memory.
Joy of Accomplishment
Students see and are celebrated for the progress they're making - not for grades and class rankings.
Teamwork
Students - including those who struggle with learning - experience the joy of accomplishment when they achieve an all-time best (ATB).
Visible Progress
Because students remember so much more, deep learning time is readily available.
In July of 2016, at Corwin's Visible Learning Conference, Doug Fisher stated in his keynote that effect size can be calculated for any classroom. Then John Hattie told Lyle Lee Jenkins that all of the information needed to calculate effect size was included in every LtoJ® scatter diagram.
One of the major contributions from Hattie is connecting effect size to a year's learning in a year's time. The number is d = 0.40, which is a rather meaningless number by itself. Hattie stated that the average effect of almost any influence upon student learning is d = 0.40. So this d = 0.40 represents the average learning in a year. Any researched strategy with an effect size lower is to be considered less effective and any strategy with an effect size larger than d = 0.40 os considered to have produced more than average learning for a school year.
Hattie has placed his research of 250 influences on learning on a graphic that looks like a protractor, pictured below. Very few influences have a negative effect (tanglible rewards), but many, many influences do not result in a year's learning in a year's time.
John Hattie has documented several influences that, by themselves, double or triple learning. The LtoJ®process is built upon 9 of Hattie's most powerful, researched influences. All 9 are woven together into one unique process for any subject and any grade level, PK - 12.
Spaced v. Massed Assessment:
Most assessments are in the form of chapter tests - content massed together into one chapter on a single topic. The LtoJ®process spreads the assessment out over the full year, at a minimum, and often over several years.
Collective Teacher Efficacy:
Once teachers experience the joy of LtoJ®and then learn the effect size for all of their efforts, they never go back because they know they can create the same great results year after year no matter who the new students are.
Assessment Capable Students:
The students assessed in these 311 classrooms know what they are to learn, what they have learned thus far, how the whole class is doing, and what needs to be learned.
Formative Evaluation:
The assessments are not graded, but are graphed for individuals, classes, grade levels, departments, and whole schools.
Acceleration:
Students know from week one of the school year the requirements for acceleration and work diligently to achieve the right to have harder work.
Classroom Management:
Teachers report intense effort by students to accomplish more than ever before. This intrinsic motivation is displayed as great classroom management.
Feedback:
The LtoJ® process is feedback from students to teachers. It continually answers the question, "Are we on track to meet end-of-the-year standards?"
Teacher Clarity:
Students learn the first week of school, in great detail, what they will learn for the year. They know precisely what has been taught and what is yet to be taught.
Teacher/Student Relationships:
Teachers report how the LtoJ® process improves relationships because the classroom becomes a team with the teacher as the coach.
