About Marzano HRS

A positive, empowering framework for student achievement

Dr. Robert Marzano’s vision for K–12 education is simple: the vast majority of schools can be highly effective in promoting student learning. To show how, he created the Marzano High Reliability Schools (HRS) framework. This framework, based on 40 years of educational research, defines five progressive levels of performance that a school must master to become a high reliability school—where all students learn the content and skills they need for success in college, careers, and beyond.

The five levels of HRS are:

1. Safe, Supportive, and Collaborative Culture
2. Effective Teaching in Every Classroom
3. Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum
4. Standards-Referenced Reporting
5. Competency-Based Education

The Marzano High Reliability Schools framework does not add a new initiative to school efforts. Many schools are already implementing a wide range of effective initiatives, and many educators are already practicing research-based strategies. The HRS framework does not replace professional learning communities, the Art and Science of Teaching framework, teacher evaluation and development, sound curriculum (including those aligned with the Common Core State Standards), vocabulary instruction, instruction in critical thinking and reasoning skills, formative assessment, standards-based grading and reporting systems, or student mastery systems.

Instead, this framework shows how best practices work together and provides indicators to empower districts and schools to measure their progress on attaining five increasing levels of reliability.

Using the framework and indicators, districts and schools can drive permanent, positive, and significant impacts on student achievement by synthesizing multiple complex initiatives into one harmonious system.

HRS resources from the Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education.