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District wide strategies
Blog Entries
No one slips by Lee Ann Galusha.
As a teacher at Chenega Bay School in Alaska’s remote Chugach school district, she knows where each of her students, mostly native Aleutian islanders, is on a trajectory towards mastery of standards. That’s because demonstrated performance on a variety of measures—and not grade levels or Carnegie units—determines student progress. The results of this strategy have been astonishing, earning Chugach a national reputation for student achievement gains that place it far ahead of districts with much wealthier students. (Click here for PublicSchoolInsights.org’s story on the district)
To find out more about this system, PublicSchoolInsights.org spoke with Galusha last week.
Here’s what we learned….
The Basic Overview: ...
Success Stories
‘Yes, We’re Serious’ — A Campaign to Reach 100% Graduation
Story posted April 23, 2013. (We previously covered this initiative in August 2012, but this narrative adds a different, and very valuable, perspective.)
Results:
- The district graduation rate has steadily increased from 78.5 percent in 2006 to 95.2 percent in 2012.
- All high schools in the district exceeded their individual target graduation rates.
- More than 100 businesses, civic, government and faith-based organizations have signed up to be a part of the 100% Graduation Project.
There’s a real conversation-starter hanging on a wall outside the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System’s (CMCSS) board room. It’s a wall-sized poster of football players representing each of this Middle Tennessee district’s seven high schools. They are standing on the 50-yard line, in uniform, looking tough and determined, with game faces on. Below them is the text: “95.2% is not enough.”
The poster stops many visitors in their tracks. When they realize the meaning behind the words — that the number reflects CMCSS’s current graduation rate, and the district’s goal is 100 percent — they typically question if district leaders are serious. We are!
“One hundred percent graduation,” said Superintendent Dr. B.J. Worthington, “is our goal, and our community has made the commitment. We’ll not strive for anything less.” After all, a football field is 100 yards long, and CMCSS is not content to stop 4.8 yards short ...
Fremont County School District's 180 Degree Turnaround
Story posted March 26, 2013
Results:
- In 2012 the district made AYP for the first time
- During the first four months of the 2012-2013 school year, multiple grades in the elementary and middle schools have seen 7 months to 19 months growth in student learning
Fremont County School District #38 is located on the Wind River Indian Reservation. 98% of 440 students are members of the Arapaho Tribe.
CHALLENGE
For many years, the students of Fremont County School District #38 were far behind in their reading, writing, science, and math skills and abilities. Students often transferred from one grade to the next, several grade levels behind where data-driven norms suggested that they be. In addition, frequent changes in district leadership meant no sustained systematic approach to addressing achievement by school leaders. Teachers were left to do what they could on their own and students suffered from years of systems' breakdowns. One of the many negative results of the disorganization plaguing the district was that Fremont #38 was continually unable to meet the Annual Yearly Progress goals set by the state under the No Child Left Behind legislation. The lack of strong systems and ...
Developing Students to be Good at Something and Good for Something
Story posted May 7, 2009. Results updated November 26, 2012.
Results:
- In 2011, Lindbergh school district improved on its own 2010 state proficiency rates in almost every subject across all but one grade.
- Lindbergh also exceeded the state proficiency rates in every subject across every grade in 2011.
- In 2012, the district graduation rate was 94.8%, up from 84.5% in 2002 and 7% higher than Missouri state's graduation rate.
The Lindbergh School District has always been in the vanguard of character building. When it took its first steps in 1989 to introduce character education in all of its schools, the world was a different place. No cell phones, no laptops, no iPods, no text messages. However, the founding committee had the vision to see that a district-wide espousal of character, with all schools and the community on board, would be the best way to achieve the district’s goal: to develop competent and caring graduates through exceptional programs, services and personnel.
Today, their vision is being realized. As Amy Richards, the coordinator for character education and a 25-year veteran of the Lindbergh district, puts it: “Character now is pervasive in all we do—it’s an integral part of our vision and our mission, our curricular as well as extra-curricular activities, our board policies and annual goal-setting, and our staff’s concept of ...
Arts Education Broadens Horizons in Washington State
Story posted May 5, 2008. Results updated November 26, 2012.
Results:
• In 2011, Paternos School District improved on its 2010 state test performance across almost every subject in all but one grade.
• Students in both 7th and 8th grade reading improved proficiency rates by over 15% between 2010 and 2011; students in 7th and 8th grade math also had improved proficiency rates of over 15% in the same time period.
• Despite serving a significantly higher percentage of low-income students, Paternos exceeds state proficiency averages in several grades for both reading and math.
Pateros School District, a small rural district in north central Washington, is working with a regional arts group in an indirect approach to improving student achievement. ...
Story posted September 25, 2012
Results:
- During the 2009-2010 school year, 12 percent of Totem Middle School’s eighth-graders took algebra; now, 83 percent take algebra, with 100 percent projected for the 2012-2013 school year.
- At Totem, a $10,000 grant secured by MEA through NEA’s Priority Schools Campaign helped the school install a new laptop computer lab.
- School staff are receiving training on parental engagement.
- Data teams were created at schools receiving school improvement grants, with data from assessments shared with the students so they can see their progress as well as used by educators.
What does a strong public school system look like? It’s hard to envision with today’s political and economic climate, but America can provide a great public education for every child. The National Education Association (NEA) and its members know where to start.
Last December, NEA laid out its Leading the Profession Action Agenda, incorporating proven best practices in education from thousands of teachers around the country and input from the independent Commission on Effective Teachers and Teaching, created by NEA in 2010 to examine the teaching profession and make recommendations on maximizing teacher and teaching effectiveness. This year, NEA expanded that vision by introducing five domains of education quality: the quality of the professional, the profession, the schools, education policy and the union.
So what does all that look like in practice? In Marysville, Washington, educators in three schools supported by NEA’s Priority Schools Campaign (PSC) are planting the seeds for sustainable education reform in ...
The Best Leaders in the Neediest Schools
Story posted August 27, 2012
Results
- In 2011, 93.5% of students performed at or above grade level on the state end-of-grade math test, up from just 54.2% in 2008
- The percentage of students at or above grade level in reading rose more than 20 percentage points over that same time
- 80% of students achieved grade level performance in science in 2011, up from just 24.6 percent in 2008 (all gains come in spite of the reality that 97 percent of students qualify as economically disadvantaged)
Summary: District officials in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools believe that effective principals directly impact student achievement and, as a result, are placing the district’s top principals in the neediest schools.
When Suzanne Gimenez became principal at Devonshire Elementary School in Charlotte, North Carolina, she had one mission: improve student achievement. ...
Working Towards a 100 Percent Graduation Rate
Story posted August 27, 2012
Results:
- The district graduation rate rose from 76% in 2004 to 93.5% (over 90% in all student racial and income groups) in 2011
- The school system now has about 110 community partners and a 100% Graduation Project committee that meets quarterly to discuss ways to engage additional community groups and encourage students to pursue their diplomas
Summary: School officials in Clarksville Montgomery County believe that, with the community’s help, 100 percent of their students will graduate from high school. ...
A Quilted Approach to Professional Development
Story posted July 24, 2012
Results:
- Over the past four years, nearly 400 Fulton County elementary, middle, and high school teachers have received between 50 and 160 hours of professional development that was funded by over $2.7 million dollars in grants
- State test scores rose an average of 14% in mathematics and 11% in science over this time
The Challenge
For the past several years, the state of Georgia’s funding for teacher professional development has been limited, but there has been flexibility allowed with those funds to assist districts in balancing their budgets. However, this has meant less direct money to provide needed professional development for math and science teachers. Fulton County is a geographically large urban district with a diverse population, and the professional development requirements to address the diversity of student backgrounds and needs are varied among teachers, schools, and regions.
The Solution ...
Inspiring Students to Do Their Best
Story posted June 25, 2010, Story updated July 24, 2012
Results:
• The district's graduation rate consistently outpaces the state's: 92 to 85.9% in 2009, 92.3% in 2010 and 93.4 to 86.5% in 2011
• In 2011, 95.6 % of 4th graders in the district scored at or above proficiency on the state reading test, compared with 52.7% in the state; 98.5% of 4th graders scored at or above proficiency in the district on the state math assessment, compared with 51.2% in the state.
• Named a 2009 National District of Character by the Character Education Partnership (CEP)
"I’m just a hometown gal, born and bred in Arnold, Missouri.” The effervescent superintendent of schools for the Fox C-6 district, Dr. Dianne Brown, who has served in this district for her entire career in education, cannot hide her love of her hometown. She continues, “Arnold is really a special place. We don’t just have a district of character here; we have a whole community of character. We even have a parade for character.”
Brown, known as a passionate crusader for character, initiated a character program in 1999, the first year she served as an elementary school principal. But Brown’s passion for character education has a deeper, personal connection that dates back to her first year of teaching. Tim, one of her students, a transfer from the inner city, was shot as he alighted from the school bus. Tim’s brother, unaware that the gun he was pointing in jest was loaded, had killed him. “They never taught me how to handle this at college,” thought the young teacher as she prepared to ...
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