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Story posted September 3, 2009. Results updated August 27, 2010.

Results:
• 97.5% graduation rate in 2009, compared to 83% for the state as a whole
• 85% college acceptance rate in 2008, with at least 70% attending 

“A college education is the key to a bright future." That's the message that Principal Sharon Johnson sends to prospective students in an introductory letter. "It's also a serious commitment that requires focus, preparation, and support," she continues. "Join us and reach for your college dreams!" With that introduction and the school motto--"Where every student is college bound"--there is no mistaking the goal for graduates of Withrow University High School in Cincinnati, OH.

Here, high expectations mean that every student is expected to attend college or a postsecondary program. In fact, all seniors must apply to the University of Cincinnati and are expected to complete four college applications before winter break. Even the school's architecture, which bears a likeness to a university campus, seems to echo the message that if a student can buckle down and focus, then the future will indeed be bright.

Since the opening of the school in 2002, Johnson has been steadfast in her belief that creating an atmosphere of success and high expectations is key to helping students achieve their college dreams. While most students arrive at Withrow lacking in some skills, the school quickly begins to address any deficiencies through its remediation program and puts students into college-preparatory classes as soon as possible.

Withrow was redesigned from a large, failing urban high school into a smaller, more personalized school. Personalization is achieved through a structured, caring environment in which students receive personal attention and instruction. The school also uses single-sex classrooms for all core classes, which means that all 9th and 10th graders and most 11th graders are in such classes. The staff credits that model for students' high level of success.

Every student in Cincinnati has an equal opportunity to attend Withrow because acceptance is on a first-come, first-served basis. More than 700 students apply each year, but only the first 200 applicants are admitted and the rest are placed on a waiting list. The enrollment process results in an academically heterogeneous population for the school, in which 60% of students qualify for free and reduced-price meals and 20% of students qualify for special education services. In light of the national statistics for schools with comparable populations, it is all the more notable that 85% of Withrow students are accepted into college and at least 70% attend.

Collaborative Leadership
Students aren't the only ones held to the highest standards at Withrow. Johnson regularly asks herself--and motivates her faculty and staff members to ask themselves--three questions: What did we do right? What did we do wrong? What can we do better? The last question is the most important to Johnson because it ensures that people do not become complacent when they feel that they have gotten it "right." She tells teachers, "There is always room for improvement within your classroom and within the educational model."

Johnson believes that empowering teachers by building trust helps them feel comfortable acknowledging their strengths and weaknesses and leads them to ask for help to become better teachers. She works closely with the faculty to establish a high bar for students. "We work really hard, and Sharon is a great model," said one teacher. "She inspires me; I feel I work with her, not for her."

Along with empowerment comes responsibility, and everyone at Withrow is responsible for helping students perform to their highest ability. Shared leadership at the school is promoted through teams of teachers that are responsible for specific groups of students and through the instructional leadership team, which is composed of a student representative, leaders of the school's teaching teams, content leaders, and the principal. Teaching teams work as professional learning communities, and teachers share their expertise through peer-to-peer classroom visits and at whole-staff meetings. Collaboration among departments and teams is encouraged and professional development is an ongoing project for all staff members, including the principal. Observers say that Johnson is always looking for potential leaders among her staff members and builds their capacity by mentoring them. Currently, five staff members at Withrow are certified to be principals.

Open communication and accountability are an integral part of Withrow's school culture. Assessment data are shared and discussed during staff meetings, and staff members propose strategies for sustained, continuous improvement. To ensure that collaboration is feasible, it is built into the schedule. Content-and grade-level teams meet weekly to focus on how to improve student performance through differentiating instruction; aligning curriculum; and designing effective instructional materials and professional development. Those weekly meetings are also a place where staff members can receive personal and emotional support.

Johnson strongly believes in a two-way street of communication and expectations. She encouraged teachers to develop a survey to evaluate her and her assistant principal. She finds it to be a powerful tool for collaboration--one that has helped her grow personally and professionally and that has established a firm foundation of trust and collegial constructive criticism in the school.

In addition, the local school decision-making committee--made up of students, staff members, parents, and community members--gets the community actively involved in the school, and vice versa. Various groups provide financial and in-kind support, mentors for students, or expertise and guidance in the area of workforce preparation. Nearby Xavier University provides tremendous support by offering access to its library and a summer bridge program--a structured orientation program that is designed to bolster basic skills as well as initiate incoming students into the "Withrow way." A partnership with Convergys, a financial consulting firm, provides mentors who work with students as well as underwriting for printing various school publications, such as graduation programs.

Personalization
Internships, job shadowing, and mentoring all help students make connections to learning, to the school, and to the larger community. Before school even begins, the month-long summer bridge program is held at Xavier University to welcome students to the Withrow family. During the program, all freshmen have an opportunity to meet their teachers and other staff members. Students learn study skills and review basic skills in literacy and math. They are also assessed to identify their areas of strength and weakness so that teachers know where to place students in the fall.

This individual attention continues as the intervention team monitors at-risk students during the second semester of their freshman year and continues to follow each of them through graduation. Sophomores who are struggling to meet standards receive extra support and interventions. Community partners help the school provide support; for example, mentors from Luxottica meet with students once a month at the company's headquarters and stay with their protégés for all four years of high school, and the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative and Western & Southern Financial Group also provide mentors. Such programs dovetail with the school's other efforts to ensure that all students are college bound:

• A career financial coordinator meets with parents to discuss the college application and financing process.
• Upward Bound helps students with college applications, selection, and so on.
• A college coordinator, sponsored by the social service agency Families Forward, sets up college tours, gets scholarship information, and arranges summer internships.

"Withrow...has been a great opportunity for me," said one senior, testifying to the benefits of the strong focus on college. "I don't feel I could have done this much in any other school. Every step in WU is collegebound preparation."

The latest visiting accreditation team reported that teachers encourage students to become self-directed learners and that students who need extra help are scheduled into smaller classes to receive extra support. Extra help and personalized attention are also offered through: 

• A winter block--students get help after the regular school day from November through February to prepare for the ACT and state testing.
• A 60-hour service learning requirement for graduation that helps students focus on substantive connections between learning and a career or other areas of interest.
• Daily on-site assistance from two social workers of the Families Forward program, which provides mentors for students, personalized attention, and help with counseling and family issues that affect students. It is specifically geared toward students who are homeless, truant, or in need of anger management assistance or other special support.

These interventions, combined with a wide range of athletics and clubs, keep students involved and engaged in school and their own learning. These supports also enable the school to maintain its assertion that there are no excuses for poor academic performance.

Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
Withrow is a state "School of Promise"--a school where disadvantaged students make up at least 40% of the student population and all groups of students are meeting or exceeding state standards in reading or mathematics. High expectations and an increasingly challenging curriculum for all students have resulted in positive results on state standards and in the high graduation rate, which was 100% in 2007.

Part of that success comes from understanding the individual needs of students and teachers. Data-based decision making helps guide the school's efforts within the classroom. The teachers and principal rely on the Cincinnati Public Schools Dashboard, an online tool that contains all the data for each city school and for individual teachers within the school. Dashboard can be accessed by teachers and used by faculty members and administrators for long-range planning. For individual data, each student has a graduation binder that is carefully monitored to ensure that students are on track to graduate on time. The grade-level teams facilitate collaboration on crosscurricular instruction so that teachers can closely monitor student development as well as discuss curriculum alignment.

To make additional instructional time available to teachers and to open up new learning possibilities for students, Withrow has an extended school day. Honors classes are available in the core curriculum areas, and each year the school continues to add more opportunities for rigorous course work. Withrow recently began to offer AP courses, and students have the opportunity to take dual enrollment courses through the University of Cincinnati. During their junior year, students take an ACT class to help prepare them for rigorous testing and college entrance exams. Meanwhile, special education professionals work closely with teachers to modify and accommodate instruction for those students involved in inclusion.

Detailed data analysis led to the implementation of single-sex classes. Those classes have been successful for many students and have improved their sense of belonging and security as well as confidence, participation, and skill levels in the areas of public speaking and student leadership. Johnson reports that the classes have been especially beneficial to students in the special education program and that many of the students with special needs have continued their education beyond high school and are performing well in college.

Conclusion
High expectations, a collaborative principal, and staff members who focus on results for each student combine to create a winning recipe for Withrow. The strategic decision to carve out a small learning environment from a large urban high school allowed the school to set itself apart and to supply the individual attention, instructional program, and supports that each student truly needs and deserves if he or she is college bound.

The journey for Withrow students to a new world of opportunity begins during the summer bridge program before freshman year. Yet somewhere soon thereafter, college begins to occupy their minds and aspirations as they dream about the possibilities after high school--aspirations that are nurtured through four years by a dedicated staff and a principal whose passion for her calling and for the students is palpable. As one representative from Xavier put it, "She'll do what it takes to get resources for students; the students know this and that she's part of their lives." Now that's a journey worth taking.

AUGUST 2010 UPDATE: Withrow University High School continues to graduate significantly more of its students than its district or the state as a whole--97.5% compared to 80.4% and 83%, respectively--despite serving a population of which 66.6% of students are economically disadvantaged. Learn more about its performance on its 2009-2010 school report card.

For additional information, please contact:
Sharon Johnson
Principal, Withrow University High School
johnsos@cpsboe.k12.oh.us  

This story came to LFA's attention after being published in the print edition of NASSP's June 2009 Special Edition of Principal Leadership magazine on Breakthrough Schools. (Read the digital edition of the journal here.)

Story reprinted with permission of NASSP.

Citation: James Rourke and Elizabeth Boone. May 2009. Withrow University High School: Every Student College Bound. Principal Leadership, High School Edition, May 2009, p. 44-47.

Copyright (2009) National Association of Secondary School Principals. For more information on NASSP products and services to promote excellence in middle level and high school leadership, visit http://www.principals.org/.