A new report by LFA and Grunwald Associates, with support from AT&T, examines how parents perceive the value of mobile devices, how they see their children using mobiles, and what they think of the possibilities for mobile learning.
Public School Success Stories
Across the Country, public schools and districts are transforming themselves to prepare students for success in a 21st-century democracy and global society. Take a look at what educators and communities are doing right now to meet this challenge.
Or tell us what's working in your own school or district.
Beyond "Heroes and Sheroes": The Success of Montgomery County Schools
Story posted December 2, 2009
Results:
• District students graduate college at double America's overall graduation rate
• About 65% of the graduation class has taken an AP exam
Editor's note: Dr. Jerry Weast has presided over a decade of strong and steady gains in Montgomery County, Maryland. How did his district do it? Not by using any of the cure-all strategies that have captivated the national media.
Weast recently told us the story of his school district's success. Several big themes stand out:
- Stop the blame game and start collaborating. Big fights between administrators and teachers are catnip to reporters, but they don't do much for children.
- Set common goals and figure out how to reach them. In Montgomery County, everyone could agree that students should leave high school ready for college.
- Create a system that helps everyone be successful. It's not enough to let 1000 flowers bloom.
- There's more to equity than equality. Weast describes a "red zone" where most of the county's low-income children live. It's not enough to treat those children and their wealthier "green zone" peers equally. The children in the "red zone" need much more systemic support.
There's much more to Dr. Weast's vision than I can sum up here. Here's the story as he told it to us in a phone conversation last week:
There are some structural issues in the way that we are thinking about American education. You see little Kindergartners come to school, and they believe that they can learn anything. Their parents do too. And so does everybody else who meets them. But a few years later, because of the sorting process and the type of structure that they are in, a lot of that belief is taken away and there are huge achievement gaps.
Then you see beginning teachers. They come in and they feel like they can take on the world and do anything. But within ...
Story posted November 5, 2009
Results:
• Native American math performance increased from 1080 to 1397(on Oklahoma's API scale of 1500) over the past two years
• Native American reading performance increased from 1059 to 1272 over that time
• Native American families feel more connected to the district
Bruce Belanger seems to be caught in the “wow effect.” When he speaks of the rapidly mounting success among Native Americans in Weatherford Public Schools (WPS), it’s hard for him to keep his enthusiasm from boiling over.
As director of special education, federal programs and testing at WPS, it falls to Belanger to find ways to improve student achievement. And for the past two years, good things just keep rolling in for Native American families in the district.
Central to this success are two related initiatives: a Native American Task Force (formed in October 2007) and a Community Conversation program funded by a National Education Association grant from the Public Engagement Project/ Family School Community Partnership, implemented with ...
Story posted October 7, 2009. Results updated February 2011.
Results:
• 93-95% of students scored proficient or higher passed each of the Alabama Reading and Mathematics Tests for 2010
• Received a Blue Ribbon Award, and their sixth Alabama State Department of Education Torchbearer Award in 2010
• Received a 2007 National School of Change Award and a 2008 National Title I Distinguished School Award
Walking into Anna Booth Elementary early in the morning is like gulping a double shot of espresso. The new school building buzzes with energy. Every classroom is a hive of activity, and there’s a palpable intensity in the air. The faculty and 530 students are ready to begin a jam-packed day of instruction, intervention and powerful learning.
The school, which serves Bayou La Batre (a small fishing community in southern Mobile County), has undergone important changes in recent years, including a name change from Peter F. Alba (19th century landowner) to Anna Booth (esteemed Bayou La Batre teacher and principal). Two years ago, the faculty and students moved from ...
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 ...
Story posted August 27, 2009. Results updated April 1, 2010.
Results:
• Math proficiency grew from nearly 20 percentage points below the state average in 2006 to the state average in 2009
• Reading proficiency grew over 15
percentage points between 2004 and 2009, staying consistently above the state average
• Named a 2008 National Title I Distinguished School based on "exceptional student performance for two or more consecutive years"
According to the numbers, Central Elementary School in Roundup, Montana, seems to fit the currently fashionable definition of a “turnaround” school. After many years of below-average test scores, the school has recently made double-digit gains in the number of its students meeting proficiency on the statewide assessment. In true turnaround fashion, that improvement appears to have happened in a very short period of time.
As recently as the 2005–2006 school year, for example, Central’s math score was nearly 20 percentage points below the state average. In the following school year that proficiency rate went up by 16 percent, and by 2007–2008 the school was six points higher than the state average in math. Meanwhile, the school’s reading score, while consistently above the state average, also rose by ...
Story posted August 20, 2009
Results:
• In 2008, 73% of students met or exceeded state proficiency standards in mathematics, up from 35% in 2004 (statewide proficiency rose only 4% over that time)
• Reading proficiency increased 19% between 2004 and 2008 (statewide proficiency saw only slight improvement over that time)
Even before the advent of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), Mountain View Elementary was cast as a struggling school. In 2000, only about 20 percent of the Title I school’s third-graders read at grade level. “It was our highest need school in the sense of the highest poverty rate, a very high mobility rate, and very low student performance,” remembers Carol Comeau, who became Anchorage School District’s superintendent that year. “Even though they worked really, really hard, it was just a low-performing school overall.”
In the infancy of NCLB, Mountain View continued to post some of the district’s lowest scores and was labeled “in need of improvement” after not making adequate yearly progress (AYP) for two consecutive years. But, change was afoot in this older one-story building. A charismatic leader, committed staff, additional district and federal funding, and an emphasis on direct instruction in reading helped the school start turning around.
Reading proficiency went from 29 percentage points below the state average in 2003–2004 to ...
Story posted August 13, 2009
Results:
• Dramatic improvement in student scores on state standardized tests--a 15% gain in reading and 14% gain in math over a three year period in which overall state performance remained fairly stable
• Most demographic subgroups significantly improved, narrowing achievement gaps
When Stephanie Smith became the principal of Seaford (DE) Middle School four years ago, she was told to accept the fact that the school would never be able to change its status as a school that needed to improve. She didn't accept that. In fact, Smith took the incident as a personal challenge, disdaining the very thought of setting low expectations. To improve performance levels, she set the expectations high.
Her defiance paid off: [in 2007] the school [was] rated "commendable" and the staff members, students, and parents are justifiably proud of their accomplishments. 
Student achievement has improved, the school climate is more positive, and the school reaches out to parents and the community.
Early in her principalship, Smith accepted a $25,000 grant from the Wallace Foundation to train her staff members in the tenets of distributive leadership. She admits that she momentarily thought to herself: "Wait a minute, I just got the job and now you want me to let the teachers run the show?" But she knew no other style of leadership, and ...
Story posted August 6, 2009. Results updated August 2012.
Results:
- In 2012, Vallivue was recognized as a NASSP Breakthrough School.
- In 2011, 87% of 6th graders reached or exceeded proficiency in reading, up from 73% in 2008
- 57% of 7th graders did so in science, up from 35% in 2008
- 80% of 8th graders did so in language useage, exceeding the state average of 71%
- In math, the percentage of 8th graders scoring at or above proficient exceeded the state average of 80% by 10 points, reaching their all time high (so far) of 90% [math proficiency rates hovered around 50% prior to 2005]
On any given day in one of Debbie Watkins’s seventh-grade math classes you might find a student standing under a giant lightbulb, calling a parent, family member, or guardian on an old white telephone attached to the wall. Occasionally, the 
entire class will turn to watch the student make the call. Other times they barely notice, it’s become so commonplace.
It may sound like a punishment, but it’s actually a unique reward. A student gets to turn the light bulb on when they’ve finally demonstrated mastery of a difficult concept, typically one that has been causing them grief for several weeks. Then they get to call an adult of their choosing to share the good news.
It’s a small victory—one little step on the ladder of improvement—but the phone calls can be emotional moments. Once in a great while a student chokes back tears. Other times, they high-five or strut to the phone as if ...
Story posted July 30, 2009. Results updated August 31, 2010.
Results:
• In 2010, more than 84% of 6th, 7th and 8th graders met state reading standards, outperforming the state as a whole in 6th and 8th grades
• The school continues to show improvement in math test scores, with the proficiency rate increasing at least six percentage points in all grade levels--and fifteen percentage points at the 8th grade level--over the past four years
Relentless is the word that staff members at Stelle Claughton Middle School in Houston, TX, use to describe how they operate: "We don't give up on our students, their families, or our own commitment. We recognize that our own attitudes, choices, and behaviors toward our
students and about their learning have the greatest impact on their achieving excellence."
The relentless pursuit of excellence is everywhere in the school, and it reflects Principal Delic Loyde's approach to staff members, students, and instruction. No detail, no matter how small, is overlooked. A few years ago, when the school missed its attendance target by a 10th of a percent, Loyde stressed to the faculty that the number represented only a few students and that every adult had a responsibility to ensure that every student was at school every day. The target was never missed again and ...
Story posted July 24, 2009
Results:
• In 2008, 92% of 10th graders met or exceeded state standards in reading, 65% did so in math and 84% did so in writing, compared to 63%, 42% and 54%, respectively, in 2005 (well surpassing state gains over that time of 8%, 2% and 12%, respectively)
• Precalculus enrollment jumped from 10 students eight years ago to 50 last year, with 23 continuing to calculus
It’s the start of the school year. A senior student and his mother are meeting with Chelan High School principal Barry Depaoli in his office. The student is not on track to graduate.
“Francisco, let me tell you my dream,” the mother says to her son. “My dream is to see you in your cap and gown on the stage.”
Depaoli smiles at the student. “Your mother loves you more than anybody else in the world. Now you know her dream. If that doesn’t motivate you, something’s wrong.” The student nods, and Depaoli goes to work. He arranges for additional tutoring and instructional support from Francisco’s teachers. He suggests to classified staff that ...
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A VISION FOR GREAT SCHOOLS
On this website, educators, parents and policymakers from coast to coast are sharing what's already working in public schools--and sparking a national conversation about how to make it work for children in every school. Join the conversation!
