 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
2003-2004: AYP English Language Arts
2003-2004: AYP Math
2002-2003: AYP English Language Arts
2002-2003: AYP Math
2001-2002: AYP English Language Arts
2001-2002: AYP Math
In 1999 California's Long Beach Unified School District opened Colin Powell Academy, a large K-8 year-round urban school. Most of the students are Latino or African American, and 90 percent participate in the free and reduced price at lunch program. By 2001, achievement was low and discipline a major problem at Colin Powell Academy. That year, the superintendent hired a new principal, Denise “Sparkle” Peterson, to reform Colin Powell Academy. Peterson made dramatic changes, which improved the school climate and raised student achievement. When Peterson arrived in 2001, Colin Powell Academy’s score on California's Academic Performance Index (API) was 538. In 2004, their API had grown to 683. Leadership & Management On the new principal’s reform agenda, school culture and discipline were first priorities. Immediately visible on campus, Peterson was actively involved in discipline and academic instruction. She began driving every morning to the school’s four bus stops and checking in with students. Every afternoon she walked home with students who lived in the surrounding neighborhoods. This way, Peterson got to know students and was able to defuse any discipline situations before they escalated. This was also an important way for Peterson to begin contact with parents. Finally, this practice even helped Peterson establish a relationship with local merchants, who found that students were better behaved when they came in after school knowing their principal was close by. Now if there is ever a problem, the merchants call Peterson before calling the police. This regular contact with students had an immediate impact on the culture of the school, and Peterson continues to spend each morning at the bus stops and each afternoon walking the neighborhood. Peterson also serves as a mentor to select middle school students who are struggling with either behavior or academics. They check in with Peterson first thing in the morning, at lunch, and at the end of the day. These efforts have helped decrease suspensions and discipline problems dramatically. In addition to becoming an immediate, visible presence with students, Peterson took a similar approach with teachers. She began observing in every classroom at least once a week and providing thorough feedback. She also established assessment conferences, which she holds with every teacher in the school to discuss which of their students are not achieving to standards and how to better meet their learning needs. When Peterson arrived on campus, there were many inexperienced teachers. Peterson provided a lot of staff development and support, which some teachers were able to use to grow. But many were still not demonstrating that they could effectively meet student needs, so Peterson released 14 non-credentialed teachers after her first year in 2001. The following summer, the district let Peterson know that they would be adding 14 new classrooms to Colin Powell Academy, so over the course of two years, Peterson hired 28 new teachers. This enabled her to hire teachers who were very committed to working with this student population and who were open to her philosophy. Now that she has been there four years, Peterson is supported by a strong group of teacher leaders. Peterson’s initial efforts were necessarily top-down in nature. Once teachers quickly saw improvements and began to trust Peterson, she was able to be more inclusive. School Culture The highly active and visible way Peterson went about establishing early trust enabled her to hold both teachers and students accountable to high expectations. Peterson made sure that a coherent professional development program, focused on needs revealed by performance data, was in place so that teachers were well trained. With this established, Peterson began to hold every staff member accountable for student achievement. She told staff she never again wanted to hear "These poor children can’t…” She also made it clear that she expected everyone to go above and beyond the call of duty. Eventually, this became an ingrained part of the school culture. One teacher leader said, "The culture has become such that if a teacher is not an ‘above and beyond teacher,’ he or she doesn’t fit in, doesn’t feel comfortable.” At the same time, Peterson is careful to balance her high expectations with constant reinforcement of teachers’ efforts. Peterson also makes sure that all students know she has the highest expectations for them. Every morning on the schoolwide announcements, Peterson tells students that they are all there for one reason, “to be getting the best education that they so rightfully deserve," and that she expects all students to be striving to be proficient and advanced proficient on the standards. Peterson and her staff are committed to creating a college-bound atmosphere at Colin Powell Academy. Teachers begin talking about the University of California's entrance requirements, called the A-G requirements, with students in the fourth grade. When students are divided into math or reading groups, those groups are named after colleges and universities. The language of the school has become infused with the language of academics and college, e.g. GPA, A-G requirements, SAT, master’s degree, and PhD. At the middle school level, students know they need to "begin class with class." This means walking through the hallways to class in an orderly manner, arriving on time with all the necessary materials ready to go, including a three ring binder, pen and pencil, and completed homework. All middle school teachers stand in the doorways greeting students and monitoring the halls. According to Peterson this "sets the tone that every instructional minute counts and we are all business.” Assessment & Accountability The staff at Colin Powell Academy are now thoroughly accustomed to analyzing data, but it took time and practice to become comfortable with the process and to build trust. The staff looks at the results of the California Standards Test (CST), district assessments in reading, writing, and math, Open Court assessment, and their standards-based report cards. At first, Peterson presented the staff with schoolwide and grade level data so they would not feel like anyone was being singled out. She also highlighted areas of strength in addition to those needing improvement. Then, as teachers became more comfortable with this process, Peterson introduced classroom level data with teacher names removed. Eventually, teachers found the information so useful for informing instruction, they told Peterson they no longer wanted the information to be anonymous. Instead, teachers want to see each others' results so they can share strategies about how to better meet the needs of students. Analyzing data has become such a part of the school culture, students are now doing it. Students set goals for themselves and compare their own data against grade level peers, the school, and the district. Students are charting their own individual data and get very excited to see their growth. Standards-based Curriculum & Instruction In addition to the 90 minutes students spent in English Language Arts with the Open Court program, Peterson increased the math instructional minutes from 60 to 90 at the elementary level. She also hired a variety of support personnel to help students and teachers. The Academic and Program Support Teacher supports students not meeting standards and coordinates all parent and community activities. Another teacher on special assignment focuses exclusively on supporting students struggling in math and reading in 1st and 2nd grade. There are also a Reading First Coach for K-3, a Literacy Coach for 4th and 5th grade, and another Literacy Coach for the middle school. In addition to working directly with students, all these literacy coaches conduct model lessons, teacher observations, and provide thorough feedback to teachers. Along with the support personnel, other support systems were established to make sure all students are meeting standards. Grouped according to ability in reading at the middle school level, students not meeting standards receive two periods of reading using the Language! program. In a strong intersession and afterschool program students receive academic support from classroom teachers. A Saturday school helps students who are far below and below basic on standards. There is also a larger afterschool program, Winners Reaching Amazing Potential (WRAP), which is a structured three-hour afterschool program paid for with 21st Century funds. Colin Powell Academy has fully embraced the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program, which prepares students in the academic middle for four-year college eligibility. Peterson hired an AVID coordinator who has helped the program establish a strong presence at the middle school level, which is filtering down to the lower grades. One AVID strategy, called Cornell notes, helps students keep track of and summarize their learning. Every middle school student, even those not in an AVID class, takes Cornell notes in all classes. The consistency is very beneficial for students. Another aspect of the AVID program that Colin Powell Academy is using well are college aides, area college students recruited to serve as mentors and facilitators in the AVID classrooms, and to assist in the afterschool support program. Colin Powell Academy has had such success with the AVID program, especially with infusing the whole school with a college-bound culture, they have piloted the AVID program in the 4th and 5th grades as well. Professional Development Long Beach Unified School District has a very strong, coherent professional development program with many mandatory sessions for teachers. It is at the district level that teachers gain a thorough understanding of the curriculum. New teachers also receive a lot of support from the district through the Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment (BTSA) Program. In addition to this district-wide professional development, teachers at Colin Powell Academy spend a great deal of time analyzing data to determine their own school-focused learning needs. They find they often want information on specific instructional strategies. Depending upon the depth of the topic, these instructional methods can be addressed during a staff meeting, a buyback day, or during paid time afterschool. Parents & Community In addition to meeting parents out in the community, Peterson provides them with many opportunities to come to the school. Colin Powell Academy has a pancake breakfast, a harvest Festival, a family math night, a bedtime story night, a talent show, movie night, and AVID parent night. Some of these activities, like the AVID Parent and Family Math nights, are to help parents learn to better support their children in school. Others are more focused on getting parents to the school site and helping them feel more comfortable being there. Colin Powell Academy also offers Community Based English Tutoring. This class meets twice a week—providing child care—to teach non-English speaking parents English listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills, and parents have found it to be a wonderful resource. Finally, for parents with middle school students in the AVID program, there is the Parent Institute for Quality Education. In this eight week course parents learn how to help their children with the added rigor of their coursework, and by gaining a fuller understanding of the college entrance process parents are able to better plan their child's high school courses. The staff at Colin Powell Academy developed brief guides parents can use at parent/teacher conferences. These forms, in both English and Spanish, provide a list of questions that parents might want to ask their child’s teacher and space to write down the answer. This helps parents feel more prepared and get more out of these conferences. In addition to being sent home at conference time, these forms are out on the office counter so that parents can use them any time they might need or want to have a conversation with their child’s teacher. Colin Powell Academy has become a school where students feel safe and that neighborhood parents want their children to attend. This school profile was created in 2005. Achievement and demographic data through 2004 are included. Permission to Use Resources SchoolsMovingUp, a WestEd initiative, invites you to use our resources in your work. For uses that involve reproduction of more than one copy of the resource, please submit the online permission request form. We will reply immediately once we know your intended reproduction needs. All reproductions of the resource must include a full citation of the WestEd copyright. |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
