Denise Guy, district curriculum director in Abilene, Kansas, titled the Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) proposal that she had written in behalf of Abilene High School’s teachers, students, and parents “Take Action. . . Get Results.”
Having reviewed the 2002–2003 state assessment results, they knew
what was needed—but they were not going to act rashly, in a rush
to find a fast fix for student scores in mathematics and reading that were
well below the state average; rather, they looked to research to inform
their actions and agreed to have their efforts carefully documented and
evaluated.
In 2003–2004, the staff dug deeply into the issues and concerns facing
the school, and Guy wrote and submitted a proposal that relied on McREL’s “A
New Era of School Reform.” Rather than use an existing reform model,
they chose recent research findings on school reform to guide them, making
their proposal unique. McREL’s reputation and research prevailed,
and they received the grant.
After establishing a leadership team, they began working with a two-member team from McREL, initially Jane Hill and Greg Cameron. With guidance from research and our two consultants, Abilene’s team identified three critical needs:
- Address the needs of all students to increase their academic ability in reading and mathematics.
- Increase student motivation to learn.
- Increase parent involvement and community support for education.
“The 12 people on the leadership team are clear on what they want to accomplish and committed to change,” said Hill, following her first meeting with Abilene’s leadership team. Some of the evening they spent together included voicing their “worst fears” as well as their “best hopes.” McREL consultants made a number of visits to deliver professional development in Balanced Leadership and in Classroom Instruction that Works (CITW). Training in Integrating Technology with CITW is scheduled next.
Six months after they identified their goals and formed their leadership team, Abilene staff members are doing more than hoping for improvement—they are studying effective instructional strategies in weekly meetings and implementing the strategies in their classrooms school-wide. “They’re stepping up to the plate,” said Guy, who sees new leaders emerging and teachers being accountable. They take attendance at the meetings, take notes on the strategies, and share successes in implementing them. “The collegiality and leadership amongst staff has grown ten-fold,” said mathematics teacher Andy Cook. “Meeting together weekly is allowing all of us to learn more about what’s going on in the other classrooms and discipline areas. In addition, teachers are taking the lead role in training, which is transferring to other leadership situations.”
Abilene’s students already have taken this year’s state mathematics assessments, and student performance is improving. Preliminary results indicate that this year’s sophomores are well above the state goal. They also indicate that as much as 6–7 percent more students scored in the proficient or higher categories than in the 2003–2004 school year.
As teachers’ instruction is becoming more cohesive, students’ understanding
and attitudes are improving. For example, when teachers all focused on
making learning objectives clear, students quickly caught on, asking for
objectives whenever they weren’t provided. Since the teachers are
being more intentional about communicating the learning goals and providing
feedback, the students are more successful at connecting the dots. “Students
know what they are supposed to be learning and how well they are doing
with it,” said Cook. “Students are buying into the concept
of improving their effort to improve their learning in mathematics.”