Struggling Kansas School Turns Around With Help From McREL
In 2003, when Principal Mike Ford stepped into Abilene High School (AHS) in Abilene, Kansas, he encountered low morale, little teacher collegiality or collaboration, and dismal state assessment scores. Four years later, Ford felt like he was at a different school. Thanks in large part to professional development provided by McREL—"the best I've seen in 27 years in education," said Ford—AHS had made impressive gains on the percentage of students demonstrating proficiency on state assessments, from 55.9 to 81.7 percent in reading and from 34.5 to 81.1 percent in mathematics. AHS also had earned the school Standard of Excellence awards from the Kansas Department of Education. Perhaps most impressive, teachers had come together to support each other in the goal of improving student achievement.
Teachers take ownership
Their improvement story began when, after reviewing the results of the 2002-2003 state assessment, Denise Guy, the district curriculum director, wrote a successful grant proposal based on McREL's report, A New Era of School Reform. The study is a quantitative review of the research on school-, teacher-, and student-level variables that affect student achievement. McREL consultants delivered professional development in instructional strategies from Classroom Instruction that Works, Balanced Leadership, and Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. In turn, teachers began to meet weekly in cross-curricular teams to study and share experiences of applying the strategies.
"Teachers used to be much more territorial; they didn't want to share information or be involved in others' teaching," said Guy. "Now, we're getting to the point where teachers roam into each other's classrooms to see what's going on." Principal Ford attributed the success of the professional developmentand the resulting boost in student achievementto this increased collegiality.
AHS aims to strengthen community connections
Two years into the McREL training, AHS lost its grant, but staff members continued studying the strategies on their own. In 2007, the second year of a three-year plan, teacher teams implemented four strategies and created activities for use across disciplines. Ford and the assistant principal now refer to specific strategies in their daily classroom observations. "Basically, McREL monopolizes what we do," said Ford. AHS continues relating all of its work to the CITW strategies and is now taking a wider view, looking at issues outside the school that affect students, such as alcohol and drug abuse. Their new focus will be strengthening the connections among students, teachers, and their larger community.
Learn more about McREL's Success in Sight approach to school improvement.