in Wichita
In 2002, less than half of the students in Wichita’s Anderson Elementary School — 84 percent of whom are economically disadvantaged and 30 percent of whom are limited English proficient — demonstrated proficiency on the state’s reading, math, and science assessments. But one year and countless hours of hard work later, the number of students testing proficient or better has soared, nearly doubling in all three subject areas (see charts below).
Principal Penny Longhofer attributes the gains to the professionalism and teamwork of her teachers, hard work of her students, and expert guidance from McREL.
McREL’s support to Anderson Elementary and seven other schools in Wichita is part of a project funded through McREL’s regional educational laboratory contract that has been aimed at refining and testing McREL’s innovative and promising approach to school improvement.
McREL’s program is far from a cookie-cutter model for improvement.
Rather, it aims to help educators develop their own capacity for continuous
improvement so they can sustain and build on improvements long after
McREL consultants leave.
Working alongside schools and districts, McREL consultants help them
focus their improvement efforts on changes research says have the most
impact on student outcomes. Using research, McREL and its clients map
out a course for improvement and continually assess the impact of those
improvements in order to guide future changes.
Most importantly, notes Longhofer, McREL consultants recognize the strengths of local educators and build upon those strengths. “McREL really listened to us,” says Longhofer. “They listened to our needs to determine where we needed to focus, then drew upon vast research knowledge to help us find ways to solve our own problems.”
Wichita Public Schools, for example, already had an award-winning professional development program when McREL began working with the district in 2001. McREL research indicates that one of the most important leverage points for school improvement is aligning curriculum and assessments with standards. So McREL worked with district officials to develop a plan for ensuring that across the district standards, instruction, and assessment come together to create a set of rich, powerful learning experiences for students.
All too often, standards have little impact on what actually goes on in the classroom. So to help Wichita carry out its improvement plan, McREL helped a group of low-performing elementary, middle, and high schools develop communities where teachers work together to create true standards-based classrooms — places where all students have opportunities to meet high expectations for learning.
Those efforts are now beginning to bear fruit — as evidenced by the rise in test scores at Anderson Elementary and other schools working with McREL.
Longhofer notes, however, that their work is not yet done. She and her staff won’t be satisfied until all their students are demonstrating proficiency. “We are at the point, though, where we can do what we need to do to reach a higher plateau,” says Longhofer. More importantly, they are prepared to share their knowledge with others. “We’re ready to teach other schools how to do what we’ve done — which is what it’s really all about. That’s how the wealth is spread.”
