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Education Dive
Finding
a 'recipe' for turning around failing schools
Andrew G. Houlihan
April 15, 2019
As a system leader, I constantly strive to examine the best “recipes”
being utilized in other school systems for the purpose of learning what
works and what doesn’t. I firmly believe that in education, we often
identify many school improvement “ingredients” or strategies that work,
particularly aimed at school and student performance, but for some
reason choose not to align those into a proven recipe for success.
When I began as superintendent for Union County Public Schools (UCPS),
one of the highest performing school systems in the state of North
Carolina and Charlotte region, priority number one was to listen to our
stakeholders about the positive aspects of the school system, as well
as the challenges and opportunities for improvement facing us. One of
the significant challenges quickly identified, after stakeholder input
and a laser-like analysis of school performance data, was the
improvement of six persistently low-performing schools — two middle
schools and four elementary schools — each of which served an
overwhelming majority of students in poverty. Clearly, prior efforts to
improve these schools did not work, primarily due to the lack of a
focused system-driven strategy, as well as a funding and resource
allocation model that had historically been one of equality instead of
equity.
As a result of many hours of deliberation, strategy development and
planning, as well as tremendous support by the UCPS Board of Education,
more than $3 million was identified in local funding to invest in these
schools using a recipe that had been proven to work in other school
systems.
An effective principal
The research is clear: while the classroom teacher makes the
biggest difference in improving outcomes for students, the building
leader is a very close second.
When this improvement effort launched across all six schools in the
fall of 2017, each school opened with new leadership. One school,
Walter Bickett Elementary School, which historically ranked in the
bottom 5% of all schools across the state and was rated as an F school
by the North Carolina accountability system, launched a co-principal
model as a way to narrow the scope for building leaders, as well as
provide much more targeted support for teachers and grade levels. These
new leaders were not only charged with addressing the student
performance gaps in their building, but to change the projected
vertical pathway for each student, especially since all four elementary
schools were a direct part of each of the two middle school’s feeder
pattern.
We also provided each leader the opportunity to earn up to $10,000
based on their school’s performance each year. A school performance
director was hired to assist each school leader and to coach them on
organizational improvement, teacher development and leadership
development of their administrative teams. Each principal was also
trained to deliver instructional feedback to teachers based on a
strategic coaching model aimed at increasing teachers' opportunities
for development. Finally, Safe and Civil Schools provided targeted
professional development to each administrative team. Foundations, a
year-long series of face-to-face trainings, assisted each leader in
creating a culture of student management and high expectations.
Effective teachers
As previously stated, having access to a highly effective teacher is
without a doubt the single most important factor when it comes to
learning. As an effort to recruit and retain a highly effective
teaching workforce, several steps were taken, including the approval of
a new school improvement model through the state of North Carolina
called Restart, which allows building leaders to have the same hiring
flexibility as local charter schools. Across all six schools, a
strategic professional development plan was created to assist teachers
with content, pedagogy, classroom management and the creation of a
positive culture.
Additional peer supports were put into place, including new teacher
mentors and instructional coaches that were assigned from UCPS Central
Services. In three of the elementary schools, dual language programing
was introduced for kindergarten students who wanted to take advantage
of a Spanish immersion educational model. The professional learning
community (PLC) model was strengthened to provide greater opportunities
for teachers to engage in deliberate lesson practices with their peers,
as well as the deployment of literacy and mathematics instructional
frameworks to be utilized for lesson planning. Finally, the local
salary supplement was doubled for each core content teacher across K-8
grade levels.
More instructional time
One of the significant aspects of improving student and school
performance is time. In addition to highly effective leaders and
teachers, students who are persistently below grade level need more
time in school. Additional funding was provided to allow teachers and
other staff to provide transition camps for rising 6th graders during
the summer at each middle school. In addition, funding was provided to
allow for after-school tutoring and enrichment. In three of the
elementary schools, the element of time was compounded due to the
schools’ year-round calendar in which students attended school for six
weeks at a time, followed by a two-week break called intercession. This
cycle repeated multiple times throughout the school year with no
evidence to support that the structure was in the best interest of the
students or school. In this turnaround effort, funding was provided to
allow for tutoring during intercession. In addition, in May of 2018,
the year-round calendar was eliminated for the three elementary schools
in order to provide more consistent learning opportunities for students
on a traditional calendar.
In-school tutoring
One of the strongest ingredients in our school improvement recipe was
the development and implementation of an intensive in-school tutoring
program provided by 55 tutors hired by the district. Across all six
schools, each 4th and 7th grade student received a 30- to 40-minute
math tutoring block each day in a 3-to-1 setting via out of class
pull-out and/or push-in classroom support, in addition to their core
math classes. Prior to the tutors being hired, a mathematics screening
instrument was created to verify content knowledge. Each tutor received
training from district personnel on a specifically designed curriculum
as well as instructional resources and supports in place. Specific
emphasis was placed on the 4th and 7th grade math teachers working
collaboratively to plan instruction and analyze formative data.
Wraparound services to address social, emotional and mental health
The final ingredient in the recipe was a strategic effort to provide
additional wraparound services, specifically focused on addressing
students social, emotional and mental health needs. Each elementary
school received funding to hire a dedicated social worker for their
respective school, ensuring that our youngest students have additional
experts on hand to assist in times of need and to ensure that families
have access to adequate resources. Each middle school received funding
to hire an additional social worker and an additional mental health
therapist for their school. Based on qualitative data, these additional
supports are having a significant impact on school culture and are
making a difference in the lives of our students.
In addition, given the positive outcomes after only one year, the Union
County government partnered with UCPS to implement a three-year Social
and Emotional Learning Plan in which all schools will be provided with
additional social workers and mental health therapists.
Outcome
After one year of implementation, the return on investment is
overwhelmingly positive. Two out of the six schools moved out of
low-performing status, while the other four were significantly close to
such. As a result of implementing an intensive daily tutoring model for
4th and 7th grade math, proficient rates, on average, across impacted
elementary schools increased by 12% and increased by 11% across
impacted middle schools. Due to the initial success of the intensive
tutoring model, both feeder high schools received additional funding to
implement the model for 9th grade math students during the current
school year. And for the first time since the 2013-14 school year, UCPS
has zero schools rated an F on the state's accountability system.
Walter Bickett Elementary School moved out of low-performing school
status due to exceeding growth.
While there is still much more work to do to improve, we are certainly
proud of the progress being made. Community and local supports have
allowed these efforts to continue, with the goal of ensuring that all
students and all schools are performing at an acceptable level. The
recipe for school improvement, particularly in persistently
lower-performing schools, is a proven recipe that works. I encourage
you to steal this recipe and make it “taste” good for your local
context instead of doing what we continue to do in education over and
over…reinvent the wheel!
Andrew G. Houlihan is superintendent of the Union County Public Schools
in North Carolina.
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