Middle School Concept Audit of Woodland District 50 Middle School

1
Middle School ConceptAudit of Woodland District
50Middle School

• Consultant
• Michael A. Howell, Ph.D.
• Synergistic Schools

2
Scope of Audit

• Audit conducted on campus over 3 week period
• 100 of line administration interviewed
  individually
• 98 of instructional support staff interviewed
  in groups
• Interviews lasted from 4050 minutes each
• Follow-up interviews/questions as needed

3
Whats Being Done Well?

• AYP Woodland Middle School 2007 scores acceptable
  in all areas
• Very high morale reported between all staff and
  administration
• Teacher turnover rate is very low at 6
• Physical structure house and teams
  encourages school within a school concept
• Block scheduling encourages interdisciplinary
  learning opportunities,
• Team planning period encourages collaboration on
  team
• Advisory period encourages establishment of
  student norms, behavioral expectations, etc.
• Exploratory, Health, and P.E. encourages students
  to discover new interests education pursuits
• Team Offices give teachers a professional space
  to organize conduct the business of teaming
• Team classrooms adjacent - promotes teaming among
  teachers and students
• Flexible classrooms with a dividing partition for
  whole team activities/lessons
• Science rooms fully equipped w/storage
• Mobile computer carts, and Learning Resource
  Centers that are readily accessible

4
What was Observed?

• As best can be discerned from the audit, systemic
  deficiencies in the implementation of the middle
  school model exist.
• On the surface Woodland Middle School gives the
  appearance of being a teaming school, however
  upon closer inspection key components of the
  middle school model are being misinterpreted with
  regards to teaming practices and governance.

5
What Is Needed?

• Woodland District 50 Middle School needs to
  develop a strategic plan specific to the middle
  school model.
• The middle schools strategic plan should be
  comprehensive of district goals yet layout a 5
  year plan for implementation of the tenets of the
  middle school model.

6
How To Get There

• A well conceived strategic plan for teaming
  should include training on
• Theory and practical applications
• Phased in approach to effective and efficient
  teaming techniques
• The key to success is significant and ongoing
  teaming related professional development, with
  administrative modeling of courageous
  collaborative leadership under the middle school
  model.