Small Schools: Its About the Kids

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Small Schools Its About the Kids
Small Schools Northwest/Lewis Clark College in
Partnership with Portland Public Schools-02/12/05

• Academic Equity is About All Kids

Presentation By Patricia Martin, Asst. VP The
College Board National Office for School
Counselor Advocacy
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Advancing the Academic Agenda for All Students

• .

. . .With deliberate, calculated, intentional,
planned efforts to change the status quo.
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• Plans Driven by Equity Principle
• Education that starts with the goal of access,
  support and success of all students regardless of
  
• who they are
• the color of their skin
• where they live
• the amount of money their parents
• make
• the amount of political power their
• parents can bring to bear

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Needs for 21st Century Economy and Citizenship

• High Degree of Literacy
• Reading/ELA
• Mathematics

• Life Long Learning/Retraining
• Multiple Careers Changes
• Post Secondary College and/or Career Training

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Lesson 1

• If you do what youve always done,
• Youll get what youve always gotten.

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Small Schools Its About the Kids . . .
Small Schools Northwest/Lewis Clark College in
Partnership with Portland Public Schools

• But, Its Also About US!

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Wouldnt Take Nothing From My Journey Now
-- Maya Angelou
Each one of us has the right and responsibility
to assess the roads that lie ahead and those
roads of which we have traveled. And if the
future road looms ominous and unpromising and
the roads back uninviting, then we need to
gather our resolve and carrying only the
necessary baggage, step off that road to a new
direction.  
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Lesson 2 Change is our
Reality . . .

• And change favors people who
• Are well prepared
• Are willing to learn and implement New Ways of
  doing business
• Understand the Big Picture
• Make a way out of No Way
• Contribute to the Primary Goals of the
  organization

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What happens when Education Reform changes the
school game?
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Lesson 3Become a Reflective Practitioner
. . .

• Continuously examine your personal attitudes and
  beliefsthey drive behavior
• Address gaps in personal beliefs school
  expectations
• Stretch your limits--challenges to comfort zones,
  skills, knowledge
• Be Accountable
• Know when to hold, know when to fold
• Do the right thing, not things right

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School principals/administrators/ instructional
leaders

• charged with improving student achievement as a
  primary goal
• must galvanize the energies of all the players
  involved in the educational setting toward this
  focused common goal
• maximize the use of all resourceshuman and s

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• Organizations advance when . . .
• a clear, widely understood vision creates
  tension between the real
• and ideal,
• pushing people to work together to reduce the
  gap.
• Robert Fritz

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If you dont know where youre going . .
.
Lesson 4

• you probably wont get there
• no plan needed
• any road will take you
• there
• there is no there there
• the destination is fuzzy
• accountabilitynailing
• Jello to the wall

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Goal Statements

•   
• Goal 1 Set high expectations for all
• (students, parents, staff,
• community)
• Goal 2 Improve performance of all
• students
• Goal 3 Close the gap between better and
• poorer performing students

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OVERARCHING DRIVERS FOR
SMALL SCHOOLS                                  
2. Increasing the Number of Students Who Go To
College         Goal To increase the number of
students in Hamilton County Public Schools who
enter college after graduation and do so without
the need of academic remediation.
                   
Goal To increase the number of students in
Small Schools/Small Learning Communities who
enter college after graduation, and do so without
the need of academic remediation.  
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How Expectations Differ Plans After High School
Source Metropolitan Life, Survey of the
American Teacher 2000 Are We Preparing Students
for the 21st Century?, September 2000.
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Most High School Grads Go On To Postsecondary
Within Two Years
Source NELS 88, Second (1992) and Third (1994)
Follow up in, USDOE, NCES, Condition of
Education 1997, Supplemental Table 9-1
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College Freshmen Not Returning for Sophomore Year
Source Tom Mortensen, Postsecondary Opportunity,
No. 89, November 1999
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AP and College Success

• Chance of those going to college who finish and
  receive a Bachelors degree
• 85 of those taking AP continue education beyond
  high school
• AP courses related more to degree completion than
  mere entry into college

Answers in the Tool Box, 1998, US Department of
Education
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Different Educational Experiences of Students
Grades 9 or Higher
Source US Department of Labor, BLS, NLSY,
Employment Experience and Other Characteristics
of Youths, April 30, 1999.
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Beliefs Drive Behavior
Beliefs about Race/SES Access to Rigor Support
for Success Access to Information on Post
Secondary Options Personal Ability to Make
Change in Status Quo
High Standards For ALL
High Standards For All

• I. Important Issues
• A. All Students Can Achieve High
• Standards
• B. System Change, not Fix
• Student to Cope with System
• C. Equity
• II. Ways of Working
• A. Leadership
• B. Advocacy
• C. Collaboration
• III. Results/Accountability
• A. Measurable Outcomes
• B. Systemic/School Wide Impact
• C. Equitable Distribution of Progress
• D. Use of Technology
• IV. Other

Equity
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Big Issues to Consider

• Needs of 21st Century Students
• Needs for 21st Century Economy Citizenship
• Gaps in What is What Should Be
• 4. Definition of School/Teacher Success

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Big Issues to Consider

• 5. Definition of Student Success
• Equity in Rapidly Changing Demographics
• Personal Attitudes Beliefs
• Gaps in Personal Beliefs and School Expectations

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Big Issues to Consider

• Challenges to Comfort Zones, Skills,
  Knowledge
• Technological Implications
• Definition of Success for School
  
  Counselor
• Value-added in Metrics Numbers

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There Are Always More Questions Than There Are
Ansers
Lesson 5

• If the only tool you have is a hammer, every
  problem looks like a nail.

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You HaveTo Get More Tools in Your Toolbox

• The diversity, quantity and quality of the tools
  in the box determine the scope and depth of
  instructional practices
• The ability to utilize the tools effectively
  results in increased student performance
• The acquisition of new tools is a life-long
  process

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Creating Successful Small Schools is Hard Work
Lesson 6

• It means leading, collaborating, teaming to . . .
• Identify inequities
• Use data as a tool
• Create an urgency for change
• Facilitate solution-finding
• Scaffold academic success for all students
• Make system change happen

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THE PLAN

• Success by Design . . .

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Student Academic Success by Design

• Intentional
• Deliberate!
• Planned!
• Premeditated!
• Calculated!
• Data Driven!

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Using Data

• To challenge existing policies
• practices
• To serve as a catalyst for
• focused action
• To create a sense of urgency

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Quote from a school leader
In God We Trust . . . Everybody else
bring data!
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Students In Vocational Courses Do Not Develop
Strong Reading Skills
Source US Department of Education, National
Center for Education Statistics. Vocational
Course-Taking and Achievement An Analysis of
HighSchool Transcripts and 1990 NAEP Assessment
Scores (p. 20) Washington, DC US Department of
Education, May 1995.
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Algebra Placement Practice in One Southern
California School District
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New York City 9th Graders Passing Regents Science
Source New York City Chancellors Office Annual
Report on the Mathematics and Science Initiative
in the High Schools, 1995.
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SCHOOL CRITICAL DATA ELEMENTS

• I. Course Taking Patterns
• II. Course Pass/Fail Rates
• III. Promotion/Retention Rates
• IV.  Attendance Rates      
• V. Discipline/Suspension Rates
• VI.  Special Education Placement Rates
• VII. Gifted And Talented Program Enrollment
• VIII. College going Rates
• IX.   Standardized Test Scores
• X.    SAT/ACT Participation and Results

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SCHOOL CRITICAL DATA ELEMENTS

• XI. State Mandated Assessments
• XII.   Reading/Writing/Math Results (State
• Standardized Test, NAEP, Stanford 9,
  CTBS etc.)
• XIII.  Graduation Rates
• XIV.  Dropout Rates
• XV.   Definitive Exit Plans for 12th Grader

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Whats It Going To Take to
Make A Small School Better Than Our Existing
Regular School Models?
? Working Together Differently 1. Teaming 2.
Collaboration ? Well Thought Out Plan with rigor
for all ? Smart Use of Resources ? Relentless
Laser Focus on Results/Data ? Distributed
Leadership ? Courage to Challenge and Change the
Status Quo
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If Its About the Kids . . . We Have No
Choice

• Come to the edge.
• We can't. We're afraid.
• Come to the edge.
• We can't. We will fall!
• Come to the edge.
• And they came.
• And (s)he pushed them.
• And they flew.
• Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918)

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Big Questions???

• Do I really believe it is about ALL
• Kids?
• Does my behavior parallel my
• beliefs?
• Do I have the courage to ask the
• hard questions and find solutions?
• If not me, WHO?

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Presentation byPat Martin, Asst. Vice
President,The College Board
The National Office for School Counselor
Advocacy 1233 20th Street NW Washington, DC
20036 pmartin_at_collegeboard.org 202-741-4714
Data slides See College Board.org and Education
Trust.org