When the SAIT auditors came for a second visit at Los Medanos Elementary in Pittsburg, second-grade teacher Carol Woodrow was in the midst of giving her students a pizza party as a reward for good behavior. The Pittsburg Education Association (PEA) member, who had not been told they were coming, felt foolish but continued the party nonetheless. The state auditors, there to observe her teaching, took copious notes.
Like other teachers there who say they have been both "rewarded and slapped" in the four years since the school entered the II/USP, she has learned to roll with the punches.
During the initial year - 1999-2000 - test scores went up an astronomical 156 points to 695 on the API. Teachers were amazed to receive $25,000 apiece from the governor's rewards program along with accolades and positive press. Suddenly, the school had a waiting list. But success could not be sustained: there was a 33-point drop the next year and a 23-point drop the following year. In 2002, the school scored 652 on the API and ranked 4 out of 10. Now it is facing sanctions.
More than half of the schools receiving $25,000 awards for staff failed to improve enough the next year to meet state growth targets. Some believe that it's extremely difficult to meet even higher targets after a year of tremendous growth. Some compare it to Sisyphus pushing the boulder up the hill, only to have to repeat the process all over again.
But at Los Medanos, leadership issues also came into play. Many say the soaring scores can be attributed, at least partly, to a principal who encouraged teachers to increase their expectations for the students who are mostly minorities or living in poverty. Many say that he motivated and inspired teachers to do their very best. Others believe the intense pressure drove away some experienced teachers.
"We began to match lesson plans and curriculum to the state standards," recalls PEA member Angela Stevenson, now interim vice principal. "I was hesitant at first. But once I started doing it, I noticed a difference in the children and became more confident. I could see, yes, this is working; this is what we are supposed to be doing. It made sense."
|
|
|
Mike Melendrez helps fourth-grader Leticia Feliciano solve a problem at Los Medanos.
|
Teachers at each grade level began working together and were provided with professional development opportunities that focused on aligning materials to standards and benchmarks. For the first time in years, teachers were given all the materials and resources they requested, and did not have to spend money out of pocket. Discipline and student behavior improved. Test scores skyrocketed.
Then came conflict and confusion. The district's refusal to pay health benefits forced teachers to strike. The principal left and was replaced with someone with a different leadership style. "The new principal didn't want to see lesson plans and said we were basically on our own for discipline," recalls Stevenson. "Discipline went out the window. There was a huge increase in teacher turnover. It was heartbreaking."
That principal left last March and was replaced with someone who is working with teachers to rebuild what was lost. "She has a vision," says Stevenson. "If she hangs around, I can see improvement happening again."
Visitors to the campus can see the efforts to build pride, motivate academic achievement and instill discipline as the school struggles to recapture its past glory. Hallways are now "quiet zones" where students walk in orderly fashion. Students wear uniforms and the school has adopted a system of progressive discipline. New language arts and math programs are aligned to the state standards. Professional development is planned - especially to help beginning teachers.
"It's definitely a challenge," says fourth-grade teacher Mike Melendrez, who has been teaching at the school a little over a year. "I still think we're in a state of flux, but we are all pulling together. We share the same goals: helping our children succeed and getting out of sanctions. If we pull together, we can make it work."
"We are on the road to recovery," says Maria Bruno, who has taught at the school 27 years. "The entire staff is striving toward a common goal. If we just sit and cry, we're never going to make it, so we have to fight. But together we can make our school great again."
|
Do sanctions work?
A third of all states punish schools for what they deem to be subpar performance.
Thirty states can impose sanctions on school districts on the basis of performance and 33 can impose sanctions on individual schools. Fourteen states have the authority to place a low-performing school district on probation and 24 states have the authority to take over a low-performing district. And all states are subject to federal sanctions under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).
Nevertheless, sanctions for schools are not terribly effective, according to a recent study by the Fordham Foundation, "Can Failing Schools Be Fixed?" In fact, success, for the most part, appears to be random.
The study looks at sanctions or interventions in three categories nationwide:
Mild sanctions might include placing schools on a state watch, warning or probationary list. The idea is to monitor them more closely and create pressure to improve, both from inside the school and from the outside community. Interventions include offering students after-school tutoring, mandating that the school or district create an improvement plan, or making professional development available.
Moderate sanctions might include increasing instructional time - for example, adding after-school or Saturday programs that at-risk students are required to attend, or introducing block scheduling. [Editor's note: In California, any such change must be bargained.] Other reforms might include changing the principal or adopting a comprehensive school reform model.
Severe sanctions might include reconstitution, in which all or most school staff members are removed and replaced; school takeover, in which the state or other governing body assumes control of the school; or complete closure of the school.
While some sanctions may have improved schools, success is not the norm. "The intervention experience is marked more by valiant effort than by notable success," notes the study. "Among the various intervention types, a success rate of 50 percent is high and most interventions yield positive outcomes at lower rates."
No particular intervention or sanction appeared to be more successful than others. "Among the 17 intervention types reviewed, no specific strategy resulted in compelling evidence that it was superior to other interventions in terms of effectiveness. ... There is, at present, no strong evidence that any particular intervention works most of the time or in most places. To the contrary, the research base offers many instances where interventions that are successful in one setting fail in another."
The study also found that schools facing interventions or sanctions typically get a great deal of attention, but then fade from the spotlight. "It is very difficult to sustain the momentum behind a turnaround effort as political circumstances change. Too often, it is the initial act of intervention that captures the most attention, not the hard, sustained work of improving performance that the intervention is designed to support."
One of the biggest problems with sanctions and interventions is that they are not given enough time to work - especially those called for under the ESEA. "The law may expect too much too fast. If successful interventions take two to three years to begin to manifest results in terms of Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), then the measures of success may prove slower than many of the law's timelines tolerate," says the report.
Even more successful than sanctions, according to the study, is good school leadership. "While no particular intervention strategy leads to a high success rate, upon careful examination there is a common thread found in successful turnaround efforts: good school-level leadership. In most instances, where a school has made real gains, a strong and typically experienced principal was part of the effort."
|
