Failing schools try new tactics

Orlando Sentinel ^ | 7.1.02

[mhking]

Failing schools try new tactics

By Lori Horvitz
Sentinel Staff Writer

July 1, 2002

When Endeavour Elementary School in Brevard County earned an F last month, Superintendent Richard DiPatri suspended every staff member -- from the principal to the janitor -- and told them to reapply for their jobs.

"It was a plan that really says, 'If we get to this point, it clearly means we're failing the kids,' " said DiPatri, superintendent for 21 months. "We're not suggesting that everyone was directly responsible for what happened to Endeavour. But you've got to do something dramatically different there."

When 10 Orange County schools earned F's on the state's grading system, Superintendent Ron Blocker took a different approach. It's not the staff's fault, Blocker reasoned. Instead, they need better teacher training and new rules that free teachers from mundane tasks so they can concentrate on academics.

"We're putting things in place to assure that these schools do not return to their F status," Blocker said. "It's going to take a unified effort from the community."

The stark difference in approaches between the neighboring school districts reflects the challenges that schools across the country will soon face as the federal government presses more states to test students the way Florida does.

Bold steps

How far does a superintendent go to fix a failed school?

Across the nation, many education leaders are taking bold steps to reform failing schools. Federal legislation signed by President Bush this year allows school leaders to replace all teachers and administrators in schools that repeatedly fail.

Known as "reconstitution" in education circles, the action is considered one of the most drastic of tactics. First used in San Francisco in 1983, the method aims to improve achievement by getting rid of a school's principal and much of the teaching staff, and instituting a new curriculum and programs. Employees have to reapply and prove their worth if they want to reclaim their jobs. Those who aren't rehired can seek employment at another school or accept an involuntary transfer.

It's being used now at schools in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and North Carolina.

'A loser's culture'

"It's a fairly gutsy step to take," said John Dornan, director of the nonprofit Public School Forum of North Carolina. "Schools develop almost a loser's culture that's hard to break once it's there. Teachers and administrators become defensive and blame students, parents and teachers in lower grades. All of those things can become almost a way of doing business."

As many as eight to 10 Florida schools have undergone staff shake-ups in the past six years, said Wayne Blanton, president of the Florida School Boards Association.

Though there has been little research on the effectiveness of the practice, Central Florida has seen its own success stories.

In Daytona Beach, Turie T. Small Elementary bounced back after a shake-up in 1997 that ousted nearly a third of the employees. The inner-city school, where nearly 88 percent of the children are from low-income families, saw its test scores increase. The school earned an A in 2001 but slipped to a B this year.

"We cleaned out the faculty at that school, but it started with the principal," Volusia Superintendent Bill Hall said. "The leader of the school sets the tone for that school."

Principal's role

For Brevard's DiPatri, the decision to move on Endeavour Elementary was not an easy or quick one.

Based on student scores on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, DiPatri and other officials knew the school was in trouble. The test scores are used to calculate the grades, A through F, that the state issues schools.

Before the state school grades were released June 12, the Brevard School Board had planned for the possibility of replacing the employees at any school in Endeavour's situation, DiPatri said. The Cocoa school had received three consecutive D's before it got the F.

The school district had tried to boost achievement with other remedies, including small classes and a new reading program. Nothing worked. The final step -- reconstitution -- came shortly after the state grades were released. A new principal was brought in, and the former principal, appointed midyear, was reassigned as assistant principal.

The biggest challenge, DiPatri said, was finding a strong principal to lead the high-poverty school, where nearly 90 percent of the children receive federally subsidized lunches.

"If we don't get good leadership, we're not going to change the F," DiPatri said. "The biggest difference between success and failure is always around the principal. A good principal hires good people, encourages them and keeps them."

The district ended up offering a $7,500 bonus to Principal Mecheall Giombetti and a $5,000 bonus to Assistant Principal Mary Warmack. Both were appointed last week, and now they are responsible for hiring the rest of the staff.

"The No. 1 thing I look for is attitude," said Giombetti, who is already trying to persuade a nationally certified teacher to work at Endeavour. "I really hire the whole person, not just because of their teaching abilities."

Better training

Orange County School Board member Linda Sutherland said she wants Blocker to consider similar moves in Orange.

"The time has come for some radical things in how we address the problems at some of these schools," Sutherland said. "The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results."

Sutherland is not opposed to a complete overhaul of a school's staff.

"It sends a message to the rest of the community that we're not stagnating," she said.

Blocker said reconstitution isn't necessary in Orange, where teachers and principals need help, not new jobs.

The key is making good teachers want to work in these struggling schools, known for high rates of staff turnover. The district has promised that teachers at these schools will receive more training and, they hope, more money.

Blocker also said that better-trained substitute teachers will be assigned permanently to the low-performing schools. Tutoring classes after school and Saturdays will be expanded. Students' progress will be monitored more closely through more testing.

Mixed results

Besides, Orange's own experience with reconstituting schools -- Orange Center and Grand Avenue elementary schools and Carver and Memorial middle schools were re-staffed in 1996 -- has had mixed results. More recent remedies similar to what Blocker is proposing now are producing positive results, pointing to gains made this year in high-poverty schools such as Carver and Wheatley Elementary. Both earned C's. Rolling Hills Elementary and Washington Shores Elementary, two other high-poverty schools, also made noteworthy improvements. Both earned B's.

At Washington Shores, only a quarter of the fourth-graders read at or above grade level in 2001. That figure rose this year, with 45 percent of the students reading at or above grade level.

At Mollie E. Ray Elementary and Ivey Lane Elementary, which received F's, 73 percent of the children showed improvement on statewide tests this year, said Lee Baldwin, who oversees assessment for the district.

With additional help on the way for Orange's failing schools, these and the other schools will continue to do better, Blocker said.

"Sometimes we haven't armed the schools with the materials or the ability to succeed," the superintendent said. "We need to marry the right people with the right schools and stand back and watch them do their thing."

Mary Shanklin of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Lori Horvitz can be reached at 407-420-5273 or lhorvitz@orlandosentinel.com.

[stainlessbanner]

"It was a plan that really says, 'If we get to this point, it clearly means we're failing the kids

Ummmm that ain't a plan, Rich - it's a knee jerk reaction!

[stainlessbanner]

Bump

[Joe Brower]

Education info ping!

[stainlessbanner]

Unfortunately, the FCAT is not helping the situation - it pointed out what the failing schools already knew - they were failing. By tying school funding to the FCAT scores, the state is not helping solve the problem (although money is not the only issue).

I applaud them for finding other avenues to improve the schools. Every step forward is an improvement - even in the worst schools.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

The less-drastic approach assumes that the teachers are not themselves the illiterate horror stories of which we sometimes hear. And certainly I hope that is unusual, even in a failing school.

But with that caveat, it certainly would seem that the first thing you do is downshift.

Your engine can't pull you up the hill if your truck is overloaded and the transmission is in overdrive.

The economy can't deliver the revenue if the tax rate is excessive. And

a school can't teach the basics if everything is just as important as the basics.

Specifically define your curriculum, from kindergaten up, with review but with no gaps in the basics. Then figure out how badly behind the higher grades are from that baseline, and what you can do about it--including possibly thinning out some of what you originally defined as "basic." You cannot, after all, teach full 12th grade work to seniors who should be in 9th grade; you simply must adapt. But for some 8th graders who should be in sixth grade, the situation presumably is less dire and--given the requisite enthusiam--can be turned around in five years to allow you to award only meaningful diplomas.

But crudest form of downshifting is just the flunking of a lot of students--and some of that could be absolutely essential if the school is as bad as advertised. Another would be year-round school as an emergency catchup procedure . . . none of which is acceptable to the community and the students without a massive dose of enthusiam based on substantive reform of administrative/faculty organization and curriculum giving a basis for real hope.

[Temple Owl]

Vouchers are working already!

[Copperhead61]

This all goes to prove complancency is the mother of mediocrity. These fountains of knowledge knew it would almost take act of congress to get them fired, now the federal state and local gravy train is grinding to a halt and they're running scared.

[summer]

Thanks for the flag. Interesting comments, and interestig thread!

[summer]

Thanks for the flag. Interesting post, and interesting comments!

[LarryLied]

This would worry me but, after watching several decades of school reform, I have the upmost confidence they will fail at this as they have failed at everything so far. In fact, schools, if historical patterns hold, will be even worse.