a small school in florida findasmallschool.com

8/14/2019 A Small School in Florida FindASmallSchool.com

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A SchoolThe UntoldStory ofDowntown

AcademyHow toCreate an

Award-WinningSmall Charter School

Steve McCrea FindaSmallSchool.com
http://www.pdfonline.com/easypdf/?gad=CLjUiqcCEgjbNejkqKEugRjG27j-AyCw_-AP


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A School 2 How to build a charter school


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This is not the first time that this storyhas been told. Principal Jim DiSebastianrecounted the steps taken to turn around

an F school into an A school atpresentations to other principals.

Several newspaper articles havechronicled the schools progress, andlocal TV gave ample coverage to the

schools new A status in May 2006.

This book is the first attempt to presentthe story of the schools turnaround inthe form of a book.

The schools prime mover, Ron Renna, provided thematerial that is found in Appendix 1 (the data behindDATAs success).

Jim DiSebastian sat with me for an extended interview (APrincipals Viewpoint) in May 2006. His comments weretranscribed and appear in Appendix 4.


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Features of the school60% Title 1 students

Key AchievementThe school went from an F rating to an A rating in one year.

School rated #2 in the state for student achievement improvementout of 2,854 public and charter schools (2006)

Governor's Award

Scores

Reading in First Year (2005)

41% of students reading at or above grade level

Math26% of students at or above grade level

The PlanHired a part time reading coach

Hired a full time and part time math coach

Staff meeting EVERY Friday

D.E.A.R. time- 30 minutes EVERYDAY

Weekly mini-lesson developed for all staff touse in EVERY classroom EVERYDAY

Introduced IMAC curriculum to students

Frequent testing

Two English classes a day (Language Arts and Reading)

Evaluating results of testing and adjusting mini-lessons andcurriculum as needed

Developed discipline plan

2005-2006: The second year

A grade

100% of students met Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) criteria

35% of students had discipline problems


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Total Points Earned*= 430

*A= 410 points, B=380-409, C= 320 to 379, D= 280 to 319, F= lessthan 280

Scores in the second year

Reading

64% of students reading at orabove grade level

Math56% of students at or above gradelevel

How to create an award-winning

charter school1. Hire Jim DiSebastian or his clone2. Hire Ron Renna (the chief executive)3. Get out of the way.

===========

What to do (the short list)1) Score low in the first year2) Prep the students for taking a test3) Score well in the second year

This list is made in jest. The score that a school gets ispartly based on improvement in test scores on the FloridaComprehensive Achievement Test (FCAT). A school canget a higher grade based on year-to-year improvements


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and that rule had something to do with the schools highrating in its second year. No school wants to be labeledF but the positive aspect of the first years failing gradewas that there was a lot of potential for improvement inthe score.

This book describes how to grow a successful small schooldespite receiving a low grade in the first year of operation.


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Part One

International visitors Karim (Germany) and Sezer (Turkey) tutored astudent (Nick) in the after-school program at Downtown Academy.Thats not the answer! appears to be when the little teacher issaying.


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1The Big Moment

The school opened in August 2004.News of the F rating came in May2005. News of the A rating came ayear later, in May 2006.

The route taken by most visitors to the school isthrough an elevator to the third floor of the churchwhere Downtown Academy is located. I recallwalking into the elevator and seeing that A onseveral sheets of paper in the schools elevator inMay 2006.

A television news crew showed up for a tour andinterview. It was

such a surprise thatthe principal, JimDiSebastian, wasntin town. TheAssistant Principal,David Jett, did theinterviews and I, apart-time school


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tutor, stood in as a teacher for the cameras. Nearlya dozen students were called in to walk the hallsand sit in a classroom, all to capture the momentfor television. That news clip latter showed on theschools web site for months.

From thatmoment thequestions came:How did theschool turnaround soquickly?

The short answerwas we spent a

year studying hard and since were a smallschool, we could make changes quickly and thestudents could deliver the results.

This book is designed to give you more of thatstory. If you work in a large school, the theory is

subdivide your school into smaller academiccommunities. If you work in a small school that isstruggling, the descriptions given in the chaptersrelated to Dennis Littkys work might proveparticularly valuable to your schools turnaround.

In short, there will be more big moments in the

life of Downtown Academy, but none will match


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the surprise and relief of that first big A momentin May 2005.


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2It Took Five Years to Make

an Overnight SuccessThe story behind Downtown Academys success should start with areview of the charter school movement in Florida. One of the firstschools to open in Southeast Florida was the Charter School ofExcellence, located south of the New River in Fort Lauderdale. Thatschools highest grade is Grade 5, so the question about where do

we find acharter school

for grades 6to 8? was thekey reasonfor openingDowntownAcademy.

Any schoolneeds astream of

applicantsand themarketplace

was ready with at least 40 students a year graduating from theCharter School of Excellence. Those students needed a middleschool in the downtown area and the main public school that servedthe downtown, Sunrise Middle School, was large. With over 700students, Sunrise has many of the symptoms of a large school: largebathrooms with spaces to hide from school administrators; a largecafeteria that also served as an auditorium (so lunch hour is a


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shouting match for most teachers and a headache for manystudents).

At the time when charter schools started to be opened, charterschools were seen as an alternative for publicly funded education. Atypical charter school is small: In 2006, there were 17,122 students in55 charter schools, or roughly 311 students per school. Compare

that to the 262,616 students in 228 schools in Broward County (anaverage of 1,150 students per school).

A charter school has a charter or agreement to operate. In order toreceive public funding, schools need to keep track of the attendanceof students. When a student moves from a public school to a charterschool, the funds that would have been spent in the public school onthat child follow the child to the charter school. The amount isroughly $5,000 per academic year.

The BeginningImagine what was going through the minds of someparents who met to discuss options in 2001. At the time,did they know it would take three years to openDowntown Academy? Some of the parents whosupported the creation of DATA had children in the thirdand fourth grades at the Charter School of Excellence. Thehope was to have a school up and working within 18

months.

It took time to find theconsultant (Ron Renna) andthe principal (JimDiSebastian), so the schooldidnt open until August2004. And even then, theschool almost didnt open.


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Preparing to Open the School(Hanging The Fire Doors)Just a week before the school was scheduled to open in August 2004,the local fire department announced a second inspection anddecided that every internal door needed to be replaced. Imagine the

pressure on the operators of the charter school. Something like 47fire-resistant doors had to be purchased, delivered, installed andinspected before the OK could be given to allow students tooccupy the building.

Opening DayAfter weeks of preparation, the school opened to three classes of

sixth graders, two sectionsof seventh grade and one

eighth grade class. I wasthe 8th graders homeroomteacher. We started theday with the Pledge and atleast once a week with arecited Star SpangledBanner (I asked, Whats arampart? Whatsgleaming?). I lastedeighteen weeks in the

classroom and shifted totutoring in the afternoon.

The next chapter is an attempt to document what took place betweenAugust 2004 and May 2006, when Downtown Academy went fromF school to A school.


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3 How To CreateAn Award-Winning School(The List)

What would you do to start a school?Heres the to-do list that I collected bythinking back: What did we do atDowntown Academy?

Set up a tradition called D.E.A.R.

(drop everything and read), a 30-minute segment for reading everyweekday.

Build classroom libraries.Downtown Academy doesnt have acentral library. Every classroom hasbooks.

Build a focus on the Arts. Bring in a

working artist. Allow the artist, MarcGreenblum, to create a project infront of the students. Marcs project

grew from a papier mache lamb that spawned other activities,including a documentary about good and evil (well, he can explainbetter what the movie is [email protected]).

Build field-trip traditions that integrate the school into thesurrounding community

a) Park day

b) Museum of Discovery and Science (a childrens museum)


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c) Periodic visits to the Main Library (two blocks away)d) Stranahan House (a local historic home)e) The historic district with the one-room school housef) Local art galleriesg) Museum of Art (the King Tut exhibit)h) Culture displays at the Performing Arts Center

In the city of Fort Lauderdale, museums and other culturalinstitutions were built within walking distance of each other. Part ofthe funding for the construction included special appropriationsprovided by the State of Florida. The aim was to create an Arts andCulture District. It certainly made sense to place the school near thatdistrict (within walking distance), since the typical start-up charterschool doesnt have funding for renting school buses.

The students can walk to the Performing Arts Center.

Create social traditions. Mr. Did has a very stable personality. Hedoesnt appear to get angry or overly excited (well, his face turns redand he takes a deep breath, but Ive never heard him raises his voicein anger). So when we hear Mr. Di shouting, something good musthave happened. When he arrived at a classroom doorway with a


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bag, we knew that something fun was going to be distributed(usually some fun toys).

Another tradition is the Talent Show. Heres an example of the typeof clever lyrics that some students created to the tune of Jingle Bells:

Dashing through the yearIn one room every dayOh, the pain we have

When science comes to play.When reading time is hereWe all jump up to cheer

Because we're acting lots of playsin books and magazines.

Oh, Art is fun,math is cool,

Science is a drag.Whenever language comes around,

The writing makes us mad.Oh, DATA rules

'cuz it's coolThat's just what they say .

I know most people love it hereBut some don't want to stay

Lyrics by Lanita, Akiah, Alisa and others

This song was first performed at the DATA December 2004 Talent show

Build a strong parent group. The name of the organization, ParentTeacher Resource Group (PTRG) gives the focus: the adults in theroom know that they are resources for the school.

Build surprise into the school week. We never knew when Mr. Diwould walk into the room (management by walking around) andwhen he might announce a new surprise or set of awards for workwell done.


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Get rid of desk-chairs. The school started with donated desk-chairs from the public schools inventory of furniture. Specialthanks is due to the parent who donated enough tables and chairs toallow most students to sit at a real table and arrange books on aflat surface. Most desk-chairs have a slanted surface that is designedfor comfortable writing, but the chair is designed for 80 percent ofthe population. If you are smaller or larger than average, you dont

fit well in a desk-chair and pens tend to roll off the table.

Invite the community to come in and speak to the students (andanswer the students questions). Every school does this step, right?How is the visitor to DATA treated differently?

We videotape the presentations by visitors so that students canreview the words and so that students who missed the talk can getthe essence.

Here is a list of some of the peoplewho have spoken at DowntownAcademy (we recognize them asmentors and thank them for theirtime):An enforcement officer(environmental policing)A judge (who brought handcuffs)

A police officer (who let us hold his unloaded pistol)A soldier on his way to IraqA landlord (who explained renting and the headaches with tenants)

An attorneyAn A/C repairman

+++++++++

Each step in this list appears to be a little step or a big step. The steps aremixed together because even the little things count. The key is to getthese points on paper and include them in the evaluation.

++++++++++


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A principal who looks at you when hes listening to you. It seemsa simple criterion. As a substitute teacher, Ive met with dozens ofprincipals. Most will invite you into their offices and talk withyouwhile glancing at email, shuffling papers, multitasking.

Jim used to take me outside into the talking place in the hallway,whether it was for good news

or to discuss what we need towork on.

The parents can walk inanytime to sit in classrooms, inthe hall, and interact withstudents. Ms. Watson and Ms.Simpson, in particular, hadtremendous impact during thefirst three years because theyspent so much time before andafter school sitting in thehallway.

+++++++++

Is that it? Well, youll notice that most of the itemson this list are soft and non-academic. Imconvinced that many good schools are built on

social skills. To further support this idea, lets lookin the next chapter at the work of Bill Gates andothers who promote smaller schools.


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4 Can This Success Happenat Any School?

No. (and Yes).Most large public schools have teachersand administrators who want to createmore effective schools, but they end upcreating more efficient schools. Theyfocus on how can we handle more

students per$100,000 spent oneach classroom?However, thetypical publicschool system wont

allow the changes that Littky and othersadvocate. Why?

a) Ego -- It just feels more important to have a budget of $5million (for a school of 1,500 students) than a budget of$750,000 (typical for a small charter school of around 130students).


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b) Efficiency Why have ten principals, each watchingover 200 students, when you can save money by havingone principal watch over 2,000 students?

Littky gives a list of the following types of people who resist change(pages 36-37) including Power mongers (the department headswho dont want to share decision-making) and Myopic Managers

(who wont hire people with nontraditional educational background,thus depriving schools of new talent and new perspectives).

Yes, a school can achieve success using the Littky method bysubdividing. No, a school wont achieve the measure of success ifone principal remains in charge of 1,500 students.

Here are some quotes about small schools that Downtown Academydistributes to visitors:

+++++++Most people tell kids to stay in school.Littky and Bill Gates say,

Find your passions ina smallschool.+++++++

You have the powerof one -- one childmoved into a small

charter school could increase revenue for that


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school by $5,000, which is 5% of the moneyneeded to erase the school's currentshortfall. PLUS you get your child in a smallschool.

+++++++

Students in smallerschoolsare more motivated,have higher attendance rates,

feel safer,and graduate and attendcollege in higher numbers.

+++++++

From RethinkingSchools.org (a websitefor small school activity):

New York City isphasing out large highschools and planning

for 200 new small schools over the


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next five years. Chicago is planning100. Los Angeles is converting 130middle and high school campuses tosmaller units. New Jersey is

encouraging all middle and highschools in the state's 30 poorestdistricts to reorganize into "smalllearning communities" by 2008.Similar initiatives are underway in

nearly every large urban district.http://www.rethinkingschools.org/archive/19_04/expr194.shtml

So public schools in 2040 will look like charter schools: smalland responsive with more parental involvement.

+++++++

Consider the cost perstudent who finallygraduates: While data is notconclusive, it generally costs more perstudent to run a small school than a largeone, although the cost per graduate is

slightly less. A study by the NYU Institute for Education andSocial Policy based on 1995-96 data in New York City found


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that schools with fewer than 600 students spent approximately 23percent more per student than schools with more than 2,000students. But because the small schools had a higher graduation

rate, the cost per graduate over fouryears of high school was slightly less:

$49,553 compared to $49,578 at largeschools. (This is because the dropoutrate at the small schools was lower.)

SOURCE: rethinkingschools.org/archive/19_04/gate194.shtml

+++++++The following article appeared at this web location:vivirlatino.com/2006/04/26/nearly-half-of-latino-students-dont-finish-high-school.php

On average, 70 percent of U.S.students receive their high school

diploma. Yet for Latinos this numberis only at 53 percent according to a studyreleased last week by the conservative thinktank, the Manhattan Institute. The reportcites that whites have the highest graduationrates at 78 percent, followed by Asians at 72

percent. African-Americans are cited ashaving a 55 percent graduation rate. What isreally alarming is the gender gap pointed to

in the study, which shows that girls have a higher graduation rate

across all races/ethnicities compared to boys. Even more


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alarming are the numbers coming out ofurban Latino New

YorkCity showing that only 29 percent of boysand 37 percent of girls are graduatinghigh school. What's going on in our

schools and with our youth?++++++++++++++

What can we do with this information?

Let's start by changing the frequently given advice: "Stay inschool."

Let's say, "Find a small school and follow your interests.""Follow your passion in a smallschool."

+++++++++++++

Dennis Littky said in an interview with National Public Radio,

Once they find

their passion

and interest and

start to work in

the internship,

the rest takes


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over. They change. It's not school

any more. "I love this doctor's office.

I'm going to read about this. I love

this architect's office, I'm going to

design this." So until you get thepassion, it's too much like school.

+++++++

The new three Rs, the basic

building blocks of betterschools: The first R isRigor making sure allstudents are given achallenging curriculum that

prepares them for college orwork;The second R is Relevance

making sure kids have courses and projects that clearly relateto their lives and their goals;

The third R is Relationships making sure kids have a numberof adults who know them, look out for them, and push them toachieve.

The three Rs are

almost always easier to


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promote in smaller ...

schools. The smaller size gives teachersand staff the chance to create an environment

where students achieve at a higher level and rarelyfall through the cracks. Students in smaller schoolsare more motivated, have higher attendance rates,feel safer, and graduate and attend college inhigher numbers.

-- from a speech by Bill Gates, Feb. 2005

+++++++

QUOTES FORPARENTSThis suggestion comes from a teacher:

You have the power to put into

action what Bill Gates and others

are shoutingabout. Gates and othersare pleading with the people ofthe USA to improve education

by making schools smaller,building relationships, askingstudents to study in a way that isRELEVANT to their lives.


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Parents: The quickest way to grab

the attention of your local school

district is to pull your child out of the

public school and put your child in a

charter school. Make it clear thatyou are pursuing the advice of Bill

Gates. When the school district

subdivides the large school, you can

consider re-enrolling your child in a

school thathas no more

than 300

students.

+++++++

Perhaps this data will help persuade readersto put more attention on small schools andcommit to reshaping public education along

the lines advocated by Gates:

smaller schools.


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You have the power of one -- one child movedinto a small charter school could increase revenuefor that school by $5,000, which is 5% of themoney needed to erase the school's currentshortfall.

+++++++

To help parents learn more about thepower of small schools, I composed thefollowing booklet, which has been read

by many Downtown Academy parents.


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In Praise ofSmall Schools

An open letter to parents andother potential mentors

The New ThreeRsBy Steve McCrea, Tutor and Mentor

Im a tutor for middle school

students, so I often get asked: What should my child bestudying? Can you recommend a good web site to

help him get ahead? My child has difficulty

readingcan you tutor him? Parents could present

other questions to a teacher: What should parents be

learning? I would answer, Did you catch that

important speech given by Bill Gates?

In February 2005, Bill Gates gave a landmarkspeech at a conference of governors praisingsmall schools. I missed it, and chances are thatyou did, too, because the speech wasoverwhelmed by the medias focus on theMichael Jackson trial and Terri Schiavo. Heresthe essence of what Gates said:


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Successful schools are built on principles

that can be applied anywhere. These are thenew three Rs, the basic building blocks ofbetter high schools: The first R is Rigor

making sure all students are given achallenging curriculum that prepares them

for college or work. The second R is

Relevance making sure kids have coursesand projects that clearly relate to their lives

and their goals. The third R is

Relationships making sure kids have a

number of adults who know them, look outfor them, and push them to achieve.


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The three Rs are almost

always easier to promote insmaller schools. The smaller sizegives teachers and staff the chance to createan environment where students achieve at ahigher level and rarely fall through the

cracks. Students in smaller schools are more

motivated, have higher attendance rates, feelsafer, and graduate and attend college in

higher numbers.Bill GatesFebruary 26, 2005 National Education Summit on High Schools


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The Size of the SchoolDear Parent:

Lets think of an example of a small school thatreceives public money. The most visible schoolsin our neighborhoods are often large. Thatmiddle school down the street has 800 or 1,000students. Most students in the US (over 60percent) attendhigh schools that

hold more than1,000 students.The five largesthigh schools inmy city eachhave over 1,400students.

What about charter schools? -- those hybridentities that have an agreement with the state (acharter) to operate with fewer of theconstraints of a typical public school (forexample, its easier to hire and fire teachers andother staff).


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There are scores of complaints about charters:- "They don't have a football team"- "They don't have enough students"- "They have to eat lunch in the classroom."- "They don't have a media center."

- "The principal of that charter school is fromanother country and he doesn't understand kids inthe USA."

- "They have to take a bus to get to aplayground or recess area."- They are underfunded because they dont haveenough students, so they dont have enough

money.- They donthave enoughstudents somy childdoesnt haveenough

friends.- They scorelower than the

public schools in the standardized tests. I wantmy kid to be in the big school where the testscores are higher.

- "They ..." (go ahead -- add to the list!)


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Parents, you can find many reasons to stick withthe large school that your child currentlyattends. People will give you many reasons toavoid underfunded and mismanaged smallschools. However, if you agree with Gates, then

join the charter school movement and vote fora smaller school -- where everyone knows your

child's name.

I know of a charter school that needs 130students to have enough funds to hire two extraassistants and afford buses for field trips. The

school has just over 90 students. Each student isworth about $500 a month or $5,000 a year inpublic money (that would otherwise go to a largepublic school). With 30 more students, that'sover $150,000 that the charter school could usefor "additional resources."

Would you likeyour child toattend a schoolthat hasexpensivebuildings and acafeteria withfour seatings


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(to feed 400 students at a time)? Or do you wantyour child in a school that has fewer than 400students (and the principal knows everystudent)?

Most parents with students in a large schooldidn't hear Mr. Gates and his speech. They

currently send theirkids to one of thelarge schools in thearea with over 1000students. I wonder if

those parents wouldchange their minds ifthey knew what Bill

Gates said....

If youre looking for a way to have an impact,theres nothing more remarkable or effectivethan the choice of school. Voting has a chancefor changing the outcome of an election (if youjoin with 10,000 or so other voters). Writing aletter to the mayor or attending a citycommission meeting might make a difference, ifyou and another five hundred people show up.Volunteering for a beach clean up might make

you feel good about doing something for your


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local environment.

However, your child could be one percent of aschool. Your child, your vote, could shiftfunding to a small school and send a message to

the local school district: Gates is right. Weneed small schools.

What should happen to larger schools?

The Gates foundation has funded the division oflarge schools in New York, L.A. and Chicagointo several smaller schools. Why not apply that

same effort in large schools everywhere? Forparents wanting to heed Mr. Gates advice,however, switching to a small school isimmediate. While we petition our school boardsto partition large schools, at least some studentscan be placed immediately in smaller learningenvironments.

In short, a charter school is an affordable way foryour child to get rigor, relevance andrelationships in a small school. To find acharter school in your area, go to your schooldistricts web site and look for Charter.


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In Broward County: BrowardSchools.com andclick on School Info. Then select Charters.In Dade County, www.dadeschools.net, click onSchools, then School Information and selectCharters.

In Palm Beach County, palmbeach.k12.fl.us,then click on the School Infobutton on thehorizontal bar, then click on Charter Schools.Good searching.


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The Role of Adults

MentorsIf I were a parent, I would look around for adultsto volunteer to come into my childs school.What is Gates really saying? Education iseveryones business (even his business).

If you want to help reshape education whilegetting more attention for your child, make aneffort to become a mentor. You dont have tobe a parent to provide this valuable service (toyourself as well as to students and to the

community).


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Guidelines

1. Stay focused. Yes, school administratorsneed volunteers to help withphotocopying, newspaper recycling,

reorganizing closets. Ask to work as ateachers assistant. Get in contact withstudents.

2. Listen. The usual use of a visitor in aschool is to stand the adult at the front of

the classroom and ask for a speech.Instead, the teacher could give you a smallgroup of students and you could spendtime in a corner of the room finding out iftheres any click or connection. Ask thestudents, What is your passion? What doyou like to read about? Many kids justneed a chance to talk in order to discover


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their interests.

3. Return. Often. Frequent contact makes adifference. It takes seven exposures formost people to learn a new concept and

many kids need to see an adult severaltimes before your message gets through.Promise to return, then follow through. Beanticipated.

4. You dont need a speech or specialtalent. Your presence is a present to

students who see the same adults in thesame profession (teachers). If you arent ateacher, thats good. Remember whatGates said: Make sure kids have anumber of adults who know them, look out

for them, and push them to achieve.

If youre curious about how a school engagesmentors, visit BigPicture.org and watch thevideos online. The Met, a Big Picture school inProvidence, Rhode Island, is where the new threeRs were developed. The formula mentionedby Gates appeared in Dennis Littkys book, TheBig Picture: Education Is Everyones Business.


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Well, I could write more, but Ive got to go. Yousee, Im a mentor, too, and a student is waitingfor me.


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What is the Secret

Behind the Met Centerin Rhode Island?The Met Centers web site, Metcenter.org, lists the

following features of the school:

A student-teacher ratio of 15:1

High standardsStrong family engagement

Internships,

Individual learning plans

Advisory (small groups that meet for four years with

the same teacher) and

A breakthrough college transition program

Hmm. It sounds like any other school. HighStandards for most of us means, We useexpensive textbooks and expect our students todo onerous homework. At the Met, thestandards mean rigorous work in the studentsarea of passion.

Advisory for most schools might mean we


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have a guidance department and we helpstudents find possible careers. In the Met, theadvisory is the class and the classroom. Theadvisory appears to be the heart of the program.The advisory system links one adult to 15

students and that adult (the advisor, but mostof us would call that adult the teacher) builds athree- or four-year relationship with the student.There are other teachers, but one advisor guidesthe student through a mix of subjects. Thestudents look at issues in the advisory, focusingon quantitative reasoning (math), empirical

evidence (the scientific process) andcommunication (language arts).

Confused? I was when I first heard of this

system. I thought, How can one

teacher teach all

subjects? Thats the wrong question.We should be asking, In my school, how can astudent get a sense of direction when he or shehas to deal with at least 5 different teachers eachyear, 20 teachers through high school? Where isthe common thread binding all of these subjects

in the student?


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Thats the secret behind the Met. One

adult cares about (focuses

on) one student at a time. Iknow at least one school district that claims toteach one student at a time. The Met Centeractually practices this.

Drop Everything and Read


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I have identified five pillars of the Met Center:

Five pillars of Big Picture Schools(as interpreted by a math teacher who visited The Met in Providence,

RI, part of the Big Picture schools association)

1 Multi-year relationships -- The teacher stays

with the same students for three or four years.The teacher teaches more than one subject. Inthe case of the Met, a high school in Providence,RI, the teacher stays with the students for all fouryears of high school.

2 The teacher is a facilitator. Teacher =Advisor = how can I help you? The teachercoaches the student to choose activities to cover

skill areas (language skills, quantitativereasoning, etc.) rather than special subjects, liketrigonometry, algebra or chemistry. One of theteachers prime activities is finding suitable

mentors for the students.3 Tests are by exhibition. A stand up

demonstration of understanding is valued above awritten test. The students take the statesstandardized tests and other written tests, but theschool focuses on the exhibition, which is theproduct of at least nine weeks of work.

4 Learning through interests the internships(set up with the teacher) are selected by thestudent. Academic learning is filtered throughthe students interests.

5 Im more than a letter in the alphabet.Evaluations are made by narratives, not by a


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letter grade. The teacher can afford time to writetwo pages of narrative about each student duringthe grading period because the teacher has only15 to 20 students to meet with over a nine-weekperiod. I observed an advisor who met withstudents throughout the class day, asking for

updates on on-going projects. This sort of focuscan come from a narrow focus of one adult on asmall group of students.


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The Met Center's web site lists these features:A student-teacher ratio of 15 to 1high standards

strong family engagement

internshipsindividual learning plans

advisory (one on one with a teacher)a breakthrough college transition program


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Questions

Heres a COMMON OBJECTION toSMALL SCHOOLS: Our schools are

focusing on reducing class size, not school

size. We seek to provide a student-

centered environment.

RESPONSE: Let us emphasize thedifference between being a student in a

small schooland being a student in a smallclass in a large school.

Bill Gates hammers the point of small schools, wherekids feel safer and everyone knows your name. Itdoesnt matter what size the student-centeredenvironment is when I walk out that classroom door,if I can dissolve into 800 or 1000 other bodies, then Im

not in a small school. I dont get the small-schoolbenefit that Dennis Littky writes about and that BillGates is pursuing with his foundation.

In short1) Howard Gardner says that assessing actual

understanding will cost a lot more that wecurrently spend on written tests.

2) Littky says that mentors, exhibitions and


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learning through interests are needed tosupplement the typical school textbook andtesting

3) Robert Reich does not have muchcomplimentaryto say about

standardizedtests.How can thisMet Centermodel beapplied tomiddle

schools? Or totraditional high schools? more hands-on learning more interaction with outside mentors introduce grading by narrative one classroom schools one teacher for

several subjects. (See WARNING below.) less emphasis on performance on a written test

expand the standardized test to allow alternativeways of performing understanding.Howard Gardner, developer of the MultipleIntelligences theory, makes it clear that there aremany ways of learning, so there should be morethan one way to assess a persons mastery of asubject. Some people are inspired speakers andactors, but have a difficult time writing. Somepeople are good at building teams but do poorly


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when acting alone.In the real world, these people are called managers(because they know how to delegate). They donthave to know how to do everything well.

However, schools test students in a way thatguarantees that most people who are good in onearea are going to feel terrible about themselvesbecause they cant perform up to a standard in

another area. In the work place, employees donthave to perform in a well-rounded way. Thats whythere is division of labor in an organization.

As a math teacher, Im impressed with the BigPictures philosophy and how the philosophy is putinto action through the five pillars. The interviewwith Littky that aired on National Public Radio in2005 is particularly compelling. You can find this


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interview on the NPR web site, npr.org, and enterDennis Littky in the search box. The links willtake you to the April 25, 2005 interview. I used tobelieve in schools as large boxes that efficientlytake in 1000 students and churn out young adults.Now I see that I learned because I attended a small

school. I was with an adult who spoke to me and afew other people who were also interested in what Iwas hooked on. As a tutor, I see students get itafter three or four sessions because I take the time tofind out what the student is interested in and we shiftthe tutoring sessions toward those interests.

What if schools were places to explore my

interests? Dennis Littky describes one path tomaking a classroom that facilitates discovery. TheBig Picture: Education is Everyones Business. Ihope you will take time to connect with thisremarkable organization. The email address [email protected].

Heres a quote from Littkys book:


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There is no one set ofknowledge.In 2000, former U.S. Secretary of Labor RobertReich wrote an article for the New York Timescalled One Education Does Not Fit All. In it,

he railed against the use of standardized testsand courses as inconsistent with the neweconomy. I literally jumped out of my seatwith joy when I read this part:Yes, people need to be able to read, write andspeak clearly. And they have to know how toadd, subtract, multiply and divide. But giventhe widening array of possibilities, theres no

reason that every child must master thesciences, algebra, geometry, biology or any ofthe rest of the standard high schoolcurriculum that has barely changed in half acentury.

Theres noreason to put

education instandardizedpackages whenour kids dontcome in thosepackages. Whowants astandardized

kid, anyway?


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As a society, we embrace individualism and yetwe seem to be OK with our schools becomingmore and more standardized. (Littky, pages34-35, emphasis added)

WARNING: I have mentioned one of thekey aspects of the Big Picture school to several teachers:The advisor teaches all of the subjects. I rejectedthis idea at first, but over time I have grown to accept it.The reactions of other teachers are consistent:

How can one person teach math, history, a foreign

language, chemistry, biology, physics, and English

Literature? Where is the rigor?

How can one teacher be good at all of those

subjects?I was terrible at (math, history, whatever). I would

make a terrible advisor in that system.

Two suggestions:

a) Is it so terrible for the student to sit with an adult who

has a fear of math or a history of negative results with

science? If the student lacks a knack for algebra, who

better to teach flexibility and optimism than an adultwhofailedalgebra in 9th grade?

b) Let this idea sit with you for a while. It might appear

impossible to convince a teachers union to encourage

members to teach a spectrum of subjects instead of

their favorite subject or their special gift. For

some students, an English teacher who hates math might

be the perfect adult to guide the student toward

understanding quantitative reasoning. A science teacher


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who can barely write an essay might be the best writing

coach for some students. Students needing additional

rigor can be assigned to other teachers/advisors for

specific needs. In short, The Big Picture method has

pushed me to look at alternatives to how I was

taught.

What would Ben Franklin say about theopportunity that Littky offers each of us?On the final day, as the last delegates were signingthe document, Franklin pointed toward the sun onthe back of the Convention president's chair.Observing that painters had found it difficult todistinguish in their art a rising sun from a settingsun, he went on to say: "I have often ... in thecourse of the session ... looked at that sun behindthe President without being able to tell whether itwas rising or setting. But now at length I have thehappiness to know it is a rising and not a settingsun."odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/GOV/frankln.htm


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What is Next?

What can each of us do to turn bigschools into small schools?What can each of us do to helpsmall schools become stronger?Just keep asking those two questions. The answer willcome. Then act on what you believe is correct.

We might each start by visiting these web sites:www.BigPicture.org

www.MetCenter.orgBecome a mentor: www.MentorsOnVideos.comwww.BuildingInternationalBridges.com

The key to their success isyou.Become a mentor. Small schools need adults

to come into the school and to listen toquestions from students. As a mentor, yourrole is easy: Make sure the students you talkwith are given something unconventional.Give them a role model.


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What Can We Do?(Wouldnt it be nice if change happened instantly after

everyone read these quotes? Wouldnt it be an efficient

world if we could implement change just by asking

every teacher, parent and student to read the facts?)

1. Visit a middle school. There is one task that ateacher cant do or pay for: getting an adult to speakSINCERELY to a class and to answer their questions.

Your time will spark something in the brains of the kids.

A teacher cant always make that happen. You can.

You are a mentor.

2. Record yourselfand send the video to Box 30555,Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33303, MentorsOnVideo.com. Orpost the video on YouTube.com or other video-sharingweb sites and send the web link [email protected]. Let students hear youranswers to: What do you remember from school?What did you do to learn to read?

What did you like to read?What books or articles or magazines do you recommend

others to read?

What did you learn in school that you really value

today?

What did you learn outside school that you use in your

life today?

Do you remember a teachers name? Tell the camera

the name of that teacher and why that teacher sticks out


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in your memory.

3. Become a phone mentor. One phone call per day.Just five or six calls each week. You can make adifference in a childs relationship with school workwithout having to go to a school. Contact a guidance

counselor at a small school and suggest this tutoringtechnique.

4. Ask to become a mentor to a class. The best teacheris a facilitator who allows mentors (adults who are notteachers) to talk with students.


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Students from Downtown Academy could eventually attend a school likeCHAD school in Philadelphia. A small charter high school with a focus onarts and technology could be created in Fort Lauderdale.

5. Read some of these books:

A Whole New Mindby Dan PinkFree Agent Nation by Dan Pink

The World is Flatby Thomas FriedmanYou can be a mentor.

Just visit a school and ask to sit with a class.

Tell students how schoolwork is related to your career.


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Like the Charter High School for Art and Design (CHAD) in Philadelphia,Downtown Academy is located in the heart of a vibrant city.

Other web sites: LookForPatterns.com MathForArtists.com

Pat-Harris.com ResolveToHeal.com

Snopes.com Check out a rumor before passing on

something you received by email or a rumor that you

heard. Lets all boycott one gasoline company and

that will force the company to reduce prices. (Oh,yeah?)

In short, Littkys work is not a revolutionary method.Littky copies what tutors have been doing for millennia --- know the student, shape the curriculum to matchthe students strengths, find experts to train the student,


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push the child with rigorous material that makes senseto the student.

Why not contact Dennis Littkys office? His emailaddress is [email protected]. Ask why astudent centered environment must be in a small

school to achieve the results that we are all seeking.

These young men might attend one of Littkys schools someday.

Education is everybodys business.Dennis Littky-------------

That was the 24-page booklet that is available to visitors

to Downtown Academy.


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If you have reached this portion of this book, youare a marathon reader and you are probably asupporter of small schools. At the risk ofpreaching to the choir, I want to arm you withadditional material from Littkys book. I have

selected segments of his book (that appear in thenext chapter) that relate particular with the themeof respect.


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5 Littkys The Big Picture:Education is Everybodys

BusinessImagination is more important thanknowledge, according to Einstein.When I imagine what school systemswould look like if more parents knewthe essence of Dennis Littkys book,then I have fantasies of schools that aresmaller and more responsive tostudents and parents. I imagineschools that respect students in theway that Littky defines respect.

What can I write in the next sentence toimpel you, dear reader, to find a copyof Littkys book and become a devoteeof narratives, portfolios, passion,internships, mentors and thevocabulary that Littky uses? What


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words can move you to becomeimmersed in concepts that will leaveyou sleepless and impatient forchange? What can I write to move you

to learn about Littkys proposals abouthow to organize a small school, whichappear straightforward and clear?

I can think of one sure way to get mybrain firing on all cylinders and I hope

my enthusiasm transfers to you so thatyou become as inspired as I am: Startquoting Littky. Here we go:

Quotes from the Big Picture

Page 5If you can get up and be passionate about something and tell others

about what you know, then you are showing that you are educatedabout that topic. This is what an exhibition is: it is kids getting upand talking passionately about a book theyre read, a paper theyrewritten, drawings theyve made, or even what they know about automechanics. It is a way for students to have conversations about thethings they have learned. Exhibitions are the best way to measurelearning because they put the kids right in the midst of their learning,which makes a lot more sense than asking them to sit quietly for an hourand fill in test bubbles with a pencil. And because exhibitions areinteractive, they propel the kids to want to learn more. That is whatmatters.


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Now that you have been given words from Littkys book, whynot find a pre-owned copy on the used book section of Barnesand Noble (bn.com)? For $15 including shipping, you can holdthe 200 pages that have been monopolizing my psyche since Iopened the book in July 2005. I admit that as I write thissentence, I feel like a madman, re-reading the words

monopolizing my psyche and wondering, What words can Iuse to describe the pleasurable occupation of my consciousness?

Its as if fifteen U.S. Army soldiers marched into my head andtook over until I agree to devote my life, my entire mentalcapacity, to telling others about Littky and small schools andrepeating those stories until all schools become smaller. Thatoccupation may be the ultimate force needed to engage thespirits of millions of parents.

Only when adults are attending school board meetings todemand more effective schools will the dropout rates begin todramatically fall. Only when the phrase pursue their passionsbecomes part of Our children are in school towill we be ableto rest, knowing that our schools have been transformed.

More quotes appear in Appendix 3. The true purpose of thisbook is now unmasked: Yes, I have been searching for some wayto tell many stories about smaller schools and the opportunityarose to start a book about How to Create an Award-WinningCharter School. In fact, any school can become award-winning,

but the true prize is be coming small and effective. Thats themessage behind The Big Picture by Dennis Littky.

How could we transform education inthe USA? How about openingthousands of small charter schools toattract students away from the big


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public schools, causing the largeschools to close and reopen, we hope,under the transformed status of manysmall schools occupying the current

big school building.

The subdividing of large schools istaking place in New York, Chicago,Los Angeles. News reports of thetransformation of education appear at

least every month and the challenge isto speed up the rate of conversion.

What have you done, dear reader,recently to put yourself in a smallschool? How have you helped to make

a small school more effective? Inparticular, how have you made a smallcharter school more able to deliverpositive results?

Look for an effective small school inyour community. I visited the Vail


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charter high school in Tucson, Arizona,which has 146 students, and met withthe assistant principal John Roberts.Our strength is in our relationships,

he told me. We welcome thecommunity to be mentors, we havestrong academic standards, but howwe relate to each other is what buildssocial skills in our students.

If you are not part of the action, you are an observer.

Why not close this book, right now, and call a smallschool to volunteer your time?


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Part Two: Whats Next


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6 R E S P E C TLets look again at the How To Do Itlist. What single element made DATA asuccess? What turned the school

around?

Thanks to Dennis Littky, we have thevocabulary, the lexicon, and the conceptsto describe the success of DATA. Theseventh chapter will cover the next steps

in the evolution of the school and thenext steps in the evolution of our schoolsystem.

Its all about respect

especially respect for thestudents.Lets look at Littkys book:

The Big PictureEducation is Everybodys Business


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RESPECT. The word appears at least 45

times in Littkys book. This appendixcaptures most of these occurrences of theword. Since Littkys book costs morethan $20, it is not likely that it will beread widely by parents. My aim inreproducing sentences from Littkys

book is to expand awareness of theconcepts in Littkys book, particularly histhemes of respecting students.

Page 2I want my students to get along with and respect others. The real goals of

education are not possible if thekids in the school do not care aboutand cannot get along with each

other or with the people they meetoutside of school. I believe thatthis is the heart of what we meanwhen we talk about celebrationand respecting diversity, and it isat the heart of what makes a schooland a society work.


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Littky says that respect is about treating kids the way we treat otheradults. Respect is about not having school bells, since we adultsdont do our best thinking by turning on and off according to a bell.

Respect follows finding passionsPage 14Respect is about inspiring students to find their own passions and their

own ways of learning Not by giving kids the answers, but bybrainstorming with them about how to solve the problems. Not by tellingstudent what they have to read, but by letting them choose their own books,based on what they are interested in.

The Best TeachingPage 15I once had a teacher who taught a class on the Bible, not as a religious workbut as a piece of literature, and she had never really studied it before. Shetold me later that, during that class, she was the best teacher she had ever

been, because she was on the same level with her students she wasexperiencing it all for the first time right along with them. This meant thatshe wasnt saying things like, Look at the metaphors in here and comparethem, but was actually asking questions that she herself didnt know theanswers to, like What do we think about this passage compare to this otherone? It was very exciting for her and very invigorating for her students.

Respect in TeachingPage 15-16I had a home economics teacher who had to teach math to a small group of

students who were struggling. She herself was not very good at math.Some might say, Oh, no, that will never work. But it was some of hermost brilliant teaching. I would watch her sitting with those girls, andtheyd be figuring out those problems together. She was comfortable withthe students knowing that she didnt know everything. She wascomfortable with the idea that she was not just there as question answerer.She wasnt yelling at them about why didnt they understand it; she didntget impatient with their lack of knowledge. She really went through thelearning experience with them. Knowledge can get in the waysometimes. Its terrific for teachers to have depth in a certain area, as longas they dont just hand it over. They have to use that deep understanding


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to help their students discover the learning on their own. Teaching andlearning are about problem solving. The best environment for learningis one where people feel safe, supported and respectedand where kidsand adults are excited and passionate about learning.

[See my comments about the importance of kids seeing adults work

through confusion (Alison Gopniks essay in Appendix 5).]

Give students more responsibilityPage 58The amount of respect and trust that exists in a schools culture is directlyrelated to the amount of responsibility students are given over theirenvironment, the equipment they use, and their learning. You show kidsthat you respect them and trust them by allowing them to be responsiblefor themselves and their surroundings. Kids recognize this and muchmore often than not, they will rise to the occasion.

Trust begins with a personal commitment to respect others, to takeeveryone seriously. Respect demands that we first recognize eachothers gifts and strengths and interests. Only then can we reach ourcommon and individual potentials. Max De Pree, quoted on page 59

The Principals RolePage 59As a principal, I look at every time I deal with a kid as a moment

when the culture of my school is being set. I now that when I am reallylistening to a kid, I am reinforcing that kids sense that our school is a placewhere he can feel, Hey, I dont have to fight them; they really listen to us.I am also aware that the same message is getting across to the people whowalk by and see us talking and listening to each other.

[Note: At Downtown Academy, I see this moment daily, whetherits a teacher or the principal who is meeting with a parent or astudent.]

------------------


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One out of every three U.S. studentswho enrolls in high school drops outbefore graduation.Page 19After more than 35 years in education, I continue to be angry and amazed

at what does on in our public school system. I am angry that we mistreatand disrespect our youth. I am angry and amazed that more people dontsee what I see. I really believe that kids lives depend upon more adultsunderstanding, and changing, what is really going on in our schools.

Relationships build respectPage 21We understand that in order for a school to help a kid learn and succeed, thekid must be known. And you cannot know a kid whose voice you dontlisten to, whose interests are a mystery, whose family is excluded, andwhose feelings are viewed as irrelevant to the educational process. When

even one teacher builds a strong relationship with a kid and his or herfamily, the school can become the place the kid runs to when things fallapart.

Safety means respectPage 22Kids need variety, they need to be heard, they need to feel good aboutthemselves. School structure must be sensitive to the tremendous physical,emotional and intellectual upheaval brought on by adolescence alone.Students need to feel that school is a safe place a place where they

wont be punished indiscriminately.They need to feel that school is aplace where their strengths and energies are nurtured and applauded, wherethey and their loved ones matter as human beings, and where they havecontrol of themselves and their successes. Finally, they need their school and their society to see them as a resource, and not as a resourcedrain.

[Note: International visitors who are studying English come to theschool to practice speaking with students at Downtown Academy.Why? We want to learn English from the little teachers.]


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Respect breeds respectPage 22While I think kids are very fragile, I also think they are very resilient andcan handle a lot more responsibility, challenge and respect than adults givethem credit for. I think I get along so well with kids becauseI haveincredible respect for them. I believe that every kid has got a certainbeauty.

Respect comes with individual attentionPage 73One Kid at a Time is the crux of the Met philosophy. It is treating everyonealike differently. This is the only way schools will really work and the onlyway every kid will be offered the education he or she deserves. Our kidsare being mistreated and abandoned by their schools, and too many areliterally dying as a result. We have to save them, one kid at a time.

One-Size-Fits-All doesnt show respect

Page 74What we need is not just smaller schools and realistic education goals, butauthentic relationships between educators and kids. What we need aretruly personalized schools The teachers primary concern is educatingstudents, not getting through a certain body of subject matter.

A one-size-fits-all approach to education will always be hit or miss. Canyou imagine walking into a medical office and being shuffled off to a roomwith 20 or 30 other people who have the same complaint or disease, and thenwatching as the doctor discusses the treatment that all of you will receivebefore sending everyone out the door with carbon copy prescriptions? Ofcourse not! Doctors see one patient at a time.

Responsibility = respectPage 24Most of our students at the Met, like most students everywhere, are readyto take responsibility for their own learning, are eager to be treated withrespect, and have a lot to say about what they think should be the real goalsof education.


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Force-feeding doesnt foster respectPage 75Truly personalized learning requires reorganizing schools to start with thestudent, not the subjects or classes. where every student has a completelydifferent curriculum based on who he or she is right now and who he or shewants to become.

There cannot be a uniform curriculum for every student in the country orfor every student in a single classroom. Force-feeding kids a rigidly definedbody of knowledge is in total opposition to what we know about learning.Everything I know about kids tells me that there is no content thatsright for every kid. Photosynthesis or iambic pentameter may be veryimportant to you, but they arent to me, at least not right now.

Respect toward the communityPage 76The school must work hard at creating an environment that respects theindividual but at the same time expects him or her to be a part of the

community and respectful of it, too. The United States struggle withthis as a nation and we struggle with it every day at the Met. We recognizethat its a much more important goal than practicing for standardized tests.

Respect Teachers, too.Page 77Sending teachers to teaming workshops or bringing in experts to lecture onadolescent development is good. But in practice, it is another example ofan inadequate, one-size-fits-all approach. We must begin to think ofteachers as learners, too, and approach their learning needs one at a time.School must be a growing place for everyone.

Respect ParentsPage 78-79All students educational programs should be designed by the people whoknow them best: their parents, teachers, and themselves. Listen to theparents when they say this is what gets my kid excited about learning;my kids had only one good year at school and this is why. Its aboutrespecting the parent in the same way you have to respect the kid,


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who even those hes only 15, really does have an idea about who he is andwhat he needs.

Why not focus on skills more than on information?Page 80In this age of computers and technology, the amount of information outthere increases every second and teaching a limited body of knowledge is nolonger as practical as it once was. Motivating students to want knowledgeand teaching the skills they need to get knowledge have become so muchmore important. Why cant we understand that it is better to teachstudents the skills they will need to find information themselves than it is tojust hand them a list of facts (or presidents or elements) to memorize?

Democracy means respectPage 87The kids rewrote all the schools rules. Every kid was involved. Kids wantpretty much the same things we adults want: no fighting, no drugs, respect

each other, respect the school, and so on. I guarantee if you let the kidswrite the rules (and ask them to keep them clear and simple), the kids will beumpteen times more likely to follow them because they are their rules. This,of course, also relates to treating kids with respect and dignity.

How do you get them to study?Page 98When we are interested in what we are learning, no one has to force us tokeep learning. We just do. When a kid has her own learning goals in mind,

nothing can really stop her from pursuing them, not even peer pressure. Iremember coming to school one day and finding out it was National BunkDay. One of our students told me some friends from another school triedto get her to bunk (skip school) with them. I asked her why she hadnt.She replied, Why would I bunk? I have work to do. It was her work, andshe wasnt going to miss a minute of it.

Before looking at the last chapter, please page through theAppendices. Ive placed photos on pages that are particularly worthtwo moments of your attention.


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Appendices

To keep the story flowing, I left out significant chunks of the DATAsuccess story.

1. The data behind the swift change in results from Year 1 toYear 2 (the material in the first chapter came from this list)

2. The computer program used in the curriculum calledOdyssey

3. The extended quotes from the book by Dennis Littky. Whilethe influence of Littky was minor in year two (I hadintroduced the small school drum beat only after the majorimprovements were made), Littkys work gave me thevocabulary to describe what had taken place. The appendixcontains additional readings that could be introduced to

parents, staff and students in the weekly newsletters and inposters that could be posted through the school.

4. Jim DiSebastian gave an extended presentation that wasincluded in A Principals Perspective, a short DVD aboutsmall schools.

5. The Shoe an example of an integrated lesson, transcribedfrom a video recorded in November 2005 at the Met Center.

6. A description of learning by Alison Gopnik.7. A handout about charter schools.

Appendix 1The Data behind DATAs success

A presentation by Jim DiSebastianSupplied to me by Ron Renna

Downtown Academy of Technology and ArtsGoing from an F to an A

#2 in the state for largest gains in a middle school!!


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Principal, James E. DiSebastianAssistant Principal, David JettSchool of ArtFull time Art classes for all studentsDedicated Art roomStudents Art work featured in prominent local Art Gallery, FAUand the KC Wright Building

DATA took home all the top awards given at the 2006 ScholasticArt & Writing AwardsAnnual school trip to ItalySchool of Technology

Assigned student computer usage daily

Computer curriculum in 85% of subject areas

Dedicated Computer Lab

Computers in every classroom

Filtered/monitored high speed internet access

Informative up-to-date school web site

http://www.downtownacademy.org

School of Downtown

One aspect of our mission (included in our charter): To serve theDowntown area of Fort Lauderdale

DATA takes advantage of what Downtown has to offer.Frequent walks to:- Museums- The Main Library

- The Performing Arts Center, for shows- Huizinga Park or The Esplanade for PE

Community involvement and participationSchool of Choice

Extra math help

Reading coach

Tutoring

FCAT Prep


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Programs personalizedto students needsAfter School

Science Help

Math Help

Homework Help

Writing

Student Council

After School EnrichmentProgram

Drama

YearbookDATA StudentsSchool of the Future

Overcame our F ratingand went up to an A for2005-2006 *in one year*

DATA to maintain the A rating for 2006 and beyond

60% Title 1 students

School rated #2 in the state for student achievement improvementout of 2,854 public and charter schools

Governor's AwardSchool of the Future (cont)

Attained Federal Annual Yearly Progress (AYP)

Continuing with our programs and success. Students, Parents,Faculty, and Board would like to see our small school expand to amore accommodating site.

Accountability report first year

2004-2005 School year

Our first year in operation


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F grade

80% of students met AYP criteria


Title I school


*A= 410 points, B=380-409, C= 320 to 379, D= 280 to 319, F= less

than 280

Scores

Reading


44% of students making a years worth of progress in reading

43% of struggling students making a years worth of progress inreading

AYP: BLACK, ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGEDstudents in this school need improvement in ReadingScores

Math26% of students at or above grade level31% of students making a years worth of progress in mathAYP: BLACK, ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED

students in this school need improvement in Reading

The PlanHired a part time reading coach

Hired a full time and part time math coach

Staff meeting EVERY Friday

D.E.A.R. time- 30 minutes EVERYDAY

Weekly mini-lesson developed for all staff to use in EVERYclassroom EVERYDAY

Introduced IMAC curriculum to students

Frequent testing


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Two English classes a day (Language Arts and Reading)

Evaluating results of testing and adjusting mini-lessons andcurriculum as needed

Developed discipline plan

Accountability report second year

2005-2006 School year

Our second year in operation

A grade

100% of students met AYP criteria


Title I school


*A= 410 points, B=380-409, C= 320 to 379, D= 280 to 319, F= lessthan 280

Scores

Reading


75% of students making a years worth of progress in reading

75% of struggling students making a years worth of progress inreading

AYP: All subgroups met this criteria

Scores

Math

56% of students at or above grade level

71% of students making a years worth of progress in math

AYP: All subgroups met this criteria

ComparisonYear one

Reading


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41% at or above level44% learning gains

Math26% at or above level31% learning gains

Writing86% at or above level

Year twoReading64% at or above level75%learninggains

Math56% at orabove level71%learninggains

Writing90% at orabove level


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Appendix 2Odyssey

The school selected a computer program to present information tostudents on monitors. The positives included connections to the

Internet (to amplify explanations for some segments of the lessons),short videos to explain sections, the option to print each lesson andgive the segments to students to study at home.

The negatives: the vocabulary sometimes included words most highschool kids dont use (example: biomes). Some questions had twoanswers that were both correct. Some questions depended on theability to quickly scroll up and look for the answer. The skill wasnot testing the students attention span and patience. The methodfor many students was simply find the information, drop it in theblank, move on without connecting the information to theirlearning.


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Another negative: Some students asked for a chance to redo asection; it was cumbersome to reset the program and allow studentsto review and redo their answers.

Much of the material in the Odyssey program was presented in asmall type font that stretched across the screen. Two columns wouldhave been easier to read or one narrow column. More photos,

please.

We spent so muchtime directing kids touse the program,many of us forgot totake a moment anddescribe where thename of the programcame from. Nearlythree thousand yearsago, Odysseus madea long voyage with

many obstacles. In the rush to get the students on Oddysee, (wecounted at least five ways that students have misspelled the name),we missed an opportunity to spark the imaginations and makeconnections.

We put too much emphasis in the grading system on Odyssey,giving it 50% of the grade point average in the first grading period.We had some kids who did C classwork, but they were getting Fs in

Odyssey, so they were failing several classes.

The emphasis shifted from 50/50 classwork to Odyssey to giving amajority of the focus on classwork, tests and homework.

ADVICE: put up more signs showing how to spell the word.Oddysee, Odisee, Addisy, Oddissy were some of the ways thatstudents spelled the word. So call it Roadways or Pathways orHarambee (lets all pull together).

20/20 Hindsight:


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1) Use a computer for some of the classwork2) Make sure the program can be printed out and studied at

home3) Better: put the pages on CD, since its easier to print the

pages at home or read the pages on a computer. Rather thanrely on teachers to provide the review pages, the studentscould be given the material on CD and encouraged to

review at home.


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Appendix 3Littkys book, The Big Picture:Education is Everybodys Business

Here are some more quotes from Littkys book.

How important is desire in learning?Page 5The current push for one test that every kid has to pass in order to move tothe next grade or graduate makes the whole situation even sadder. Withtheir focus on end results, too many schools and education policymakersforget how much the process influences how a kid takes in knowledge andthen uses it. Too many forget how intrinsic motivation and desireare to learning. So much of our entire approach to education in the USA

cheats kids out of the chance to become lifelong learners.

(In other words, we dontrespect students enough togive them the chance tobecome lifelong learners.Because Littky used theword intrinsic, that entiresentence was skipped overby some readers andignored by most.)

Focus on applying informationpage 5I care more that a student is excited to go deeper in her exploration of thehistory of women in her native country than I do about the students abilityto answer every question on a standardized U.S. history test. I care waymore about helping kids l

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