Elevating the Arts
When I became the art teacher, my school's program was operating on a small budget. I contacted organizations that could donate to my classroom and frantically wrote grant proposals. By the second year, I had accumulated several thousand dollars of donations and grants to purchase supplies. My students were then able to work with artist-quality paints and three-dimensional materials.
Then I sought funding for large-scale beautification projects. We held volunteer days on Saturdays and many afternoons after school, working as a community. We repainted every hallway and installed student-created permanent artwork in every corner of the school. We created two outdoor spaces with patios, tables, landscaping, student-created sculptures, and community-painted murals.
Eventually, I became Arts Integration Project Director for my school with the Mississippi Whole Schools Initiative. We began integrating the arts into every classroom. The metamorphosis of the arts at this school has been the most satisfying thing to me. I learned that true cultural change takes both vision and time. This experience has lit a fire for leadership in me. I see what good can be accomplished in our schools, and I want to bring these benefits to as many students as I can.
—Amanda E. Koonlaba, art teacher, Lawhon Elementary School, Tupelo, Mississippi
Making Technology Integration Work
My school purchased more than 200 Chromebooks that teachers could use for instruction. We had the equipment, but what about training, support, and time to play? As the technology coach, I implemented Tech Tuesday, which gave teachers the opportunity to come in before school to learn how to use a specific program. We would spend 20 minutes looking at a tool—discussing how it could be connected to the standards and how it could be implemented in different classrooms. At first, only about three to six teachers showed up. I used my lunch time and free teaching period for more individualized support. Sometimes I would co-teach with a teacher who wanted to try something new.
The original half-dozen participants became the cheerleaders. I learned that with any effective initiative, relationships are at the heart. We now have 20–30 teachers who come regularly on Tuesday morning and who are working to transform teaching and learning. If we can build a growth mindset in our teachers, then we can build a growth mindset in our students.
—Robert Pennington, technology coach, Roton Middle School, Norwalk, Connecticut
Opening Doors in Pakistan
Education in Pakistan is focused on examinations and testing—a rat race for grades and scores. Many students are suffering from rote learning. Teaching is not a highly esteemed profession, and most educators are wrestling to survive. Teachers mostly work in top-down models where collaboration is limited to deciding what to test—or is even verboten.
After spending many years dealing with difficult geopolitical issues, economic crises, and terrorism, people distrust anything new. They are worried about their jobs, so they don't want to experiment. Suggestions for better instructional methods and innovative teaching are not welcomed.
Being selected as the first Pakistani ASCD Emerging Leader gave me the opportunity to set an example of how to get connected with the rest of the world, learn from other educators, and explore new areas. When I returned from the ASCD Leader to Leader conference in 2015, many teachers and administrators asked me about ASCD. Today many of my school's leaders and teachers follow ASCD online posts and share them on social media. Many teachers have started writing. Every passing day we will have many more such educators sharing ideas and striving for educational excellence, not just for grades and scores.
—Umair Qureshi, teacher and teacher trainer, Beaconhouse School System Margalla Campus, Islamabad, Pakistan
Creating a Makerspace
My most satisfying moment as a leader of change was putting lime green paint on the walls of the library. Sounds odd, but this action meant that our three-year journey to create a makerspace for our students had come to fruition.
As our students' ideas grew, so did the space they needed to make their dreams a reality. Our makerspace began as a shelf in my office and evolved to a classroom and then to a sizable space in our school library.
A makerspace carries with it a very different feeling and philosophy in the way students learn. We continue to develop new ways to guarantee experiences for students utilizing available makerspace materials.
The best decision we made was to start small. This buys time to build capacity in all learners: teachers, students, and administrators alike. A makerspace is more than green paint on a wall. It is a true pedagogical shift to a new way of understanding how students construct thinking.
—Laura Ferrell, assistant principal, Oak Lawn-Home Town Middle School, Oak Lawn, Illinois
Improving Teacher Evaluation
Our state adopted a new teacher evaluation model several years ago. After being evaluated for many years on the old model, teachers were anxious about having their performance measured in a different way.
My administrative team and I led teacher groups in discussing each of the new teacher effectiveness standards. The staff discussed and recorded behaviors and activities that would exhibit each standard. In addition, before each round of observations, I conducted brief, informal walkthroughs and sent out an e-mail titled "I Spy Best Practices," highlighting a best practice found in each classroom during the walkthrough.
Even after this preparation, as we begin the work of classroom observations and providing feedback, teachers were uncomfortable being held to new standards. Teachers who were previously rated distinguished or accomplished were now rated only proficient or even developing. They could not understand why what they had always done was not yielding the same score. Again, we reviewed the standards in our conversations and then provided modeling. One teacher came to me and shared that although she had received top ratings the entire time she had been in the school, no one had ever come to her classroom to observe. She thanked me and said, "I understand. You want me to be a good teacher."
—N. Chaunté Garrett, director of accountability, Rowan-Salisbury School System, Salisbury, North Carolina
Aligning the Language Arts Curriculum
For several years, our school had focused on mathematics and technology, going 1:1 with Mac- Books and iPads in each room. Unfortunately, this focus meant that English language arts had been neglected, and our ELA grades, curriculum, assessments, and daily activities were not aligned well to standards, learning outcomes, or one another. Teachers and students were frustrated. Parents questioned why students who earned good grades in their language arts courses did not perform well on formal tests.
This year I've worked closely with our reading coach and grade-level team to strengthen the English language arts curriculum. Two teachers and I pulled together resources for teaching and testing, created lessons, and provided teachers with background information and materials to unpack standards. As instruction became more aligned with high-level standards, a new challenge arose: some students' grades fell because they were more in line with standards, and parents became upset. To combat this, I created questioning strategies for each week's focus standard for parents to use at home. Then I created child-friendly "check yourself" rubrics that matched the parent-friendly aligned rubrics.
Both teachers and the administration recognized that the current materials were ineffective and gave their time and effort to realignment. Teachers passionately embraced the need to change and were eager to try new approaches.
—Meghan Everette, 3rd grade teacher, Daphne Elementary School, Daphne, Alabama
Addressing Each Student's Literacy Needs
The Sandy Grade School staff is working hard to close the achievement gap. A few years ago, we were ranked a Level 2 by the Oregon Department of Education because of below-average growth; our achievement scores in math and reading ranked in the bottom 5–15 percent in the state. As a staff, we knew we could do better.
During our first year together, we broke down the standards in both reading and math so that all staff fully understood the skills and concepts each grade was to master. We also had some hard conversations about how to support all learners, specifically the large majority of students who were performing below grade level. After researching best practices and conducting model school site visits, we devised a schedule that allows for math and reading intervention and enrichment for all students. Each student participates in a fluid, flexible, small reading group that targets his or her specific needs.
At the end of our first year of working to refine our systems and supports, student achievement went from the bottom of the state to the middle. This was a huge jump! This year, we've continued to tweak and modify our systems and supports.
—Rachael George, principal, Sandy Grade School, Sandy, Oregon
Designing Teacher- Centered Professional Development
My most satisfying experience as a leader of change was co-constructing a literacy professional development course for the elementary and early childhood teachers in our district. This was the first districtwide course that all teachers participated in, and I was excited about the opportunity. I worked with our literacy coaches to implement a hybrid model of professional development that included opportunities for teachers to collaborate in PLCs, to engage in reflective practice by reading and responding to blog posts, and to directly apply what they are learning through coaching cycles.
I learned that advocating an open-door policy and being willing to participate myself as a learner helped me to see what teachers needed—more time, more options, and strategic feedback that not only promoted teacher engagement, but also fostered a sense of collegiality.
—Dawn J. Mitchell, instructional services, Spartanburg School District 6, South Carolina
Turning a School Around
Six years ago, Halstead Academy was the lowest-performing school in Baltimore County, which boasts 110 elementary schools. Some high-quality instruction was taking place, but the majority of classrooms could be categorized as ineffective. The toxic culture could be felt the minute you walked into the building.
Our first priority became helping teachers understand the role they play in student achievement. Every data meeting had been turning into a blame game, with the blame placed on the students. We began to transform those meetings into discussions that sought solutions to our achievement gaps. Teachers began to realize the direct correlation between their professional growth and student achievement. Our challenge now is to continue the forward momentum so that we don't become complacent.
My biggest surprise was how quickly the turnaround occurred. We're so proud of the fact that we are now recognized as a national model for student-centered learning, and I can say with certainty that I would be honored for my own daughters to attend Halstead Academy.
—Jennifer Mullenax, principal, Halstead Academy, Baltimore, Maryland
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