(Vol. 1, No. 1 - Winter 1996/1997)

Two schools on the edge of success

By Anne Lewis and Holly Holland

No question -- the recent performance of Jefferson County's middle schools on the KIRIS assessment was disheartening -- some might even say embarrassing. But two JCPS schools -- Highland Middle and Johnson Traditional -- bucked the trend, edging into the "successful" category. Are they doing something different?

The answer appears to be 'yes.' At both schools, principals and teachers have spent the last several years thinking about what it means to set higher standards for student achievement, and what needs to change to help students meet those standards. While both schools admit they have more work to do (neither made it to "reward" status), the efforts so far seem to be paying off.

KIRIS is your friend

While most JCPS middle schools are understandably "KIRIS-shy," Highland principal Robert Knight actually seems to relish the annual ritual of receiving (or bracing for) KIRIS results.
Knight, who was recently selected as a Kentucky Distinguished Educator, is arguably the district's most outspoken proponent of using KIRIS as a "springboard" to move toward standards-based teaching and learning.

The KIRIS results, he says, "are an elegantly displayed structure that allows us to get at some seminal pedagogical issues." Translated into plain English, Knight is saying that the KIRIS assessment digs down deep enough to expose some of the roots of a school's instructional problems.

Unfortunately, Knight says, the reaction to KIRIS reports is often short-sighted. Schools spend too much time trying to pick out specific weaknesses and shoring them up for the next testing cycle, he says. Although the depth and complexity of the testing process is such that principals are not likely to "beat the test" for long, many still look for a quick fix. In the process, the big picture gets lost.

How does Highland extract its "big picture" from KIRIS? According to Knight, he and his staff conduct an intense analysis of the data, break it down into useful "chunks," look at how groups of students performed, and examine test items the whole school had trouble with.

The Highland faculty then identify two to three priorities and make plans to sharpen their skills and knowledge during a summer work session. Last year, for example, the teachers realized their students were not critical readers. As a result, says language arts chair Diane Evans, the faculty decided to use computers to diagnose each student's reading abilities and place a much greater emphasis on reading in all subject areas.

The Highland faculty realize that KIRIS alone does not provide all the information they need to ie-prove student achievement, Knight says. Schools have to create their own internal assessment
programs with information on every student.

"We are holding on to student work until the summer, then we will divide it into two piles -- those who got it and those who didn't," he says. By analyzing the work, "we will be able to fine-tune our teaching."

Johnson Traditional breaks tradition

Although Johnson Middle School carries the "Traditional" label, its approach to teaching and learning appears to be breaking away from some of the teaching traditions that may be retarding progress at other JCPS middle schools.

Johnson principal Linda Miller constantly challenges teachers to think about standards. "If you ask a teacher, `What do you want from students?', often they'll say, `Well, I want them to answer these questions at the end of the chapter,'" she says. Miller will then ask, "But what do you want them to learn?" That, she says, is a much tougher question to answer.

Every Friday, on their own time after school, teachers on the Warrior Team at Johnson Middle School meet to discuss new research, resources, and their analysis of state and national standards. They are trying to answer Miller's question about what students have learned.

One way to do that is by asking students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in a "culminating activity." At the end of a unit on the Stone Age, students in social studies teacher David Puckett's class write the producers of the Hanna-Barbara television shows to point out historical inaccuracies in their cartoons. Math teacher Noel Harris expects her students to create an artistic design based on the mathematical principles they've studying, then compose an essay about the process.

The Warrior Team teachers also expect students to be able to recognize high-quality work, and to help set their own achievement goals. At the end of each school year, every student on the team writes a letter home explaining what they've learned.

Miller does not shrink from deliberately shaping a culture at Johnson in which all teachers accept accountability for student results. She eased out some teachers who were unwilling to do this. "If we're going to change a culture of a school, we've got to do that together," she says. "We've got to expect a culture of excellence for children and for each other."

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