Entry #20: "Oh, how sweet it is
to rise above it all!"


Teachers and students have left for the summer break. Student desks and other furniture sit out in the hallways as the summer cleaning process has begun. Another year of growth and change has taken place at JMS.

There hasn't been much time to relax and reflect quite yet. I just started teaching as an adjunct professor for the University of Illinois this summer (in addition to being on a 12-month principal contract). The class seems most appropriate: The Principalship.

I think what I've discovered after my first two weeks is that teaching this class is going to provide me with the perfect opportunity to 'relive' the change process that has transpired at Jefferson over these past four years, and especially this past year. By re-examining the personal values that have led to my educational philosophy and subsequently, to a vision of the type of school I wanted Jefferson to become, I believe I can truly absorb and reflect on the accomplishments as well as the continuing concerns that will guide our efforts into the next school year.

When the school year began, we identified four target areas that became the essence of our school improvement plan for 1999-2000. They were:

1) to raise the reading comprehension level of those students reading below grade level (one of every four students, excluding special needs students);

2) to minimize the loss of class instructional time, especially those students sent out of class on discipline referrals for disruptive classroom behavior;

3) to identify a "School of Choice" theme for Jefferson (all three district middle schools will become choice schools in 2001-2002); and,

4) to monitor the implementation of a new block schedule for our eighth grade unified arts courses (our classes had very little heterogeneity due to tracking of band/foreign language students).

We never lost sight of those goals during the year, although we did recognize early on that gathering baseline data this year was going to have to be at the forefront of our efforts in most cases.

Raising Reading Comprehension Levels

This is the area that has required much of our time and efforts this year. We identified about 140 students (non-special education) across all three grade levels and built in an additional 40+minutes of small group reading support instructional time. In most cases, this resulted in almost 90 minutes daily of reading instruction for these students. This required us to rethink how we would work within our existing staffing allocation to provide this additional instructional support time.

These students were pre- and post-tested at three different interval times during the year. Assessments have included Stanford results, the Degrees of Reading Power program, Accelerated Reader, classroom teacher records and surveys, parent surveys, and student surveys, to name several. We are also correlating this data with our discipline and attendance data. Although we do not have this information yet compiled (school has only been out for a couple of weeks), what we do know is that we have a wealth of various types of data to review and use to establish a baseline for our future efforts. This was our objective in this area for this past school year.

Minimizing the Loss of Class Instructional Time.

This, again, was a year to collect data with a new data collection and disaggregation program being implemented across the district. We are able to review all discipline referral data at the end of the month and disaggregate it by teacher, student, type of referral, location of incident, time of incidents, administrative action taken, race/ethnicity, gender, to name various possible sorts. It allows us to look at racial fairness and equity factors as well.

There were a few technical "glitches" with the program, and there has been training for all administrators to be able to manipulate the data with the various filters and pivot tables that allow for the analysis. We haven't reduced our discipline referrals this year as much as we would have preferred because we have been learning to use the new program in order to do the analysis. However, we are "on to something" extremely significant, and we will make great strides forward in this area during the 2000-2001 school year.

I did, personally, however, take responsibility for reviewing all relevant data for any student who was suspended this year, including a close review of the student's cumulative file and all previous interventions and supports attempted in prior years and during earlier schooling and at different buildings. I was also very interested in determining whether I could identify any type of correlation between these students' behavior patterns and their academic success or lack of success, including any apparent relationship that could exist with poor reading skills.

The data proved to be very enlightening. Although the overall total number of suspensions for the year did not deviate to any significant degree (+1 over) from last year, we did reduce the number of "physical confrontation" incidents by approximately one-third from the prior year. What caught us by surprise was the increase for inappropriate verbal remarks (i.e., profanity) which skyrocketed! In looking at who the students were and other demographic information, it was readily apparent that the "street language" from certain sections of the city found its way into our building in dramatic fashion this past year. We've already initiated dialogue with our local ministers and PTSA for intervention strategies for next year.

Surprisingly, the suspension data also reflected no significant relationship to lack of academic success. In fact, I only identified two students from the 140 students who read below grade level who were also suspended during the year. The majority of the students suspended received mostly passing grades.

The data further reflected a majority of the students were either transfers from another district or state or who were students who had attended multiple elementary schools during their early schooling years. Lack of stability and lack of a common set of school expectations glared out at me as key factors in my analysis. Single parent homes and low socioeconomic indicators also were very common. Again, we now have some good data to help guide us in our planning for beginning to address these concerns more effectively.

A "School of Choice" Theme.

One of our best efforts that involved all of our stakeholders was working through the process of identifying a Choice theme to be implemented commencing in the 2001-2002 school year. It became a sign of better things to come during the school year as I watched how effectively and cooperatively our teachers, support staff, parents, community partners, and students worked together to identify our strengths, review stakeholder survey data, review potential resources, and ultimately choose a theme that most eloquently reflects what our school community does well.

We excel in the area of supports, relationships, and collaboration, so we are focusing on "connections"--connections through a strong core curriculum, through interdisciplinary and integrated curriculum planning and real-work applications, numerous community partnerships for student supports, a unified arts program that is articulated into the core curriculum, an emphasis on building positive adult-student relationships, and a viable, involved PTSA which strengthens our parent involvement efforts. We are still in the preliminary stages for promoting and marketing our theme, but everyone feels good about where our focus will be.

A Block Schedule for Unified Arts to Eliminate Tracking.

A major concern heading into the 1999-2000 school year had been the "look" of our eighth grade unified arts program. Our high-achieving eighth graders were taking full-year band or strings in addition to full-year foreign language. This precluded their taking any other unified arts electives for the year. One result: there were very few if any of our "higher-end" students enrolled in the other unified arts courses. Classes became racially identifiable. Parents of our "gifted" students were also concerned that their children did not have an opportunity to experience any other electives as well.

Bottom line: we had the typical first-year "glitches" (i.e., students forgetting if it was an A or B day). But all in all, the "pilot" has now become a set feature in our master schedule, has provided the heterogeneity and student opportunities we were seeking, and has been well received overall.

Looking to the Future.

Obviously, we aren't exemplary as a school by any means. We have our baggage and our strengths. Our "baby boomer"-dominant staff is quickly approaching retirement age. I reminded our staff at our end-of-the year banquet of the unique challenges that lie ahead for us as a school community, in addition to the typical challenges commonly found within a school improvement plan. Our special challenges include the expectation in many people's minds that a Blue Ribbon school or a national "School to Watch" should be held to a higher standard; the fact that the new staff who will join us in the coming years (already eight for next year) will have no identity with or ownership in what a "School to Watch" or a Blue Ribbon school truly means; and, lastly, the challenge of not letting our 1999-2000 School to Watch or Blue Ribbon designations (as reflected on our main foyer banner or outdoor award sign) be the last visual reminders of our collective efforts to provide a quality education for students when people walk onto our campus five, ten, or more years from now.

Despite a $1.6M district financial cutback and loss of teaching staff (Jefferson included) for next year, our Jefferson school community has lived through and overcome the very worst of times (see Jefferson background article). This will be nothing insurmountable. This small urban school in a university community amid the cornfields of Illinois, can take great pride in knowing that in the relatively short period of four years, it has been elevated to "flagship status" in our 18-school district, which also includes two high schools.

I hope that my reflections this past school year can renew the hope and spirit of those schools and staffs who may read these diary entries and wonder if things can ever change for the better in their particular situation. I know that many of my staff members, our parents, and the community in general shared the same skepticism. But, oh, how sweet it is to rise above it all! I truly believe the same sense of fulfillment of a job well done awaits each of you. I'd like to hear your stories!

Best wishes for continued success as you work with your young people and school community. It truly does take special people to work "in the middle!"


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