Eliminating the Achievement Gap In Wiseburn School District
September 26, 2007
by Don Brann, Ed.D. Alumnus and Superintendent
There are numerous components or ingredients that go into the recipe for equity in opportunity and elimination of the achievement gap between groups of students. The following narrative will identify many of the most significant factors that led to both the African American and White clusters at Juan de Anza Elementary School in 2006 achieving identical API scores of 867!
Small Learning
Communities
An environment that provides an
opportunity for each person to be meaningfully involved allows for
relationships to be developed. This enables a sense of
connectedness to flourish. When that occurs, people care and
try their best to contribute to the cause.
At Wiseburn, one of Los Angeles
County’s last small school districts, there are both smalls schools
and small classes. While no two scholls have the same grade
organization (K-2, 3-5, K-5, and 6-8) they are all small in school
size with under 400 pupils. Class sizes seem, on paper, to be
regular, but in practibe they can be half the number through use of
a staggered daily schedule.
Wiseburn prides itself in proclaiming
the availability of a private school education at a public school
price. The creation of small learning communities is a big
strategy in Wiseburn to promote involvement, enable connections,
and build relationships. From that base, nearly everything
flows.
Employees Who Care
When employees care about outcomes,
the fruits of their labor, it makes a huge difference. It
causes them to focus their efforts on goals, such as improvement of
student achievement or equity in opportunity, and to put energy
into the cause. When they look forward to each weekday, the
results are predictable and everyone wins. Can employees who
are passionate about their roles in the workplace make a
difference? They can! And in Wiseburn, they do!
Leadership
It’s all about leadership! The
school principal, supported by everyone, makes it happen, working
with and through people. The ensure that communication flows
positively. The principal charts the course, guides the
effort and celebrates the success with all. Instruction is
“fine tuned” based on feedback or data analysis and is fully
implemented.
Quality Teachers
Wiseburn has exclusively employed
fully credentialed teachers for years. Teachers have always
made a difference in student outcomes. Wiseburn goes to great
lengths to select teachers who best match local needs and to create
a learning environment in which they can grow. At the end of
the day, this is a “people business” and the staff is critical to
the success and progress of the school.
Parent Involvement
Forming a partnership between the
school and the home is powerful. It will pay huge
dividends when teachers and parents unite and cooperate to support
pupil performance. High expectations for student achievement
serve all well. Wiseburn has a relatively high percentage of
families who value education and demonstrate their interest through
various means of participation.
“Whole Child” Focus
Development of productive citizens
necessitates focus on all the needs of the child. The
emotional and physical needs are just as important as the academic
needs. The curriculum needs to be well balanced and time must
be allocated across all areas. The arts, music and physical
education are all important and should be woven into the day.
Interestingly, the allocation of instructional time across all
subject areas will yield better student achievement results that
the exclusion of non-tested areas to capture time for those
assessed. And in the long run, better well rounded citizens
will be the result. Wiseburn had more than two dozen students
complete the Los Angeles Marathon, the Drama Club won numerous
dramatic competition awards, the Robotics Team competed
successfully in the national contests and student artists produced
pieces shown in local museums. At the same time, Wiseburn’s
elementary schools shined in academic results scoring 800 plus
Academic Performance Indexes, 8, 9, and 10 ranks, California
Distinguished School Awards and even a national Middle School To
Watch recognition. The key is to focus on the “whole
child.”
Use of Time
The emphasis on quality over quantity
use of time, is key to providing opportunities for each individual
student to learn. The use of a staggered or split schedule
allows a class of twenty students to be divided into two groups
(early and late birds) of ten, each with an hour to study
reading/language arts under the teacher’s direction. This
creative time management technique allows the teacher to focus on
individual needs. The teacher spends two hours a day, the
first and the last, working with half their class in this key basic
skill area. Twenty to one is good, but ten to one is
great. Wiseburn employs this strategy for kindergarten
and grades one through three. After school the early birds
can go to a tutor or lab and receive a second or double dose of
reading for the day. Students don’t “fall though the
cracks.” No student is ignored.
Continuous Improvement
Following the attitude that there is
always the obligation to take it to the next level, Wiseburn
refuses to “rest on its laurels.” There is always room for
improvement. To remain successful in today’s accountability
atmosphere means progress must be ongoing. Being on the right
path is critical, but so is constant forward movement. A
culture of continuous improvement means that you can always do
better with perfection just beyond the horizon. It’s all
about the journey.
Summary
Is there a way to narrow or
obliterate the achievement gap among different demographic
groups? There is, but it is not a “silver bullet” or easy
quick solution. It takes clarity of mission or purpose;
resources focus on goals and prioritized spending targeted closest
to the learning transaction in the classroom. It requires
teamwork and commitment. Now that is has been done in
Wiseburn, hopefully other schools will also find a way to
accomplish this worthy outcome.
Note: Juan de Anza Elementary School is approximately 80% minority with a 35% free and reduced lunch count. Its API is 848.
***
The Wiseburn School District has been opening children’s minds to knowledge and hearts to learning for more than eleven decades. This small but mighty public school district remains largely unknown today, although its remarkable success promises to change that fact. After 111 years of excellence, the Wiseburn School District community believes that its best years lie ahead.
Eliminating the Achievement Gap In Wiseburn School District
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