El Article - February 2015 - Climate

February 2015 | Volume 72 | Number 5
Improving Schools: What Works? Pages 56-59
Creating a Climate for Achievement

Deborah D. Brennan
To turn around achievement at this Title I school, teachers collaborated to enhance

both academic and social-emotional learning.
Four years ago, I was the first principal of a new Title I school in Round Rock, Texas. My excitement at
this opportunity was tempered when I studied the assessment results for the incoming students.
Nearly 300 of the approximately 850 students entering Robert P. Hernandez Middle School had failed
the state assessment in reading. Even more had failed in math.
Clearly, the reality for our student population didn't resemble that of the traditional Response to
Intervention pyramid, in which 7585 percent of a school's students flourish with Tier 1 instruction
(the instruction and preventive strategies all students receive). We needed to immediately strengthen
our Tier 1 instruction while providing Tier 2 helpacademic intervention and supportsfor a large
group, a tall order in itself.
I realized, however, that it wasn't only academic support Hernandez students needed to thrive; they
also needed social-emotional skills that would enable them to learn. Many students who'd been
forced to transfer to Hernandez were upset at the loss of friends. Our first year, behavior problems
threatened to derail plans for improved instruction. Fights in the girls' bathroom broke toilets and
sinks, graffiti tagged the school, and groups wore certain colors to show allegiance with gangs. Student
divisions often appeared to be based on race.
The first order of the day for tackling both academic and behavioral challenges was to collaborate to
strengthen our instruction and relationships within the school.
Strengthening Our Academics

Staff development was a big part of innovating instruction in the first two years of the school. Our staff
studied Robert Marzano's Art and Science of Teaching (ASCD, 2007) and John Hattie's Visible
Learning (Routledge, 2008) and chose to try these high-yield strategies: clearly articulated learning
goals aligned with our state's standards, formative assessment, tracking of student learning, and
targeted interventions on the basis of student data. I broke down the research into three steps toward
improving academics:
1. Settingand SharingLearning Goals

We needed to set learning goals together, to help our instruction match the thinking level the
standards required. So our school schedule maximized planning time for course-alike teachers.
Teachers met weekly as subject-matter departments (grades 68) and daily as content-alike teams
during one of their planning periods.
In these meetings, teachers discussed the kind of student work Creating a Climate Achievement for
they'd accept as evidence of mastery. They planned units to ensure that instruction included all
standards, was aligned across grades, and would lead to mastery of each standard at the right level of
rigor. An instructional coach attended planning meetings and guided this work.
Teachers designed graphic organizers of unit standards to create a map of the intended
learning. Each classroom teacher posted these organizers (plus daily learning targets) and referred to
them during instruction. They discussed with students how classroom-learning activities supported
each goal, emphasizing the relevance and real-world connection of the learning.
2. Creating Assessments and Tracking Learning

As part of creating common summative assessments, teachers discussed how to assess each standard
in a way that would yield reliable data about learning. They asked questions like, Is there sufficient
evidence that a standard has been mastered? Does the test question match the rigor of the
standard?1 School-wide, we talked about formative assessment. I provided resources for such
assessment, like clickers, and teachers began checking for understanding often to catch students
before they failed a unit test.
After each teacher-created summative assessment and district-created benchmark test, we
disaggregated assessment results by student subpopulations and by the standard assessed. Doing this
after teacher created tests was especially powerful. Teachers together analyzed results, reflected on
their instruction, and improved it on the basis of what assessment data showed.
We also helped students track their own progress. As more departments adopted the graphic unit
organizer, teachers had students use them to track their individual formative and summative
assessment results. In science classes, students tracked their own progress in mastering standards by
tracking scores on each assessment in their class notebook.
3. Intervening Early
Hernandez students weren't allowed to fail. We committed to filling students' learning gaps rather
than moving through the curriculum and leaving students behind. Although teachers weren't required
to reteach and retest content or standards that a group of learners had missed, doing so became the
norm. Re-teaching happened through before- and after-school tutorials, with all our dedicated
teachers pitching in. Tutorials focused on particular standards. Students who hadn't demonstrated
mastery on that standard were strongly urged to attend.
Our science teachers were more intentional. They set up a series of Saturday sessions focused on
standards many students missed. Although these were open to all students, low-scoring students were
specifically invited. As word spread about the effectiveness of this intervention, social studies and
math teachers adopted the practice.
Resultsand Looking for Reasons

By the end of our third year using these practices, Hernandez students showed small gains in their
passing rates on state assessments in most subjects. They showed passing rates of 82 percent (with 12
percent scoring as advanced) in science and 68 percent (with 11 percent scoring as advanced) in social
studies.
Because all staff had attended the same trainings and collaborated in these processes, we explored
what accounted for the greater success in science and social studies. These teachers had set their
students up for achievement by not only planning collaboratively, but also intentionally creating
routines to implement research-based practices. For instance, science teachers dedicated one
wall in their classrooms to a graphic organizer illustrating what students would study the entire
semester, with each standard broken down into key concepts and vocabulary. As each new unit was
introduced, teachers would unveil a portion of the graphic organizer.
The science and social studies departments also used their planning time in a highly productive way.
Each teacher shared benchmark and other assessment data among the department's teachers at all
grade levels. For example, 8th grade United States history teachers shared with all their social studies
colleagues the fact that their students showed a lack of understanding on standards related to the U. S.
Constitution and Bill of Rights. The 7th grade Texas history teachers promised to build a foundation of
vocabulary and background information about major government documents during lessons on the
Texas constitution.
Strengthening Social-Emotional Learning

At the end of year two, I came to a realization: The students who were failing classes and state
assessments were the same ones who were visiting the office for discipline, were suspended, or were
often absent.
Although as a staff we had talked about relationships, classroom management, and discipline
matrices, we'd left the implementation up to each teacher rather than setting up a school-wide system
for forging relationships and positive discipline. I didn't understand at first how intentional we needed
to be. Emotional connections with students had always been a part of my teaching experience, and I
thought every teacher naturally made connections with students that transcended the classroom. I
soon saw that we needed to become intentional in our approach to the social-emotional side of
education, to work as hard on that aspect of learning as we worked on academics.
Creating a strong social-emotional school culture begins with the people who have the most direct
contact with students: teachers. In year three, we focused on creating a sense of a team with a shared
purpose among our faculty. We looked for small gains in our data and had the teachers behind those
wins share their insights and practices. Each faculty meeting began with staff members thanking one
another for small acts of kindness or sharing good news. Several teachers began to form a greeting line
to shake hands with people as they entered faculty meetings. Our mission and vision statements were
painted on the walls and discussed at meetings. We started to refer to ourselves as the "Bulldog
Nation." Staff members developed pride in their school and one another.
During the summer before our third year, we used grant funds to train teachers in the Capturing
Kids' Hearts2 approach and brought expert Eric Jensen in to discuss the effects of poverty on
children. We created teacher-led committees to build systems that would support a strong campus
culture and empower teachers to solve problems collaboratively.
We revamped our interventions for students who were struggling with behavior and strengthened our
classroom procedures, just as we had done on the academic side of the Response to Intervention
pyramid.
Building Relationships
The first step was guiding teachers to be intentional in relationship building. Most teachers care about
students; it's why they teach. Unfortunately, many students, especially struggling or diverse students,
don't perceive that message from their teachers. Each teacher was required to be in the halls between
periods and encouraged to interact positively with studentsto comment on activities or just greet a
student. Each class created a social contract about how they would treat one another. Besides starting
each day with the pledge, "Today, tomorrow, and always, I will treat others with kindness
and respect," many classes adopted the faculty's practice of sharing "good things."
Our training with Eric Jensen helped teachers understand students' need for social learning and active
engagement. We trained teachers in how to teach students behaviors that support productive group
interaction and encouraged teachers to arrange students' seating in groups.
We began celebrating students who showed positive behavior and attributes. The teacher committee
charged with celebrations created not only staff events, but also reward rallies, attendance
celebrations, and other gatherings for students. We turned our student of the month recognition into a
dog tag celebration, featuring dog tags in different colors for each behavior attribute (principled,
caring, and so on). At a morning reception for parents and students, teachers presented each honored
student with a dog tag in the color matching the attribute that student exemplified.
I instituted a Principal's Advisory Committee. Advisory teachers identified about 20 students in
each grade level whom other students tended to followfor good or bad. I met with these
students, talked about school pride and the behaviors we expected from all students, and empowered
them to together choose activities the school should offer as options for all students. These students
led their advisory classes toward meeting high behavior expectations.
Grading for Hope

Hernandez teachers wanted to ensure that grades supported student learning. Our belief was that all
students must learnand that some might take more time than others. So one of our committees
guided creation of a campus-wide grading policy. This policy allowed students to retest and even turn
in work late without penalty. For the most part, zeros weren't assigned. Homework was referred to as
"home practice" and often wasn't given a grade that would go in the grade-book. When teachers called
parents to alert them to their child's impending low grade, they told parents about extended
opportunities for students to learn the material.
Using Proactive Discipline

Discipline was probably the most challenging area to change. Our training with Eric Jensen gave
teachers some insight, and Capturing Kids' Hearts gave us practices to try. I knew we had to get in
front of the discipline issue, however, so we started tracking which students had problems.
We focused on 6th graders so we could change the history of discipline problems that came with many
of them from elementary school. Each school counselor worked on positive peer interactions with a
group of 6th graders about whom they had discipline concerns. In partnership with a community
group, we began to hold leadership classes, and adults from this group mentored students who
struggled behaviorally.
Our discipline committee created our Friday Academy. Teachers handled day-to-day classroom
discipline, contacted parents, and supervised teacher detentions; if these measures didn't work, they
recommended a student for Friday Academy. With parent permission, these students stayed after
school for two hours on Friday and performed community service, supervised by volunteer teachers
who built relationships with each student during the activities. Only a handful of students who
experienced this intervention were repeat offenders.

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February 2015 | Volume 72 | Number 5

Improving Schools: What Works? Pages 56-59

Creating a Climate for Achievement

To turn around achievement at this Title I school, teachers collaborated to enhance

Strengthening Our Academics

1. Settingand SharingLearning Goals

2. Creating Assessments and Tracking Learning

Resultsand Looking for Reasons

Strengthening Social-Emotional Learning

Grading for Hope

Using Proactive Discipline

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