This teacher posted an answer to reader Alice’s question: What do we do after we win? He describes how teachers transformed his school, using their ingenuity, their professional wisdom, and their knowledge of the students. The successful school was torpedoed by the “reform movement.” But the model sounds awfully smart.
He writes:
I began teaching in 1965 at The #1 school in our district that slowly changed as the city moved north. Then I moved to the HS 2 blocks away….27 years of challenging but rewarding teaching. Then moved on to a middle school in the socio economically deprived SE part of town. Kids attendance was poor, behavior was worse. Community wanted the best for the kids but didn’t have the resources and the principal was unresponsive. Then we got a new, inspired, caring, skilled principal who had enough insight to give his faculty an open hand in developing curricula and setting policy During hot summer days, we visited the home of every incoming 7th graders and talked to students and parents alike. Between 1992 and 1995 we reduced the suspension/expulsion rate from the 3rd highest in the district to the 3rd lowest and the attendance rate went from the 3rd worst to the 3rd best in a district of 106 schools and 80,000 students. Disciplines integrated, teachers came to school early so kids could get extra help and they stayed late. If I got to school at 6:20am or 6:30 am I was rarely the first one in the parking lot and the principal was ALWAYS there by 5:30am. Schools need to start at 7:00am and have classes until 7:00pm, staggering the staff depending on who wants to start early or later. It best serves the needs of families and for our parents who often worked 2 or 3 (low paying) jobs, it was a life saver. Art, music and technology played a big part in re-interesting students, but what really changed the atmosphere was our physical education program. For the most part we threw out the old “Athletic Model” of PE and introduced active lifestyles and we got kids out of the neighborhood into the natural world. Skiing and fly fishing units took kids into the mountains and to both local rivers to fish and also to participate in the “Trout in The Classroom Program” which we did with great success. We used heart monitors and taught fencing, golf, dancing and bocci ball and a whole host of new and novel activities. The students response was amazing and heart warming. Kids started coming to school because they WANTED to and their behavior, their intra-personal relations improved in quantum fashion. Even though we were not part of the “academic teams” the classroom teachers welcomed us warmly into the fold and we interacted with them at every opportunity.
Parents became more involved with the school, the community bought into what we were doing in complete fashion. The local paper did 3 separate articles on our physical education department and a couple of others on the school. The faculty liked our program so well that they voted to take one extra student in every class so that our class sizes, traditionally very large, became equivalent with theirs and we were able to provide a wealth of new experiences for our students, but also able to meet and deal with them as individuals, not as a barely manageable group of 55 or 60 middle schoolers.
Schools can be made better, more functional, more interesting, more meaningful if administration at all levels gives its teachers more say in the totality of the operation of the school. Flexibility is one key and novelty is another. The brain loves novelty more than anything else, and our program was able to provide that and the vast improvements that I have mentioned came in surprisingly short time. The positive neuro-physiological and emotional/social, academic effects of art, music, hands on learning and physical education are well documented and should form an integral consideration of any educational system. We weren’t a charter school, just an inner city middle school led by an open minded, dedicated principal who had trust in his teachers, which we proved to be fully justified. Yes it takes more finances to accomplish this, but restructuring is achievable if all parties can agree to compromise and to do see that the end results benefits students in the most effective fashion. An extended school day costs more and often strains facilities, but the benefits are more than worth the cost. Virtually all teachers I’ve talked to support the idea because it can be beneficial to them and to their families. In 1995-96, we were voted the outstanding middle school PE program in California.
The so called “Reform Movement” has stultified education in our schools and it remains to parents and teachers to step forward and insist on change, going back to some of our old practices as is fitting and instituting new concepts based on science and common sense understanding of children and young adults. We cannot acquiesce to the “test and then test again” insanity and we have to stop demeaning our public school teachers if we expect to get the best they have to offer. Educating all children in equal fashion makes sense and has been and must continue to be the goal of a civil society. I only hope that we’re up to the task.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This account sounds very much like “Defies Measurement”. However reformers don’t want to have that message get out as it is empowering. They want control. Control is what it is about. http://www.shineonpro.com/ We have a choice. We can use our resources to liberate or to control. What’s it going to be?
A few themes appear in your post about your school’s transformation were: building relationships with students and their families, educating the whole child through hands on experiences, and providing an extended day to meet the needs of the working poor. You and your colleagues were able to enrich the lives of many students without any need of a standardized test. I wonder what the climate is like in this model school today? Is it on the reformer “hit list?”
Great job and awesome concept: people working in concert make the difference! (Not CCSS, not SBAC, not a state-mandated curriculum.) And when do we experience the most success? When it is safe to take deliberate risks and we support each other in learning how to overcome inevitable setbacks. The circle of safety… so important.
School is now a model in the district for social science/history and has garnered some well deserved attention, but the testing mandates have taken a toll, as you can guess. Our concept lasted for a few years, but downtown stripped us of a staff member because we were “overstaffed”, when we hired my student teacher. That gave us 5 in the dept. which is what all other depts. had. Downtown said we only got four, even though in my meeting with the new Supt. he said staffing was a site based decision….He lied. My student teacher was an inspired, skilled individual who was also a sub-4 min. miler and the kids thought he was superman. After he left (went back home to train for the U.S. Olympic trials, our dept. chair (MS teacher of the year in PE) moved north to be closer to home, Dist. moved in 2 part time men and then forced my other teaching partner out (to science) so he left for another school. The two part timers were very difficult to work with and didn’t belong in middle school (which they freely admitted). The two new women were excellent and we continued to do good works, instituting a flexible “choose your activity” system for about 2/3 of the year. I developed a unit in Plyometric exercise for Middle School PE and our kids absolutely loved it, but teaching it for 7 years (also at clinics/conferences) took a toll on my aging body (Have had 7 surgeries on ankle, knees, elbows, shoulders), so I retired at 59 1/2. Did some advising/consulting (without pay) for the district and held a couple of positions for our state professional organization, so I’m keeping my finger in the pie. Lisa, after the original staff (which included my wife) left, I became the annoying person in charge and got called on the carpet a couple of times for not following the “Chain of Command.” You have to do what’s right for the kids and for the school and for you colleagues. I didn’t get all that I asked for, but they learned to come and talk to me first before tinkering with my department. Of course I had age and more than 33 years of teaching on my side, at that point.
It is these stories of schools that work that need to be gathered in one place. A menu approach of variety that others can look to for ideas. Not re-inventing the wheel if that is not your thing, but…..there are these wonderful programs developed by very dedicated and hard-working teachers and principals and other education leaders, available for others to emulate. It would be great if students who participated in this innovative approach could be surveyed to find how they are doing. It isn’t going to be “proof” but it can point to what matters. There are so many excellent teachers out there who have created amazing programs where students succeed. This is the kind of work reformers would be better supporting. I would urge Mr. Herzog to be sure he has documented this approach clearly in writing if he has not already. Congratulations and appreciation for your hard work and enthusiasm and dedication to your lucky students. This is what inspires learning, hard work and success.
I am thrilled that my questions have been noticed amongst the many hundreds that are posted on this site. Though for clarification, my questions weren’t actually about what to do after we win. I want an action plan for right now. With all that is being lost during this dark time in public education’s history, I don’t believe there will be some big win.
Idealistic me wants to try moving forward towards small successes though.
How are schools like Bronx Science and Music and Art and Hunter doing in NYC? Have they been overrun by all the same nonsense? Why don’t we hear talk about Magnet schools anymore? (or do we and I just haven’t?) I’m trying to think of ways to move forward, through or around the bulldozer that is “ed reform.” I’m trying to find out what’s working out there. If there is anything working out there that we can realistically organize to replicate? It’s a big, complex system across 50 states, but surely there must be positive things we can pursue.
I like the sound of this school. Like the reformers, I used to want all kids to perform challenging academic work. I thought KIPP was great. But experience has taught me that many kids lack the foundations to be KIPPsters. With these struggling students, schools need to be creative and flexible. The first order of business is to make kids buy into school. If this means relaxing the academics, so be it. Policy makers’ rigid focus on academics, while understandable, is misguided. In an ideal world, yes, every kid would be writing papers on Tolstoy and doing calculus. But demanding that schools elicit such feats from all kids is backfiring. The dry academic regime is further alienating kids who already struggled with school. In the end they will learn less than if schools were allowed to do stuff like the fly-fishing excursions described in this piece (kind of like how austerity is driving indebted countries even deeper into debt: sometimes the intuitive response is wrong). It’s ironic that the reformers who laud charter schools for their flexibility also laud the “accountability” regimes that strait-jacket schools more tightly than any downtown bureaucracy every did. I cannot imagine many public school principals doing what this school did give the Damocles sword hanging over their heads.
cx: “bureaucracy EVER did” and “did GIVEN the Damocles…”
This is a wonderful story. I think it might also be a much needed ‘wake up’ call to those who teach ‘academic’ subjects and demean ‘phys-ed’.
I say that as someone who has degrees in Astronomy and Physics, and certification in just about every science and math in the book (although only taught physical sciences and math, and never Chemistry because I just didn’t like it [and that message would have been clear to those always-perceptive teenagers]. Odd, though, that I taught part of a Biochemistry course to Medical students, but that’s way off track). So, you see, I was as ‘academic’ as you can get.
But, I also not only participated in varsity sports in High School and College, but coached whenever I had the chance. I even created ‘teams’ when there were none. You see, I learned so much from my experience that I wanted to pass it along, as well.
I coached swimming, tennis, baseball and softball. Even though the first two are considered ‘individual sports’, we ALWAYS stressed a team approach, working together as a group to help out each other. We had fun, and the kids learned a lot about both themselves and society. And, we very often found ourselves in hot competition for one State Championship or another.
Teaching kids to compete with one another simply demoralizes them (all but one). Teaching them to work together and help each other, whether on the ‘field of play’ or in a science class lab group, or a math ‘study group’, creates a rising tide that floats all boats.
But, to me, the ‘individual sports’, swimming, track.., offer the most opportunity to teach.
All kids learn ‘success’. As they mature, they get stronger and gain more coordination. They can see that and revel in their personal improvement and, as a result, become more confident and more likely to make a mark (even reach to apex and become a teacher!). They also learn that a little concentrated effort can help.
The current climate seems to want to teach kids that they are ‘losers’. I simply can’t understand that, unless those bullies pulling the strings get a kick out of wiping their feet on doormats. To me, that’s the antithesis of education.
When I first heard about the Charter School concept I was excited. My understanding was that the faculty would be an active partner in the running of a school. The idea that teachers would have their voices heard and that changes could be made based on their experiences was thrilling.
But that is not what happened. In fact the very opposite occurred. Teachers have been treated as if they were robots acting on orders from their “masters”, then becoming scapegoats when the “received instructions” did not get the anticipated results.
Last year in the Buffalo Public Schools, the teachers at several low performing schools were asked to come up with a plan to improve the outcomes. On their own time the faculty worked together to come up with a plan which addressed the daily issues facing their students in crisis. All that work only to have their ideas squashed because the district claimed they could not afford the implementation. The only silver lining was that the Charter Schools which wanted to take control of those buildings were also rejected.
Now newly appointed Superintendent Cash has been given complete control of six schools put into Receivership by the state. The School Board and the Unions have no say in what happens. This drama is yet to be played out, but I will keep you posted.
Needless to say, all the stake holders in the outcome of Cash’s actions are more than concerned. Hopefully he will do the right thing, but there is a fear that his appointment is the beginning of massive privatizing throughout the district.
I will keep you posted.
Reblogged this on Creative Delaware and commented:
Art, music, and PE are the heart of a school. Always have been and always will be.