Emerging Models

EMERGING MODELS V ISIONARY

PROTOTYPES FOR

PUBLIC SCHOOL CHANGE

THE

HOUSTON A+

CHALLENGE

Š 2006 Houston A+ Challenge (formerly The Houston Annenberg Challenge) All rights reserved.

Permission is granted to photocopy any portion of this report for use in teacher professional development and training.

Contents

PROLOGUE

3

INTRODUCTION

4

DUAL LANGUAGE MODEL

6

FINE ARTS MODEL

9

EARLY LITERACY MODEL

12

OUTDOOR LEARNING CENTER MODEL

15

TRANSFORMING HIGH SCHOOL MODEL

18

CHARTER SCHOOL MODEL

20

AFTER-SCHOOL MODEL

21

EDUCATIONAL SERVICES MANAGER MODEL

22

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MODEL

23

ALTERNATIVE SCHEDULE MODEL

25

CRITICAL FRIENDS MODEL

27

PORTFOLIO MODEL

29

RESULTS

31

SCHOOL CONTACT INFORMATION

34

Prologue The following pages depict the successful work of the schools funded by The Houston Annenberg Challenge from 1997-2002 as part of the national Annenberg Challenge. The schools’ work was replicated both locally and nationally as educators put in place new ways of thinking about and organizing classroom instruction and professional development.

The work showcased in this report was funded principally through grants from The Annenberg Foundation, The Brown Foundation and Houston Endowment.

We are grateful for their generous support, as well as the contributions of all of our funders.

We are also grateful for the superb leadership we have enjoyed, from Linda Clarke, executive director from 1999-2004, to Michele Pola, Ed.D., who became executive director in 2004. The Houston Annenberg Challenge became The Houston A+ Challenge in 2003.

The report is dedicated to the memory of Ambassador Walter Annenberg, whose vision of quality public schools for all children guided the work in Houston and the other national Annenberg Challenge sites.

The report is based on summaries submitted each year by the schools to Houston Annenberg Challenge and individual interviews with school personnel.

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Introduction In 1993, Walter Annenberg gave $500 million to the United States and challenged educators to reform the public school system. The Houston metropolitan area was one of 30 sites honored with the philanthropist’s bequest. In 1997, The Houston Annenberg Challenge was established with a two-for-one challenge grant of $20 million to promote an academically rich and purposeful education for children.

From 1997-2002, The Houston Annenberg Challenge raised the required funding match and more. It created the Beacon Schools and Lamplighter Learning Community programs, which were designed to get school reform in the Houston metropolitan area off to a running start. The Houston Annenberg Challenge identified schools with proven records of reform. Beacon Schools, funded beginning in 1997, were already using promising practices that addressed the Annenberg imperatives of personalization, collaboration, and teaching and learning, while Lamplighter Learning Communities, funded beginning in 1999, were typically at earlier stages in the reform process. Grant funds were provided to support these schools as they deepened and expanded their reforms, evaluated their effectiveness, assessed opportunities for replication and reached out to other schools to support networks of reform.

And it worked. As educators learned alongside their students, model programs began to emerge. These models range from reforming the way foreign languages are taught to making fine arts an essential part of the curriculum. They include initiatives for professional development such as restructuring the school day to allow more time for teacher learning, providing training for coaches for Critical Friends Groups and rethinking the role of the assistant principal.

As part of their responsibility, Annenberg Beacon Schools and Lamplighter Learning Communities shared their insights with other schools, not only in Houston, but across the state and country as well. These other schools, in turn, began to use and adapt these models in their own reform efforts.

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During the period from 1997-2002, The Houston Annenberg Challenge supported a wide range of educational reform activities through grants, partnerships, leadership academies and professional development activities. These funds, particularly the Beacon School and Lamplighter Learning Community grants, provided educators with the time and money to work collaboratively and creatively to envision new models of schooling. These paradigm shifts in thinking ushered in new educational strategies, which continue to be copied, adapted and refined. Existing programs were redesigned. New teaching practices were put into place. Schools moved away from the traditional system, where teachers lecture and students memorize, to a new system where instructors study student work to ensure their pupils are learning what they are teaching.

Houston A+ Challenge hopes that this summary of the models that emerged will prove helpful to other educators and the public as they search for solutions to re-energize public schools.

The three imperatives of The Houston A+ Challenge provided the foundation for all reform efforts. These imperatives, developed through a thorough study of successful school restructuring, describe the environment needed for successful learning: 1. Personalization: Create personalized learning environments and organize resources so that teachers can know each child well and use this knowledge to set high academic expectations and shape his/her education to achieve these goals.

2. Collaboration: Break down barriers between teachers, schools, the school district and the community to share knowledge and resources.

3. Teaching and Learning: Build a strong knowledge base and leadership at the school level so that investment in educators will have a realistic hope of increasing student learning.

The models profiled in this document successfully addressed one or more of these imperatives.

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DUAL LANGUAGE MODEL HELMS COMMUNITY LEARNING CENTER “When the tide comes in, all boats rise.”

—Dr. Lee M. Williames, University of St.Thomas “According to extensive research, it takes five to seven years to learn a language,” said Jennifer Day, dual language magnet coordinator at Helms Community Learning Center, a Houston Annenberg Challenge Beacon School. “We highly recommend that parents leave their children in our dual language program through the fifth grade.” Unlike most bilingual or ESL classes, which have a goal of weaning students from their native language by the third or fourth grade, dual language programs like the one at Helms actually encourage bilingualism.

Helms Community Learning Center in the Houston Independent School District is a small neighborhood school located in the Houston Heights. Of its approximately 500 students, 90 percent are Hispanic, and only 40 percent are fluent in English. But with their ongoing UNLIKE MOST BILINGUAL OR ESL partnership with Houston’s University of St. Thomas (UST), support from Shell Oil CLASSES, THE DUAL LANGUAGE Foundation and the efforts of their mostly bilingual staff, Helms has been tremendously PROGRAM AT HELMS ACTUALLY successful in dual language instruction.

ENCOURAGES BILINGUALISM The aim of a dual language program, also known as two-way bilingual immersion, is to make students bilingual and biliterate in English and a second language, usually Spanish, by the fifth grade. The children are taught all subjects in both languages. The ideal dual language class consists of one-third native English speakers, one-third native Spanish speakers and one-third bilingual students. In a typical dual language program in Houston ISD, which starts at the kindergarten level or earlier, students are taught in Spanish about 90 percent of the time with 10 percent of the instruction in English. By the fifth grade, they are being instructed in equal amounts of time in both languages.

Raul Hinojosa, former Helms principal, was very encouraged by test results. “We would start a non-Spanish-speaking child in the program in kindergarten, and in third grade, they were given the TAAS test in Spanish. Not only did they pass it—they blew the doors off!

In 2000, the first year they took it, they scored 96 in math and 86 in reading, all in Spanish.”

Dual language programs first surfaced in this country in the early 1960s, and today Japanese, French and Navajo are a few of the languages that are being taught. UST, which began partnering with Helms in 1995, has a substantial program that trains teachers in dual language strategies and certifies them in bilingual education. In fact, roughly 25 percent of the teachers at Helms started as student teachers from UST.

BACKGROUND

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Dr. Lee J. Williames, Vice President for Academic Affairs-Emeritus at UST, was involved from the very beginning. “In the mid-nineties, Dr. Joseph M. McFadden, now PresidentEmeritus, became interested in further involving UST with young people in the community,” Dr. Williames said. “He met with then-Houston ISD superintendent Rod Paige, who suggested that we get involved with school reform in a public school.

We, in turn, proposed to Shell Oil Company that they partner with us in reform in a neighborhood school.”

“We decided on an elementary school,” Dr. Williames remembered, “because if you get it right there, you don’t have to spend time remediating later. We wanted a neighborhood school rather than one where students were being bused in. And we wanted a program that was sustainable and replicable.”

"WE WOULD

START A NON-SPANISH-

Because of high dropout rates among Hispanic SPEAKING CHILD IN KINDERGARTEN AND students, they chose to GIVE THEM THE TAAS TEST IN SPANISH IN partner with Helms, a school in a proud, THE THIRD GRADE. NOT ONLY DID THEY predominantly Hispanic neighborhood. A steering PASS IT—THEY BLEW THE DOORS OFF!" committee of 27 people —RAUL HINOJOSA was formed, including Dr. Ellen de Kanter and Dr. FORMER PRINCIPAL, HELMS Higinia Torres-Karna, two UST professors nationally known for their work in bilingual education, ESL and dual language. They wrote a grant to the Shell Oil Foundation and received $500,000 for a five-year period that began in 1995. An extension and additional funds were granted for 2001-2002.

The Houston Annenberg Challenge Beacon School grant funded the purchase of instructional material and professional development. “Since we buy twice as many books as most schools,” Ms. Day said, “we used Houston Annenberg funds for those. We also used that grant to send members of the faculty to the National Two-Way Bilingualism Immersion Program’s annual summer conference.” In the fall of 2000 the school received a $1.5 million Title VII grant to expand the program at Helms and extend it into Hamilton Middle School.

The program continued to expand, and by 2001 a pre-K through fifth grade dual language strand completely replaced the earlier bilingual program. At that time approximately two-thirds of Helms students were in the program, which started with dual languages classes in pre-K, taught half in Spanish and half in English.

HOW IT WORKS

“They are taught in Spanish in the morning, then they rotate to a different teacher for English in the afternoon,” said Ms. Day. “This prepares them for kindergarten, where 90 percent of the class is taught in Spanish and 10 percent in English.” Doesn’t this leave them deficient in English? “No, because the kids have English around them all the time—

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in the playground, on TV, etc.,” said Day. “The foundation in academic Spanish is important. It’s not difficult for the English speakers. They are so young that they have no trouble at all. Some models maintain 5050 throughout, but we have found that in that model it takes the children longer to develop literacy in both languages, so we have intensive Spanish in the beginning. The third grade is the critical year—that’s when they are reading and writing in English—but they’re ready by then, since they have their foundation in Spanish and they are already fluent English speakers.”

From its beginning in 1996, the Helms Dual Language Program continued to grow to become a complete strand from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. “By the time they are ready to move to Hamilton Middle School, the program will be in place to receive them.” said Ms. Day. The plan was to extend the program, first to Hamilton and then on to Reagan High School.

“What started as involvement in one school became a commitment to innovation in a feeder-pattern program,” said Dr. Williames. “When the tide comes in, all boats rise.”

Shell Oil Company supported the program for many reasons, including the fact that as an international corporation, they appreciate the advantages of bilingualism in the field of commerce.

“Dual language is one of the truest forms of bilingual education we have,” said Ms. Day. “Latino kids are able to keep their first language and maintain it at an academic level throughout their education. In other programs, they were pushed into English early and didn’t learn to read and write Spanish until high school. This lets Latino students recapture their heritage language.

Having English and Spanish speakers integrated into the same classroom creates an atmosphere where both languages are valued and supported. The result is amazing. Pre-K and kindergarten students are like sponges. If you listen to them in the playground, you can’t tell who is the native English speaker and who is the native Spanish speaker.”

WHY DUAL LANGUAGE?

Interest in dual language programs has continued to grow, especially in the Houston area, where the Hispanic population grew from 22 percent in 1990 to 37 percent in 2000. In 1997, Helms was serving 44 students in the program; in 2005 the number was almost 400. Anderson, Dechaumes, Emerson, Herod, Herrera, Northline, Rodriguez, Southmayd, Twain and Wharton are among the other schools in Houston with dual language programs.

REPLICATION

8

FINE ARTS MODEL BETHUNE ACADEMY

“Bethune Academy is the best art-centered school in the state of Texas.”

—Texas Commission on the Arts How does one go about incorporating the fine arts into each and every aspect of the curriculum? The staff at Bethune Academy, a Houston Annenberg Challenge Beacon School, managed it with great success during the 1997-2002 grant period.

At this landmark magnet school in Aldine ISD, which served fourth and fifth graders during the grant period, the arts were not electives, but, rather, an integral part of the curriculum.

Art was used to teach all the core subjects—mathematics, science, reading, history and technology. Visual and performing arts specialists worked closely with classroom teachers to devise lesson plans and curriculum at a school where students were taught to be creative problem-solvers.

“The curriculum at Bethune was more professional than elementary,” said Denise Gaudiano, who was the Learning Through Art coordinator. Ms. Gaudiano taught art to eighth graders for 11 years at another school before being hired by James M. and Linda Clarke, who designed and launched Bethune. Mr. Clarke was the fine arts coordinator for the Aldine School District, and Mrs. Clarke was the first principal of Bethune in its incarnation as a magnet school. (Mrs. Clarke later served as executive director of Houston A+ Challenge.) “Between Linda wanting to make the arts an integral part of the curriculum and James knowing all the art teachers in the district, they put together a great team of teachers,” said Ms. Gaudiano. “But we had no idea at first how we were going to do it. There were very few models to go by.”

Ms. Gaudiano began with the Learning Through Art program designed by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, which included lesson plans based on works of art in the collection. She subsequently added to the program. “I spent a lot of time searching for and creating lesson plans that use art,” said Ms. Gaudiano. “I had acquired a large collection of art prints that I constantly lent to the teachers.” She co-taught with teachers on a rotating schedule.

Bethune teachers observed firsthand what national standardized tests have reflected: students of the arts regularly outperform children with no art background. Even though many of Bethune’s students were economically disadvantaged––often a formula for failure— the integrated art program raised student scores on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS). Consequently, Bethune’s unique program was very attractive––attendance was among the highest in the district, and there was always a waiting list to enroll.

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Children rotated among the same three teachers in core subjects all year so that the teachers could get to know them and their parents very well. In addition to the core subjects, fourth graders took visual literacy, modern dance, drama, choir and piano in nine-day rotations. In fifth grade, they selected a major and a minor from among the fine art classes.

Drama was taught in a classic “black box,” complete with a stage and professional lighting. The school gave numerous performances, and students wrote most of the plays. Creative drama was taught in the classrooms daily and students built acting skills such as enunciation, role playing and improvisation. Next door to the drama room was a dance studio lined with floor-to-ceiling mirrors where students would choreograph and practice their own dances before presenting them to live audiences.

DRAMA AND DANCE

The music curriculum included choir, piano, Suzuki violin and cello.

Everyone took piano in fourth grade. There were 15 electric pianos that could be played alone—with headphones so only student and teacher can hear—or as a group. For those who wished to study violin there was a lottery system. The young violinists excelled at their craft and were asked to play for the mayor of Houston and the governor of Texas, among others.

MUSIC

Ms. Gaudiano incorporated music into a math lesson before a field trip to hear the Houston Symphony. “I requested sheet music and an audio tape of one of the songs they would be performing,” she said.

“We then took the notes from the sheet music and created addition and subtraction problems. At the performance, they were really excited when they recognized the song they had been studying.”

“BETHUNE WAS A WE

FUN PLACE.

RARELY HAD ANY SEVERE

DISCIPLINE PROBLEMS.”

—ELAINE WILKINS BETHUNE ACADEMY

In a class called visual literacy, students were taught how one learns to see. “We took them through all the steps necessary to understand how an object exists in space and how to put it down on paper,” said Elaine Wilkins, who taught the class. “The work they produced was amazing.” Art by Bethune students consistently won prizes and was frequently included in traveling shows of student work.

VISUAL ARTS

Students took field trips to the MFAH, University of Houston and Texas Southern University to see works of art and draw from them. “We saw several murals by the late Houston artist John Biggers,” said Ms. Wilkins. “Then we painted a collaborative mural at the school based on his work.”

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In Bethune’s science wing, each classroom was essentially a laboratory. Artists-in-residence assisted teachers with actively engaging students in learning scientific concepts. Art projects included murals of the four types of oil traps and large masks based on desert animals. Students also learned about energy by listening to music and then illustrating the energy of the sounds through color and design.

SCIENCE

“There are countless ways to teach math, reading and writing using art,” said Ms. Gaudiano. “One visiting sculptor taught proportion by having the children create small figures from wire and modeling clay.” Geometry was taught by drawing geometric solids and then creating figures using the same shapes. Ms. Gaudiano taught graphing using art prints: students would graph the artwork in terms of line, color, texture, variety, setting and characters. She also used art to teach reading and writing by having students visually summarize a book they have read.

MATHEMATICS AND LANGUAGE ARTS

Ms. Gaudiano’s pet project was the computer graphics lab, where she co-taught with technology specialist Brad Sveter. “I went to the high school next door to see what they were doing and then replicated it at Bethune,” she said. “The kids made art using software programs.” One display showed manipulated self-portraits much like those of Andy Warhol that the students created using a digital camera and computers.

COMPUTER GRAPHICS

Thanks to efforts by former principal Barbara Trageser and her staff, Bethune’s results attracted the attention of other schools.

There were regular visits from representatives from school districts throughout Texas. Voters in Texarkana passed a bond election in 2000 to replicate the Bethune model in their schools, and educators in Tyler introduced the model in that East Texas district. The arts helped Bethune students develop the literacy, creativity and communication skills necessary for success in an ever-advancing society.

“Teaching through art is an area that is almost totally untapped,” BETHUNE’S RESULTS ATTRACTED said Ms.Wilkins. “In 25 years of teaching, this was one of the THE ATTENTION OF EDUCATORS greatest experiences of my life.”

REPLICATION

ACROSS THE COUNTRY

As The Houston Annenberg Challenge segued into its work as The Houston A+ Challenge, the organization expanded the Bethune fine arts model and used the lessons learned to create the K-5 Fine Arts Initiative, in place at four schools in 2006: Aldine Elementary, Neff Elementary, Pine Forest Elementary and Pine Shadows Elementary.

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EARLY LITERACY MODEL POE ELEMENTARY It’s never too early to start teaching a child to read. According to Starting Points, the landmark 1994 Carnegie Corporation study, only half of infants and toddlers are read to regularly by their parents. The effects are serious: more than a third of children are not ready to learn to read when they enter kindergarten.

Poe Elementary School got serious about teaching literacy. And they were successful.

Located in the heart of Houston’s museum district near the Texas Medical Center, Poe Elementary is a Fine Arts and Academics Magnet Program that attracts students from throughout Houston ISD. But it became particularly well known for its work in early literacy.

Although Poe is in a largely affluent neighborhood, the roughly 700 students are economically and ethnically diverse. Some 20 percent have limited proficiency in English, and 36-40 percent are economically disadvantaged. In 2004-2005, about 33 percent were Hispanic, 21 percent were African-American, 4 percent were Asian and 42 percent Anglo, not significantly different from the population during the grant period.

Early Literacy at Poe was not a program, as such, but rather a school-wide focus on literacy that permeated all aspects of the curriculum. Children were immersed in print from the moment they crossed the threshold. “If you learn seven consonants and a couple of vowels, you can read,” said Dr. Anne McClellan, principal at Poe for 11 years before Debbie Verdon took over in 2001. “All children will learn to read eventually. We just taught them earlier compared to most schools. More accurately, what we did was is prevent reading failure. It all started with the teachers. They would put appropriate books in the hands of students, including preschoolers, and they began to acquire reading skills.”

There were five major components to Poe’s reading plan: a school-wide focus on literacy; an award-winning Early Literacy Reading Lab; a program of Writers’ Workshops for both students and teachers; small reading groups known as Guided Reading and Literature Circles; and a program to encourage parents to participate in their child’s learning. All of these played a role in Poe’s success.

After recognizing the need to circumvent the enormous amounts of time and energy spent treating children who failed to learn to read, Poe turned its attention to preventing reading failure. One of the keys was individualized instruction in small groups.

This provided a less threatening environment than a large classroom and allowed more opportunity for student participation. The teachers were able to closely monitor students and intervene where necessary.

SCHOOL-WIDE FOCUS

ON

LITERACY

Any student not reading on grade level by the second grade received intervention in the Poe Literacy Lab, and their progress was tracked through the fourth grade. Those at risk were placed in groups of approximately four students that met five times weekly for 45 minutes, while students with severe needs received one-on-one instruction. Up to three educators would devote their entire school day to classroom intervention.

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The Early Literacy Reading Lab at Poe was a non-threatening environment in which every child was seen as a reader. The lab was a cozy room where book-lined shelves divided the room into areas containing small tables, computers, a large blackboard and a reading area furnished with a futon and pillows. Classes here began with a discussion of current events centered on newspapers and magazines. Next might come vocabulary building, followed by songs, poems and games that taught students how to speak, listen and follow directions.

Students also told stories, which has been proven to increase language ability, and wrote and illustrated their own books.

At the end of the day, students were sent home with bags full THE ARTS WERE NOT ELECTIVES of books.

EARLY LITERACY READING LAB

BUT AN INTEGRAL PART Staff members could identify OF THE CURRICULUM students who needed extra help through their work in the lab. It was also the place where appropriate individual or small-group instruction took place. Praise was lavished on young readers, and mistakes were corrected painlessly. Lab staffers conferred frequently with teachers and parents and provided additional classroom materials as needed. After some reflection, lab team members began spending more time in the classroom with teachers, which allowed for reduced class sizes and increased individualized instruction.

The Early Literacy Reading Lab was named a Professional Development Laboratory Site by Baylor University and served as a model throughout Houston ISD’s Central District. It was honored with an Academics 2000 grant from the State of Texas.

The Writers’ Workshops tapped into each child’s potential as an author and allowed time for reflective thinking. Modeled after Lucy Calkins’ Columbia Teachers College Writing Project, these workshops first trained teachers to become writers and then instructed them in creating similar workshops in the classroom. Poe teachers were released from their classrooms EARLY LITERACY AT POE periodically to observe model workshops and confer with leaders and one another.

PERMEATED ALL AREAS They created a portfolio of student work.

WRITERS’ WORKSHOPS

OF THE SCHOOL Guided Reading provided strategies for classroom reading instruction in grades K-3. Teachers would work with a small group, while other students worked at learning centers using hands-on activities. By fourth and fifth grades, students who were able to read independently gathered in Literature Circles—small groups of four or five—to discuss a novel they chose. Students would direct the discussion and decide on the agenda for the group, while teachers served as coaches.

LITERATURE CIRCLES

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One of the strongest components of students who excel is family involvement in the learning process. To encourage this involvement, Poe invited parents to serve as yearlong volunteers, working side by side with teachers as tutors, classroom helpers and mentors. In workshops they learned parenting skills, strategies to increase student learning and ideas for working with their children at home. They were invited to participate in such programs as Family Math/Science Nights, Family Reading/Writing Nights, Technology Nights and a Community Open House.

PARENTS AS PARTNERS

For Spanish-speaking parents who did not speak English or perhaps even read Spanish, EVERY CHILD IS READING Poe’s bilingual staff periodically would offer English as a Second Language (ESL) and ON GRADE LEVEL OR ABOVE Spanish literacy classes. Poe also FROM KINDERGARTEN ON participated in a summer literacy program known as Compañeros en la Lectura sponsored by the Houston Public Library, which taught parents to read and share books with their children. Parents and community volunteers were encouraged to participate in Mentors with a Mission, pairing an adult with a student who needed additional help to ensure his or her academic, social and emotional success. Some students in upper grades served as math or reading “buddies” to kindergartners and first graders.

As a proven leader in school reform, Poe was chosen as an Annenberg Beacon School, a Model Demonstration site for the Center for Academic and Reading Skills and an Academics 2000 site. Support was received from the Engage Corporation for Junior Achievement and Baylor University Professional Development Lab School. Consequently there was a steady stream of visits by educators to the campus and numerous requests for presentations and consultations to other schools. Poe used Houston Annenberg Challenge funds to help set up their program at other schools and to form a network of people to work with them.

Their literacy model has been replicated not only throughout Houston ISD but across the country as well.

REPLICATION

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OUTDOOR LEARNING CENTER MODEL BROWNING ELEMENTARY DREW ACADEMY Outdoor learning centers have sprung up at schools all over Houston, and no two are alike.

There are vegetable gardens, herb gardens, butterfly gardens, wildflower meadows, wetlands and even an insect sanctuary. These natural environments bring academics out of the classroom and into the real world. Educators have realized that children respond to projects that are active and collaborative. Working in these environments gives students a feeling of ownership that helps them to learn in powerful new ways.

Children can read about how a seed germinates and grows into a carrot, or they can learn about it by planting a seed, tending it and actually eating the fruit of their labors. “I learn more when I find out about it myself instead of reading about it in a book,” said one student at Browning Elementary in Houston ISD, an Annenberg Beacon School. Outdoor learning centers can produce results that students can touch, taste and smell.

BROWNING ELEMENTARY

“We wanted a garden where we could integrate our science and math projects,” says Olga Moya, former principal at Browning, “so I asked teacher Thelma Graves if she would help our students plant some flowers and vegetables. I envisioned a small, simple garden but Mrs. Graves’ vision was totally different from mine. Through her leadership and a huge community effort, it was transformed into an amazing number and variety of gardens.”

What began in November 1995 as a few garden areas mushroomed into 17 vegetable gardens, a wildflower meadow, an enlarged pond, a sub-surface irrigation system, a compost pile and two outdoor learning benches situated behind the school. The PTO Butterfly Courtyard, a native plant area under two “IT’S ONE THING TO READ ABOUT THE beautiful oak trees, was located at the HUNGRY CATERPILLAR, AND IT’S center of the school.

With generous support from the Powell Foundation, Browning Elementary became THE HUNGRY CATERPILLAR EAT.” a leader in Project-Based Learning (PBL), an innovative model that engages students –THELMA GRAVES in problem-solving tasks. PBL allows BROWNING ELEMENTARY students to construct their own knowledge and culminates in real products. Browning organized several PBL conferences in Houston. That 200 people attended the 2000 conference attests to the high level of interest in the model. The Reagan High School vertical team organized a later conference that some 400 people attended. Browning, together with seven other schools from what was then the North Central District, wrote a $500,000 grant for increased PBL learning. This Title VII grant was to allow the schools to continue their learning for five years while collaborating with Co-Nect, a reform-driven model.

ANOTHER THING ALTOGETHER TO SEE

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Numerous grants funded the project. The National Gardening Association gave $1,000 for tools and plants and Shell Oil Foundation gave a $30,000 grant for Browning to work with the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Research Center on a pilot program designed to illustrate the importance of native plant gardening and to publish a book on the subject. The Texas Department of Agriculture gave $2,500. Browning also partnered with, among others, Urban Harvest, Texas Parks and Wildlife, Texas Forest Service, Texas OUTDOOR LEARNING CENTERS Department of Agriculture, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the AND ENVIRONMENTS PRODUCE Urban Coalition.

“Although we had this wonderful RESULTS THAT STUDENTS CAN garden, most of the teachers didn’t know how to integrate it into their TOUCH, TASTE AND SMELL lessons,” Ms. Moya said. “The Houston Annenberg Challenge grant helped us with professional development and Project-Based Learning. Now the garden is used in numerous projects for tutoring and mentoring, many of which are led by students.”

In Aldine ISD, Annenberg Beacon School Drew Academy’s wetlands project and butterfly garden were built on a single Saturday in 1997.

Science teacher Terry Hayhurst and art and language teacher Alix Dunn approached then-principal David Baxter about creating an outdoor learning center.

Drew had already been contacted by Star Enterprises about participating in a community project. Star, Shell, Texaco and Saudi Refining were becoming partners in a progressive energy alliance, and they were looking for a metaphor for what they were trying to do among their various companies.

DREW ACADEMY

The project, “Reclamation: Against All Odds,” got underway with the preliminary ordering of supplies such as rubber boots, hoses, rakes, shovels and mulch. Early Saturday morning the buses arrived, bearing volunteers dressed in Drew Academy T-shirts and caps. They dispersed into groups and began working on a variety of tasks. They painted Drew inside and out, even applying fresh yellow paint to the curbs. Benches for the butterfly garden were tiled in a colorful mosaic pattern. Steaming mulch was spread, native Texas fruit trees and flowering plants were planted and a pond was dug, lined with plastic and filled with water. “When the mulch arrived I had my kids stick their arms into it,” said one teacher. “‘It’s hot!’ they said.

You can’t learn that from a book.”

It was truly a collaborative effort between teacher and student, child and adult, corporation and community, all of whom shared the same vision for a day. “We’re learning to cooperate with each other,” said one student. “It’s all about teamwork,” said another. Clearly, the students got the message. The volunteers were equally moved. “We shared the same goal— making order out of chaos,” said one. “We became one big family for a day,” said another.

Drew was set between two wooded lots. These provided a home to many species of birds that would drink and feed from the pond, which in turn was inhabited by fish, snakes, tadpoles and frogs, and the occasional blue heron. Science teacher Dominique McCain was impressed

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by how hard her students worked.

“They love to put on rubber boots and get in there,” she said. “I assigned group leaders. ‘You’re the captains, you organize it,’ I told them. In minutes, they were getting their equipment out and dividing into teams.”

“IT

HAS BEEN EXCITING TO INVITE

OTHERS TO LEARN ALONG WITH US, BOTH IN THE GARDEN AND IN THE CLASSROOM.”

—OLGA MOYA

Drew’s butterfly garden was located FORMER PRINCIPAL, BROWNING on the opposite side of the school from the pond. Colorful tiled benches were arranged in a circle where some classes could be held on nice days. In one quiet corner was a small granite bench dedicated to the memory of a teacher who had passed away.

Hanging along a fence were colorful birdhouses made in art class.

“We would plant vegetables here in the spring,” said Ms. McCain, pointing to a row of beds.

“Most of these kids had never seen vegetables grow. Each class would select what they wanted to plant and keep journals on their progress.”

REPLICATION

The outdoor learning centers at Browning Elementary and Drew Academy are only two examples. Other schools in the Houston area that have embraced the concept include Bethune Academy, Rivers Oaks Elementary and Johnston Middle School.

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TRANSFORMING HIGH SCHOOL PROCESS REFORM MODEL REAGAN HIGH SCHOOL The Process Reform Model for Transforming High Schools sought to harness the vision, talents and energies of those closest to the schools to design and implement a customized, comprehensive plan that would meet the specific, unique needs of each school. This model is a process, not a program.

Reagan High School, a large, inner-city school with a high population of at-risk students, served as the pilot to create this model. First Reagan chose the methods it would use to restructure the school. Then Reagan used the model to figure out how to implement the restructuring. At the time, common practice when reforming a high school was to shut it down and reopen as a new school. Reagan showed how a traditional, comprehensive school could stay open while successfully redesigning itself.

REAGAN

DECIDED IT WANTED A CAMPUS

THAT WAS STUDENT-CENTERED AND TEACHER-DIRECTED AND THAT

The school administration and faculty wanted to move away from the traditional, factory model of instruction they were using to one that gave students the knowledge and skills they would need to succeed in the 21st

century. As they began to craft the Process Reform Model, Reagan decided it wanted a campus that was studentcentered and teacher-directed, that emphasized real world experience, that offered a rigorous curriculum and that was personal, so that none of the 1,500 students fell through the cracks.

EMPHASIZED REAL WORLD EXPERIENCE

Reagan began work using the three Houston Annenberg Challenge imperatives described earlier in this report: • Development and implementation of a personalized learning environment for students and staff • Collaboration among all stakeholders • Development and implementation of a learning community of professionals focused explicitly on quality teaching and learning.

The work then incorporated a student learning environment with emphasis on a rigorous academic curriculum developed within a strategic and deliberative methodology.

The goals were: • • • • • • •

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Increase student graduation rates Enroll more students in college-bound tracks Enroll more students in Advanced Placement courses Focus on literacy to lower the number of graduates who need remediation in college Increase teacher professional development Increase teacher knowledge and skills in content areas Provide real world experience through mentorships, internships and Service Learning.

At Reagan High School, teachers and administrators created small REDUCED CLASS SIZE AND learning communities of 9-12th grade academies, each with a career focus, PERSONALIZATION WERE INSTITUTED and “looped” the students and teachers TO IMPROVE STUDENT LEARNING together for two years. Reduced class size and personalization were instituted to improve student learning. The school then created “career-based academies” for 11th and 12th graders to get real-world experience through internships, mentoring and Service Learning.

Reagan’s reform model was the first to restructure into small learning communities while the school remained open. This Process Reform Model for transforming high schools has been documented in several publications. Lessons learned at Reagan were used to mold and shape Houston Schools for a New Society, the Houston A+ Challenge/Houston ISD high school reform initiative, which was charged with restructuring the district's 23 large comprehensive high schools into smaller, personalized learning communities with rigorous classroom instruction.

REPLICATION

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CHARTER SCHOOL MODEL KIPP ACADEMY/YES COLLEGE PREP In 1994 Michael Feinberg persuaded the Houston Independent School District to let him take a novel approach in one of his classrooms. He had been teaching for two years as part of the Teach for America program and was convinced that he was not reaching his students. Feinberg developed a more rigorous program and tried it out on a group of fifth graders.

Encouraged after one year, he approached Houston ISD with a proposal to create a new middle school based on his curriculum. They weren’t easily convinced, but Mr. Feinberg persisted.

The result was a new charter school called KIPP Academy, or Knowledge is Power Program.

A charter school is a form of public school that operates outside of the traditional school district system. They are usually exempt from most laws that apply to non-charter public schools, which allows them considerable autonomy to design their program.

KIPP started at Garcia Elementary and was granted its first charter from Houston ISD in 1995.

Students and parents had to commit to an extended school day, an extended school week and an extended school year. The requirements were strict, but the results were worth it: all students passed their TAAS tests that first year.

KIPP became a state charter school in 1998 and expanded to campuses across the country.

Houston KIPP academy and its sister school and Annenberg Learning Community Partner, YES College Prep, both served predominately Hispanic inner-city students in Houston. YES (Youth Engaged in Service) Prep, like KIPP first chartered by Houston ISD, became a state charter school in 1998 and shared the same extended schedule as KIPP. Students would enter a lottery for the privilege of attending these schools, and then sign a Commitment to Excellence Form, promising to follow the rules, be at school on time and always work to improve.

The model for both schools was to provide a rigorous academic program that prepares students for success at a four-year college or university, along with structured support to identify and pursue those opportunities. Every student in KIPP’s first and second classes to graduate high school was accepted to at least one school of higher learning, and all of the students in YES’s second senior class were accepted to at least two universities.

By the time KIPP and YES moved to permanent homes in July 2001, both had been named TEA Exemplary Schools, with more than 90 percent of students passing the TAAS tests.

Through 2001, eighth graders at KIPP had earned more than $7.5 million in scholarships to college preparatory schools, and the YES class of 2001 had received $1.1 million in college scholarships. KIPP and YES formed a Lamplighter Learning Community and used funds from The Houston Annenberg Challenge to increase personalization, to support Saturday school and for site visits to study best practices.

KIPP has launched schools across the United States and established its first high school in Houston in 2004. YES College Prep’s fourth Houston campus opened in fall 2006. Lessons learned at KIPP and YES, including the value of personalization, rigor, and the focus, with guidance, on college, are being incorporated into reform models at many high schools and some middle schools.

REPLICATION

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AFTER-SCHOOL MODEL BEST ELEMENTARY

“The hours between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. are the ‘danger zone.’”

—Kenneth Gladish, YMCA

When the three o’clock bell would ring at Best Elementary in the Alief Independent School District, nearly half the children headed for an exemplary afternoon program where they both furthered their learning and had fun. Each Monday through Thursday afternoon, Best provided an educational and lively environment for its students. To top it off, it was absolutely free.

“We had a good time,” said Holly Lee, who coordinated the after-school program. Before assuming the position in August 2000, Ms. Lee worked as a mental health therapist for juvenile offenders. “I have seen first-hand the effects of not being in school,” she said simply.

The hours between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. are the “danger zone,” according to Kenneth Gladish, then-executive director of the YMCA. In a national telephone survey, nearly half of the teenagers questioned said they spent at least five hours a week unsupervised. Many of these teens said they wished there were more after-school activities in their community.

At Best, the first half-hour after regular dismissal was spent situating the children and serving them healthy snacks. An hour of academic study and an hour of enrichment would follow.

Academics included small-group instruction, TAAS tutorials in math and language arts, accelerated reading instruction and work in the computer lab.

ONE HOUR ONE HOUR

ACADEMICS OF ENRICHMENT OF

Ms. Uvonne Morris, language arts and social studies specialist, coordinated the Accelerated Reading Instruction (ARI) after-school program, where pre-K to second grade students received intense reading tutorials. After reading tutorials came enrichment, where students could attend technology classes, visual arts classes, book club or chess club, work on musical theater productions, sing in the choir, or take dance classes. Best students have performed at the University of Houston, Texas Southern University and the Alief Jazz Concert. In addition to fine-arts activities, there were team sports, a SPARK Park and a game room.

A few weeks before the TAAS tests in April, Best students would move into their “TAAS-buster” plan, a revised schedule with two hours of academics, half in intensive, small-group instruction, and half with hands-on instruction at workstations. “We spent two days teaching various skills, then assessed and tracked them on the third day,” said former principal Althea Cooper. Once TAAS testing was complete, students were rewarded with two hours of core content integrated into enrichment.

Cooper used a combination of grants to fund the after-school program. “We had a 21st Century grant with Olle Middle School that serviced third and fourth graders, hence the name 21st Century Community Learning Center,” she said. “The Mayor’s After-School Program supported instruction of the pre-K to second grade siblings so that they could all go home together.”

Best’s program was so successful that it was replicated in other Alief ISD schools and throughout the greater Houston area. The program also served as the template for “Passport to Success,” the after-school program model created by Houston Annenberg Challenge with a grant from the Annenberg Foundation.

REPLICATION

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EDUCATIONAL SERVICES MANAGER MODEL EISENHOWER HIGH SCHOOL

“It’s one-stop shopping for parents.”

–Hermina Mancha Eisenhower

When principal Al Reynolds first came to Eisenhower High School in Aldine ISD, he was an Educational Services Manager. “The ESM is a combination of an assistant principal and a counselor,” he explained. ESMs are one of the many ways this large urban high school in northwest Houston worked to reduce isolation among its nearly 2,400 students.

Eisenhower began as a small suburban high school in 1972 serving an affluent population that was roughly 80 percent Anglo. New subdivisions were springing up around Houston as a result of the booming economy of the 1960s and 1970s, and Aldine was no exception.

By the 1980s, however, the tide was turning: A sharp downturn in the economy forced foreclosure after foreclosure as people lost their jobs and abandoned their homes.

The demographics of the area began to change, and by 1986, Eisenhower had grown to 2,150 students and its Anglo population had dropped to 48 percent. As of fall 2000, 54 percent of Eisenhower’s students were African-American, 31 percent Hispanic, 9 percent Anglo and 7 percent Asian. With 45 percent of its student body economically disadvantaged and 67 percent at risk, Eisenhower was challenged daily to reduce isolation among its students.

The initial phase of Eisenhower’s school reform took place between 1987 and 1996 when Project SOAR was created under then-principal Fred Richardson. This included the creation of ninth grade “families,” and the merger of the counselor and assistant principal positions into the Education Services Manager. ESMs helped reduce the perceived size of Eisenhower. Each ESM would have the same 175-200 students for both discipline and counseling during the students’ tenure at Eisenhower.

REFORM AT EISENHOWER

“ESMs handle counseling, monitor attendance, administer discipline, meet with parents and write recommendations for college for each student,” said Mr. Reynolds. ESMs were also responsible for supervising teachers, so they were certified in mid-management as a principal, assistant principal or counselor. Students were assigned to ESMs alphabetically, so that families with more than one child would have the same ESM for years.

“It’s like being a single parent,” said Michaelann Kelley, Annenberg coordinator and art teacher at Eisenhower. “You have to be everything for these kids—disciplinarian, counselor, motivator—and you have all these responsibilities such as meeting with the kids, writing letters of recommendation and putting out fires.”

“Our biggest challenge has been making sure no students fall between the cracks,” said Hermina Mancha, one of the original ESMs. “It’s one-stop shopping for parents. Before this, they would have to call three different people for academics, counseling and discipline.”

The Education Services Manager model established at Eisenhower, an Annenberg Beacon School, has been replicated at schools throughout the Houston area. This model has been used as part of the high school redesign model adopted by Houston ISD and other districts to personalize the learning environment, so that students are known both personally and academically.

REPLICATION

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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MODEL One of the most important models to emerge from recent reform in public education is the Resident for Professional Development. In this model, one or more staff members at each school is responsible for researching and coordinating ongoing staff development. With a projected shortage of more than two million teachers by 2010, America’s school districts are challenged to make teaching a more exciting, effective and fulfilling profession.

To become more effective educators, teachers need both time and structure built into their schedules to promote ongoing learning. As more schools recognize the importance of providing this time during the regular school day, an on-site coordinator is increasingly important.

Most of the 11 Houston Annenberg Challenge Beacon schools had a resident for professional development known as the Annenberg Coordinator. Among the many activities the coordinators fostered were study groups, research groups, student observation and assessment teams, peer coaching, Critical Friends Groups, and much more.

According to Tom Monaghan, former principal at Lanier Middle School in Houston ISD, the concept of personal learning and professional development at his school focused on individuals working in small group collaboratives. “It has nothing to do with a workshop or an inservice,” Monaghan said. “It is very personal and powerful.”

LANIER MIDDLE SCHOOL

Lanier’s major focus over the grant period was on increasing teacher learning. Figuring out the best way to do that was somewhat elusive. Shannon Weigel was the Resident for Professional Development and Annenberg Coordinator at Lanier, an Annenberg Beacon School, for four years. She was hired to help coordinate professional activities when Lanier began dismissing students at 1 p.m. one afternoon each week to free up a PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT block of time for teachers to devote to professional development.

ENCOURAGES TEACHERS TO BECOME

At first, all professional development INDEPENDENT THINKERS AND came at the recommendation of the principal or individual teachers.

CONTINUOUS LEARNERS “Someone would see a program they liked, and a few of the teachers would go somewhere for outside training,” said Ms. Weigel, who later moved on to work with Community Education Partners. “They would come back excited about the program, and it would be implemented, whether it was what we all needed or not. We slowly figured out that you couldn’t have lofty expectations from teachers who aren’t involved in training.

Next, we tried holding more workshops, but our teachers reported that workshops weren’t working either—90 minutes of isolated training wasn’t effective.”

Lanier incorporated this new information and created learning academies based on a model developed at Eisenhower High School in Aldine ISD. These were strands of professional development that teachers committed to over an entire year. Unfortunately, there were only

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five areas to choose from. “Some of the teachers felt like square pegs in round holes,” Ms. Weigel said. Once again, Lanier adapted. Each teacher at Lanier designed a personal learning plan, and some professional development time was focused on self-directed areas of improvement.

OVER THE FIVE-YEAR GRANT PERIOD, The teachers reflected on their own progress and shared their reflections TEACHER LEARNING PAID OFF with each other on a regular basis.

WITH A DRAMATIC INCREASE IN

In the beginning, Ms.Weigel spent her time handling the logistics of STUDENT TEST SCORES anything relating to professional development. “My job was to find the information, schedule the meetings, gather the staff and get the potato chips out on time,” she said. Later, teachers began to work together to schedule development activities.

Over the five-year grant period, Lanier’s focus on teacher learning paid off with a dramatic increase in student test scores, especially for Hispanics and economically disadvantaged students. Professional development became an integral part of the school’s culture.

Dr. Anne McClellan, principal at Poe Elementary School in Houston ISD until 2001, attributed much of Poe’s success as a model school to a policy of sharing leadership responsibilities among Resident Staff Developers. RDAs at Poe had many responsibilities, including analyzing student assessment data, consulting and co-teaching with classroom teachers, problem-solving, and keeping up with current professional literature. Each staff developer would spend half the day as a regular classroom educator and the other half attending to RSD responsibilities.

POE ELEMENTARY

Debbie Verdon, who succeeded Dr. McClellan, added that student success at Poe is due to development of the school as a “center of inquiry.” Poe is a school where both teachers and students are the learners and where learning is an active process that takes place in ongoing formats. Teachers are role models to the students and parents as they actively practice ongoing inquiry and learning.

The practicing philosophy of Poe as a center of inquiry places ongoing professional cognitive growth at its foundation. This is accomplished through cross-grade level curriculum-based teams. These teams meet weekly beyond the school day to focus on curriculum strands, higher-order thinking skills, instructional strategies and practices.

This center of inquiry approach is also seen in the implementation of Cognitive Coaching teams. These teacher peer teams work together to establish and maintain trust, facilitate mutual learning, and enhance growth.

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ALTERNATIVE SCHEDULE MODEL KENNEDY ELEMENTARY

Kennedy Elementary in Alief ISD was a forward-thinking school that placed primary importance on increasing student learning through teacher professional development. They owed a great deal of their success to their alternative schedule, which was put in place in the mid-1990s and was the cornerstone of their teacher learning.

At that time, then-principal Mary Hosking was investigating the best way to help teachers move forward and identify common goals. She concluded that time was the major obstacle to her staff’s acquiring a strong knowledge base and continuing to add to that knowledge in a meaningful way. With strong support from parents, Kennedy, an Annenberg Beacon School, set about restructuring its school day in order to carve out 40 minutes every morning for teachers to work on professional development.

It wasn’t easy. First they had to get approval from the district to allow the students to end their day 15 minutes earlier than the rest of the district. Then that 15 minutes was moved to the morning and combined with the 10 minutes they already had before students arrived.

And finally, they took five minutes each from language arts, math and social studies and science classes.

Seven years and many staff changes later, “I TRULY VALUE THE OPPORTUNITY TO teachers continued to gather in Kennedy’s library from 7:30 a.m. to 8:10 a.m., coffee cups and notebooks in hand. The library, a HAVE PROFESSIONAL CONVERSATIONS large open area at the hub of the building, WITH MY COLLEAGUES.” had enough tables and chairs to accommodate all 65 professional staff members. Sometimes an overhead projector would be brought in for presentations. Usually principal Steve Grabowski or assistant principal Cindy Rouse would make a few announcements before the meeting began. On other days the staff would gather into smaller groups for various purposes.

Over the years, the alternative schedule enabled a multitude of learning opportunities, including cross-grade collaboration, study groups, direct instruction and inquiry. Each year minor changes were made based on input from teachers. For example, one year the staff requested additional processing time for new learning and a desire to take their studies “deeper, not wider.”

Each month, the teachers at Kennedy received a calendar spelling out exactly what would happen at each of the morning sessions. Although the schedule was extremely flexible, Mondays and Fridays were usually reserved for grade-level meetings. Content specialists met with teams to help with planning. Team leaders and teachers might also facilitate meetings related to specific instructional techniques and planning. Discussion and development of educational plans for individual children often also took place at this time.

Everyone usually came together on Tuesdays to share recent professional development learning. If teachers had attended a conference or workshop, for example, they would make formal presentations. Or they might all share recent learning related to subjects such as

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“Succeeding with Angry Students,” “Meeting the Needs of Gifted Students” or “Comprehension Strategies.” Sometimes they would deal with report-card procedures, participate in teacher surveys, or help diagnose and assess students. Certain Tuesdays or Wednesdays were devoted to collaboration and communication, when the group would strategize on such subjects as team planning, parent conferences and mentor/mentees.

Wednesday mornings were often reserved for cross-grade collaborations that focused on specific issues such as literacy and curriculum. They would also be used for Tribes meetings. Tribes Learning Communities is a program in which both teachers and students are organized into small groups of about six people to help personalize the learning environment. Students learn a set of “WE ALL HAVE THE SAME collaborative skills for working together and apply these to learning academic material and selfCONCERNS, AND THAT MAKES responsible behavior. Kennedy spent considerable time and money implementing Tribes on campus: ME FEEL LIKE I’M NOT ALONE.” about 75 percent of the Kennedy staff received training in the program. Two on-campus trainers—Kim Smith and Janeen Forcum—worked with the staff. In the fall of 2000, 10 Alief campuses participated in Tribes training at Kennedy, and in January 2001, Kennedy trainers helped train the staff at Mata Intermediate School.

Thursdays were usually reserved for study-group meetings where teachers would investigate current professional literature. As interpreted by Kennedy, study groups had three basic roles: to implement curricular and instructional innovations; collaborate on planning for school improvement; and study current research on teaching and learning.

The content specialist team at Kennedy shared a suite of offices, which encouraged collaboration and communication. Their responsibilities were numerous. They were largely responsible for planning the Alternative Schedule Calendar. They acted as liaison between the administration and staff. They were required to be aware of Alief ISD goals and to summarize important information from district meetings. They would seek out appropriate instruction and strategize on how it would best serve the staff. They planned and facilitated events such as TAAS Parent Night and Family Learning Nights. They helped with mentoring and peer coaching. And they continually reviewed and evaluated records of alternative schedule calendars, training agendas, presentations of teachers and staff, and reflections.

Kennedy used the alternative schedule for training sessions addressing areas of need such as interpreting test data, developing portfolios and investigating issues relating to using Tribes in the classroom. In addition, they formed partnerships with consultants to assist them in developing various programs. Specific program needs included: strategies to meet the needs of bilingual and ESL students, diagnosis and assessment of records, and the implementation of book club strategies.

The alternative schedule helped unify the Kennedy staff, align the curriculum, augment crossgrade-level knowledge, and increase consistency and continuity of learning. Most of all, it gave teachers a chance to speak out and be heard on issues about which they care passionately.

The alternative schedule model has been replicated at other Alief ISD elementary schools and at Poe Elementary. Lanier Middle School, Browning Elementary and Helms Community Learning Center in Houston ISD all instituted early dismissal one afternoon weekly to allow time for professional development.

REPLICATION

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CRITICAL FRIENDS GROUPS MODEL

“Critical Friends Groups are awesome.”

–Jennifer Crow, Browning Elementary

One of the key professional development models supported by Houston Annenberg Challenge is the Critical Friends Group (CFG). It is based on a simple idea: teachers need a safe forum where they can share new ideas with their peers and deal with the ever-shifting dilemmas that arise in the classroom.

“It’s helpful to get 13 other people’s perspective on your problem,” said Jennifer Crow, fifth grade teacher at Browning Elementary in Houston ISD. “They make suggestions, and then you go back to the classroom and try them. Then the next month you meet to reflect on what happened. Over time, you become a very close-knit group.”

The purpose of a Critical Friends Group is to help teachers and administrators develop solutions to specific educational challenges together. A CFG is a defined group of people meeting as a professional learning community who use a set of protocols to guide their collective learning. CFGs provide deliberate time and structures to promote adult growth that is directly linked to student learning. Each CFG has at least one coach who guides the group as they reflect on their practices and examine both teacher and student work. Coaches attend a week-long summer training class, participate in regional training sessions, and travel to national and regional seminars whenever possible for continuous learning and honing their coaching skills. The ultimate purpose of CFGs is to change instructional practice for greater student learning.

Different schools have approached the program in different ways. Most make CFG participation voluntary and end up with three or four groups of between eight and 12 participants who meet once a month for two hours.

One of the first Houston schools with CFGs was Lanier Middle School in Houston ISD. Tom Monaghan, former principal, went to Boston in 1997 to train as a coach. “I was an assistant principal back then,” said Monaghan. “We started with 22 people in two groups that met once a month for half a day. By the end of 1998, we were convinced that it was a powerful tool and that the possibilities were strong for some paradigm shifts in how we looked at teaching and learning in our classrooms. I looked at various CFG models, including groups that met on Saturdays, and became convinced that time was the essential element in the equation. If you want to see meaningful professional development, you must provide the time, along with the accountability and the support.”

LANIER MIDDLE SCHOOL

Next, a group of CFG members submitted a proposal that everyone join a team. “We told people that if they didn’t want to be in a CFG group, that was fine, but they had to develop some type of plan for their professional learning,” remembered Mr. Monaghan. “About that time, too, we began having early dismissal one day a week to set aside the necessary time to meet. Eventually we ended up with five regular CFGs and two ‘with a twist.’ ” Teachers and administrators met in separate CFGs at Lanier, and they set their own agenda based on the goals of the individuals in the group. Some would do more research, others more peer observations. “But CFGs definitely break down the isolation,” Mr. Monaghan said.

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“The old days of being in your own little kingdom where no one was welcome are gone forever.”

Browning Elementary in Houston ISD had four Critical Friends Groups involving roughly half the faculty, and participation was voluntary. In the summer of 1999, Jennifer Crow, who had been teaching at Browning for seven years, attended a weeklong training session at the University of Houston. “It was intense,” she said, “and I emerged pretty fired up. They teach you a structured way to conduct meetings that allows you to get a lot done. I ended up with a group of 14 that first year.”

BROWNING ELEMENTARY

Like Lanier, Browning had early dismissal one afternoon weekly to allow time for professional development. Two such days each month were staff days, and the other two were collaboration days on which various groups would meet. “CFGs became a collaboration, so we were given permission to meet off-campus and often ended up staying late, just sharing and talking. We would discuss various dilemmas or review student’s work, which turned out to be one of the most powerful things we did. One CFG group at Browning is all the same grade level, but I find that a mix is good, because you get more perspectives.”

“I attend refresher training in the summer,” said Ms. Crow. “And I have been to a CFG conference. A friend of mine started using CFG protocols at faculty meetings, and it’s working. We also use it in our study groups. We’re stretching the boundaries of CFGs.” “Houston Annenberg Challenge instigated the concept, and I signed up right away,” said Elaine Wilkins, who taught visual literacy at Bethune Academy in Aldine ISD. “I went to Boston for training, and I coached a team from every discipline in the school for years. We began with four groups out of roughly 60 faculty members at Bethune. We met once a month at each other’s homes to discuss issues that we encountered, overwhelming dilemmas, whatever came up. If someone had something critical to discuss, we would throw out the agenda. CFGs build camaraderie and help you become a stronger teacher.”

BETHUNE ACADEMY

When the Eisenhower High School faculty of 171 teachers was reduced to 140 with the opening of the ninth grade campus in 1997, the school began sending teachers for CFG training to help them deal with all the changes that were taking place. Since 1998, numerous faculty members have been trained in CFG, and in 2002, approximately 40 percent of the faculty participated in seven CFGs. In addition, they started two student CFGs. Kennedy Elementary, which had an outstanding Critical Friends Group, reached out and trained CFGs at Best Academy and Olle Elementary.

OTHER SCHOOLS

By 2002, Houston Annenberg Challenge had trained more than 360 coaches, and nearly 100 schools successfully introduced the Critical Friends Group program on their campuses. Houston A+ Challenge, the successor organization to Houston Annenberg, continues to provide new coaches’ seminars, principals’ seminars, summer seminars and an annual winter gathering. The National School Reform Faculty (NSRF), which started as an initiative of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, is the national network for CFG training and development. (See their website at www.nsrfharmony.org.) Houston A+ Challenge was the first NSRF-recognized Center of Activity for CFG training on the Gulf Coast.

REPLICATION

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A PORTFOLIO WAY OF THINKING

“We all look better when we work together.”

—Dr. Cheryl J. Craig University of Houston

When Houston Annenberg Challenge named Eisenhower High School, Lanier Middle School, Bethune Academy, Drew Academy and Helms Community Learning Center as Beacon Schools in 1997, the schools realized that they needed to document the changes that were taking place in teachers’ practices and student learning. The five schools approached Dr. Cheryl J. Craig, then at Rice University and later associate professor of education at the University of Houston, to act as their planning and evaluation consultant, and she agreed.

At the time, there was no model for the planning and evaluation work they were doing. “How will we know we did a good job? How will we prove it?” were the two questions uppermost in Craig’s mind. For her and the school principals involved, a part of the answer was clear––portfolios.

Why portfolios? When Craig was working on her doctorate at the University of Alberta, her mentor was Nona Lyons, author of With Portfolio in Hand: Validating the New Teacher Professionalism. It was a logical choice.

With each school free to choose its own format, portfolios are as unique as the schools they portray. Basically, they gather together in one place––a binder, an album, a file box––all the evidence of a school’s activities. This may include meeting agendas, samples of student work, photographs and teachers’ reflections. Besides serving as evidence, the material helps schools and educators to reflect more deeply on their practices.

School portfolios are an enormous amount of work, and Craig’s office overflowed with five years’ worth of them. Although she believes in the portfolios, she cautioned against asking too much of teachers who may already be overburdened. “The portfolio work is flexible enough that you can put as much or as little work into it as you like. I think there is something there for everyone, from the artist to the scientist.”

Lanier Middle School’s first portfolio was a massive, colorful scrapbook assembled by one person. Its purpose was to highlight what was going on and, consequently, to attract community partners. Former Annenberg Coordinator Shannon Weigel described it as “a showpiece to attract attention.”

LANIER MIDDLE SCHOOL

By the second year, their portfolio had evolved into an accountability piece to show that Lanier had done exactly what they said they would do. It documented a dramatic increase in student test scores and included a few reflection pieces by teachers involved in various programs. But according to Ms. Weigel, it still failed to tell the story of the faculty’s need for professional development and growth.

“Finally teacher reflections became the mainstay of Lanier’s portfolio,” said Ms. Weigel at a presentation of portfolios by the five Beacon schools at the University of Houston in 2001.

“Each time teachers were exposed to new ideas, they shared their learning in writing and evaluated its usefulness. It would be great if teachers could tell their own stories of struggle and success, of frustration and breakthrough, but most of the time the portfolios must speak for them. The process of reflection became deeply ingrained into our school culture and

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sharing those thoughts through our portfolio became the impetus for change in our future.

The portfolio became a tool for each school’s use rather than a documentation piece for the use of others.”

At Helms Community Learning Center in Houston ISD, their early portfolio work began as an accountability piece for Houston Annenberg Challenge. According to Jennifer Day, dual language magnet coordinator at Helms, originally it was a limited perspective captured in what was essentially a scrapbook of photos.

HELMS COMMUNITY LEARNING CENTER

“In 1999 Gayle Curtis, the Annenberg Coordinator, formed a portfolio committee.

PORTFOLIOS ARE AS UNIQUE AS The committee realized that we needed a more inclusive portfolio that told the THE SCHOOLS THEY PORTRAY whole story at Helms,” Ms. Day said. “Our reform efforts, including the dual language program, parent classes and community partnerships, had grown substantially. Therefore, the first step was to make sense of the myriad programs at Helms and to articulate how those programs fit together to support our school vision and mission.

“We reflected on the impact of school reform and the subsequent changes taking place with school-wide participation,” Ms. Day continued. “An activity is documented on each page, along with a description of how it related to one of the Annenberg imperatives, when it happened, and the purpose or impact of that activity on student learning. Through our portfolios, we continually deepen our understanding of our school culture and context.”

At Bethune Academy, teacher Elaine Wilkins used a large, artiststyle portfolio for the school overview and then assembled additional details in three-ring binders. “Take the Japanese Garden project,” she said, opening a thick notebook. “Here is the budget, all the lesson plans, the students’ drawings, what it looked like before, who helped us, etc.” She also kept notebooks on her Critical Friends Group, community partnerships, and other Bethune programs and projects.

BETHUNE ACADEMY

Members of Dr. Craig’s portfolio group traveled to conferences at Harvard University and Cork, Ireland. Four of the five Houston schools were represented at a symposium in Seattle where they made a presentation at the American Educational Research Association.

REPLICATION

Each of these five schools reached out to help other schools with the portfolio process.

Eisenhower connected with Johnston Middle School, part of a Lamplighter Community that included Westbury High School, Anderson Elementary and Red Elementary. Lanier reached out to Cornelius Elementary.

As Dr. Craig pointed out, change comes from a small group of people finding alternative ways of doing things and then spreading the word. “Annenberg gave us the space to do the work, but it was up to us to figure out how to take full advantage of it,” she said. “We have created a dynamic community of people who are impacting a lot of kids. That’s what keeps us all going.”

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RESULTS TAAS TEST PEFORMANCE How did student performance change in the schools profiled in this report as each one developed and implemented a new model for improving instruction?

As one measurement to answer that question, we compiled the passing scores on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) for each school beginning in 1996, the year before the schools began to receive funding from The Houston Annenberg Challenge. We then compared the schools’ TAAS passing rate to the statewide TAAS passing rate. By 2002, the last year of Houston Annenberg Challenge (now continuing as Houston A+ Challenge), 60 percent of the schools were scoring at or above the statewide average. In 1996, only 40 percent of these schools were performing at or above the statewide average. In 2003, the state of Texas changed its assessment system and began using the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.

% PASSING TAAS BEST ELEMENTARY State Best

95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50 96

BETHUNE ELEMENTARY

State Bethune

State Browning

98

99

00

01

02

% PASSING TAAS 95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50 96

BROWNING ELEMENTARY

97

Year State Best 1996 67.1 58.0 1997 73.2 50.4 1998 77.7 50.9 1999 78.3 53.6 2000 79.9 64.5 2001 82.1 57.4 2002 85.3 69.4

97

98

99

00

01

02

Year State Bethune 1996 67.1 NA 1997 73.2 62.7 1998 77.7 80.2 1999 78.3 79.3 2000 79.9 85.7 2001 82.1 82 2002 85.3 90.2

% PASSING TAAS 95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50 96

97

98

99

00

01

02

Year State Browning 1996 67.1 64.0 1997 73.2 66.1 1998 77.7 78.5 1999 78.3 58.3 2000 79.9 67.7 2001 82.1 82.7 2002 85.3 93.3

31

% PASSING TAAS DREW ACADEMY State Drew

95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50 96

97

98

99

00

01

02

Year State Drew 1996 67.1 54.5 1997 73.2 76.6 1998 77.7 69.1 1999 78.3 73.9 2000 79.9 79.4 2001 82.1 84.4 2002 85.3 89.1

% PASSING TAAS EISENHOWER HIGH SCHOOL

State Eisenhower

95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50 96

97

98

99

00

01

02

Year 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

State Eisenhower 67.1 47.0 73.2 60.2 77.7 68.7 78.3 62.0 79.9 78.6 82.1 78.3 85.3 82.0

% PASSING TAAS HELMS COMMUNITY LEARNING CENTER

State Helms

95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50 96

97

98

99

00

01

02

Year State Helms 1996 67.1 60.0 1997 73.2 53.4 1998 77.7 51.4 1999 78.3 56.8 2000 79.9 77.5 2001 82.1 88.0 2002 85.3 93.5

% PASSING TAAS KENNEDY ELEMENTARY

State Kennedy

95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50 96

97

98

99

00

01

02

Year 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

State Kennedy 67.1 86.0 73.2 84.6 77.7 90.1 78.3 83.8 79.9 72.0 82.1 80.7 85.3 78.6

% PASSING TAAS KIPP ACADEMY State KIPP

100 95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50 96

32

97

98

99

00

01

02

Year 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

State KIPP 67.1 NA 73.2 NA 77.7 NA 78.3 97.5 79.9 96.9 82.1 99.0 85.3 99.7

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% PASSING TAAS LANIER MIDDLE SCHOOL State Lanier

100 95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50 96

97

98

99

00

01

02

Year State Lanier 1996 67.1 86.4 1997 73.2 86.4 1998 77.7 87.0 1999 78.3 86.9 2000 79.9 90.9 2001 82.1 93.4 2002 85.3 97.1

% PASSING TAAS POE ELEMENTARY

State Poe

100 95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50 96

97

98

99

00

01

02

Year 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

State Poe 67.1 76.8 73.2 96.1 77.7 96.4 78.3 88.2 79.9 90.1 82.1 93.8 85.3 93.7

% PASSING TAAS REAGAN HIGH SCHOOL State Reagan

85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50 45 40 35 30 25

Year State Reagan 1996 67.1 28.4 1997 73.2 42.7 1998 77.7 50.0 1999 78.3 60.7 2000 79.9 68.4 2001 82.1 56.4 2002 85.3 77.2 96

97

98

99

00

01

02

% PASSING TAAS YES COLLEGE PREP

State YES

100 95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50 96

97

98

99

00

01

02

Year 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

State YES 67.1 NA 73.2 NA 77.7 NA 78.3 NA 79.9 NA 82.1 99.3 85.3 98.2

2

Source: Texas Education Agency

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SCHOOL CONTACT INFORMATION

Best Academy (Alief ISD) 10000 Centre Parkway Houston, TX 77036 713-988-6445 http://www.alief.isd.tenet.edu/best/ best/bestintro.htm

Kennedy Elementary School (Alief ISD) 10200 Huntington Place Drive Houston, TX 77099 281-983-8338 http://www.alief.isd.tenet.edu/kennedy/ kennedy/kennintro.htm

Bethune Academy (Aldine ISD) 2500 Victory Drive Houston, TX 77088 281-878-0380 http://www1.aldine.k12.tx.us/schools/ websites/bethune/main.html

Lanier Middle School (Houston ISD) 2600 Woodhead Street Houston, TX 77098 713-942-1900 http://ms.houstonisd.org/LanierMS/

Browning Elementary (Houston ISD) 607 Northwood Houston, TX 77009 713-867-5140 http://es.houstonisd.org/BrowningES/ Drew Academy (Aldine ISD) 1910 Little York Houston, TX 77091 281-878-0360 http://www1.aldine.k12.tx.us/ Eisenhower High School (Aldine ISD) 7922 Antoine Houston, TX 77088 281-878-0900 http://www1.aldine.k12.tx.us/schools/ websites/Eisenhower/index.html Helms Community Learning Center (Houston ISD) 503 W. 21st Street Houston, TX 77088 713-867-5130 http://es.houstonisd.org/HelmsES/ KIPP Academy (Charter) 10711 Kipp Way Houston, TX 77099 832-328-1051 http://www.kipphouston.org/

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Poe Elementary School (Houston ISD) 5100 Hazard Houston, TX 77098 713-535-3780 http://es.houstonisd.org/PoeES/ Reagan High School (Houston ISD) 413 E. 13th Street Houston, TX 77008 713-861-5694 http://hs.houstonisd.org/ReaganHS/ YES College Preparatory (Charter) 6201 Bonhomme, Suite 168N Houston, TX 77036 713-574-7600 http://www.yesprep.org/

THE HOUSTON A+ CHALLENGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES CHAIR Joe B. Foster Founder Newfield Exploration Company

PRESIDENT Ann Friedman, Ph.D. Community Volunteer Leonel J. Castillo Mayor’s Office (Retired) City Hall Jonathan Day Co-Chair Andrews & Kurth, L.L.P. Michael Dee Managing Director Morgan Stanley Roberto Gonzalez Vice President Employment & Training Centers, Inc. H. Devon Graham, Jr. President R. E. Smith Interests, Inc. Jenard M. Gross Gross Investments Steven L. Miller Chairman & President SLM Discovery Ventures, Inc. Karol Musher, M.A., CCC-SLP Speech-Language Pathologist Texas Children’s Hospital Maconda Brown O’Connor, Ph.D. Chairman The Brown Foundation Harry M. Reasoner Senior Partner Vinson & Elkins, L.L.P

Credits: Photography on Pages 9-11: David Postma Courtesy of Bethune Academy Design: New Pencil Interviews: Donna Tennant Writers: Donna Tennant Betsy Broyles Breier

J. Victor Samuels Chairman Victory Packaging, Inc. Yava Scott Community Volunteer Andrea White Community Volunteer Rosie Zamora President Houston Wilderness, Inc. Michele Pola, Ed.D. Executive Director

1415 Louisiana, Box 9

Houston, Texas 77002 www.houstonaplus.org