Volume 11, Spring 2005
Featured
Harrison Community Schools, located in central Lower Michigan, serves more than 2100 students. Harrison students demonstrated significant improvement on the recent MEAP state test results, expressed in the sample below as the change in percent of students who met or exceeded proficiency:
4th grade students:
Math - an increase from 51.3% to 87.3%
ELA - from 51% to 73.6%
7th grade students:
ELA - an increase from 34.2% to 61%
High School students:
Math - an increase from 47.4% to 55%
Reading - from 73% to 83%
Writing - from 56% to 64%
Science - from 52.2% to 60%
Superintendent Chris Rundle identified three factors to explain the improved state assessment results: the role of the district leadership teams, after-school programs, and the district's use of QLD's SMART Schools improvement process over the past year.
In the summer of 2004, QLD initiated SMART Schools/SMART Goals Facilitator Training in Michigan to support school leaders with tools, processes and resources needed to guide school improvement efforts in their schools and districts. Eighteen school leaders from Harrison Community Schools are participating in the training. Recently, Michele Sandro, a Harrison Principal and SMART Schools Facilitator, offered the following reflections on the early impacts of using the SMART Schools process in the district.
We began training school-based teams in the SMART Schools process in the summer of 2004. School Improvement Leadership Teams from each of our six schools are attending the nine days of QLD Learning's training over a two year period. They have committed to applying the process and tools in their schools and we are already beginning to see the impact.
The Impact So Far
SMART Schools provides a district-wide process that is research-based with a common language that builds learning communities and enhances collegial relationships. The training provides an opportunity for sustained professional learning — over the course of several years — with the vision that everyone will participate and that new staff members will be included as they are hired. The School Improvement Leadership Teams are taking the process and tools back to their schools as they teach, guide and coach their school communities in this school-wide effort to improve. We are already finding more positive work environments/atmosphere, improved direction, increased leadership at the administrative and teacher levels, and more opportunities for individual growth and development. The SMART process has provided new avenues for collegiality and collaboration. We have more professional staff members participating in the established process, an increased focus on utilizing data, and goal-driven shared decision making. We now have an agreed upon process, goals and direction.
In particular we are seeing growth in collaborative decision-making. Each school now involves more staff members, looks at all sides of issues, and staff members are more open to communicating and attempting change. We are accountable to our goals and are collectively monitoring our progress. We have seen great results in the planning of professional development/learning opportunities, with well thought through agendas and evaluation processes — plus content linked to our goals, student achievement and staff needs. We are collecting more appropriate and useful data, the data is being shared collaboratively and is used for decision-making purposes.
Why are we investing financial and time/energy resources in the SMART Schools Process?
Student academic achievement was not at a level we could live with — we were in trouble and needed help. We searched for an organization with a process that, in addition to being research-based, would model effective professional learning. We feel we have found that organization in QLD Learning, and have fully embraced the SMART Schools Process as a means of creating — and sustaining — professional learning communities in our schools. The trainings are energizing and uplifting. Administrators and teacher leaders working in building-level school improvement leadership teams, leave each training session with a collaboratively developed plan with agreed upon direction and commitment.
We have been involved in school improvement for many years; however, our direction and commitment always faltered over time. We know we can do this, but we need the support and direction of the SMART Schools process. We have effective leadership teams established in each building, and with the support of the SMART Schools process now have district-wide common direction, language and the tools necessary to move forward together — collaborating rather than competing. We expect increased collaboration, cooperation and long range planning which ultimately will impact improved academic achievement and family involvement.
Looking Ahead
Thinking ahead to the challenges we face as we continue with the SMART process implementation district-wide, we will need to continue to think strategically about how we integrate this work into the school year. We are moving away from a model of reaction to the frantic pace of the school year, and toward a model of ongoing collaborative planning and professional development time throughout the year. We need to continue to work together on time and energy issues, creating meaningful opportunities to collaborate, reflect on our practice, and move forward in an agreed upon direction. We also need to work with staff members who don't want to be involved, developing proactive rather than reactive approaches. Finally, we will need to continue to allocate the appropriate resources to support the creation of professional learning communities in our schools.
