1

Running Head: DETERMINING IF NOTRE DAME PREPARTORY IS A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE SCHOOL

Determining if Notre Dame Preparatory is a Highly Effective School

Corey S. Porterfield
Oakland University
 2
DETERMINING IF NOTRE DAME PREPARTORY IS A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE SCHOOL

Abstract
The purpose of this study is to analyze if Notre Dame Preparatory School is a highly effective

school. As Blankstein (2013) explains, there are six principles that will advance student

achievement in highly effective schools. These principles include: developing a common

mission, vision, values and goals, ensuring achievement for all students by developing systems

for prevention and intervention, creating a professional learning community, making data-based

decision making for continuous improvement, gaining active engagement from family and

community, and building sustainable leadership capacity. Using these six principles, an

investigation was done to determine if Notre Dame Preparatory School met the qualifications of

being designated a highly effective school, according to Blankstein’s principles. The study

revealed that Notre Dame Preparatory School has a strong mission and value but needs to

improve their inventions and using data for continuous improvement.

Keywords: student achievement, education, data

 3
DETERMINING IF NOTRE DAME PREPARTORY IS A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE SCHOOL

In a highly innovative and global society, school leaders are constantly researching ways

to improve the overall student achievement and success of their school. Many may concentrate

on looking for new curriculum models, new teaching strategies, or effective ways to use data to

drive instruction. To determine if Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy

(NDPMA) is effectively improving student achievement, I will evaluate their efforts using

Blankstein’s “Six Principles that Advance Student Achievement in Highly Effective School.”

Currently, I work at Notre Dame Preparatory and Marist Academy, located in Pontiac,

Michigan. NDPMA is an independent Catholic, co-educational day school, which includes three

divisions: Lower (JK-5), Middle (6-8), and Upper (9-12). NDPMA was founded by the Marist

Priests and Brothers in 1994. Having experienced remarkable growth over 22 years of its

existence, the school today serves more than 1,100 students. For the purpose of this paper, I will

be focusing on the Upper Division, commonly referred to as NDP.

For the 2016-17 school year, NDP’s student population is 720 students. There are several

racial/ethnic and religious groups within the school. They include: Caucasian (79.3%), Hispanic

or Hispanic-American (4.5%), African-American (3.2%), Asian or Asian American (2.3%),

Catholic (77.8%), Other Christian religions (20.3%), and Non-Christian religions (1.9%). Along

with the racial/ethnic and religious groups, NDP’s student population has identified that they

speak thirty-three other languages within the home besides English.

Many schools in Michigan qualify for Title 1 status and have students eligible for free or

reduced lunch. NDP is not a Title 1 school and therefore students do not receive free or reduced

lunch. NDP’s student population comes from several cities across the metropolitan Detroit area

and composed of 49 hometowns. NDP also does not have a special education program. It is an
 4
DETERMINING IF NOTRE DAME PREPARTORY IS A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE SCHOOL

Independent Catholic School and does not receive any money from the government towards its

operations or academic programs. Therefore, a special education program is not required.

NDP has a comprehensive academic program and is not listed as a school that needs

improvement. In contrast, it was named the top Catholic school and the seventh best private high

school, religious or non-religious in the State of Michigan according to Niche, a national

organization that annually ranks colleges and K-12 schools across the country. NDP takes pride

in being the only Catholic school in the United States authorized as a World School offering the

Diploma, Middle Years, and Primary Years Programmes.

Principle #1: Common Mission, Vision, Values, and Goals

The purpose of any business, organization, or educational institution is listed in a mission

statement. “A mission statement should be created and published as a means of giving those

involved with the organization a clear understanding of its purpose for existence” (Blankstein,

2013, p. 86). NDP’s mission is, “Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy provides

its diverse student body a Catholic and internationally recognized college-preparatory experience

of lasting value. We affirm our Marist mission to ‘Work with God to form Christian People,

Upright Citizens and Academic Scholars.’” A shorter version of the mission has been created

and is widely used by the school community, “With God we form Christian People, Upright

Citizens and Academic Scholars.” This mission is widely spread throughout the school and

shared through print, web, and social media vehicles that describe the school.

NDP’s mission is composed of three important parts, Christian People, Upright Citizens,

and Academic Scholars. They are explained in detail by Jean-Claude Colin, the founder of the

Marist Fathers’, in the Instructions to Teachers. The description of the three important parts of

the mission statement is the vision of the school. According to Blankstein (2013), a school’s
 5
DETERMINING IF NOTRE DAME PREPARTORY IS A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE SCHOOL

vision offers an accurate alternative for a better future. A school’s vision should be the guide for

collective direction of its stakeholders and provide direction where the school is headed.” The

first part of the vision is Christian People. Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy

strives to create an atmosphere where the student’s faith can grow and attempts to provide means

and opportunities for participation in faith experiences.

It is God’s children that are entrusted to us, and so it is towards God that we have to

return their hearts by our constant efforts to provide them with sound rules for their

guidance and examples lived in a manner consonant with them… We shall therefore

work in the first place at giving them a sufficient knowledge of their faith, at stirring their

wills to the accomplishment of duty through motives of conscience and the power of

religion (Notre Dame Prep’s website).

Being a Catholic school, religion classes are taught every day. The upper division has mass once

a month and is available and offered daily for the school community before school in the chapel

at 7-7:25am. All students participate in Christian service projects throughout the school year and

spend a day off campus on a grade level Christian retreat. All of these things are organized by

the Campus Ministry Department. The purpose of Campus Ministry at NDP is to support and

compliment both school and family in their mutually integrative roles of faith formation and

religious education, which extends to the lived faith experience of the students.

The second part of the vision is Upright Citizens. Notre Dame Prep takes pride in

creating upright citizens, and believes the following:

Next, we shall make it our chief concern to school our students in conduct and gentle,

courteous, simple social manners, in good breeding and a thoroughly Christian polite

behavior, so that most will not feel out of place later on in the world outside, and an
 6
DETERMINING IF NOTRE DAME PREPARTORY IS A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE SCHOOL

object of derision by reason of boorishness. We shall also train them to modesty of tone,

propriety in deportment, and we shall cultivate in all, without exception, purity of speech,

clarity in diction, and as much as possible, naturalness in gesture (Notre Dame Prep’s

website).

NDP has this expectation for all students. It is discussed during the admissions process and

reviewed annually in the completion of the student code of conduct contract. At NDP, you can

see students are molded into upright citizens from their actions in school, extracurricular

activities, and sporting events. On a daily basis, I see the high expectations that teachers and staff

set for students to become upright citizens.

The last part of the vision is Academic Scholars. It has been questioned why academic

scholars is listed last. NDP feels if you develop a student spiritually and create an upright citizen,

it will then make it easier to mold students into academic scholars.

We shall then turn our attention to forming the minds of our students and to advance

them in the different fields of learning by every means possible. We shall seize every

opportunity calculated to broaden their knowledge, to put them on their mettle for study;

we shall spare no pains or labour to achieve this. Let us not forget that for us this is a

strict duty of trust that must be carried out (Notre Dame Prep’s website).

NDP prides itself with its academic excellence and ability to recruit, enroll, and retain the most

talented and brightest students from different life backgrounds. One of the main reasons NDP

sought to use the IB Programme, was that it aligned so well with the mission and vision of the

school. As a result, the IB Programme has transformed our academic program and helped the

school become the best Catholic school in the State of Michigan.

 7
DETERMINING IF NOTRE DAME PREPARTORY IS A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE SCHOOL

Along with the mission and vision of a school, it is important to also have school values.

“Values are the attitudes and behaviors an organization embraces. They represent commitments

we make regarding how we will behave on a daily basis in order to become the school we want

to be. They were established and articulated guidelines we live by” (Blankstein, 2013, p. 101).

Notre Dame Prep is an environment where you get a sense that people are there because they

love the mission of the school, they love to teach, and most importantly they love the students.

Unfortunately, I was unable to find specific value statements for NDP.

To make sure that you are constantly improving, it is imperative to have goals. “Goals

provide intermittent reinforcement for our efforts and provide us with feedback on our progress

toward the larger vision” (Blankstein, 2013, p.105). Goals helps schools obtain feedback on the

progress of accomplishing their mission and vision. NDP goals are as follows: to increase

diversity within the faculty, staff, and student body, to increase the number of students entering

and completing the IB Diploma Programme and to increase students’ math readiness for college

level coursework. Blankstein (2013) states that goals should be measureable and specific, have a

time frame, and should concentrate on results. According to these requirements, NDP’s goals are

not effective because they do not fit all of these requirements.

Principle 2: Ensuring Achievement for All Students: Systems for Prevention and

Intervention

As part of the admissions process at NDP, prospective students must take the High

School Placement Test (HSPT), submit the most two recent years of report cards, have a student

evaluation form completed by their current teachers, and complete a student interview. When

making the admissions decision, administration considers all of the aforementioned

requirements. The HSPT must indicate that the student is very close to or above grade level in
 8
DETERMINING IF NOTRE DAME PREPARTORY IS A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE SCHOOL

verbal skills, quantitative skills, reading, math, and language usage. The report card must

indicate that the student has at least a 3.0 grade point average or higher. The student evaluation

the teacher completes, must be favorable towards the student. After the interview is conducted,

administration should be able to determine if the family understands and fits within the mission

of NDP and if we have most suitable academic program for the student. If all of these things

align, then an acceptance is extended to the student. Since NDP has such an extensive

admissions process, the student body is composed of students with few academic challenges.

To help students improve their academic achievement, schools must implement

interventions that fits their school’s mission and vision. According to Blankstein (2013), “The

most effective schools provide a ladder of opportunities for struggling students, ranging from

identification of students needing extra support before the school year begins to mandatory

enrollment in remedial and/or skills classes” (pg. 131). Students that are accepted to NDP that

did not perform well on the HSPT, their grade point average was lower than a 3.0, or had other

academic concerns during the admissions process, are required to take the Freshman Seminar

class. Freshman Seminar is a class that was created to help students improve their organizational,

study, and time management skills. It also gives freshman, who may have a more difficult time

adapting to the rigor of the school, an opportunity to take seven academic classes instead of eight

classes and time to work on homework or study during the school day. I would classify the

Freshman Seminar class as an intervention because it was created to help students that will

possibly struggle with the academic program without this class.

Another form of prevention and intervention used at NDP are the grade report meetings.

Grade report meetings occur every two weeks and the participants are the school guidance

counselors and the vice principal of academics. During these meetings the counselors bring a
 9
DETERMINING IF NOTRE DAME PREPARTORY IS A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE SCHOOL

grade report of students with a grade lower than a “C”, then counselors will report on their

students. The goal of these meetings is to develop a plan to get students off of the grade report

list. To achieve this, counselors meet with the student to develop a plan to improve their grades

by giving them study and organizational tips, and any resource that is needed to help them

improve their grades. The counselors also contact the teachers to gather helpful information

about their grade. If needed, they will refer a student that needs academic support to a peer-tutor

or arrange further tutoring before or after school with their teacher.

Another intervention that NDP has is the stress management program. A group of

counselors and teachers created this program to address that amount of stress they witnessed

within the student body. Students often complained that their classes were demanding, and it was

difficult to find time to do homework, study, attend a club meeting, play a sport, and spend time

with their family. This was very concerning since 75% of students play at least one sport, and

there are twenty-four clubs with high participation. The stress management team goes into

freshman and sophomore classes once a month to discuss stress management. A popular topic so

far this year has been how to create a healthy digital study environment. All students are issued a

tablet device, and the majority of their homework is done on the tablet and submitted online.

Tablets can be a great tool for students, but can be very distracting if used incorrectly. During

this session, the stress management team discussed helpful apps that will help students stay

focused, modeled and explained what a good study space looks like, and spoke about students’

most common distractions while using tablets and gave them strategies to eliminate them

altogether.

Notre Dame Prep has these three interventions as I mentioned above, but I would not

classify them as effective interventions. Blankstein (2013) states, “Intervention strategies target
 10
DETERMINING IF NOTRE DAME PREPARTORY IS A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE SCHOOL

students who are not demonstrating learning at the level of expected performance” (p. 132). The

current interventions in place gives students strategies in order to make them successful. Besides

getting more assistance before or after school from your teacher, there isn’t an intervention in

place to give additional academic support throughout the school day. If a student continues to

struggle academically after working with the counselor and getting a tutor, they may be asked to

leave if their grade point average is below a 2.0. Administration feels that NDP has a very

specific academic program, and that it may not be for all learners.

Principle 3: Collaborative Teaming Focused on Teaching and Learning

Many studies suggest that to improve academic achievement in students, teachers must

collaborate on a regular basis. Teachers work in teams to improve their teaching strategies to

better educate students. “In a collaborative school culture, professionals are fully committed to

and focused on helping students learn by becoming active learners themselves” (Blankstein,

2013, p. 147). This is an example of a professional learning community. Once a month, NDP has

a late start for students that gives teachers and staff an opportunity to have professional

development before classes begin. During most of the professional development meetings,

teachers can collaborate with colleagues in their department. They discuss common assessments,

lesson plans, and effective teaching strategies. A few times a year, they invite the middle division

teachers to their department meetings to vertically align the curriculum to ensure incoming ninth

graders, from the middle division, are prepared for high school. Teachers also have meetings

with their colleagues in their department during their planning hours. There are eight periods in

school day at NDP in which teachers teach six classes, and have two planning periods. Teachers’

planning times may align with colleagues in their department, and they can collaborate. This is

not the case for all teachers so they have to collaborate on their own time after school hours.
 11
DETERMINING IF NOTRE DAME PREPARTORY IS A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE SCHOOL

Teachers give the impression they value the collaboration time with one another. During the

meetings, they are on task, contribute to the conversation, and share valuable information that

can be used by others. Teachers wish that they had more time to collaborate during the school

day.

Teague and Anfara (2012) states, “We must not forget that developing and sustaining

professional learning communities in schools requires leadership and direction. School

administrators have the opportunity to perform a vital role in developing these structures.” To

effectively implement a professional learning community, principals must take an active role in

communicating its importance to their staff members and connect the purpose to creating the

professional learning community to the school’s mission, vision, and goals. Printy and Marks

(2006) asserted, “When principals are involved in matters of instruction, curriculum, and

assessment, they signal the importance of activities related to teaching and learning” (p. 128).

The administration at NDP does a great job of being hands on with curriculum and assessments.

They also do very well in incorporating the school’s mission and vision when implementing new

programs, like the IB program or teacher collaboration time. NDP needs improvement on

effectively creating a professional learning community for the staff. Collaborative teams should

be developed that focus on specific topics, such as professional practice forums. Professional

practice forums give teachers the opportunity to work with their colleagues on successful

teaching strategies, share their concerns and challenges, and research best practices that will help

them create new strategies to use in the classroom. Another collaborative team could focus on

classroom observation. This would allow teachers to observe their colleagues implementing a

new strategy and beneficial for teachers to evaluate how well a new strategy is working.
 12
DETERMINING IF NOTRE DAME PREPARTORY IS A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE SCHOOL

Teachers could also observe classrooms of their colleagues who shared that they were having

difficulty with a lesson and provide suggestions or support for that teacher.

Principle 4: Using Data to Guide Decision Making and Continuous Improvement

You can find data teams in many schools across the country, but is the data accurately

being used to improve student achievement? Blankstein suggests the following are possible uses

of data: to advance student achievement; to inform parents of student academic progress; and to

monitor program strengths and identify opportunities for program improvements. NDP uses the

results from the Advanced Placement (AP) test and the ACT test to improve student

achievement.

AP tests are a criterion based assessment that measures a student’s achievement in a

college level course. AP tests are scored 1 to 5, and most colleges consider scores of 3 and above

acceptable. Colleges and universities will grant a student, with an acceptable score, college credit

for what you have already learned or allow them to skip an equivalent course at their school.

NDP offers seventeen AP classes across all disciplines. Teachers look at a specific test, like AP

Calculus, to find out the percentage of students that passed with a 3 or above. If most students

scored a 3 or better on the test, they feel that the foundation is strong and have adequately

prepared students for college. If there are many students who scored below a 3 on the test,

teachers will research what skills students missed in previous math courses that caused them to

be unsuccessful on the AP test. This information will be used to fill the missing holes in the

curriculum, with the intent to improve student achievement.

Notre Dame Prep also uses formative assessments, such as quizzes, to ensure student

achievement. Shen et al. (2010) suggest,

 13
DETERMINING IF NOTRE DAME PREPARTORY IS A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE SCHOOL

The practice of using real-time data to assess whether students attained proficiency for

the curriculum taught is promising because it gives timely feedback for making

adjustments in teaching and learning to address the deficiencies in relation to the

curriculum being taught (p. 448).

Halfway through a new lesson, teachers administer quizzes to students to check for

understanding. Using the data gathered from quizzes, teachers get immediate feedback whether

the students understood the new material being taught, or if they need to go back and reteach and

review with students before the test is given.

Overall, NDP’s use of data is working for their specific program, but improvements can

be made to ensure that student achievement is increasing over time. To help Notre Dame Prep

improve its use of data, I would recommend using data from the ACT test. NDP should create

vertical or subject level teams to collectively analyze student common assessments or

assignments. This will encourage all teachers to share the responsibility for the success of all

students (Blankstein, 2013, p. 171). At the beginning of the school year, content area teachers

should have department meetings to review the results of the ACT test. After reviewing the data,

teachers should develop common assessments, projects, and assignments by incorporating

specific skills students were lacking per the ACT data. Then teachers should meet periodically

throughout the course of the school year to discuss the results of the common assessments,

projects, and assignments. The discussions should be based upon what students are doing well,

and what needs to be improved. Teachers will then have valuable data they can use to help drive

their instruction to help improve student achievement in their content area.

 14
DETERMINING IF NOTRE DAME PREPARTORY IS A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE SCHOOL

Principle #5: Gaining Active Engagement from Family and Community

Family participation and engagement is very important for all students, starting in

preschool through high school. When students develop a behavior problem or begin struggling

academically, the golden question is, where are the parents? Blankstein (2013) suggests, “It is

clear that the proper support and involvement of students’ families and the community at large is

fundamental to student achievement in schools” (p. 189). Over the years, NDP has had great

parental involvement at the school. This could be attributed to the socioeconomic status of the

school in which a majority of the students are upper middle class with many stay- at- home

mothers that are available to volunteer at the school in various capacities.

Parents are also given the opportunity to be included in the school community by keeping

them informed of what their student is learning and performing in classes. All parents have

access to an online portal. This portal gives them real time information on the student’s

attendance, grades, tardiness and missing assignments. Parents are also able to email teachers

about any concerns they have about the student. This enables parents to take part of the learning

experience at NDP, and to have constant feedback of their student’s achievement in class.

Notre Dame Prep encourages families to participate in the school community by

requiring each family to complete 10 parent hours, organized through the Parents Club. The

Parents Club goal is to support community building and to provide support to the teachers and

administration at NDP. Parents can complete their 10 hours by volunteering to work fundraisers

or social events. They can also volunteer to support art and extra-curricular programs, work in

the mentoring program for new families to the NDP community, or volunteer for school support.

Notre Dame Prep also encourages families to participate in the school community

through the athletic program. For every sport a student plays, a family must volunteer to work
 15
DETERMINING IF NOTRE DAME PREPARTORY IS A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE SCHOOL

three sporting events during that season, through the NDP Booster Club. Parents can volunteer to

work concessions, to sell tickets, or make a full season commitment to work the clock or

scoreboard. If a family prefers not to work an event and lets the Booster Club know at the

beginning of the student’s season, their account will be charged $50 per event. If a family misses

an event and does not notify the Booster Club, their account will be charged $75 an event. The

purpose of the Booster Club is to use the revenue from fundraisers, concessions, and spirit wear

to help maintain the athletic fields and courts, equipment, and salaries of coaches. This in return

will help the school save thousands of dollars it would take to staff these athletic events, and

hopefully keep the cost of tuition from rising just to support the athletic programs.

The community involvement at NDP is very low and almost non-existent. NDP is a

private school, and their student population is composed of students across the Metropolitan

Detroit area. The services provided from community involvement does not fit demographic of

NDP’s student body. Delphi and Chrysler, two local automotive companies, may be the only

community representation that NDP has by working with students on the robotics team.

I believe that the family participation and engagement at NDP is very high. The policies

that NDP has in place to encourage families to participate works well. Parents want to be

involved in the school community and the school wants to have parents involved and included in

the community. There are fees created for families who do not want to fulfill their parent hours

or Booster Club hours, but these are rarely used applied as further proof of how involved parents

throughout the school community. Additionally, parents put on their own events throughout the

school year. Some events include: International Day, Back to School Corn Roast, Senior All

Night Party, Senior Fashion Show, and Trunk or Treat and Fall Festival for the Lower Division.

Experiencing the high amount of parental involvement is refreshing for me to experience coming
 16
DETERMINING IF NOTRE DAME PREPARTORY IS A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE SCHOOL

from a school that had extremely low parental involvement. The parental engagement at NDP is

very high that I do not need any ways that it can be improved at this time.

Principle #6: Building Sustainable Leadership Capacity

Leadership is the act of leading people or an organization. School administrators have a

magnitude of responsibilities such as hiring new staff, teacher evaluations, staff development,

monitoring student achievement, discipline and parent issues, and much more. “The principal’s

job is too big and too complex to be done alone. Moreover, principals who try to ‘fly solo’ often

feel isolated and tend to burn out. It can be lonely at the top” (Blankstein, 2013, pg. 209)! In

order for principals not to burn out, they must share the leadership role with teachers and staff.

Schools that encourage teachers to take leadership roles are on the right path to building

sustainable leadership capacity.

One way Notre Dame Prep develops leadership capacity is by sharing the professional

development responsibilities with the teaching staff. Every year NDP gives teachers numerous

opportunities to attend professional development workshops off campus. By attending these

workshops, more teachers are becoming experts in different content areas. At the request from

administration, many teachers are chosen to give professional development training to the staff

on a specific topic in their area of expertise. A lot of these meetings take place during the

monthly late start meetings.

Since Notre Dame Prep is an International Baccalaureate school, it has specific

requirements and annual reports to complete in order to keep its IB status. NDP has two IB

coordinators, along with the vice principal of academics, that are responsible for the

implementation and oversight of the program. To help maintain the demands, two additional

teachers are given leadership positions to take charge of the 10th grade personal project and the
 17
DETERMINING IF NOTRE DAME PREPARTORY IS A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE SCHOOL

coordination of the extended essay for students in the Diploma Programme. They are responsible

for completing all of the training for these projects, updating and training the staff on their

responsibilities of being a mentor for these projects, and most importantly organize and facilitate

these projects to students. Having these two teachers take on these leadership roles is imperative

to help sustain the IB Programme at NDP.

To ensure that a school is successful and continues to improve, sustainable leadership

plays an important role. Blankstein (2013) says that sustainable leadership survives one

individual, it does not disappear when they leave. Notre Dame Prep sustains their leadership

efforts by ensuring that all stakeholders uphold the school’s mission and vision. This keeps

everyone cohesive and working towards a common goal. NDP also give teachers, staff, parents,

and students various responsibilities and opportunities to be in a leadership role. All parties are

given the opportunity to start new innovations such as, starting a new student club or

organization, creating a fundraiser to raise money for the senior all night party, or starting a new

elective class such as coding for robotics. These are two examples of how NDP plans to sustain

leadership over time.

To improve its sustainable leadership, Notre Dame Prep can start mentoring teachers that

exhibit a small capacity for leadership. This will enable struggling teachers to develop more

confidence and help to improve their strengths in order to share some leadership responsibilities

in the future. The administration can also spend more time in the classrooms engaging with

teachers and students. At times, other administrative duties may come to the forefront that

prohibits principals from spending time in classrooms. It is very important to show a genuine

interest in teachers and students, and to know what students are learning in the classroom. I
 18
DETERMINING IF NOTRE DAME PREPARTORY IS A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE SCHOOL

believe that Notre Dame Prep could start doing these two things to help improve its sustainable

leadership.

Findings

In conclusion, I believe that Notre Dame Prep is a highly effective school that has created

a program that advances student achievement. Since Notre Dame Prep is a private, Independent

Catholic School, it educates a specific niche of students, and does not have to deal with a lot of

obstacles that public schools face every day. Some issues include large classroom size, poverty,

low parental involvement, inadequate funding, and lack of resources and interventions to address

students who are below grade level in reading and math. NDP is fortunate enough to have low

classroom sizes, high parental involvement, a large budget for academic funding, and accepts

students who are capable of being successful being placed in their academic program.

To guarantee that Notre Dame Prep stays a highly effective school, they should rewrite

their goals according to the SMART goals guidelines. I also recommend that NDP research an

intervention to implement for students that are still having difficulty after completing the

Freshman Seminar class and working with their counselor. The largest area that NDP needs to

address is collaboration. Some collaboration is done on a regular basis, but to ensure that NDP is

making continuous improvements and growing student achievement, it will be beneficial to

transform NDP into a highly functional professional learning community.

 19
DETERMINING IF NOTRE DAME PREPARTORY IS A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE SCHOOL

References

Blankstein, A. M. (2013). Failure is not an option: 6 principles that advance student achievement in

highly effective schools. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Teague, G.M., & Anfara, V.A. (2012). What Research Says: Professional Learning Communities Create

Sustainable change through collaboration. Middle School Journal, 44 (2). Retrieved from

http://www.jstor.org/stable/41763120

Shen, J., Van E. Cooley, Reeves, P., Burt, W., Ryan, L., Rainey, J., & Yuan, W. (2010). Using data

for decision-making: Perspectives from 16 principals in Michigan, USA. International Review

of Education / Internationale Zeitschrift Für Erziehungswissenschaft / Revue Internationale De

L'Education, 56(4), 435-456. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40928685

 20
DETERMINING IF NOTRE DAME PREPARTORY IS A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE SCHOOL