Case Study: Westwood Elementary School

Overview of Westwood: Student achievement has not significantly increased over the past three years. Teachers have been using the same curriculum and the administration has been in place for two years. The faculty and staff are aware of the vision of the school and the expectations. Leadership: Westwood Schools leadership team consists of one principal and one assistant principal. The principal has strong management skills and spends most of her time in her office responding to district requests and ensuring all daily operations are in order. At least once a week, she is out of the building attending meetings. When necessary, the principal delegates responsibilities to a trusted teacher leader in the building. Overall, the assistant principal spends 65% of his time disciplining students, including referrals, in and out of school suspensions, and 20% of his time on after school programs and the rest of the time dealing directly with all parent/guardian inquiries. When there are staff development days, the AP is also required to develop/find and facilitate professional development for the teachers in the building. Student, faculty, and community demographics: 84% of Westwoods students are African-American, 10% are Hispanic, 4% are Caucasian, 2% are Asian, while 8.4% are ELL students, and 10% have an IEP. The students come from a community of significant social and economic disadvantage. Parental attitudes to the value of education are low, with only 15% of parents having been involved in post-secondary education themselves. Last year, 65% of parents/guardians attended report card pick-up at least once. The mobility rate has ranged from 13-27% over the last three years. Some of the resources in the community include a community center, a few churches, fast food restaurants, a library, a medical clinic, and a post office, a strip mall with clothing and shoe stores, and three parks.

College and Career Focus: At the beginning of the year, the Area team conducted a walk through. The data that came back showed that there was very little focus on college or careers. The principal was given a directive to make the school environment more college and career focused. The response was to put up a few college banners.

You are the College and Career Specialist charged with supporting Westwood Elementary School and your goal is to increase overall culture around college and career as well as building the capacity of the instructional leadership team to carry out a good portion of the work. From the lens of supporting the Principal and Assistant Principal, interpret the facts in the Westwood School Case Study to answer the questions. 1. List two of the schools strongest attributes currently in place to achieve this goal. Bold the most important strength and briefly explain why you think it is important. Two of the schools strongest attributes are 1) the principals strong management skills, and 2) The principals ability to delegate responsibilities within her school (in her absence) to a trusted teacher leader in the building. In my opinion, the first reason is the most important because if any school has a good leader who knows how to strategically delegate responsibilities, they are able to create a building that can sustain itself. This is important because when improvements within a school are suggested, it is a common concern that new suggestions cant be implemented without the regular level of effectiveness of the school being compromised. 2. Outline an action plan that addresses the following: a. How would you assist in creating a college and career culture at Westwood? I would suggest that college knowledge gets implemented within the regular curriculum at each grade level within the school. This would create a ripple effect of kids being exposed to college indirectly (and at a financial minimum to the school budget) early enough in their lives to hopefully make them more curious about the possibility of attending college. Then I would reward the students with their picture being taken and put it up in the hallway next to the college banner of their choice when they performed academically exceptionally in class. I would also encourage all teachers and staff to wear college gear every Friday (or every other Friday) to make their students ask questions about the college they are representing with their clothes. I would encourage soft skills be taught through having the students interact with the staff and their peers also.

b. How would you develop the capacity of school administrators and the Instructional Leadership Team around college and career readiness and culture? I would remind them of the grim facts about our youth. One of the most staggering facts is that prisons are built based on standardized test scores from third grade, and unfortunately minorities populate these prisons (and graveyards) more than colleges. I would reiterate that we could either steer them towards college, or they could rob you sometime in the future, make a choice. I would also suggest the video Bring Youre A Game as a viewing for the kids and suggest a round table discussion afterwards. c. Incorporate how you will support school administrators and the Instructional Leadership Team to engage with teachers and accomplish your action plan. I would do a yearlong strategy with the curriculum coordinator to make sure that college knowledge was implemented all year long. I would then set up various PDs for the teachers and staff, and create a check-in system where we (the administrators and ILT) would meet maybe only once every two months, but whoever the designated representative was would communicate with me via email the rest of the time so each schools progression can be charted throughout the academic school year. d. How would you engage parents and community organizations to ensure positive development and success of your plan? I would call a town hall meeting with the stakeholders and parents and outline my plan. I would offer college visits to schools close by for parents and their kids so they could discover college life together, or have their parents explain to them all about college from their past experiences. This brings direct parental involvement into play which is invaluable when it comes to supporting the mental development of their children, when it comes to college. Please be prepared to present your plan and answer further questions.