Best Practices

     What really works in schools? What are some districts or schools doing that produces outstanding results? In Best Practices we highlight teachers, administrators, schools, districts, and others who are very successfully working to improve student achievement.

Making It All Very Clear at Gainesville City Schools

      There are no secrets at Gainesville City Schools (GCS), in Gainesville, GA. Everything from the superintendent's annual review to the scores in every classroom are available for anyone to see on the district's website. Nor are there any secrets about what students at every grade level are expected to learn and know.

      GCS has bet the farm on the concept that increasing the empowerment and personal responsibility of the district's teaching professionals is the key to ensuring that all students achieve proficiency. Complete openness and a reliance on data to drive instruction ensure that efforts stay on track.

      Openness in GCS also extends to the schools themselves. Every elementary in the district is set up as an academy and students are free to attend whichever one best suits them. The district has committed to bussing all students to their desired schools.

      Gainesville's one middle school has been broken up into three academies on one campus and at the high school level, thanks to an ever-growing number of partnerships, "the city is now our campus," says Superintendent Dr. Steve Ballowe. "When we learned that we had 300 students interested in medicals careers we set up a partnership with the local hospital so they can get real experience."

      Creating a district full of "schools of choice" was central to Steve's plan to energize both staff and pupils. "I see academies as a way to challenge the teaching professionals to create the ideal teaching/learning environment. They know what they need to teach but it's up to them to determine how they will do it. Probably the biggest problem in public education for decades is that it has all been from the top down. If I tell you to do something than you have an excuse for failure. If you are empowered and you take ownership then that increases accountability. Creating responsibility and accountability leads to increased student achievement."

      Offering academies also allows students to engage in learning that is more relevant to their own personal talents and interests. Enota Elementary, for example, is the "Multiple Intelligences Academy," and the focus is on "how you are smart, not how smart you are." Fair Street Elementary is the "International Baccalaureate Academy," which "offers a well-rounded, rigorous academic program that features learning by inquiry, or questioning, method."

      Because the academies are vertically integrated, students and teachers are together for years at a time, which builds long-term relationships. "Long-term relationships are necessary for education," says Steve. "You can't have the sixth grade teacher not taking responsibility for the seventh grade student."

      Key to the district's program is the use of data. Although the teachers had done pre-testing in the past in order to determine the needs of their classes, the district has now formalized the practice, with all pre- and post-testing done in nine-week blocks.

      "The old way of pre-testing before every chapter wasted a lot of time," says Kim Davis, half-time math coach and half-time partnership liaison for a local college. "Now it's done in nine-week blocks and the information is set up in Word documents that are linked to the standards so it's very quick. Because the teachers have a better idea of what the kids already know they can do a better job of focusing on what they do need to cover and do a better job of tying it all together. This first year we only planned to do pre- and post-testing in the first three quarters so as not to overload the teachers. When we reached the fourth quarter they begged for pre- and post-testing so we did it the fourth quarter, too."

      Explains Assistant Superintendent Dr. Michael Bull, "We pre-test and we look at the state standards to determine what needs to be taught and when. The teachers as a group analyze the testing data and make their lesson plans, determining as a group how they will teach this period's standards. That way they know exactly what they are supposed to teach and what the kids will be tested on. If they're not comfortable with what they are supposed to be teaching we give them in-services. They practice and then they go teach it." All of this information is then posted on the district's website, where parents can find out exactly what their child is supposed to be learning along with tips about what they as parents can do to help their child.

      Classroom scores are posted in the halls at the schools, at student viewing height, and once the first scores were posted, says Kim, students and staff all started focusing on the growth that was clearly visible.

      "When everyone started looking at the gains as the important point, the kids got excited," says Kim. "One day we had just posted some new third grade math scores and a group of fifth graders was looking at them. One girl said 'Look how great my sister's class did!' Then her sister came down the hall and she hugged her while the other fifth graders cheered."

      Having all the data at his fingertips via the website also helps Michael do his part to see that the various schools and classes stay on track. He gives the example of one school where the performance of students in one grade was not in line with students in other schools. "On checking I found that one of the teachers was a long-time teacher but had never taught above K-1. The other was a first-year teacher. They both needed training and we made sure they got it."

      In another instance, the district found that many middle school students did not know their math facts. The decision was made to test all grades 3-5 students on math facts. When tested initially, the average number of correct answers for third graders was only 7 percent. This was traced to the fact that multiplication was not taught until second semester of third grade. Multiplication is now taught in second semester of second grade and by year's end the third graders were scoring 86 percent correct.

      "As a parent, how would you like to see how your teacher is doing every nine weeks?" asks Michael. "Don't think it didn't scare some of the teaches when we told them we were going to put their scores up in public. Some of them wanted to run me out of town at first. But once a teacher shows great gains, we ask her what she's doing to make these kinds of gains, and then we ask her to share her practices with other teachers. Now the teachers love it. They can teach to their real needs and they're getting recognized for doing a good job, for being good teachers. The poor teachers don't want their name up in public so they're leaving. Fortunately we don't have too many of those."

      The plan to create schools of choice was well-developed in Steve Ballowe's mind when he came in as superintendent three years ago, and the Board of Education was solidly behind him. As their unanimous first choice for the position, they wanted, and knew they were getting, someone who would think outside of the box and would bring in new initiatives, says Board President Frank Harben. "We felt we were a good district but we wanted to go to the next step, to be an outstanding district. We talked about Steve's ideas during the interview and it seemed like a very good fit. We knew we would face some upsets but we were determined to see it through and stand behind him. Now we're seeing the fruits of our labors."

      One concern in the community was that allowing all parents to choose their school would lead to a racially segregated district or that resources would be allocated to schools inequitably. Through a series of community meetings this and other issues were discussed and policies and procedures were put into place to ensure that inequities did not occur. The plans were carried out with the community on board and few, if any, of the issues raised have materialized. The schools are definitely not segregated-rather, all students are in the schools their parents wanted them in.

      The teachers and even the board members had some questions and concerns at times but, says Frank, "the community is now relatively satisfied and we're making progress. We're still fine-tuning."

      "It all goes back to the local board," says Dr. Jim Willis, Professional Development Specialist at the Georgia School Boards Association. "The board set their goals and they stuck with them. I'm amazed they were able to move so fast."

      Jim has become one of Gainesville's biggest cheerleaders. He conducts training for school board members in the state and uses GCS as a model for best practices in the use of data to drive instruction. "At Gainesville they seem to have a handle on using data to improve student achievement," he says. "I particularly like the pre- and post-testing and how they apply it, how they simplify it, and how they make it easy." The district's website is another best practice he often cites.

      For more information about the sweeping changes put into effect in Gainesville and the results flowing from them, contact: Steve Ballowe at steve.ballowe@gcssk12.net; Michael Bull at michael.bull@gcssk12.net; Kim Davis at kim.davis@gcssk12.net; Frank Harben at frank.harben@gcssk12.net; or Jim Willis at jwillis@gsba.com.