Leadership and Teamwork
Distributed leadership—sharing responsibility and agency—is a key feature of many Blue Ribbon Schools. At Sherwood Academic Middle School, teams of staff members interview and choose new faculty; at Hopewell Elementary School, paraprofessional staff are empowered, and prepared, to assist classroom teachers with core instruction. St. Mary’s Academy Charter School draws on veteran teachers as part-time educators, enabling the school to fund more high-quality instruction. When administrators and teachers learned new practices and shared professional strengths, students at John Wash Elementary School experienced dramatic changes in academic outcomes.
St. Mary’s Academy Charter School: Innovating Staffing
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Teachers at St. Mary’s are not drawn by money. Beginning teachers are paid on par with the public schools but the salary scale for veteran (more than 10 years) teachers is at least 20% lower. Many of St. Mary’s are veteran teachers, teaching part-time through a unique strategy. St. Mary’s administrators hire highly qualified teachers on a flexible schedule—a bookkeeping nightmare, but an asset to students. Several part-time teachers are retired, returning to teaching out of dedication to the students and appreciation for the school’s collaborative climate. Professional development is highly valued at St. Mary’s, especially for paraprofessionals. Asked if teachers and paraprofessionals receive training and then leave for higher paying jobs, St. Mary’s principal remarked, “They never have.” Visit school site.
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Sherwood Academic Middle School: Hire Well
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Although Principal Crawford’s leadership is a finely tuned blend of knowledge, disposition, and skills, she credits her success to her ability to “get the right people on the bus.” She knows that Sherwood’s success is determined by the collective capacity of the staff to get the job done – whatever it takes. Professionals are drawn to Sherwood for the opportunities to be part of a high-functioning learning community. Hiring is not done by administrators alone, but rather by teams of staff members who together decide who is best suited to meet the school’s needs. Teachers and staff have a vested interested in the success of new staff members.
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Hopewell Elementary School: Empowering Staff
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Principal Thomas Quigley promotes an egalitarian approach at Hopewell that brings the knowledge and skills of every adult in the building, from the custodian to playground supervisor, to bear on furthering students’ well-being and success. He has transformed the role of teacher aides and assistants into powerful teaching collaborators.
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Alice Coachman Elementary School: Distributed Leadership
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Based on her years of experience as a successful administrator in a high-functioning school and her study of the research, Principal Pat Victor has strong opinions about what makes a school good for teaching and learning. Faculty members understand and support her vision, generating very low turnover rates over the years and a stable, dedicated teaching staff. Teachers describe Principal Victor’s distributed leadership model, which gives them numerous opportunities to make their voices heard in discussions about instruction and classroom and school management. This distributed model also permits faculty members to develop their own leadership skills by proposing and implementing new practices.
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John S. Wash Elementary School: Defining Moments of School Change
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Marc Johnson, Sanger USD Superintendent, recaps the John Wash Elementary turn-around story. He identifies the guiding principles and practices that contributed to the transformation and highlights the role of leadership, high expectations, collaborative culture, and shared accountability in meeting the needs of all students.
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Sherwood Academic Middle School: A Learning Community
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Adults who convene regularly for collaborative work and learning have a significant impact on student success. At Sherwood, despite the lack of scheduled time, adults engage each other out of professional habit, meeting during “eat and meet” lunch breaks where they review student progress, plan units of study, and discuss other academic matters. The school’s hallways are arranged by content area to support hallway interactions among teachers and students—asking a “by the way” question” or conferring with a colleague. All teachers participate in regular team “walkthroughs,” using a common form to observe and reflect and offer feedback on teaching practices, to every classroom. Staff use walkthrough data to identify areas of strength and need; administrators use them to identify professional development needs. The walkthroughs help teachers develop a common understanding of desired teaching practices at Sherwood.
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John S. Wash Elementary School: Focus on Professional Development
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John Wash commits time, energy, and resources to professional development. Administrators, teachers, and resource personnel use a common instructional language. Teams collaborate to plan and master explicit, direct instructional practices with precise lesson designs and delivery. Teachers use think-alouds, graphic organizers, and white boards to check for student understanding. English learners are paired with native speakers as peer partners, and teachers motivate all students by switching from teacher talk to partner talk throughout classroom lessons.
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