Restructuring for Excellence

By Mark D. Parker

A Plan for Rebuilding Banning Unified School District Into a Successful Center of Learning Within the Next Three Years

An agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia was commissioned to study the practices of twenty-six highly effective schools with high populations of underprivileged students. They identified sixteen effective practices.

Of the sixteen effective practices, high percentages of [educators] in at least twenty-two schools studied voluntarily identified the following effective practices as important: assessment; curriculum alignment; curriculum mapping and pacing; data analysis; intervention strategies; leadership and; student motivation. Of these, leadership was identified most often.

"A Study of Effective Practices in Virginia's Schools," Conducted by the Virginia Department of Education, November 2000

A CRISIS IN EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP

With relatively high percentages of English Language Learners (24.7% of enrollment) and students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals (76.3% of enrollment) -- two very difficult student demographics to effectively serve -- Banning USD has its work cut out for it. But are these demographic challenges a reasonable excuse for what looks like a laundry list of failures and under performance?

According to statistics published by the California Department of Education:

• For the last three years, Banning USD has been the second lowest performing unified school district in Riverside County.
• This year, Banning High School lost 27 points in the state Academic Performance Index (API), becoming the fifth lowest performing high school in Riverside County.
• Last year, Banning USD had a truancy rate of 43.4% -- four points higher than the County average and almost 19 points higher than the average rate for the state of California.
• Banning Unified's estimated dropout rate over the next four years will be between 40.8% and 47.2%, which is by far the highest dropout rate in Riverside County.
• 207 students dropped out in the 2004-05 school year, almost as many students as graduated; and this last year, 2006-07, our school district failed to meet the graduation target set by the federal government in No Child Left Behind.
• In the 2005-06 school year, only 27.3% of our students tested proficient in English/language arts and 33.2% were proficient in math. *We are still awaiting a complete report for the 2006-07 academic year, but no dramatic improvement is expected.
• While Banning administrators like to blame English Language Learners for the district's poor rankings and failure to meet its AYP goals, seven districts with higher ratios of ELL students have managed to outperform Banning USD.

It would feel good to say, "No one is to blame here..." But that wouldn't be true and it definitely wouldn't be leadership. Someone must stand up and demand better. Someone must be willing to speak the truth, to demand accountability, and step forward with a plan to effect positive change.

Progress can only begin when there is consistent oversight of administration staff by the school board. The rubber-stamp mentality of the incumbent board members has been a significant contributor to the present state of malaise and under-performance. Furthermore, we need a school board that's prepared to work hard with teachers and parents to develop substantive policy changes; and who are willing to ask the difficult, sometimes embarrassing, questions and endure the controversies that will come.

The two most important forces that determine whether a student succeeds or fails in public school are 1) the parents and 2) the classroom teachers. Under the current board and superintendent, parent concerns over school safety and student achievement are repeatedly dismissed. Furthermore, the unnecessarily prolonged and bitter contract negotiations with the teachers, earlier this year, severely damaged faculty morale, engendered mistrust and put the district at a competitive disadvantage with other school districts, as we try to recruit and retain highly qualified and effective teachers.

The crisis in leadership has led to a crisis in vision.

Because so much has been mismanaged for so long, we must re-imagine what can be done in Banning USD: Our students can succeed. Our campuses can be transformed into safe, dynamic, thrilling, intellectually stimulating communities of learning. We can educate all of our kids and teens. We don't have to follow the failed policies of our past or imitate the mediocre examples set by larger school districts. But to do this, we must have 1) a clearly stated vision that includes a philosophy of education and district management; 2) specific goals with time lines for reaching them; 3) systems for measuring progress that can equip educators and parents with "actionable intelligence;" 4) and an organizational ethos that encourages honest professional reflection and research-driven adaptation to the meeting of new challenges.

VISION AND PHILOSOPHY

My vision for Banning Unified begins with the individual student and the team of parents, teachers and administrators working in concert on that student's behalf. Their communication should be dynamic and facilitated through an online, standards-based gradebook program. Problems should be identified and interventions administered early; with careful attention given by educators to identifying effective and ineffective teaching methods. Student promotion should be attached to proficiency - in other words, students must master the grade level in which they're enrolled, before they're promoted to the next grade.

I see Banning Unified transforming itself from an organization that is centralized, hierarchical, bureaucratic, bloated and self-serving, to one that is lean, agile, decentralized and managed from the school site. This will require a superintendent and senior staff who are willing to "step down" from their pedestals of authority and work as practical facilitators, more as support staff than as "bosses" or department heads.

In this vision, the classroom is king. In addition to identifying effective and ineffective teaching methods, we need to make better use of our time with students and eliminate or reschedule programs that pull students from classes during normal school hours. We need to limit field trips, assemblies, pep rallies, and other outside-the-classroom activities.

THE PARTNERSHIP THAT REALLY MATTERS

To experience real success, we must empower parents and classroom teachers: the true collaborators in our children's education. All others are but supporting players.

Parents are essential to keeping their students in school and showing up on time, to getting their homework turned in and done well, to the maintenance of good discipline (on and off campus), to arriving at school prepared and ready to pay attention, to the development of their students' sense of self esteem and spirit of ambition. For these and many more reasons, parents are important. Therefore, parents must know that they will be listened to and shown respect.

Teachers matter for equally obvious reasons. Lesson plans, the classroom experience, the energy and creativity behind presentations, the pace of learning, the quality of campus life, the attention to detail, and many more elements are dependent upon the professional development and well being of our teachers. That means giving them the training, follow-up and resources needed to perform exceptionally. That also means valuing them through fair compensation, a professional workplace and personal respect. Furthermore, the school board should encourage a healthy, symbiotic relationship between administrators and teachers; in which teachers are held accountable by administrators and, in turn, administrators are held accountable by teachers.

MY GOALS AND HOW TO REACH THEM

Our goals need to be aggressive, even at the risk of seeming outlandish or "unrealistic." Again, we need to think in terms transformational leaps instead of incremental improvements on the margin. So let us endeavor to...

• Raise API (state assessment) scores above 900 at every school within four years.
• Achieve a proficiency rate of 90% of enrollment by 2012 - in every grade, district wide.
• To improve our test scores and improve student achievement, we must develop a district-wide, class-by-class assessment process to identify effective and ineffective teaching methods.
• Cut our high school dropout rate by half in two years; and cut it by 90% within four years.
• Cut truancy to 10% in one year.
• Develop an efficient and comprehensive planning process to improve how we manage, maintain and improve district assets. This should begin by taking a complete inventory of district needs, based on what it will take to function optimally as an educational institution. This report needs to be turned into the board no later than March of 2008.
• Develop an effective discipline policy at the middle and high schools. There must be no room for abusive behavior or language at any of our schools.

CORE VALUES

First, we must articulate the core values upon which we may expect to achieve excellence.

• Openness, honesty and transparency in every department, expressed by every employee, in every situation, to the furthest extent allowable under California law. The truth is not our enemy.
• We must value talent. To get the best educators, we need to compensate them fairly and respect them professionally.
• We must be an "Academics First" school district. Our singular purpose is to succeed as intellectual beings.
• State Education Code must be followed to the letter and spirit of its intent.
• We shall embrace state standards and the assessment process. Like mom told us about our spinach, it's good for us.
• No one person or group has the right to dictate terms to the other stakeholders within the district, everyone has the right to be heard and thoughtfully responded to by the school board and administration.
• Students have the right to be prepared for the grade-level in which they're placed. Therefore, we shall commit to proficiency-based promotion.
• Students have the right to attend safe schools that are warm, friendly, clean, well maintained and conducive to learning.

PHASE ONE: The Remainder of the 2007-08 Academic Year

1. Schedule a series of two or three special sessions of the school board to meet in January and February, to analyze Superintendent McNamara's effectiveness as chief administrator and whether she should remain at her post. Testimony should be taken from teachers, parents and members of the community; in addition, the board may benefit from third-party professional analyses. If it is determined that Dr. McNamara should be replaced, the decision needs to be made no later than March 1, 2008, so that we can begin the process of looking for a new superintendent at the earliest possible date.

2. Institute quarterly town hall meetings where parents, teachers and members of the community may dialogue with the school board and superintendent in a public forum.

3. Develop assessment protocols for identifying very effective and ineffective teaching practices in the classroom; which principals and teachers can use to improve the efficacy of the classroom experience.

4. Conduct a study of Banning Unified, the purpose being to identify teachers who have raised 90% or more of their students one full level (e.g., below basic to basic, basic to proficient, proficient to advanced), with an eye for recruitment into an experimental teacher mentoring program to begin the following school year.

5. Perform a district-wide analysis of time on task (i.e., minutes spent by students actively learning) in every classroom in the district. The goal being to maximize the time teachers have teaching and students have learning.

6. Implement a two-year moratorium on field trips. An exemption process should be provided, whereby the classroom teachers and principals involved would go before the school board and be required to justify field trips on grounds of educational merit.

7. Assess every program in the district for effectiveness in raising student achievement; and eliminate those that have no demonstrably significant impact on learning - moving resources to programs with a proven track record or toward the development of new programs.

8. Conduct an in-depth study of the dual-language immersion program, quantifying the program's successes and weaknesses, paying particular attention to the English skills of native-Spanish speaking students. A criticism of the program is that it does little to develop "academic English" skills in English Language Learners during the early grades. Based on the results of this study, we should adapt the program to correct this weakness, if indeed it exists.

9. Hire a grant-writing specialist with a track record in successfully applying for grant money for public school districts.

10. Develop a two- to four-hour class for training school-site councils, informing members of their duties, rights and authority under the law.

11. Plan for the implementation of a proficiency-based promotion policy to begin in the 2008-09 school year.

12. Assess current student discipline policies for effectiveness. Include in this study an assessment of the level of training teachers and administrators have in conflict resolution, inter-racial and inter-cultural communication, the prevention of misconduct, etc.

13. Plan and prepare for a kindergarten through eighth grade student uniform policy, to be implemented at the beginning of the 2008-09 school year.

14. Coordinate the creation of a Truancy Hot Line with the Banning Police Department, which will always be answered during school hours by a living, breathing person at the school district.

15. Amend the district bylaws to provide for the representatives from teachers association and classified employees union to sit alongside the members of the superintendent's "Cabinet" during meetings of the school board, to improve communication and improve school board decision making. I also believe that principals should be required to attend all school board meetings.

16. Select and prepare an internet-based gradebook program for the 2008-09 school year. The online gradebook will be made available to parents and students throughout the school year. In addition, I would like to see teachers, as a matter of district policy, post course syllabi on the internet at the beginning of each semester.

Special attention needs to be paid to the high school. In addition to the assessments listed above, we need to take a closer look at the causes behind Banning's very high dropout rate and extraordinarily low level of performance. My suggestion is that the school board hold a number of special study sessions, to be coordinated with the high school site council, senior administrative staff, teachers, parents and interested community members. These sessions should:

1. Examine the reasons why so many of our high school students leave school before graduating.

2. Develop strategies and interventions to prevent students from dropping out.

3. Create innovative methods of effectively delivering essential high school material.

4. Examine the viability of the schools-within-a-school model to enrich the student experience at Banning High. "Schools within a school" are small learning communities that integrate mandatory coursework into specialized fields, such as vocational and entrepreneurial studies, science and technology, performing arts, etc.

PHASE TWO: 2008-09 Academic Year

1. Implement the teacher-mentor program, based on assessments taken during the last half of the prior school year, limiting the program to a single school site, for the 2008-09 academic year. At year's end, assess and adjust the program, and plan to expand it to other school sites if it's proven useful.

2. Install computer terminals at every school-site office in the district, to be made available to parents for the purpose of accessing the online gradebook program.

3. Based on the results of our earlier study of the dual immersion program, we should take this year to plan for the conversion of one of our school sites into a Spanish-English dual immersion magnet school, serving students from kindergarten through the eighth grade.

4. Implement proficiency-based promotion at the third, sixth and eighth grades.

5. Implement the kindergarten-through-eighth-grade student uniform policy. Assess the policy's impact on discipline, social climate, learning, etc.

6. Continue to assess all programs for their educational usefulness.

7. Continue to assess classrooms for time on task, the efficacy of teaching practices and for identifying highly effective teachers. *These assessments need to be institutionalized into the management procedures of the district and conducted annually, at the very least; and if our district administration is working properly, the results of these studies should continue to improve.

8. Plan for the decentralization of district management, to begin over the summer of 2009. The goal being to create efficiencies by the elimination of artificial bureaucratic hierarchies, to cut redundant administration positions, to encourage professional and school-site autonomy wherever reasonably possible.

9. At the high school, open the first schools within a school and track the early results.

10. Implement additional reforms at the high school, which were a result of the prior year's study sessions.

PHASE THREE: 2009-10 Academic Year

1. Continue to improve and expand the teacher mentoring program.

2. Continue to assess classrooms for time on task, the efficacy of teaching practices and for identifying highly effective teachers.

3. Assess the proficiency-based promotion policy, paying close attention to how well our teachers align classroom evaluations with grade-level proficiency as determined by standardized tests.

4. Evaluate the kindergarten-through-eighth-grade uniform policy as to how it impacts discipline, student morale, school safety, social climate, etc.

5. Decentralization of district management should focus on de-bureaucratizing the district, cutting redundant administration positions and encouraging teacher and school-site autonomy wherever practicable.

6. Continue to implement and expand the reforms and enrichment programs at the high school (indicated above).

CONCLUSION

I have written this report in the hope that it may open a dialogue within the community and begin a process of honest self examination. There are reasons why Banning Unified is failing to teach so many of our students. At its core, I believe the problem is one of leadership. The current board members have shown repeatedly that they are disinclined to engage in a candid discussion of the facts; nor have they shown much interest in taking the necessary measures to turn the situation around.

To raise student achievement, we will have to embrace change at many levels. Parents will have to commit to being active participants in the education process. Teachers will have to commit to examining how they work. Administrators will have to commit to consulting parents and teachers in a deeper and more comprehensive way. Students will have to commit to new standards of excellence. School Board members will have to commit to getting results, even at the risk of being unpopular or facing ugly facts.

In no way do I think that I have all the answers. However, I do hope that there is enough substance here to get the discussion moving.

Mark Parker Candidate for Banning Unified School District Board of Trustees

Election Day is November 6, 2007

You may contact Mark by phone or email at:
951.205.1645 (direct) mdp215@gmail.com