NEA Resources

Virginia Schools Finding Success

With support, all schools can be excellent. That is the mantra behind the association’s Priority Schools Initiative where four Virginia pilot projects -- two elementary schools, a high school, and a school division -– have been chosen to receive association support. That support translates into training, resources, and expertise.

Low-Performing Schools Must Be Nation's Top Priority

The Opportunity to Excel, NEA's legislative guidebook for national policymakers, cites lifting up low-performing schools as the nation's top education priority.

Parents Are Paramount

While NEA, many school districts, and other organizations are working to create great public schools for every child, there is no single factor more important to student achievement than the day-to-day involvement of the child's parents and family.

Research indicates that the "family makes critical contributions to student achievement from pre-school through high school. A home environment that encourages learning is more important to student achievement than income, education level or cultural background."

For more information about the importance of parental involvement in education, practical guidance and materials for parents, and links to additional resources, please visit our Help for Parents section .

NEA President's Columns

Reversing a Shameful Retreat  During the 1990s, when tax revenues were rolling in and budget surpluses were piling up, every policymaker in America declared his or her unwavering support for education and children. The forces to improve education were on the march. But now the tide is turning and policymakers are retreating. NEA President Reg Weaver says it's time for everyone to become engaged in the political process. (May 14, 2003)

States of Crisis  NEA President Reg Weaver says state governments are "sailing into the perfect storm: plunging tax revenues, soaring health care expenses, and the exploding cost of federal mandates. As a result, states are facing budget deficits that are expected to reach $80 billion in the year ahead." (March 16, 2003)

The Zero-Percent Solution?  "If you want to discover the difference between superb public schools and struggling public schools, follow the money," says NEA President Reg Weaver. (January 26, 2003)

Promises, Promises  "When Washington proposed a revolution in America's national defense and homeland security, it backed up that proposal with tens of billions of dollars of new funding-and rightly so. But when Washington proposed a revolution in American public education, it did not back up that proposal with the same level of support." NEA President Reg Weaver says a strong defense and quality public schools are both essential to national security. (January 12, 2003)

From NEA Today

NEA has launched its Priority School Initiative, a long-term initiative to help struggling schools and close the student achievement gap. NEA Today, May 2001.

NEA Foundation Offers Grants

Through grants and other funding opportunities, the NEA Foundation supports a variety of efforts by teachers, education support professionals, and higher education faculty and staff to improve student learning in the nation's public schools, colleges, and universities.

Family-School-Community Partnerships Initiative

The National Education Association's Family-School-Community-Partnerships initiative supports and encourages collaborative efforts to improve student learning through the involvement and support of parents, families, and communities.

This program presents current research, theory, and state-of-the-art practice that will help to create and build partnerships in local communities. The training provides participants with strategies for developing and sustaining strong partnerships as well as developing the skills to make these partnerships succeed inclusive of racial, class, and cultural diversity.

Targeted Audience

The training is designed for Association members and staff, parents, and community members with an interest in or involved in planning or building family-school-community partnerships. Maximum effectiveness is achieved when training sessions include educators, parents, families, and community members together.

Training time

• 2 ½ days for entire program
• Can tailor training based on state or local needs

To Access Training

For more information contact:

Harry Lawson, Coordinator,
Family-School-Community Partnerships
National Education Association
Membership Organizing/Urban Initiatives
Phone: (202) 822-7127
E-mail:  Harry Lawson 

Wyandotte High School

Kansas City School District
Kansas City, Kansas

The Challenges

Wyandotte High School, located near downtown Kansas City, Kansas, serves more than 1,100 students; more than 90 percent of whom are African-American and Hispanic. The school had the highest dropout rates and lowest reading scores in the Kansas City, Kansas, school district. The parent income level is the lowest in the entire state.

The School Environment

The high school is housed in an elaborate historic building with marble pillars, grand fireplaces and crystal chandeliers. "It's the most beautiful building you'll ever see. Up until about 20 years ago it had a rich tradition of being an excellent high school," says Dave Oland, a social studies teacher who has been at the high school for nine years. "But until four years ago, what was happening inside the building was masking the physical beauty: bloody fights between students, kids roaming the halls, students urinating on the building. It was awful. I kept thinking, 'If it's bad for me, what is it like for the kids?'"

Oland says the teaching conditions were just as bad as the physical conditions: "I barely made it through the first four years. There was no leadership, no direction, no vision, no support. It was an absolute nightmare," he says. "When I went to turn in my resignation before my fifth year, I found out we were getting a new principal. I decided to give him one year to help shape things up."

Actions to Improve

The first thing the principal did was implement a Zero Tolerance Tardy policy, which helped the teachers feel for the first time that they were in control. "We finally had a tool to do something," says Oland. Shortly after, the district and local Association-the National Education Association-Kansas City Kansas (NEA-KCK)-organized roundtables of parents, teachers, administrators and students to talk about implementing a school-wide reform program known as First Things First (developed by Philadelphia's Institute for Research and Reform in Education). Some 400 people were involved in discussions during this time. After consideration, it was decided that Wyandotte would be the first school in the district to implement this "building-by-building" program.

The program focuses on seven "critical features" which have proven to help students succeed in urban schools, including lowering the student-adult ratios to at least one adult for every 15 students during core instructional periods, with an emphasis on reading and math. Another feature involves keeping groups of students with the same teachers for at least two years, with a focus on high, fair and clear academic and behavioral standards.

During the initial year of planning, school staff and students decided to restructure the school, breaking it down into eight "communities." Each community-which consists of no more than 200 students and eight to 10 teachers-is based on a shared interest of students. For example, school "learning communities" include health/medicine, the humanities, performing arts and visual arts and technology. Students remain in communities with largely the same teachers throughout their high school years. "There were so many kids falling through the cracks before we implemented this," says Oland. "Now school is based on what the staff calls 'the one true thing'-relationships. The students feel like they are part of a family."

Subsequently, all schools in the district spent at least one year conducting research and planning, and are in various stages of program implementation. Each school's approach to the reform effort is based on that school's specific needs.

Association Involvement

From the beginning, the local Association was an equal partner in the reform effort. NEA-KC helps coordinate the program by sitting with district administrators on the District Leadership Team. This team keeps the program on track by identifying potential problems, collaborating on solutions and providing staff and resource development.

Both the Association and district also collaborate in a "Teaching and Learning Committee," which is composed of 12 members and 12 administrators. The committee's purpose is to research and identify best practices in urban education and learning, as well as develop and implement a framework for training all staff members in its findings. This training takes place through the district's Teaching and Learning Academy, which provides all staff with at least one day per month of training.

Biggest Successes

In the beginning of the reform effort, teachers and administrators developed three objectives: higher student achievement, a lower dropout rate and improved attendance. As of the 2000-01 school year, student achievement was on the rise, the dropout rate was down more than 20 percent, ninth-grade attendance increased by nearly 15 percent and suspensions of ninth-graders dropped by 40 percent.

"I'm so glad I stuck through the hard times," says Oland. "I wasn't happy about the reform. In fact, I was probably the most outspoken critic. I went from teaching upper-classmen to teaching back-to-back 90-minute classes of freshmen. I think the change hit me harder than most."

Oland now says he, along with the students, is thriving: "We are definitely cutting-edge; we're thinking way out of the box and it's having a huge impact on our students," he says. "We're doing real reform here. The energy and excitement is in the air-everybody feels it."

NEA Program Spurs Success at Virginia Schools

With support, all schools can be excellent. That is the mantra behind the association’s Priority Schools Initiative where four Virginia pilot projects -- two elementary schools, a high school, and a school division -– have been chosen to receive association support. That support translates into training, resources, and expertise.

With funding from NEA to effect change in these pilot projects, the schools and the association signed three-year contracts. As the end of the second year approached with the end of the 2004 school year, the Virginia Education Association's VEA News reviewed how the project schools are doing so far and what can be learned from their experiences.

VEA News found that all have succeeded in raising student test scores on Virginia's comprehensive "Standards of Learning" exams. Read about these success stories at:

• Rocky Gap Elementary School
• Fairfield Court Elementary School
• Amherst Middle School
• Lake Taylor High School

Lake Taylor High Gains Full Accreditation

Students Help Make 'Priority' Efforts Pay Off

When your principal interrupts a pep rally to announce that your school has become fully accredited  -- and the students break into sustained applause -- you know you have student buy-in.

That's what Norfolk's Lake Taylor High School principal Dr. Noah Rogers did this fall as soon as he was notified that the school had moved off the "accredited with warning list" to "fully accredited." He knew his students would want to know as soon as possible because they have been very much a part of the team that made it happen.

Lake Taylor has special challenges. It is one of five high schools in Norfolk and the only one that is not a neighborhood school: which translates into it being difficult for students to participate in after school activities and difficult for parents to get to school. Almost 60 percent of the students qualify for free or reduced price lunch. 73 percent of its students are minority. About 40 percent of its entering students read below a sixth grade level.

So when the Virginia Beach Education Association asked if they wanted to participate, faculty and administration said yes. And when Lake Taylor signed on as an association Priority School, one of the first things principal Rogers, as he met with each class once a month as is his custom, asked was, "What do you need to make this work?"

Science department chair Deena Johnson, a seventh year teacher, asked to transfer to Lake Taylor four years ago. She explains that prior to becoming a Priority School, the faculty at her school knew they were working hard, but had questions about whether they were "working smart." They trusted their principal when he asked them to join in the Priority School effort.

School adopts CARE approach to learning

Johnson explains that the different approach to learning that Dr. Belinda Williams of the Priority Schools Initiative has brought to Lake Taylor is based on the CARE framework: Culture, Ability, Resilience and Effort. What that translates into is one size does not fit all. Rather than looking at a situation with a right or wrong answer, teachers were urged to applaud effort, to re-work problems and change or add on to their own methods.

Working as teams within subject areas, teachers focused on matching teaching strategies with the students being taught. Those teams formulated plans of action for themselves and decided which activities were appropriate. They created common lesson plans finely honed as far as identifying "barrier words." That team approach was not immediately welcomed by all, Johnson admits, "but when teachers discovered the strengths and resources available through team work, they were delighted."

In addition to an emphasis on professional development, the Priority Schools Initiative, working in tandem with Norfolk-based programs, enabled significant community outreach. Students are offered Saturday morning acceleration classes. At first, eighty students came. By the end of the year, more than two hundred came. Chick-Fil-A restaurants provide breakfast and now two buses make early Saturday morning stops to pick up students. Part of the Saturday morning is academic study. Some of it is test-taking strategy. Some of it is inspiration.

Team embraces 'community outreach' -- literally

The Lake Taylor team not only brings the student community in for extra work both on Saturdays and after school, but goes into the community to reach those parents -– many of whom live in housing projects -– to help them understand what graduation requirements are, what their children need to do and how the parents can help.

Johnson reports that the tone of conversations around Lake Taylor has changed. The words have changed. Negativity is not welcomed. Where the students may have had low expectations of themselves, they now have high expectations. And Johnson, relying on the CARE framework, points out that she and her colleagues "must build a bridge to get them from where they were to where they're going."

Johnson admits readily that it's hard work. And that's just fine with her and her colleagues.

Thousands of Schools are Meeting Challenges

Working with parents and communities, NEA members and school officials in countless thousands of schools and districts throughout the country are meeting the challenges and making their schools places where students are learning. The following are just a few examples that demonstrate that careful planning, ongoing assessment, adequate resources and lots of long-term commitment can pay off.

Wyandotte High School

Kansas City School District
Kansas City, Kansas
Wyandotte High School, located near downtown Kansas City, Kansas, serves more than 1,100 students; more than 90 percent of whom are African-American and Hispanic. The school had the highest dropout rates and lowest reading scores in the Kansas City, Kansas, school district. The parent income level is the lowest in the entire state. But they're changing all that.

Pinellas County, Florida

Skyview Elementary School (Pinellas Park)
Azalea Elementary School (St. Petersburg)
Azalea and Skyview Elementary Schools are two of 172 schools in Pinellas County, Florida, where 74 percent of students qualify for free and reduced lunches and there is a 52 percent mobility factor. Skyview, which receives federal Title I funds earmarked for students in disadvantaged communities, was ranked a 'D' as a result of low standardized test scores under the statewide policy that issues performance grades to its schools. The school was under a desegregation order to keep racial diversity-only one-third of the students can be African-American. Many students are bused to and from neighboring schools. Azalea was ranked a 'C' by the state. Both schools changed direction and are now improving.

Edgewood Independent School District

San Antonio, Texas
Edgewood Independent School District, just west of downtown San Antonio, presently serves 12,000 K-12 students-nearly every student is eligible for free and reduced lunches. Edgewood's population is more than 95 percent Hispanic, and the annual per capita income is just over $5,000. Local property tax revenues are so low that more than 89 percent of the district's per-student funding comes from state and federal funds. Against long odds, Edgewood school officials, teachers parents, and community leaders are turning their schools around.

Around the country…

There are many more examples. For more information on the achievements of American schools and examples of success stories in specific states. That there are programs and strategies that are working underscores NEA members' conviction that with sufficient resources we can fulfill the American promise of quality public education for all.

Schools Find What Works for Their Students

Alabama

The Alabama Education Association working with the State Department of Education, gave teachers from seven priority schools training on how to close the achievement gap using strategies from the NEA's Priority School Learner Framework. As a result, six priority schools advanced to "Clear Status" while the other upgraded to "Caution." Because of Alabama’s initiatives, the State Department of Education changed its labeling. Schools are now classified as Priority, Watch or Clear.

North Carolina

In 2001, Allenbrook Elementary (a priority school in Charlotte) received a Priority Schools Initiative (PSI) Grant. This year, 76.3% of the school’s 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th grade students tested at or above grade level. The school’s principal declared the success was due in large part to PSI support.

Virginia

Teachers and students at Lake Taylor High, a predominantly African American school in Norfolk, launched their Priority Schools Initiative program with Saturday morning classes that began in February. During the three-hour long "SOL [state mandated Standards of Learning] Xcceleration and Empowerment Sessions," teams of teachers, volunteers, and students concentrated on test-taking strategies and study skills, as well as vocabulary, writing and reading exercises. Teachers collaborated to adjust their lesson plans to better meet the needs of students. Read an update on the progress of Lake Taylor High and three other Virginia schools that are taking advantage of NEA Priority Schools Initiative resources.

California

Under the current system, nearly half of California’s schools would be labeled low performing. To prevent that, California Teacher’s Association invited educators, administrators, education support professionals, and community members from priority schools to attend its Schools of Greatest Need Conference. Participants received in-depth training on the "cornerstones" of the NEA's Priority School Learner Framework. They also attended follow up meetings for additional help in turning their schools around. CTA also uses research from the Priority Schools Initiative to influence state legislators.

Florida

The Florida Education Association conducted two conferences to provide support, resources, and strategies to priority schools in its state. Through the Quality School Conference and Effective Leadership for Academic Achievement Conference, designed to assist 28 counties with schools rated "F" under Florida’s accountability law, the FEA provided information on how to use the research, methods, and strategies of NEA's Priority School Learner Framework.

Project Gives Focus to Enthusiastic Teachers

Efforts to Raise Math Scores Are Working

The MATH PAC (Parents, advisors and children) doesn't take full credit for Rocky Gap Elementary School in Bland County, VA, moving from being "consistently low" on math scores to being fully accredited. But they are the central team that led the way and keeps the focus.

With twenty teachers and some 300 students, Rocky Gap, setting two miles from West Virginia, is a rural school with an enthusiastic faculty. Its faculty said almost two years ago, when they were approached to be part of the association's Priority Schools Project that they sincerely wanted to move their students along in math. With the established "can do" attitude and the resources that come with being a Priority School, they have done just that. And, according to fourth grade teacher Carol Grim, "We have a lot to be happy and thankful about." 

As with all four projects, the Rocky Gap project kicked off with a 2002 summer session. When school personnel learned of the opportunity through Bland Education Association President Mary Oxley, they immediately welcomed the support. They got an agreement of support form the school board and put together a team that included the director of instruction, a parent, the school principal, two teachers and the UniServ director. That team attended the state kick off session where they planned their goals, formulated their budget and shared ideas and concerns and hopes with the other participating schools. And heard from some excellent state and national experts.

Trainer brought expertise, inspiration

They didn't hesitate to take advantage of those opportunities. The first visible project was a visit from a trainer the core team had heard at that initial get-together. They brought Dr. Laurence Martel in for a one-day faculty training -– open to the faculty of the entire school division -– and for a parent workshop that evening. "He inspired us beyond belief," Grim reports. She knows that numerous teachers have incorporated his ideas on how the brain responds into their teaching strategies.

And Dr. Martel's workshop signaled that while this would be a locally planned project, it would be well supported by the resources and expertise of the NEA, the VEA and local UniServ office.

The MATH-PAC began "meeting and eating and planning." as Grim recalls. Three teachers traveled across the state to a workshop in Williamsburg; the president of the North Carolina Education Association came in to do a workshop on children's activities with math; seventh graders planned and executed a math Olympics for younger students; a $3,000 math library is new, a math night was held for students and parents; a local college professor works with teachers on integrating techniques. Project after project jumped up as the initial enthusiasm bloomed into a sustained enthusiasm that extends well beyond the core group. Grim believes many of those activities came together because of the newfound focus.

Principal is 'more pleased than I can tell you'

Assistant K-12 principal Vicky Spurgeon (who functions as principal of Rocky Gap) affirms that being part of the Priority School project gave her faculty the needed focus. She is "more pleased than I can tell you" about the success of the project and the cooperation of all who are working on it. The physical education teacher was not expected to join in, she notes. But she did. And that's just one example.

"All the teachers immediately said 'yes' and were perfectly willing to spend the time needed," reports Spurgeon. "I think our community, faculty, and children can rise to any challenge the schools can give them. Because we're small, everyone knows everyone. That works to our advantage."

Her enthusiasm doesn't stop with her own school family. "Without the association support -– the instructional and professional development division and our UniServ director -– we could not have been nearly as successful."

They're Shedding 'Failing' Label
at Fairfield Court Elementary

'The best is yet to come,' Says Principal

Fairfield Court Elementary School is a small neighborhood pre-K-5 school in Richmond, Virginia. It pulls students from an inner city project and the surrounding area. Eighty five percent of its students come from homes below the poverty level. Ninety nine percent of its students are African American. It is "accredited with warning" under the state's Standards of Learning and it must offer students alternative schools under federal No Child Left Behind legislation.

Those are the realities but not the real story. For closing in on those realities is a case study in determination and spirit and focused support that could astound the naysayers and validate the believers.

When the stakeholders are convinced that challenge is a synonym for opportunity, the concomitant belief is that there is no excuse for low achievement. Buoyed by having made "significant gains" on SOL scores during the '02-'03 academic year, "The best is yet to come," explains principal Dr. Irene Williams. "They call us a failing school," she continues, "but we don't consider ourselves that way."

And being an association Priority School definitely plays a role in that progress as well as in that belief system. The Priority Schools Initiative has offered both support and financial and personal resources, Williams explains.

Focused professional development has played a major role. The faculty has had the opportunity to take a hard look at poverty -– both at what it is and what it isn't. They have participated in staff development on best practices, leadership, teaching techniques and classroom management. They have had access to the latest and best research in these areas. The master schedule now allows for grade level team planning.

Volunteers play key role in improvement

A renewed emphasis on resource teachers and volunteers has helped tremendously. Fairfield Court has a well-organized volunteer program of lunch buddies, tutors and mentors, thanks to groups like the VEA headquarters staff, St. Stephens Church and Astoria pals.

Acknowledging that these children come to school with issues that interfere with learning, the faculty now understands those issues better, Williams explains. Those issues are not an excuse; the expectations are always high. And faculty now has the human resources to help them translate that understanding into action. Williams explains that "We are now putting in more focused time on academics."

Williams is very pleased that Fairfield Court students love to come to school. One piece of evidence: 60–70 percent of third and fifth graders voluntarily come to school on Saturday for structured and focused instruction.

Instructional assistant and member of the School Planning and Management Team Clifton Graves adds that not only having access to outside experts, but meeting and talking with teachers from the other three Priority Schools projects has been very helpful. He has learned much, he believes, from the various VEA conferences and Priority Schools meetings he has attended. Faculty is happy, he reports, with the success they are seeing. He credits much of that success to Principal Williams.

Negativism is not tolerated

Williams considers her staff as a family. "Our teachers take it personally if the kids do not meet goals. My expectations are high. And the faculty's expectations are high. We have an extremely dedicated staff." She consistently encourages peer coaching, educational conversations, internalization of goals and professional working relationships. And negativism is not tolerated by her or by the faculty.

Graves seconds that. He believes the entire atmosphere of the school has improved. "Teachers are now working together. School-wide rules have improved the behavior situation. People coming in can see the difference."

Williams is well aware that lots of the Fairfield Court staff devote extended hours to their jobs, just as she does. "It can't be done in seven hours," she says, "and urban settings are not for everyone."

"Our goal is full accreditation from the state and flagship status in the city," says Williams. "Our expectation is that we will become fully accredited this year." Graves agrees with that attitude. "We have a wonderful team here. We're all working smarter. And we know that we'll be fully accredited."

Other Resources

NCES Offers Comprehensive 2001-2002 Public School Data

The National Center for Education Statistics maintains a comprehensive, annual, national statistical database of information concerning all public elementary and secondary schools (approximately 95,000) and school districts (approximately 17,000). The Public School and District locators allow users to retrieve information on public schools and districts. Data include address information and basic information on students, staff, finance, and 2000 Census data. Additionally, the "Build a Table" tool enables users to create customized tables of public school data for states, counties, districts and schools using data from multiple years.

State School Boards Group Studies Low-Performing Schools

The National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) will issue a report in October 2002 on low-performing schools across the country—Low Performing Schools: From Sanctions to Solutions.

ECS Provides Range of Resources

The Education Commission of the States School Improvement site provides information about low-performing schools and strategies that have been used to build and support capacity for improvement. ECS also provides policymakers and the public with the current status of how state policies match up with the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Additional resources include ECS publications and state plans.

What the Research Says

For 25 years, educational researcher Belinda Williams has studied the best ways to improve low-performing schools through her work at Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania. In an NEA Today interview, Ms. Williams contends that the strengths of students in high-poverty, low-performing schools should be defined "in terms of what they bring from their environment-what they know, what they do, and what they care about. Build learning around things they care about or that matter. That's the way to engage children who come from a different experience in the teaching and learning process."

She notes, "Research would suggest that to improve our neediest schools, there needs to be more than a superficial directive that says 'focus on teaching and learning.' How human beings learn has to be central to that focus on teaching and learning."

America's Top Education Priority

Lifting Up Low-Performing Schools

• The Problem
• The Solution
• Summary

The acid test of America's commitment to giving every child the opportunity to excel is what the Nation does about low-performing schools. Typically found in lower-income rural and urban communities with small property tax bases, these schools are usually plagued by poverty and the host of social ills that accompany it. Low-performing schools must become America's highest education priority.

Low-performing schools often reflect the communities they serve: left behind by economic prosperity and hit hardest in economic downturns. This section of the policy guidebook is about the federal government's responsibility to lift up the students of the low-performing schools found across America in blighted urban settings and isolated rural communities.

To begin, one should walk around a low-performing school and then travel to a school in a well-financed suburban school district. The differences will be starkly apparent. In the low-performing school, one is likely to find crumbling, out-of-date facilities; minimal use of technology; and many teachers with emergency credentials or teaching outside their area of expertise. In the suburban school, one is likely to find modern, well-maintained facilities, the latest technologies, up-to-date textbooks and certified teachers with ample experience.

The students of these low-performing schools deserve better. Many of these schools and their communities have already begun that process and would benefit greatly from the federal government making them and their students a much higher priority. They have learned that the basics can make a difference in their schools. That means more instructional time, aligned standards, parental involvement, more resources and training, instructional leadership and other steps designed to place the student first.

I. The Problem:
Gross Inequities in Resources and Outcomes

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A. Resources

The public schools' reliance on local taxes, most often the property tax, means that schools in high poverty communities have far fewer resources at their disposal than schools in middle- and upper-income areas. Ironically, they must do more with less, as they face greater challenges and must meet greater needs. While state funding of the public schools helps reduce these disparities, it rarely eliminates them. Federal funding through Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) does the most to bring low-performing schools in high-poverty areas up to the levels of other schools. But at current appropriation levels, it is still inadequate to meet the challenge.

Consider these facts:

The average local spending per pupil in high-poverty communities is about one-half the amount spent for students in low-poverty communities, according to an August 2000 U.S. Department of Education study looking at 1994-95 school revenues.¹

In real numbers, state funding reduces the disparity to 18 percent. Federal funding closes the gap further but not enough. The Department of Education study found that federal funding brought combined per pupil revenues up to $6,958 in schools with the lowest levels of poverty and up to $6,245 in schools with the highest levels of poverty -- still a more than 10 percent shortfall for those districts facing the greatest challenges.²

Thus, after federal spending is included, there is an overall funding difference of $713 per student. In a school of 500 students, that means the schools with the students most in need of assistance would have $356,500 less to spend without even factoring in additional contributions in more affluent communities. To add insult to injury, of those schools considered to be "in need of improvement" under Title I, only 40 percent have received any of the additional professional development or technical assistance needed and prescribed under Title I.³

These funding disparities have a direct impact on teacher salaries. In 1997-98, the average teacher salary in schools with the highest poverty levels was $35,115, compared with $40,839 in schools with the lowest poverty levels.⁴ This makes it extra hard for high-poverty schools to recruit and retain the best teachers, considering that the workplace environment is often much harsher and the challenges to effective teaching much greater.

Moreover, teachers in low-poverty schools have an average of two years more experience than teachers in low-performing, high-poverty schools, and they are more likely to have a Master's Degree. Students in high-poverty secondary schools are more likely to be taught a core subject by a teacher who had not majored or minored in the subject.⁵

Indeed, many of the best teachers in low-performing schools move on to "better" schools serving middle class students after a few years. Since society cannot, nor should not, try to force an individual teacher to stay in one school, incentives should be encouraged to keep these teachers where they are most needed. These incentives should include salary increases, but they also need to go far beyond. They should range from enhanced mentoring and professional development programs that assist teachers with the unique challenges they confront to modernized school buildings that demonstrate to both students and teachers the commitment of society to make public education work for all.

Unfortunately, it is clear that higher rates of poverty and overall lower school performance too often go hand in hand. The subsequent section only underlines that point.

B. Student performance

Given the problems in funding, retaining the best teachers and coping with a host of social ills that start outside the school system, it is little wonder that student performance lags in schools in areas of high poverty.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) documents these disparities. The following chart looks at the percentage of 12^th graders who are performing below basic skill levels in five subject areas. It compares overall student performance with that of students in Title I schools (schools with the highest levels of poverty) and with students who receive free or reduced-price lunches (also a strong measure of poverty).

This chart should not be misinterpreted. Not all low-income students are low performers; many excel. However, most low-performing schools are in low-income communities.

There are clear disparities in all subjects, though they are particularly glaring in math and science. However, the teachers in these schools do not need blame -- they need help. They are struggling with the fewest resources to teach those students who must leap the highest barriers on the way to excellence.

Fortunately, they are making progress. Student achievement in Title I schools is improving, much of it due to the 1994 ESEA reauthorization, which targeted Title I funds more directly to student achievement and accountability. As a result, the proportion of the schools with the highest poverty levels receiving Title I funds rose from 79 percent in 1993-94 to 96 percent in 1997-98.⁷

This had a positive impact on student performance. The percentage of fourth grade Title I students in 24 urban school districts scoring at or above the 25^th percentile in the NAEP increased from 41 percent to 56 percent in reading from 1994-95 to 1997-98, according to the Council of Great City Schools. In math, fourth graders scoring at or above the 25^th percentile rose from 49 percent to 59 percent. Eighth graders showed similar improvements: from 41 percent to 58 percent in reading and from 43 percent to 54 percent in math.⁸

Looking at average NAEP scores, fourth grade students in high-poverty schools improved from 180 to 188 in reading from 1992 to 1996, and from 208 to 217 in math during those same four years.⁹

This demonstrates that the right kind of reforms and additional resources can produce positive results, but much more must be done.

The recommendations that follow are designed to help achieve real turnaround.

II. The Solution: Lifting All Children Up

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Giving every child in a low-performing school the opportunity to excel requires a combination of substantial additional resources, reforms aimed at advancing student achievement in large part by empowering teachers and ensuring high quality, and raising standards and accountability. The National Education Association (NEA) believes that through full, and targeted, funding of Title I, school districts with low-performing schools can recruit, mentor, train and retain quality teachers; create turnaround teams for immediate improvements; and boost student achievement. It should be said, however, that these measures should be accompanied by the recommendations in the other four priority sections of this guidebook to fully realize success for all schools, especially low-performing schools.

A. Full funding of Title I

Title I works. It reaches the schools and classrooms that most need assistance in overcoming poverty's barriers to student achievement. Indeed, it is much more effectively targeted to students living in poverty than state aid. Unfortunately, Title I has never been fully funded. Current appropriation levels are only sufficient to provide assistance for one-third of the approximately 11 million eligible children. America is obligated to provide the resources that will empower teachers, principals and staff to get the job done. That means full funding of Title I -- to ensure educational opportunity for every poor child in America.

Title I funds are used for providing instruction, supporting the hiring of additional teachers and instructional aides, providing instructional materials and computers, and supporting other instructional services and resources. In fact, the share of funds used for instruction is greater for Title I (77 percent) than for school district expenditures overall (62 percent). Title I teachers spend two-thirds of their time working with students, and another 20 percent of the time, they prepare for class and grade student work.

Title I also extends learning time in districts and schools that need it most. Two-thirds of all schools are able to offer extended-time instructional or tutorial programs during the school year through before-school, after-school or weekend programs.

In fiscal year 2000, Title I grants to local school districts totaled $7.94 billion. In fiscal year 2001, they increased only modestly by 8.3 percent to $8.6 billion. Full funding for these grants would require an increase of $15.4 billion.¹⁰

To those who question whether America can afford this additional investment, NEA asks how the Nation can afford not to -- in effect, slamming the door of opportunity shut in the face of millions of children. America can afford the additional investment first because it is a moral imperative; second, because of the return it would earn, millions more children receiving a world-class education and the preparation they need for the jobs of the 21^st century; and third, because of the $2 trillion non-Social Security surplus. If policymakers feel the need to phase in full funding over five years, then so be it, but America can afford to do no less.

B. Excellence for All Investments Initiative

The National Education Association recommends full funding of Title I with a proportion of the new funds provided to the states under the Excellence for All Investments Initiative.

This new initiative would provide the states and local school districts the flexibility they need to do their job as they see fit. Within the parameters of ensuring that the funds help educate low-income children in the best possible way, states and school districts would retain control. The federal government would play its historic and appropriate role in providing them with a helping hand and the mechanisms to ensure success.

1. Accountability

As with any investment, the American people have a right to know that they are getting a good return on their tax dollars. Low-performing schools receiving the assistance they need to improve student performance must then demonstrate that their students are achieving at higher levels. But here again, the focus must not be on blame or punishment, but on getting results. What matters is the outcome: that all students have a full and equal opportunity to excel.

To that end, the National Education Association recommends two strong accountability measures as part of the Excellence for All Investments Initiative.

First Accountability Measure: Technical assistance to align goals, standards, curricula, professional development and assessments, and to develop multiple measures of progress

Too often, single, high-stakes tests are imposed on schools and students, with funding riding on the test scores. There are three fundamental problems with this increasingly common "accountability" mechanism:

• It is done without coordinating curriculum and professional development with assessment. Often, the tests do not measure what the students have been learning; other times, they are designed without adequate consideration of what and how the students should be learning. There must be adequate resources for technical assistance to align the curriculum with the standards set and the testing mechanisms adopted.

• A single test, no matter how well designed, is not an adequate way to measure the multitude of ways in which students learn and express what they have learned.

• Often, single tests are designed more for simplicity of scoring than for the way in which they measure the lifelong learning skills students will need as adults in the 21^st century workforce. Placing multiple-choice regurgitation of facts over problem-solving and critical thinking does students no service.

While these issues are addressed in the chapter on Standards and Accountability, they are also addressed here because they affect low-performing schools so acutely.

Thus, Excellence for All Investments could be used by states, school districts and individual schools for technical assistance to help fully align tests with the appropriate goals for student learning, and to help fully align curricula and professional development with the tests. They could also be used to help states redesign their tests, or craft tests measuring the different ways students learn, in order to more accurately measure how well low-performing schools and their students are doing.

Second Accountability Measure: Standards for continued student improvement

Using the previous three years before receiving Excellence for All Investments as a baseline, schools receiving assistance under this initiative will be expected to show improvement in student performance over a sustained period. This should be measured through multiple tools of assessment with guidelines developed jointly between the states and the U.S. Department of Education. If these improvements are not forthcoming, school districts and/or states would be empowered to investigate further into the reasons why. If a determination is made that the school needs new investments, they would be available as additional resources under the Excellence for All Investments Initiative. If these schools show continual improvement over a three to five year period, they would be empowered to set their own accountability standards for the future, to which they would then be held. Moreover, it would not be enough to show overall student improvement. Schools would also need to show improvement in various subset groups such as race, gender and socioeconomic status.

The focus must be on turning each low-performing school around until every single one is a high-performing school for all students.

2. State preconditions

In order to receive funds under the Excellence for All Investments Initiative, states would have to meet certain reasonable preconditions to ensure the maximum benefit to students. States must:

• Maintain all other efforts: Excellence for All Investments must not supplant any existing federal, state or local education funding, including other Title I funds.

• Use funds exclusively for Title I Schools, targeting low-performing schools: high-poverty, high-need schools where student performance lags behind other schools.

• Target middle and high schools more than current Title I funds do. Only 15 percent of current Title I appropriations go to secondary schools,¹¹ yet U.S. student performance declines as they reach higher grades.

States would primarily distribute Excellence for All Investments to local school districts for use by low-performing schools. States could send some funds directly to these schools if they chose. States could also use a portion of the funds for statewide initiatives designed to improve student performance, such as recruiting and retaining quality teachers and principals for impacted schools.

3. School preconditions

In order to receive Excellence for All Investments from their state or local school district, low-performing schools would have to meet certain reasonable preconditions. They must:

• Develop and start implementing a school-wide improvement plan with clear goals for raising student performance and effective strategies for achieving them. Schools can use Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration Program grants for improvement plans and Excellence for All Investments could supplement them. If necessary, there could also be exemptions for rural/small schools where paperwork requirements could be more onerous to tackle.

• Ensure that 100 percent of their teachers are fully certified or implement a plan to reach this goal within three years.

• Implement professional development programs tailored to the needs of their teachers, in which teachers are central to the programs' planning and delivery. "One-size-fits-all" professional development imposed from levels of oversight far removed from the classroom does not improve teacher quality. Efforts that are customized to address each teacher's unique needs and that are designed and implemented by current or former teachers do the most to raise teacher performance. Moreover, professional development should be embedded in the jobs of all teachers and paraprofessionals, with time for training, planning with colleagues and reflecting on practice. And as noted earlier, it should be aligned with standards and assessments.

4. Assistance

States, school districts and low-performing schools would have enormous flexibility in determining how to use Excellence for All Investments. They could use the funds for any or all of three broad areas: student achievement, quality teacher recruitment and retention and teacher/parent/community partnerships. Within these areas, the investments must fund activities that have either been proven to raise student performance or show promise and potential in doing so. This approach gives school districts and schools the power to identify and meet their unique needs within a context that will help maximize their success.

a. Student achievement

The types of efforts to be funded through the Excellence for All Investments Initiative in this category could include many of the following programs, but this guidebook should not be interpreted as indicating one of these programs as the sole solution or encouraging the creation of wholly new programs where proven, existing ones are available:

• Technical assistance by statewide "Turnaround Teams" of teachers and education employees experienced in raising student achievement at low-performing schools. Excellence for All Investments could be used at the state level to create and train these Turnaround Teams, and at the local level to bring these Teams into low-performing schools for a period of two to three years. One potential model is the North Carolina ABC Improvement Program, under which "assistance teams" are dispatched to high-need schools. They work closely with staff to provide professional development and mentoring for teachers, implement school improvement programs and generate additional resources needed. In its very first year, the ABC Program helped turn around 14 of 15 elementary schools from "low-performing" to "exemplary." In just three years, this initiative helped reduce the number of North Carolina schools classified as "low-performing" from 7.5 percent of all schools to just 0.7 percent.

• Class size reductions. As noted in the chapter on school modernization, smaller class sizes, especially at the elementary school level, are proven to have a positive effect on student achievement not only during the school year in which the students have smaller classes but throughout the remainder of their education. Studies ranging from Tennessee's STAR Project to California's statewide class reduction program to Wisconsin's Student Achievement Guarantee in Education (SAGE) program all show that students benefit from smaller classes, especially low-income and minority students. Low-performing schools could combine these funds with any funds received through the Class Size Reduction Initiative to bolster their efforts to ensure their students receive individualized attention from their teachers. NEA continues to support class size reduction efforts and calls for completion of the goal of 100,000 new teachers.

• Extended learning time. For many low-performing school students, the school day is not long enough to learn what they need to know and gain the skills required to achieve at high levels. Before- and after-school tutorials can bridge the gap, providing struggling students the time and attention they need. They have the added benefit of giving students whose parents may not be home when the school day ends something productive and safe to do. This could be achieved by expanding the 21^st Century Learning Centers program.

• Technological advancement and teacher training. Due to their lack of funding, many low-performing schools do not have the most effective teaching technologies commonly used by schools in middle-class suburban communities. This problem is exacerbated by the "digital divide," as students in low-performing schools are less likely than their peers to have computers and Internet access at home. They need both at school more than any other group of students. Consequently, Excellence for All Investments could finance the introduction of everything from computers and Internet access to new science lab technologies; from improvements in libraries and media centers to better audio/visual equipment. These steps are all the more valuable for low-performing schools because the use of technology is often a strong motivator for otherwise disengaged students. However, there must be one prerequisite to receiving this assistance: that teachers and paraprofessionals be trained in how to best use the new technologies. Of course, the Excellence for All Investments Initiative can fund this training as well as the technologies themselves.

b. Quality teacher recruitment and retention

Perhaps the largest single barrier to consistently improving student performance in low-performing schools is their inability to attract and retain quality, experienced teachers. With salaries lower than average and working conditions much tougher than average, this should come as no surprise. However, it must change if all students are to have an opportunity to excel. In particular, schools need to cultivate teams of quality, experienced teachers who are in it for the long haul. This requires a combination of the right incentives, dramatic improvements in the workplace environment and teacher empowerment to unleash their talents in pursuit of their calling: high student achievement.

The types of initiatives to be funded through the Excellence for All Investments Initiative in this category could include:

• Professional development and mentoring programs. In low-performing schools, one finds some of the greatest turnover of teaching staff. The schools are more likely to have newer teachers and teachers with emergency credentials and/or teachers instructing in areas outside of their training. In addition, these schools have conditions that are some of the most challenging in the Nation. As a result, these teachers and paraprofessionals need as much training and guidance as can be provided. Excellence for All Investments could be used to access, create or enhance professional development. In addition, the funds should be used to access the mentoring programs discussed in the section on teacher quality in this guidebook.

• Loan forgiveness for teachers after five years of service in a low-performing school. This is an important financial incentive that means much to teachers. Unlike other professions, where high salaries provide the means to pay back loans for graduate and professional school, teachers often struggle with their loan payments. Some 27 states currently offer some form of loan forgiveness or scholarship programs, serving more than 28,000 teachers, according to Education Week. However, in only 10 states are they targeted at "hard-to-staff schools." Excellence for All Investments could be used to strengthen these programs and focus them more directly on low-performing schools, as well as to help other states start their own initiatives. Loan forgiveness will work in attracting quality teachers to these schools and the five year requirement will keep them there.

• Tuition and stipend for teaching as a second career. A great potential pool of new needed teachers lies with those who have started their careers in other fields but who find themselves seeking the unique professional fulfillment that comes from helping students learn. The Excellence for All Investments Initiative could help pay tuition and a stipend for people currently in the workforce to get their teaching degree and certification, in exchange for teaching at a low-performing school for a minimum of five years.

• Paraprofessional-to-teacher program. Teachers' aides and other paraprofessionals are another enormous potential talent pool for the quality teachers of the future. They know exactly what it is like in the classroom. Thus, those choosing a teaching career usually teach for the rest of their professional lives, compared with the high percentage of new teachers directly out of college who leave the field within five years. Moreover, paraprofessionals are more likely to be minorities than many other groups of prospective teachers, thus providing an important way to increase teaching diversity in schools serving largely minority populations. Excellence for All Investments could be used to pay their tuition to get the degree and certification they need, in exchange for teaching at a low-performing school for five years. Loan forgiveness could be used as an alternative to direct grants.

• Low-performing school bonus program. Excellence for All Investments could be used to pay salary bonuses in these schools, providing a very important financial incentive for quality teachers and staff to come to and stay where they are needed the most. Funds could be used to start bonus programs or to strengthen existing programs. This recognizes that low-performing schools usually require educators to work longer hours, confront very challenging situations and, if properly trained, spend more time in professional development.

c. Teacher/parent/community partnerships

Parents (and other community stakeholders), students and teachers form the three sides of the education triangle. When all three are working in tandem toward the same goal, anything is possible. Indeed, both research and hands-on experience makes clear that strong parental involvement is a prerequisite for successful schools. Broader community support can provide an additional critical difference in resources, volunteers and the overall school environment.

Parental and community support are often problematic in low-performing schools due to the challenges of poverty and economic deprivation. Parents are struggling just to find jobs or make ends meet. The surrounding community rarely has substantial resources to commit to the schools either. But with a significant effort from the school, this situation can be turned around for the better.

The types of initiatives to be funded under the Excellence for All Investments Initiative in this category could include:

• Summer planning and training institutes. How often do teachers, school staff, principals and parents get together to plan for the upcoming school year? Not often enough. It would be invaluable for teachers to spend three weeks in the summer developing the next year's curricula and school-wide programs, coordinating efforts (so all teachers in the same grade teach the same basic skills), receiving needed training, organizing parental contributions and gaining complete "buy-in" by all parties. In fact, these institutes could make the greatest difference of all in turning low-performing schools around. Excellence for All Investments could be used by school districts or individual schools to pay for a portion or all of the expenses associated with summer planning and training institutes, including teacher and staff salaries for the three-week period.

• Parental education and involvement. This is a broad category and low-performing schools should receive resources to focus on any or all areas where they see the greatest needs. These are important areas indeed, but funds should be directed at assisting school-based programs as opposed to creating federal level programs in this area. For example, assistance could be provided for:

  • Skills workshops for parents, so they can better help their children learn to read, add and subtract, and gain other skills;
  • Parental classroom volunteer programs;
  • Encouraging parental volunteerism in other areas;
  • English lessons and other forms of special outreach for the non-English-speaking parents of schoolchildren; and
  • A more organized, comprehensive program of parental outreach.

• Community partnerships. One need not have a child in the local public schools to have a stake in their success. In every community in America, home values, quality of life, the local economy and even public safety all depend on the public schools. Excellence for All Investments could be used by schools to forge partnerships with local businesses, congregations, civic leaders and neighborhood groups to generate financial support, volunteers, mentors and tutors, and other forms of support that will benefit children.

• School-linked comprehensive services for children and families. A rapidly growing number of schools in high-poverty areas are placing health, family, children's and other social services directly on-site. This has many advantages. First, it better enables the school to overcome the out-of-school hurdles that may be standing in the way of high student achievement. Second, because public schools are community centers by nature, it provides a central and more effective point to help families address problems in a comprehensive and collaborative way. The Excellence for All Investments Initiative could help schools start or expand these school-linked services, in conjunction with Title XI of ESEA. Again, this would keep them school-based and not create federal-level programs.

The National Education Association strongly believes that with full funding of Title I and the Excellence for All Investments Initiative, low-performing schools would be made the priority they should be. They would finally start receiving the resources they need in the ways that will make the greatest positive difference in the lives of their students, and they would be held accountable for the outcome. Student achievement will rise as a result.

III. Summary of NEA's
Low-Performing Schools Recommendations

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To ensure that no child is left behind, America must make the challenge of fixing the Nation's low-performing schools its top priority. Located primarily in low-income rural and urban communities, these schools suffer from inadequate resources and substandard outcomes for students. They are particularly burdened by the fact that Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the primary vehicle for closing the achievement gap between lower-income and other students, is funded at just one-third of its full level. Low-performing schools need immediate and dramatic assistance to lift them up to the high-performance institutions every school should be.

The good news is that this process is occurring in many previously low-performing schools. But the federal government, in partnership with states and school districts, must take the lead in making it universal.

The National Education Association recommends that the 107^th Congress and President Bush fully fund Title I, with targeted assistance provided to the states under a new Excellence for All Investments Initiative.

Excellence for All Investments would provide the states and local school districts the flexibility they need to lift up low-performing schools as they see fit.

To guarantee accountability, the initiative would:

• Provide technical assistance to align goals, standards, curricula, professional development and assessments and to develop multiple measures of progress.

• Ensure strong standards of continual student improvement.

To raise student performance, states would have enormous flexibility to use the Excellence for All Investments Initiative in three major categories:

• Student Achievement. Excellence for All Investments could be used to:

  • Provide technical assistance by statewide "Turnaround Teams" of teachers and education employees experienced in raising student achievement at low-performing schools.

  • Reduce class size (in combination with the Class Size Reduction Initiative).

  • Extend learning time for students who need more than the traditional school day to perform at high levels.

  • Make technological advancements and train teachers in their use.

• Quality teacher recruitment and retention. Excellence for All Investments could be used to:

  • Implement professional development and mentoring programs

  • Provide loan forgiveness for teachers after five years of service in a low-performing school.

  • Pay tuition and a stipend for professionals choosing teaching as a second career and then teaching at a low-performing school for five years.

  • Offer bonuses for teachers and staff at low-performing schools.

• Teacher/parent/community partnerships. Excellence for All Investments could be used to:

  • Establish summer planning and training institutes where teachers, principals, staff and parents would develop curricula and programs for the upcoming school year.

  • Implement parental education, outreach and involvement programs.

  • Build community partnerships to strengthen public schools through the involvement of businesses, congregations, civic leaders and neighborhood groups.

  • Strengthen school-linked comprehensive services for families.

Copyright © February 2001 by the National Education Association
All Rights Reserved

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¹U.S. Department of Education, "Study of Educational Resources and Federal Funding: Final Report," August 11, 2000, p. xii.

² U.S. Department of Education, "Study of Educational Resources and Federal Funding: Final Report," August 11, 2000, p. xii.

³U.S. Department of Education, "Title I Accountability: Guidance on the $225 Million Fiscal Year 2001 Appropriation for School Improvement," January 2001.

⁴U.S. Department of Education, "Study of Educational Resources and Federal Funding: Final Report," August 11, 2000, p. xx.

⁵U.S. Department of Education, "The Condition of Education," 2000.

⁶National Assessment of Educational Progress (1998 results for reading, writing and civics; 1996 results for math and science).

⁷U.S. Department of Education, "Study of Educational Resources and Federal Funding: Final Report," August 11, 2000, p. xiv.

⁸Council of Great City Schools, "Reforms and Results: An Analysis of Title I in the Great City Schools" -- as cited in Committee for Education Funding, "Education Budget Alert for Fiscal Year 2001," 2000, p. 23.

⁹U.S. Department of Education, "Final Report of National Assessment of Title I," 1999.

¹⁰ U.S. Department of Education, "Study of Education Resources and Federal Funding: Final Report," August 11, 2000, pp. 25-26.

¹¹U.S. Department of Education, "Study of Educational Resources and Federal Funding: Final Report," August 11, 2000, p. xvi.

Pinellas County, Florida

Skyview Elementary School (Pinellas Park)
Azalea Elementary School (St. Petersburg)

The Challenges

Azalea and Skyview Elementary Schools are two of 172 schools in Pinellas County, Florida, where 74 percent of students qualify for free and reduced lunches and there is a 52 percent mobility factor. Skyview, which receives federal Title I funds earmarked for students in disadvantaged communities, was ranked a 'D' as a result of low standardized test scores and a statewide policy that issues performance grades to its schools. The school was under a desegregation order to keep racial diversity-only one-third of the students can be African-American. Many students are bused to and from neighboring schools. Azalea was ranked a 'C' by the state.

The School Environments

Most Azalea and Skyview parents lack higher education and many work two or three low-paying jobs. At Skyview, recent statewide tests showed only one-third of the school's kindergartners knew more than ten letters of the alphabet-not surprising when parents lack the skills, time and energy to engage their children, says Achievement Specialist Jana Maples. "It's not a community that values education as much as we'd like them to," she says. "They have a lot of personal struggles and obstacles they are trying desperately to overcome."

Actions to Improve

After the district and the Association began bargaining collaboratively to improve their schools in the early 1990s, the Pinellas County school district received a Saturn Partnership Award from the National Education Association in 1997.

Azalea

Azalea was one of the first schools in the district to approach and accept the Baldrige method. In one year, all the school's staff members, including support staff, were trained in the Malcolm Baldrige National Criteria for Performance Excellence, adopted by many American businesses looking to sharpen their competitive edge in a global economy.

"Originally, only 12 of us were trained, and we started implementing some of the theories in our teaching on a small scale," says Lisa Bigham, a first-grade teacher. "A lot of our teachers were opposed to the method, but I think the turnaround point was when our principal, Brenda Clark, made a presentation to staff about student performance. The students who were in the classrooms of those of us that had gone through the initial training were far outperforming the other students. It was amazing. At that point, all the teachers wanted to jump on board."

The Baldrige Method is based on quality principles and student data to drive high student achievement. For example: teachers guide students in setting their own individual goals in reading, writing, math and behavior and action plans for how to achieve those goals. The goals are then reassessed using testing data.

Students also create their own classroom rules and mission statements-even first-graders. "If you ask any one of my students who is responsible for their learning, they will answer, 'I am,'" says Dolores Chipelo, a first-grade teacher. "Before we started this quality approach, I would ask kids to draw me a picture of who was responsible for their learning. They would draw their parents and me, but not themselves."

Parents are communicated with on a daily basis and are expected to develop action plans detailing how they will help their children succeed. "Parent information is not an open house," adds Chipelo. "It is a continual process, an everyday reality."

Skyview

When Principal Carolyn Sinclair started at Skyview six years ago, she implemented more on-site opportunities for professional growth and also put into place a school-wide training philosophy: every staff member helps raise student achievement, so every staff member will be trained. In the first four years of the plan, all Skyview staff, including support professionals, went through six different training sessions, each four-to-six weeks in length. Topics include: guided reading, guided writing, quality training, process writing and more.

Like the staff at Azalea, Skyview teachers work in partnership with their students to create teaching and learning goals-one of the most fundamental pieces of the Malcolm Baldrige program. "We used to hide the grade-book from kids," says Skyview's Maples. "Now they ask to see it. Every day, we show them how they are earning their grades and work together to set new goals. It is so much more effective, and the kids love being a part of the process."

Because Skyview classes were overcrowded, four years ago the school used some of its Title I funds to hire another full-time teacher, as well as several hourly reading teachers. One of the school's top goals is that children have a reading group daily.

Association Involvement

Because of the change in bargaining due to the NEA grant, the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association (PCTA) and the Pinellas Educational Support Professionals Association (PESPA) are vocal partners in the district reform efforts-assisting in many aspects. PCTA boasts one of the highest numbers of Nationally Board Certified teachers in the country, and last year the local had a 50 percent success rate in electing recommended candidates. "If we can impact reform efforts and get more support for public education at the political level, we'll be in great shape in years to come," says Maples.

Biggest Successes

Azalea

"I think if we were still doing things the way we used to do them, we would have the potential to be low-performing," says Chipelo. "Between the low socioeconomic levels of our community, and teachers who were not engaged, it would have been inevitable. I'm convinced that implementing this reform saved our school."

Azalea continues to perform at or above state standards-much higher than in any years past. They also benchmark their performance against other schools, and continually show a greater increase in scores than those they benchmark against. Because of their success, last year Azalea received the "Sterling Award"—the state's Malcolm Baldrige award.

Skyview

Skyview went from a 'D' school to a 'C' school-something the entire school community is thrilled with. "I know to outsiders it may seem like we should be making more progress, but the progress we've made has been substantial," says Maples. "I once heard that you can't expect to have any kind of lasting reform in less than three years. I now know that's true."

The school is also finding success with a new parent-outreach program. "We're still having a hard time getting parents at trainings, but they do come for the pizza parties and student performances," says Maples.

Teachers now travel to satellite zones-bus stops in the community-to meet parents for parent-teacher conferences. Because of this, more than 80 percent of parents participated in conferences last year. "That's a record figure for us," says Maples. "It's a totally different story when we go to the parents instead of expecting them to come to us."

NEA's Priority Schools Initiative

The NEA Priority Schools Initiative addresses the needs of students and school employees in America's lowest-performing schools by directing resources to transform them into academically challenging and stimulating learning environments for our nation's children. To make a difference, the NEA tailors its interventions to meet the individual needs of children and staff in a particular school.

NEA addresses the needs of students and teachers in America's lowest-performing schools with specific products and services, including the following:

A Resource Guide

Making Low-Performing Schools a Priority: An Association Resource Guide (6.16MB, 71 pages). supports local and state efforts to change low-performing schools into priority schools with high academic achievement for all. The guide provides concrete and practical steps for identifying and assisting schools and districts in crisis and includes a resource section to help teachers, parents, and communities leverage support from organizations, business alliances, and others who have a stake in public education.

Training Program

NEA has developed a training program designed for delivery to staff members and other stakeholders in priority schools, or any school that has groups of students who are not succeeding at high levels. Explore the Possibilities is a training program aimed at helping teachers and support staff transform priority schools, based on classroom-tested research and strategies.

Affiliate Outreach

NEA will provide technical and financial resources to assist its affiliates and school districts in turning schools around, including training NEA members in effective strategies for community outreach and school improvement and in crafting relevant contract language.

Legislative Outreach

NEA will develop model federal and state legislation to ensure priority schools and their staffs have sufficient funding and other resources to lower class size, improve parental involvement, expand instructional time, retain qualified staffs, and employ other effective turnaround strategies.

Community Outreach

NEA will work with civil rights groups, foundations, and other organizations to put the best practices to work toward improving the academic and social environment of students in struggling schools and building stronger relations among families, schools, and communities.

Public Outreach

NEA will increase awareness of priority schools by initiating community-wide conversations with parents, policymakers, business leaders, and educators focused on solutions that work.

Contact Us:

For more information about the Priority Schools Initiative, please contact NEA's Urban Initiatives staff at 202-822-7155.

Edgewood
Independent School District

San Antonio, Texas

The Challenges

Edgewood Independent School District, just west of downtown San Antonio, presently serves 12,000 K-12 students-nearly every student is eligible for free and reduced lunches. Edgewood's population is more than 95 percent Hispanic, and the annual per capita income is just over $5,000. Local property tax revenues are so low that more than 89 percent of the district's per-student funding comes from state and federal funds.

The School Environment

In the early 1990s, Edgewood sued the state of Texas for a more equitable statewide funding formula. At that time, nine of the district's 26 schools were labeled low-performing by the Texas Education Agency. After winning their case, Edgewood expanded and enhanced its educational programs, including implementing magnet programs in math, science and fine arts, and advanced placement programs in its high schools. By 1998, none of the schools in Edgewood were labeled low-performing, and three campuses were recognized for exemplary student achievement.

But just as the district achieved progress, the Children's Educational Opportunity Foundation of America (CEO), which has established voucher programs in 40 other cities, came into Edgewood and offered 1,000 "Horizon Scholarships" to selected students in the district. Each scholarship, good for 10 years, is worth up to $4,000 per student to attend area private schools.

"We started the school year in 1998 knowing nothing about the vouchers," says Diana Herrera, president of the Edgewood Classroom Teachers' Association (ECTA). "Administrators, teachers, parents-we were all blind-sided. More than 800 of our kids weren't starting the school year with us because they had received selected 'invitations' to apply for vouchers to go to private schools."

"The district was looking at losing more than $4 million in state funding because of students lost to the Horizon program," adds Herrera. "We finally got on our feet, our schools were doing great, and then all of a sudden we're facing this."

Actions to Improve

ECTA, with the help of Texas State Teachers Association and National Education Association, took the lead in working with the district to mobilize and educate Edgewood parents. "We are a strong community," says Herrera. "Most of the people who live here as adults grew up here as children, including me."

ECTA and the district held numerous parent and community forums: "We showed them newspaper articles where CEO staff were quoted as saying 'we're helping these deprived children get a better education.' That made them mad because CEO was attacking our community. We may be poor, but we don't 'deprive' our children."

The district and Association also worked with the Intercultural Development and Research Association to get real-time data on Edgewood student performance. They also collaborated with the Texas Freedom Network on parent workshops and support.

Meanwhile, several state representatives were proposing statewide voucher programs through new legislation. In response, ECTA and Edgewood parents started a letter-writing campaign to legislators-more than 1,000 letters were mailed from one elementary school alone. More than 100 parents also traveled to Austin, the state capital, several months later to share with legislators their own stories about Edgewood public schools and vouchers.

Association Involvement

By initially providing a Public Engagement Project, the Association took the lead in establishing a collaborative relationship with the school district. Together, the Association and district have developed a common agenda to improve the quality of education for Edgewood students, to put students first in schools and communities and to secure the future of public education so that all children have an opportunity to thrive and succeed.

Biggest Successes

"This whole voucher fight made us stronger as a community," says Herrera, referring to their success in defeating all statewide voucher programs proposed during the 1999 legislative session. "It was great public relations for how well our schools are really doing. It made us all want to fight harder to provide our children the best education."

Today, six campuses in Edgewood achieved "recognized" status, meaning 80 percent of students passed the state's achievement test, and the district dropout rate continues to decrease: from 12 to 4 percent. Student passing scores on statewide tests continually average more than 80 percent, and the district's special needs program has been nationally recognized. In fact, children who attend private schools, including those on vouchers, are sent to Edgewood schools for special needs services. Edgewood receives no state aid for providing these services.

Parents in Edgewood have logged more than 1,000 hours of volunteer time. In fact, they volunteer so regularly and in such large numbers that every school has a large and well-utilized parent workroom.

While the district has lost a substantial amount of money to vouchers, it has not had to consolidate student programs. Nearly 50 children, dissatisfied with the private schools, have returned to Edgewood schools. "One of the mothers who had taken advantage of the vouchers for her two children came into my school with tears in her eyes," says Herrera. "She just kept saying, 'It's good to be back home.'"

Virginia Schools Seek Success for Every Child

Team Came Together at NEA Conference

Amherst Middle School math teacher Pershing Berry holds two tenets high in his teaching philosophy. Every child can succeed. And everybody is a stakeholder in the life of a child. Not that he didn't hold those close prior to Amherst County schools signing on to the Priority Schools Initiative. But now he knows that lots of other stakeholders have the same beliefs and are committed to raising the academic achievement of Amherst students.

That team started to come together when eight school people traveled together to an NEA conference. The chair of the school board, some central office administrations, the UniServ director, two principals, a guidance counselor, and two teachers including Berry "had lots of time for bonding while stuck in the Atlanta airport for nine hours," Berry chuckles. But when they finally got to Denver for the conference, they coalesced easily around the opportunities to look at their own needs and to identify areas for growth. Improving students' transition from the two middle schools to high school and communications with the whole community became specific steps to improving academic achievement.

The entire Amherst school system signed on, making this the only system-wide Priority Schools initiative. The high school and the two middle schools have been teaming for two years with the intent of folding in the seven elementary schools next year. The VEA research division is currently preparing the first questionnaire for fifth graders. That work is being done in cooperation with Amherst and the NEA. That will be an add-on to the survey taken the last two years by adults and students in the middle schools and high schools.

They Have Strengthened Communications Channels

Amherst knew they were losing students in the transition from middle school to high school. So transition issues have become a focus. There had always been meetings among the schools but they are more focused now. The communications channels have been strengthened not only between and among schools but also between schools and the central office.

The eighth grade teachers in Monelison Middle School now meet regularly with the eighth grade teachers in Amherst Middle School. Subject area teachers from the high school meet with subject area teachers from the middle schools. The high school teachers understand better what happens in middle school and the middle school teachers understand better what they need to be preparing students for in the high school. "We just feel more like a team now," Berry reports. "The emphasis has been realigned."

And the stakeholders extend far beyond the instructional staffs. Parent advisory committees work with students and teachers, offering workshops for parents and resources for the teachers. Local colleges and the business community are also considered important stakeholders. As well as students, who were surveyed and will be surveyed again for their perspectives. Students serve on several committees. Twenty-one-year teacher Berry admits freely that students have changed during his teaching tenure and up-to-date information is valuable even for experienced teachers.

Translated Training into Action

And the "buy in has been phenomenal," he adds. "What started as small conversations have evolved into larger conversations."  Berry credits that to the fact that input was sought from the beginning on where the various stake holders perceived the schools to be and where they wanted them to be. Which was the construct emphasized in the first Colorado workshop. Plans were drawn up based on those local concerns and perspectives. And then association resources helped them move from where they identified themselves as being to where they identified themselves as wanting to go. And throughout the process, the Initiative made it possible for teachers to be paid and treated as professionals as they came together for the numerous meetings.

All three schools were provisionally certified when they signed on to the Priority Schools Initiative. The high school raised all its scores but missed full accreditation this year by two points in math. (It brought its history score up a whopping 21 points.) Both middle schools gained full accreditation last year and one missed it this year by six points on math.
Why do faculty and administration in schools that are fully accredited or close to full accreditation continue a project that -- while exciting and productive -- involves longer hours and a change in familiar patterns? Berry's answer: "Because we have not reached 100 percent."