District Administration - October 2012 - (Page 94)

ProblemSolution success stories from districts across the nation A Culture Shift Transforms Achievement in West Virginia By Courtney Williams PROBLEM In December 2010, Richwood High School in Nicholas County (W.Va.) Schools was identified as a low-performing school by the U.S. Department of Education for failing to meet adequate yearly progress (AYP) under NCLB. In addition, a survey completed by the school staff in the spring of 2011 found that Richwood High had a “balkanized culture with toxic tendencies.” It meant, in part, that the school’s teachers had problems with collaborating, and the school staff, including teachers, resisted change and had a sense of hopelessness and pessimism. The school identified three main areas of concern: shared leadership, instructional practices and school culture. SOLUTION So in the spring of 2011, the leaders at Richwood High focused on changing school culture as the foundation for school improvement. To revitalize the staff and get them excited about change, the faculty studied the book Our Iceberg Is Melting by John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber, which offers an eight-step process for leading change in any organization. A transformational process was put in place. “Once it was revealed that we were low-performing, we were given harsh choices,” says Carter Hillman, Richwood High’s principal. “We knew we needed to change or we were going to get taken over by the state. Being rock bottom is sobering, but we realized that we are a team and that change is possible.” Committees Uncover Problems Five subcommittees comprised of teachers—for communication, raising expectations, morale, policies and collaboration—were formed. As an example of 94 October 2012 Principal Carter Hillman of Richwood High School greets students on the first day of school. their work, one subcommittee found a pany that offers a multiphase program lack of student interest with a state test called Who Took My Chalk?, which that doesn’t affect grades or show up on helps schools adapt to cultural changes transcripts. In response, says Hillman, that the school needed to address. The the subcommittee created a “unified school was able to fund it with federal school effort focusing on what Richwood School Improvement Grant money. AcHigh means to the students and what are cording to Hillman, the transformation began after EdVenture ran a two-and-athey are doing to show such.” There were also inconsistencies in half-day retreat for the staff in June 2011 teachers supporting one another profes- that focused on team-building activities sionally, so the subcommittee created a and collaboration. “Before the 2011-2012 school year, we program called Accountability Partners. An individual teacher and another staff had a lot of teachers with a lot of talent in member hold each other accountable with their own little worlds,” says Susan Johntasks such as updating grades or keeping son, veteran English teacher and leadership accurate attendance records. “Just a simple team member at Richwood High. “They layer to remind everyone that we are all weren’t sharing information; they felt like part of a team and need to support the they didn’t need any professional developschool policies and procedures for us all to ment and didn’t have any connections outside of RHS. Now we collaborate weekly, be effective,” Hillman says. more than half of the staff has gone to a national conference for PD, and teachers are New Attitude, New Culture Around the same time, the high school regularly helping each other brainstorm partnered with EdVenture Group, a com- ways to help individual students.” District Administration

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - October 2012

District Administration - October 2012
Contents
From the Editor
News Update
Facilities
The Democrats and Republicans’ National Education Platforms
District Profile
Administrator Profile
The Challenge of Assessing Project-Based Learning
Why Teaching Civic Engagement Is Essential
Superintendents’ Frustration Grows, but Intangible Rewards Remain High
Not Your Grandparents’ Vocational School
CIO News
Keeping Pace with Technology Innovation
Managing BYOD Effectively
New Products
Noteworthy Books
Professional Opinion
Professional Opinion
Problem Solution
Going Mobile

District Administration - October 2012