The formal lesson in Crystal Darensbourg鈥檚 senior English class at the former Shawnee High School one recent morning was about distinguishing personal narratives, personal essays, and memoirs, but a life lesson was also in store for her students.
The assignment: Students had to write about a fear and their efforts to overcome it.
They shared everything from a phobia of chain saws to one of letting down their families, but one stopped the class in its tracks. A student tearfully told classmates she was afraid she wouldn鈥檛 be able to go to college. Figuring out the applications, essays, and scholarships was proving to be overwhelming.
鈥淗ow many of you have that same fear?鈥� Ms. Darensbourg asked. Two-thirds of the hands in the classroom shot up.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e not alone. You have a good support group in this classroom,鈥� Ms. Darensbourg said. 鈥淵ou are going to be absolutely OK. I promise.鈥�
The students aren鈥檛 the only ones who need the support this year.
Ms. Darensbourg and the other teachers at the West Louisville high school, now named The Academy @ Shawnee, have a daunting task: reversing the fortunes of one of Kentucky鈥檚 lowest-performing schools. The school is one of 10 identified last spring as the worst-performing in the state and now is undergoing a state-mandated restructuring.
Hanging in the balance are the futures of not only Shawnee鈥檚 nearly 500 students, but also that of Principal Keith F. Look, who could lose his job if the school doesn鈥檛 meet state improvement targets.
Across the country, thousands of educators face the same pressure in helping to fulfill U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan鈥檚 $3.5 billion mandate to fix the nation鈥檚 most chronically underperforming schools during the next three years. (鈥淭urnaround Team Scrambles at Ky. High School,鈥� Aug. 11, 2010.)
Nowhere to Go But Up
At Shawnee, signs of hope already have surfaced. The first quarterly report submitted to the state early this month showed Shawnee鈥檚 students beating the state鈥檚 targets for the school鈥檚 performance on benchmark assessments taken in September.
But testing data also reflect how low the school鈥檚 scores had fallen before the turnaround began: Just 4.7 percent of Shawnee鈥檚 students scored 鈥減roficient鈥� or higher in math in spring 2010.
鈥淭his one knocked me off my seat,鈥� Mr. Look told the faculty during a meeting last month where he discussed the scores with his teaching staff, half of whom arrived here this year as part of the turnaround effort. The reading scores were not much better. Less than a quarter鈥�22.6 percent of students鈥攕cored proficient or better.
Mr. Look told the teachers he was certain of one thing: Shawnee will not be at the bottom again.
In its quest to turn around Shawnee, the faculty has emphasized both the academic and the personal. Showing students that teachers are passionate has been crucial to motivating teenagers who might otherwise balk at the increased pace of learning.
鈥淥ur goal is to make sure every student can learn in an environment that is caring, patient, and structured,鈥� said Dion S. von Allmen the school鈥檚 mathematics department chairman. 鈥淭he large majority of students want to learn. When you approach them, you have to have a caring and patient attitude at all times. For many students, school is the one place they have someone who is patient and caring.鈥�
Pamela Dixon, the building鈥檚 instructional coordinator, is new to Shawnee like Mr. von Allmen. She said getting students used to a building full of teachers with stepped-up expectations has taken time.
鈥淲e were asking them to do new and different things,鈥� Ms. Dixon said. 鈥淚 can see where the students are finally exhaling and saying, 鈥楾his is not so bad after all.鈥� 鈥�
Slowly but surely, students are making the shift, teachers said.
Science teacher Imogen Herrick said she鈥檚 seen a big change in the 10th graders who walk into her room every day. Last year, their attendance was low, but this year, sophomores are leading the building in attendance.
鈥淭hey really recognize they are having success in school, so they are coming, and coming regularly,鈥� Ms. Herrick said. 鈥淭o me, that says kids are wanting to come to school.鈥�
The students, especially the senior class, were resistant to the cultural changes when they came back this year. But that softened as the school year progressed, Ms. Darensbourg said. 鈥淲hen they saw in every classroom the expectations are the same, they started to respond to that.鈥�
The school this year also is emphasizing literacy across the building, with students reading novels in chemistry classes and grammar tips appearing on the walls even in algebra classrooms.
With 13 years in Shawnee under his belt, Will VanderMeer, the school鈥檚 magnet coordinator, is one of the few veterans left. Mr. Look, who came to the school in 2008, is the fourth Shawnee principal in that span of time.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had a lot of good teachers over the years, but we didn鈥檛 have that network supporting them,鈥� Mr. VanderMeer said.
鈥淲e have the opportunity, with Dr. Look鈥檚 vision and all the restructuring, to put the pieces together. The real challenge is to break down the walls so teachers don鈥檛 feel like they are toiling by themselves.鈥�
Many Moving Parts
Mr. Look says communication and relationships are key with teachers as well as students. That鈥檚 no easy task when he has so many staff members that he鈥檚 run out of mailboxes.
He鈥檚 focused much of his effort this fall on knitting together the various moving parts of the school, checking in with teachers to make sure they have enough resources, meeting weekly with a turnaround team, and overseeing the construction of a Challenger learning center, to which elementary and middle school children from across the city will travel in order to participate in a high-tech space flight simulation.
With staff members in the building on any given day that report to him, the school district, or the state education department, it can be unclear where authority truly lies.
As part of the turnaround effort, a trio of staff members assigned by the Kentucky education department work with the staff at Shawnee daily. Titled 鈥渆ducational recovery specialists,鈥� Billie Travis and Bill Philbeck work with mathematics and literacy teachers, respectively, while Leesa Moman, the educational recovery leader, also works with Mr. Look and his administrative team, as well as on special education issues. A state audit of the school last winter found that it lacked a formal process for analyzing data, and the state group is helping the school build such a process.
A 鈥渄ata wall鈥� in an area only visible to teachers now holds note cards with the faces and test scores of every Shawnee student, a 鈥渂ig help,鈥� Mr. Look says.
鈥淚t changes data when you put a face on it,鈥� Ms. Herrick, the science teacher, said.
鈥楴ame and Claim鈥�
The team spends three to four hours a day in classrooms or meetings with department staff. Team members also submit a weekly report of concerns and accomplishments to their state bosses.
鈥淲e have a lot of willing teachers here who see the need for the school to change, and they are working hard,鈥� Ms. Travis said.
At a recent meeting with 9th grade teachers, Ms. Travis and Mr. Philbeck discussed a list of students who were failing three or more of six courses in the first six weeks of school.
As part of a 鈥渘ame and claim鈥� intervention, teachers across the building have each taken on two or three failing students on whom to focus extra attention.
During the second six-week period, 10th grade teachers, for example, will make two phone calls to students鈥� homes and make two other interventions with the students, based on the data and conversations with the student.
鈥淚鈥檝e found it to be real positive,鈥� Ms. Herrick said. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 want to fail. They don鈥檛 think anyone cares. The second someone is at their backs, they turn around and try.鈥�
With so many efforts under way, Mr. Look said he鈥檚 found pacing to be a priority.
鈥淧art of my job right now is keeping folks from applying too much pressure to themselves to move things too fast,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 have teachers in this place who want so badly to do miraculous things that I have to control that ... pacing so that they are just as effective or more in October, in January, and in March and in May.鈥�
Another thing administrators are keeping an eye on is student burnout, said Diane Baker, the school鈥檚 special education coordinator. Approximately 25 percent of Shawnee鈥檚 population are students with disabilities.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 move at such a pace that we leave the kids behind,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got to step up the pace of curriculum and instruction, but we also have to step up the pace of student learning.鈥� Teachers are trying to keep that balance by pulling students aside for extra help if they don鈥檛 master concepts.
Like Ms. Baker, Ms. Darensbourg is optimistic about the results.
鈥淭hat [sense of] community is back in this building,鈥� she said. 鈥淓ach department wants to work with other departments. That鈥檚 been the missing key for the last few years.鈥�
