The long-troubled Union Hill Elementary in this one-time textile town has pulled off the kind of headline-grabbing transformation struggling schools around the country dream about: It went from being one of the lowest-performers in the Bay State to the highest rung on the state鈥檚 school ratings system in just four years.
The school鈥檚 enrollment has swelled from slightly more than 300 students at the start of the turnaround in 2010 to around 500鈥攂ecause of the restored faith of the surrounding neighborhood, officials in the Worcester school district say.
What鈥檚 more, two other elementary schools in the urban, diverse system鈥擟handler Elementary Community School, and Burncoat Preparatory鈥攁lso 鈥渆xited鈥� the same turnaround process.
That success didn鈥檛 happen overnight. And sustaining it will take a major effort from everyone from state education Commissioner Mitchell Chester to Union Hill鈥檚 janitor, Luis Martinez, who followed Principal Marie Morse from her previous school and helped get Union Hill in shape at the beginning of its turnaround. (鈥淗e鈥檚 no joke,鈥� she says.)
Accountability Lever
The state鈥檚 role has been to provide the 25,000-student district and the schools with just the right mix of pressure and support to keep its turnaround on track, using a relatively unsexy lever: its 5-year-old accountability system.
While many states provide ratings for their schools, Massachusetts goes a step further: It labels its districts.
After all, Chester says, low-performing schools aren鈥檛 islands unto themselves. They are part of a broader district ecosystem. And while states can step in and provide expertise and leadership, no school can sustain a turnaround without continual district support.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not structured and staffed to intervene in scores [of schools] throughout the state,鈥� Chester said. And, he said, the chances of a successful turnaround are 鈥済reatly diminished if a school district isn鈥檛 part of that capacity and effort.鈥�
To be sure, there are plenty of factors the state education agency doesn鈥檛 have much direct control over.
Chester can鈥檛 direct Morse to be the kind of principal that a student feels comfortable hugging in the hallway after sharing the news that the child鈥檚 mother is about to get of jail.
He can鈥檛 issue a regulation asking Burncoat Prep鈥檚 instructional coach, Beth Zeena Dowd, a district veteran, to help her relatively new-to-Worcester principal, Deborah Catamero, recruit a strong staff after about half the teachers left at the start of the turnaround.
And he can鈥檛 ask Mary Meade-Montaque, Worcester鈥檚 manager for curriculum, instruction, and school leadership who oversees a broad swath of schools, including all four turnaround campuses, to take on so much that she鈥檚 doing the work of about four people, at least as Catamero sees it.
But the state can put its districts into different buckets and tailor supports to them the same way teachers might 鈥渄ifferentiate鈥� instruction based on the individual needs of the students in their class.
Levels Of Support
At least 11 states, including Massachusetts, rate both districts and schools in some way in their accountability systems, according to a preliminary examination by the Council of Chief State School Officers of states鈥� websites and waivers from the mandates of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. And the reauthorization of the ESEA signed by President Barack Obama last month could encourage states to beef-up the district role in turnarounds. So the practice may spread in coming years.
Under Massachusetts鈥� accountability system, a district is only considered as strong as its lowest-performing school. That means in the Bay State any district, like Worcester, with even one school labeled 鈥淟evel 4", is also considered a Level 4 district. That鈥檚 almost the lowest rung in the state accountability system.
And districts that have at least one school in the bottom 20 percent in the state鈥攅ven just barely鈥攁re 鈥淟evel 3" districts. There are also Level 1 and 2 districts and schools.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 be good enough for most schools,鈥� said Russell Johnston, a senior associate commissioner. 鈥淵ou have to be good enough for all schools.鈥�
The state offers districts with similar challenges鈥攊ncluding the state鈥檚 two largest systems, Boston and Springfield鈥攖he chance to collaborate and learn from each other.
And each Level 4 district is assigned a state liaison to help district officials find out what practices have been successful elsewhere, advocate for the district as it tries to navigate the state bureaucracy, and help keep the turnaround process on track.
In Worcester鈥檚 case, that liaison is Deborah Lantaigne, herself a former turnaround principal. She can offer real 鈥淚鈥檝e been there鈥� empathy to school leaders, even as she pushes them to reflect on their work and think about what they could be doing better.
It isn鈥檛 always easy: A while back, the state brought in outside consultants to train a fresh set of eyes on instruction in its turnaround schools. Those consultants found that while there were pockets of excellence in Worcester, the quality of instruction just wasn鈥檛 consistent across all classrooms.
That was really hard to hear, but it led to some soul-searching that ultimately helped the schools, Meade-Montaque said.
The state鈥檚 process wasn鈥檛 always so collaborative. Back in 2008, before the state鈥檚 new accountability law went into effect, state administrators would show up at a school and walk through classrooms, taking notes without much discussion, recalled Meade-Montaque.
The state called it 鈥渟upport.鈥� But in her view, it was really 鈥渃ompliance, awful compliance.鈥�
The relationship has gradually changed over the course of the past seven years to one that is more 鈥減ressure and support,鈥� she said.
For her part, Kendra Cox, an instructional coach at Elm Park Elementary, a school in Worcester that鈥檚 just beginning its turnaround journey, sees the schools, district, and state as moving in tandem toward a common goal: helping Elm Park succeed.
鈥淚 feel like it鈥檚 us doing the work together, side by side,鈥� Cox said of the state. But, she conceded, 鈥渕aybe it would be different if we weren鈥檛 doing what we鈥檙e supposed to do.鈥�
Takeovers Possible
In fact, the district is keenly aware that if its turnaround efforts aren鈥檛 successful, the state has a heavier hammer in its toolshed.
Level 4 may sound like the bottom of the barrel when it comes to student achievement, but there鈥檚 actually a level below it: Level 5. That鈥檚 a designation reserved for schools that have failed to make much progress, even when the district and state are working together. In those cases, the state steps in and takes over completely. Right now, there are just four Level 5 schools in the Bay State.
For entire districts with a long track record of dysfunction and foundering achievement, there鈥檚 an even more-dramatic option: becoming a Level 5 district鈥攕ubject to total state takeover. Unlike in other levels, being a Level 5 district doesn鈥檛 mean that you have one flailing school. It means the whole district needs help.
So far, the state has stepped in and taken control of two historically underperforming systems: Lawrence, which has been under state authority since 2011 and has begun to see some brighter results, and Holyoke, which just started the process last year.
In deciding on where to intervene, the state has more to go on than just test scores. It has regular meetings with a cadre of urban superintendents.
Those interactions help offer leaders support and give state officials some insight into which systems have serious, systemic problems that will require a lot more action from the state.
鈥淲e have a pretty good sense of which districts are well-organized and have some good capacity and leadership,鈥� Chester said. In both Holyoke and Lawrence, 鈥渋nternal capacity was incredibly weak and incredibly dysfunctional.鈥�
Lantaigne also happens to be Holyoke鈥檚 liaison. She spends a lot more time in that district than in Worcester, but, she says, the basic framework for the assistance is the same.
Worcester has a ways to go, she said, but the district has 鈥渂een so intentional about learning from each school, trying to lift up some of their district systems鈥� while also doing 鈥渟ome of that preventative work鈥� with other schools that could be in danger of falling into Level 4.
Massachusetts also can provide its districts with something else: in-depth research on what actually works when it comes to fixing low-performing schools鈥攁 notoriously tough nut to crack.
The state is a standout when it comes to learning from its own turnarounds, said Carlas McCauley, who until recently worked on school improvement at the U.S. Department of Education and is now the director of the Center for School Turnaround at WestEd, a research and consulting organization.
Massachusetts did a detailed analysis of all 34 of its Level 4 schools鈥�18 of which were able to exit turnaround status by October 2015. Most had received federal School Improvement Grants.
The state looked for the common denominators among schools that had high growth in student achievement during the first three years of their turnaround and those that didn鈥檛.
It found that schools that made the most progress tended to have supports and instruction tailored to individual students, a collegial climate, and a shared approach to leadership, among other features.
That analysis has helped Worcester provide more-focused support to Elm Park, its newest turnaround school, which just started the process this school year.
There鈥檚 another key ingredient that seems to help underperforming schools get better: attention to nonacademic supports.
Thanks in part to initial seed funding from Massachusetts鈥� $250 million federal Race to the Top grant, low-performing schools in Worcester and a handful of other districts have been able to participate in the state鈥檚"wraparound zone鈥� program.
That means all four of Worcester鈥檚 turnaround schools鈥攑lus another handful of 鈥渋nnovation schools鈥� in the district that have been granted special autonomy through a state law鈥攈ave been able to hire a wraparound-zone coordinator, a kind of social worker, parent liaison, and community connector all rolled into one.
Both Morse, Union Hill鈥檚 principal, and Catamero, Burncoat鈥檚 principal, see the wraparound coordinators as a crucial component of the turnaround process鈥攎ore important, even, than the full 90 minutes of additional instructional time that was also a key part of each school鈥檚 path to improvement.
Now that Union鈥檚 Hill鈥檚 $1.3 million state and federal turnaround grant has run out, Worcester is spending about $550,000 to help the school sustain its effort. The school cut back extended learning time to just one additional hour of instruction, instead of 90 minutes, in part so it could keep its wraparound coordinator, Yolanda Lopez, on staff.
The coordinators鈥� responsibilities range from connecting students with social-service agencies to helping find backpacks and school supplies to deeper assistance for entire families.
For instance, Lopez recently helped connect a Union Hill family that lost furniture in afire with community resources.
And Burncoat鈥檚 coordinator, Jennifer Jimenez, has set up after-school programs, including enlisting the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts to start troops at the school, with Burncoat paying for membership dues and uniforms. Jimenez, who speaks Spanish, helps translate for staff members who aren鈥檛 bilingual.
It鈥檚 not just Worcester. The wraparound coordinators are getting results across Massachusetts, a report released in 2015 by the American Institutes for Research found.
According to that study, students in schools with wraparound coordinators made bigger gains over time than those in similar schools that don鈥檛 offer the service. The achievement jumps were particularly significant for 3rd and 4th grade English-language learners鈥攊mportant in Worcester, which has one of the highest percentages of ELLs in the Bay State, including many native Spanish speakers.
The coordinators meet regularly to trade ideas and connections they have with social-service agencies, nonprofits, and more.
For now, the district is planning to make sure all the schools that have exited turnaround status continue to have access to the coordinators鈥攁s well as the longer school day and an extra half hour of planning time per day that teachers say is critical.
They鈥檙e all integral parts of the district鈥檚 overall accountability strategy.
鈥淚t would be a disservice to say, 鈥楲et鈥檚 change that,鈥� 鈥� said Marco Rodrigues, the interim superintendent in Worcester. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if I could face anyone if I just said, 鈥榃e鈥檙e done.鈥� The set of challenges [Union Hill] has don鈥檛 go away because we got them to be a Level 1 school.鈥�
