3 Steps to Turnaround schools : Experiences from the Trenches

            I have a special passion for schools in need. For more than twenty three years I have worked as a teacher and the last eleven of them as a Reading Coach in inner city schools. I have been blessed to work alongside wonderful leaders and teachers that helped me to develop my leadership skills beyond what I ever dreamt. As I said, I am very blessed. Unfortunately, I no longer can carry the duties of my job due to illness. I have developed a difficult medical condition that is most challenging to handle which no longer let me work as I would love to. But even so, I would like to share what I learned these past years with whomever would like to receive it. Being a leader in a school setting, gives the most profound satisfaction that  one can receive in an Education career. I have an Elementary B.A. and a Masters in School Administration. I started to pursue a doctoral degree when my condition became unbearable. So, as you can see, Education is the only field I have worked all my life and I still love it!

           The experiences I had during those years helped me to grow and learn so much. Sometimes one year became the tip of the arrow for the success of the other. Another was full of reflections of what went wrong. There were high mountains and so many valleys and as I tried to find answers to solve so many problems, and overcome challenges sometimes it took me so long to gather all the information necessary to make sound decisions, and went I looked around the year was almost over. I had to look in  so many different places to get just a bit of useful information. I wish I could find good tips in just one place. So in the means of being a blessing to someone out there with the same desire as I, here you have a compilation of what worked for me to develop my craft and expertise to help my students, teachers and administrators. Hope it helps!

Photo by Antenna on Unsplash

Step 1: Leadership Team

Select your trusted leadership team. Have people that you can trust and are as passionate as you are about the students, the schools and Education. There are so many great leaders out there. Find them! Give opportunity to teachers from the school to grow, and see what they are capable of. Mentor them as well. Sometimes you can turn around your most difficult one if you just only dedicate time to mentor. Sometimes you have a diamond on the raw that needs nurturing to shine. It not only happen to kids, adults also need attention, mentoring and support. Just to mention a few. I know you are thinking, "I do not have time for that". But believe me, you will have less headaches if you start thinking this way and develop an eye to discover others.

Step 2: A School that Thrives Speaks Data

Know your data by heart. Everyone involved in the school needs to know their data. From the students, parents, teachers to the custodians and monitors, everyone! Post it everywhere! Walls, notebooks, data rooms, classroom walls, Parents newsletter, be creative! Pinterest has so many great ideas. Just find what suits your school best. 

But not only know it, analyze it to the Ts to make a realistic goal. Identify from where you can get the growth points needed to attain your goal. Communicate it to your staff. Work together and agree on a plan to achieve your school's goal. You might split the total amount of growth points on a monthly, trimester or semester-basis. For instance, your school had 45% in Math last year? An ideal goal to start would be at least to grow 7% in a year for an inner-city school. Now, is it realistic? Especially after Covid. Discuss it with your team, teachers, ect. This is also a good time to reevaluate if you have the same students that can give you the expected growth. In addition, to evaluate any drastic change. Think about if  there is a new textbook, educational software program, standardized assessment, new standards or curriculum? Maybe you no longer have your Mrs. Super Math teacher that knows her craft so well and gave you most of the points. All of that is important to consider. Assess and reevaluate in order to set up a realistic goal based  on resources and data.

                                             Photo by Headway on Unsplash

Step 3: Evaluate and aligned your resources to accomplish your goals. 

This includes personnel, curriculum, schedules, etc. It is important to allow teachers to work according to their strengths. This is very important in elementary schools where the the personnel have the certification for different grade levels and subjects. There is nothing worst than having a teacher to try to figure out a curriculum or a standard with the students sitting in the classroom. It also contributes to low staff morality. Think about how in a successful corporation, you will never find misplacements, everyone is working on their strengths and if they do not know something they would get trained to compensate.

I have more to share and I will continue to post more tips from the trenches. Tell me, what are other ways you have found that can help a school in need?