"The piece that I find attractive is that it focuses squarely on teaching and learning, it is something you have to struggle with and that is where the growth is. It is not something you can buy at a bookstore or order online."

Larry Lilly
Superintendent of Mattoon CUSD #2

Mattoon, a district in central Illinois with six schools, fully participated in a CLA during the 2007- 09 school years.

• At least 62.5 percent of students in every subgroup demonstrated proficiency as measured by the ISAT in 07-08, and their rate exceeded that of the state in closing achievement gaps
• Middle school proficiency in math grew from 54 percent to 86 percent
• Students in Mattoon exceeded the state average in Reading for grades 3 - 8
• At Mattoon High School, one of the frst faculty-driven efforts was to create a schedule to provide time for collaboration. This occurred in a non-negotiation year and was neither union-driven nor negotiation-leveraged. Professional development addressing reading across the curriculum was provided. Results are beginning to be recognized in improved ISAT scores

 

"In order to achieve excellence for all students, it is no longer an option for teachers to work in isolation; however, putting teachers together to collaborate is only the first step. To achieve the lift we are getting in Wichita, teachers have to collaborate about the right things. The HOPE Foundation has helped us to focus our work by providing our teams with the tools and processes necessary to bring our professional learning community to life."

Greg Rasmussen
Assistant Superintendent,
Wichita Public Schools

• In 2006-07, Wichita participated in their first cohort of a Courageous Leadership Academy in 44 of their 88 schools, and continued their training in the rest of the district in 2007-08. In 2006-07, Wichita met 36 of 42 AYP subgroup targets, narrowed the achievement gap between Caucasian and African-American students, and exceeded the state’s graduation target.
• Payne Elementary was the lowest performing school in reading and math in 2007. After deploying CLA’s framework, teachers were able to work together to make data driven decisions in both subjects and collaborate on best practices for real results. Payne saw a gain of 10.8 points in reading and 14.3 point gain in math for the first year. Preliminary data for year two shows an 8.5 point gain in reading and a 17.6 point gain in math.
• The district met AYP for all students in reading and math, along with goals in participation, attendance, and graduation. In addition, in 2007 15 schools in the district achieved AYP that had not in 2006; 12 of those schools had participated in the HOPE Foundation’s Courageous Leadership Academy. They are no longer the lowest performing school in the district and on the path for success for all of their students.

"HOPE provides a core foundation of knowledge, quality of curriculum, insists upon an agreed upon statement of purpose, and 100% agreement to get there."

Carolyn Powers
Director of Elementary Administration
Fort Wayne Community Schools

Carolyn Powers, the Director of Elementary Administration, Fort Wayne Community Schools, Ft. Wayne, Indiana has been sending school leadership teams to the HOPE Foundation’s Courageous Leadership for School Success events for several years. Her school leadership teams were so enthusiastic about the events, that she was able to pilot six elementary schools in Courageous Leadership Academies in the 2008-2009 school year.

FWCS Superintendent Wendy Robinson and the School Board were so impressed with the schools’ outcomes that they expanded the program to all 52 schools in the district for the 2009-2010 school year. The CLA program is in its second year of implementation in Ft. Wayne. Before working with HOPE Carolyn worked with another popular professional learning community program, but she found "it didn’t go deep enough."

For her, HOPE provided a deeper, integrated, research based approach that enables teachers to work together collaboratively. Teachers now have assigned roles, prepare their SMART Goals every day and have their own professional growth plan for three years. The instructional learning walks, brainstorming sessions and evaluations of effective protocols are helping principals and teachers change how they lead learning every day and know what to look for when learning isn’t happening.

After the first year in Ft. Wayne’s six selected elementary schools, early reporting SMART Goal results are showing great progress. Shambaugh Elementary had dramatic gains in reading in Kindergarten, up 54.5 percent from its beginning benchmark assessment of 42.5 percent. Grades 1-5 increased reading scores by an average of 15 percent.

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