Last fall I attended a three-day HOPE Courageous Leaders Institute in Atlanta, Georgia. My feelings the day I left were mixed. I had been in education for 16 years and knew teaching was my life’s calling, yet I was questioning my effectiveness and even wondering if it was time to take a break. I was feeling burnt out and frustrated by all the conflicts in schools these days; budget cuts, stimulus funding constraints and politicians focusing solely on test scores. I desperately needed rejuvenation; and while I was optimistic this conference would be helpful, I had no notion of the amazing experience I was about to encounter.

The conference focused on building a culture of success in your school one individual at a time. Alan Blankstein, founder of HOPE, believes that all students can be successful in both school and in life. All the speakers, including Alan, have lived the HOPE story, coming from poor or difficult backgrounds, yet rising above that to succeed in spite of it. Each one had a message that resonated with me. I can’t relate all I learned but I want to leave you with a few ideas I brought back that motivate and help me in my work with my students and coworkers each and every day.

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Wendy Hite has been in the education field since 1993 when she earned her BS degree in Special Education at Indiana University. She taught special education at Saint Joseph’s High School in South Bend, Indiana, and was the Supervisor of Special Education at Wawasee Community School Corporation in Syracuse, Indiana.

 

Virginia Middle School Association took the lead in our Schools to Watch Program in 2003 when four people went to Indianapolis for training with representatives from three other states. The training was intense, stimulating, thought provoking, and the basis for the progress we have had in selecting our high performing middle schools in the Commonwealth. At the initiation of the program, the Virginia Department of Education was quite involved; over the years, the demands on that organization became such that they remain supportive, but less involved in many operations.

The four trained leaders returned to the state and began planning for the implementation of the program. First was to get more middle school leaders trained in the STW concept. A group of about twenty formed the core of the application readers and site visitors. Over the years, many more were trained and form an enthused support group across the state.

The four core areas of the STW program: Academic Excellence, Developmental Responsiveness, Social Equity, and Organizational Structures and Processes are the categories which group the 39 characteristics of outstanding middle schools. Schools who want to self-nominate begin the school improvement process by a self-rating document assessing their own school and the implementation of the STW characteristics in their own school. After the assessment, school staff begin to improve in areas which seem to need attention. Then, a written application is submitted to the state STW committee, and readers begin their assessments of the written document. Certainly test scores on the Virginia Standards of Learning are a part of our criteria: this means the school must be fully accredited by meeting the scores in all areas as defined by the Virginia Board of Education. However, the beauty of STW is that test scores are only the starting point. The STW process looks at the entire school community, and looks at the individual school’s trajectory toward excellence. The STW criteria are so well done that schools of all sizes, compositions, and foci are able to seek this designation. Also important is that the designation must be renewed each three years should the school wish to continue to be a School to Watch.

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