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Coyote Ridge Elementary School (Broomfield, CO)
From Mediocrity to Excellence: One District’s Story
Alton CUSD By The Numbers (Alton, IL)
McGraw Junior High School (Mathis, TX)
Sumter County Performance Learning Center (Americus, GA)

Coyote Ridge Elementary School (Broomfield, CO)

When Principal Kari Cocozzella talks about educating students at her school, Coyote Ridge Elementary in suburban Denver, CO, she refers repeatedly to educating the "whole child." More than the narrow accumulation of knowledge, students at Coyote Ridge are taught, and rewarded for, demonstrating creativity, good citizenship, thoughtfulness, ethical behavior and good health, among other qualities. In fact, Cocozzella is so committed to cultivating these characteristics in her students that she makes it a point to send out celebratory "Coyote Howl" postcards to students’ parents each week of the school year to recognize the many students at her school who deserve praise for personal accomplishments or acts of kindness – both large and small.

Kari Cocozella and students from Coyote Ridge Elementary School in Broomfield, Colorado.

When Principal Kari Cocozzella talks about educating students at her school, Coyote Ridge Elementary in suburban Denver, CO, she refers repeatedly to educating the whole child. More than the narrow accumulation of knowledge, students at Coyote Ridge are taught, and rewarded for, demonstrating creativity, good citizenship, thoughtfulness, ethical behavior and good health, among other qualities. In fact, Cocozzella is so committed to cultivating these characteristics in her students that she makes it a point to send out celebratory Coyote Howl postcards to students' parents each week of the school year to recognize the many students at her school who deserve praise for personal accomplishments or acts of kindness both large and small. One of the more memorable Howls Cocozzella recalls sending recently was for a student who diplomatically suggested to two squabbling 3rd grade classmates that they could resolve their conflict through a classic game of rock-paper-scissors. On another occasion, Cocozzella sent out a Howl for a kindergarten student who, after much work, had learned to use capital letters and exclamation points appropriately in his essays for school. For Cocozella, the Howls are a practice she feels sure is working for connecting parents to the school. In fact, she says, parents no longer hesitate to pick up the phone when she calls from her office out of fear that their child has misbehaved. Rather, they see that the faculty and staff at Coyote Ridge know the details of their childrens' education and are proud of the good things they are doing. I want parents to know that I am going to call for good things, she says. It makes a difference on how parents and the community view our school.

Cocozzella compliments the Howls with a similar practice for the students themselves called Positive Office Referrals. The referrals are notices she receives from faculty and staff throughout the building that draw her attention to students' positive behavior. As evidence of the effective collaboration and sense of collective accountability for student success that characterizes Coyote Ridge, Cocozzella notes that the referrals come to her not only from teachers, but also from para-professionals, long-term substitutes, librarians, custodians and cafeteria staff. She averages about 475 referrals each year for a student population of just over 350; and when she receives one, she heads immediately to the student's classroom. But unlike in the past when students would fear the arrival of the principal in the classroom, they now ask excitedly who are we celebrating today? and clap for their classmates. According to Cocozzella, the results of this steady stream of positive feedback are a cycle of fewer disciplinary problems and increasing enthusiasm from all students. You are more likely to get more of what you specifically recognize, she says. I could do a hundred of these versus one suspension.

Since Cocozzella first began attending HOPE conferences with leadership teams from her school in 2002 in hopes of developing successful strategies of prevention and intervention, she has also been able to cultivate her larger goal of establishing a functioning, sustainable learning community at Coyote Ridge driven by a common mission and vision. To that end, Cocozzella has implemented a system of data-driven benchmarks for measuring continuous student improvement, developed an accountability plan that encourages collective responsibility from faculty and staff for all students, and instituted a yearly climate survey that reveals what is going right in the school and what issues still need to be addressed more thoroughly. The school's test scores speak volumes in terms of academic achievement at Coyote Ridge. But of equal, if not greater importance, is together the faculty, staff and students at the school have created an atmosphere where student behavior and academic success is constantly recognized and celebrated, parental involvement is encouraged and welcomed, and faculty and staff are aligned around a common mission and vision. The result, as Cocozzella puts it, is buy-in from everyone at Coyote Ridge grounded in the belief that it is truly unacceptable for any child to fail.

From Mediocrity to Excellence: One District’s Story

Why is Vail successful?

That question has been posed with increased frequency over the past several years. Fifteen years ago it would have never occurred to anyone outside the school district to even ask. In fact, at that time the most common question was, "Vail, Isn’t that in Colorado?"

This article outlines how a rapidly growing southwestern school district moved from academic mediocrity to sustained academic excellence. While it is instinctive to reach for a single program that is responsible for this achievement, the truth is that a coordinated effort over time to create a healthy culture is at the heart of our success.

The Vail Unified School District is located in Arizona. The district covers over 425 square miles along the rapidly growing southeastern edge of Tucson. Founded in 1903, the Vail School District was once a ranching community with a one-room schoolhouse. As recently as the early 1990’s, the district had only two schools and fewer than 1,000 students. Currently, over 9,000 students are served throughout 16 schools.

Why is Vail successful?

That question has been posed with increased frequency over the past several years. Fifteen years ago it would have never occurred to anyone outside the school district to even ask. In fact, at that time the most common question was, Vail, Isn't that in Colorado?

This article outlines how a rapidly growing southwestern school district moved from academic mediocrity to sustained academic excellence. While it is instinctive to reach for a single program that is responsible for this achievement, the truth is that coordinated effort over time to create a healthy culture is at the heart of our success.

The Vail Unified School District is located in Arizona. The district covers over 425 square miles along the rapidly growing southeastern edge of Tucson. Founded in 1903, the Vail School District was once a ranching community with a one-room schoolhouse. As recently as the early 1990's, the district had only two schools and fewer than 1,000 students. Currently, over 9,000 students are served throughout 16 schools.

Today, all of Vail's regular schools hold an Excelling label by the Arizona Department of Education, the highest label that can be earned in the state. Academic performance by Vail's students currently ranks among the top 10% in all areas and all grades for public schools in Arizona.

That has not always been the case. In 2002, student academic performance in Vail was at or below the state average for math, reading and writing.

How did the change occur?

In the 1980's, Vail was a small, rural community with one school and 400 students. Disharmony between the governing board and school administration resulted in five superintendents over a five-year period. Survival, not innovation and reform, was the norm.

In 1988 a new superintendent was hired. Twenty years later, he remains in the same position. The real reform began with a conscious and consistent effort to improve the culture of the district.

Vail's mission statement and guiding principles are the foundation for change. These documents were painfully developed in the early 1990's by a large, diverse group of parents and staff members. It was a struggle to create the document because the group tried to capture the best parts of who Vail already was and the hopes of what it could become. After much debate, the group came to wonderful consensus over almost every word:

Mission Statement: It is the mission of the Vail School District to provide parents with safe and nurturing school communities, where their children can obtain a quality education.

A very unique mission statement arose out of this inclusive process. It proclaims the primary mission to be: serving parents. The district recognizes the reality that children belong to their parents. This belief drives every fundamental decision that is made. It is central to the collaborative relationship that now exists with parents and staff. It is integral to the success and good reputation that has followed since its creation.

Included in this important document is the guiding principle that we are never satisfied with the status quo. In Vail, we prefer to attack it. There is a continuous effort to try to figure out a way that may be even better.

WE ARE CONTINUALLY IMPROVING. We are never content with the status quo in our operations or in our curriculum methods. We recognize that we live in a changing world and we respond to those changes. And, we are constantly looking for better and more efficient ways to accomplish our mission.

This cultural belief has fostered numerous innovations, including the creation of a high school designed and built for the use of laptops and digital instructions instead of textbooks and the implementation of an instructional model that has been central to the rise in student achievement.

Another important cultural shift took place a few years later. In the late 1990's the country and our communities were rocked by a series of violent incidents in schools. It shook everyone. All across the country schools and communities reacted to this fear by writing more rules and increasing penalties for violating those rules.

In Vail, a group of parents and staff members met to decide what should be done. The group talked about the fact that rules and penalties, in and of themselves, do not make places safe and healthy; our beliefs about ourselves, our internal controls, are far more important than anything else in creating healthy, safe places. Someone in the group said it was really all about how people act. Someone else scribbled on a legal pad and showed it to the rest of the group. A few minor edits and everyone in the group embraced it. The ACT Statement was born.

The ACT statement now hangs in every classroom and office in the district. It is a central tool in the positive behavioral support initiative that exists on every campus. Most importantly, the ACT statement applies to adults, and how interactions should occur, not only with students, but with each other. The ACT statement has grown beyond the schools and can now be seen displayed in store windows throughout the community.

It was only after the establishment of knowing who we are and how we are going to treat each other that more traditional school-wide academic reform was able to take place.

Administrators and teachers researched highly effective approaches to instruction. Combining the work of Robert Marzano, Richard DuFour, Larry Ainsworth, Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, an instructional model was implemented that dramatically improved student achievement.

While the instructional model led to dramatic improvement, it was difficult to communicate the essential components to parents and community members.

In response, a gathering of administrators and teachers worked on a simple statement that described our approach to instruction. The REACH statement was the result. In simple, plain language, it lays out the powerful instructional formula that has brought so much academic success.

Please note the relationship between our Mission, ACT, and REACH statements. REACH rests upon the successful implementation of the other two.

First, there was a commitment to shared values. Then, there was a commitment to respectfully working together. Finally, there was clarity of our instructional expectations.

The Vail Unified School District has had the good fortune of hosting districts and educators from across the country in recent years. They come to see what is working. Our teachers, administrators and students share their stories of success.

Visitors begin by asking specific questions about the instructional programs that have been implemented. By the end of the visit, the common sentiment is how the collaborative culture has created the environment where instructional innovation and academic achievement can flourish.

The academic results produced by Vail students are certainly noteworthy. Properly preparing children to face challenges is critical to the future of our community and our country. In Vail, the less glamorous work of creating a healthy culture and collaborative relationships with our parents and community is the key to the sustained success of our students.

 

 

McGraw Junior High School (Mathis, TX)

Principal Janet Cunningham likes to begin her day in the hallways of McCraw Junior High School shouting to incoming students, "Who’s fired up today? I’m fired up today! I can see you’re fired up today!" Who wouldn’t be fired up to be a student or teacher at McCraw Junior High in Mathis, Texas? This year, there is 0% turnover among teachers, disciplinary referrals have dropped 75%, test scores on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) have increased dramatically in every subject area while achievement gaps have narrowed.

 

Who's Fired Up Today?

Download: Join the Celebration! View Mcgraw Junior High's Year-End Celebration!

Principal Janet Cunningham likes to begin her day in the hallways of McCraw Junior High School shouting to incoming students, Who's fired up today? I'm fired up today! I can see you're fired up today! Who wouldn't be fired up to be a student or teacher at McCraw Junior High in Mathis, Texas? This year, there is 0% turnover among teachers, disciplinary referrals have dropped 75%, test scores on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) have increased dramatically in every subject area while achievement gaps have narrowed. In addition, students are rewarded for their academic successes with new activity days that include talent shows, carnivals, dances, one-act plays and music concerts. For those students who are still underperforming, there are regularly scheduled times built in to the school day for them to meet with their teachers individually for tutorials so that, as Cunningham says, we catch them before they fail.

McCraw Junior High School (45 minutes outside of Corpus Christi) has not always been a high-performing school. Cunningham recalls that, until recently, upwards of 50% of students were failing academically, staff turnover was between 15%-20% each year, and there were no systems of prevention and intervention in place for rescuing those students who were most at-risk. Worse yet, Cunningham recalls that, The large failure rate was not shocking. It was an expected outcome. In fact, Cunningham recounts a disturbing conversation she overheard between 7th grade boys in the school library in which the boys were comparing their test scores to boys at a nearby school. They didn't believe in themselves. They said that the other boys from the other schools were smarter than they were, Cunningham says. In response, Cunningham dedicated herself to changing the school culture by restoring a belief in success for every student. To that end, Cunningham and leadership teams from McCraw Junior High attended Failure Is Not an Option^® Summits in Austin, TX in 2005 and 2006, and followed up with a Failure Is Not an Option^® book-study for her teachers. Among the first steps Cunningham took to implement best practices from the conference and the book study was to re-organize the school master schedule to allow for regular meetings at which teachers reviewed data on at-risk students and discussed strategies for supporting each student. Cunningham also established a learning lab with comfortable furniture and a relaxed environment where teachers could work directly with students on a one-to-one basis to recover failed classes. According to Cunninghman, the most important result of implementing these systems of prevention and intervention is that teachers at McCraw Junior High have now developed stronger, more individualized, and more encouraging relationships with students. Cunningham says, We've promoted a culture where teachers know that what matters is the relationship they have with the kids. Now, she says, I hear students say, I'm gonna do it for my teacher when they study for tests.

Though Cunningham witnesses the new climate at McCraw Junior High on a daily basis when she sees teachers and students greet each other enthusiastically before school or mingle in the hallways together between classes, the enormous shift that has taken place was not even fully apparent to her until she received the results of a school survey. To her great delight, the bulk of the students' comments focused on their positive relationships with their teachers; for instance: The teachers are always positive no matter what; My teachers were fun and helped me to learn; The teacher never gave up on me; and The teachers made it less stressful for me and cared about me passing TAKS. Just as telling, Cunningham says, was the scene at the school's recent commencement ceremony at which both students and teachers were crying as the 8th graders poured onto the gym floor to say their goodbyes and sing the alma mater.

Cunningham's one wish is to put my finger on what has changed. I see that our kids are happier, I just want to bottle it. But as she well knows, re-culturing a school like McCraw Junior High is an ongoing process that is constantly refined in the spirit of continuous improvement. So even if she can't bottle the positive change she sees and feels around her every day, she is at least satisfied that next year, like this one, will show further proof of the meaningful collaboration and deepened personal relationships that are strengthening the framework for sustained student achievement now firmly in place at McCraw Junior High.

Sumter County Performance Learning Center (Americus, GA)

 

It sounds simple. "The mission of the Sumter County Performance Learning Center is to provide the continuous support that is necessary to transform a student into a goal-oriented graduate who is equipped for a successful future." But the clarity and concision of the Sumter County PLC mission statement belies the long and winding path it took for Principal Connie Wise and her students to get to this point. Even now, Wise acknowledges that the mission statement is still a work-in-progress because her students are so engaged in discussing and debating what they have begun creating that they can’t quite bring themselves to draw the collaborative process to a close. Indeed, Wise describes the students’ ongoing meetings as controlled, productive chaos. "You should see our table. It looks like an executive weekend, with papers piled up high, writings and scribbles on scraps of paper everywhere. We toss this out, add that, and keep going."

Pictured (L-R): Santecia Mitchell, Calandria Clemons, James Ryan, Connie Wise, Shannon Miles, Jessie White (The picture was taken outside of the PLC in the park where mentors visit with their students.)

It sounds simple. "The mission of the Sumter County Performance Learning Center is to provide the continuous support that is necessary to transform a student into a goal-oriented graduate who is equipped for a successful future." But the clarity and concision of the Sumter County PLC mission statement belies the long and winding path it took for Principal Connie Wise and her students to get to this point. Even now, Wise acknowledges that the mission statement is still a work-in-progress because her students are so engaged in discussing and debating what they have begun creating that they can’t quite bring themselves to draw the collaborative process to a close. Indeed, Wise describes the students’ ongoing meetings as controlled, productive chaos. "You should see our table. It looks like an executive weekend, with papers piled up high, writings and scribbles on scraps of paper everywhere. We toss this out, add that, and keep going."

Yet, it is not that Sumter County PLC did not have a mission statement before this year. But after attending the HOPE Foundation Failure Is Not an Option^® Summit in Atlanta, Georgia, last year, Wise recognized that "I had been guilty of probably what so many others also have done; I had put together a mission statement and put it on a brochure and been satisfied with it." After returning from the Summit and watching Failure Is Not an Option^® video resources on creating a common mission, vision, values, and goals, Wise recognized that the school’s mission needed to answer the three critical corollary questions that drive school success:

1. If we expect all students to learn, what is it we expect them to learn?
2. How will we know if they are learning it?
3. What will we do when they don’t?

To remedy that situation, Wise worked with her staff to articulate a new mission. The first draft produced this result: "The mission of Sumter County PLC is to provide students with a safe, supportive learning environment which includes computer-based and project-based curriculum, relationships with caring teachers and mentors, and opportunities for community service and job internships so they can graduate with a vision and a plan for continued academic and vocational growth." Initially, Wise was pleasured. But upon further review and deliberation, Wise concluded that "nobody really wants to say that." It was at this point that someone on Wise’s staff questioned why the students weren’t involved in the process. For Wise, that moment was the tipping point as the project to create a mission turned into a school-wide collaboration. Each classroom was provided with chart paper listing the 3 essential questions and students began to provide their input.

According to Wise, the result has been "an ownership and an accountability that wasn’t’ there before. These kids have just jumped on it! Each and every one of them, even the quiet ones who don’t say much, have been chipping in. It’s just a beautiful process to see." What makes the wholesale buy-in even more remarkable is that the population at Sumter County PLC consists primarily of students who have previously dropped out and shown little motivation in either their own academic performance or the climate of the schools they have attended. "Our students come from all walks of life and have gotten disillusioned with school. They want and need a different atmosphere and that’s exactly what this [collaborative] process has provided," Wise says. Now, however, everyone at Sumter County PLC is invested in a shared purpose that the common mission has provided. According to Wise, the change is best summed up by one of her students who recently asked whether the students would have an opportunity to recite the mission statement each day during morning motivation. When Wise said yes, the student responded: "Good, because we need to do that."