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Virginia Schools Seek Success for Every Child

Team Came Together at NEA Conference

Amherst Middle School math teacher Pershing Berry holds two tenets high in his teaching philosophy. Every child can succeed. And everybody is a stakeholder in the life of a child. Not that he didn't hold those close prior to Amherst County schools signing on to the Priority Schools Initiative. But now he knows that lots of other stakeholders have the same beliefs and are committed to raising the academic achievement of Amherst students.

That team started to come together when eight school people traveled together to an NEA conference. The chair of the school board, some central office administrations, the UniServ director, two principals, a guidance counselor, and two teachers including Berry "had lots of time for bonding while stuck in the Atlanta airport for nine hours," Berry chuckles. But when they finally got to Denver for the conference, they coalesced easily around the opportunities to look at their own needs and to identify areas for growth. Improving students' transition from the two middle schools to high school and communications with the whole community became specific steps to improving academic achievement.

The entire Amherst school system signed on, making this the only system-wide Priority Schools initiative. The high school and the two middle schools have been teaming for two years with the intent of folding in the seven elementary schools next year. The VEA research division is currently preparing the first questionnaire for fifth graders. That work is being done in cooperation with Amherst and the NEA. That will be an add-on to the survey taken the last two years by adults and students in the middle schools and high schools.

They Have Strengthened Communications Channels

Amherst knew they were losing students in the transition from middle school to high school. So transition issues have become a focus. There had always been meetings among the schools but they are more focused now. The communications channels have been strengthened not only between and among schools but also between schools and the central office.

The eighth grade teachers in Monelison Middle School now meet regularly with the eighth grade teachers in Amherst Middle School. Subject area teachers from the high school meet with subject area teachers from the middle schools. The high school teachers understand better what happens in middle school and the middle school teachers understand better what they need to be preparing students for in the high school. "We just feel more like a team now," Berry reports. "The emphasis has been realigned."

And the stakeholders extend far beyond the instructional staffs. Parent advisory committees work with students and teachers, offering workshops for parents and resources for the teachers. Local colleges and the business community are also considered important stakeholders. As well as students, who were surveyed and will be surveyed again for their perspectives. Students serve on several committees. Twenty-one-year teacher Berry admits freely that students have changed during his teaching tenure and up-to-date information is valuable even for experienced teachers.

Translated Training into Action

And the "buy in has been phenomenal," he adds. "What started as small conversations have evolved into larger conversations."  Berry credits that to the fact that input was sought from the beginning on where the various stake holders perceived the schools to be and where they wanted them to be. Which was the construct emphasized in the first Colorado workshop. Plans were drawn up based on those local concerns and perspectives. And then association resources helped them move from where they identified themselves as being to where they identified themselves as wanting to go. And throughout the process, the Initiative made it possible for teachers to be paid and treated as professionals as they came together for the numerous meetings.

All three schools were provisionally certified when they signed on to the Priority Schools Initiative. The high school raised all its scores but missed full accreditation this year by two points in math. (It brought its history score up a whopping 21 points.) Both middle schools gained full accreditation last year and one missed it this year by six points on math.
Why do faculty and administration in schools that are fully accredited or close to full accreditation continue a project that -- while exciting and productive -- involves longer hours and a change in familiar patterns? Berry's answer: "Because we have not reached 100 percent."