Gauging the Pulse of the Husky School Culture to Embrace the Process of School Improvement
In the crowded halls of Husky Nation, the overwhelming sense of pride fills every corner of Juarez-Lincoln High School (JLHS). About 2,510 Huskies proudly stride the halls of JLHS, immersed in a school environment flooded by positive affirmations of encouragement, respect, and recognition for students. Academic and athletic victories and special “shout outs” adorn the walls. Mr. Ricardo Estrada, new campus principal of eight months, constantly echo’s his message to all, “…our priority is setting the standards high and placing meaningful, engaging learning opportunities for all our students.” Through the solid engagement and energies of students, parents, teachers, staff and school leadership, these endeavors are slowly coming to fruition. Although creating change is arduous and gradual, in the words of Dr. Roberto Zamora, assistant professor and project lead from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, “Celebrating early wins along the way is integral to creating a culture of success!”
In fall 2017, the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley College of Education and P-16 Integration (UTRGV CEP) and Juarez Lincoln High School UTS K-12 School Turnaround Partnership, joined forces to tackle challenges of low student academic performance, and a high turnover rate of campus leadership-an enormous undertaking engaging numerous academic initiatives and a less than stellar campus climate.
The Concerns Based Adoption Model (Hall & Hord, 2015) is being used to: a) enhance staff understanding of initiatives being implemented; (b) identify staff concerns; (c) monitor levels of implementation of change initiatives, and (d) deliver targeted supports needed to effectively implement the redesign initiatives. The CBAM is comprised of three dimensions: (1) Innovation Configuration Maps, which provide clarity of what the initiative will look like when fully implemented; (2) Stages of Concern Questionnaire, which yield information about how the faculty thinks about the change initiative, and (3) Levels of Use Interviews, which provide information pertinent to fidelity of implementation (Hall & Hord, 2015). Drs. Roberto Zamora, Rosalinda Hernandez, and Federico Guerra, faculty in the Department of Organization and School Leadership, will conduct a study, utilizing the CBAM constructs, to identify information essential for leading, managing, and evaluating change initiatives aimed at improving student achievement in large, high-poverty high schools.
Following a review of data yielded by a 2017 Southern Association of Schools Accreditations self-study and External visiting Review Team Report, Texas STAAR and TELPAS assessment data, teacher leaders and district and campus administration convened for two days with Drs. Roberto Zamora and Gene A. Hall, lead developer of the CBAM, and engaged in a deliberate examination of campus improvement initiatives. When asked to identify school improvement initiatives implemented on campus, teacher leaders and campus administrators identified 39 initiatives. Teachers expressed they felt overwhelmed by the number of initiatives and grants being implemented. However, everyone expressed a commitment to improve student achievement. Teachers were then asked to examine the initiatives and determine 2-3 common themes that cut across all initiatives and that would target teaching the Texas knowledge and skills assessed by the STAAR end-of course assessments. The intent was to engage teacher leaders and administration in determining “common themes” for which all campus faculty could take ownership for implementing. Two common themes quickly emerged: building relationships and teaching higher order thinking skills (HOTS). Results of this work were presented to the faculty at an in-service day for review and feedback. Since then, English Language development has been added as a common theme to be addressed as everyone focuses on improving the achievement of all students with an emphasis on the high number of English Learners (ELs) at 43.6% and 7.7% students with special needs. Innovation Configuration Maps (ICMs) were created to facilitate the process of forging strong positive relationships between teachers and students along with the process of planning and delivering instruction aligned to HOTS.
Although time consuming, but necessary, engagement in the CBAM process entailed immersing in multiple levels of phases for collecting data to shed light on faculty perceptions. A Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SOCQs) was administered in November 2018 to determine assistance needed by faculty with implementation of the building relationships innovation configuration maps (ICMs). The intent was to assist faculty grow from concern for how the initiative affects them personally, to concern for how the initiative is to be implemented, to concern for how the initiative impacts student learning. Results emerging from this SOCQ survey indicated teachers: (a) believed school had a positive start; ()b building relationships is not a program but a way of working with students and each other; (c) time considerations are important for implementing change; (d) continued skills development is needed, and (e) collaboration across the school community will strengthen relationships. Change facilitators – administrators, department chairs, master and mentor teachers - indicate that (1) the change process has been difficult; (2) building a culture of trust and respect is imperative; (3) listening to teacher voices is essential; (4) additional assistance through reading and discussion of articles and professional development is needed, and (5) influencing the change process requires modeling by school leaders.
The SOCQ, as it relates to Higher Order Thinking Skills will be administered in May. Results of the SOCQs pertaining to implementation of Building Relationships and Teaching Higher Order Thinking Skills ICMS will be analyzed with teacher leaders and administration to determine action for assisting all faculty in 2019 -2020. Also, planned for the summer of 2019 is professional development on Levels of Use Interviews (LoU). These interviews will assist administrators and UTRGV faculty determine the degree of expertise that school faculty have related to the initiative and assistance needed to assist school faculty grow from nonuse to routine use of the initiative.
A sense of shared leadership is evident as administration encourages that decisions be made at the closest point of implementation and that decision making be guided by the campus mission, vision, goals, and be research-based, data-driven and student-focused. Common understandings throughout this change experience have been that change is a process, not an event, and that implementing the change initiatives requires team effort.
This Turnaround Partnership is truly an example where all partners view each other as co-learners, co-doers and co-problem solvers.
Easily considered as early wins, this significant progress created synergy for executing a research-supported structured field experiences between the university and school. Change is slow but small wins are seeping through.