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Project "X"
(Excellence) 1998-1999 By Loretta Tetreault
(Principal) Sacred Heart Community School
Sacred Heart Community School is an inner-city elementary school in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. It is one of 27 schools in an urban Catholic school division. It is a school division with 10,000 students whose mission is to provide a quality Catholic education with a focus on quality relationships and quality student outcomes. Sacred Heart Community School currently has about 350 students from pre-kindergarten to grade eight. Over sixty percent of our students are of aboriginal ancestry and the majority of our students live in poverty. In 1980, Sacred Heart was designated a Community School by the Provincial Government. The purpose of the community schools was to provide funding to urban schools with a high aboriginal population. The extra funding was an attempt to meet the needs of these under-privileged children living in poverty. Such funding provided for a breakfast program and a nutritional snack program to help deal with hunger issues. Other money was available for a Community Coordinator to work with families as well as some money to bring cultural activities into the school. Four years ago, when I came to the school as principal, I would have described the school as one in great crisis, one that could not have gotten much worse. There was a very high incidence of violence and a low academic success rate. The majority of students, teachers, and parents appeared frustrated and angry with one another. Parents and students blamed the teachers and the school for the violence and lack of success and the teachers blamed the results on the fact that the students lived in poverty, lacked experience, and came from unstable families with no parental support. It was obvious the delivery system was not working and that something had to be done. In an educational setting, change often comes easier during a time of crisis, so change it did. I will take the credit for initiating that change but the "I" very quickly became a "we" when the results of some of our efforts started to show. We are truly an example of Effective School Renewal from the “inside out”. We have now successfully initiated some unique changes over the last four years in order to provide a safe and orderly environment and to achieve academic success. These changes include a responsibility plan, some unique grade combinations, and an adjusted school day, where recesses have been eliminated and replaced with a high quality physical education program twice a day. In addition to all of this, during this past year we received a Dr. Stirling McDowell research grant to help with the implementation of brain-based learning throughout the school. The Dr. Stirling McDowell Foundation for Research into Teaching is an organization created through the efforts of the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation to support research and inquiry into teaching and learning. We were fortunate to have been provided with the necessary support to help our plans unfold. Our results indicate that we have triumphantly reduced the incidence of violence to virtually nothing and have established a warm, loving atmosphere where students take responsibility for their behaviour and learning, with our encouragement. They are now able to learn and are progressing and succeeding at their own level. Our academic levels have continued to rise over the last four years. Initially our students were, on average, two years behind grade level. We have now narrowed the academic gap significantly. In our most recent results, 1998/1999, over a seven month period, we have had an average gain of 1.05 grade/year equivalents. As a school, we are now only .78 year/grade equivalents behind the norm according to our CTBS results. Our goal is to eliminate that gap completely. THE FIRST OF FOUR YEARS IN THE CHANGE PROCESS - 1995/1996 We will share our struggles and joys as we made these changes to this inner-city school to not only create a safe and orderly environment, but a school that is positive, upbeat, and progressive in its approach. The Dream First came my dream. I knew I "must begin with the end in mind" and travel the difficult road to the finish if there were going to be positive results. I knew that not everyone would be on board, as change is difficult, so I braced myself for the worst and forged ahead. The vision was "our" ideal school, a school with a family atmosphere, a school where children were happy, safe, and free from violence and bullying. I craved for an atmosphere of mutual respect where students took responsibility for their behaviour, and were interested and challenged by learning about and discovering the world around them. I wanted children who took pride in their culture, celebrated their successes, and could think "outside the box". Above all, the quest must be "to provide a quality Catholic education that fostered academic excellence and the development of informed responsible citizens". By incorporating Aboriginal Spiritually into our Catholic faith, through the use of the medicine wheel, the goal was to develop the whole child, physically, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. Challenging Historical Practices Historically, an authoritarian leadership style appeared to be the most prevalent in school as well as at home. If a child was punished at school, they were often also punished at home. By today's standards, schools had a licence to be aggressive, controlling, verbally, and physically abusive. Society has changed and so have some parenting styles. Schools have been caught in the middle, in conflict with parenting styles and society. As a Catholic school, we truly needed to be different and Christ-like in our approach. My philosophy was one of mutual respect and I wanted to reflect that in everything we did. I wanted to move away from a controlling approach, which wasn't working anyway, to one of complete respect in all situations. I shared my dream with the staff. I used Mother Teresa as an example and I said that if we were going to make a difference we had "to give until it hurt". “I said we needed to treat every child as the Christ-child no matter how hard it was.” I said that if I saw a staff member out of control, I would come between them and the student, invite that individual to take a break, and let me take over with the student. When both had calmed down, we would talk and the adult would apologize for his/her behaviour. I intervened twice, very early in the change process, and I have never had to do it again. "Going Deeper" We agreed that students would always be given choices in every situation, and never ultimatums. We also asked and continue to ask our children for their suggestions as to how we can make our school "number one". We respect their opinions and implement the ideas that we can. We want them to know that their voices will be heard and respected. The first time I asked them, very shortly after I came, what we could do that would make this school better for them, we were very surprised at their response. In the midst of the violence and chaos, the most important issue was that they wanted to be able to wear their hats in the school. They said teachers "took their hats off their heads" and kept them for a day or a week at a time if they forgot to take them off when they came into the school. They said, "The teachers think we are being disrespectful and we aren't". They went on to tell us that it was the style and it showed the teams they supported or it was just "a cool hat". I told them we needed to think about their request and I went directly to the staff. I wanted the kids to have a win. I wanted to show them that we would make an effort to improve their school with their help. I shared my view with the staff and got a mixed reaction. Some had no problem with it, others were dead against it. They said things like, "What if they want to wear it backwards?" "What if they want to wear bandannas?" "What if they want to wear a toque?" etc. I said that if we agreed to let them wear hats that anything would go. We knew we would get some pretty funny looking hats for awhile but that the novelty would wear off and before long the standard baseball cap would be the style. I told the staff I had one request of the students and that was that we would ask them to remove their hats at assemblies and all of our religious celebrations. The majority of the staff agreed to go for the idea so we went back to our students with their first win. They promised me that removing their hats at assemblies and celebrations was not a problem and that they would look after that. Four years later they still look after it. We did have some strange looking head gear for a short while and now only a small number, mostly the senior students, wear hats. To this day, we have a lot of fun teasing them about their favourite teams and the hats provide one more opportunity for casual relationship building. This was a big breakthrough for the kids and it wasn't long before most teachers were just fine with the hats. The Responsibility Plan and the Power of Love Once we all agreed what we wanted the school to look, feel, sound, taste, and smell like we put an action plan into place. I will use "we" now even though not everyone was a convert. Most were willing to stay abreast. “We declared our school and school grounds a `no violence sanctuary'.” Within our boundaries, everyone would be safe. Since our school division was encouraging all the schools to move towards developing a discipline/responsibility plan that clearly laid out behavioural expectations, we borrowed an existing plan. We modified it to suit our needs and implemented it step by step. Our plan was one that focused on mutual respect and responsibilities. Students were not only taught their responsibilities and obligations but also those of the staff. If either party did not live up to their obligations the other party knew the steps they could take to ensure that it would be looked after and solved in a respectful manner. Our objective was to improve student behaviour. Within that objective, we had two goals: The first was to treat every student as the Christ-child, with dignity and respect no matter what they did. We, the staff, promised to model the behaviour we expected from our students. Our second goal was to acknowledge responsible choices on a regular basis and to correct the irresponsible choices, with a focus on consistent and logical consequences. In-School Suspensions Students were taught that individuals are always free to make choices but for every choice there is a consequence. For any illegal act or an act of physical violence, the consequence was a full-day in-school suspension for senior students. For younger students, the time was adjusted according to their age. We chose an in-school suspension as opposed to an out-of-school suspension. An out-of-school suspension was no solution for our students; it was exactly what they wanted. To them, a suspension was being kicked out of school for the day and, if it could be arranged, your friend got kicked out too. In fact, some students asked for an out-of-school suspension when they misbehaved. My answer to them was always the same. "When you misbehave at home, your parents don't send you to me to be punished or to solve the problem. This is your second home, where we act as the parent when you are at school, and it wouldn't be right for me to expect your parents to settle the issue. We have to solve the issue together here at school." To assist us in solving the problem, we looked at two different packaged programs to help us. The staff was trained to deliver these programs to students. Both programs taught problem solving skills and alternatives to violence. The best of the "Second Step Program" and the "Lions Quest Program" was used so students had an opportunity to learn about and practice using appropriate problem solving skills. In-school suspensions were handled in a kind, consistent manner. We believed that punishment alone did not modify behaviour. The goal of our in-school suspension program is to promote positive behaviour. This is accomplished in the following manner: During the suspension, students are unable to go to class, to move around the school, or to see their friends. “We, in the office however, slay the children with our love.” Most often, they would prefer us to yell at them so they could get mad at us too. We make sure they are well taken care of. They have food to eat, water to drink, and we escort them to the bathroom, when necessary, as they have lost all school privileges during the suspension. Schoolwork is not allowed during this time, as it is an honour and a privilege to be in our classrooms. An in-school suspension allows the student to spend time alone, to calm down, and to work on a self-improvement plan. We also use this time to counsel, problem solve, and build the student's self-esteem. Within the office area, other teachers stop by to chat with and encourage the individual to make good choices. A counselling time is also part of this program. At the end of their office stay, our students never leave angry or upset. They know the problem has been solved and is over. For other forms of violence, bullying, threatening etc., the consequence is a "timeout", which also varies in length, and has a counselling session component. During these sessions students problem solve, using alternatives to violence and are reminded of their personal gifts and talents. Again, the student always leaves with the problem solved, with all parties involved in the solution. The students know the incident is over and that we have faith that appropriate choices will be made in the future. Acknowledging the Positive Efforts
“We didn't know too many families who made their children line up before they entered their home.”
The Elimination of Line-ups In addition to our responsibility plan, we needed to adjust a number of other procedures that, even today in many schools, continue to be part of school routine with little or no thought given as to why we do them other than we have always done it that way. One of these procedures is lining children up before they come into the school. Upon investigation, we discovered we were punishing those children closest to the door by making them stay in line until the last student from the playground stood quietly in line. Both teachers and students felt frustrated when some of the students pushed and shoved while they stood in line. Then, there are always those challenging, competitive individuals who "butt" in line. By simply removing this procedure, we eliminated the frustration felt by both teachers and students. Now, those students close to the door simply enter the school and proceed to their classroom. We realized that if we were to have a family atmosphere we needed to treat our students as we would our family members and we didn't know too many families who made their children line up before they entered their home. This means, however, that in order to prevent problems from occurring, teachers must be at their classroom doors to greet the children as they begin to enter the school. Free Access to the School Besides lining up, there were rules and guidelines around when students could enter the school. If a child had to go to the bathroom, before the designated bell time, they had to get permission from the outside supervisor to enter the school. If a child was cold and wanted to enter the school, again, permission had to be obtained. Since we did not know of any families that operated in this fashion, we also eliminated that procedure. At first, we had staff that were worried about everyone wanting to be inside and that no one would be outside. In fact, this was almost true until the novelty wore off and they discovered it was more fun to be outside. Now, from time to time we encourage some individuals to go outside but for the most part it is no longer a problem. Publicizing Our Promises Following the establishment of a Responsibility Plan, along with the other adjustments we made, the next step was to write a Mission Statement for our school. This has proven to be a useful tool as it keeps us on course as we navigate towards our dream. As part of the Regina Catholic School Division, Sacred Heart Community School is dedicated to working with the community and the parish to provide a quality Catholic education for every child. The school focuses on a positive climate that is conducive to learning. Clear goals emphasize the values and beliefs. The school places a high emphasis on learning and every child is treated as the Christ-child. THE SECOND YEAR OF THE CHANGE PROCESS - 1996/1997 Life for both students and teachers was better during that first year but we knew we had a long way to go to have our dream become reality. We still faced many challenges and as we reflected on the first year we became more committed and more determined to make the dream a reality. We had solved some problems but others seemed overwhelming and the demands on the staff seemed to be growing as we fought to prove we knew what we were doing. During times of doubt and stress, there are always the optimistic and adventurous type with a passion for a challenge and they emerged as our leaders ready to try anything that might improve our situation. It was during this time that our school division became involved in Effective School Reform based on the works of Dr. Larry Lezotte. We sent our enthusiastic school team to attend the first workshop. This encouraged and recharged us and we were ready to problem solve and plan again. The "Class from Hell” Goes into a Grade 2/6 Split During the previous year, we had a grade five class that was affectionately referred to as the "class from hell". These wise young students had such strong leadership skills that they went through three teachers that year. We knew we had to harness that energy and put it to more positive use. The question was "How?" We realized this would never happen with all of them in the same classroom again, so we devised a "divide and conquer" plan. I came up with the idea of two classes of a grade 2/6 split. I felt the two groups would not be connected socially and there would be much less negative peer pressure with only half the number of students at the grade six level. My theory was, if we put these students with younger students they would act as leaders and mentors for the little ones. I felt this would work because, on an individual basis, they were great kids. I could not find any research to support my theory but decided to pursue the idea anyway. I presented my idea to the area superintendent and was asked for the research to support my plan. I said there wasn't any but I would write it. I then presented the idea to the staff and invited anyone interested in the positions to come to see me. A week later, I still had no volunteers. Just when I thought I might have to come up with a new plan, a teacher came and said, "If those two jobs aren't already taken, I'd like to give it a try." We hired another teacher who was willing to take on the project so the team for our grade 2/6 split was in place. We have never looked back. “Our former `class from hell' became our `Holy Ghosts'.” These two teachers, won the Roy C. Hill award, a Canadian award, for one of the most innovative educational projects of the year. The dream was realized and our unique grade splits have since been expanded. "The Holy Ghosts" completed grade eight this year and are off to high school. Saying farewell to this group of students was an emotional event as they had become wonderful leaders in our school. They proved to themselves and to us that any dream is possible when you have committed, passionate teachers you can trust and believe in. The Learning Resource Program Other changes were implemented during this school year. We completely changed the delivery format of the Learning Resource Program (LRP). Historically, it had been a pull-out program where services were provided to students struggling well below grade level. The number of students in the program had continued to grow and it was nearly impossible to deliver any kind of effective programming to accommodate their needs. In addition to this, the students were reluctant to leave their peers and did not want to be singled out from the rest of the class. Since most of our students were well below grade level, we decided on a new action plan. From kindergarten to grade three, we implemented a program we called "Spin to Win". It was a preventative program with three main components: language skills, phonetic skills, and reading skills. All this was accomplished through the use of board games and predictable reading books. The Speech and Language program was also incorporated through this method. Teacher Associates modelled and played the games with students in groups of two or three. The teacher planned for the game and the story that was shared with each child or combination of children. The Teacher Associate recorded the skills taught and the results of the activity. The program really developed an awareness of individual strengths and weaknesses and made it easier for teachers to adapt the curriculum in the classroom to meet the needs of individual students. It was also a great tracking system because it was easy to see individual growth or lack of it and adjustments could easily be made. Each teacher has 163 games to choose from for planning. For the older students, grades four to eight, the Learning Resource Teacher provides in-class support by co-planning and co-teaching with the classroom teacher. Adaptations are made to accommodate those students who are unable to follow the pace and demands of the regular curriculum. We were pleased with our observations and tracking records with both the younger and older students in the LRP programs. We were also beginning to see a positive change in the students' attitude towards school and an increase in the level of skill development. Part of these results were also due to the fact that, as a school, we were moving away from text-book learning to resource and interest-based learning. The students were responding well to all of our efforts. A Loving, Nurturing Culture Behind changes of this magnitude are teachers who are willing to take big risks because they are so committed to kids. They are the heros in the lives of our children. Those individuals emerged in our school and once their creative juices started to flow and they began to see results, nothing could hold them back. “Our staff became the pulse of positive thinking and they nurtured the culture of loving kids.” We quote the following saying at our school: "If we do things the way they have always been done, we'll get the results we have always gotten." This message gives us the permission we need to look for new and different ways to accomplish our goals. Brain-based Learning/ Multiple Intelligence At this time, we became interested in Gardner's theory on brain-based learning. We felt it was a direction that we wanted to investigate for our school. Both the vice-principal and I had some knowledge and experience in this area but most staff members did not. We knew if this venture was to be successful, a team of teachers had to be committed and willing to take the lead, with our help. We purchased some videos and presented the staff with an overview of the theory and how it could be applied in our situation. We received some information on a five-day, Accelerated Learning Conference in Irvine, California that looked exciting. It looked like it was what we needed, but of course it was a long way away and we had no money. We knew we were looking at a hefty cost if we were to send a team for five days. The cost of the substitute teachers alone was more money than we had. But, where there is a will there is a way and we had overcome bigger obstacles than money. We approached the staff and told them about the conference. We asked those that were interested to apply to administration and explain why they should be chosen to go. They knew it would be a big commitment on their part because they would be responsible for training the rest of the staff. They were informed it would be a two-year commitment in leading this venture. We thought that a team of five: the principal, vice-principal and three teachers would be an appropriate number for the team. Four teachers applied and their applications were so convincing that we accepted all of them. The team of six was born. Now, all that was left was the small detail of money. We applied to our business partner, the local Catholic Women's League (CWL), senior administration and numerous other organizations. We did presentations on why it was so important for us to go and that we felt it would have a profound effect on our inner-city children. The money came together, we booked our airline tickets, and we were off. The conference proved to be all that we had dreamed of and upon our return we shared the excitement with the rest of the staff. A new plan of action was born and we would begin slowly and try to be successful as we implemented each small step. Growing Pains All of our accomplishments were not achieved without many struggles and barriers to overcome. As in most families, we only want to focus on the positives. I believe, however, that it is the pain and struggle that make the growth and success worth celebrating. Now, when we reflect on the hardships as a staff, we laugh at ourselves, at others, at our reactions and sometimes at the tears we have shed. As an administrator, one of my most difficult tasks was to confront the day-to-day work environment around meeting the personal needs of staff. I had to remind teachers of the code of ethics. I passed out copies of the Teacher's Code of Ethics at a staff meeting and indicated that if there were problems that were not addressed in the proper manner, I would have to call them on their professionalism. “Modelling what we want is still the most powerful tool we have.” When everyone is working so hard, irritations grow into major issues. I will share one such issue with you. I am sure many of you can relate to it. Not everyone washed their coffee cup and returned it to its proper place in the staff room cupboard or cleaned up the staff room the days that the sign indicated they should do so. Signs were posted, "Your mother doesn't work here, wash your own dishes." Comments were made like, "Whose turn is it to do dishes?" Actually, everyone knew who's turn it was because of the signs. Someone else would say things like, "Well, I'm not doing them, I cleaned up after someone last week." I watched and listened to this with utter amazement, as those same individuals showed tenderness and respect towards the children when they left the staff room. How does one deal with these situations sensitively? I had two choices. I could simply ignore the situation and hope it would go away or do something about it. I decided to do something about it. I was usually one of the first to arrive at school in the morning so I went into the staff room, did the dishes, and made the coffee. It didn't take long for most people to know that I had taken on this morning task. One individual asked why I was doing it. I said because it was something I could do for those who worked so hard but may have forgotten to do their dishes. I rarely have to do the dishes in the mornings any more because there is always someone who is willing to go the extra mile whether it is dishes or to help with supervision or anything else that needs to be done. I was convinced that modelling what we want is still the most powerful tool we have. The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful Insisting on the Best! With the changes we made during the first two years in our change process, we all had many opportunities to model the behaviour we wanted. We had many parents who applauded us for the changes we were making to the school. We also had those who became very angry with us and would not support or did not understand our efforts. When there was a problem, they would become angry, yell, and make accusations and demands. We were willing to do whatever it took to solve the problem but we refused to deal with them if they were disrespectful towards us. We “When you are receptive to change you must be a good listener.” insisted that we receive the same respect that they wanted us to show to their children. We would ask them to leave the school and come back when they could sit down and discuss their concerns politely. On two occasions, we had a parent escorted out of the school by the School Resource Officer. With messages sent home in the monthly newsletters and information that was passed on by word of mouth, it did not take long for the community to know that we would be as consistent and kind to them as to their children but we would not allow them to use violence or be disrespectful or abusive toward us. It wasn't long before we had the following comment from one of our parents. "I was so angry at the school yesterday but I knew you wouldn't talk to me so I waited until today. Can we sit down and talk?" We did sit down and talk and solved the misunderstanding in about two minutes over a cup of coffee. As a professional, I believe we must promise parents that we will treat their children with dignity and respect at all times but insist that we be given that same respect in return. Again, modelling what we want is a powerful tool. I also knew that I had to live it when I dealt with angry children and parents. I knew everyone watched my every reaction and that I had to "walk the talk" at all times. Listen! ... Understand! Besides modelling what we wanted, another valuable tool was being a good listener. And, listen we did. When you are receptive to change you must be a good listener. Children from inner-city schools have many more issues to deal with than most other children in school. Many of our children live with hunger, drug and alcohol abuse, violence, and neglect. Consequently, they bring many of their problems to school with them. Academic success was not high on our students' list of priorities. Even though we had made noticeable gains in establishing a safe and orderly environment and in the area of academics, we knew we still had a long way to go to realize our dream. Upon reflection, we realized that during school hours we were being quite successful but during recesses and noon hour the students fell back into a survival mode as neighbourhood quarrels came to life and continued to be lived out in the only way they knew how. And it is through listening to the children that led us in a new direction. In trying to solve recess or lunch quarrels with our students, I would often refer to the non-violent problem- solving skills we were teaching in the classroom. On this particular day I had the following conversation with a grade four student:
I thought about this conversation for some time. The solution was so simple in the mind of this child. The child knew the problems erupted when the children were all outside together. We knew that after recesses and lunch hour it took a long time to get our students back on task in the classroom. They carried so much baggage with them back into the classroom. From this conversation, and the fact that two teachers had just returned from a conference where they heard about an alternate school day, the idea of our adjusted school day was conceived. Putting three hundred and fifty kids together on the playground created a problem. By not putting them on the playground there was no problem. The solution was simple but who would go for it? Fifteen minute recesses and an hour lunch was one of those routines that had existed since the invention of schools. We believed that society had changed, children had changed, in many ways, so why couldn't the structure of schools change. Because many of our children are not enrolled in activities outside of school, we had to be sure they would have physical activity on a regular basis. After much research and investigation into the needs of our children, we came up with a proposal for a new school day. We wrote the proposal, got approval from our students and parents to go ahead with it, and submitted it to senior administration at our school board office. They liked the idea and took it to the school board, who in turn sent the proposal to the Minister of Education. We received approval to change the traditional school day that is outlined in the Education Act. Our proposed school day was as follows: THE ADJUSTED SCHOOL DAY
A high focus was placed on the Physical Education program. Every class would have a twenty-minute Physical Education period both in the morning and the afternoon. When we first took our proposal to the students, they loved the idea. They liked the concept of starting later, finishing earlier, and having two Physical Education periods a day. Most parents were willing to give the suggestion a try. There were, however, a very small number of parents who resisted the idea. They were resistant to change and their main concern was: "When will our children learn to socialize?" I told them that I didn't believe children learned to socialize in groups of over three hundred. I said that I believed children learned to socialize in groups of two or three. Even though there was some resistance, we went ahead with our plans to implement the adjusted school day in the 1997-1998 school year. THE THIRD YEAR IN THE CHANGE PROCESS - 1997/1998 Implementing a New School Day The implementation of the adjusted school day has been like a dream come true. Starting later and eliminating recesses has had a profound effect on the behaviour and attitude of our students. It has eliminated the stress that our students feel in unstructured situations. The staff loves the change and comments on the incredible increase of time on task. For the half-hour lunch break, we encourage all students to remain at school. Only those who live very close and have parental permission are allowed to leave for the half hour. Almost all of our students remain at school. All teachers have the half hour lunch break together. We have support staff and parents who supervise the students during lunch and I assist with that. Since most students take no longer than fifteen minutes to eat, we have games and activities for them for the last fifteen minutes. For the most part, we do not have them eat lunch in their classrooms. We feel the children need a change of scenery during that half hour. We have set up the younger students in the hallways and different groups go outside on different days for the last fifteen minutes. The students that remain inside have cards, board games etc. to play with. We have a large area under our gymnasium that was used by our system to store unused desks and equipment. We had the area cleaned out and turned it into a recreation room for our senior students to use during lunch. They have two ping pong tables, a shuffle board, and a pool table that has been donated and is presently under repair. As well, we got some old wrestling mats from a high school and set them up in the centre of the room. With nets at either end, the students have devised a type of basketball played on their knees with a sponge ball. This area also doubles as a gymnasium during the colder months when it is too cold to go outside for a Physical Education class. At present, we have every class scheduled into the gym for one of their two Phys. Ed. classes each day and every class scheduled outside for the second Phys. Ed. class. To help add variety and interest as well as trying to develop life-long good exercise habits, we have added additional equipment to our recreation room. We asked Sask Tel Pioneers, one of our business partners, if they would send out a memo to their employees asking if anyone had any exercise bikes or treadmills that they would consider donating to our school. We now have seven bikes and one treadmill. We are thrilled to be able to help our senior students by promoting and encouraging a healthy lifestyle. Our gymnasium is also used during our lunch break. The grade four, five, and six students sit at fold-down tables on the stage to eat their lunch. When they are finished, they may take part in a variety of sports or activities in the gym area. We have found that by providing our children with an interesting lunch break, they have, for the most part, lost the desire to leave at lunch time. Prior to our adjusted school day, we had problems getting our senior students back to school many afternoons as they were able to find activities during that hour that were more appealing than being in class. We have eliminated one more distraction which increased our time on task. After one year with the adjusted school day in operation, we did an in-depth survey to help us determine the success of this endeavour. One hundred and ten families out of one hundred and ninety answered our survey. The results were as follows: SURVEY RESULTS OF SCHOOL DAY CHANGE
One comment that came through strongly in the survey was the fact that our students felt One comment that came through strongly in the survey was the fact that our students felt much safer travelling to and from school. All the other schools in the neighbourhood started at 9:00 a.m. so our children had a half-hour to get to school when there were no other children on the streets. At the end of the day, our children had a half-hour to get home before the other schools were dismissed. There were virtually no longer any issues around coming and going to school. The adjusted school day has become a way of life for us and we do not anticipate any change to this in the near future. Grade 2/6 Project After two years with our unique grade 2/6 split in operation, we conducted a survey. It involved all the parents and students that participated in the program over the two years. The survey results are as follows: RESULTS OF THE GRADE 2/6 PROJECT
In addition to the positive results, we had several parents ask us to consider expanding the program to other grade levels. The results of both surveys were exciting and really provided us with the fuel to forge ahead. We could now clearly see that our theory on reducing unstructured time had indeed increased the time on task, probably about two fold. With fewer discipline problems to deal with, we had more time to focus on delivering a higher quality academic program. Since we had been focussing on resource/interest-based learning and brain-based learning, this naturally led us deeper into these areas. When you change the way you teach, it then follows that you need to change the way you evaluate. This led us to investigate the use of portfolios and rubrics. As a staff, we attended a Rubrics workshop and were thrilled when we saw that students can achieve goals a whole lot easier when the path is laid out in front of them. When students know the skills we expect them to learn and how they will know when they have learned the skill, it takes the guess work out of skill development for both the teacher and student. With the results of those skills tucked away in a portfolio, it is an easy way for both teachers and students to be more accountable for what they do. An Orderly School Culture... Kids Taking Charge Another device that has helped our students become more accountable for themselves and our school was a valuable piece of information we gave to the student body at the beginning of the school year. We told them that we had a pot of money to run the school. We said that we were not here at night or on the weekends so if they wanted to break windows or cover the school with graffiti they would probably be able to get away with it. We would take money out of the pot to fix the broken windows and we would hire people to clean up the graffiti. We then quoted the price to replace a large double-paned window and the price of a bus trip to take them out of the school. We promised to spend the money on them if they took care of the school. Of course, the repairs and maintenance of the school actually come out of our school board office budget, but nonetheless, it has changed how our students view our school and take care of it. With a lot of encouragement throughout the year, the results were remarkable. There was no damage to our school. Student leadership was being lived out even when there were no teachers around. Who could argue with what we were doing? Being a very creative group, we decided there should be a hefty reward from our school board office for such remarkable results. We sent in a memo saying how excited we were for having won the award in our division for the least amount of damage to our school. We said that our students would be thrilled with an ice cream day to celebrate the event and that they could present us with a cheque for the amount that we had saved the school board. We told them we were holding a special assembly and invited them to come bearing the good news and the cheque. We also spread the news around our system that we had won the award. We would get these strange looks from other administrators who said they didn't even know there was an award for that. We said, "There wasn't, we just invented one." We had a lot of fun over this with senior administration but in the end we did get our ice cream day and the students got the recognition they deserved. We did not get the cheque we were hoping for but they have promised to fix up the landscaping at the front of our school. Library Project.... Kids Held Responsible Before all of these changes were made in our school, library books seemed to disappear from our school faster than we could put new ones in. It was a big problem. Students lost books and had no money to pay for them. In our quest to help make students responsible and accountable for their actions, we knew this was another area we had to address. A plan was put into place at the beginning of the year and a notice sent home to parents. Students who lost books would have a choice. They could pay for the book or they could work it off at minimum wage washing stairs after school. We assured both parents and students that no one would be angry with them but we needed the books returned so others could use them or they could work it off. It wasn't long before you could see our librarian, better known as the "Book Hound", helping students with math, calculating how long a student had to work to pay off the book. The next task she was seen performing was giving lessons in washing stairs. This did not last long and she was soon out of business and back in the Resource Centre as all the books were being returned. At the end of the year we had a grand total of four books that were lost by students over the year. Being true to form, we did a little investigation. During our inquiry, we found out that we had one of the highest circulation of books, per capita, in our school system and of course no one was close to our record of returned books. This record simply could not be left as a secret. Again, this inner-city school was about to receive recognition for the outstanding students in our system. The award was announced, by us of course, and a special ceremony of recognition was held. Recognition is wonderful and our students needed it but we wanted monetary recognition for all the money we saved our school division. We did not get the money, but, we did get a well-known author and story teller to spend time with all the students in our school. This was wonderful for them and they enjoyed their prize. We plan to go after the same awards next year now that it is a system contest, we hope! THE FOURTH YEAR IN THE CHANGE PROCESS - 1998/1999 Addressing Multiple Intelligences on a School Wide Basis With the Dr. Stirling McDowell research grant in our pocket we started our year focusing on brain-based learning, centred around Language Arts and Math. With multiple intelligences being highlighted, it was easier for teachers to accommodate different learning styles. The grant money that had been made available allowed teachers time to visit one another's classrooms by providing a substitute teacher for their own room. By visiting classes, they were able to see how other teachers had implemented the strategies and techniques they had learned about in the workshops. Then, when the teaching partners planned together, they not only had the information they had learned about, they also had experienced an opportunity to see it in action. They could then add their own creativity and knowledge to the units and lessons they planned together with their partner. All of our professional development for this year focussed around brain-based learning. One approach we put into effect that I believe was helpful in supporting the success of this program was the fact that all teachers were teamed up with a teaching partner at or near the same grade level. The purpose was to try to help lighten their load by allowing them to plan, share, and support one another. These partners had their preparation time scheduled together. Teaching partners set up their timetables together to leave open the option of team teaching or exchanging students to better meet individual needs. We had three new staff members who began the school year with us. Within the first few days of school, they were provided with a substitute teacher and administration provided them with an inservice to try to bring them "on par" with the rest of the staff who had been introduced to the topic of brain-based learning the previous year. Base-line Testing - Leading with Data In order to have some credibility around our research project, we felt it was necessary to conduct base-line testing so we could actually see if we were making a difference. Even though we started school in early August, as our school division was on a school calendar which was different than other school divisions, the base-line testing was not done until the month of October. We used the Canadian Test of Basic Skills (CTBS) as our testing tool. The information gathered on each child helped us plan to meet their individual needs within the classroom. Expanding Our Unique Grade Splits One would think that the project involving multiple intelligences would be more than enough to take on for one year but we were "on a roll" and nothing could hold us back. We saw a need to expand the unique grade splits. The two teachers who had successfully run the grade 2/6 split for the previous two years agreed to take on new teaching partners to make the expansion of the program easier for the other teachers taking on the project. Because of student numbers, the four unique grade splits became two classrooms of grades 2/5 and two classrooms of grades 3/6. This proved to be a successful and smooth transition. The Word Gets Out Our student population has continued to increase over the last four years. We have become well known for our safe and orderly environment and the sensitivity we use in dealing with difficult issues. As well, we have received positive feedback from those new families who have come to register. They heard about our school through "word of mouth" and liked what they heard. Among their comments was the curiosity around our grade splits and how they worked. These families have been very receptive to the idea of unusual grade combinations, especially since some of their children were experiencing difficulties in school. This seemed to offer hope for their little ones who were struggling.
Another New Initiative Is Born - The Multi-Aged Classroom (MAC) Since many of the young children who came to us were lacking language skills and the experiences that many other children have upon entering school, we needed to give them a couple of years in our school environment without making them feel like failures. Because they were not able to meet the requirements of the grades one, two or three curriculum, it did not mean they were slow intellectually. It simply meant we needed more time to help them make up for that lost time. This is how the concept of MAC came about. There was research to support this theory and, after studying it, we decided to implement our own version of this concept. We set up two classroom which included approximately equal numbers of students from grade one, two, and three in the same room. As with all of our experiments with unusual grade combinations, we were very careful to select heterogeneous groups. Our goal was not to show we could be successful, as anyone can do that with a select group, but to show that we could be successful with all the challenges that occur in any regular classroom, including severe learning and behavioural issues. At the end of our first year with this initiative, we are extremely happy with what we have done. We have provided an opportunity for a group of children to grow at their own level without the stigma of grades but rather the focus on language and skill development at their own level. In this family-like setting, a weak grade three student may work with an average grade one student, growing together, feeling successful, and sharing information. On the other hand, a bright grade three may spend time teaching and working with a weaker student. Research has shown us that if those students have an opportunity to teach, using their knowledge and skills, they may be more successful at reaching a weaker student than the classroom teacher. As well, if they are able to teach the concept, they are much more likely to retain the information themselves. In order to challenge these brighter or more advanced students further, we are looking at the possibility of having them spend some time in another classroom next year, where this may happen more easily. Proactively Securing Resources to Support Our Efforts Our business partners always come through with money and/or materials when they see the direct impact it can have on kids. We make a special effort to keep them involved in the school in every way we can. The closer they are to the kids, the more support we get. They need to know that their dollars are having an impact. It is because of their support that we have been able to purchase equipment, materials, and programs to assist us in our endeavours. We sometimes receive comments from other schools as to how we "must be a favourite at the board office". Yes, they have been supportive, and so they should, because we have revolutionized an inner-city school that many others gave up on. However, never let it be said that you are not able to do anything because there is no money. If you need it...go out and find it. "Where there is a will, there is a way." To implement brain-based learning we needed materials and equipment to help accommodate using the eight intelligences. We bought everything we needed. In addition, we needed more materials to accommodate two areas of our focus, language and mathematics. Since "time on task" was crucial for greater academic improvement, we needed to fill every moment. We ordered two "canned" programs for every grade level that could be used daily as fillers whenever there was a wait time for whatever reason. "Daily Oral Language" and "Daily Oral Math" became part of each day with a effort to improve skills in those two areas. In viewing the test results, you will see a significant increase across the grades in both of those areas. The Mobility Issue A number of factors cause the high family mobility rate in our inner-city area. Seasonal moves to and from the nearby reserves is one factor but local issues and concerns seem to be more of the problem. Cheap and poor housing is available in this area but when the cold weather arrives it is sometimes impossible to remain in these houses. Family members become ill and move in the hope of finding better conditions elsewhere. There is also violence in this community and for personal safety reasons some must move. In the past couple of years, there has been a noticeable trend of families returning to our area and school because their children were happy here. Their children experienced success with us and that was not always the case in other settings.
Our Safe and Orderly Environment The following results indicate our success in establishing a safe and orderly environment by implementing our Responsibility Plan:
Individual Results of the CTBS Since our school has a transient population, only those students who were at the school for the entire year are included in the following statistical results. The students who joined us partway through the school year took part in the year-end testing but their results will be used as a base-line for next year. Because of the formal testing that was done, we have a clear picture of each child's growth. We will test again in May 2000, and add one more bar to the graph of success. School-Wide Results of the CTBS Two hundred and ten students, grades one through eight, (students in the project since the beginning) are included in the results for the 1998/1999 school year. Over a seven-month period, the total composite school gain was 1.05 grade/year equivalents. Taking a closer look at the two areas of focus this year, language and mathematics, the results are incredible. As a school, over a seven-month period, language increased .98 grade/year equivalents and mathematics skills increased 1.29 grade/year equivalents over the same period. Sacred Heart Community School Canadian Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS) October 1998 and May 1999
Total School Results: Grades 1 to 8
Sacred Heart's Graph of Success! Sample of a Student's Results
We are incredibly proud of this accomplishment. Many factors come into play in considering these results. One could never make the statement that it is the result of any one of our interventions, but rather the effect of the combination. As we celebrate our test results we must also celebrate the distance we have travelled in the growth of the whole child, spiritually, emotionally and physically, as well as mentally.
Next Year ...2000 We are not finished. We have only started. We believe there is hope for those living in poverty and they need to reap the benefits of that hope before we will rest. We will proceed with phase two in the implementation of brain-based learning and continue to support all of our other initiatives. As we look at the test results, the area with the least growth is reading. To help make a difference in this area we plan to implement an accelerated computer reading program as a new millennium project. We will secure funding in the fall and will be ready to kick off the new project for January 2000. We do it all for Jacob. Jacob is one of our challenging students. He is attention deficit disordered and very verbally gifted. What goes into his head comes out his mouth. He is demanding of the teacher's time and is rarely in the right place at the right time. One day his teacher came into the staff room at noon flopped down in a chair and said, "I've run out of ideas with Jacob, he's off the wall." Another teacher said, "Now remember, Jacob is Jesus." Jacob's teacher responded, "I know, I know, why do you think he is still alive?" As the bell rang to end the lunch break another teacher said, "Let me take Jesus for a while." That's when we know we will be all right.
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