2013 Pathways to the Prize - School Winners

Pathways to the Prize Lessons from the 2011 SCORE Prize School Winners Pathways to the Prize Lessons from the 2011 SCORE Prize School Winners Although the three 2011 SCORE Prize-winning schools represent the diversity of Tennessee, from West to East, urban to rural, they all share a commitment to students and to becoming more effective places of learning. They share other values as well: a belief in the potential for students to meet high standards, the strength in building and sharing leadership, the requirement that teachers raise their own professional standards, and the power of data to inform instructional choices. Common themes across the schools are highlighted below. COMMON TH ACR EM OS ES S Embracing high standards Each of the three 2011 school-level Prize winners has raised the stakes—and students’ potential to succeed—by raising academic standards. School leaders have worked to ensure that students and teachers are deeply familiar with those standards and that work occurs every day toward learning the specific knowledge and skills identified for each grade level and content area. Administrators and teachers understand and acknowledge the importance of high expectations for student and teacher performance. When students perform below grade level or are not at the appropriate level of mastery, teachers do not alter the curriculum to make it less rigorous. Instead, they change their tactics and strategies, add time during their regular classes, schedule intervention blocks, and design before- and after-school sessions to re-teach the standards. They assess where a student is failing and provide student-specific interventions. • Raising expectations stimulated systemic, and sometimes symbolic, changes at each school. At Fairview, the principal departmentalized the upper grades to assign teachers with the most content area expertise to subject matter they knew best. At Power Center Academy, adults refer to their students as scholars, and all students study financial literacy along with their regular course of study. Power Center Academy also changed the schedule to one-hour time blocks, devoting time to deeper study in the content areas. At Mt. Juliet, the team identifies common challenges, such as developing academic vocabulary. The school also has a zero tolerance policy for missed assignments. All teachers, whether in core subjects or electives, help students to meet those challenges. • Educators place an intense focus on academic standards. At both Fairview Elementary and Mt. Juliet High School, teachers study the standards in their professional learning communities. Many tea chers co-plan lessons to address essential standards-related questions. Power Center Academy has brought in external expertise to make sure that the curriculum reflects the essential and supporting standards and appropriate levels of the cognitive demand required for teaching at each grade level. In each school, all curricula have been aligned to state standards and are moving toward alignment with the Common Core State Standards. • OLS HO SC • Each school actively engages parents in the academic progress of their children. At Fairview, Power Center, and Mt. Juliet, parents are kept informed of their children’s progress and educators frequently communicate with parents through e-mail, phone calls, newsletters, and in-person meetings. At Fairview and Power Center, parents are provided with specific information and training, such as math classes that cover the content their children are learning, so that they can help their children succeed. Power Center also calls on parents to set performance expectations for students and design schedules. The school also requires its parents to participate in various committees within the school. Parents at these schools, in turn, encourage and support their children to do their homework, take full advantage of tutoring opportunities, and get to school on time, ready to learn. Cultivating strong leaders Fairview Elementary, Power Center Academy, and Mt. Juliet High School take pride in strong leadership. Each principal knows about the instructional activities taking place at the school, stays highly visible, and embraces his or her role as an effective facilitator of change. 34 Common Themes Across Schools Common Themes Across Schools 35

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