Getting Staff Ownership for an Improvement Plan

In her editor’s note in the current Kappan, Joan Richardson tells the story of a new principal entering a 1,500-student high school in an affluent Midwestern community. In his opening weeks, the principal sensed that something was wrong and began gathering data. He found that 30 percent of students weren’t graduating, absences were highest during deer hunting season, and “People pretty much did what they wanted when they wanted.”

The principal invited his leadership team – three assistant principals and six counselors – to a retreat in his home. After some chit-chat, he showed them a list of 200 juniors and seniors whose grades and attendance indicated they weren’t on track to graduate. “Tell me what you know about Jesse,” asked the principal, pointing to one of the students on the list. Nobody knew anything about the boy beyond his name. “OK, tell me what you know about Susan,” he said. Again, the group drew a blank. “How about Juan?” he asked. Nothing. When he had gone through 30 students, one counselor, with tears in her eyes, said, “OK, we get it. What do we do?”

The team went through the same exercise with the whole staff and got a similar reaction. Ashamed, people decided to change the school into one where every student would graduate. Here are some of the changes they embraced:

• A staff member called home every time a student was absent and talked to an adult.
• Each counselor followed students through their four years at the school.
• All students were required to meet with their counselor twice a year.
• All students were encouraged to consider dual enrollment at a nearby college so they could earn college credits while still in high school.
• The school’s website started reporting academic honors as well as sports results.
• A tough new attendance policy pushed back on the community belief that hunting with a parent was a legitimate reason for missing school. 

Average daily attendance improved to the 90-percent range, and the four-year graduation rate improved to 80 percent. Progress, but lots of work still to be done.

“Hunting for a Dropout Solution” by Joan Richardson in Phi Delta Kappan, February 2011 (Vol. 95, #5, p. 4), http://www.kappanmagazine.org/content/92/5.toc 

From the Marshall Memo #374