“I think once you believe that every child can learn, but it’s up to the adults to get it right to make sure that happens, that changes everything,” says Eric Acosta-Verprauskus, the principal of the long-struggling Verde Elementary in North Richmond.
This is a belief he deeply holds. Now he is working to make it a reality at Verde.
The immediate focus was what principals often refer to as “culture and climate.” Has the school established an environment where students are comfortable, safe and ready to learn? When Mr. Acosta-Verprauskus started at Verde, the answer was no.
Mr. Acosta-Verprauskus worked with his teachers to establish clear expectations for student behavior in every corner of the school. Each set of expectations follows the template Be safe. Be respectful. Be responsible. One reads simply “walk;” another “use kind words;” and another, “use materials respectfully.”
“It was amazing how quickly incorporating that system got about 95 to 96% of our students on track right away,” he says. “The whole staff was saying, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s calm, there aren’t any students in the hallways, there aren’t any students sitting in the principal’s office.’” The staff also set up a system for recognizing students who are demonstrating excellent behavior.
They could have stopped there: “It would be very easy to say, ‘This feels good,’ because now our climate’s in a place where it’s joyful and it’s nice to be here, and for some people that’s an adequate measure of a good school, but not for us.”
The real shift, Mr. Acosta-Verprauskus says, has been toward becoming a data-driven school: “We teach. We see what kids learn. We make a plan of action and then we move on,” he says. “It’s not anything brilliant, it’s not anything specific to us. It’s just what great schools do.”
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This is the core of the strategy that seems to have worked across town at the highly-functioning Montalvin Manor, where Katherine Acosta-Verprauskus, Eric’s wife, leads the school. When Ms. Acosta-Verprauskus began at Montalvin three years ago, she instituted quarterly data days. Teachers meet by grade level in a small room adjoining her office to review student data and plan.
In a room adjoining Katherine Acosta-Verprauskus’s office, cards track students’ progress. The school spends heavily on substitutes so, four times a year, teachers can meet here and plan together.
The system they use is far from high tech: 415 sets of cards are pinned to the wall, one for each student. The cards detail each student’s progress to date, measured against state standards. Teachers review them one-by-one, reflect on which instructional practices are working and which aren’t and collaboratively design an instructional plan to fill in gaps.
Montalvin also creates opportunities for teachers within the school to observe each other in the classroom. The teacher being observed has the chance to gain valuable feedback, while the observer can learn from seeing her colleague in action.
While this may seem a simple practice, it is remarkably rare in U.S. public schools. Montalvin must hire a substitute every time one of their teachers leaves the classroom for an observation, a significant expense for a small school. But Ms. Acosta-Verprauskus sees this it as a valuable investment. Sometimes she fills in herself.
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Ms. Acosta-Verprauskus admits that Montalvin has some advantages. In the struggling West Contra Costa school district, Montalvin gained a reputation as a collaborative, highly-functioning work environment, making it a desirable placement for teachers.
At Verde, Eric Acosta-Verprauskus has adopted data days and teacher observations, though he estimates the cost of hiring substitute teachers for this purpose will comprise half of his budget next year.
The results have not been as dramatic as those from the school’s culture and climate initiatives, and by any measure, Verde has long way to go. “To be frank, we’re very very far away from where we need to be,” says Mr. Acosta-Verprauskus. “We can’t send another generation of Verde kids out in this world not reading, writing, doing math, thinking scientifically at level.”
There are some indications that things are headed, incrementally, in the right direction. Last year, 15% of third graders were reading on grade level (3rd grade reading is widely considered a crucial milestone in students’ development). The year prior, none of them were.
If this improvement continues, year on year, Verde could catch up to Montalvin.
Next week, two principals answer: What would help you do your job better?