TC: “Persistently Lowest Achieving”?

On March 3, 2010, the United States Department of Education (USED) informed the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) that it was posting the definition of “persistently lowest-achieving schools.” The VDOE was required to submit a revised definition and a list of persistently lowest- achieving schools. T.C. found itself in the bottom five percent of the lowest-achieving schools in Virginia.

A “persistently lowest-achieving school” is defined as a school undergoing improvement or corrective action which is among the lowest-achieving five percent of Title 1 schools in improvement, or based upon low academic achievement in reading/language arts and mathematics. Or a secondary school that is eligible for, but does not receive Title 1 funds, and is among the lowest-achieving five percent of schools based on academic achievement of all students in reading/language arts and mathematics standardized testing and if the school has not reduced its failure rate by 10 to 15 percent each year. A Title 1 school is one in which 35 percent or more of the student population receive free or reduced lunch. T.C. is eligible to be a Title 1 school, with over 50 percent of students receiving free or reduced lunch. However, it is not a designated a Title 1 school because it does not receive the federal funding. Therefore, T.C. fits into the second definition of a persistently lowest-achieving school. Of the 128 schools that qualify for Title 1, but don’t take the money, in Virginia, T.C. is in the lowest five percent.

Although this news is very serious, it is not a surprise. In an ACPS press release on March 5, Superintendent Dr. Morton Sherman said, “Although T.C. Williams continues to provide an excellent education for many students; the reality for many years has been we are not serving all of our students well. This new classification should not be a surprise. Year after year, hundreds of high-achieving graduates move onto some of the best universities in the country while we fail to adequately serve other students.”

Also on March 3, Dr. Sherman called the staff, where they were informed of these new standards from the superintendant, Dr. Sherman. Based on scores from standardized tests from the 2008-2009 school year, one in seven T.C. students did not pass English/language arts and one in four did not pass mathematics. Unfortunately, students have not performed well enough on standardized tests to make what the federal government says constitutes Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). “As hard as the teachers have worked, we haven’t held the students accountable,” said Principal Bill Clendaniel. “We haven’t been able to reach a large portion of the kids.”

Schools with persistently lowest-achieving designation must choose one of four U.S. Department of Education models of intervention. The first option is to close down the school and then send the students to different schools. The second is to close the school in June as it is, and then reopen as a charter school the following fall run by a charter school operator, a charter management operation (CMO), or an education management organization (EMO). The third is to replace the principal, screen all existing staff and rehire more than 50 percent. The fourth is called the transformation model which includes comprehensive instructional programs and extended learning time. The school must increase learning time by establishing schedules and strategies, as well as providing mechanisms for family and community involvement. Increased learning time means using a longer school day, week or year schedule to significantly increase the total number of school hours. “What [the transfiguration model] should mean is eventually a more student centric kind of education with a focus on the content and the expectation that they’re more engaged,” said Monty Dawson, Executive Director for Accountability at ACPS. In Dr. Sherman’s meeting with the teachers, he said that option four was “more in alignment with what we’re working with.”

On March 9th, Sherman spoke directly to the T.C. students in a taped segment with Clendaniel. The message was shown to all classes during 7th period. In it, Sherman revealed that he had written a letter to President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. After making several references that T.C. was not making excuses and fully acknowledging the law and its status as a lowest-achieving school, Sherman defended the school and claimed that it had “heart.” The segment was met with a lukewarm reaction from students. “Obama has two wars and a health care bill on his desk, but he’s going to read this letter and decide to come help us?” asking senior Keely Porterfield. Others wondered what exactly Sherman was asking for in the letter. Senior Johanna Montano wondered, “How about instead of writing a letter to the president, they just work on finding a quick solution to fix the school?” She went on to ask, “Why didn’t he clarify all the rumors? What’s going to happen to our teachers?”

Dr. Sherman has asked teachers at T.C. to volunteer to participate on a leadership team that will create an improvement plan. He and members of his senior staff plan to increase their presence at the school over the next few months in the hopes of being more accessible to both teachers and students. Also a T.C. Williams Vision and Action Committee will begin meeting to develop a long-range perspective and direction.

“We have the teacher talent and the drive to do this essential work,” said Dr. Sherman said in the press release. “Change takes time. Some of the changes must be made quickly to assure higher levels of achievement for our underserved students. Other changes must be long-term. We’re already headed in the right direction. The new VDOE ranking system didn’t tell us anything new, but it did give us a clear and resounding signal that the time is now, that the imperative is real, and we must move forward without blaming or excusing. We know that our students have changed over the past decade…our high school needs to catch up to those students as we maintain high expectations for all.”