T H E H O U S T O N A + C H A L L E N G E

E M E R G I N G M O D E L S

VISIONARY PROTOTYPES FOR

PUBLIC SCHOOL CHANGE

© 2006 Houston A+ Challenge(formerly The Houston Annenberg Challenge)

All rights reserved.Permission is granted to photocopy any portion of this report for use in teacher

professional development and training.

Contents

PROLOGUE 3

INTRODUCTION 4

DUAL LANGUAGE MODEL 6

FINE ARTS MODEL 9

EARLY LITERACY MODEL 12

OUTDOOR LEARNING CENTER MODEL 15

TRANSFORMING HIGH SCHOOL MODEL 18

CHARTER SCHOOL MODEL 20

AFTER-SCHOOL MODEL 21

EDUCATIONAL SERVICES MANAGER MODEL 22

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MODEL 23

ALTERNATIVE SCHEDULE MODEL 25

CRITICAL FRIENDS MODEL 27

PORTFOLIO MODEL 29

RESULTS 31

SCHOOL CONTACT INFORMATION 34

3

The following pages depict the successful work of the schools funded by

The Houston Annenberg Challenge from 1997-2002 as part of the national

Annenberg Challenge. The schools’ work was replicated both locally and

nationally as educators put in place new ways of thinking about and organizing

classroom instruction and professional development.

The work showcased in this report was funded principally through grants from

The Annenberg Foundation, The Brown Foundation and Houston Endowment.

We are grateful for their generous support, as well as the contributions of all of

our funders.

We are also grateful for the superb leadership we have enjoyed, from Linda

Clarke, executive director from 1999-2004, to Michele Pola, Ed.D., who became

executive director in 2004. The Houston Annenberg Challenge became The

Houston A+ Challenge in 2003.

The report is dedicated to the memory of Ambassador Walter Annenberg, whose

vision of quality public schools for all children guided the work in Houston and

the other national Annenberg Challenge sites.

The report is based on summaries submitted each year by the schools to

Houston Annenberg Challenge and individual interviews with school personnel.

Prologue

4

In 1993, Walter Annenberg gave $500 million to the United States and challenged

educators to reform the public school system. The Houston metropolitan area was

one of 30 sites honored with the philanthropist’s bequest. In 1997, The Houston

Annenberg Challenge was established with a two-for-one challenge grant of $20

million to promote an academically rich and purposeful education for children.

From 1997-2002, The Houston Annenberg Challenge raised the required funding

match and more. It created the Beacon Schools and Lamplighter Learning

Community programs, which were designed to get school reform in the Houston

metropolitan area off to a running start. The Houston Annenberg Challenge identified

schools with proven records of reform. Beacon

Schools, funded beginning in 1997, were already

using promising practices that addressed the

Annenberg imperatives of personalization,

collaboration, and teaching and learning, while

Lamplighter Learning Communities, funded

beginning in 1999, were typically at earlier stages

in the reform process. Grant funds were provided

to support these schools as they deepened and

expanded their reforms, evaluated their

effectiveness, assessed opportunities for replication

and reached out to other schools to support

networks of reform.

And it worked. As educators learned alongside their students, model programs began

to emerge. These models range from reforming the way foreign languages are taught

to making fine arts an essential part of the curriculum. They include initiatives for

professional development such as restructuring the school day to allow more time for

teacher learning, providing training for coaches for Critical Friends Groups and

rethinking the role of the assistant principal.

As part of their responsibility, Annenberg Beacon Schools and Lamplighter Learning

Communities shared their insights with other schools, not only in Houston, but

across the state and country as well. These other schools, in turn, began to use and

adapt these models in their own reform efforts.

Introduction

5

During the period from 1997-2002, The Houston Annenberg Challenge supported a

wide range of educational reform activities through grants, partnerships, leadership

academies and professional development activities. These funds, particularly the

Beacon School and Lamplighter Learning Community grants, provided educators

with the time and money to work collaboratively and creatively to envision new

models of schooling. These paradigm shifts in thinking ushered in new educational

strategies, which continue to be copied, adapted and refined. Existing programs

were redesigned. New teaching practices were put into place. Schools moved away

from the traditional system, where teachers lecture and students memorize, to a new

system where instructors study student work to ensure their pupils are learning

what they are teaching.

Houston A+ Challenge hopes that this summary of the models that emerged will

prove helpful to other educators and the public as they search for solutions to

re-energize public schools.

The three imperatives of The Houston A+ Challenge provided thefoundation for all reform efforts. These imperatives, developed through a thorough study of successful school restructuring, describe theenvironment needed for successful learning:

1. Personalization: Create personalized learning environments andorganize resources so that teachers can know each child well and usethis knowledge to set high academic expectations and shape his/hereducation to achieve these goals.

2. Collaboration: Break down barriers between teachers, schools, theschool district and the community to share knowledge and resources.

3. Teaching and Learning: Build a strong knowledge base and leadershipat the school level so that investment in educators will have a realistichope of increasing student learning.

The models profiled in this document successfully addressed one ormore of these imperatives.

6

“According to extensive research, it takes five to seven years to learn a language,” said

Jennifer Day, dual language magnet coordinator at Helms Community Learning Center,

a Houston Annenberg Challenge Beacon School. “We highly recommend that parents

leave their children in our dual language program through the fifth grade.” Unlike most

bilingual or ESL classes, which have a goal of weaning students from their native language

by the third or fourth grade, dual language programs like the one at Helms actually

encourage bilingualism.

Helms Community Learning Center in the Houston Independent School District is a small

neighborhood school located in the Houston Heights. Of its approximately 500 students,

90 percent are Hispanic, and only 40 percent

are fluent in English. But with their ongoing

partnership with Houston’s University of

St. Thomas (UST), support from Shell Oil

Foundation and the efforts of their mostly

bilingual staff, Helms has been tremendously

successful in dual language instruction.

The aim of a dual language program, also known

as two-way bilingual immersion, is to make

students bilingual and biliterate in English and a second language, usually Spanish, by the

fifth grade. The children are taught all subjects in both languages. The ideal dual language

class consists of one-third native English speakers, one-third native Spanish speakers and

one-third bilingual students. In a typical dual language program in Houston ISD, which

starts at the kindergarten level or earlier, students are taught in Spanish about 90 percent

of the time with 10 percent of the instruction in English. By the fifth grade, they are being

instructed in equal amounts of time in both languages.

Raul Hinojosa, former Helms principal, was very encouraged by test results. “We would

start a non-Spanish-speaking child in the program in kindergarten, and in third grade, they

were given the TAAS test in Spanish. Not only did they pass it—they blew the doors off!

In 2000, the first year they took it, they scored 96 in math and 86 in reading, all in Spanish.”

Dual language programs first surfaced in this country in the early

1960s, and today Japanese, French and Navajo are a few of the

languages that are being taught. UST, which began partnering with

Helms in 1995, has a substantial program that trains teachers in dual language strategies

and certifies them in bilingual education. In fact, roughly 25 percent of the teachers at

Helms started as student teachers from UST.

DUAL LANGUAGE MODEL

HELMS COMMUNITY

LEARNING CENTER

“When the tide comes in, all boats rise.”—Dr. Lee M. Williames, University of St.Thomas

BACKGROUND

UNLIKE MOST BILINGUAL OR ESL

CLASSES,THE DUAL LANGUAGE

PROGRAM AT HELMS ACTUALLY

ENCOURAGES BILINGUALISM

77

Dr. Lee J. Williames, Vice President for Academic Affairs-Emeritus at UST, was involved

from the very beginning. “In the mid-nineties, Dr. Joseph M. McFadden, now President-

Emeritus, became interested in further involving UST with young people in the

community,” Dr. Williames said. “He met with then-Houston ISD superintendent

Rod Paige, who suggested that we get involved with school reform in a public school.

We, in turn, proposed to Shell Oil Company that they partner with us in reform in a

neighborhood school.”

“We decided on an elementary school,” Dr. Williames remembered, “because if you get it

right there, you don’t have to spend time remediating later. We wanted a neighborhood

school rather than one where students were being bused in. And we wanted a program

that was sustainable and

replicable.”

Because of high dropout

rates among Hispanic

students, they chose to

partner with Helms, a

school in a proud,

predominantly Hispanic

neighborhood. A steering

committee of 27 people

was formed, including Dr.

Ellen de Kanter and Dr.

Higinia Torres-Karna, two

UST professors nationally

known for their work in bilingual education, ESL and dual language. They wrote a grant

to the Shell Oil Foundation and received $500,000 for a five-year period that began in

1995. An extension and additional funds were granted for 2001-2002.

The Houston Annenberg Challenge Beacon School grant funded the purchase of

instructional material and professional development. “Since we buy twice as many books

as most schools,” Ms. Day said, “we used Houston Annenberg funds for those. We also

used that grant to send members of the faculty to the National Two-Way Bilingualism

Immersion Program’s annual summer conference.” In the fall of 2000 the school received a

$1.5 million Title VII grant to expand the program at Helms and extend it into Hamilton

Middle School.

The program continued to expand, and by 2001 a pre-K through

fifth grade dual language strand completely replaced the earlier

bilingual program. At that time approximately two-thirds of Helms

students were in the program, which started with dual languages classes in pre-K, taught

half in Spanish and half in English.

“They are taught in Spanish in the morning, then they rotate to a different teacher for

English in the afternoon,” said Ms. Day. “This prepares them for kindergarten, where 90

percent of the class is taught in Spanish and 10 percent in English.” Doesn’t this leave

them deficient in English? “No, because the kids have English around them all the time—

HOW IT WORKS

"WE WOULD START A NON-SPANISH-

SPEAKING CHILD IN KINDERGARTEN AND

GIVE THEM THE TAAS TEST IN SPANISH IN

THE THIRD GRADE. NOT ONLY DID THEY

PASS IT—THEY BLEW THE DOORS OFF!"

—RAUL HINOJOSA

FORMER PRINCIPAL, HELMS

8

in the playground, on TV, etc.,” said Day.

“The foundation in academic Spanish is

important. It’s not difficult for the English

speakers. They are so young that they have

no trouble at all. Some models maintain 50-

50 throughout, but we have found that in

that model it takes the children longer to

develop literacy in both languages, so we

have intensive Spanish in the beginning. The

third grade is the critical year—that’s when

they are reading and writing in English—but

they’re ready by then, since they have their

foundation in Spanish and they are already

fluent English speakers.”

From its beginning in 1996, the Helms Dual Language Program continued to grow to

become a complete strand from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. “By the time they are

ready to move to Hamilton Middle School, the program will be in place to receive them.”

said Ms. Day. The plan was to extend the program, first to Hamilton and then on to Reagan

High School.

“What started as involvement in one school became a commitment to innovation in a

feeder-pattern program,” said Dr. Williames. “When the tide comes in, all boats rise.”

Shell Oil Company supported the program for many reasons, including the fact that as an

international corporation, they appreciate the advantages of bilingualism in the field of

commerce.

“Dual language is one of the truest forms of bilingual education we

have,” said Ms. Day. “Latino kids are able to keep their first language

and maintain it at an academic level throughout their education. In

other programs, they were pushed into English early and didn’t learn to read and write

Spanish until high school. This lets Latino students recapture their heritage language.

Having English and Spanish speakers integrated into the same classroom creates an

atmosphere where both languages are valued and supported. The result is amazing. Pre-K

and kindergarten students are like sponges. If you listen to them in the playground, you

can’t tell who is the native English speaker and who is the native Spanish speaker.”

Interest in dual language programs has continued to grow, especially

in the Houston area, where the Hispanic population grew from 22

percent in 1990 to 37 percent in 2000. In 1997, Helms was serving

44 students in the program; in 2005 the number was almost 400. Anderson, Dechaumes,

Emerson, Herod, Herrera, Northline, Rodriguez, Southmayd, Twain and Wharton are

among the other schools in Houston with dual language programs.

WHY DUAL LANGUAGE?

REPLICATION

9

How does one go about incorporating the fine arts into each and every aspect of the

curriculum? The staff at Bethune Academy, a Houston Annenberg Challenge Beacon School,

managed it with great success during the 1997-2002 grant period.

At this landmark magnet school in Aldine ISD, which served fourth and fifth graders during

the grant period, the arts were not electives, but, rather, an integral part of the curriculum.

Art was used to teach all the core subjects—mathematics, science, reading, history and

technology. Visual and performing arts specialists worked closely with classroom teachers to

devise lesson plans and curriculum at a school where students were taught to be creative

problem-solvers.

“The curriculum at Bethune was more professional

than elementary,” said Denise Gaudiano, who was the

Learning Through Art coordinator. Ms. Gaudiano

taught art to eighth graders for 11 years at another

school before being hired by James M. and Linda

Clarke, who designed and launched Bethune. Mr.

Clarke was the fine arts coordinator for the Aldine

School District, and Mrs. Clarke was the first principal

of Bethune in its incarnation as a magnet school. (Mrs.

Clarke later served as executive director of Houston A+

Challenge.) “Between Linda wanting to make the arts

an integral part of the curriculum and James knowing

all the art teachers in the district, they put together a

great team of teachers,” said Ms. Gaudiano. “But we

had no idea at first how we were going to do it. There

were very few models to go by.”

Ms. Gaudiano began with the Learning Through Art

program designed by the Museum of Fine Arts,

Houston, which included lesson plans based on works of art in the collection. She

subsequently added to the program. “I spent a lot of time searching for and creating lesson

plans that use art,” said Ms. Gaudiano. “I had acquired a large collection of art prints that I

constantly lent to the teachers.” She co-taught with teachers on a rotating schedule.

Bethune teachers observed firsthand what national standardized tests have reflected:

students of the arts regularly outperform children with no art background. Even though

many of Bethune’s students were economically disadvantaged––often a formula for failure—

the integrated art program raised student scores on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills

(TAAS). Consequently, Bethune’s unique program was very attractive––attendance was among

the highest in the district, and there was always a waiting list to enroll.

FINE ARTS MODEL

BETHUNE ACADEMY

“Bethune Academy is the best art-centered school in the state of Texas.” —Texas Commission on the Arts

10

Children rotated among the same three teachers

in core subjects all year so that the teachers could

get to know them and their parents very well. In

addition to the core subjects, fourth graders took

visual literacy, modern dance, drama, choir and

piano in nine-day rotations. In fifth grade, they

selected a major and a minor from among the fine

art classes.

Drama was taught in a

classic “black box,”

complete with a stage and

professional lighting. The school gave numerous

performances, and students wrote most of the plays. Creative drama was taught in the classrooms

daily and students built acting skills such as enunciation, role playing and improvisation. Next

door to the drama room was a dance studio lined with floor-to-ceiling mirrors where students

would choreograph and practice their own dances before presenting them to live audiences.

The music curriculum included choir, piano, Suzuki violin and cello.

Everyone took piano in fourth grade. There were 15 electric pianos that

could be played alone—with headphones so only student and teacher

can hear—or as a group. For those who wished to study violin there was a lottery system. The

young violinists excelled at their craft and were asked to play for the mayor of Houston and the

governor of Texas, among others.

Ms. Gaudiano incorporated music into a

math lesson before a field trip to hear the

Houston Symphony. “I requested sheet

music and an audio tape of one of the

songs they would be performing,” she said.

“We then took the notes from the sheet

music and created addition and subtraction

problems. At the performance, they were

really excited when they recognized the

song they had been studying.”

In a class called visual literacy, students were taught how one learns to

see. “We took them through all the steps necessary to understand how

an object exists in space and how to put it down on paper,” said Elaine

Wilkins, who taught the class. “The work they produced was amazing.” Art by Bethune students

consistently won prizes and was frequently included in traveling shows of student work.

Students took field trips to the MFAH, University of Houston and Texas Southern University

to see works of art and draw from them. “We saw several murals by the late Houston artist

John Biggers,” said Ms. Wilkins. “Then we painted a collaborative mural at the school based

on his work.”

DRAMA AND DANCE

MUSIC

VISUAL ARTS

“BETHUNE WAS A FUN PLACE.

WE RARELY HAD ANY SEVERE

DISCIPLINE PROBLEMS.”

—ELAINE WILKINS

BETHUNE ACADEMY

11

In Bethune’s science wing, each

classroom was essentially a

laboratory. Artists-in-residence

assisted teachers with actively engaging students in

learning scientific concepts. Art projects included murals

of the four types of oil traps and large masks based on

desert animals. Students also learned about energy by

listening to music and then illustrating the energy of the

sounds through color and design.

“There are countless

ways to teach math,

reading and writing

using art,” said Ms. Gaudiano. “One visiting sculptor taught proportion by having the

children create small figures from wire and modeling clay.” Geometry was taught by

drawing geometric solids and then creating figures using the same shapes. Ms.

Gaudiano taught graphing using art prints: students would graph the artwork in terms

of line, color, texture, variety, setting and characters. She also used art to teach reading

and writing by having students visually summarize a book they have read.

Ms. Gaudiano’s pet project was the computer graphics lab, where

she co-taught with technology specialist Brad Sveter. “I went to

the high school next door to see what they were doing and then

replicated it at Bethune,” she said. “The kids made art using software programs.” One

display showed manipulated self-portraits much like those of Andy Warhol that the

students created using a digital camera and computers.

Thanks to efforts by former principal Barbara Trageser and her

staff, Bethune’s results attracted the attention of other schools.

There were regular visits from representatives from school

districts throughout Texas. Voters in Texarkana passed a bond election in 2000 to

replicate the Bethune model in their schools, and educators in Tyler introduced the

model in that East Texas district. The arts helped Bethune students develop the literacy,

creativity and communication skills necessary for success in an ever-advancing society.

“Teaching through art is an area

that is almost totally untapped,”

said Ms.Wilkins. “In 25 years of

teaching, this was one of the

greatest experiences of my life.”

As The Houston Annenberg

Challenge segued into its work as

The Houston A+ Challenge, the organization expanded the Bethune fine arts model

and used the lessons learned to create the K-5 Fine Arts Initiative, in place at four

schools in 2006: Aldine Elementary, Neff Elementary, Pine Forest Elementary and

Pine Shadows Elementary.

MATHEMATICS AND LANGUAGE ARTS

COMPUTER GRAPHICS

REPLICATION

SCIENCE

BETHUNE’S RESULTS ATTRACTED

THE ATTENTION OF EDUCATORS

ACROSS THE COUNTRY

1212

It’s never too early to start teaching a child to read. According to Starting Points, the

landmark 1994 Carnegie Corporation study, only half of infants and toddlers are read to

regularly by their parents. The effects are serious: more than a third of children are not ready

to learn to read when they enter kindergarten.

Poe Elementary School got serious about teaching literacy. And they were successful.

Located in the heart of Houston’s museum district near the Texas Medical Center, Poe

Elementary is a Fine Arts and Academics Magnet Program that attracts students from

throughout Houston ISD. But it became particularly well known for its work in early literacy.

Although Poe is in a largely affluent neighborhood, the roughly 700 students are

economically and ethnically diverse. Some 20 percent have limited proficiency in English,

and 36-40 percent are economically disadvantaged. In 2004-2005, about 33 percent were

Hispanic, 21 percent were African-American, 4 percent were Asian and 42 percent Anglo,

not significantly different from the population during the grant period.

Early Literacy at Poe was not a program, as such, but rather a school-wide focus on literacy

that permeated all aspects of the curriculum. Children were immersed in print from the

moment they crossed the threshold. “If you learn seven consonants and a couple of vowels,

you can read,” said Dr. Anne McClellan, principal at Poe for 11 years before Debbie Verdon

took over in 2001. “All children will learn to read eventually. We just taught them earlier

compared to most schools. More accurately, what we did was is prevent reading failure. It all

started with the teachers. They would put appropriate books in the hands of students,

including preschoolers, and they began to acquire reading skills.”

There were five major components to Poe’s reading plan: a school-wide focus on literacy; an

award-winning Early Literacy Reading Lab; a program of Writers’ Workshops for both

students and teachers; small reading groups known as Guided Reading and Literature Circles;

and a program to encourage parents to participate in their child’s learning. All of these played

a role in Poe’s success.

After recognizing the need to circumvent the enormous

amounts of time and energy spent treating children who

failed to learn to read, Poe turned its attention to

preventing reading failure. One of the keys was individualized instruction in small groups.

This provided a less threatening environment than a large classroom and allowed more

opportunity for student participation. The teachers were able to closely monitor students and

intervene where necessary.

Any student not reading on grade level by the second grade received intervention in the Poe

Literacy Lab, and their progress was tracked through the fourth grade. Those at risk were

placed in groups of approximately four students that met five times weekly for 45 minutes,

while students with severe needs received one-on-one instruction. Up to three educators

would devote their entire school day to classroom intervention.

EARLY LITERACY MODEL

POE ELEMENTARY

SCHOOL-WIDE FOCUS ON LITERACY

1313

The Early Literacy Reading Lab at Poe was a non-threatening

environment in which every child was seen as a reader. The lab

was a cozy room where book-lined shelves divided the room

into areas containing small tables, computers, a large blackboard and a reading area

furnished with a futon and pillows. Classes here began with a discussion of current events

centered on newspapers and magazines. Next might come vocabulary building, followed by

songs, poems and games that taught students how to speak, listen and follow directions.

Students also told stories, which has been proven to increase language ability, and wrote

and illustrated their own books.

At the end of the day, students

were sent home with bags full

of books.

Staff members could identify

students who needed extra help

through their work in the lab. It

was also the place where

appropriate individual or small-group instruction took place. Praise was lavished on young

readers, and mistakes were corrected painlessly. Lab staffers conferred frequently with

teachers and parents and provided additional classroom materials as needed. After some

reflection, lab team members began spending more time in the classroom with teachers,

which allowed for reduced class sizes and increased individualized instruction.

The Early Literacy Reading Lab was named a Professional Development Laboratory Site by

Baylor University and served as a model throughout Houston ISD’s Central District. It was

honored with an Academics 2000 grant from the State of Texas.

The Writers’ Workshops tapped into each child’s potential as an

author and allowed time for reflective thinking. Modeled after Lucy

Calkins’ Columbia Teachers College Writing Project, these

workshops first trained teachers to become writers and then instructed them in creating

similar workshops in the classroom. Poe

teachers were released from their classrooms

periodically to observe model workshops

and confer with leaders and one another.

They created a portfolio of student work.

Guided Reading

provided strategies

for classroom

reading instruction in grades K-3. Teachers would work with a small group, while other

students worked at learning centers using hands-on activities. By fourth and fifth grades,

students who were able to read independently gathered in Literature Circles—small groups

of four or five—to discuss a novel they chose. Students would direct the discussion and

decide on the agenda for the group, while teachers served as coaches.

EARLY LITERACY READING LAB

EARLY LITERACY AT POE

PERMEATED ALL AREAS

OF THE SCHOOL

THE ARTS WERE NOT ELECTIVES

BUT AN INTEGRAL PART

OF THE CURRICULUM

WRITERS’ WORKSHOPS

LITERATURE CIRCLES

14

One of the strongest components of students who excel is family

involvement in the learning process. To encourage this

involvement, Poe invited parents to serve as yearlong volunteers,

working side by side with teachers as tutors, classroom helpers and mentors. In workshops

they learned parenting skills, strategies to increase student learning and ideas for working

with their children at home. They were invited to participate in such programs as Family

Math/Science Nights, Family Reading/Writing Nights, Technology Nights and a Community

Open House.

For Spanish-speaking parents who did not

speak English or perhaps even read Spanish,

Poe’s bilingual staff periodically would offer

English as a Second Language (ESL) and

Spanish literacy classes. Poe also

participated in a summer literacy program

known as Compañeros en la Lectura

sponsored by the Houston Public Library,

which taught parents to read and share books with their children. Parents and community

volunteers were encouraged to participate in Mentors with a Mission, pairing an adult with

a student who needed additional help to ensure his or her academic, social and emotional

success. Some students in upper grades served as math or reading “buddies” to

kindergartners and first graders.

As a proven leader in school reform, Poe was chosen as an

Annenberg Beacon School, a Model Demonstration site for the

Center for Academic and Reading Skills and an Academics 2000

site. Support was received from the Engage Corporation for Junior Achievement and Baylor

University Professional Development Lab School. Consequently there was a steady stream

of visits by educators to the campus and numerous requests for presentations and

consultations to other schools. Poe used Houston Annenberg Challenge funds to help

set up their program at other schools and to form a network of people to work with them.

Their literacy model has been replicated not only throughout Houston ISD but across the

country as well.

PARENTS AS PARTNERS

REPLICATION

EVERY CHILD IS READING

ON GRADE LEVEL OR ABOVE

FROM KINDERGARTEN ON

15

OUTDOOR LEARNING CENTER MODEL

BROWNING ELEMENTARY

DREW ACADEMY

Outdoor learning centers have sprung up at schools all over Houston, and no two are alike.

There are vegetable gardens, herb gardens, butterfly gardens, wildflower meadows, wetlands

and even an insect sanctuary. These natural environments bring academics out of the

classroom and into the real world. Educators have realized that children respond to projects

that are active and collaborative. Working in these environments gives students a feeling of

ownership that helps them to learn in powerful new ways.

Children can read about how a seed germinates and grows into a

carrot, or they can learn about it by planting a seed, tending it and

actually eating the fruit of their labors. “I learn more when I find

out about it myself instead of reading about it in a book,” said one student at Browning

Elementary in Houston ISD, an Annenberg Beacon School. Outdoor learning centers can

produce results that students can touch, taste and smell.

“We wanted a garden where we could integrate our science and math projects,” says Olga

Moya, former principal at Browning, “so I asked teacher Thelma Graves if she would help our

students plant some flowers and vegetables. I envisioned a small, simple garden but Mrs.

Graves’ vision was totally different from mine. Through her leadership and a huge community

effort, it was transformed into an amazing number and variety of gardens.”

What began in November 1995 as a few garden areas mushroomed into 17 vegetable gardens,

a wildflower meadow, an enlarged pond, a sub-surface irrigation system, a compost pile and

two outdoor learning benches situated

behind the school. The PTO Butterfly

Courtyard, a native plant area under two

beautiful oak trees, was located at the

center of the school.

With generous support from the Powell

Foundation, Browning Elementary became

a leader in Project-Based Learning (PBL),

an innovative model that engages students

in problem-solving tasks. PBL allows

students to construct their own knowledge

and culminates in real products. Browning

organized several PBL conferences in

Houston. That 200 people attended the 2000 conference attests to the high level of interest in

the model. The Reagan High School vertical team organized a later conference that some 400

people attended. Browning, together with seven other schools from what was then the North

Central District, wrote a $500,000 grant for increased PBL learning. This Title VII grant was to

allow the schools to continue their learning for five years while collaborating with Co-Nect, a

reform-driven model.

BROWNING ELEMENTARY

“IT’S ONE THING TO READ ABOUT THE

HUNGRY CATERPILLAR, AND IT’S

ANOTHER THING ALTOGETHER TO SEE

THE HUNGRY CATERPILLAR EAT.”

–THELMA GRAVESBROWNING ELEMENTARY

16

Numerous grants funded the project. The National Gardening Association gave $1,000 for

tools and plants and Shell Oil Foundation gave a $30,000 grant for Browning to work with

the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Research Center on a pilot program designed to illustrate

the importance of native plant gardening and to publish a book on the subject. The Texas

Department of Agriculture gave $2,500. Browning also partnered with, among others, Urban

Harvest, Texas Parks and Wildlife,

Texas Forest Service, Texas

Department of Agriculture, U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service, and the

Urban Coalition.

“Although we had this wonderful

garden, most of the teachers didn’t

know how to integrate it into their

lessons,” Ms. Moya said. “The

Houston Annenberg Challenge

grant helped us with professional development and Project-Based Learning. Now the garden

is used in numerous projects for tutoring and mentoring, many of which are led by students.”

In Aldine ISD, Annenberg Beacon School Drew Academy’s wetlands

project and butterfly garden were built on a single Saturday in 1997.

Science teacher Terry Hayhurst and art and language teacher Alix

Dunn approached then-principal David Baxter about creating an outdoor learning center.

Drew had already been contacted by Star Enterprises about participating in a community

project. Star, Shell, Texaco and Saudi Refining were becoming partners in a progressive energy

alliance, and they were looking for a metaphor for what they were trying to do among their

various companies.

The project, “Reclamation: Against All Odds,” got underway with the preliminary ordering of

supplies such as rubber boots, hoses, rakes, shovels and mulch. Early Saturday morning the

buses arrived, bearing volunteers dressed in Drew Academy T-shirts and caps. They dispersed

into groups and began working on a variety of tasks. They painted Drew inside and out, even

applying fresh yellow paint to the curbs. Benches for the butterfly garden were tiled in a

colorful mosaic pattern. Steaming mulch was spread, native Texas fruit trees and flowering

plants were planted and a pond was dug, lined with plastic and filled with water. “When the

mulch arrived I had my kids stick their arms into it,” said one teacher. “‘It’s hot!’ they said.

You can’t learn that from a book.”

It was truly a collaborative effort between teacher and student, child and adult, corporation

and community, all of whom shared the same vision for a day. “We’re learning to cooperate

with each other,” said one student. “It’s all about teamwork,” said another. Clearly, the

students got the message. The volunteers were equally moved. “We shared the same goal—

making order out of chaos,” said one. “We became one big family for a day,” said another.

Drew was set between two wooded lots. These provided a home to many species of birds that

would drink and feed from the pond, which in turn was inhabited by fish, snakes, tadpoles

and frogs, and the occasional blue heron. Science teacher Dominique McCain was impressed

DREW ACADEMY

OUTDOOR LEARNING CENTERS

AND ENVIRONMENTS PRODUCE

RESULTS THAT STUDENTS CAN

TOUCH, TASTE AND SMELL

17

by how hard her students worked.

“They love to put on rubber boots

and get in there,” she said. “I

assigned group leaders. ‘You’re the

captains, you organize it,’ I told

them. In minutes, they were getting

their equipment out and dividing

into teams.”

Drew’s butterfly garden was located

on the opposite side of the school

from the pond. Colorful tiled

benches were arranged in a circle where some classes could be held on nice days. In one quiet

corner was a small granite bench dedicated to the memory of a teacher who had passed away.

Hanging along a fence were colorful birdhouses made in art class.

“We would plant vegetables here in the spring,” said Ms. McCain, pointing to a row of beds.

“Most of these kids had never seen vegetables grow. Each class would select what they wanted

to plant and keep journals on their progress.”

The outdoor learning centers at Browning Elementary and Drew

Academy are only two examples. Other schools in the Houston area

that have embraced the concept include Bethune Academy, Rivers

Oaks Elementary and Johnston Middle School.

“IT HAS BEEN EXCITING TO INVITE

OTHERS TO LEARN ALONG WITH US,

BOTH IN THE GARDEN AND IN

THE CLASSROOM.”

—OLGA MOYA

FORMER PRINCIPAL, BROWNING

REPLICATION

1818

The Process Reform Model for Transforming High Schools sought to harness the vision,

talents and energies of those closest to the schools to design and implement a customized,

comprehensive plan that would meet the specific, unique needs of each school. This model is

a process, not a program.

Reagan High School, a large, inner-city school with a high population of at-risk students,

served as the pilot to create this model. First Reagan chose the methods it would use to

restructure the school. Then Reagan used the model to figure out how to implement the

restructuring. At the time, common practice when reforming a high school was to shut it

down and reopen as a new school. Reagan showed how a traditional, comprehensive school

could stay open while successfully redesigning itself.

The school administration and faculty

wanted to move away from the

traditional, factory model of

instruction they were using to one that

gave students the knowledge and skills

they would need to succeed in the 21st

century. As they began to craft the

Process Reform Model, Reagan decided

it wanted a campus that was student-

centered and teacher-directed, that emphasized real world experience, that offered a rigorous

curriculum and that was personal, so that none of the 1,500 students fell through the cracks.

Reagan began work using the three Houston Annenberg Challenge imperatives described

earlier in this report:

• Development and implementation of a personalized learning environment for

students and staff

• Collaboration among all stakeholders

• Development and implementation of a learning community of professionals focused

explicitly on quality teaching and learning.

The work then incorporated a student learning environment with emphasis on a rigorous

academic curriculum developed within a strategic and deliberative methodology.

The goals were:

• Increase student graduation rates

• Enroll more students in college-bound tracks

• Enroll more students in Advanced Placement courses

• Focus on literacy to lower the number of graduates who need remediation in college

• Increase teacher professional development

• Increase teacher knowledge and skills in content areas

• Provide real world experience through mentorships, internships and Service Learning.

TRANSFORMING HIGH SCHOOL

PROCESS REFORM MODEL

REAGAN HIGH SCHOOL

REAGAN DECIDED IT WANTED A CAMPUS

THAT WAS STUDENT-CENTERED AND

TEACHER-DIRECTED AND THAT

EMPHASIZED REAL WORLD EXPERIENCE

1919

At Reagan High School, teachers

and administrators created small

learning communities of 9-12th grade

academies, each with a career focus,

and “looped” the students and teachers

together for two years. Reduced class

size and personalization were instituted

to improve student learning. The school then created “career-based academies” for 11th

and 12th graders to get real-world experience through internships, mentoring and

Service Learning.

Reagan’s reform model was the first to restructure into small

learning communities while the school remained open. This

Process Reform Model for transforming high schools has been

documented in several publications. Lessons learned at Reagan were used to mold and

shape Houston Schools for a New Society, the Houston A+ Challenge/Houston ISD high

school reform initiative, which was charged with restructuring the district's 23 large

comprehensive high schools into smaller, personalized learning communities with rigorous

classroom instruction.

REPLICATION

REDUCED CLASS SIZE AND

PERSONALIZATION WERE INSTITUTED

TO IMPROVE STUDENT LEARNING

20

CHARTER SCHOOL MODEL

KIPP ACADEMY/YES COLLEGE PREP

In 1994 Michael Feinberg persuaded the Houston Independent School District to let him take

a novel approach in one of his classrooms. He had been teaching for two years as part of the

Teach for America program and was convinced that he was not reaching his students. Feinberg

developed a more rigorous program and tried it out on a group of fifth graders.

Encouraged after one year, he approached Houston ISD with a proposal to create a new middle

school based on his curriculum. They weren’t easily convinced, but Mr. Feinberg persisted.

The result was a new charter school called KIPP Academy, or Knowledge is Power Program.

A charter school is a form of public school that operates outside of the traditional school

district system. They are usually exempt from most laws that apply to non-charter public

schools, which allows them considerable autonomy to design their program.

KIPP started at Garcia Elementary and was granted its first charter from Houston ISD in 1995.

Students and parents had to commit to an extended school day, an extended school week and

an extended school year. The requirements were strict, but the results were worth it: all

students passed their TAAS tests that first year.

KIPP became a state charter school in 1998 and expanded to campuses across the country.

Houston KIPP academy and its sister school and Annenberg Learning Community Partner, YES

College Prep, both served predominately Hispanic inner-city students in Houston. YES (Youth

Engaged in Service) Prep, like KIPP first chartered by Houston ISD, became a state charter

school in 1998 and shared the same extended schedule as KIPP. Students would enter a lottery

for the privilege of attending these schools, and then sign a Commitment to Excellence Form,

promising to follow the rules, be at school on time and always work to improve.

The model for both schools was to provide a rigorous academic program that prepares students

for success at a four-year college or university, along with structured support to identify and

pursue those opportunities. Every student in KIPP’s first and second classes to graduate high

school was accepted to at least one school of higher learning, and all of the students in YES’s

second senior class were accepted to at least two universities.

By the time KIPP and YES moved to permanent homes in July 2001, both had been named

TEA Exemplary Schools, with more than 90 percent of students passing the TAAS tests.

Through 2001, eighth graders at KIPP had earned more than $7.5 million in scholarships to

college preparatory schools, and the YES class of 2001 had received $1.1 million in college

scholarships. KIPP and YES formed a Lamplighter Learning Community and used funds from

The Houston Annenberg Challenge to increase personalization, to support Saturday school

and for site visits to study best practices.

KIPP has launched schools across the United States and established

its first high school in Houston in 2004. YES College Prep’s fourth

Houston campus opened in fall 2006. Lessons learned at KIPP and

YES, including the value of personalization, rigor, and the focus, with guidance, on college,

are being incorporated into reform models at many high schools and some middle schools.

REPLICATION

21

When the three o’clock bell would ring at Best Elementary in the Alief Independent School

District, nearly half the children headed for an exemplary afternoon program where they

both furthered their learning and had fun. Each Monday through Thursday afternoon,

Best provided an educational and lively environment for its students. To top it off, it was

absolutely free.

“We had a good time,” said Holly Lee, who coordinated the after-school program. Before

assuming the position in August 2000, Ms. Lee worked as a mental health therapist for juvenile

offenders. “I have seen first-hand the effects of not being in school,” she said simply.

The hours between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. are the “danger zone,” according to Kenneth Gladish,

then-executive director of the YMCA. In a national telephone survey, nearly half of the teen-

agers questioned said they spent at least five hours a week unsupervised. Many of these teens

said they wished there were more after-school activities in their community.

At Best, the first half-hour after regular dismissal was spent

situating the children and serving them healthy snacks. An hour of

academic study and an hour of enrichment would follow.

Academics included small-group instruction, TAAS tutorials in

math and language arts, accelerated reading instruction and work in the computer lab.

Ms. Uvonne Morris, language arts and social studies specialist, coordinated the Accelerated

Reading Instruction (ARI) after-school program, where pre-K to second grade students received

intense reading tutorials. After reading tutorials came enrichment, where students could attend

technology classes, visual arts classes, book club or chess club, work on musical theater

productions, sing in the choir, or take dance classes. Best students have performed at the

University of Houston, Texas Southern University and the Alief Jazz Concert. In addition to

fine-arts activities, there were team sports, a SPARK Park and a game room.

A few weeks before the TAAS tests in April, Best students would move into their “TAAS-buster”

plan, a revised schedule with two hours of academics, half in intensive, small-group instruction,

and half with hands-on instruction at workstations. “We spent two days teaching various skills,

then assessed and tracked them on the third day,” said former principal Althea Cooper. Once

TAAS testing was complete, students were rewarded with two hours of core content integrated

into enrichment.

Cooper used a combination of grants to fund the after-school program. “We had a 21st Century

grant with Olle Middle School that serviced third and fourth graders, hence the name 21st

Century Community Learning Center,” she said. “The Mayor’s After-School Program supported

instruction of the pre-K to second grade siblings so that they could all go home together.”

Best’s program was so successful that it was replicated in other

Alief ISD schools and throughout the greater Houston area. The

program also served as the template for “Passport to Success,” the

after-school program model created by Houston Annenberg Challenge with a grant from

the Annenberg Foundation.

AFTER-SCHOOL MODEL

BEST ELEMENTARY

“The hours between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. are the ‘danger zone.’”

—Kenneth Gladish, YMCA

ONE HOUR OF ACADEMICS

ONE HOUR OF ENRICHMENT

REPLICATION

22

When principal Al Reynolds first came to Eisenhower High School in Aldine ISD, he was an

Educational Services Manager. “The ESM is a combination of an assistant principal and a

counselor,” he explained. ESMs are one of the many ways this large urban high school in

northwest Houston worked to reduce isolation among its nearly 2,400 students.

Eisenhower began as a small suburban high school in 1972 serving an affluent population

that was roughly 80 percent Anglo. New subdivisions were springing up around Houston

as a result of the booming economy of the 1960s and 1970s, and Aldine was no exception.

By the 1980s, however, the tide was turning: A sharp downturn in the economy forced

foreclosure after foreclosure as people lost their jobs and abandoned their homes.

The demographics of the area began to change, and by 1986, Eisenhower had grown to 2,150

students and its Anglo population had dropped to 48 percent. As of fall 2000, 54 percent of

Eisenhower’s students were African-American, 31 percent Hispanic, 9 percent Anglo and 7

percent Asian. With 45 percent of its student body economically disadvantaged and 67 percent

at risk, Eisenhower was challenged daily to reduce isolation among its students.

The initial phase of Eisenhower’s school reform took place between

1987 and 1996 when Project SOAR was created under then-principal

Fred Richardson. This included the creation of ninth grade “families,”

and the merger of the counselor and assistant principal positions into the Education Services

Manager. ESMs helped reduce the perceived size of Eisenhower. Each ESM would have

the same 175-200 students for both discipline and counseling during the students’ tenure

at Eisenhower.

“ESMs handle counseling, monitor attendance, administer discipline, meet with parents and

write recommendations for college for each student,” said Mr. Reynolds. ESMs were also

responsible for supervising teachers, so they were certified in mid-management as a principal,

assistant principal or counselor. Students were assigned to ESMs alphabetically, so that

families with more than one child would have the same ESM for years.

“It’s like being a single parent,” said Michaelann Kelley, Annenberg coordinator and art teacher

at Eisenhower. “You have to be everything for these kids—disciplinarian, counselor,

motivator—and you have all these responsibilities such as meeting with the kids, writing

letters of recommendation and putting out fires.”

“Our biggest challenge has been making sure no students fall between the cracks,” said

Hermina Mancha, one of the original ESMs. “It’s one-stop shopping for parents. Before this,

they would have to call three different people for academics, counseling and discipline.”

The Education Services Manager model established at Eisenhower, an

Annenberg Beacon School, has been replicated at schools throughout

the Houston area. This model has been used as part of the high school

redesign model adopted by Houston ISD and other districts to personalize the learning

environment, so that students are known both personally and academically.

EDUCATIONAL SERVICES

MANAGER MODEL

EISENHOWER HIGH SCHOOL

“It’s one-stop shopping for parents.”–Hermina Mancha

Eisenhower

REFORM AT EISENHOWER

REPLICATION

23

One of the most important models to emerge from recent reform in public education is the

Resident for Professional Development. In this model, one or more staff members at each

school is responsible for researching and coordinating ongoing staff development. With a

projected shortage of more than two million teachers by 2010, America’s school districts are

challenged to make teaching a more exciting, effective and fulfilling profession.

To become more effective educators, teachers need both time and structure built into their

schedules to promote ongoing learning. As more schools recognize the importance of

providing this time during the regular school day, an on-site coordinator is increasingly

important.

Most of the 11 Houston Annenberg Challenge Beacon schools had a resident for

professional development known as the Annenberg Coordinator. Among the many activities

the coordinators fostered were study groups, research groups, student observation and

assessment teams, peer coaching, Critical Friends Groups, and much more.

According to Tom Monaghan, former principal at Lanier Middle

School in Houston ISD, the concept of personal learning and

professional development at his school focused on individuals

working in small group collaboratives. “It has nothing to do with a workshop or an in-

service,” Monaghan said. “It is very personal and powerful.”

Lanier’s major focus over the grant period was on increasing teacher learning. Figuring out

the best way to do that was somewhat elusive. Shannon Weigel was the Resident for

Professional Development and Annenberg Coordinator at Lanier, an Annenberg Beacon

School, for four years. She was hired to help coordinate professional activities when Lanier

began dismissing students at 1 p.m.

one afternoon each week to free up a

block of time for teachers to devote to

professional development.

At first, all professional development

came at the recommendation of the

principal or individual teachers.

“Someone would see a program they

liked, and a few of the teachers would

go somewhere for outside training,” said Ms. Weigel, who later moved on to work with

Community Education Partners. “They would come back excited about the program, and it

would be implemented, whether it was what we all needed or not. We slowly figured out

that you couldn’t have lofty expectations from teachers who aren’t involved in training.

Next, we tried holding more workshops, but our teachers reported that workshops weren’t

working either—90 minutes of isolated training wasn’t effective.”

Lanier incorporated this new information and created learning academies based on a model

developed at Eisenhower High School in Aldine ISD. These were strands of professional

development that teachers committed to over an entire year. Unfortunately, there were only

PROFESSIONAL

DEVELOPMENT MODEL

LANIER MIDDLE SCHOOL

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

ENCOURAGES TEACHERS TO BECOME

INDEPENDENT THINKERS AND

CONTINUOUS LEARNERS

24

five areas to choose from. “Some of the teachers felt like square pegs in round holes,” Ms.

Weigel said. Once again, Lanier adapted. Each teacher at Lanier designed a personal learning

plan, and some professional

development time was focused on

self-directed areas of improvement.

The teachers reflected on their own

progress and shared their reflections

with each other on a regular basis.

In the beginning, Ms.Weigel spent

her time handling the logistics of

anything relating to professional

development. “My job was to find the

information, schedule the meetings, gather the staff and get the potato chips out on time,”

she said. Later, teachers began to work together to schedule development activities.

Over the five-year grant period, Lanier’s focus on teacher learning paid off with a dramatic

increase in student test scores, especially for Hispanics and economically disadvantaged

students. Professional development became an integral part of the school’s culture.

Dr. Anne McClellan, principal at Poe Elementary School in Houston

ISD until 2001, attributed much of Poe’s success as a model school to

a policy of sharing leadership responsibilities among Resident Staff

Developers. RDAs at Poe had many responsibilities, including analyzing student assessment

data, consulting and co-teaching with classroom teachers, problem-solving, and keeping up

with current professional literature. Each staff developer would spend half the day as a regular

classroom educator and the other half attending to RSD responsibilities.

Debbie Verdon, who succeeded Dr. McClellan, added that student success at Poe is due to

development of the school as a “center of inquiry.” Poe is a school where both teachers and

students are the learners and where learning is an active process that takes place in ongoing

formats. Teachers are role models to the students and parents as they actively practice ongoing

inquiry and learning.

The practicing philosophy of Poe as a center of inquiry places ongoing professional cognitive

growth at its foundation. This is accomplished through cross-grade level curriculum-based

teams. These teams meet weekly beyond the school day to focus on curriculum strands,

higher-order thinking skills, instructional strategies and practices.

This center of inquiry approach is also seen in the implementation of Cognitive Coaching

teams. These teacher peer teams work together to establish and maintain trust, facilitate

mutual learning, and enhance growth.

POE ELEMENTARY

OVER THE FIVE-YEAR GRANT PERIOD,

TEACHER LEARNING PAID OFF

WITH A DRAMATIC INCREASE IN

STUDENT TEST SCORES

25

Kennedy Elementary in Alief ISD was a forward-thinking school that placed primary

importance on increasing student learning through teacher professional development. They

owed a great deal of their success to their alternative schedule, which was put in place in the

mid-1990s and was the cornerstone of their teacher learning.

At that time, then-principal Mary Hosking was investigating the best way to help teachers

move forward and identify common goals. She concluded that time was the major obstacle to

her staff’s acquiring a strong knowledge base and continuing to add to that knowledge in a

meaningful way. With strong support from parents, Kennedy, an Annenberg Beacon School,

set about restructuring its school day in order to carve out 40 minutes every morning for

teachers to work on professional development.

It wasn’t easy. First they had to get approval from the district to allow the students to end

their day 15 minutes earlier than the rest of the district. Then that 15 minutes was moved to

the morning and combined with the 10 minutes they already had before students arrived.

And finally, they took five minutes each from language arts, math and social studies and

science classes.

Seven years and many staff changes later,

teachers continued to gather in Kennedy’s

library from 7:30 a.m. to 8:10 a.m., coffee

cups and notebooks in hand. The library, a

large open area at the hub of the building,

had enough tables and chairs to

accommodate all 65 professional staff

members. Sometimes an overhead projector would be brought in for presentations. Usually

principal Steve Grabowski or assistant principal Cindy Rouse would make a few

announcements before the meeting began. On other days the staff would gather into smaller

groups for various purposes.

Over the years, the alternative schedule enabled a multitude of learning opportunities,

including cross-grade collaboration, study groups, direct instruction and inquiry. Each year

minor changes were made based on input from teachers. For example, one year the staff

requested additional processing time for new learning and a desire to take their studies

“deeper, not wider.”

Each month, the teachers at Kennedy received a calendar spelling out exactly what would

happen at each of the morning sessions. Although the schedule was extremely flexible,

Mondays and Fridays were usually reserved for grade-level meetings. Content specialists met

with teams to help with planning. Team leaders and teachers might also facilitate meetings

related to specific instructional techniques and planning. Discussion and development of

educational plans for individual children often also took place at this time.

Everyone usually came together on Tuesdays to share recent professional development

learning. If teachers had attended a conference or workshop, for example, they would make

formal presentations. Or they might all share recent learning related to subjects such as

ALTERNATIVE SCHEDULE MODEL

KENNEDY ELEMENTARY

“I TRULY VALUE THE OPPORTUNITY TO

HAVE PROFESSIONAL CONVERSATIONS

WITH MY COLLEAGUES.”

26

“Succeeding with Angry Students,” “Meeting the Needs of Gifted Students” or “Comprehension

Strategies.” Sometimes they would deal with report-card procedures, participate in teacher

surveys, or help diagnose and assess students. Certain Tuesdays or Wednesdays were devoted to

collaboration and communication, when the group would strategize on such subjects as team

planning, parent conferences and mentor/mentees.

Wednesday mornings were often reserved for cross-grade collaborations that focused on specific

issues such as literacy and curriculum. They would also be used for Tribes meetings. Tribes

Learning Communities is a program in which both teachers and students are organized into

small groups of about six people to help personalize

the learning environment. Students learn a set of

collaborative skills for working together and apply

these to learning academic material and self-

responsible behavior. Kennedy spent considerable

time and money implementing Tribes on campus:

about 75 percent of the Kennedy staff received

training in the program. Two on-campus trainers—Kim Smith and Janeen Forcum—worked

with the staff. In the fall of 2000, 10 Alief campuses participated in Tribes training at Kennedy,

and in January 2001, Kennedy trainers helped train the staff at Mata Intermediate School.

Thursdays were usually reserved for study-group meetings where teachers would investigate

current professional literature. As interpreted by Kennedy, study groups had three basic roles:

to implement curricular and instructional innovations; collaborate on planning for school

improvement; and study current research on teaching and learning.

The content specialist team at Kennedy shared a suite of offices, which encouraged

collaboration and communication. Their responsibilities were numerous. They were largely

responsible for planning the Alternative Schedule Calendar. They acted as liaison between the

administration and staff. They were required to be aware of Alief ISD goals and to summarize

important information from district meetings. They would seek out appropriate instruction and

strategize on how it would best serve the staff. They planned and facilitated events such as

TAAS Parent Night and Family Learning Nights. They helped with mentoring and peer

coaching. And they continually reviewed and evaluated records of alternative schedule

calendars, training agendas, presentations of teachers and staff, and reflections.

Kennedy used the alternative schedule for training sessions addressing areas of need such as

interpreting test data, developing portfolios and investigating issues relating to using Tribes in

the classroom. In addition, they formed partnerships with consultants to assist them in

developing various programs. Specific program needs included: strategies to meet the needs of

bilingual and ESL students, diagnosis and assessment of records, and the implementation of

book club strategies.

The alternative schedule helped unify the Kennedy staff, align the curriculum, augment cross-

grade-level knowledge, and increase consistency and continuity of learning. Most of all, it gave

teachers a chance to speak out and be heard on issues about which they care passionately.

The alternative schedule model has been replicated at other Alief ISD

elementary schools and at Poe Elementary. Lanier Middle School,

Browning Elementary and Helms Community Learning Center in Houston ISD all instituted

early dismissal one afternoon weekly to allow time for professional development.

“WE ALL HAVE THE SAME

CONCERNS, AND THAT MAKES

ME FEEL LIKE I’M NOT ALONE.”

REPLICATION

27

One of the key professional development models supported by Houston Annenberg Challenge

is the Critical Friends Group (CFG). It is based on a simple idea: teachers need a safe forum

where they can share new ideas with their peers and deal with the ever-shifting dilemmas that

arise in the classroom.

“It’s helpful to get 13 other people’s perspective on your problem,” said Jennifer Crow, fifth

grade teacher at Browning Elementary in Houston ISD. “They make suggestions, and then

you go back to the classroom and try them. Then the next month you meet to reflect on what

happened. Over time, you become a very close-knit group.”

The purpose of a Critical Friends Group is to help teachers and administrators develop

solutions to specific educational challenges together. A CFG is a defined group of people

meeting as a professional learning community who use a set of protocols to guide their

collective learning. CFGs provide deliberate time and structures to promote adult growth that

is directly linked to student learning. Each CFG has at least one coach who guides the group

as they reflect on their practices and examine both teacher and student work. Coaches attend

a week-long summer training class, participate in regional training sessions, and travel to

national and regional seminars whenever possible for continuous learning and honing their

coaching skills. The ultimate purpose of CFGs is to change instructional practice for greater

student learning.

Different schools have approached the program in different ways. Most make CFG

participation voluntary and end up with three or four groups of between eight and 12

participants who meet once a month for two hours.

One of the first Houston schools with CFGs was Lanier Middle

School in Houston ISD. Tom Monaghan, former principal, went to

Boston in 1997 to train as a coach. “I was an assistant principal back

then,” said Monaghan. “We started with 22 people in two groups that met once a month for

half a day. By the end of 1998, we were convinced that it was a powerful tool and that the

possibilities were strong for some paradigm shifts in how we looked at teaching and learning

in our classrooms. I looked at various CFG models, including groups that met on Saturdays,

and became convinced that time was the essential element in the equation. If you want to see

meaningful professional development, you must provide the time, along with the

accountability and the support.”

Next, a group of CFG members submitted a proposal that everyone join a team. “We told

people that if they didn’t want to be in a CFG group, that was fine, but they had to develop

some type of plan for their professional learning,” remembered Mr. Monaghan. “About that

time, too, we began having early dismissal one day a week to set aside the necessary time to

meet. Eventually we ended up with five regular CFGs and two ‘with a twist.’ ”

Teachers and administrators met in separate CFGs at Lanier, and they set their own agenda

based on the goals of the individuals in the group. Some would do more research, others

more peer observations. “But CFGs definitely break down the isolation,” Mr. Monaghan said.

CRITICAL FRIENDS

GROUPS MODEL “Critical Friends Groups are awesome.” –Jennifer Crow, Browning Elementary

LANIER MIDDLE SCHOOL

28

“The old days of being in your own little kingdom where no one was welcome are gone

forever.”

Browning Elementary in Houston ISD had four Critical Friends

Groups involving roughly half the faculty, and participation was

voluntary. In the summer of 1999, Jennifer Crow, who had been

teaching at Browning for seven years, attended a weeklong training session at the University

of Houston. “It was intense,” she said, “and I emerged pretty fired up. They teach you a

structured way to conduct meetings that allows you to get a lot done. I ended up with a

group of 14 that first year.”

Like Lanier, Browning had early dismissal one afternoon weekly to allow time for

professional development. Two such days each month were staff days, and the other two

were collaboration days on which various groups would meet. “CFGs became a

collaboration, so we were given permission to meet off-campus and often ended up staying

late, just sharing and talking. We would discuss various dilemmas or review student’s work,

which turned out to be one of the most powerful things we did. One CFG group at Browning

is all the same grade level, but I find that a mix is good, because you get more perspectives.”

“I attend refresher training in the summer,” said Ms. Crow. “And I have been to a CFG

conference. A friend of mine started using CFG protocols at faculty meetings, and it’s

working. We also use it in our study groups. We’re stretching the boundaries of CFGs.”

“Houston Annenberg Challenge instigated the concept, and I signed

up right away,” said Elaine Wilkins, who taught visual literacy at

Bethune Academy in Aldine ISD. “I went to Boston for training, and I

coached a team from every discipline in the school for years. We began with four groups out

of roughly 60 faculty members at Bethune. We met once a month at each other’s homes to

discuss issues that we encountered, overwhelming dilemmas, whatever came up. If someone

had something critical to discuss, we would throw out the agenda. CFGs build camaraderie

and help you become a stronger teacher.”

When the Eisenhower High School faculty of 171 teachers was

reduced to 140 with the opening of the ninth grade campus in 1997,

the school began sending teachers for CFG training to help them deal

with all the changes that were taking place. Since 1998, numerous faculty members have

been trained in CFG, and in 2002, approximately 40 percent of the faculty participated in

seven CFGs. In addition, they started two student CFGs. Kennedy Elementary, which had an

outstanding Critical Friends Group, reached out and trained CFGs at Best Academy and

Olle Elementary.

By 2002, Houston Annenberg Challenge had trained more than 360

coaches, and nearly 100 schools successfully introduced the Critical

Friends Group program on their campuses. Houston A+ Challenge,

the successor organization to Houston Annenberg, continues to provide new coaches’

seminars, principals’ seminars, summer seminars and an annual winter gathering. The

National School Reform Faculty (NSRF), which started as an initiative of the Annenberg

Institute for School Reform at Brown University, is the national network for CFG training

and development. (See their website at www.nsrfharmony.org.) Houston A+ Challenge was

the first NSRF-recognized Center of Activity for CFG training on the Gulf Coast.

BROWNING ELEMENTARY

BETHUNE ACADEMY

OTHER SCHOOLS

REPLICATION

29

When Houston Annenberg Challenge named Eisenhower High School, Lanier Middle School,

Bethune Academy, Drew Academy and Helms Community Learning Center as Beacon Schools

in 1997, the schools realized that they needed to document the changes that were taking place

in teachers’ practices and student learning. The five schools approached Dr. Cheryl J. Craig,

then at Rice University and later associate professor of education at the University of Houston,

to act as their planning and evaluation consultant, and she agreed.

At the time, there was no model for the planning and evaluation work they were doing. “How

will we know we did a good job? How will we prove it?” were the two questions uppermost

in Craig’s mind. For her and the school principals involved, a part of the answer was

clear––portfolios.

Why portfolios? When Craig was working on her doctorate at the University of Alberta, her

mentor was Nona Lyons, author of With Portfolio in Hand: Validating the New Teacher

Professionalism. It was a logical choice.

With each school free to choose its own format, portfolios are as unique as the schools they

portray. Basically, they gather together in one place––a binder, an album, a file box––all the

evidence of a school’s activities. This may include meeting agendas, samples of student work,

photographs and teachers’ reflections. Besides serving as evidence, the material helps schools

and educators to reflect more deeply on their practices.

School portfolios are an enormous amount of work, and Craig’s office overflowed with five

years’ worth of them. Although she believes in the portfolios, she cautioned against asking too

much of teachers who may already be overburdened. “The portfolio work is flexible enough

that you can put as much or as little work into it as you like. I think there is something there

for everyone, from the artist to the scientist.”

Lanier Middle School’s first portfolio was a massive,

colorful scrapbook assembled by one person. Its purpose

was to highlight what was going on and, consequently, to

attract community partners. Former Annenberg Coordinator Shannon Weigel described it as

“a showpiece to attract attention.”

By the second year, their portfolio had evolved into an accountability piece to show that

Lanier had done exactly what they said they would do. It documented a dramatic increase in

student test scores and included a few reflection pieces by teachers involved in various

programs. But according to Ms. Weigel, it still failed to tell the story of the faculty’s need for

professional development and growth.

“Finally teacher reflections became the mainstay of Lanier’s portfolio,” said Ms. Weigel at a

presentation of portfolios by the five Beacon schools at the University of Houston in 2001.

“Each time teachers were exposed to new ideas, they shared their learning in writing and

evaluated its usefulness. It would be great if teachers could tell their own stories of struggle

and success, of frustration and breakthrough, but most of the time the portfolios must speak

for them. The process of reflection became deeply ingrained into our school culture and

A PORTFOLIO WAY

OF THINKING “We all look better when we work together.”—Dr. Cheryl J. Craig

University of Houston

LANIER MIDDLE SCHOOL

30

sharing those thoughts through our portfolio became the impetus for change in our future.

The portfolio became a tool for each school’s use rather than a documentation piece for the

use of others.”

At Helms Community Learning Center in Houston ISD, their

early portfolio work began as an accountability piece for Houston

Annenberg Challenge. According to Jennifer Day, dual language

magnet coordinator at Helms, originally it was a limited perspective captured in what was

essentially a scrapbook of photos.

“In 1999 Gayle Curtis, the Annenberg

Coordinator, formed a portfolio committee.

The committee realized that we needed a

more inclusive portfolio that told the

whole story at Helms,” Ms. Day said. “Our

reform efforts, including the dual language

program, parent classes and community partnerships, had grown substantially. Therefore, the

first step was to make sense of the myriad programs at Helms and to articulate how those

programs fit together to support our school vision and mission.

“We reflected on the impact of school reform and the subsequent changes taking place with

school-wide participation,” Ms. Day continued. “An activity is documented on each page,

along with a description of how it related to one of the Annenberg imperatives, when it

happened, and the purpose or impact of that activity on student learning. Through our

portfolios, we continually deepen our understanding of our school culture and context.”

At Bethune Academy, teacher Elaine Wilkins used a large, artist-

style portfolio for the school overview and then assembled

additional details in three-ring binders. “Take the Japanese

Garden project,” she said, opening a thick notebook. “Here is the budget, all the lesson plans,

the students’ drawings, what it looked like before, who helped us, etc.” She also kept

notebooks on her Critical Friends Group, community partnerships, and other Bethune

programs and projects.

Members of Dr. Craig’s portfolio group traveled to conferences at

Harvard University and Cork, Ireland. Four of the five Houston

schools were represented at a symposium in Seattle where they

made a presentation at the American Educational Research Association.

Each of these five schools reached out to help other schools with the portfolio process.

Eisenhower connected with Johnston Middle School, part of a Lamplighter Community that

included Westbury High School, Anderson Elementary and Red Elementary. Lanier reached

out to Cornelius Elementary.

As Dr. Craig pointed out, change comes from a small group of people finding alternative ways

of doing things and then spreading the word. “Annenberg gave us the space to do the work,

but it was up to us to figure out how to take full advantage of it,” she said. “We have created a

dynamic community of people who are impacting a lot of kids. That’s what keeps us all going.”

HELMS COMMUNITY

LEARNING CENTER

BETHUNE ACADEMY

REPLICATION

PORTFOLIOS ARE AS UNIQUE AS

THE SCHOOLS THEY PORTRAY

31

Year State Best1996 67.1 58.01997 73.2 50.4 1998 77.7 50.9 1999 78.3 53.6 2000 79.9 64.5 2001 82.1 57.4 2002 85.3 69.4

50556065707580859095

96 97 98 99 00 01 02

How did student performance change in the schools profiled in this report as each one

developed and implemented a new model for improving instruction?

As one measurement to answer that question, we compiled the passing scores on the Texas

Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) for each school beginning in 1996, the year before the

schools began to receive funding from The Houston Annenberg Challenge. We then compared

the schools’ TAAS passing rate to the statewide TAAS passing rate. By 2002, the last year of

Houston Annenberg Challenge (now continuing as Houston A+ Challenge), 60 percent of the

schools were scoring at or above the statewide average. In 1996, only 40 percent of these schools

were performing at or above the statewide average. In 2003, the state of Texas changed its

assessment system and began using the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.

BEST

ELEMENTARY

BETHUNE

ELEMENTARY

BROWNING

ELEMENTARY

% PASSING TAAS

StateBrowning

StateBethune

StateBest

RESULTS

TAAS TEST PEFORMANCE

50556065707580859095

96 97 98 99 00 01 02

% PASSING TAAS

Year State Bethune1996 67.1 NA1997 73.2 62.7 1998 77.7 80.2 1999 78.3 79.3 2000 79.9 85.7 2001 82.1 82 2002 85.3 90.2

50556065707580859095

96 97 98 99 00 01 02

% PASSING TAAS

Year State Browning1996 67.1 64.01997 73.2 66.1 1998 77.7 78.5 1999 78.3 58.3 2000 79.9 67.7 2001 82.1 82.7 2002 85.3 93.3

32

32

Year State Drew1996 67.1 54.51997 73.2 76.6 1998 77.7 69.1 1999 78.3 73.9 2000 79.9 79.4 2001 82.1 84.42002 85.3 89.1

50556065707580859095

96 97 98 99 00 01 02

DREW

ACADEMY

EISENHOWER

HIGH SCHOOL

HELMS

COMMUNITY

LEARNING CENTER

% PASSING TAAS

StateHelms

StateEisenhower

StateDrew

50556065707580859095

96 97 98 99 00 01 02

% PASSING TAAS

Year State Eisenhower1996 67.1 47.01997 73.2 60.2 1998 77.7 68.7 1999 78.3 62.0 2000 79.9 78.6 2001 82.1 78.32002 85.3 82.0

50556065707580859095

96 97 98 99 00 01 02

% PASSING TAAS

Year State Helms1996 67.1 60.01997 73.2 53.4 1998 77.7 51.4 1999 78.3 56.8 2000 79.9 77.5 2001 82.1 88.02002 85.3 93.5

32

KENNEDY

ELEMENTARY

KIPP ACADEMY

StateKIPP

StateKennedy

50556065707580859095

96 97 98 99 00 01 02

% PASSING TAAS

Year State Kennedy1996 67.1 86.01997 73.2 84.6 1998 77.7 90.1 1999 78.3 83.82000 79.9 72.02001 82.1 80.72002 85.3 78.6

50556065707580859095

96 97 98 99 00 01 02

100% PASSING TAAS

Year State KIPP1996 67.1 NA1997 73.2 NA1998 77.7 NA1999 78.3 97.52000 79.9 96.92001 82.1 99.02002 85.3 99.7

33

2

Year State Lanier1996 67.1 86.41997 73.2 86.4 1998 77.7 87.0 1999 78.3 86.9 2000 79.9 90.9 2001 82.1 93.42002 85.3 97.150

556065707580859095

96 97 98 99 00 01 02

100LANIER

MIDDLE SCHOOL

POE

ELEMENTARY

REAGAN

HIGH SCHOOL

% PASSING TAAS

StateReagan

StatePoe

StateLanier

50556065707580859095

96 97 98 99 00 01 02

100

% PASSING TAAS

Year State Poe1996 67.1 76.81997 73.2 96.1 1998 77.7 96.4 1999 78.3 88.2 2000 79.9 90.1 2001 82.1 93.82002 85.3 93.7

25303540455055

606570

96 97 98 99 00 01 02

758085

% PASSING TAAS

Year State Reagan1996 67.1 28.41997 73.2 42.7 1998 77.7 50.0 1999 78.3 60.7 2000 79.9 68.4 2001 82.1 56.42002 85.3 77.2

YESCOLLEGE PREP

StateYES

50556065707580859095

96 97 98 99 00 01 02

100% PASSING TAAS

Year State YES1996 67.1 NA1997 73.2 NA1998 77.7 NA1999 78.3 NA2000 79.9 NA2001 82.1 99.32002 85.3 98.2

Source: Texas Education Agency

34

SCHOOL

CONTACT INFORMATION

Best Academy (Alief ISD)10000 Centre ParkwayHouston, TX 77036713-988-6445http://www.alief.isd.tenet.edu/best/best/bestintro.htm

Bethune Academy (Aldine ISD)2500 Victory DriveHouston, TX 77088281-878-0380http://www1.aldine.k12.tx.us/schools/websites/bethune/main.html

Browning Elementary (Houston ISD)607 NorthwoodHouston, TX 77009713-867-5140http://es.houstonisd.org/BrowningES/

Drew Academy (Aldine ISD)1910 Little YorkHouston, TX 77091281-878-0360http://www1.aldine.k12.tx.us/

Eisenhower High School (Aldine ISD)7922 AntoineHouston, TX 77088281-878-0900http://www1.aldine.k12.tx.us/schools/websites/Eisenhower/index.html

Helms Community Learning Center(Houston ISD)503 W. 21st StreetHouston, TX 77088713-867-5130http://es.houstonisd.org/HelmsES/

KIPP Academy (Charter)10711 Kipp WayHouston, TX 77099832-328-1051http://www.kipphouston.org/

Kennedy Elementary School (Alief ISD)10200 Huntington Place DriveHouston, TX 77099281-983-8338http://www.alief.isd.tenet.edu/kennedy/kennedy/kennintro.htm

Lanier Middle School (Houston ISD)2600 Woodhead StreetHouston, TX 77098713-942-1900http://ms.houstonisd.org/LanierMS/

Poe Elementary School (Houston ISD)5100 HazardHouston, TX 77098713-535-3780http://es.houstonisd.org/PoeES/

Reagan High School (Houston ISD)413 E. 13th StreetHouston, TX 77008713-861-5694http://hs.houstonisd.org/ReaganHS/

YES College Preparatory (Charter) 6201 Bonhomme, Suite 168NHouston, TX 77036713-574-7600http://www.yesprep.org/

THE HOUSTON A+ CHALLENGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

CHAIRJoe B. Foster

FounderNewfield Exploration Company

PRESIDENTAnn Friedman, Ph.D.

Community Volunteer

Leonel J. CastilloMayor’s Office (Retired)

City Hall

Jonathan DayCo-Chair

Andrews & Kurth, L.L.P.

Michael DeeManaging Director

Morgan Stanley

Roberto GonzalezVice President

Employment & Training Centers, Inc.

H. Devon Graham, Jr.President

R. E. Smith Interests, Inc.

Jenard M. GrossGross Investments

Steven L. MillerChairman & President

SLM Discovery Ventures, Inc.

Karol Musher, M.A., CCC-SLPSpeech-Language Pathologist

Texas Children’s Hospital

Maconda Brown O’Connor, Ph.D.Chairman

The Brown Foundation

Harry M. ReasonerSenior Partner

Vinson & Elkins, L.L.P

J. Victor SamuelsChairman

Victory Packaging, Inc.

Yava ScottCommunity Volunteer

Andrea WhiteCommunity Volunteer

Rosie ZamoraPresident

Houston Wilderness, Inc.

Michele Pola, Ed.D.Executive Director

Credits:

Photography on Pages 9-11: David PostmaCourtesy of Bethune Academy

Design:New Pencil

Interviews:Donna Tennant

Writers:Donna TennantBetsy Broyles Breier

1415 Louisiana, Box 9 Houston, Texas 77002 www.houstonaplus.org