High School as a PUMP - A Culture of Support

A recent Post-Gazette headline:  Charge against South Fayette student who recorded alleged bullying will be dropped.  Read the story... and then read it again.  It won't make sense.  

Christian Stanfield is a good student.  He prides himself on working hard and getting good grades. He was a having a tough time in his mathematics class. He was being bullied by a group of boys while the class was going on.  He had complained to the teacher and his mother has complained to the school administration.  Finally, he couldn't take it anymore, so during class he took out his IPAD mini and secretly recorded 7 minutes of the bullying.  This is how his mother describes the recording:

"At first, she said, Christian's teacher is trying to instruct him. The other boys in the background can be heard making vulgar comments, including one suggesting another pull down Christian's pants.  Although the teacher corrects them, the abuse doesn't stop. Then, Ms. Love said, there's a loud slam.  And they all burst out laughing, and one says, 'What? I was just trying to scare him.'  The teacher is never heard asking Christian if he is OK, if he needs to leave the room, or to ask the other boys to leave, Ms. Love said."

The next day his mother called the administration and told them what she heard in the recording. What happens next speaks to the values and culture of the school.  The administration immediately called the police stating that they had a student who made a recording which was a possible violation of wiretapping laws.  Christian was called into the office and was forced to erase the recording.  The police arrived and since they could not listen to the recording, gave him a citation charging him with summary disorderly conduct.  A judge found Christian guilty and fined him $25 plus court costs. 

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What is going on here?  Who is the victim?  Here are a couple of conclusions I draw from the article.

• This is a classic example of boys-will-be-boys bullying.  
• The teacher is having a difficult time controlling the class and managing the misbehaving students.  
• The victim took matters into his own hands and recorded the behaviors on an IPAD.  
• The administration is not happy with the victim or his mother.

What is the school administration thinking?  The article states thats Christian is a special needs student.  His mother is active in his education and advocates for him.  I'm guessing the school believes that he is over reacting, that his mother is over sensitive, and that this is not a big deal.  Once the student takes matters into his own hands, the school feels threatened and angry that, through his actions, the student is criticizing how the school is handling the matter. The police officer backs the school.  The judge backs the police officer.  And no mention is made of the group of boys in the back of the class.  It is only after the media gets hold of the story and makes it front page news that someone steps in to right this wrong. The District Attorney's office declares that they will go to court and withdraw the charges and the fine.

This is a classic example of High School as a FILTER.  Life is hard.  You, as a student, need to learn how to handle these situations.  It's high school.  Your mother needs to back off and you need to concentrate on your work.  And never step out of line and take things into your own hands.  If you do, the system will punish you.  If you can't figure that out on your own, you just won't make it.

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What is the appropriate way to handle this situation?  What would it look like if the High School acted as a PUMP?  I will use City Charter High School's student support system as an example.  The student support system is predicated on the belief that a student cannot learn if they are under any form of psychological, emotional or physical stress.  Teenagers, by simply being adolescents, are going through a very difficult time in their lives.  Whether it is problems with peers, family problems, depression, substance abuse or deeper issues of depression or wellness, students need a safe and private place to turn for help.  City Charter High School has four levels of student support that would come into play in the situation described above.  

1. Every student has a faculty advisor that he/she works with for all four years of high school. The advisor builds a close relationship with both the student and his/her parent. The advisor acts as an advocate for the student as he/she grapples with difficult problems that arise.  
2. The school has two social workers whose sole responsibility is to provide drop-in services for students who are working through stressful situations.  Both social workers are experienced at working with adolescents in therapeutic settings.
3. The school has a full time nurse whose sole responsibility is the physical wellness of the students.  This includes nutrition, dispensing doctor prescribed medications, managing existing conditions such as diabetes, asthma, obesity, helping with obtaining eyeglasses, yearly physicals, answering questions pertaining to adolescent needs including sexual issues.  
4. The school has four administrators who view disciplinary issues in a broader context of learning, maturity and indications of underlying problems. Student discipline becomes an opportunity to teach coping skills, get at underlying problems and nurture growth from a maturity perspective.  

So what would Christian's experience look like in this type of high school.  Once the bullying began, the culture of the school would encourage the student to reach out to his/her advisor or any adult for that matter and ask for help.  Once the adult became aware that this was a possible bullying situation, the teacher would make an administrator aware of the problem. It should be noted that in Pennsylvania, school employees are mandated reporters - "You are a mandated reporter if, in the course of your employment, occupation or profession you come into contact with children and have a reasonable cause to suspect that a child under the care, supervision, guidance or training of your agency, organization or entity is a victim of child abuse."  

The next day as the student entered the school, one of the administrators, who has a relationship with the student, would pull him aside.  They would talk about what has been going on in the mathematics class.  The administrator would say something like, "these bullying situations can be very difficult.  How about we visit the counselor's office and give you a chance to talk this out?"  

Talking with the counselor (social worker) is completely confidential.  However, the counselor will let the student know that if there appears to be any possibility of anyone being harmed, then the counselor must report it to the administration.  The counselor will assess the situation by listening to the student.  The counselor might reach out to the mathematics teacher for more information.  If the counselor sees a way to help the student manage and diffuse the situation, they will do so.  Helping the student develop coping skills is certainly appropriate.  If the counselor believes the situation needs to be addressed by an administrator, they will share information accordingly.  

The administrator has a number of avenues at this point.  They can observe the class, they can confer with the mathematics teacher, they can find out who is doing the bullying and bring the students into the office for a conference or they can facilitate a meeting between the bullies and the victim.  This is a judgement call. However, bullying is unacceptable under any conditions.  The victim needs to be supported in every aspect in order to create a safe, supportive and positive learning environment.  If the bullies do not understand or are not willing to comply with proper norms of behavior, they will be dealt with to the fullest extent of both the school's policy on bullying and the law.  

So what would happen if Christian did not avail himself of these interventions and just got angry and taped the 7 minutes of class.  Once again this should become a learning experience. Students need the benefit of adult guidance as to how to self-advocate and manage difficult situations in life.  This is both a personal and job skill which will be invaluable in the future. The student should be made aware of both the legalities regarding tape recording and the more important issue of how to resolve the problem without confrontation.  The ultimate test of the school's culture of support is if the situation is resolved with all parties learning and growing in the process.  

Finally, the administrator would work with the mathematics teacher to develop better classroom/behavior management skills.  A quality teacher could handle this situation with an immediate response to the bullying that left no question that it is completely inappropriate. Starting with a phone call home, working through a one-to-one meeting with the students and a referral to the administration with the details of bullying would stifle this problem in it's early stages.  

The point is simply this, part of high school is helping to teach adolescents how to grow up, manage conflict and respect boundaries.  If your high school is a FILTER, these problems tumble out of control until there is a serious event - a school shooting, violence or possibly even suicide.  And of course it makes front page news.  If your high school is a PUMP, the situation become a learning experience for the victim, the bullies and the mathematics teacher.  Either way, a message is sent to the school community about its values.  

The article went onto say that 

"Since the story started making its rounds in the media, Ms. Love said she and her son have been overwhelmed by the amount of support they've received. 'The children in the school have been shockingly supportive,' she said. 'It's almost like these people are giving Christian a voice'."

A PUMP raises the level of all students and staff.  People will surprise you once they are given a chance.

High School as a PUMP - Everyone into the pool!

Imagine it is your first day of school.  Kindergarten. Your mom has dressed you for the occasion, you have butterflies in your stomach, you are desperate to fit in, to succeed.  It really is a very scary moment.  And then you begin learning.  As you go through your first years at school, you notice that some students do well, others do not. Some are popular, some are not, most just try to fit in.  Once a year, you take strange, important tests and wonder what is their purpose... and what did the other students get on their tests?  Around 7th grade, you are chosen to move to an advanced English class.  You make new friends, all who like reading and writing and seem to do well.  Things are going pretty good.  You never look back.  You never notice what happened to the other students in your class. What was their education like? Were they successful?  Were they challenged?

It is not until you are a parent and it is your child that is going to school that you have a deeper understanding of how schools sort students. Around 2nd grade you wonder if your child is gifted and will be allowed to participate in the special gifted program.  Or maybe, your child is struggling and you want to find a way to help them. You are worried if your son is labeled as having special needs will he receive a challenging curriculum or be cast aside. Around 7th grade you notice that students are being tracked, placed into programs based upon either IQ or grades or even behaviors.  In fact, some students seemed to be placed into specific programs based on how pushy their parents are.

By the time your child enters high school, you are deeply aware of the tracking system (ability grouping) that separates students into tracks with differentiated classes and curriculums.  In Pittsburgh high schools there's a gifted track (CAS), a scholars track (PSP), a regular track, a vocational track and a special needs track. If you ask the students what these tracks are they would say "the brainiacs, the hard working kiss up kids, the slackers, the poor kids and the messed up kids." If you ask teachers what these tracks are they would say "the super bright whiny students, the hard workers, the lazy students, the non-academic students and the hard to reach students."  These distinctions are all preconceived notions about who you are and what your ability is. What track were you in?  What track is your child in?

How Tracking Creates a Poverty of Learning - Mary Hatwood Futrell and Joel Gomez

Ability grouping began in the early 20th century (Hallinan, 2004; Oakes & Guiton, 1995). In response to an influx of immigrant children into U.S. schools, school administrators decided to place students in different groups or tracks primarily on the basis of test results or their past performance in school. By the middle of the 20th century, a majority of U.S. schools used some form of ability grouping or tracking. Today, almost all schools are still implicitly defined by this curriculum paradigm, which often starts in primary school and continues through high school... Tracking historically refers to the practice of grouping high school students by ability into a series of courses with differentiated curriculums; students take high-, middle-, or low-level courses related to the track they have selected or been assigned to (academic, general, or vocational). Most students, if not all, are enrolled in one of these tracks by the time they complete middle school.

My experience as a student, a parent and an educator suggests that whether we filter students by IQ, standardized tests, grades, behaviors or parental pressure, placing students into tracks becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. For students, it manages their expectations and ultimately limits their success. For teachers, it narrows the population, thus allowing you to focus your content at a level that is "aligned" with the abilities of the students. You never have to focus on the students needs, just teach the content at the right level and all should go well. As a mathematics teacher this seemed initially to make sense.

However, there were two problems with tracking that I confronted as a teacher and supervisor that were hard to reconcile. The first was that the lower tracked students received a dumbed-down slow-paced curriculum (over and over again.) The second was that in the middle and upper tracked mathematics courses, close to 50% of the students dropped out of academic mathematics courses every year (this meant that only 1/8 of the students who took 9th grade Algebra continued through to a senior level mathematics class such as PreCalculus or Calculus.) The tracking system seemed to do a good job of filtering students out, but it did not seem to provide some form of success for all students.

When we started City Charter High School, we asked a rather complex question: "what would happen if we mixed all students in the same classroom?"  One track, one curriculum, everyone in the same class.  Could everyone benefit from this heterogeneous classroom environment? This was a radical change from how schools in America were currently organized.

The first challenge was to organize classes in a supportive manner conducive to heterogenous grouping. At City High, there are approximately 165 students per grade. Students are broken into three groups of 55 balanced by race and gender.  Each group of 55 students stays together for the entire year.  And the group of 165 students and their faculty stay together for four years (looping).  This provides consistency and develops collaborative/supportive relationships between students and teachers.

The second challenge was to change the pedagogical orientation of the teachers.  There is an old adage that states "In elementary schools teachers teach students, in high schools teachers teach mathematics."  We had to get the teachers to focus on student learning rather than presenting content.  To do this we had to provide staff development on learning styles. Recent research into learning styles and multiple intelligences suggests that each of us has a preferred style of learning.

The Seven Learning Styles are: 

• Visual (spatial): You prefer using pictures, images, and spatial understanding.

• Aural (auditory-musical): You prefer using sound and music.

• Verbal (linguistic): You prefer using words, both in speech and writing.

• Physical (kinesthetic): You prefer using your body, hands and sense of touch.

• Logical (mathematical): You prefer using logic, reasoning and systems.

• Social (interpersonal): You prefer to learn in groups or with other people.

• Solitary (intrapersonal): You prefer to work alone and use self-study.

A teacher who is student focused will quickly learn about his/her students learning predilections and teach accordingly.  With a four year loop, teachers can have a huge impact on student achievement once they incorporate knowledge of individual learning styles.

A third challenge was to get teachers to develop lessons and units that differentiate instruction.  This means to develop lessons that provide multi-level options for problem sets, readings and deliverables such as essays, projects and presentations. It also means that you have to offer multimodal ways to measure achievement and demonstrate understanding.

The fourth challenge was how do you provide services and support for special needs students in a heterogeneous classroom?  The name for this concept is full inclusion (or the least restrictive learning environment.)  To read a detailed analysis of how this is done at City High read a white paper on the topic at http://cityhigh.org/publications/special-education-2/. Classroom staffing must guarantee that appropriate support and accommodations are made for special needs students.

The fifth challenge was how to provide academic rigor for the highest "ability" students.  This was accomplished by creating an honors program within an academic course. Students self-select to be in honors (you do not have to test into it.) It simply means you want to do more challenging work. Students in honors remain in the heterogeneous classroom and study the same themes and complete the same projects. Differentiation occurs through reading more challenging books on the current topic being studied, working on more challenging problem sets and completing more demanding assignments.

To get a full understanding of how a differentiated, student-centered, project-based classroom works, you can read a white paper on the Cultural Literacy classes at City High (http://cityhigh.org/publications/cultural-literacy-october-2011/).

So what did we learn were the benefits of grouping all students together?  We learned that:

1. All students can achieve in a heterogeneous classroom.  
2. The positive change in attitudes and motivation for special needs students and students who are behind in their education is significant.  
3. The vast majority of special needs students can succeed in "the least restrictive learning environment."  
4. Bright students who are high achievers can be accommodated in this diverse setting through appropriate differentiation. 
5. Teachers can learn to differentiate and individualize instruction when they are committed to working with the same students for a four year period.  
6. Achievement gaps with respect to race and socio-economics are greatly reduced when high expectations and support mechanisms are there for every student.  
7. All students become adept at collaboration, project management, time management and supporting each other.  
8. Students grow to understand and appreciate diversity, rather than to fear or demean it. 

If we ever decided to go back to tracking at City High, the students would lead an insurrection.  Once a student has experienced a learning environment that assumes everyone can excel at high levels of achievement, he/she is no longer willing to be marginalized.  

Our top students have gone on to Carnegie-Mellon, University of Rochester, University of Chicago, Penn State and any number of top level schools and have excelled.  Our graduates complete college at a rate that is 20% higher than the national average. Those graduates who go into the workplace have skills that are far above their fellow workers. This allows them to move up quickly in terms of wages and responsibility. And most importantly, our students who start high school with deficits, special needs students, and less fortunate students (socio-economically), are succeeding far beyond their expectations. 

I am not aware of any other high schools that have eliminated tracking.  This brings us back to the fundamental question: Should high school act as a Filter or a Pump?

 

High School as PUMP - 4 Librarians and No Library

City Charter High School is the only school in the United States that has four certified librarians and no library.  

Before I explain how that works, we need some background.  In 2002, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) rewrote Pennsylvania's high school graduation requirements. Those requirements are stated below. Please note the language highlighted pertaining to the "culminating project".  

§ 4.24. High school graduation requirements.

Requirements through the 2013-2014 school year. Each school district, including a charter school, shall specify requirements for graduation in the strategic plan under §  4.13 (relating to strategic plans). Requirements through the 2013-2014 school year must include course completion and grades, completion of a culminating project, results of local assessments aligned with the academic standards and a demonstration of proficiency in Reading, Writing and Mathematics on either the State assessments administered in grade 11 or 12 or local assessment aligned with academic standards and State assessments under §  4.52 (relating to local assessment system) at the proficient level or better to graduate. The purpose of the culminating project is to assure that students are able to apply, analyze, synthesize and evaluate information and communicate significant knowledge and understanding.

This reworking of the graduation requirements was quite radical.  For the first time, PDE did not dictate how many credits (classes) student needed to pass in order to graduate.  The requirements dictated course completion, demonstration of proficiency in Reading, Writing and Mathematics (through the PSSA exams) and a culminating project.  Since the culminating project was to be determined locally, each school district defined it as they wanted to.  Some districts disappointingly made it a glorified book report.  Others used the traditional senior English thesis for this purpose.  And some school districts jumped on this opportunity to force students to demonstrate their ability to "apply, analyze, synthesize and evaluate information and communicate significant knowledge and understanding."  Those districts believed the graduation project defined what it meant to be a quality high school graduate who is proficient at the skills necessary to succeed in the 21st century.  

City Charter High School used the graduation project as a culmination of all aspects of learning in a quality four year high school education.  If you could conduct and present this project in a proficient manner than you were ready to graduate or, as they say at City High, "walk across the stage."  

City High Graduation Project

The question for most educators is how to implement a comprehensive program like this and have it become an integral part of the school's curriculum?   Like anything else, to fully implement a program in earnest you have to create a budget, hire staff and allocate adequate resources to the endeavor.  And you have to make it a high stakes event, such as a requirement for graduation.  This is how we did it at City High.

1. Put every Freshman and Sophomore into a research class for 250  hours over two years to learn how to conduct research, annotate sources, use data to make conclusions and write up the results. 

2. Put every Junior and Senior in a graduation project class for 180 hours over two years to conduct a comprehensive project with the tangible outcomes articulated in the image to the left.  

3. Hire a Librarian for each grade level to teach the research class.  

4. Make it clear through our behaviors that if you passed every class for four years but failed the graduation project, you would not graduate with your class.  In fact, there have been a handful of students who did not complete their graduation project and had to return the following fall in order to get their high school diploma. 

So now you know how we came to have 4 certified librarians.  They really are research teachers. So why no library.  In the 21st century, research is conducted using computers, online data bases, collecting data in the field and going to the library.  City High decided it would be a waste of money to create its own library when we had access to neighborhood libraries, the downtown Carnegie Library and the main branch of the Carnegie Library in Oakland.  Every student has a library card and learns to use public libraries.  So rather than have the librarians manage a collection, we played to their expertise and had them teach research skills as a class. And since students are given laptops for four years (which they take home with them), they had the ability to conduct research at all times.  

Imagine, every student spends over 400 hours learning about research.  This prepares our students for success in college and the workplace.  Out students will tell you it is the most difficult thing they've done in their life, particularly the presentation of their project to a panel of experts from outside of the school. This was an inspired idea that the Pennsylvania Department of Education came up with.  To implement this idea in earnest, City High invests over $250,000 in salaries annually as well as course time, classrooms and technology.  It is an investment well spent.  You might ask, where did we get the money to pay for this program? When you don't have the expense of running a library (space, furniture, books, librarian) you have the resources to hire research teachers and run a research program.  

It would be great to end this post here, but as is typical in public education, the target always changes.  If you read the Pennsylvania Chapter 4 graduation guidelines in the beginning of this post, you may have noted that they pertain to the time frame from their implementation in 2002 to the 2013-14 school year.  These guidelines were recently reviewed and updated by PDE. The new graduation guidelines eliminated the culminating high school project!  

The Pittsburgh Public Schools board is considering changing high school graduation requirements, including eliminating the graduation project, adding more time for biology, and reducing the amount of time for physical education. Pittsburgh is among many boards throughout the state that are looking at changing graduation requirements in the wake of regulations approved by the state Board of Education. After the Class of 2016, the regulations eliminate the requirement for a culminating high school graduation project.  Beginning with the Class of 2017, the state will require proficiency in certain end-of-course Keystone Exams or on a state-designed, project-based online assessment for high school graduation.  (April 6, 2014  - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

The state went back to course requirements and proficiency on standardized tests.  On the surface, it is hard for most of us to figure out what PDE has in mind.  But, I would suggest that this is a standard move for Pennsylvania schools.  No matter what form school reform takes, the traditionalists (PA School Boards Association, PA Association of School Administrators, PA Education Association, PA Federation of Teachers) through their lobbying efforts, always try to turn back the clock.

Most schools remain what they were 50 years ago, factories that filter students, some students make it... some don't.  Faculty teach basic skills in a teacher-centered model.  And educational innovations (collaborative learning, technology, problem solving, differentiation, project-based learning, graduation projects) are seen as an intrusion. Good schools (schools in wealthy communities) do well and bad schools (schools in poorer communities) do poorly. There is no need to innovate. Some people make it and some don't. High School as a Filter, not a Pump.   There is a cynical saying that teachers learn early on in their careers - this too shall pass.  Fads, superintendents, school reform come and go. Traditional education will always survive.

I am retired and no longer affiliated with City Charter High School.  I don't know if they will continue the graduation project or not.  I hope and believe they will.  It is an incredibly intensive, authentic piece of learning that is consistent with what our students need when they graduate and enter college or the work force.  Maybe for once this too will not pass.

High School as PUMP - Looping

I consider LOOPING to be the single most powerful educational intervention that I've seen in my 35 years in the profession.  It costs no money whatsoever to implement.  It has a profound effect on the students, teachers and administration.  And it raises student achievement to extremely high levels.  So what's the catch?

Some background is in order.  In 1984, when I was a mathematics teacher at Brashear High School in Pittsburgh, I said to a friend and colleague, "if we could only teach the same students for four years, we could really raise everyone's level of achievement".  My friend agreed, although, of course he stated the obvious drawback to the idea, "what if the kid gets a lousy teacher?".  So I put the idea on the back burner and never really revisited it... until 1988.  In the spring of 1988 the AFT journal, The American Educator, published an article entitled, CREATING A SCHOOL COMMUNITY: One Model of How It Can Be Done, An Interview with Anne Ratzki.  The article described a group of German schools in grades 5-10 where teams of teachers stay with students for 6 years.  Looping.  Their results were spectacular:

The Koln-Holweide school whose student population was composed of a fairly equal mix of high- middle- and low- ability students; a substantial proportion---one third--of Turkish students, Germany's major minority population; and a representative mix from middle- and lower-income households. Yet only 1 percent of the school's students drop out, compared to a national West German average of 14 percent; and 60 percent of its students score sufficiently well on high school exit exams to be admitted to a four-year college, compared to a national average of only 27 percent. Moreover, the school suffers practically no truancy, hardly any teacher absenteeism, and only minor discipline problems. 

In 2001, when we were designing City Charter High School, I revisited the idea.  We (the co-founders of the school and the advisory committee authoring the charter) were developing the school on a number of assumptions based on our experiences as teachers in the Pittsburgh Public Schools:

1. The vast majority of urban students (> 65%) come from single parent families, live in poverty and have few opportunities to develop lasting relationships with adult role models. 
2. Most urban students move from school to school and experience a transient education.
3. Most urban students need to build a trusting relationship with their teachers before they are receptive to learning. 
4. All students can succeed when placed in a safe, nurturing and supportive environment to learn in.  

We felt that looping addressed many of these assumptions.  Thus we implemented it at City High.  When a student enters City High in 9th grade, they immediately join a group of 160 students and 12 adults: 9 teachers - Math, Science, English, Social Studies, Tech (2), Research, Special Education (2) and 3 Teaching Associates.  This group of twelve educators stays with the students for four years.  The student has the same content area teacher, the same faculty advisor, the same support staff for four years.  The grade level team becomes a community.

Before I go into the effect of looping on everyone concerned, I should address my friend's question "what if the student gets a lousy teacher?".  This question is predicated on a very cynical view of schools.  The idea is that if there is a mediocre teacher, it is best to limit that person's effect on a given student to a single year.  Or in an even more cynical view, it allows the attentive parent to pressure the principal to transfer the student out of that teacher's class.  Students with less attentive parents suffer the consequences. So by changing teachers year to year we hope that the student will have enough "good teaching" to succeed.  This is, in essence, burying the problem.

I would suggest that by using looping, we are bringing the issue of mediocre teaching to the surface.  When a teacher struggles, and is not doing a good job, it is the responsibility of the administration to support that teacher and get them to improve or rate their work unsatisfactory ultimately leading to being fired.  Looping forces accountability on everyone concerned, but particularly the administration.  In a looping scenario, a poor teacher for 4 years would have a devastating effect on students.  Thus, the administration must see that one of it's most important responsibilities is to hire, nurture and develop quality teachers.

The follow up question of "what if the student doesn't get along with the teacher (or visa versa)?" raises a key reason for doing looping.  The life skill of being able to navigate interpersonal relationships in the workplace is a key to success.  When a student has a problem with a teacher, it is important for the student and teacher to work the situation out. In a Looping context, the administrator often facilitates conversations between students and faculty in order to teach communication skills, problem solving and mutual respect.  In 12 years of looping at City High, it was an extremely rare experience to not resolve these problems.

Looping was implemented at City Charter High School in 2002 and we now have 12 years of data to learn its effect.  Clearly, the primary benefit of looping is accountability.  Since the players remain the same, the collaboration between the parent, student, teacher and administrator is key.  Everyone is accountable.  And it is to everyone's advantage to develop a working communicative relationship.

This accountability leads to much higher student engagement and achievement than one would find in a traditional urban high school:

• 94% daily attendance;
• 96% graduation rate;
• #1 High School in Pennsylvania with respect to low-income student performance  and #6 with respect to African-American student performance (PENNCAN);
• 30% higher African American eligibility for the Pittsburgh Promise than the Pittsburgh Public Schools;
• Graduation from 4 year colleges at a rate 20% higher than the national average.  

A deeper look at the school with respect to looping suggests that parents, teachers and students find the school to be supportive, connected and collaborative.  The following survey data from the 2012-2013 City High annual report shows that approximately 9 out of 10 parents, 9 out of 10 teachers and 7 out of 10 students believe the school climate to be conducive to success.  

Here are some examples of how Looping changes the operations, culture and attitudes in an urban high school.

The 9th to 10th Grade Transition

Ninth grade is always a difficult year for students and teachers.  It is filled with adjustment issues, maturity issues and fear of being able to succeed in high school.  Much of the year is spent building relationships (with both students and teachers), learning routines and forming study skills (i.e. learning how to learn.)  In traditional schools, when you come back from summer vacation in 10th grade, you have a new set of students and teachers to become acclimated to.  This often results in the same 9th grade issues of developing trust, learning routines unique to the teacher and managing the social aspects of high school.  Using looping, this transition to 10th grade is eliminated.  On the first day back to school, students greet their teachers and classmates.  Everyone knows each others names, personalities, likes and dislikes.  Teachers know their students learning styles and knowledge base.  At 8:00 A.M. on the first day back from summer vacation, everyone is ready to go and promptly begins work. There are no schedule changes during the first month of school since you are on a team, block scheduled and know who your teachers are.  This is in contrast to traditional school settings where September is a time of tumult - schedule changes, learning names, trying to figure out what students know and building trust.  I would suggest that the month of September at City High is very productive and reinforces the grade level community that students and staff are part of.

The Effect of Looping on Teacher Expectations

After the graduation of our first cohort of students, the 12th grade faculty went out to lunch. At lunch I was listening to a number of our teachers talk and it was a real eye opener.  "Can you believe that so and so graduated?  I never thought he would make it.  If I knew then what I know now about teaching kids for 4 years, we could have saved so many more students."  I never really thought about  looping with respect to the effect it might have on a teacher's belief system.  When the school opened the class size was 160 students.  Of that number, 93 graduated four years later.  The 63 who didn't graduate transferred to local public schools, mainly because they felt City High was too challenging.  In fact, the first four graduating classes (loops) had the same number of graduates 93.  This had to be more than a coincidence.

So when I heard the teachers talking about what they had learned over four years, it was imperative that we built on lessons learned.  That summer, the 12th grade teachers went on a one week retreat to plan for their looping back to 9th grade.  They discussed issues of management (faculty responsibilities and roles), support, lesson design, etc.  They also discussed the fact that for the first time they were not teaching their content in a vacuum, but truly understood the trajectory of the four year content strand.  They then embarked on another four years.  To make a long story short, these same teachers who graduated 93 students in 2006, graduated 115 students in 2010. And believe it or not, the four cohorts that were in their second loop graduated 115 students.  The four looping faculties increased the number of students staying at City High and graduating by over 20%.  And believe it or not, we anticipate the third trip through the loop (for the faculty) will graduate over 125 students.  These increases are due to the knowledge gained by teachers about the possibilities that looping provides and their understanding of students' needs. The effect of looping on the teachers is, in my opinion, the most powerful aspect of its use.

Graduation

Graduation is on the third Saturday of June at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall in Oakland.  All aspects of the ceremony - speakers, ushers, greeters, choir and hosts for the event - are run by the students.  As you might imagine, this is a big day for the graduates, their families and their teachers.  These students and their teachers have lived together for four years. They are invested in each other.  And they know that walking across the stage at City High graduation is a huge accomplishment.  As each student is called forward to receive their diploma, their image is put on the large screen with their college, job or future plans listed.  The audience is made up of over 2000 relatives and friends. Many of the students are the first in their family to graduate high school and many more will be the first to graduate college. The audience does not clap or yell for the individual student. The student walks up on the stage where the administration and their teachers stand to congratulate them and wish them well for the future.  Everyone hugs, everyone cries, everyone is bursting with pride.  A lifelong connection has been made between adult and child, teacher and student.  When the name of the last student is called up and he/she crosses the stage, the audience and the staff stand, clap and scream their approval.  And then everyone goes outside of the hall and throws their graduation cap into the air.  Afterward, the faculty goes out for lunch (and a few drinks) and begins to think about their students who graduated and what they will improve when they loop back to 9th grade.

The effect of looping in an urban high school is to change the culture.  Instead of teachers teaching content, they are teaching students.  Instead of blaming past teachers, parents, the community and laziness for the poor achievement of their students, they take responsibility for motivating, empowering and succeeding with their students.  Instead of students being passive learners who make excuses for why they can't succeed, they buy in and work hard to reach their goals and dreams.  And instead of staying in their office and doing paperwork, administrators work at hiring the highest quality teachers, creating working/collaborative faculty teams and helping needy teachers improve.  Creating a culture of collaboration, accountability and results is compelling.  And it doesn't cost any extra money.  It just means we have to change.

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If you are interested in a deeper analysis of Looping at City High, you can read a white paper on the topic written by Dr. Catherine Nelson, an outside evaluator of the school.  (http://cityhigh.org/publications/looping-june-2011/)