Rich Township Coalition for Better Schools: Today, as a school board, we must begin our second phase by improving student performance levels

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Today, as a school board, we must begin our second phase by improving student performance levels

Today, for the first time in twenty years, despite interposition, nullification and failure to answer our call to greatness that we are still experiencing on the school board today, we stand on the edge of a new frontier in the history of our school district, the opportunity at improving student achievement performance levels. In our second phase, to improve student achievement levels, we must involve consultants in the full scope and full school improvement process of what needs to be done. Today, as a school board, we must have a Clear and Shared Focus on improving student achievement levels. A vision demands that everybody must know where we are going and why. The focus must be on achieving a shared vision of educational excellence and understand our role in achieving the vision of improving student achievement levels.

The University of Chicago's research study on the Five Essentials spells out in clear, compelling, and unequivocal terms the need for consultancy, training and in-service needs in school improvement for both leadership and staff development in the areas of (1) Ambitious Instruction, (2) Effective Leaders, (3) Collaborative Teachers, (4) Involved Families, and (5), a Supportive Environment. Building a school based-principal-teacher-student-centered-staff learning community, through outside consultancy, is essential if we are to address the 5 Essentials. The Five Essentials identified above, have been classified as being weak to neutral in school district 227. Effective instructional and administrative leadership is required to implement change processes. Effective school boards, like effective educational leaders, proactively seek needed help.

Researchers and consultants on school reform issues are widely known to use meaningful and useful data assessment results for improving both instructional leadership and instruction. Consultants monitor and improve staff judgment through formative assessment and model performance in continuous improvement as exemplars. Training and professional development in continuous improvement, leadership, instruction, and classroom assessment and management are essentials and educators can benefit most from observing and training in external consulting and with other effective schools with successful external test results that is helpful in terms of improving student performance levels. Our consultancy, school funding, and professional development aims should be linked to our number one priority: Improving student achievement performance levels in the FIVE ESSENTIALS.

In the past, millions were wasted in exposing the district to First Amendment lawsuits and fighting our community in court, but today, still close to nothing is being spent in improving student performance levels to correct these deficiencies. Business as usual will not get us what we need most, improving student achievement performance levels in our school district which must be our first priority. Business as usual with no change will get us what we can see now in our school district. As the CPS retired principals, consultants, teachers, parents, and attendees maintained in our DISTRICT 227 power circle discussions on the Continuous Improvement Planning Committee at the District 227 Administrative Office on the evening of September 12, 2013: "Given the same conditions, we will have the same results, in the absence of training."

As school board members, business as usual will not return us to office in April 2015 when the community observes that our student achievement performance levels are not improving or have plummeted farther. Our first phase, restoring our victory in democracy and public participation has been won, but without the board policies in place to establish, support, and maintain it. Instead of criticizing our need to shift our school improvement funds away from board and community suppression to staff development and training, no progress will be made in improving student performance levels, The school board must also support continuous school improvement with added policies, our need to move forward in educational excellence into the twenty-first century, and in having the effective and capable staff and consultants to do what we need to be done now, helping our children and community.

Like the previous board, ignoring a problem and calling it trivial is not the way to solve it. It is crucial that consultants address a clear and shared vision, high standards and expectations for all students, effective school leadership, high levels of collaboration and communication, curriculum, instruction and formative assessment aligned with the new standards, frequent monitoring of learning and teaching, focused professional development, a supportive learning environment, and high levels of family and community involvement. Today, we desperately need a continuous school improvement consultant to fill in the gaps that the ECRA group will not fill as we become more aware of the full scope of their school improvement involvement with its absence of student formative assessment measures. Ignoring and trivializing the Five Essential needs in District 227, the school practitioners and consultant experts needed to address them, the need for consultants to address the full scope and challenges that we face and the problems that can be easily solved, professional development in the identified areas of greatest need, and ignoring what else needs to be done to fully and completely support our continuous school improvement plan is not the way to solve a problem.

The first phase of our journey in our push for excellence in public education was to restore our democracy in freedom to address our plight and restoration in school improvement. But unfortunately, as time continues to fly by, five months later the second and most important phase has not yet fully begun: Full In-service Training in improving student achievement performance levels in responding to the Five Essentials is paramount. Having a problem and not fully addressing it is not the way to solve it.

In our wake up call from the community, I have fought for a decade to improve student achievement levels in district 227 to save our schools from further ruin, while others have fought longer. As community representative, today is a critical moment in our school district's history to make a difference. At a time when support and sacrifice are being asked of every citizen in improving student achievement performance levels, our community representative who is school board 227 cannot appear to still be asleep and averse to a wake-up call. Unlike in the past, our warnings must be welcomed to avoid the continuing delaying tactics to school improvement and devastation regarding our academic and educational disaster for a hundred thousand tax payers that we have observed for over a decade.

Ignoring this problem and calling it "trivial" as the previous board has done is not the way to solve it or to stay safe from it. The road map, blue print, and template for improving student performance levels is clear and will not be forever closed. Improving student performance levels is our first priority. Nothing is as important as saving our children, schools, and community. Today, we must either lead, follow, or get of the way. Today, we cannot afford to waste any more time fighting school improvement. We must begin now! We can never stand before a great human problem, continue to make excuses for not moving forward, and then pretend that nothing can be done. We must do something. That is why we are on this earth!

David E. Morgan, Ph.D., Educational Leadership

BoardMember & Chair of Continuous Improvement Planning Committee

Rich Township High School District 227