Cedar Rapids school turnaround program relies on feedback for teachers

CEDAR RAPIDS - When administrators in the Cedar Rapids Community School District found out in 2013 that eight of the district's elementary schools would be moved into the 'restructuring” phase of a federal school standards program, they had a few options.

They could have closed the schools, said Val Dolezal, the district's executive director of pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, or reassigned all their staff members.

Instead, the district chose a third option, a process called turnaround work that has been led by outside consultants and relies heavily on feedback for teachers and a closer eye on student progress.

The program - which now includes 10 Cedar Rapids elementary schools and two middle schools - stems from sanctions and funding that are part of the federal No Child Left Behind law's Schools in Need of Assistance (SINA) designation.

When a school doesn't meet the No Child Left Behind standards, it is designated as SINA, and for each year it continues not to meet standards, that designation is elevated - from SINA I to SINA II, for example.

School administrators say the No Child Left Behind goals - which have now risen to 100 percent proficiency - are unrealistic and can be meaningless. Of the 31 schools in the Cedar Rapids district, 20 had some type of SINA designation last year.

'At some point, every school in America is going to be SINA,” said Trace Pickering, the Cedar Rapids district's associate superintendent. 'There's no school that has 100 percent proficiency.”

But for schools that also participate in the federal Title I program - in Cedar Rapids's case, elementary schools with high levels of free and reduced lunch eligibility - the SINA IV designation gives the district more control of a school's SINA funding and comes with the 'restructuring” sanction that has been key in starting the turnaround program.

OBSERVATION AND FEEDBACK

At Garfield Elementary School, one of the buildings that participates in Title I and has a SINA designation, first-grade teacher Tiffany McCarthy meets with the school's principal or instructional coach once a week.

Either Principal Joy Long or instructional coach Karen Wildhagen observes McCarthy's class for 15 minutes each week and takes notes based on a lesson plan she has provided and an area on which she wants feedback. McCarthy then meets with the observer in a 'co-planning session” to go over Long's or Wildhagen's feedback and brainstorm new teaching strategies.

Garfield is in its second year of the program. It got 'delay” status - a sign of improvement - on its SINA designation for reading scores this summer, Long said.

McCarthy, who is in her fourth year teaching, said the program has been helpful.

'Especially because I'm a newer teacher, it's good to keep helping me grow,” she said. 'I've gotten ideas that I never would have thought of on my own.”

The idea that this type of feedback can improve instruction and, in turn, student achievement isn't new. But the district's turnaround program has compelled teachers and administrators to make time for it, Long said.

'It forced us to do things differently, in a good way,” Long said. 'Now, it would be something that even if they weren't telling me I have to, I would do it.”

Districtwide, four of the original eight elementary schools in the turnaround program were moved to 'delay” status this summer, Dolezal said. If those schools continue to make progress this year, they could be taken off the SINA designation entirely.

This year, Cedar Rapids added Madison and Taylor elementary schools to the program, as well as Wilson and Roosevelt middle schools. The middle schools are not part of Title I and therefore are not sanctioned as part of SINA - in other words, they're not required to be part of the turnaround program.

But the district has seen results from its turnaround work, Dolezal said, and it wanted to include more schools. Every elementary school in the district now does some form of teacher observation and feedback, Dolezal said. But only the schools in the turnaround program actually meet with and have their data reviewed by the district's consultants, Doreen Marvin and Susan Leddick.

'We're seeing the value in this kind of work,” Dolezal said. 'Even our high-performing schools are going to benefit.

'When you're coaching and planning with a teacher, every week you're providing more professional development to them than they're going to get in 20 years.”

Teachers initially had concerns about being evaluated during the observations, said Cedar Rapids Education Association President Tania Johnson. But teachers now value the one-on-one time with their principals and instructional coaches, she added.

That's because this type of coaching is more personalized than typical professional development, Long and McCarthy said.

'All the teachers are in different places, just like kids are,” Long said. 'We need to differentiate professional development, too.”