Case Study
We are a barrier free school servicing approximately 3,520 students. As a Title I school the majority of our population receives free or reduced lunch. A significant amount of our current students are off-track and we have a graduation rate of 64%. As an educational team comprised of teachers and administrative staff, we see an integral need to provide support to our struggling students. Financial and political limitations have contributed to a disinterested and labored school atmosphere. We desire to alter the culture of our school, so that the school community and the neighborhood, as a whole, begin to work together to ensure student success.
Our Theory of Change Plan seeks to instill our students with a sense of pride and optimism toward their education, school community, community at large and to their future; they take responsibility for their respective growth and education. The project aims to increase student equity and autonomy by providing them with support and giving them a space where they can become owners of their academic success. Our Theory of Change Plan was constructed around addressing the needs of over-age, under credited students within our school and providing them with a systematic network of support to encourage and enhance their academic experience. By the end of October, our goal is to identify and enroll 40 students into our program, with the projected outcome of making them life-long learners.
One of the first steps necessary in implement our Change Plan was to identify a group of students to accurately represent the total of our target population. During our meeting for student selection the issue of which cohorts to include was raised. The decision making process involved passionate discussion about matching our ethos with our course of action. It was decided that it would be most beneficial to consider students from all grades for inclusion in our study. Within the parameters of isolating over-aged, under credited students, we identified a cross-section of sixty students who demonstrate a need for academic and behavioral intervention. These students represent a culture of students from diverse socio-economic statuses with various academic histories. Our selection criteria included age, graduation cohort, credits accumulated and regents passed. We expect that we will not be able to recruit all sixty of the identified students so we cast a wider net with the intention of having at least 40 students and their parents to buy-into the project. We see parental support as a fundamental part of the success of our Change Plan; education as a communal effort is an integral part to academic success and the encouragement of educational curiosity and responsibility.
Our school experienced scheduling complications this academic year. Part of the reason for these issues was due to changes in our small learning communities. Small learning communities (SLCs) were designed to personalize the students’ educational experience. As our school services such a large and diverse population of students, SLCs were created to give our students individualized support by having a core group of teachers communicating about, working with, and advising a subset of students. Logistical issues combined with academic mandates and extenuating circumstances have resulted in difficulty properly placing students within respective SLCs while, providing them with the support constructs they need. It is our belief that our change plan will take this process a step further by providing our students with mentors and a sense of personal responsibility to succeed towards themselves, their peers, family, and the school.
Programming issues caused many students to be scheduled improperly, at times not being enrolled into classes necessary for graduation. Additionally, due to budgeting shortages, there are many teaching vacancies in our school that have yet to be filled, and we are unable to double-up students who need to catch up on credits to get on track. As a result, many students who were considered to be on track for timely graduation are now in danger of becoming part of the population we’re considering for intervention. If they do fall behind and, therefore, become a part of our target population, we will have to reconsider our inclusion parameters and discuss the option of recruiting more students and staff in order to provide these students with the individualized attention crucial to their success. The changes the school is experiencing will require us to reconsider the structure of our change plan in future iterations. As we continue with our work, we will have to increase the number of students enrolled and actively recruit teachers to compensate for the structural changes in the school. This is an expectation that is addressed in our plans for the future of our work, but our expected numbers may have to been expanded based on the needs of our school.
The change team plans to meet with the principal to present our Theory of Change Plan and to discuss some of these concerns.
