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2002-2003: AYP English Language Arts
2002-2003: AYP Math
Introduction At Birmingham Senior High School achievement for traditionally underserved students is improving dramatically. For three of the last four years, African American and Latino students have far exceeded the growth target set by the state on the API. Birmingham is beginning to close the racial achievement gap facing so many of our nation's schools. The journey to improved student performance has at times been difficult for the Birmingham community. The schoolwide changes required continuous dialogue grounded in use of student data and research. Once the staff came to consensus, they created an action plan and moved to implement it. School Culture One major focus of Birmingham's reform effort has been managing the size of this large comprehensive high school. With over 3,300 students and 160 staff members, the administration realized that something must be done to create smaller communities for both students and staff. While learning academies are not yet completely institutionalized within Birmingham, students do have various opportunities to travel in cohorts. Within these programs, students have two classes in common and then move together in these classes through grades 9, 10, 11, & 12. This allows students to get to know their peers quite well while enabling teachers and students to create a more personal relationship. Professional Development In addition to making the campus feel like a smaller community for students, this has also been a priority for staff. While there are still all staff sessions, most professional development takes place in small groups with teachers talking to teachers about a particular issue. The small groups are organized in two ways. First, teachers with a common planning period come together once a month to discuss data and assessments. These period-by-period conferences are facilitated by the school's math coach and include about 25 teachers. At the beginning of the year, teachers choose a particular area that interests them and meet in small study groups of 3-5 teachers to discuss this issue once a month. At Birmingham, this happens during banked time. Schools can bank time by adding instructional minutes on to each day so that a certain number of times per year the students have minimum days and the teachers can meet together. Another important feature of Birmingham's professional development program is coaching, which happens on multiple levels. Literacy and math coaches are available to teach model lessons, observe teaching, and give feedback. The administration at Birmingham also used some of their II/USP funds to implement a program called Ventures. Through Ventures, a group of 25 new Birmingham teachers, mostly uncredentialed, meet with a Ventures leader every month to learn new classroom strategies. The teachers have a week to develop how they will implement those strategies, then the Ventures leader comes back to observe them. If a teacher finds a particular strategy difficult, the coach will model it again. There is also a conference time for feedback after each observation. Thus after each monthly meeting, teachers are expected to implement what they are learning. In this system, teachers are both supported and held accountable. Assessment and Accountability Over the last several years, the staff at Birmingham has become aware of the critical need to analyze student data and, in particular, to disaggregate data in order to assess the performance of ethnic subgroups. Before the school year begins, Birmingham uses its two "buy-back" days for data analysis. The administration gathers together results from the California Standards Test (CST), Advanced Placement test, High School Exit Exam, pass/fail and retention rates. Next all of the staff members together take an initial look at the data. Then they break up into smaller groups and really delve into particular aspects. In addition to the statewide testing, other schoolwide or department wide assessments are administered to the students at Birmingham. Each academic department gives students an exit exam aligned with the state's content standards at the end of both semesters. Additionally, the students are given benchmark exams throughout the semester to check for understanding. Birmingham also holds parent-teacher-student conferences where the students present a portfolio of their work to the parent and teacher. Finally the literacy coordinator oversees the administration of a computerized, diagnostic test to all ninth graders. This test produces a lexile, or reading level across all reading types, for each student. This test is re-administered at the end of the year to measure progress and plan for interventions. Standards-based Curriculum and Instruction The professional development program at Birmingham has prompted some major shifts in curriculum and instruction. Teachers have incorporated standards into their teaching. The standards are posted in the classrooms and sent home to parents. Teachers consistently make reference to the standards and align their curriculum, instruction, and assessments to those standards. In addition to a schoolwide focus on standards, teachers' general attitude towards reading has shifted. When the administration first started the period-by-period professional development time to discuss assessment results in 2000, teachers outside the English department were reluctant to focus on reading. Slowly, those attitudes began to change. Teachers came to realize that if the students couldn't read the textbooks, they wouldn't be able to progress very far in any content area. Now science teachers share reading strategies with English teachers. Across the school teachers and students participate in a sustained silent reading program. In addition, all teachers incorporate the word-a day program into their teaching. The focus of this vocabulary program is root words, giving students strategies to understand new words. Another new curriculum focus at Birmingham High School and throughout the district is Algebra. Beginning in 2001, the district discontinued remedial math classes. All students take Algebra. Each month the district gives teachers a pacing plan so they know where students need to be every month. The district also provides teachers with assessments tools they can use to see where students are and plan instruction accordingly. Finally, all teachers at Birmingham are working with the Principles of Learning developed by the Institute for Learning, based at the University of Pittsburgh. It brings to educators the best current knowledge and research about learning processes and principles of instruction. The Principle of Learning that Birmingham staff are focusing on this year is clear expectations. Teachers come together using student work to develop rubrics around clear expectations of what they want students to know and be able to do. There are a number of intervention programs at Birmingham. One intensive effort is called the "Success Academy." Entering ninth graders with reading or math levels in the one percentile are assigned to the academy, which consists of two hours of Reading/Language Arts and two hours of Algebra. The scores of the students in the program rise dramatically so that the following year the students are either in regular or higher level classes. Before and after school a number of interventions are offered at Birmingham. In the mornings, both the literacy and math coaches are available to work with students who are struggling. In the afternoons, there is a homework club in addition to many teachers available to tutor students after school. Finally, there is a large athletic program at Birmingham, and the football coaches established a study hall every day after school for the players before practice. All of these efforts to support both teachers and students at Birmingham Senior High School have led to 84 points of growth for African-Americans on the California Academic Performance Index over the last four years and 86 points for Latino students. This school profile was created in 2003. Achievement and demographic data through 2003 are included. Permission to Use Resources SchoolsMovingUp, a WestEd initiative, invites you to use our resources in your work. For uses that involve reproduction of more than one copy of the resource, please submit the online permission request form. We will reply immediately once we know your intended reproduction needs. All reproductions of the resource must include a full citation of the WestEd copyright. |
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