Capacity Building
In Higher-Performing Middle Schools
A Report on Best Practices
In New York State
American Educational Research Association
March 27, 2008
New York City
Kristen Campbell Wilcox
Janet Ives Angelis
School of Education-University at Albany

Processes and practices by which districts and schools enhance collaboration focused on student learning among teachers, administrators, and community members, and provide teachers with instructional support.

• Culture supports a vision of high achievement
• Climate of respect helps enact vision
• Structures reinforce collaboratively supported instruction
• Leadership encourages teacher initiative taking

Previous Findings
• Culture, climate, relationships
– (Van Zee et al., Brown et al., Hoy &
Hannum)
• Professional communities
– (Fullan, Weisbord, DuFour)
• Learning organizations
– (Senge, Hargreaves, Darling-
Hammond, Resnick, Little)

• Culture, leadership, and relationships + formal structure
• Classrooms are nested in schools, within districts, and within communities.
(Brofenbrenner 1993)

• 10 HP schools with 6 similar but AP schools based on 3 years of NYS assessment data (2003-5)
• Half: = or > NYS average poverty level
• Urban, rural, and suburban
• Open admissions
• NYS average PPE

• 2-day site visits
• Interviewed teachers and administrators using a semistructured interview protocol
• Collected documents
• Coded more than 160 interviews and documents
• Crafted case studies for each site
• Created a cross-site report of BP

Broad visions, big plans
– Input from multiple stakeholders
– Aligned with overall goals
– Focused on achievement, especially closing the achievement gap
Everything we do is centered on students achieving, improving, and closing the achievement gap.

Enacting the vision..
– Clearly articulated
– Teachers encouraged to innovate to enhance student achievement
I want my faculty to take risks and try new things.

Never done
– Proactive stance
Excellence is a goal without a finish line.
You never arrive. You are always becoming.
When is good not good enough?
Where can we improve?

Relationships are based on mutual trust and respect
– Trust is most essential
– Respect for and from all
The single most important thing . . . is to build trust with your faculty.

Clear expectations
– Explicit and consistent
– Freedom to explore and learn within clear goals
Good citizenship, respect, and responsibility.
When you . . . set . . . expectations in terms of behavior and academic success, students generally meet them.

Shared responsibility
– No blame
– More support when fall short of goals/expectations
Rather than a reprimand or finger pointing, the
AS asked what more the administration could do to help us be more successful.

Scheduled meeting time focuses on curriculum, instruction, assessment, and student learning/needs.
We have a lot of input as to what happens.
We are empowered.

Mentor programs and other formal teacher leadership roles
– Team leader
– Middle school department head
– Academic coach
We have an awesome mentoring program and it is run by the teachers.

Multi-constituent decisionmaking bodies
– Curriculum design
– Textbook selection
– “Congruency” teams
– Action research teams
– SDM
Committees here are a huge thing.

Relevant program of professional development
– Balanced between district- and teacher-defined needs
– Relevant to district/school goals
(e.g., closing the gap)
– New initiatives include PD – are not “teacher proof”
[Our school improvement model] expects teachers to make professional choices.

A “can do” culture and strong work ethic
– Build on strengths
– Focus on ability > disability
– Challenge but provide support
Differentiated instruction has stretched us all a lot as ways to meet [student] needs in our classes.

Provide professional opportunities beyond one’s own classroom
– Encourage conference participation/presentation
– Conduct workshops for colleagues
– Visit other classes
I . . . try to bring teachers early into facilitator roles to develop their leadership skills.

Encourages initiative taking and action
– Propose/pilot new programs
– Apply for grants
– Call services in > sending student out
We can say, “What’s a better way to do this?” and not be penalized. Taking risks is okay.

• HP schools differ from APs primarily in the degree to which they have been able to put all 4 of the elements in place.
• These schools serve as models of adaptive systems that provide
‘linkages’ between people, activities, contexts, and time.

www.albany.edu/aire/kids jangelis@uamail.albany.edu
kwilcox1@uamail.albany.edu