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Waiting for Superman? Not in Vancouver Public Schools. We've known for sometime that he doesn't exist. Our own superheroes (sans tights and capes) are making a difference for each student every day. I want to introduce you to the supermen and superwomen of Discovery Middle School, recently accredited as the first IB Middle Years Programme World School in Southwest Washington by the International Baccalaureate Organization. Only three other middle schools in Washington State have IB World status.
Similar to the International Baccalaureate (IB) program for high school students, the Middle Years Programme (MYP) offers rigorous academic studies for middle school students. MYP students are encouraged to see the interconnections among all areas of learning—language, humanities, mathematics, arts, sciences, and physical education. Eight academic areas, including a world language other than English, are required.
To qualify, Discovery staff members completed an intensive three-year authorization process, which included training and the revamping of instruction to be interrelated with a global focus. They submitted a 350-page application, and hosted a two-day review by IBO officials last spring. Indeed, a superhuman effort and accomplishment!
What makes this achievement so remarkable is the context in which it occurred. As you'll recall from last spring, Discovery was one of the 47 schools on the state's “persistently lowest achieving” list according to federal accountability guidelines. Of those schools identified by the state, 75 percent are middle schools with twice as many students in poverty and English language learners than the state average. Discovery is no exception with nearly 70 percent of its students qualifying for subsidized meals. The feds would have liked our district to remove the principal and half of the staff to “turn-around” this school. We didn't. And what were their 2009-10 state assessment results?
Meteoric! In every grade, reading and math state assessment results improved with gains of three percentage points or greater, including “out of this world” gains of 20 percentage points in 7th grade reading and nearly 15 percentage points in 8th grade math. You wouldn't know that by reading the “Daily Planet.” These results should be cause for a celebration of what's working well in our public schools.
In spite of all the quick-fix, silver bullet, simple solution to a complex problem suggestions coming from some policy makers and education reform advocates, those of us in the “trenches” know that growth and improvement are not linear. You just can’t will it to happen by raising expectations, crafting a tidy algorithm, and labeling schools and districts as failures. And the typecasting by some media simplifies complexity and, unfortunately, misrepresents the diversity of local realities we face across this district, state and nation. The experiences of this nation’s lowest performing urban schools cannot be generalized to all schools in the country.
John Collins, author of Good to Great got it right when he wrote, “The good to great transformations never happened in one fell swoop. There was no single action, no grand program, no solitary break, no miracle moment. Rather, the process resembled relentlessly pushing a giant heavy flywheel in one direction, turn upon turn, building momentum until a point of breakthrough….”
If only we had Jor El and a Krptonite crystal to help “show us the way”. But we don’t. Vancouver Public Schools has something more powerful: more than 3,000 “superheroes” who are deeply committed to making a difference, leading and learning together, and delivering positive results each and every day for nearly 23,000 future citizens. Now that’s something to believe in.
Have a terrific harvest season!
Take care,
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