蜜柚直播

The average graduation rates at more than 80 high-performing 蜜柚直播 schools in low-income communities were nearly as high as high-performing schools in higher-income communities, an analysis commissioned by A for 蜜柚直播, an education nonprofit , showed.

Some of the 蜜柚直播-area schools considered to be beating the odds are: Academy of Math and Science, Amerischools Academy, Presidio School and Carrillo K-5 Magnet, C.E. Rose and Drachman elementary schools in the 蜜柚直播 Unified School District.

鈥淭he ones that succeed in low-income areas are hugely tied to their communities,鈥� said Lisa Graham Keegan, the organization鈥檚 executive director and former state schools chief. 鈥淚t鈥檚 unbelievably difficult work, but it鈥檚 replicable.鈥�

In 2014, the education nonprofit identified 86 high-performing, low-income schools and wanted to see how those schools compare to the rest of 蜜柚直播鈥檚 public schools. A for 蜜柚直播 commissioned an independent data firm to collect and analyze all publicly available education data in 蜜柚直播.

Some of the findings include:

• While graduation and dropout rates were similar, low-income students in high-performing schools were not going to college at the same rate as high-income students;
• Large numbers of high-performing schools are still in high-income areas;
• Better-performing schools are growing faster than worse-performing ones;
• Teacher retention at high-performing schools is at an optimal level of about 10 to 15 percent.

A for 蜜柚直播鈥檚 mission is to take what鈥檚 working in those schools and replicate the success in other low-income schools.

So what do the exemplary low-income schools have in common? 鈥淰ery little in terms of instructional pattern, but a lot in terms of culture,鈥� Keegan said.

The 86 蜜柚直播 schools shared high expectations for staff and students, high levels of community outreach, and frequent assessment and targeted intervention, she said. The staff of those schools were also found to be spending extra unpaid time working toward those goals.

But Keegan said she realizes it鈥檚 not fair to expect people to work for free. 鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of missionary work at that point.鈥�

The way other schools in the state can replicate the culture that fosters success in low-income schools is to empower teachers and leaders, she added.

鈥淵ou really have to empower the people who teach others because schools are much more than an exactly perfect curriculum or instructional methodology,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey are cultures. They are communities.鈥�

CaRrillo鈥檚 success

At Carrillo K-5 Magnet School downtown 鈥� an A-rated school both by the state and A for 蜜柚直播 鈥� groups of fourth-graders were filling in the outlines of monarch butterflies with red, orange and yellow colored pencils.

Right about now is when monarch butterflies migrate to Mexico, said Elsmarie DeMars, a visual-arts teacher at Carrillo. DeMars, who has been at the school for 11 years, tries to tie in what the kids are learning in social studies or science classes into art classes.

鈥淚鈥檓 incorporating all these things in when I can,鈥� she said.

Partnerships and collaboration among teachers are a big part of the reason Carrillo has seen the success it has, despite the challenges its students face, said Lori Conner, the school鈥檚 principal.

The school, which serves about 290 students, has a free and reduced lunch rate of 71 percent, she said. Nearly 80 percent of Carrillo鈥檚 students are Hispanic and didn鈥檛 make the diversity requirements ordered by the court in TUSD鈥檚 desegregation case.

But Carrillo, unlike six other TUSD schools that also did not make the requirements, did not lose its magnet status, which comes with additional funding that enables some programs, such as the visual-arts class, in part because its students are excelling academically.

The key to Carrillo鈥檚 academic performance lies in the school鈥檚 community, which includes teachers, staff and families, Conner said. It helps that the school is smaller; she鈥檚 also been at Pistor Middle and Safford K-8 schools, and the size of those schools made it hard to get to know every kid.

Both the teacher and student attrition rates are fairly low 鈥� Carrillo started the school year with just two teacher vacancies in a time where TUSD as a district was facing hundreds.

鈥淓veryone knows each other,鈥� she said. 鈥淓veryone is accountable for each other.鈥�

While the fourth-graders were coloring their hearts out in art class, Carrillo鈥檚 fourth-grade teachers were taking that time to talk to one another at the professional learning community, a room designated for teacher collaboration.

The teachers sat down with a representative from the Pima County School Superintendent鈥檚 Office for a debriefing on the fourth-graders鈥� assessment from the day before. They were analyzing their mistakes and giving feedback.

Teacher leaders are critical for schools鈥� success, said H.T. Sanchez, TUSD鈥檚 superintendent. By 鈥渢eacher leader,鈥� he said he means teachers who step up from their teaching duties to also help inexperienced or struggling teachers.

At Carrillo, Sanchez said he has seen those teacher leaders. The school, alongside Drachman and C.E. Rose, also has a heavy focus on early literacy and a deep understanding of each child by the teachers.

Carrillo and Drachman, which are close in distance and share attendance boundaries, are relatively small schools. But C.E. Rose has about 900 students, which the superintendent said is an indicator that bigger schools can have individual connections with their students, too.

But those three schools鈥� success isn鈥檛 easily replicated, he said he realizes. Many other TUSD schools with similar demographics do not excel as much even with great teachers.

The primary challenge is identifying people, he said. Great teacher leaders often do not want to be principals or administrators, nor can they just be picked up and moved around to struggling campuses to transform them.

鈥淚 really think we all need to do a better job in identifying those teacher-leader types and figure out how we can encourage them to take those secondary roles of teaching their peers more seriously,鈥� he said.