For four years, Britton Middle School was under the watchful eyes of the State Department of Education. State officials made frequent visits to the school to monitor compliance, because the achievement gap of the English- language learners had become a serious concern.
Britton’s API scores also indicated that it had ample room for growth. At 716, Britton underperformed other schools with similar demographics. Certainly, the school had gained respect in the community for the quality of some of its programs, including music, P.E. and G.A.T.E. Such strong features of the school notwithstanding, however, its overall performance was still wanting.
When I assumed the principalship of the school two years ago, substitute or emergency credentialed teachers taught ELL students. In other words, the students who were the most failing were taught by the least experienced. Fortunately, a closer inspection of teacher credentials would show that Britton had fully credentialed and highly experienced teachers within to correct the disparity in student achievement.
Indeed, it was time to come to grips with the problem. And in the following two years, we created a sense of urgency on campus, systemically examining our data to guide instruction and embarking on unprecedented teacher capacity-building mission. Though we relied mostly on in-house talent, outside experts also provided us with various kinds of professional development support.
In essence, we created a new culture in our school. Faculty meetings became regular platforms to showcase best practices in the classroom. We removed barriers to teacher growth by creating structures for collaboration. In what was the first of its kind in the Morgan Hill Unified School District, we regularly released teachers from the classroom to visit colleagues and report effective teaching strategies observed.
Our diverse parent community marched lock-in-step with us, supporting the staff and teachers in student learning. Parents seamlessly assumed all kinds of responsibilities, including chaperoning, coordinating events, raising funds and celebrating students and staff.
Just as important to achieving our objectives were some of the systems we put in place. Guided by research and practice, we decided, among other things, that suspensions for minor infractions were detrimental to student success. We kept our students on campus where they were under adult supervision at all times. Sending the students home in the middle of a school day only further alienated them from their peers and compromised learning.
Staff and administrative visibility rendered the campus safe and orderly, while countless school events and sports activities generated a sense of safety, community pride and wellbeing. Moreover, consecutive boys’ regional basketball championships and other athletic successes inspired incoming students to look forward to joining the Bobcats.
Much to the delight of the Britton community, still more good things were making their way, this time for academic performance in the classroom. When the state announced its latest scores in August, Britton had within two years made a 43-point gain in its API, the highest ever since the state started conducting the test in 1999. Britton’s API currently stands at 759. In 2004, it was stood at 716.
After two years of keeping us on its radar screen, the state finally decided to release Britton Middle school from its monitoring list. In it final report, the state pointed out the “dramatic improvements” the school has made in the last two years. Of most importance were the frequency and intensity of professional development opportunities conducted at the site to bridge the achievement gap, the report cited.
The credit rightfully belongs to its relentless and hardworking teachers, who spent every minute of every period teaching standards-based curriculum. Thanks to the teachers and staff, the school was able to face its challenges head on while at the same time addressing the needs of its advanced students.
As is obvious in the gains the school has made in the past two years, Britton has even more potential to go past the 800 API scores expected of all successful school. Clearly, the school has all the right ingredients: A dedicated staff, an ever supportive parent community and talented students.
Russom Mesfun was Britton Middle School principal from 2004-2006. He is currently principal at Christa McAuliffe Middle School in Lodi.
