{"id":3809,"date":"2016-02-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-16T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/blog\/cw_post\/lake-county-schools-moving-at-the-speed-of-trust-at-south-lake-high-school\/"},"modified":"2020-02-05T12:57:36","modified_gmt":"2020-02-05T17:57:36","slug":"lake-county-schools-moving-at-the-speed-of-trust-at-south-lake-high-school","status":"publish","type":"cw_post","link":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/cw_post\/lake-county-schools-moving-at-the-speed-of-trust-at-south-lake-high-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Lake County Schools: Moving at the Speed of Trust at South Lake High School"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SLHS Map of Learning<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This post is the second in a five-part series on Lake County Schools in Florida.\u00a0Begin with the district overview<\/a>\u00a0and follow along at these schools: South Lake High<\/a>, Lost Lake Elementary<\/a>, Sawgrass Bay Elementary<\/a>, and\u00a0Lake Windy Hill Middle<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

My first stop at Lake County Schools was South Lake High School (SLHS) with Kathy Halbig, Coordinator of Personalized Learning, as my guide. Arriving a bit early, I had the chance to read all the posters and photographs that dotted the walls in the reception area, congratulating students for Future Farmers of America, bowling, golf, track, and national merit scholars. And I thought \u2013 normal American high school.<\/p>\n

However, once I met with Principal Rob McCue, Assistant Principal Kim Updike, and PL Facilitator Bobby Rego, I realized that South Lake High School is really the \u201cnew normal\u201d \u2013 an entrepreneurial, innovative spirit committed to figuring out exactly how to personalize education so every student is achieving no matter what their level of skill and maturity when they first enroll in high school. With 1,820 students, of which 62 percent (or more) is FRL, South Lake High School has to design for students who are likely to be the first generation to go to college. The school is based in Groveland, Florida, where agricultural strength is on the decline and so are the jobs. In a world in which so many schools are not racially integrated, it\u2019s worth noting that South Lake is 13 percent African-American, 23 percent Hispanic, and 64 percent white.<\/p>\n

Powerful Understanding of Personalization<\/strong>: Immediately in our opening conversation, Updike and McCue stated, \u201cPersonalized learning means meeting kids where they are and taking them as far as you can by any means necessary.\u201d The official definition of personalized learning<\/a> is equally powerful, as it emphasizes student agency: Personalized learning is a broad spectrum of educational opportunities for students that provides students VOICE and CHOICE in how they learn and demonstrate mastery of standards. At South Lake High, we view personalized learning as simply meeting students where they are and taking them as far as they can go, and then some, while assisting them in making global connections to their interests, community, college, and careers. <\/em><\/p>\n

What Personalization Looks Like at South Lake High<\/strong>: McCue was upfront, \u201cWe are early in the work and teachers are trying different things \u2013 project-based learning, more inquiry-based learning, technology enhanced learning, more flexible learning environments. There are a lot of ways to shake this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Structure for Relationships and Success: <\/em>SLHS restructured the ninth grade into small academies of 150 students with a team of teachers. This allows teachers to build strong relationships with students during what is often a difficult transition time. Every student also has a Success Coach they meet with once a week during the Power Hour to help deal with emerging issues before students fall behind.<\/p>\n

Student Voice Balanced with Common Assessments<\/em>: The ninth and tenth grade ELA and math teachers have completed the calibration process around standards and the creation of common assessments. This enables teachers to provide more choice and flexibility in how students learn and how they demonstrate their learning.<\/p>\n

I visited an English class in which students were engaged in a project to study the different leadership styles of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Hitler, and Argentinian President Videla<\/a>. They were asked to write a persuasive essay explaining how the leader used pathos, ethos, and logos to influence others. Students could work in groups but were expected to create their own products. Students had online access to the rubric and prompts were also available to help them along the way. The teacher, Mrs. Spencer, explained that she had to adjust her teaching style to create more opportunity for voice and choice. \u201cI had to learn to step back and increase the amount of freedom students have,” she said. “Now, they create their own schedules for a three-week unit and abide by their own deadlines. If they have problems with the deadlines, then it becomes a learning opportunity to help them with time management.\u201d<\/p>\n

Math teacher Gina Cattle agreed that the biggest change for teachers is letting go of control. \u201cStudents have to learn to take responsibility. And the teachers need support from administration to do this. We still worry when it looks like not all the students are on task. The kids may be working but it doesn\u2019t always look like it. The social and extroverted kids may be chatting away as part of the process of learning. The introverted ones may be looking out the window while they think.\u201d I was amazed by the map of the course that Cattle worked on with her students to co-create standard operating procedures that defined the processes to allow students to move ahead at their own pace.<\/p>\n

Culture of Persistence<\/em>: Updike said that a huge shift for the students and teachers alike was to move from the practice of \u201cI don\u2019t get it, move on\u201d to \u201cWe are going to keep working on it until you get it and it\u2019s going to take more effort.\u201d Keeping the gradebook open all year was important to reinforce this idea. If students don\u2019t like their grade, they can keep working. The ninth graders often work on completing their projects at the end of the year, as it takes a cycle for students and parents to understand what it means to have a culture of proficiency and persistence. Even after the gradebook closes, the principal can approve grade changes if a student puts in the effort.<\/p>\n

Florida has an accountability policy that includes End of Course exams. Several students emphasized that they believe they can pass them. As one student explained, \u201cWe know that we can pass the exams at the end of year because the teachers will help us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eliminating Tracking<\/em>: SLHS realized that they had to eliminate the lower tracks. They looked closely at the Florida standards and discovered that the standards were very similar, but the depth of knowledge was different between general and honors (Florida codes these courses differently). There was one additional standard in ELA honors and five more standards in math honors. Based on this analysis, it made sense to upgrade the courses to honors level. Now English courses are all honors courses. They followed suit in math so all ninth grade students are either in algebra honors or geometry honors based on their skills when they enter school. Parents can also ask for their students to be in a \u201cgeneral\u201d course, where the students stay in the same course but don\u2019t engage in the deeper levels of learning. To date, no parent has asked.<\/p>\n

Design Strategies for Students at Lower Academic Levels<\/em>: If all courses were going to be honors level, then the next step was to make sure that there was a ladder for students entering with lower academic skills, gaps in skills, or inadequate fluency. They created a \u201cpower lab\u201d for math and reading support that runs all day long. Adaptive programs are available, including ALEKS, Khan Academy, and Algebra Nation. A certified math teacher is available for tutoring. If needed, a student might have the lab in their schedule as a course.<\/p>\n

SLHS is also thinking strategically about how to handle the situation when a student is doing a lot of re-assessments using traditional methods such as tests, but is only inching up as a result. If the teacher believes the students does understand the material, they can use alternative assessments as well.<\/p>\n

College and Career Going Culture<\/em>: SLHS had already made substantial effort toward creating a college-going culture. The leadership team is very concerned about achievement gaps. McCue explained, \u201cWhen you talk about achievement gaps, the real test is about graduation rates. Florida\u2019s achievement data wasn\u2019t looking at graduation rates, but we knew it was important. Can you have expectations for students becoming proficient and get them to stick with it through graduation? We had to change the culture so kids could believe that they could do well on tests and become college and career ready. We have raised the graduation rate of our students in special education from 48 to 78 percent. The graduation rate of our African-American students is equal to our overall rate of 80 percent.\u201d<\/p>\n

SLHS has continued to increase the college-going culture as they implement personalized learning, including asking every student to create a personalized plan that includes post-secondary employment and training. They are using Khan Academy\u2019s free SAT Prep<\/a> (developed in partnership with the College Board<\/a>) and are paying for the PSAT for students. They have also established a policy that no student can be told they can\u2019t take AP classes. McCue enthused, \u201cYou can\u2019t underestimate the power of the word \u2018Yes.\u2019 We see it as a success if they are willing to try.\u201d AP participation rates have increased from 536 AP tests to 1,200 tests. SLHS has found that if students use Power Hour (see below) well, they will do well in their AP classes.<\/p>\n

Move On When Ready:<\/em> SLHS is putting in place a process by which students call together their academic team when they believe they are ready to move on to the next level. They make the case why they are ready to move up to a team composed of the guidance counselor, teachers, student, an administrator, and parents. At this point, there are a number of ways students might do this as the school explores options. The goal is to create a portfolio and exhibition process by which students demonstrate and defend their learning. In this way, SLHS is re-investing meaning into grade levels beyond the number of years you have spent in high school. Moving from ninth to tenth grade is based on demonstrated mastery of a set of skills and maturity. As they move up, demonstrating their maturity to take responsibility for their education, they are also able to access more opportunities. Designed as graduated release, students can take advantage of the TV production facilities, ROTC, internships, and dual enrollment.<\/p>\n

Power Hour<\/strong>: SLHS has a slightly different approach to providing extra time for learning within the school day. They created Power Hour<\/a> by extending the time for lunch and giving students responsibility and choice for how they use the time. One of the goals for Power Hour is to help students build their time management skills. Here is an excerpt from the memo explaining Power Hour:<\/p>\n

Students understand that they have one hour to use for their own personal or academic growth. Students are empowered to use the time as they choose and are free to be anywhere on campus. They must respect each other and keep the campus clean. There is a calendar of club meetings and scheduled study sessions they may attend. We will assist\/guide students to make good choices for Power Hour through classroom data chats and Success Coaching session, but no one polices the students or makes them attend sessions. The choice is theirs and may include:<\/em><\/p>\n