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Central Falls High School
SWOT Analysis & Strategic Plan
Juan Ramirez, Carlos Rodriguez, Quang Tran, & Alesander Olaizola
Case Summary
• Student achievement at CFHS had remained among the lowest in the state
• Central Falls School District (CFSD) had been in state-administered corrective action since 2002
• In January 2010, the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) identified Central Falls High School (CFHS) as one of the state’s persistently lowest-achieving schools
• RIDE’s Protocol for Intervention:• Turnaround
• Restart
• School closure
• Transformation
Case Summary (Cont.)
• The original selected Protocol for Intervention was transformation
• Negative of the CFHS Teacher Union to collaborate
• Turnaround model is selected: all teachers are fired from Central Falls HS
• Months of negotiations, lawsuits, and division among teachers, and parents, the Union and the Superintendent reached an agreement to rehire all teachers and adopt pretty much the original transformation model of six points
• The union original wanted $10,990 in additional pay for teacher under this model and district offered $3, 420. They finally agreed to settle at $5,800 of salary increase in stipend and extra duty pay.
• Challenges• Central Falls HS is ready to start its new phase a school. Yet with no principal,
Central Falls is ready to start the new school year and get its way to improve student achievement and elevate its standards to a high performing school.
Strengths
• Small and diverse campus (the only HS in the district)• +800 students
• Diverse student body:
• 72% Hispanic, 15% Black, and 13% White
• Small campus is easy to manage
• Small but steady student achievement gains (2007-2009)• Reading from 33% to 55%
• Math from 3% to 7%
• Special Populations:
• 11th grade Hispanic students 10% average gains in getting proficiency or advance
• Low-income students showed on average 12% in gains in Reading and 2% in Math
31%
3%
28%
0%
43%
4%
42%
3%
51%
6%
54%
8%
CFHS Hispanic 11th Grade Reading Proficency
CFHS Hispanic 11th Grade Math Proficency
CFHS Low-Income 11th Grade Reading Proficency
CFHS Low-Income 11th Grade Math Proficency
Perecentage of CFHS 11th Grade Students Proficient or Advanced in Reading and Math
2007 2008 2009
Strengths
• Some dedicated teachers
• Free tutoring (Partnership)
• New teacher’s evaluation system ready to implement
• Current state awareness (data available)
• School Intervention Plan development lead by the
superintendent in collaboration with stakeholders
• Compromise between administration and union
• Both parts agreed to the new labor contract required by the
transformation model.
Weaknesses
• Low scores: Central Fall HS has been an underperforming school for the last 7 years. • Math proficiency of 11th graders is 7%, and in Reading 55%
• Central Fall HS is performing below the state average at every level
• 27% of students are LEP (Limited English Proficiency)
• Low graduation rate• Graduation rate 52%, very far from the annual yearly goal (AYP) of
75% outlined by NCLB.
• High dropout rate• Estimated dropout rate is around 30%
• High leadership turnover• Four principals in four years, there is no continuity in leadership
Weaknesses (Cont.)
• Lack continuum of intervention system• During the last four years the school has changed from two houses
(one for freshmen and sophomores and one for juniors and seniors) and six periods schedule to four period-schedule and four interdisciplinary theme academies in the upper house, but not consistency in the programs.
• Teachers and parents divided• some teachers supported the superintended and many more
supported the union. There is a mix feeling that the superintendent did not have respect for teacher and another group of teacher feel like the union did not represent their interest and never brought the issue to vote and consideration.
• Toxic culture • Seven years low academic performance
• Culture of mediocrity and low expectations
• Teachers are divided between those who support the superintendent and those who support the union
• Low morale
Weaknesses (Cont.)
• Low socioeconomic status: Health related issues (TB)
• District’s approach too proactive: chose Intervention Model 1, Transformation (but in a one high school district this means firing 50% of the HS teaching staff)...but no school had been labeled chronically low performing, yet.
• No cooperation among stakeholders • Teachers' union representatives made decisions without the full
support of its members.
• CFSD Superintendent Francis (Frances) Gallo failed to reach consensus at the beginning.
• Parents' views were largely missing from public debate.
• Campus Safety: violence
• Limited resources (no RTTT funding): state did not make it as a finalist in the RTTT. Having to get teachers' unions consent was a big factor in getting RTTT money
• Firings viewed as politically motivated by teachers
Opportunities• Funding grants
• Federal governments' race to the top (RTTT) or any other grand or funding from the state or federal government
• Small district• 6 schools (4 elementary, 1 middle and 1 high school), the district can be handle
more easily than a large district.
• District-wide improvement programs implementation
• Strategic Partnerships• University of Rhode Island to offer college courses (dual courses) and free
tutoring
• Local foundation has offered $1 million in support
• Stakeholders input• The superintendent got input for the intervention plan from the parents,
teachers, the University of Rhode Island, and services agencies (think tank group)
• New leadership• Once the intervention plan has been approved by the district and the union, the
new principal has the opportunity to star fresh a new school culture that will bring Central Falls HS to a new level of performance and student achievement
• CFTU and CFHS new labor agreement
Threats
• Negative media• For three months Central Falls HS has been in the news from firing
and re-hiring the whole faculty and staff
• The media can politicize the district vs. the teacher's union
• Conflicting legislation• Commissioner's authority to intervene low performing schools
• State teachers collective bargaining law
• Confusing RIDE school intervention protocols• Stakeholder are confused as to which model is better for the needs
of Central Falls HS
• Dense area population• The area where central falls is located is one of the most densely
populated areas.
Threats (Cont.)
• Socio-Economic enviroment• 41% of children of the Central Falls SD live under the poverty level and media
income for a family of 4 is only $33,520 (half of national average).
• State deficits• Decrease in state revenue may decrease the budget for Central Falls HS
• Short tenure of district's top level leadership• The district has been overtaken by the state since 1991, but in 2002 the board
elected a new superintendent and since then, there has been 4 superintendents in 4 years before Gallo. Thus, there have not been consistency in the direction of the leadership.
• Violence• Outside violence can impact negatively the school such as the tragic dead on
two teenagers that were shot. One of the was a student from CFHS.
• Confrontation with the Teacher’s Union• All the problems of massive firing and massive hiring was caused by the lack of
negotiation between the superintendent and the union. This type of confrontation may arise at any time.
Threats (Cont.)
• Teachers' union (CFTU): may arise new legal issues
against the school or the district
Main Problems
• Lack of Leadership Capacity• Four principal in four years
• Lack of continuum and consistency in the educational programs and policies to improve the student achievement at the school Even when moderate gains have been achieved in the last three years (2007-2010) the principals quit or they are moved to a different schools
• High principal turnout ratio has caused the poor academic results, low graduation rates, an adversarial relationship with the union, and a toxic culture at the school
• Low Academics• Lack of teacher capacity in Reading and Math
• Low expectations of students
• Lack of rigorous instruction
• No consistent system to monitor student progress by teachers and administrators
• Lack of implementation of best practices; planning; instruction, assessment
Main Problem
Lack of Leadership Capacity
Lack of teacher capacity in Reading
and Math
Low expectations of students
Lack of rigorous instruction
No consistent system to monitor student
progress by teachers and administrators
Lack of implementation of
best practices; planning; instruction,
assessment
Low Student Academic Achievement
CFHS Strategic Goals
• Build Leadership Capacity
• The number one priority is to find a suitable principal that will take the challenge to create a new school culture and that knows how to lead a diverse student population.
• Improve Organizational Culture
• A new culture of high expectation, high academic performance, collaboration and family and community engagement. A new principal that will implement successfully the intervention model of transformation and will eliminate ineffective teachers, retain and hire highly effective teachers, will use data to guide instructions, will set system of collaboration , and will raise the academic rating and moral of the school. The new principal must be a leader that knows how to develop needs assessments at the school, how to support the school and its different programs such as ESL, how to evaluate teachers and develop collaboration.
• Student Achievement
Strategic Goal 1: School Culture
• Improvement of the school culture and climate for
teachers, students, and community members
• The culture at the school was a toxic culture because it was a
low performing campus the last seven years
• New school culture based on high expectations, data driven
decision, highly effective teacher, and teacher collaboration
• Improve teachers and faculty morale
• Overcome division, fostering trust and relationships
• Increase family engagement
• New standards and expectation in terms of teacher and staff
attendance, teacher evaluation tools, communication and
collaboration, new school discipline system, and family and
student input
Strategic Goal 2: Improve Academics
• Improve Math, Reading, and ESL achievement• Math course will not be optional but a regular course of the curriculum
• Academic program must consider the low socioeconomic status of the students and the ESL level of the students
• This program has to be consistent and yet flexible to allow changes
• Emphasize the academics, benchmarks, formative, and cumulative assessment to guide instruction and promote student achievement
• Furthermore, CFHS will use the resources from its community partnerships to achieve this goal (nonprofits and the University of Rhode Island). Thus, the scores will keep the steady growth until they reach the acceptable performance at proficiency of at least 70%. In order to achieve this goal is necessary the implementation of the transformation model: longer school days, after school tutorials, increase professional development, and the having lunch with the students once a week. Finally, a more rigorous teacher evaluation system to take out the system the ineffective teachers
• Besides the academic support Central Falls HS must provide a systematic support system that includes more technology, simple placement options, better communication with students and families, and provide multiple opportunities to graduate
Goal 2: StrategiesInstructional Planning Monitoring
Intensive PD; coaching, data analysis
support; structured lesson planning
Administrators will meet weekly to
evaluate the progress of the Campus
Intervention Plan
Professional Learning Communities
(PLC) meetings to lesson plan & analyze
data & discuss effective practices
Teachers will track their student data to
drive instruction
Teacher Specialist will provide
instructional support to teachers in need;
ie. coaching, modeling
Instructional Rounds will be held weekly
with immediate feedback and follow up
Student interventions will be re-
structured with improved monitoring
(Response to Intervention model)
Formative assessments will be
developed for the teachers and
administered every 2/3 weeks
Goal 2: Strategies (Cont.)Curriculum Alignment
• Teachers will look at the State Tests item analysis to determine how to compact the curriculum. We will look at which Grade Level Expectations (GLE’s) need to be high focus per grade, per class, per student. We will have teachers review the high priority GLE’s with the formative assessments to understand the context of the questions and get some PD for the teachers on this content.
Teacher Support
• We will support those teachers who had low growth with teachers who had high growth. (This will be done by looking at the scale scores.)
Student Groups by Ability
• We will then use the category results to group students for instruction and intervention to begin immediately.
Strategic Goal 3:Graduation Rate
• Improve the graduation rate and decrease the dropout
rate
• Offer the dual courses offered by the university of Rhode Island
• Offer Advance Placement (AP) classes, SAT support, Credit
Recovery classes, Online classes, Saturday tutorials, counseling
and support services, and also providing alternative course so
students can get the required credits for graduation and avoid the
dropout
• Central Falls HS graduation rate is at 52%, the objective is to
increase the rate by 10% each year and keep the dropout rate
below 15%