The Journey: An Urban School’s Road to

Distinction

Washington Elementary SchoolTitle I Distinguished School

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Washington Elementary

Achievement Data ISTEP+ LA Math Both

2011 71% 67% 57%

2012 79% 81% 70%

2013 88% 87% 82%

Gain 17% 20% 25%

Washington’s Goal

K.I.S.S.

Essential Elements

CULTUREResearch found that both high and low performing schools focused on many of the same strategies for improvement. The culture in which this work takes place is what separates the high from the low-performing schools. ~ Cathy Lassiter

• Trust & Empowerment• Enthusiasm, Positive, FUN• High Expectations – “All Means All”

CULTURE

VISION/FOCUS• SIP Alignment • Buy-in• Goals and Vision

DATA• Data Meetings• Public Data

–Student Recognition• Formal & Informal• Celebrations

DATA

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

• Aligned to SIP• Embedded/Common Plan• Teacher Ownership/Data

Driven

Essential Elements

What is the most important factor in

student achievement?

“I’ve come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It is my daily mood that sets the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture, or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or de-humanized.”

~Haim Ginnot, Teacher and Child