Banner competition could lead to school improvement

The Rapides Parish School District is using data to reward schools for something other than their school performance scores from the state.

"With test scores, everybody wants to measure the success of schools by one data point," said Jeff Powell, director of middle schools and magnet programs for the district. "It's a whole lot more than just a number. ... To judge the effectiveness of a school, of a teacher, so much more goes into that."

So each nine weeks Powell and Jonathan Garrett, director of secondary education, are compiling reports on data the district already was collecting, like teacher and student attendance or Accelerated Reader participation, and sending those reports to principals at every school.

The district data dashboard reports are the result of a conversation Powell and Garrett had with principals at last year's Summer Institute, professional development the district has conducted the last two summers. They wanted direction on how to better support principals.

"If we were to start from scratch on measures to determine the success of a school," they asked principals, "what's it look like?"

They answered with specific benchmarks to be measured throughout this year — student attendance, teacher attendance, discipline, if students are failing classes and participation (called D/F reports) and performance on Accelerated Reader, Discovery Ed and Eagle tests.

In looking at student attendance, principals and teachers have been discussing ways to get kids excited to come to school. The district has been recognizing the highest teacher attendance for schools with plaque presentations at school board meetings.

"If a student doesn't come it affects one person," Powell said. "If a teacher doesn't come it can affect 30 students or, in high school, 150."

The discipline reports include figures of how many students have been suspended, put into in-school suspension (ISS) or expelled.

"This isn't a measure to prove how bad the kids are but a measure of the success of PBIS (positive behavioral intervention and supports) programs," Powell said. "What interventions will work to change student behavior?"

Under the academic measures, the data dashboard includes figures representing students who are failing classes, called the D/F report for each school. Discovery Ed, Eagle, AR and STAR tests show how students are performing in core subjects.

"They all are reports principals can access," Powell said. "... We had this data but needed a systematic approach to look at it. It allows the administration to make needed professional development activities or RTI (response to intervention) for students available."

But it's not just about getting data to principals and teachers. The idea is to celebrate these data points, making them incentives for improvement. One way to do that is through competition.

"That competition is a healthy thing," Oak Hill High School Principal Kerry Rogers said. "It's what we use for our students anyway."

And every competition needs a prize. The tangible prizes are banners that hang at the winning school in each category for the nine weeks, rotating from winning school to winning school. The real prizes are bragging rights and school improvement, with one category dedicated to most improved in any of the areas.

"It celebrates things principals do that nobody was looking at," Powell said. "We want them to know as a district we know (what they're doing) and celebrate that success."

The banners donated by local Sonic operators are awarded at principal meetings.

"Helping schools is not just a task for us," said local Sonic marketing director Lori Moresi. "It is part of our mission to help the community. Recognizing excellence in our schools is our favorite initiative."

Powell said those principal meetings now have an academic pep rally atmosphere that principals carry on to their teachers and students.

"From what we're hearing from schools is how they're using it to help motivate and inspire," he said.

Alma Redwine Elementary School Principal Wanda Swafford said the battle for banners have made a difference at her school, which historically is low-performing. She said it gives them direction on what needs attention and motivates them to keep improving.

"For teachers not coming to work, that (report) points an eye at you," she gave as an example. "It saves us a conversation. ... (The report) gets your juices flowing. It's something common throughout the district that comes to us and lets us know where we are."

That commonality allows principals to compare their performance to other schools and collaborate with others on what is working for them.

Alma Redwine currently is the home of the "most improved" banner for the elementary school category.

"It's nice to see we're improving in something," Swafford said. "For struggling schools, to get a banner at an F-school, it means a lot. It lets (students and faculty) know there's hope."

It's not just the leaders who get the data dashboard information. Swafford shares it with her teachers and everyone in the school celebrates.

"We had a party," she said. "They needed the recognition where I am. Students know why we celebrated."

Pineville High School has three banners right now, but Principal Karl Carpenter admits "we want them all."

"The idea of competition at Pineville High School is we try to beat our last score," he said.

On the surface the focus is on the banners, beating the competitors or their previous score. But the ultimate goal for district and school administrators is school improvement. While it's not only about one data point, administrators expect growth in these factors to lead to improvement in a school's performance score.

"If all of these are moving in the right direction all year, that number (school performance score) is going to move up, too," Powell said.