Hawthorne and Foster elementary schools were among thousands of schools recognized nationwide for being high-performance, high-poverty schools by The Education trust.
A report issued by the Education Trust indicated that thousands of high-poverty, high-minority schools across the nation were among the top-performing schools.
The report, Dispelling the Myth Revisited, found that in 2000 more than 4,500 high-poverty and high-minority schools were among the top one-third of all schools in their respective states, often outperforming white schools in wealthy communities.
The report evaluated more than 1 million school test scores in 47 states and the District of Columbia, identifying the top one-third of all schools that also ranked in the top one-third for poverty levels or African American or Latino enrollments. All of the schools in the analysis have poverty and minority levels of at least 50 percent.
“Twenty years ago, Ron Edmonds asked, ‘How many effective schools would you have to see to be persuaded of he educability of poor children?’ Until now, limited technology and poor data collection have meant that those of us who share Ron’s belief, the belief that poor and minority children can achieve at high levels when they are taught at high levels, could at best come up with a handful of schools to buttress our arguments,” Education Trust Director Kati Haycock said. “Well, that’s all about to change. Our new analysis identifies not hundreds but thousands of schools. Naysayers can no longer dismiss such schools as mere outliers.”
“These data show that the achievement gap can indeed be closed,” Georgia Gov. Roy E. Barnes, who participated in a National Education Summit in October, said. “This report helps dispel the myth and the excuses by showing that even for children living in poverty, we are correct in raising expectations, providing resources, supporting quality leadership and teaching, and yes, even insisting on accountability.”
Among 3,592 high-poverty, high-performing schools were Hawthorne and Foster, the only two in Linn County. Schools on the high-performing, high-poverty list have about twice the rate of low-income students compared with all public schools.
“To see that kind of growth in children with the rates, we have to have teachers who are able to look at each student individually,” Hawthorne Principal Gloria Mittleman said. Staff at Hawthorne identifies weakness and strengths in each student, targeting the early grades one through three, especially. Teachers then work with students within that framework.
“It takes a staff working together with parents, teachers and administrators,” Mittleman said. “You just can’t give up on any children. Our staff doesn’t.
“A lot of kids have strong homes, but if the home cannot be the number one safe place … then we have to make sure do that here.”
That means making sure children are fed and cared for, Mittleman said. If those needs are not met, then children won’t learn. Each school needs to look at the whole child, and Mittleman credits her staff for making that work.
On reading and literature tests, Foster third graders ranked 40th of 761 schools in Oregon socioeconomically, with 761 being the most affluent schools. At fifth grade, Foster ranked 45th of 751 schools in Oregon; but Foster School earned an exceptional mark from the state on its annual report card for the year 2000.
“We seem to be able to pull off a pretty big slap on the back,” Principal Vic Zgorzelski said. “You have to have a belief that you can make a difference for kids. Connected to that is I have a very strong instructional staff,” including teachers and assistants. “We’re committed to making a difference for kids and having them be successful.
“Teachers and assistants have a variety of instructional training that allows them to do the best they can, so they’re knowledge level is quite high.”
Foster is organized to maximize student performance during the state assessment testing period, Zgorzelski said. The testing is set up over the three weeks allowed to help students deal with it.
Students may struggle to stay focused, Zgorzelski said, but Foster will work with the students, giving them breaks as needed to if a student should drift away. Small groups are monitored by adults to help them stay on task.
Some students work well with a particular assistant, Zgorzelski said. If it helps, Foster will assign the assistant to that student.
“When you have kids that come from difficult environments,” Zgorzelski said. “Building that feeling (confidence) is important.”
Like other elementary schools, Foster prepares students for the types of questions that will be asked on state assessments, so when the tests arrive, students are comfortable with the style.
“We could easily to it in one day,” Zgorzelski said. “But we know this is important and we want kids to do their best.
The staff is innovative and creative, Zgorzelski said. “We don’t have the answer to everything. We just work hard at it.”
He credits Foster’s success to his staff members, the intangibles in their personalities and their creativity.
Other schools around the state have visited Foster to learn how the school has achieved its successes.
What makes Foster successful, Zgorzelski said, is a variety of things. “Looping” is among them. Students at Foster stay with their teacher for two years. A teacher, for example, will teach fifth and sixth grades, alternating each year.
That means a teacher will not need to spend time getting to know students and their abilities the first weeks of school and they’re “off and running,” Zgorzelski said. “Loping, to me, has been a big change.”
Looping was not initially set up to boost academics but to help meet students emotional and social needs.
That has worked and improved academics, Zgorzelski said. “Why does it work? Because I have a staff that is committed to making it work.”
Foster makes it work through a combination of things, Zgorzelski said, but “the bottom line is the people you have in the building, the adults working with kids.”