By Aneesh Sohoni During a January school board work session, Metro Nashville
school board members were presented
with data showing that the six highest performing middle schools in the
district are charter schools. This led to substantial conversation among board
members, as they sought to identify the reasons these charters outperformed the
rest of the district.
Board Chairwoman Cheryl Mayes made the following comments
regarding the replication of charter success in traditional public schools:
“Tell me what it is we need to do. Does it start with principals, the teaching
staff, or does it start with the students? We have to do it even if we have to
do it one school at a time.”
The recent legislative debate on the merits of a statewide
authorizer has dominated the discussion surrounding charter schools. However,
lost in this conversation is a critical pillar of what makes charter schools
successful: An opportunity to share with others what works for students.
Collaboration,
the new “it” phrase in education, is often used to signal cooperation, when in
reality very little partnership takes place. It’s time to move beyond talking
the talk, and time to start walking the walk. At Nashville Prep, we appreciate
Mayes’ overture; through her comments, she is asking high performing charter
schools to share what makes them successful. Their playbook. While high school basketball
coaches would never hand over their plays, Nashville Prep has no such qualms. In
fact, our playbook was the result of Democracy Prep, Excel Academy, and
Uncommon Schools sharing with us. We are committed to working with the district
to share the playbook that has helped make Nashville Prep successful. To be clear, Nashville
Prep does not have the silver bullet playbook, and has room
to improve, as do all schools. Similarly, there are other schools (both
traditional and charter) in Nashville with great playbooks. With that said, we
believe we have executed some low-cost/no-cost plays that have been critical to
the school’s success. And it didn’t take a Pat Summit or Bobby Knight to design
the plays. It just took working smarter and laser-like focus.
Playbook- Nashville
Prep’s Starting Five
Basketball coaches know that the starting lineup of a team
needs diversity. A coach would never start five point guards. The coach
understands that each member of the starting lineup serves a specific,
interconnected function on the team. Likewise,
Nashville Prep has come to find that the following five plays serve a diverse,
yet intertwined purpose in ensuring an excellent education for kids:
Play #1: Data driven decision
making: Daily, Nashville Prep teachers can be found analyzing data collected
on students through a series of formative assessments. Last year, the school
tracked over 200 unique assessments in math (exit tickets, quizzes, tests) to gauge
student understanding. If a student is behind grade level in a specific
content area, that student will be given extra remediation. Similarly, a
student who is outperforming grade level expectations is given additional
enrichment opportunities. In preparation for the upcoming TCAP assessments,
over 90% of students chose to spend their Spring Break working with Nashville
Prep staff in a “Pirate Academy” focused on critical skills. Throughout the
year, students attend “Saturday Math Academy” to spend extra time with math
content. This focus on data driven instruction is based on Paul
Bambrick-Santoyo’s book, “Driven
By Data.”
Play #2: Strategic placement
of teachers and students: Students are purposefully placed in classes
together based on where additional support is needed. Each day, Nashville
Prep students have access to a one hour tutoring block. 75% of the students
are tutored by teachers in content where they need the most support, while
the other 25% take courses through Khan Academy, an individualized computer
based curriculum that allows students to proceed at their own pace. Assignment of teachers to students is also
thoughtful. Rich Richards, a math teacher at Nashville Prep, continued on
from 5th grade to 6th grade to continue to build off of
the rapport he had built with students. Next year, he will continue on with his
students to teach 7th grade blended learning.
Play #3: Relentless focus on
teacher recruitment, hiring, and induction: Ravi Gupta, principal of
Nashville Prep, works tirelessly to attract talent to the school. He
identifies his openings early on in the process, recruits teachers to the
school far earlier than is typical (late winter), and asks prospective
teachers to deliver sample lessons to Nashville Prep students. Once Ravi has
identified a future Nashville Prep teacher, teachers and board members are
sure to reach out to the candidate immediately to help him/her feel as if
he/she is a part of the Nashville Prep community. Once teachers are hired,
they, along with the rest of the staff, go through a rigorous induction
process prior to the start of the school year. The schedule of professional
development that teachers received last year can be found here.
A school will only be as good as the teachers in the school.
Play #4: A culture of high
academic and behavioral expectations: During the first few weeks of
school, students are immersed in the language of Nashville Prep. This school
and classroom culture building is largely the product of Doug Lemov’s book, “Teach Like a Champion.” This drive
to ensure that all students are operating from the same set of expectations
allows much of the focus to be placed on academic goals. Goals are plastered
throughout the school, and students can articulate where they are in relation
to their goals, as well as what they need to do to improve. For example, students in the school can
articulate that their goal in math is to outperform students in neighboring
Williamson County—the highest achieving district in the state. Likewise,
students in the school can be heard stating that they are approximately two
additional correct answers away from being designated as “advanced” on the
upcoming TCAP.
Play #5: Distributed
teacher leadership: During exit interviews at schools, teachers often tell
their school that they chose to leave because they did not see any additional
leadership opportunities in their future. At Nashville Prep, however, teachers
who seek additional leadership roles and have demonstrated the capability and
capacity are given specific opportunities. Arlyn Ilgenfritz, a 5th
grade reading teacher, also serves as the 5th grade chair. Christina
McDonald utilizes her strengths with fine arts to serve as assistant principal
for culture and arts in addition to her duties as a social studies teacher.
Anthony Fowler, in addition to teaching a few classes every week, utilizes his ability
to build strong relationships and serves as the Dean of Students. These
examples, among others, demonstrate how school responsibilities can be shared
beyond the principal, as well as show how teachers can be empowered to stay and
lead at a school.
Mayes put the ball in the court of charters by asking what
works for kids. We appreciate her starting the conversation. The playbook is
Nashville Prep’s first shot at sharing ideas, but the conversation should not
stop here. We welcome further collaboration. The walking the walk kind of
collaboration. We invite any teacher or administrator in the district to come
visit our school and our classrooms. We seek invitations to visit other schools
so that we can continue to learn. We look forward to presenting at a future
school board meeting and visiting with district staff.
Throughout all of this, we must remember one thing: All of Metro’s students are our students. And we need to begin
working together immediately.
Aneesh Sohoni is a member of Nashville Prep’s Board of Directors. He
can be found on Twitter @aneeshsohoni.
