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Raising the Bar, Guaranteeing the Results

Type: Example from Schools Author(s): Kathleen Cushman Source: Performance. No. 13, December 1994.

Pueblo County High School
1050 Lane 35
Pueblo, Colorado 81006
(719) 948-3352

Dick Amman, Principal
1,065 students grades 9-12
65 teachers and other staff
50% on free or reduced-fee lunch
27% minority (Hispanic) students
89% go on to higher education
Rural-suburban high school
Staff development supported by the Gates Foundation

Now that their school expects more of them, students here are rising to meet the challenge, leading a learning community into the next century.

Brian Potter can tell you exactly how his life has changed since ninth grade, when he says he "slept through" most of his classes at Pueblo County High School in Pueblo, Colorado. "Now, I work," he says. Defiance, sheepishness, and pride mingle in his voice as he sits on his desk at the back of a group of some 20 fellow students gathered for their regular "advisory" session of support and guidance.

The other kids grin, nodding their agreement. They range from freshmen to seniors, honor students to those like Brian, who once would have had "general" or "vocational" stamped on his diploma, if he made it to graduation at all. But today, when asked how many consider themselves "high achievers," every one of them raises a hand.

"I didn't care before," says Amber Fogle. "These guys, the ones who always get the grades, I didn't ever talk to them, even. Now they're my friends. I care so much now - and my grades are way up."

Out in this sparsely peopled desert landscape and overlooked by Pike's Peak and closed-down steel mills, what has this high school done to turn around the lives of these kids? The pilot CHOICE program of 100 students and four teachers, in which they are enrolled, is clearly just the leading edge of an entire school whose priorities have shifted since 1990, when its staff began exploring the ideas of the Coalition of Essential Schools and became the first to join Colorado's Re:Learning network.

A new emphasis on deepening the curriculum and raising standards for all students has begun to seep through County High's bedrock of traditional teaching. The tracking system has receded, replaced by classes in which students of varying achievement levels work together on common projects. More students are taking advanced courses, scores on standard achievement tests have risen across the board.

Such progress can only take firm hold, the school's guiding council of teachers, parents, and students has declared, as the entire place rearranges its structures and habits so that every student is know well and a tone of "unanxious expectation" and decency prevails. To this end, principal Dick Amman says, PCHS has taken several steps to make each student's progress the personal concern of the adults who coach and guide him or her.

Advising and Mentoring

It's tough to know as many as 175 students well as they pass through your six 50-minute classes in groups of up to 30, Amman points out. So Pueblo County rearranged its schedule into 90-minute blocks that meet on alternate days. In one of these blocks, each teacher meets with a mixed-grade group of advisees - getting to know them, helping them develop assessment portfolios, and coaching them toward higher achievement. Meanwhile, because all classes are longer, more teachers are departing from lecture mode to pursue more active ( and more time-consuming) teaching strategies.

Ninth-grade teachers work in teams that share a common planning period and the same 100 or so kids, so they can coordinate coursework and instruction. The tenth- and eleventh- grade CHOICE team (for "Children Having Options in Core Education"), which integrates four core subject areas using "essential questions," is viewed as research and development for the entire staff.

"We're hoping that other groups of four teachers will try the same thing," says Martha Nogare, whose social studies students can often be found charting mathematical projections of election trends or doubling up with a science class on a project. "The 'small school' concept lets our team decide how each school day will look, depending on what our students need at that point." Though CHOICE takes more out of her, math teacher Connie Miketa agrees, the results in student progress have been worth it. "In 1989 we had twelve general math classes - what I call 'pretend math,'" she says. "Now all the kids get the real thing, and apply it to real-world applications. Everyone learns to use statistics, for example - not only in math but across subjects, and not only at beginning levels but right up through pre-calculus."

Involvement and Pride

In this district where school buses log 5,000 miles a day to cover an area the size of Rhode Island, drawing far-flung community members into their youngsters' education is a real challenge. Yet County High parents, students, and community members serve on all school decision-making committees. Community business leaders and parents pair up with students to lead day-long schoolwide seminars on Essential School principles like "creating a climate of decency." Students sponsor conferences about school change, attracting interested peers from other districts and states. Parents and school board members attend the Coalition's annual Fall Forum conference.

Unisys, a nearby software systems firm, this year donated space in its nearby headquarters building so 50 County students could pilot a "Tech Prep" program where they learn to apply state-of-the-art technologies. A former PCHS math teacher used community donations to convert a former downtown car dealership into a district charter school for 80 sixth-through eighth-graders.

"Our county suffered badly in the 1980s, when a wave of layoffs in the local steel industry, combined with military cutbacks, put a lot of people out of work," says Amman. As the region took steps to attract investors, he says, the high school realized its graduates were not attractive to high-tech and other potential new employers. "These companies value habits like teamwork, initiative, and the ability to apply concepts in new situations," he says. "We had to create a different learning environment to achieve those goals." Today, Pueblo County "guarantees" its graduates to employers and colleges, promising to take them back for more work if necessary skills aren't there. "We haven't had any returned yet," Amman says.

The giant thrust of this school toward preparing students for a new future might never have happened without a substantial four-year grant from the Gates Foundation to four Colorado Re:Learning high schools exploring Essential School ideas. That money allows PCHS faculty to learn new techniques like Socratic seminars and experiential learning, to incorporate new technologies into their classrooms, and to work out new ways of assessing student achievement. Finally it enables the school to document the success of Essential School principles by closely charting student performance.

But proof shows up informally as well, for those who look. Laura Sandoval, 15 looks up from the computer where she is creating a Hypercard project to analyze immigration patterns in American history. "Last year I slacked off; I wished I had more challenging work," she says. "You better watch out what you wish for! This year it's a lot tougher, and I am pushing to my limit. I have to go all out to keep my grades up. But I am going for it. This school makes you care."

Raising the Bar on Student Performance: The Stats

• Student Graduation: The class of 1994 graduated 89.5% of its students with a "Guaranteed Graduate" diploma that fully warrants their ability to meet the standards of employers or colleges. Only courses in which a student receives a grade of "C" or better count toward a diploma. Dropout rate was less than 4%.
• Advanced Courses: 401 of PCHS student, or 42%, completed advanced courses in 1993-94. Advanced Placement (AP) and accelerated courses are open to all students, and the school has eliminated a three-track diploma system that sorted students into college prep, general, and vocational. Enrollment in AP English more than doubled between 1991 and 1992. Three years of math, including algebra and geometry, are required for graduation.
• Achievment Test Scores: On the Stanford Achievement test, the class of 1995's scores rose significantly - from 76% to 84% on the total scores - in the two years between 9th and 11th grades. More than 80% of this class tested at or above grade level. On the American College Testing (ACT) test, PCHS students' composite score in 1992-93 was 20.0 on a scale of 35 points.
• Attendance: The first quarter of 1994-95 shows an average 94% daily attendance rate, up from 90% the previous year.

This resource last updated: May 14, 2002

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