CSIP INSIGHTSBASED ON AN INTERVIEW WITH ALICIA NOSWORTHY, PRINCIPAL OF

WALKER HIGH SCHOOL

WHERE DO YOU START WHEN CREATING A CSIP?

• How do you improve a school?• No single answer• Super

complicated• Scary

• Honor the staff’s previous work• Take time to learn what’s been done• What is the staff moving toward?• Don’t jump in and start making big

changes right away. It leads to rebellion from your staff.

ME Alicia

HOW DO YOU WADE THROUGH ALL THE DATA?

ME• You are swamped with meetings,

commitments, paperwork, and a million other unpredictable events and tasks. How do you find the time and energy to effectively collect, analyze, and respond to data?

ALICIA• Tow the line between delegating and shrugging

off your duties!

• Know the strengths of your staff

• Empower them to help

• Don’t “create monsters” by giving too much of the decision making power to certain staff

• Make staff feel valued

WHERE DOES DATA COME IN?

Me• What kinds of data do you look at in terms

of your teachers?

• Scheduling?

• FTE?

• Prior training?

Alicia• Noticed a waste of teacher time sitting in

the OdysseyWare lab

• How can you jockey the schedule to maximize the use of all teachers?

• Makes for a wacky schedule at Walker

STUDENT DATA?

Me• What student data do you look for first?

• Is that approach different at an alternative school versus a comprehensive high school?

• Once you go through the data, what is something you do to make improvements?

Alicia• Look at data points like attendance, graduation

rates, and credits accumulated per semester.

• Figure out what intervention classes are needed

• Support classes based on STRAND data

• Traditional student data is not very reliable for Walker kids

• Kids have not been in school for years

• Perception data is better

THE HARD PARTS

ME

• What is the hardest part about trying to turn a school around?• What are strategies you can

use to deal with that?

ALICIA• Walker as a “credit mill” three years ago

• Kids able to take failed classes on OdysseyWare instead of retaking them

• “packets” versus rigor

• “Graduate quickly” culture versus teaching the “whole child”

• Push back from staff at first

• CHANGING A CULTURE TAKES YEARS

TRICKY STAFF: UNWILLING

ME• What happens if you have staff

members who are not willing to support you with a CSIP?

• What strategies can you use to respond to issues that come up because of resistant staff?

ALICIA• It is okay to encourage staff to look for

work elsewhere—no hard feelings or grudges

• Remember, you can’t just fire a teacher

• Build relationships with staff

• Float ideas to key players first

• Know who likely naysayers will be

• Massage the idea before you assert it—this will help with knee-jerk reactions

TRICKY STAFF: UNABLE

ME• If you have teachers who are not

skilled enough to implement a CSIP, what do you do?

• How much of a negative impact can weaker teachers have on the implementation of a CSIP?

• What can you do to help with this?

ALICIA• Must know when to give directives or agency

• Find ways to pair weaker staff with stronger staff

• Find opportunities to set up weaker staff for success.

• Visit their rooms and coach them.

• Ask them to think about what they did well and what next steps they have

• Don’t throw in the towel just because they don’t seem like a good fit.

ACADEMICS AND IMPROVEMENT

ME• We talked a lot about soft skills and

touchy feely stuff, but what about academic improvement and data?

• Can you give an example where you used specific data to implement changes?

ALICIA• A lot of test scores are “kid dependent” and not

reliable. (Kid doesn’t take the test seriously or doesn’t understand some of the questions, etc.)

• Look at NORMATIVE progress.

• Look for deficits in strand data

• Worked with the math teacher and learned that kids could do proofs but not statistics

• Able to tailor instruction accordingly

WHAT IF A CSIP BOMBS???

ME• So, you put all of this effort into a CSIP; you get

the staff on board, and then the thing tanks. . . .

• Now what?

• What does this mean for staff morale?

• Has it happened?

ALICIA• They don’t fail. We revisit and revise.

• A living document

• You don’t admit defeat; you adapt.

• CAMP WALKER is an example

• Tried changing discipline formula

• Came up with it at the start of her second year at WHS

• Reduce the amount of time spent dealing with behaviors

• Improve student morale

INTEGRITY

ME• Have you ever felt that political pressure has

forced your hand to make decisions that go against your personal philosophy or integrity?

• What do you do?

• How does staff respond?

ALICIA• Graduation rates were big in first year at WHS

• Want kids to graduate, but want to hold them accountable

• Can’t suddenly force change. Focus on moving toward your vision gradually

• Biology test example: I disagree with it—kids need different skills, yet I have to play the game

• Look at the positives of “the test” when you have to teach to it—there is some good stuff in there. . .

• If you “teach kids first and content second,” you can make everyone feel that they are doing right by students

IS TIME REALLY OF THE ESSENCE?

ME• So, you get charged with the task of turning a

school around. There is money, reputation, and maybe your job at stake. How long do you have before you can expect to see real results?

• How much time can pass with no measurable progress before you are in big trouble?

• Stress, anyone?

ALICIA• Only the district knows, so it is stressful!

• It takes a MINIMUM of three years.

• Just now seeing big changes at WHS

• Patience. If you try to go too fast, you will be counterproductive

• Believe that when you set your staff up with important, challenging tasks, they will rise to the occasion.

• School is an experiment. You try different things; you fail; you succeed; you make it work.

Conclusion

Final thoughts

Questions, etc.