Woodley Hills Elementary and West Potomac High School
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Transcript of Woodley Hills Elementary and West Potomac High School
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Woodley Hills Elementary and West Potomac High School
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Building high performing schools of character
Presented byRima Vesilind, Principal
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Locked out of Success
•Woodley Hills Elementary School
(transition 1998-2001)
•West Potomac High School(transition 2004-present)
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Where Are We?• Northern Virginia, just south of Alexandria in Fairfax County. •Located between Route 1 and the Potomac River – between the Pentagon and Mt. Vernon. •South of the beltway that circles Washington, D.C.•Our neighboring school is T.C.Williams, made famous by the movie Remember the Titans.
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Two schools in crisis --This is what we saw in each
•Angry staff/community members•Disrespectful school climate•Many discipline problems•Apathy/Tardiness/Truancy•Low test scores•Staff/administration turnover•Lack of trust •Lack of community involvement
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Steps of change• Assess the instructional program – Pull from
the top and push from the bottom to raise the achievement bar.
• Staff the most difficult children – No child wants to be a failure. What can you do to give each child success and a sense of responsibility?
• Build trust in the nay-sayers – Every building has resistant staff and parents. Don’t take it personally – Work to help them make change – Highlight successes
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Working with Staff• Focus on the children – Continually remind
teachers they’re teaching children, not just the way to read and add, but the way to live and be successful.
• Help staff understand the Kohlberg steps to an ethical foundation and work with their students as complete people.
• Roll up your sleeves and work with them – Get to know them – Develop understanding of the school and the community – Keep your door and your mind open for good ideas….
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Woodley Hills Elementary Math and Science
Focus School
Rima Vesilind, Principal 1998-2003Rima Vesilind, Principal 1998-2003 Sharon Aldredge, Principal 2003-presentSharon Aldredge, Principal 2003-present
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• 77% of Woodley Hills students come from minority backgrounds.• We have a 20% mobility rate.• Students come from more than 40 different countries and speak more than 20 languages.•61% qualify for free/reduced meals•41% are LEP (language minority) students.
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Community town meetings empowered our community to
get involved.
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Woodley Hills – A National School of Character
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High School or Elementary?
• High Schools need more than character education alone– Achievement– Appreciation as young adults– Responsibility
• High school students have to have meaningful involvement.
• High School teachers have to realize that they are teaching students, not subjects
• Citizenship training
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West Potomac High School
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Who Are We?• Approximately 3,000 students and 250 staff members who come to West Potomac daily. 2100 local students. •We have two magnet programs in our school – the Academy (500 students) and Pulley (90 students). •More than 300 courses are offered, including 23 AP courses.•90% Graduation rate – 92% of those students pursue postsecondary education.
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We are Diverse in every way.
•Culture •Religion•Language•Ability•Special Needs•Socio-economic status•Urban/suburban
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• 56% of West Potomac students come from minority backgrounds.• We have a 31% mobility rate.• Our students come from more than 60 different countries and speak more than 40 languages.•35% qualify for free/reduced meals•196 students are full-time participants in the program for English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)
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What do we want our School to be like?
• Responsible, Respectful, Caring• High academic achievement• Appreciative of differences. • Few discipline problems• Cohesive, supportive learning
community• Community welcomed and involved• Attractive facilities
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West Potomac High School
We have a responsibility to be on time and prepared, to achieve at a high level
and to be respectful of all.
ResponsibilityOn-Time AchievementRespect
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How could we change the climate?• Empower teachers and staff –
FAC/LT/ROAR/PELCs• Establish ROAR/Character Education
Committee - Responsibility, On-Time, Achievement and Respect.
• Building meaningful relationships between students and faculty.
• Implement Professional Ethical Learning Communities
• Develop school service learning program.
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Primary Prevention:School-/Classroom-Wide Systems for
All Students,Staff, & Settings
Secondary Prevention:Specialized Group
Systems for Students with At-Risk Behavior
Tertiary Prevention:Specialized
IndividualizedSystems for Students
with High-Risk Behavior
~80% of Students
~15%
~5%
CONTINUUM OFSCHOOL-WIDE
INSTRUCTIONAL & POSITIVE BEHAVIOR
SUPPORT
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A Comparison (PBS Data)…
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Suspensions Official Referrals
2003-20042004-20052005-20062006-20072007-2008
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West Potomac’s Service Learning Project:
A change of culture and opportunities for growth
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Community Service vs Service Learning
Community Service is:• Unpaid labor benefiting organizations in the
community.• A variety of work and services that target a
need.Service-learning is a teaching and learning
strategy that integrates :• Meaningful community service with
instruction in civic responsibility• Reflection to enrich the learning
experience • Students growing personally and as leaders
Both strengthen communities
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Service Learning and Community Service Differences
• Service Learning differs from community service in so many ways:
1. Service learning maintains education as its primary focus and is integrated into a curriculum.
2. Students individually research and choose on what they wish to actively work.
3. Service learning facilitates higher-ordered thinking – “How am I making an impact in my community?”
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The Senior Project: Overview
• Our service learning project is a year-long service learning experience.
• Students engage in meaningful school and community-based problem-solving activities.
• It is integrated into government classes and makes that curriculum more real and relevant by linking learning in the classroom and activity in the community.
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Goals of the Senior Project• To help students identify and study a
social, political or governmental issue that interests them.
• To develop students’ individual research and communication skills.
• To integrate classroom and real-world experiences for students, forming democratic citizenship and the habits of civic engagement.
• To contribute to the well-being of the West Potomac community at large.
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Components of the project
• Researching a social/political/government issue.
• Writing a research paper on the topic.• Performing 30 hours of service in relation
to the students chosen topic.• Reflecting on student experience through
three journal entries and a culminating presentation of research and experience.
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Essential Elements
• Planning• Collaboration• Communication• Community Involvement• Vertical Articulation• Horizontal Articulation• Site Level Opportunities
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Examples of essential elements in our service learning project
• Planning during our PELCs and assessing progress of the project.
• Working within our curriculum team to create all the components of the project.
• Working with other departments to collaborate on assignments and get professional feedback.
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More examples of essential elements in our service learning project
• Keeping all members of the WPHS staff informed on what the project is about and what is currently going on.
• Working with local organizations to develop codependent relationships.
• Developing programs with middle and elementary schools in our area.
• Providing opportunities for students at WPHS to work with various student groups.
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West Potomac Mentoring Initiatives
• The Bucknell-West Potomac Mentoring Partnership
• BAM (Brothers Achieving More)• MESOL (Mentoring ESOL Students)• SPC (Students for a Positive
Community)• Best Buddies (Pulley Center)• Peer Mediation
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Spotlight: Bucknell-West Potomac
Mentoring Partnership
Mission: To develop positive, caring relationships between high school and elementary students.
Goal: To promote academic success and instill a greater sense of responsibility, compassion, and self-confidence in all students.
Results: 34 high school students served as mentors.41% male- 59% female, 44% African American, 35%
Caucasian, 21% Hispanic. All loved it!!!
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Mentoring Survey Results• Being a mentor helped me: A lot Some A
LittleNone
Complete Service Hours 90% 5% 5%
Feel Better About Myself 76% 14% 10%
See the Positive Impact I Can Have on the Community
76% 19% 5%
Change Some of My Attitudes/Behaviors
50% 21% 8% 21%
Come to School Regularly 50% 17% 6% 27%
Improve My Grades 44% 22% 12% 22%
Have More Hope For the Future 63% 11% 22% 4%
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What benefits!!!!
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Analysis of the Senior Project goals
• The students were introduced to numerous lessons and resources to investigate various social, political or government issues.
• Tasks and activities were integrated into each quarter’s curriculum.
• 95% of the 460 Seniors completed all components of the project.
• Through this project West Potomac developed a stronger relationship with its surrounding community of individuals and organizations.
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Academic skills developed by students
1. Researching2. Source analysis3. Paraphrasing4. Deciphering fact from opinion5. Networking with organizations6. Research-based writing7. Presenting
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Paradigm ShiftsWe saw a gradual change in focus from: • Aggressive disrespect to an appreciation of manners,
respect and excellence• “Us against them” to shared, thoughtful collaborative
relationships.• An emphasis on teaching to an emphasis on
learning.• “Do what I say” to “Understand why it is important to
do this.”• “It’s always someone else’s fault” to assumption of
responsibility.
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Fairfax County School Board Goals: adopted in 2006.
• Academics: All students will obtain, understand, analyze, communicate, and apply knowledge and skills to achieve success in school and in life.
• Essential Life Skills: All students will demonstrate the aptitude, attitude, and skills to lead responsible, fulfilling, and respectful lives.
• Responsibility to the Community: All students will understand and model the important attributes that people must have to contribute to an effective and productive community and the common good of all.
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Principal skills necessary to making change
• Vision• Good Character• Put the students first• People Skills• Diagnostic capability• Strong work ethic
You need to work tirelessly and get to know everybody!
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“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” ….Barack Obama
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Thank you for your attention!!