Hoover Alias Elementary (HAE)

HAE for the Fine Arts was built in 1992; during its service it has been classified as acceptable, high performing as well as exemplary. It services 860 children k-5 (97% Hispanic 77% LEP) and houses two classrooms for multiple impaired children. Over the last 8 years the school has known three Principles and two acting principals.

a.                  High teacher expectations for students

b.                  Principal as instructional leader

c.                   Teacher collaboration/teaming

d.                  Parental involvement and methods for such to occur

e.                  Time on task/academic engagements time

f.                    Extracurricular activities

g.                  School environment (climate/evidence of activities)

h.                  Behavior Management Plan (campus wide)

 High teacher expectations for students.

 Individual Teachers – Due to the TAAS, even those teachers who seem to show up day after day simply to pick up a paycheck feel the need to bring as many students as possible up to passing. This observer does not consider the TAAS an accurate description of high expectations in that each student begins and ends the year at a different level of cognitive functioning and capacity to use said abilities to demonstrate their individual understanding of reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies. While there is not enough time to develop and devise detailed individual learning objectives for each student, there certainly exists an opportunity for teachers to come up with general expectations for growth for pockets of students. While no school is devoid of teachers who hold students to a higher standard, HAE –due in part to administrative mismanagement- enjoys fewer of these educators than they had just two years ago. While a quality education is certainly obtainable through both the mono- and bilingual programs, a child would have only a 25% chance each year of being placed in the classroom of a master teacher who by definition would hold high expectations for each student.

 Faculty and Staff as a whole- Due to an excessively high yearly turnover rate (40-50%) the quorum of veteran teachers who drive each other to expect more from both themselves and their students is unfortunately small. Thankfully there are however a few clusters of educators within the school who do inspire their colleagues to demand more of their students.

 Instructor and Pupil Urgency and Focus- Part and parcel with high expectations comes an instructional intensity which translates to into increased learner focus which in turn leads to more learning and higher retention.

 Quality of Task- High expectations also lead to a higher frequency of lessons and activities which require the learner to use and develop his or her higher order thinking skills.

Principal as instructional leader

 Accessibility- If the principal is to be the instructional leader of an institution of leaning, there must be a feeling of approachability and willingness to empathize and compromise when called for. The school in question has been the victim of superintendent mismanagement leading to the dismissal of one principal –and the ensuing cover-up, the hiring of an acting principal who became very popular only to be transferred to another school mid-summer leaving HAE with no leadership for a two week period immediately preceding the start of school in the fall. Yet another acting principal was called upon to lead until the position could be filled permanently. Two months into the year such a person was named principal. Two weeks later the vice-principal was sent packing and a new one brought in. It is this observer’s opinion that there are very few faculty members who do not feel apprehensive about approaching administration simply because they still feel disillusioned with all the negligent actions or inactions of the sub-district office. Another factor negatively affecting the issue of accessibility is the understandable difficulty both principal and vice-principal face in that they must manage the crises left by previous administrations. The first real test will be after the holidays when a school has an opportunity to begin again on a small scale.

 Knowledge into Practice- It is too soon to assess the current administration’s capacity to translate their knowledge of the state and district curriculum into sound school based practice considering the short period of time since the positions have been filled. The p and ap are in frequent meetings and seminars off campus and when on campus, much of their time, in the opinion of this observer is spent in meeting with disgruntled parents and or staff. It will be next year until a formal assessment of administration’s ability to map out a cohesive plan for covering the TEKS as well as HISD objectives. 

 Player Coach or Tyrant- On a continuum of leading styles there are many opportunities for successfully motivating a staff to teach children. From the player-coach –I’m just like you, I’ll do example lessons in your room, let’s plan together, I value your input… to the Tyrant –You do this because I tell you, the following teachers need to improve their TAAS scores, what I say is law, I have no time for input… there are examples of schools which achieve the very highest level of recognition. Again it is too early to definitively assess where on the continuum the principal will fall.

Teacher Collaboration

 Grade level- On the whole though each grade spends about 40 minutes per week discussing issues pertinent to students in their particular grade, there is little significant group planning or collaboration and consequently little grade level cohesion. One must take into account the natural variance in classroom makeup as well as instructor methodology before denouncing the absence of identical lesson plans throughout a grade level. Such a thing would be quite possibly detrimental to a maximization of learning and cognitive growth. As a school, again because of a high turnover, there does not exist a feeling of deep ownership for all of the school’s patrons thereby lessening the amount time and energy put into grade lever planning.

Vertical- Evidence of vertical collaboration is present between the third grade and kindergarten. Once a week the third grade goes into their adopted kinder class to read books to them. There is little if any vertical planning taking place except in isolated groups of teachers who hold some affiliation to each other through Teach For America (TFA) or come from a similar cultural region.

 Isolated Groups- Though less evident this year, there remain a small population of teachers who do plan activities together due to membership in TFA or because of camaraderie felt because of shared backgrounds. Among these cohesive, innovative groups lie the school’s best teachers and its logical starting point for school-wide success.

Parental Involvement and Avenues for such to take place

 Parent Helpers- HAE maintains a group of approximately 8 full-time parent volunteers and 15 special event workers who help in the kitchen, help make bulletin boards, complete student manipulatives and do occasional tutoring. This group, lead by the Title I coordinator, is one of the bright spots of the school. Their efforts encourage further parental involvement while at the same time their presence serves to keep the community informed of the school’s day-to-day incidents, accidents and triumphs.

 Continuing Education- There is little if any continuing education offered to members of the community. Besides a bi-annual family math workshop there are no current offerings. In the planning stages, it should be noted, is the intent to start an ESL format computer class designed to teach parents the basics of computer use. Even with the implementation of computer classes the school’s efforts to educate the community in which its students live falls short.

 PTO Attendance- Through the organization of the Title I coordinator, the Parent Teacher Organization enjoys a large membership with over three hundred parents and teachers in attendance. This aspect of the school working with the community is one of its most exceptional qualities.

 Administrative and Parental Linguistic Parity- With the exception of the counselor, all administrators and front office staff are bilingual (English and Spanish). This allows for direct communication as well as cultural validation and understanding between parents and the school.

Time on task

 Classroom management- One of the most reliable determinants of learner success is time on task and without consistent classroom and school based management plans there is little chance of attaining a maximization of learning. While no school based management plan is enforced, on average classroom teachers at the school have consistent plans for keeping students engaged or at least on task. This proficiency is likely related to the limited number of first year teachers employed at the school this year. More on this subject later.

  Scheduling- One of the hindrances to learning in previous years was the absence of long term scheduling. Entire grade levels would be frequently pulled out of their normal routine to partake in some event or other often without the consent of the classroom teacher. Though it is too soon to tell, the current administration has only pulled grade levels out of their classes on one occasion in the last two months. While this is only a small part of what leads to student success, it adds to the structure in a student and teacher’s instructional day.

Extracurricular Activities

 Boy and Girl Scouts- The school targets at risk students for membership in the scouts. While the program for the girls has a higher membership, there are a substantial number of boys being served by the program as well.

 Honor Roll- The school uses a non-standard system to determine honor roll admission. Each teacher uses his or her own discression to choose who and how many students in their class deserve to be listed among the school’s academic elite. This disparity can cause a feeling of animosity between parents, children and their teachers. While no school body can expect perfect parity among and between grade levels, the school in question might benefit from a higher level of standardization in this area.

 Sports- Since the hiring of a full time physical education instructor this year, there have been plans of starting a basketball team in the spring. Little else is offered in the way of extra curricular sporting activities.

 Arts- One of the school’s strongest programs offering: ballet, jazz, tap, violin, piano, band, and theatre. Students practice for one hour after school three days a week as well as two hours per week during their ancillary period. They have many opportunities to display their talents in school plays and recitals. This specialized curriculum allows students of limited means access to specialized technical and artistic knowledge which greatly improves the odds in gaining admission to one of several fine arts middle schools.

 Positive Reinforcement- While the amount of positive reinforcement varies from teacher to teacher. Children receive class pizza parties for perfect 6 week attendance as well as stickers for good behavior and class boasting boards (full of exceptional examples of student work). Positive verbal reinforcement is used by most teachers throughout the day as part of their classroom management strategy, thereby giving attention and praise to compliant students in an effort to encourage unruly students to gain attention through expected behavior.

 Seasonal Festival- The school organizes two community festivals / fund raisers. In each, parents contribute cakes and soda to be used as prizes. Ethnic foods are prepared and families spend the afternoon and evening together eating and playing games run by the school faculty. The festivals encourage harmony between school and community.

School Environment (climate / evidence of activities)

 Faculty Turnover- Unfortunately, HAE has not been able to escape the high turnover rates, which plague many inner-city schools. Hovering between 40 and 60% the school has never had a year when even 80% of its faculty returned. Many teachers use the school as a stepping-stone to more lucrative positions in suburban learning centers. One of the factors which enters into this situation is the annual hiring of individuals in the Teach For America program. While bright and energetic few stay longer than the obligatory two-year commitment.

TAAS and General Stress levels- In comparison to years prior, faculty members have exhibited fewer signs of stress which may have to do with the improved managerial climate. TAAS is a familiar word on the lips of most employees however it does not overshadow every other aspect of the children’s curricular life.

 How is leaning celebrated? – Programs in place for the celebration of learning include, Book Bug Awards, history and science fair, fine arts field trips, and the construction of educational bulletin boards. Notably absent is the utilization of Free Voluntary Reading across grade levels. 

Behavior Management Plan (Campus Wide)

 School Wide- While HAE does have a policy which encourages teachers to use a color system for behavior management, there are no written guidelines which spell out what punishment should be given out for different levels of infraction.

 Grade Level- It has been common practice at HAE to use master teachers in the area of classroom management as mentors for beginning teachers. When a struggling teacher needs distance from a child he or she will occasionally be sent to the master teacher’s room for a cooling off period which allows the struggling teacher to more effectively deliver his or her lessons to the remaining students.

 Classroom- As stated earlier, classroom teachers on average exhibit adequate levels of competence in the area of classroom management. Most focus their attention on desired behaviors and attitudes, which increases those expected behaviors.

 Per Student- The school maintains a Behavior Adjustment Class which serves its most persistently disruptive students. The program ranges from 3 to 7 students during the year with many placed with the general population during ancillary periods. Occasionally certain “especially at risk children” are targeted by members of the fine arts staff in hopes that extra attention and individual guidance will help to remedy the negative situations these students help to cause.

 Superintendent and Feeder pattern- Besides its high turnover rate at all levels, the school suffers most from indecisive administration on the assistant superintendent level and few opportunities for learning inside the normal feeder pattern. The assistant superintendent has been on campus twice in the last 4 months, both times to introduce a new administrator. This lack of leadership has been detrimental to faculty morale as well as student growth. Finally, the middle school into which HAE feeds has experienced two student homicides in as many years. Those which are not accepted into a magnet program are left to educate themselves and try and stay alive.