A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Gladys Noon Spellman Elementary School
Prince George?s County Public School District
Cheverly, Md.

Key Programs: Canady Scheduling (90-minute school-wide block scheduling for language arts); ESOL Center (English for Speakers of Other Languages)

Background

The Spellman school day officially opens at 8:55 a.m. with quiet time followed by the student-produced and hosted morning broadcast of WGNS. In the minutes before, children with backpacks and book-bags walk purposefully through the halls to their classrooms. Student safety patrols stand at regular intervals in the middle of the well-lit yellow brick corridors. Their presence silently establishes two lanes in the hallway. Older students flow by, while the patrols and adults gently guide younger ones, still unsure of their steps and the school.

Observing the children?s well-choreographed arrival, one would never guess that Spellman is extremely overcrowded, serving 200 students more than the building?s stated capacity, or that just last year discipline was the primary concern of teachers. Now administrators, staff, and parents describe Spellman as an organized, calm, and academically focused environment. An innovative scheduling system, small group teaching, authentic task instruction, and authentic assessment practices have all become hallmarks of the academic program at Spellman and defining elements of the culture of the school. A commitment to teaching all children is demonstrated through inclusive approaches to special education and the teaching of students who are English language learners. At Spellman every minute and every bit of space are dedicated to instruction. For instance, storage rooms have been converted to a Spanish classroom and science lab. Even part of the teachers? lounge is used on a daily basis for student instruction.

Population Served

Gladys Noon Spellman Elementary School is located about five miles from Washington, D.C., in the socio-economically and racially diverse community of Cheverly in Prince George?s County, Md. The recently renovated split-level stucco and brick building is nestled into the crest of a hill. Single-family homes and high-rise, low-income apartments surround the sparsely wooded campus. Spellman served a multi-cultural student body of more than 750 students in kindergarten through grade six. The school reflects the diversity of the neighborhood and includes many immigrant children who are bused from all parts of the county to the school?s ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) Center. Three out of four of the students are black (African American and African immigrants) and one in seven is Hispanic. The remaining population includes children who are white (Euro-American and Russian immigrants) and a small number of Asian American and Native American students. More than 60 percent of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.

Academic Improvement

The performance of Spellman students on the Maryland State Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) has improved considerably since 1994. The improvement is apparent in all six of the areas included in the assessment program. (See Table 13.) As well, the performance of Spellman students on the MSPAP exceeds the performance of students throughout the state in all areas at the third-grade level and in most areas at the fifth-grade level. (See Table 14.)

Table 13: Percent Spellman Elementary Students at or Above Satisfactory Level

Spellman?s story began with a single-minded focus on instruction. This approach resulted in many important improvements; however, it also had its costs. Many teachers believed that greater gains could be achieved with a broader focus on issues that influenced the school climate. During the 1998-99 school year, with the direction of a new principal, Spellman increased its efforts to fill these gaps.

Starting Points

Spellman has been going through a change process for more than five years. There is wide consensus in the school and district that the instructional reforms that began in 1994, under the administration of former principal, Sherry Liebes, have led to the constantly increasing performance of Spellman students. Liebes, who has a background in special education, was previously the principal of a national Blue Ribbon school. She came to Spellman in 1994 one year after the new and rigorous Maryland state assessment (the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program or MSPAP) had first been piloted.

When Liebes arrived, Spellman was a relatively large, multicultural elementary school. Teachers recalled that discipline was an issue; "There were kids running in the halls. Kids that were sent to the office got candy before they came back." Staff felt a lack of leadership. As one teacher explained, "We weren?t getting too much focus from the helm."

Instruction at Spellman was delivered in a traditional style in self-contained classrooms at all times. The chief educational administrator responsible for overseeing the group of elementary, middle, and high schools, of which Spellman is a part recalled, "It was just operating as a traditional elementary school, using traditional methods with low expectations for teaching children."

There were, and still are, a large number of staff and specialists at Spellman. This high level of staffing is the result of Title I funding and money from the Prince George?s County District for being a Model Comprehensive School. Many of these staff members did not have their own classrooms because Spellman?s hilly terrain could not accommodate portable buildings. Classroom teachers expressed frustration that they could not teach because students were constantly being pulled from class for special services provided by the additional staff. As Liebes explained, "What teachers said to me was, ?Every time I try to teach, somebody?s at my door taking my kids.?"

These scheduling difficulties also seemed to reinforce a sense among teachers that academics were not a high priority. One teacher complained, "P.E. [physical education] and music set the schedule and we worked around that. Academics were not as important as frills."

Changing the Organization of Schooling:
Innovative Scheduling

In response to the disruptions, Principal Liebes implemented a system of block scheduling, which she had used successfully to cope with similar issues at her previous school. Spellman adapted this block-scheduling model (based on the work of Robert Lynn Canady, and referred to by staff as "Canady") to provide small group instruction in reading and language arts during a 90-minute block every morning. Each classroom teacher was paired with a specialist, who served as an instructional partner for a 10-day rotation. These two partners split the homeroom class in half; one delivered the main reading lesson for 45 minutes while the other reinforced the lesson through his or her specialty. During the second half of the period, students worked with the other instructor. The end result was that all students and instructors worked on reading and language arts in small groups for 90 minutes every school day.

Liebes was adamant that this time had no interruptions. Expressing her commitment to the model she said, "It was sacred time. We did no announcements. We had no field trips. We had no assemblies. We didn?t do anything, except Canady! On early dismissal days or late arrival days because of snow, everything else would be cut out, but you would have that hour and a half of reading and language arts instruction."

Teachers confirmed this sense of focus by explaining, "Liebes always used to say, ?time on task!? In her four years [at Spellman] reading was never, ever, ever disturbed. You did reading every day. From 9:20 to 11 a.m. this school shut down. You did reading."

Liebes made strategic decisions as she introduced the block-scheduling model. First, in an effort to cultivate faculty ownership for the proposal, she asked teachers to voluntarily attend a local presentation by Canady. But, Liebes said, "I made sure there were some kingpins on the staff that went with me to that first in-service." After interest had been generated among the wider staff, the initial team worked out a plan for pilot implementation. Dr Liebes described her strategy for introducing innovations; "I always call things like this a pilot, because in fact they are. Plus if you call it a pilot, people are more apt to respond and say, ?I?ll try it.? It makes it sound like if it doesn?t work it?s okay. It?s nobody?s fault."

This voluntary and gradual approach eased the change process. As Liebes said:

I felt like we had the luxury to take that time, because at that point, test scores were an issue, achievement was an issue, but our school was not one of the reconstituted schools. So, we were able to take time. I felt like it was important to make it voluntary originally because I wanted people to own the process and feel like they had a part of it and were going to make it work.

Not only did this approach promote ownership, but also it gave "reluctant" teachers time to wait and see. Grade levels could elect to use the block schedule: in the first year (1995) grades 2, 3, 4, and 5 used the new system, the next year kindergarten joined, and by the third year first and sixth grades had joined. As Liebes remembered, "The first grade had to sit back and watch it happen. Once they saw it work, then they clamored for it too."

However, Liebes was not hesitant to encourage those teachers who ultimately did not want to participate in her vision of reform to find employment elsewhere. Staff turnover was high during her tenure as she built a cohesive team around her notion of reform. As one teacher explained:

She was nice, but stern. All she ever really said was ?These are the expectations at Gladys Noon Spellman. This is what we do and this is how we teach. If this isn?t something you?re interested in doing, then let me know and I?ll write you a wonderful evaluation and you can help yourself.?

The new scheduling system provided a unified focus for the whole school. Liebes underscored this benefit by stating, "The beauty of it for me is that you have the whole school focused on the same thing at the same time. The kids know what is going on. They meet the same thing in the morning. Everybody is teaching the same objectives, the same goal."

Staff also described a variety of benefits of the scheduling model. First, teachers experienced support and validation in their role as educators with the new emphasis on academics. According to one teacher, "It gave us the opportunity to teach. After all, that?s why we?re all here." The small group instruction made it easier for teachers to do their job successfully especially given the overcrowded conditions at Spellman. Another teacher explained:

The Canady situation makes things much better because, normally, you?re dealing with a class of 30. With the Canady program you?re teaching a class of half that size during your reading instruction and you don?t have the interruptions that distract both the teacher and the students during primary reading instruction.

Teachers attributed their improved collaboration to the experience of working as instructional partners on a daily basis. As one specialist explained:

I think the Canady program fosters a lot of this [collaboration] because every single person in this school is responsible for instruction. Therefore, everybody?s paired up with someone. Sometimes we change grade levels. So we have to interact with other people. It?s almost forced. You have to talk to those people because you?re working with them and you?re working with everybody.

The pragmatics of shared responsibility has led to a strongly voiced ethos that all staff are responsible for the academic success of all children. A teacher affirmed this by saying, "Everybody?s involved in language arts instruction, everybody is responsible for the increase in the scores because of what we do. It?s not just the classroom teachers."

Changing Academic Instruction

During her first years at Spellman, Liebes sought to shift the mode of classroom instruction to the "performance-based" or "authentic-task" based instruction that characterizes Spellman classrooms today. Teachers defined authentic-task instruction as instruction that emphasized real-life problems in a manner that integrated multiple skills. As an example, an experienced teacher described a lesson she taught earlier that day:

We?ve been studying forests. So I did a task on conserving paper. We had to do some math; they had to choose the appropriate operation to find out how much the paper cost in different years. We had to create a graph. Then we had to do writing, because they have to know how to restate and pull apart information from the graph and write the answers. After that we had to write a proposal as to how the school system could deal with the rising cost of paper. When they?re writing that, they?re going to go into some science, conservation, recycling. That?s an example of authentic-task instruction.

Staff asserted that this method of teaching better prepared the students for the state assessment. A teacher explained:

We began authentic-task instruction because that?s how the state assessment is structured. On the test they are not going to say this page is math and that page is science. It?s always going to be integrated. The task is going to draw from their knowledge of all these different concepts. It?s more like application. So we started teaching the way the test is structured.

Achieving this shift in teaching methods was neither quick nor simple. Indeed, Liebes recalled it as the greatest challenge that she encountered in the change process. As she said, "People bought into the Canady model pretty easily. But it was a little harder to change the instructional activities that happened once people were in that small group setting."

To support this reform, Liebes hired instructional specialists (also referred to as "performance-task" teachers by Spellman staff) who were able to model performance-based teaching (teaching that focused on helping students perform authentic tasks). Describing this strategy, which was the core of her approach to professional development, Liebes explained, "A very important part was the development of in-house master teachers, for lack of a better word. We had people in an instructional support role, in-house consultants. They support the instructional program, but live in the building, rather than provide out-of-building support."

Liebes used these instructional specialists both to introduce new methods and to provide intensive training and development when needed. She described a time when she used the specialists to train a relatively inexperienced teacher who was hired to fill a mid-year vacancy:

I took the science teacher, the math specialist, and our reading specialist and said, ?Get into that classroom and get that classroom going.? Either through Canady assignments or in the afternoon through flexible scheduling, they were able to work intensively with that teacher, helping her plan, choose materials, and pace instruction. They did model lessons and then they would sit in the back of the room, watch her teach, and give her a critique.

Teachers and district officers gave credit to Liebes for selecting talented, effective instructional specialists. Their willingness to help was noted as a key part of their effectiveness. The current principal, Janet Lopez, who had spent many hours at Spellman in her previous district-level position, emphasized this point when speaking about one particularly valuable instructional specialist. "She had the kind of personality that made her easy to accept because she helped," Lopez said. "That is something very critical with all these performance-task teachers. They are perfectly willing to help the classroom teacher and offer their assistance."

Nonetheless, it took time for the instructional specialists to gain acceptance. For example, one encountered resistance as she began to model hands-on teaching in her science lab five years ago. Teachers had poor experiences with science lab in previous years and were skeptical about this new and relatively young teacher?s ability to offer them anything of value. The principal provided concrete guidance and tacit support, which helped the new teacher weather criticism. She recalled, "Liebes told me, ?Please let me know if there is anybody who doesn?t sign up.? I am sure she was going to speak with them."

The instructional specialists also reinforced the change process by doing additional work. As one of them recalled:

In the beginning, at my principal?s request, I did extra work. I gave the teachers the whole unit I was doing with their kids. I gave them two or three follow-up activities they could do each day to reinforce what we did in the lab. So I did a lot of extra things to show them that this really was a good program and they were really going to get something out of me. It wasn?t just fluff and show.

Assessment Practice

At Spellman, there were regular and intensive assessment practices in preparation for the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP). These practice sessions, conducted bi-weekly in grades three, four, and five, and monthly in grade two, are another central element of Spellman?s instruction. Teachers and parents believed these practices contributed to the success and uniqueness of Spellman?s program. Without hesitation a teacher described the school as "MSPAP driven." She went on to add:

I?m comfortable with that because it is good teaching. If good teaching is going to serve two purposes, then it?s a good situation. How can we lose? Not only that, I?m of the opinion that we are going to have MSPAP around for a long time and you might as well get on the bandwagon. You would be doing the students a disservice to not instruct that way if that?s how they are going to be assessed.

A parent concurred:

It surprises me that other schools don?t do this. In middle school, the teacher told me that the kids from Spellman have skills that kids from other schools don?t have. They have been prepared. They know these terms. They know how to write and how to read a map. They have skills you need for MSPAP and you need for life.

Every other week, beginning in October and continuing throughout the year, third, fourth, and fifth-grade teachers used the 90-minute morning period to present their students with practice tasks that were similar to those they faced on the assessment in the spring. The practice tasks were designed to incorporate and reinforce the curriculum. The administration and timing of test practice sessions reflected the conditions the students would experience in the actual testing situation.

A teacher described a practice test that she just conducted with the fifth grade:

I try to make [the practice tests] as real as possible?. I told the students there was an empty tank at the Baltimore aquarium and a deep sea fishing boat had gone out to find a new creature to put in the aquarium but they found two. So the students had to read these two short pieces, one about an archer fish that squirts water and another about a unicorn whale. They had to read them and highlight important information. Then they had to fill in a chart of basic information: how long they were, where they came from, and what they eat. Then they did a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the two creatures to help them decide which one might be easiest to keep. Finally, they wrote a letter to the aquarium staff making their recommendation.

An important didactic feature of the practice task sessions is that students are provided the scoring tool (rubric) when they review the practice test results. Later in the school year, closer to test time, students construct their own scoring tools by breaking down the questions. A teacher who had assumed the role of testing coordinator explained:

We teach them how to break down the prompt and how to use that as a scoring tool. This is where some of the test-taking skills come in. For instance, they highlight all the verbs. I think some of these real easy test-taking skills have improved the test scores as well.

Teachers also emphasized the benefits of using scores from these practice tests to inform their instruction. After students took the practice tests, each teacher met with his or her instructional partner to score the tests. Through this process, the instructors gained a detailed picture of their students? strengths and weaknesses. Then, teachers held grade-level meetings in which they debriefed as a group, identifying the common areas in which their students still needed help. These insights were used to guide and refine instruction during the next weeks.

As was true of many other innovations at Spellman, the assessment practices were developed gradually. In this case, two instructional specialists came up with the idea of developing some of their tasks into a format that more closely resembled the state assessment tasks. They tried this out first with one grade and then through the years expanded the test practices to other grade levels. Again, success was achieved because the instructional specialists initially did extra work. One of the instructional specialists explained, "There were those of us who did the bulk of the planning or organizing. So, the teachers felt they could come to us. In the beginning we really handled everything and it was just a matter of them implementing it with their students." Today all classroom teachers work along with the specialists and the in-house testing coordinator to develop the practice tasks and scoring tools.

Inclusion

Teachers recounted a shift in their attitudes toward students; contrasting the predominant past belief that "only certain children were important," to the current feeling that "all children are important." The word "inclusion" peppers the speech of Spellman faculty. This orientation is demonstrated in Spellman policies and practices regarding students identified for special education and foreign language speakers. First, teachers and specialists emphasized their shared responsibility in teaching all students. The special education teacher said:

This is the first school where I have had ?performance task? people and that makes a lot of difference. In other schools once teachers know a child requires special education services, they just leave it to the special education teachers. Over here, everybody works with that child.

Another added, "From my perspective as a Spanish teacher, I know that special education students have various skill problems and I try to work with the special education teachers as well as the classroom teacher. I?m not unusual in this. Everybody does this."

During Liebes? tenure the time required to identify and refer students for special education services decreased from "years" to four or five months. Teachers attributed this improvement to Liebes? background in special education and her ability to "work the system." But here again, the benefits of small group teaching and team instruction were cited as critical factors in this change. A teacher reported:

Dr. Liebes really encouraged people to look at their population and to start getting them into small groups. A lot of times, we did a lot with the special education teachers, or they would get to work during the Canady time with the children we had questions about. So when the children came up for evaluation, the special education teacher knew exactly what we were talking about. We didn?t have to take 90 days playing games.

Teachers and parents described excellent outcomes with special education students. A new special education teacher recalled her impressions upon arriving at the school three years ago. She stated, "I?ve seen the difference in how the students in special education perform compared to my other school. When I got here I saw some of the students? work. I thought, ?Why are you here? You?re supposed to be in a regular classroom.?"

Staff also praised Liebes for her sound, research-based approach to students who were English language learners:

She insisted that the ESOL children [children in the English for Speakers of Other Languages Program] work with high reading rather than low reading groups. This way they would get role models. Twenty percent of our population is ESOL. They?re now taking the MSPAP and their scores keep going up.

A teacher explained how she worked with speakers of other languages in her classroom:

We sit in what we call cooperative learning groups, so they are never by themselves, feeling like an oddball all day. As much as possible I try to group my students so those that have very limited English are in a group with someone of the same ethnicity, but who might be in his second or third year here at this school.

Building Upon Successes

A number of factors have helped Spellman sustain and build upon its achievements. First, the school found that its students had made dramatic improvement in their state assessment results in 1995. This news came only one year after the school began many of the instructional reform strategies described above. This news was motivating and validating for the administration and staff. Teachers began to see themselves as successful and unique in their approach to instruction. Janet Lopez, the current principal, explained, "Teachers felt they were doing something that was successful and that was different than other schools, and to me that was one of the keys in them getting better and better at what they?re doing."

For Liebes, a main component of professional development was to encourage and support staff in making presentations at state and district conferences as well as to their colleagues within Spellman. Such experiences served to build staff capacity and fostered the establishment of a wide base of instructional leadership within the school. Indeed, Liebes asserted that her goal was to create a school where the success of the instructional program did not depend on any one individual or leader. As she said:

We did have some key turnover of staff along the way. But things still continued to move along. That was my test. My test was that people could come and go, and even I could come and go, but that things would continue to improve and the school would remain strong. I wanted to create a process and a structure in an instructional program that was people-proof in a way. You had good people, but if one cog left, it was okay. It would continue to roll along.

Now, with a change of principals this year and continued success at Spellman, there was even more evidence that Spellman had achieved its goal of building a broad base of leadership. In fact, when Lopez arrived at Spellman last summer she found a faculty that was remarkably self-sufficient and reflective. She underscored this by describing a letter that staff had written to her:

On my desk was a letter that started, ?Dear Principal of Gladys Noon Spellman?? On the last day of school the teachers knew Dr. Liebes wasn?t coming back. They met and they made a list for whoever the principal would be. The list said these are the things we do very well, and these are the things that we need to work on. That is the nature of this staff. They consistently look for better ways to do things.

Lopez felt comfortable giving the staff the directive to "go ahead and keep on doing what you?ve been doing" because she had seen and recognized their ability to maintain and develop the instructional program. As a result, Lopez was able to devote extra attention to concerns about the school climate and community relations.

Changing the School Climate

While student achievement has continued to improve each year since Liebes became principal at Spellman, there have been costs associated with what was perceived as her single-minded focus on academics. A parent shared this perspective, stating, "Liebes? whole agenda was to get test scores up. It was all she was about. And whatever it took to do that, she was going to get it done. And she did. Of course, many people were very unhappy about how that was accomplished."

Voices from many corners of the school community expressed the concern that high test scores were not enough; some important things had been lost or left out of the mix. Discipline, although slightly improved during Liebes?s tenure, was still a problem and was cited by teachers as their primary concern at the end of the 1997-98 school year. There was tension in the school. Faculty turnover was high. As one staff person explained, "We would have to look up daily to see how much the staff had changed." The once sizable and historically active group of school parents had dwindled significantly. For example, participation at PTA meetings had dropped to five members and no parents served on the School-Based Management Team last year.

In addition, some staff members noted that while gains had been made in the academic arena, more could be done to support students? emotional and character development. One staff member explained, "The ?please,? the ?thank you,? that?s what we?re missing. Our test scores are wonderful? but if one can?t deal with their own emotions about their day to day struggle, test scores don?t mean a thing."

Principal Lopez, came to Spellman in the fall of 1998 bringing a knowledge of Spellman?s success and history due to her work in the school as a district-level community instructional specialist. Upon arriving at the school, she made it a priority to bring more calm and order to the campus and responded immediately to teachers? primary concern about discipline.

Lopez intentionally made herself visible in the halls and established a clear system for teacher duty stations during morning entry and afternoon dismissal. The school discipline plan, which had been developed several years ago, was re-established at the beginning of the school year and reinforced more consistently with a system of student tickets, fines, and incentives. Teachers, who were also involved in "reviving" the system, felt that the administrators supported them in enforcing the plan. In addition, all the students were reminded of their role in maintaining good behavior by a banner that flew at the end of all "fight-free" days.

Just last year, in an effort to raise teacher morale, a new faculty member proposed a teachers? social committee. She and another veteran teacher took the lead in establishing this group which hosts parties and breakfasts at teachers? homes.

During her three year tenure as vice principal, Regina Williams has taken the lead in developing programs that foster student citizenship. She has revamped the school safety patrol, initiated a student council, supported a teacher in establishing the SPARK program (Spellman Acts of Random Kindness), and created numerous other incentive-based student activities. Recently, responding to the students? need for after-school recreation, Williams announced try-outs for a coed basketball team. The response was overwhelming; more than 100 students filled the gym to compete for membership on the team.

Williams speaks proudly of the students? growing sense of responsibility. She relates this positive change to these opportunities and to the consistent modeling and guidance by staff. She shared a story of a sixth-grade student who had stopped to help a young child who was being chased by a dog. This student later told Williams, "I did that, because we are the leaders of the school and we have to help other people out."

Spellman staff recognize that these emotional supports and developmental opportunities enhance student performance. The school counselor provided students a measure of stability and a safe place to talk, He said, ?I?ve been able to give kids that chance to say, ?I need to talk.? "

Changing the Relationships with Parents and Community

In only four months as principal, Lopez has made significant progress in restoring the relationships with parents. They feel welcomed by her open-door policy. One parent shared her impressions:

I came in August and introduced myself and my daughter to her [Lopez]. I didn?t have a clue what she looked like. She came right out and introduced herself. Then she welcomed me into her office. In the past the door had always been closed, but this was very inviting. It was like you open your front door and say, ?Come into my living room and have a seat.? I was encouraged before school started that things were going to be more comfortable.

Parents have been reassured by the principal?s presence in the hallways. Another parent explained:

Even being in the hallways there?s a decided difference with Lopez. You see her in the hallways all the time. You see her in the hallways when the kids are coming to school. The kids know her. She knows them.

Parents have also noticed Lopez? commitment to improving school-parent communication. For instance she used Title I funds to have the school?s automated phone service announce PTA meetings. Indeed, this simple act was quite effective in generating a remarkably large turnout. More than 70 parents attended the last PTA meeting.

Conclusions

Today the Spellman community awaits good news about their recent state assessment results. There is a sense of anticipation in the air, an awareness that years of hard work and difficult changes are coalescing to bring results. Academic achievement remains paramount at Spellman: it is a source of pride and motivation, and the predominant feature of the school culture. Nonetheless, the calmer halls, Lopez? open door, and the crowded gym all suggest that Spellman?s definition of success has been expanding.

[Lora B. Peck Elementary School]

[James Ward Elementary School]