Author: Chan, Roy

Publication Year:

Media Type: Report

Summary:

For years, Orchard Gardens K-8 Pilot School was plagued by low student achievement and high staff turnover. Then, in 2010, with an expanded school schedule made possible with federal funding, Orchard Gardens began a remarkable turnaround. Today, the school is demonstrating how increased learning time, combined with other key turnaround strategies, can dramatically improve the performance of even the nation’s most troubled schools.

Abstract:

Orchard Gardens K-8 Pilot School (OGPS) opened in 2003 amidst much fanfare. Its $30 million building represented a large-scale effort to revitalize one of Boston’s poorest communities. But for its first seven years, OGPS was plagued by low academic performance and high staff turnover. From 2003 to 2010, Orchard Gardens proficiency rates on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) stagnated below 20 percent in both English Language Arts (ELA) and math. “The best this school had ever done in the past was getting one-fifth of our students to proficiency,” says Toby Romer, the school’s director of professional development and data inquiry.

Due to its poor achievement history, Orchard Gardens was designated for turnaround status in April 2010. With an innovative plan centered on additional classroom time for all students and staff, the school has demonstrated impressive gains in just one year. While school-wide proficiency rates are still low overall, student growth in both English Language Arts (ELA) and math—as measured by the 2011 MCAS performance—was among the highest in the state, with a 10 percent jump in ELA and 16 percent in math from the previous year. As students and teachers gear up for 2012 assessments this spring, school leaders are anticipating another dramatic jump in performance.

Today, with additional time in their school day, Orchard Gardens’ students receive instruction rich in both depth and breadth. “One of the biggest reasons for my students’ success was the extended period of time with them,” says Ben Rockoff, the school’s seventh-grade math teacher. In 2011, the median student in Rockoff’s math classes ranked at the 92nd percentile among all Massachusetts seventh-grade students; only three seventh-grade math classrooms in the state demonstrated greater improvement. The expanded day also allows teachers—many of whom were new to the school in 2011—to devote time to setting clear expectations at the beginning of the year. Says Kellie Njenga, one of only two current staff members who have been at OGPS since its opening in 2003, “Compared to previous years, the biggest difference this year is the culture. We devoted a lot of time at the beginning of the year to teaching procedures and establishing a consistent set of expectations.” Today, visitors from the school system regularly remark that Orchard Gardens feels like a new school. An expanded school schedule has benefited teachers as well, providing them not only more time with their students, but more time for teacher collaboration and data analysis. “Collecting, analyzing, and actually planning around data requires a lot of time,” says Romer. “Setting aside time each week to do that was really important for our teachers to teach at a high level.”

As policymakers and educators continue to grapple with the compelling challenge of remaking our nation’s underperforming schools, many are realizing that an expanded school schedule for teachers and students offers tremendous promise. Orchard Gardens is an example of the transformative impact a longer school day can have when time is used effectively and in concert with other important reform measures.

Arts & Intersections:

Categories: Creative Youth Development, Arts Education, Access and Equity