Two and a half years ago, Vashon Island School District officials drafted a strategic plan to guide the district in achieving its mission of preparing students for life in an “ever-changing world.” Last week, a meeting was held to judge progress under that plan.
The district’s plan is centered around six initiatives that range from empowering teachers to intervening with struggling students both academically and socially. Parents and teachers from all three schools met last Wednesday night at Vashon High School (VHS) to hear presentations about Chautauqua, McMurray and VHS and how teachers and counselors have been working toward the six initiatives.
“We’ve mapped out the direction to go and how to get there. We’re going to take a look at this waypoint we’re at and … provide insight into gaps in the approach and identify opportunities,” facilitator Larry Huggins said at the beginning of the event.
The presentations centered around results from last May’s Educational Effectiveness Survey, which polled students and parents on their experiences with the schools. The survey addressed the social elements of school (feeling safe, enjoying school) as well as the academic elements (feeling challenged and feeling teachers are preparing students to be successful). All three schools earned high marks across the board, on par with other high-performing schools that took part in the surveys.
As the groups moved through presentations from each school, many similarities in approaches to dealing with students emerged. Teachers from all three schools talked about ways they split up students within the classroom by ability in an effort to provide help to those who need it and challenge those who are understanding material.
Chris Zehnder, a district custodial manager who attended the meeting, said that he sees the district’s students in situations when teachers are not around (lunch, recess, before and after school) and had no idea about the varying approaches used for different students.
“I didn’t realize the programs they had to identify and place those kids to get them in the right programs so they can graduate,” he said.
McMurray science teacher Evan Justin said that the approach is used as a way to stop “throwing them against the wall to see what sticks,” and instead is giving students “the scaffolding to accomplish what they need.”
Facing dozens of students with failing grades, VHS principal Danny Rock said that the school has implemented “assigned” SMART periods, where students can be reassigned from their normal SMART period to a different SMART teacher whose class they are failing. Of the failing grades that the school has used this intervention for, roughly 40 out of 300 assigned F’s have improved to passing grades, Rock said.
“We have forced students who are failing classes to meet with teachers of that class,” Rock said.
Social and mental health support systems were also addressed, with many teachers saying that counselors and programs such as McMurray’s AVID (Advancement through Individual Determination), for students who are in need of mentors, help give students positive school experiences.
District Superintendent Michael Soltman said he hoped attendees left well-informed, and facilitator Huggins agreed.
“We want staff to be supremely well-informed, so much so that they can let people know what’s going on over the backyard fence. People learn more from over the backyard fence than from the newsletter,” Huggins said.
