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Ms. Ashford’s second grade practices critical thinking. |
The school building may have been built 101 years ago, but Truesdell’s forward-thinking approach to educating students is here and now, using collaboration and a Japanese idea to focus on literacy.
College-Bound
Truesdell Education Campus, a Ward 4 public school at 800 Ingraham St. NW, has a tall order – fulfilling the educational, emotional and social needs and goals of children from preschool to eighth grade. Just under half of Truesdell’s students are English Language Learners (ELL).
Brearn Wright took the reins as principal in the summer of 2008, his vision two-fold. “There had to be high-quality instruction as well as character development,” said Wright. “Students need both to be successful in college and in life. When you walk into our school, you see the college pennants. They are there to remind the students – 3-year-olds to eighth-graders – that they will go to college.”
The college theme carries to the middle-school classrooms where the classes are identified by university. “It lets the kids take some ownership,” explained Assistant Principal Avni Gupta-Kagan. “Schools were chosen to foster competition among classes.”
“Since Mr. Wright has come, the school has evolved,” said Breigh Echavarria, mother of third-grader Azriel, who is in his third year at Truesdell. “Students in the upper grades know that they are in control of their education – no one is going to do it for them.”
Collaboration is Key
Truesdell received a grant from the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) for “Power of Planning” with which they were able to purchase Promethium Boards, documentation cameras, and Flip cameras to capture best practices. “It is important to visit great schools in action,” Wright said, “but we have great teachers that need to be highlighted.”
The school is organized into four teams, each led by a teacher, broken down by grade levels. “These teams empower teachers,” said Wright. “We had three retreats during the summer, planning and mapping out the first nine weeks, organizing the teams. On Wednesdays we have Kid Talk, where we bring a kid to the table to hear that child’s strengths and weaknesses and develop an action plan,” he said. “We review every five weeks to see if the plans are working or if they need to be changed.”
In their second year of collaborative teaching, Truesdell is systematically tackling their main problem – literacy. “We have kids three grade levels behind,” Wright said. “They need a collaborative approach.” For ELL and special education students, the students are integrated and not removed from the unity of the class, but taught to on level by way of having two teachers in the room.
In the last several years, Truesdell’s DC CAS test scores have mainly hovered in the 40s for proficiency in reading and math. However, 2009 saw a 19 percent gain in math and an 8 percent gain in reading, taking the school’s proficiency to 56.72 percent and 49.75 percent respectively.
Breaking down the data by grade level was telling, and Wright used it to demonstrate what he already knew – that collaborative teaching really works when it is well-executed. The third grade had 75.44 percent proficiency in reading and 81.03 percent in math. Fourth grade did poorly in reading. Why? “The third-grade teachers worked very well together – they collaborated, and the fourth-grade teachers struggled with it,” explained Wright.
Third-grade teacher Audrey Childs has been with Truesdell for 18 years. “I’ve seen the trends in curriculum change … I’ve seen the school change,” she said. “We are growing.”
Japanese Allies
Through the Fulbright Classroom Teacher Exchange Program, Wright spent three intensive weeks in Japan, studying how the Japanese manage middle-school classes. The result is a radical change that was challenging to implement at Truesdell. “Everyone knows that when you get to middle school, you change classes, go to your locker,” said Wright. Not anymore. Middle school students stay put – it’s the teachers who move around. “Teachers have gotten used to the idea of ‘my class’ and ‘my classroom.’ This is not your class,” he said. “This is the students’ class.”
This transition was a big one. Teachers had to remove themselves, both mentally and physically, from ownership of the class and set up their desks in a shared office. The result of this common area? “There is more collaboration,” said Gupta-Kagan, who primarily focuses on middle school. “Teachers eat lunch together and talk.”
Between classes has traditionally been the time to flirt, gossip and fight at the lockers, and this new order and the one-class model took some getting used to by students as well.
Order and Conduct
Wright implemented the Truesdell Code of Conduct, a strategic plan that illustrates to staff and students what is expected behaviorally, how students should be attired, and the benefits and consequences for compliance and noncompliance. Elementary students, preschool to fifth grade, wear yellow shirts with blue pants or skirts. Middle school students, sixth to eighth grade, wear white shirts, blue ties and blue pants or skirts.
Their mission reads in part, “We believe that students learn best when there is order and professionalism, and are committed to holding students and educators accountable for these expectations …”
Focus on Literacy
Wright knows from his own experience as a social studies teacher that if a student is not literate, then that student will not be able to excel in any class, as everything we learn involves reading. With this in mind, every subject is an opportunity to advance literacy. “We have a top-notch arts program,” said Wright, including a partnership with the Filmore Arts Center, where grades kindergarten through fourth can learn African dance, violin and Shakespearean drama.
For middle-school students, staff is assigned book clubs, where for 30 minutes each day, they read with students grouped by reading level, not grade. Parent workshops are conducted to support literacy in the home. Truesdell aims to remove hurdles to literacy with a food bank; and to maintain a clean uniform bank, Wright has asked Home Depot to provide the school with a washer and dryer.
Early education also focuses on literacy. Instructional coach Dara Feldman works with the early education team to provide a developmentally appropriate, highly engaging, experiential learning environment.
Archella Dorsey teaches kindergarten with the co-teaching model, using small group instruction. “Our goal is to have students leave kindergarten reading at the first-grade level,” she said. “Rigorous preschool and pre-k provides the children – especially those from a socio-economically disadvantaged background – the opportunity to succeed, and I’m excited to be a part of it!”
Time to Change
Instead of spending resources on a traditional eighth-grade graduation ceremony, Gupta-Kagan is taking the eighth grade to visit some schools named in their classes – Chapel Hill and the University of Virginia. “We’re looking for a bank to match our funds – we’ll have to do a lot of fundraising to pay for this five-day trip,” she said. “This is something the kids deserve.”
To learn more about Truesdell, visit them at 800 Ingraham St. NW or call 202-576-6202. |
