Williamsburg Collegiate – Balancing rigor and joy (10-30-08)

“We’ve just wasted 65 seconds,” announced Ms. Ely. “I don’t feel like we’re ready for math class today…let’s start again.” As the students read out the number of problems they got right on the day’s mad minute for the second time it was hard to not notice the highly valued commodities of efficiency and urgency. (For those who don’t know, “mad minute” is a timed computation test in which students complete as many arithmetic problems as possible in a minute. The goal of the process is simply to increase automaticity and fluency) In fact, the entire time I observed the class in action I didn’t notice a single dip in learning engagement. Even when students were in transition between activities, a time when side talk is common, the students were instructed to “write their 8’s” and then their “7’s.” (8, 16, 24, …), which they quickly obliged. The agenda on the board read like a presidential to do list, filled with 9 items all set to a time limit of no more than 20 minutes. The high stakes, “we’ve got things to get done and we’re going to get them done now,” environment was palpable with Ms. Ely leading the charge. You could think of the urgency as Peyton Manning pushing his team down the field with time expiring needing one last touchdown to clinch victory. This class was all business!

Simultaneous to the intense, highly structured environment was a room of 5^th graders who wanted to be there. Constantly raising their hands (it wasn’t uncommon for all 25 kids in the class to shoot their hands to the sky upon being asked a question) and going along with whatever was being asked, the students almost looked like they were part of a gang.

That’s how the school gets it done. A 5^th – 8^th grade middle school with 250 students, Williamsburg Collegiate is an amazing blend of structure, discipline, urgency and fun. Their Special Education expert refers to this mixture as a balance between “joy and rigor.” The school is comprised of 60 % Hispanic students and 40 % African American. 85 % of the student body is on the free and reduced lunch program and 14 – 15 % of the students are supported through special education. The school is part of the Uncommon Schools network, a CMO that acts as the umbrella to other schools including North Star Academy in Newark and Leadership Prep in New York.

What do they do to ensure success?

First off, students arrive between 7:15 and 7:45 daily and don’t leave until 5:30 at night. The staff, an intensely dedicated group, has the same contractual day as the students, with every teach participating in additional student support through the extended day. In addition to the extended day, incoming 5^th graders attend a 3 week orientation sessions.

Beyond the use of time, every individual in the building teaches at least one class, principals included. Thackston, the Director of Operations teaches a math class, while the school’s principal, Julie teaches a science class. Beyond teaching, members of the administrative team meet with every teacher for at least one hour per week. These meetings focus on reviewing lessons, student performance, and classroom observation. The sense of urgency felt in the classroom permeates at all levels of the school.

Interim Assessments – Finding out where students are and doing something about it

Each 6 weeks every student in the school takes an interim assessment to see if they’ve mastered the content from their core classes. The tests are a combination of open-ended, constructed response questions and multiple choice problems. On Monday and Tuesday the tests are administered and on Wednesday the whole faculty assembles to assess the open ended, constructed response problems from the tests. Upon gathering the data from the constructed response problems the remainder of the tests are scanned using a scan-tron and the data is then transferred to a spreadsheet that breaks down each individual student with their level of understanding on each learning objective. This massive, data based document is than given back to the teachers by Friday morning so they may spend the day analyzing it and planning next steps. Many schools are similar to Williamsburg Collegiate in their ability to collect data on student learning, however, this particular 5^th – 8^th grade “no-excuse” middle school does some amazing work after they’ve broken the data down.

There are three major streams of effort that teachers use once they’ve analyzed their data.

1.) Re-teaching the class – If 80 % of students in a particular class fail to show mastery of a specific learning objective then that teacher will make plans to provide a lesson or lessons focused on the weakness of the students. In addition, if a smaller percentage of students are struggling with a particular learning objective then the teacher might include problems that address the student weakness in their “Do Nows” for a series of weeks. (Do Nows are the “warm up” problems that start each class).

2.) Small Group/Individual Tutoring – Since school goes to 5:30 on a regular basis there is already built in time for additional instruction and support. If 20 % of students in a particular class are struggling with the same learning objectives based on their interim assessment then the teacher may have all 20 % work with him or her in a series of after school tutoring groups. By doing so, the class remains on track with its content while students who need it receive additional support to fill in missing chunks of learning.

3.) Pull out interventions – If certain students are really failing to thrive in the classroom environment and are demonstrating little to no understanding on the interim assessment then the school may use pull-out, one on one, or small group time during the school day to provide more intensive instruction.

Regardless of which stream of effort is used, it is clear that an approach in which no child is overlooked and explicit next steps are taken is a model for all of us to follow. In this school it is not ok to not master essential content. Instead, if you show that you are not proficient in essential areas the school does everything it can to get you back on track and ready for your future education, most notably, college.

The College Dream

At Williamsburg Collegiate each student is assigned to an advisory in 5^th grade when they enter. Their advisories are named after college alma maters and their graduation year is based on the year that they should receive their undergraduate degree. In 8^th grade there is a huge emphasis on the college-bound track. Students learn how to calculate their GPAs, take trips to college campuses, and start to examine what a good college application looks like.

On Fridays of each week the whole school gets together for what’s called “base camp.” During base camp students participate in a variety of activities, but everything is framed around “the mountain climb to college.” The school’s transparency about students attending college certainly doesn’t guarantee that every 8^th grader will get there and stay there, but it definitely sends a clear message that such high expectations are common place and simply the way we do business.

What can we learn from Williamsburg?

If you want to see a class where every minute counts then I highly encourage you to visit this “uncommon school.” Their teachers demand the highest productivity rare that I’ve ever witnessed in a classroom. In the past I’ve always taught my students about productivity gaps, the difference between what you could accomplish and what you actually accomplish. The productivity gap for the majority of students in my classrooms has fluctuated from high to low depending on the day, my planning and student attitudes. At Williamsburg Collegiate it seems like the productivity gap says at consistent 0. There is no gap between what could get done and what does get done.

The sense of urgency developed in the classrooms mixed with the teacher’s use of interim assessments to drive instruction is a valuable combination. When you add on the non-stop push to get students ready for college you have a school where everyone has a common purpose and the community is stronger. “Team before individual” is certainly an underlying motto permeating the halls and classrooms of the building. Everyone is doing their part and as a result the school is a highly functioning learning environment with a mix of structure, discipline and achievement.

The do whatever it takes attitude of the school is everywhere you look and their director of operations is no exception. As he says, “you get in the building and we’ll do everything possible to keep you here and convince you that this is where you need to be.”