Running Head: ALIGNING GREEN WITH THE SIX PRINCIPLES

Aligning Green Elementary School with Blankstein’s Six Principles

Meghan M. Ciacchella

Oakland University

Author Note

Meghan M. Ciacchella, Department of Organizational Leadership, Oakland University

Correspondence concerning this paper should be addressed to Meghan M. Ciacchella

47600 Sugarbush Road, Chesterfield Township, MI 48047. Contact: ciacchella@oakland.edu

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ABSTRACT

Alan M. Blankstein described six principles that serve to better schools and produce high

achievement amongst student population in his book Failure is Not an Option: Six Principles That

Advance Student Achievement in Highly Effective Schools. This research paper embarks on a

journey to evaluate Green Elementary, a suburban Title I school located in Chesterfield Township,

Michigan apart of the L’Anse Creuse Public School District. The research that follows provides

a detailed analysis of Green School’s alignment with Blankstein’s six principles according to

current practices put forth in action demonstrating Green’s strengths in the second, fourth, and

fifth principles with areas for growth in Blankstein’s (2013) first, third, and sixth principles. The

research that follows suggests that Green Elementary is well on their way to successfully following

Blankstein’s (2013) six principles by providing highly effective education and practices for their

students, staff members, and community stakeholders alike proving Failure is Not an Option.

Key Words: Blankstein, six principles, school improvement, failure, highly effective education.

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Introduction:

Green Elementary school, located in Chesterfield Township, Michigan is one of nine

elementary buildings within L’Anse Creuse Public Schools (LCPS). This building, comprised of

approximately 547 students (at the time of this publication), is a part of the northern suburbs in the

metro Detroit area apart of the Macomb Intermediate School District consortium. Green

Elementary has recently seen a massive demographic shift in their population and has since been

identified as a partially Title I school with approximately 34% of its students receiving

free/reduced lunch services based from the 2017-2018 school-wide data. This building has also

suffered a population decline losing close to approximately one hundred and fifty students in the

past few years. Since approximately 2011, this school has also received 31-A additional support

funding and continues to receive this support as of the 2018-2019 school year.

Green Elementary currently employs a total of forty-four staff members (at the time of this

publication): nineteen general educational staff members (teaching grades K-5), eight district-

shared specials teachers (Music, Gym, Spanish, Media center, and Art), four Title I funded

paraprofessionals, two special educational teachers, two Kindergarten paraprofessionals, two

administrative assistants, two custodial staff members, one full time Social Worker (who will be

leaving at the end of this semester), one district shared speech pathologist, one district-shared Title

I teacher leader, and one building administrator. Along with the listed staff members, Green

Elementary houses the district’s self-contained EI program and currently accepts the district’s

overflow students from all surrounding elementaries. Having human resources that are shared

with other buildings poses multiple challenges for Green Elementary from attempting to maintain

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collaboration and distribute relevant information as many staff members are expected to follow

multiple building directives.

Green Elementary recently underwent an administrative change in 2013 as well as staff

changes due to a building closure throughout our district. Green’s population surged with the

merging of the district’s closed school-wide Title I elementary building in 2014. As a result of

this closure and merging student demographics, Green Elementary’s population became

increasingly more diverse with an increased percentage multiple cultural groups. At the end of the

2014-2015 school year, Green Elementary was deemed a “Focus School” by the state of

Michigan’s assessment due to their achievement gap in state scores. Green continued this status

until 2017-2018 school year when both the state changed their titles and Green’s overall scores

were no longer considered of focus school status.

PRINCIPLE 1: Common Mission, Vision, Values, and Goals

Blankstein (2013) clearly outlined and defined the four essential pillars any good functioning

school/organization should develop and implement in order to guarantee success: Mission, Vision,

Value, and Goals (MVVG). Blankstein’s research also declared, “a guiding force for effective

collaboration is the leadership team,” stressing the importance that all (administrators, teachers,

staff, students, community stakeholders) should be involved with the process of developing and

implementing MVVG for any school and/or organization (p. 83). Although Green Elementary

was found to contain a common mission statement, defined goals, and a shared vision statement,

documented evidence of their school’s common values were not found at the time of this

publication.

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According to Blankstein’s research (2013), missions should be well defined and explain why

a school exists (p .86, 89). Mission statements should also continuously address three outlying

questions:

1. What do we want to do?

2. How will we know if we are succeeding?

3. What will we do to ensure success?

Blankstein’s research also suggested “Effective Mission Statements” should be: clear, specific,

measurable, and provide a response to address how the school will respond if students

subsequently fail to learn (p. 91). Using the following questions and characteristics listed above,

Green’s mission statement was clearly defined and visible through various media outlets, but it did

not address all three questions in their entirety as Blankstein presented.

Green Elementary’s current public mission statement as expressed on their school’s website is

as follows: “Our mission is to provide a supportive learning environment, which enables students

to develop social, emotional and cognitive skills necessary for becoming life-long learners in a

global society” (Green School Website). Green’s mission statement described their expressed

intent to “provide a supportive learning environment” for all and to create “life-long learners in a

global society,” successfully addressing the first question posed by Blankstein. However, Green’s

mission statement did not present detailed evidence of what they would do specifically to ensure

their student success nor did it specify how the school would be able to determine if their student

population was indeed succeeding.

Green’s vision statement found in their comprehensive School Improvement Plan (SIP) stated:

“Green Elementary School community fosters a nurturing environment that inspires children to

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become life-long learners with integrity.” Blankstein’s (2013) research suggested that visions

should create an image of what a school can ultimately become together (p.93). To be an effective

vision statement, Blankstein also suggested vision statements should be: “realistic, clear,

compelling, have broad-based buy in, describe intended change,” and “guide action” (p. 95).

Green’s current vision statement was clearly stated and also attempts to create a general image of

what the school is in fact trying to create together. However, finding Green Elementary’s shared

vision posed a bit of a challenge in that it was listed on the “School’s Purpose” section in one line

of the School Improvement Plan. This plan is not readily accessible for all staff members at Green.

This poses a critical issue Green Elementary should continue to address this issue for the

purposed of maintaining transparency and shared vision for all involved, especially, those various

staff members that are forced to work at multiple buildings and responsible for understanding each

building’s varying procedures. Many permanent Green teachers were not aware that a current

vision statement was in place nor were they able to reference it regardless of its clear visibility

within the School Improvement Plan document. Perhaps if staff members were given supplemental

training for using the SIP, they may become more familiar with the document and its shared

MVVGs it possesses. Furthermore, all staff members, apart from the one teacher represented on

the School Improvement Team (SIT) should not only be solicited for their input into creating their

MVVGs, but they should also be given adequate time to thoughtfully analyze, revise, and review

the SIP. Frequently, professional development days have a lengthy agenda and many items are

not given proper time to review due to the limited time component.

Using the data presented in Green Elementary’s complete School Improvement Plan, Green

Elementary’s goals were clearly deemed “effective” as suggested by Blankstein’s (2013) research,

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in that they are “both specific and measurable” (p.106). Green Elementary listed five goals for

the 2018-2019 school year. These included:

1. All students at Green Elementary will show growth in the area of writing.

2. All students at Green Elementary will show growth in the area of Mathematics.

3. All students at Green Elementary will show growth in the area of Reading.

4. All students at Green Elementary will show growth in the area of Science.

5. All students at Green Elementary will show growth in the area of Social Studies.

Green’s current learning goals outlined demonstrated to be follow the suggested SMART

(Strategic, Measurable, Attainable, Result-oriented, and Time-Bound) foundation. These goals

created were not created collaboratively, and subsequently, many teachers have not fully bought

in to these goals as they feel it was dictated to them without their input or say. However, these

SMART goals are expected to be continuously monitored and/or evaluated each year with all staff

members using established state and district assessment measures.

In 2013, Green Elementary underwent an administrative change and more recently, due to

budget constraints and restrictions set in 2017, elementary teams in LCPS were only allocated one

staff member to accompany the school’s principal to Facilitators of School Improvement (FSI)

throughout the school year. Consequently, Green’s School Improvement Team currently consists

of only one teacher and the current building administrator. Having a School Improvement team

comprised of two team members poses a challenge to Blankstein’s (2013) researched methods to

produce high-achieving schools. With recent administrative changes, monetary restrictions

resulting from state budget setbacks, and due to substitute teacher shortages, the current SIT

attempted to establish teacher leaders, but rarely initiated input from the remaining staff members.

Further collaboration and additional transparency would greatly benefit all staff members at Green.

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Through the evaluation of Green Elementary’s current MVVG, their mission statement is

clearly visible, but rarely understood by staff members nor re-evaluated collaboratively together

since the administrative changeover. Moreover, both of Green Elementary’s vision and goals are

shared on its School Improvement Plan, however, both items were not accessible to the community

stakeholders and their staff members, apart from the two team members. As Blankstein’s (2013)

research alluded to, the four pillars should be created as a collaborative effort and embraced

together as a community (p. 94).

PRINCIPLE 2: Ensuring Achievement for All Students: Systems for Prevention and

Intervention

Green Elementary’s practices for prevention, identification, evaluation, and to provide

continued support for their diverse population of varied learning styles, behavioral issues, socio-

economic status, and demanding community needs, proved to be a particular area of strength for

this building. The comprehensive systems established for Green Elementary and enforced by

L’Anse Creuse Public Schools to continuously assess and guarantee success for all students, were

continuously maintained and monitored at Green Elementary. These systems and programs

established for intervention with current students varied greatly, with most systems leading to

successful growth amongst their student population. Green Elementary’s area that proved most

unsupported at the time of this research proved to be in the area of limited prevention programs

offered.

As Blankstein’s (2013) research alluded to, for schools to successfully and effectively sustain

their students’ high-achievement rate as well as to continue to identify themselves as “high-

performing,” all schools must methodically create, monitor, deliver systems for prevention and

intervention based upon three underlying principles that examined:

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1. The school’s community belief system regarding low-performing students.

2. The overarching philosophy that unified staff behavior.

3. Comprehensive systems for assuring success, including Response to Intervention (RtI)

(p.113).

Evaluating the systems put into place at Green Elementary based on Blankstein’s suggested

research, indicated an overall level of success for Green Elementary in sustaining an environment

that systematically utilized district initiated and sponsored programs that monitored student growth

and progress successfully in a variety of means (p. 112).

Green Elementary used district common assessments and data such as DIBELS, Fountas

and Pinnell running records for Reading, StarMath trimester assessment data, student Needs

Assessments, district Writing scores, and teacher observations to determine and establish effective

RtI groups for current student learning demands. These RtI groups were then formed and created

as a collaborative effort amongst each specific grade level teaching staff, the building

administrator, the Title I teacher leader, and the four Title I paraprofessional staff administering

the Tier III small group interventions. This method of collaboration, communication, and “shared

experience” as Blankstein (2013) referred to, subsequently helped to increase affinity, build self-

efficacy amongst staff members, while simultaneously serving to create “a cognitive dissonance”

that addressed specific low-performing student needs (p.120).

The staff members invited to attend the shared data dig meetings encouraged difficult

questions to be posed in an environment immersed in trust. Although community stakeholders

were not invited to attend these meetings, nor was the data shared or presented to the public, these

trimester meetings proved to be an invaluable process into ensuring every child was succeeding.

This shared sense of a trusting community environment and shared culture experience

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consequently established within these intervention meetings, naturally led to the establishment of

clear and concise learning goals for those low-performing students in order to better ensure their

success while maintaining high expectations for all.

Teachers at Green Elementary were also required to keep track of and maintain current

data entry on student assessments using district outlets, such as their data binders and individual

Needs Assessments. Staff members at Green are given a “black box” for organizing files and

collecting student data assessments. Leadership at Green should continue to enforce the use of

these centralized data collection by encouraging staff members to update them together, review,

revise, and simply use these together. Continued practice with fidelity will only better serve the

Green staff members through their data analysis.

Using these collected records over the course of a semester, teachers and staff members

alike then triangulated data and used their informal observations of students to discuss, create, and

evaluate student performance as a team. This sense of concerted community effort served to

relieve the individual teacher of feeling an overwhelming sense of pressure or burden to make

every child succeed in isolation (Blankstein, p.121). These data dig meetings proved to be quite

useful for all staff members at Green and leadership should continue with their efforts to maintain

the integrity of these meetings to continue success of students and true collaboration from all

members.

Through collaboration and as a team effort, Green’s staff successfully examined and

evaluated current intervention strategies in place. They often posed questions that Blankstein

(2013) referenced as an essential aspect in securing success for all students involved, such as “Why

aren’t these students succeeding?” and “How will we get them to succeed?” Teachers and staff at

Green Elementary, successfully secured new intervention schemes to utilize over the next semester

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by utilizing indicators of Best Practices that Steven Zemelman, Harvey Daniels, and Arthur Hyde

(2005) referred to when they aligned their practices with that of their new Marzano Teacher

Evaluations.

Collaborative meetings have been used at Green Elementary for eight years but have only

recently been used as a subbed-out method at the building since the start of the current 2018-2019

school year and with the new Superintendent’s directive. As a result of these meetings, Green

Elementary’s staff then launched further programs to continue to offer support for student

improvement through their shared pedagogy and belief in all students being successful. Some of

these programs and systems created to continue successful interventions strategies included:

 additional training for staff members

 new program initiatives (such as the LLI Reading program) for paraprofessionals to use

with struggling learners

 an extended day program for those students who recently graduated from the RtI model

being used in order to prevent further learning relapses

 critical self-evaluation, reflection, and examination of best practices that could be used with

struggling learners with IRIPs.

Essentially, Green’s staff addressed Blankstein’s (2013) “Four Cs of the Community Circle

of Caring” for all their student learners: contribution, connection, competence, and self-control (p.

128). Teachers have responded with increased enthusiasm, self-efficacy, and a renewed sense of

motivation that has demonstrated successful growth for their students in need of support. Through

these building meetings, a district mandate, Green Elementary saw significant student growth rates

evaluating the number of students moving out of the need for RtI support.

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Green Elementary and the LCPS district have recently endured a series of transient events.

These areas of change have included a severe loss of funding, building closures, staff restructuring

with involuntary placements and instructional support staff retirements, several changes in

superintendents and assistant superintendents, curriculum administrative changes, building level

staff changes, decrease in student population, increase in Title I and 31-A needs, professional

development restructuring, as well as a plethora of curriculum start-up initiatives from new

Science curriculum, Math series, pilot programs, and most recently the Michigan Association of

Intermediate School Administrators (MAISA) Writing unit program established. This transient

status of the district and fragmented district focus have resulted in increased staff reluctancy to

“buy-in” as suggested by Blankstein (2013) into new reforms (p. 121).

Although some prevention programs were previously put in place to address the prevention

of student failures at Green (such as mentor/mentee student sponsorship programs, extra-curricular

events, pre-school teaming with incoming Kindergarten students, celebratory assemblies for

student success, and additional tutoring sessions provided), they have since been eliminated due

to changes at the administrative end as well as due to monetary budget restrictions. Perhaps Green

could research new ways to fund these necessary programs by seeking out specific grants or

collaborating with neighboring schools to utilize their resources in exchange for something they

may need.

As Blankstein (2013) research confirmed, “most effective schools provide a ladder of

opportunities for struggling students,” he also concluded that these ‘effective schools’ should have

clear “components of prevention” systems put in place as well (p.131). Although Green

Elementary was most successful in the former, the latter method deemed to be the one area in need

of further analysis. Green might help to address this area of discrepancy through continued staff

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development that incorporates continued discussions, posing questions of how to prevent student

failures, using open dialogue and thoughtful discourse with one another and the community

members, emphasizing collaborative efforts, and creating additional time for deeper analysis

together as a staff.

PRINCIPLE 3: Collaborative Teaming Focused on Teaching for Learning

Blankstein’s (2013) research established a key component for ensuring high achievement

for all students and instituted success for any given school as being routed in establishing effective

and “collaborative teams” (p.162). Through his research, Blankstein discussed the appearance of

four specific types of school culture that exists throughout: individualistic, balkanized, contrived

collegiality, and collaborative (p. 145). Although when pertaining to student growth and

achievement, Green Elementary seemingly appears to be operating within a collaborative nature

on the outside, one could argue that they are operating within a more “contrived collegiality”

system as a collective entity on the inside; excelling at collaboration within certain grade level

teams only.

Green Elementary is certainly not lacking in highly qualified teaching staff. Rather,

amongst the instructional staff members, the average teaching experience roughly equates to

fifteen years within a classroom setting. This very veteran display of experience consistently

produces quality educational programs with staff members that seemingly work well together

when working as interdisciplinary teams, regarding things like data dig meetings and RtI focus

sessions. As Blankstein’s (2013) research suggested, the uniting thread of highly effective schools

should be one with collective collaboration routed in shared mission, vision, values, and goals (p.

144). Green Elementary has a clear shared mission statement, a stated vision, and several common

SMART goals within their School Improvement Plan, their lack of shared vision has suggested a

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sense of disconnect amongst colleagues. Green might benefit from further professional

development to elicit ideas together and build a new vision for continued improvement.

Green’s staff has seen its fair share of changes and transiency over the recent years. These

changes included numerous instructional support staff retirements, two merging elementary staffs

as a result from restructuring due to a closed elementary building, to redistricting student

population, and even transitioning to a new principal. Although the new administration has

exhibited a concerted effort to foster a collaborative culture within the building designed around

trust through various staff outings and other various staff social events, a great disconnect amongst

staff members can still be felt throughout the building. This is not necessarily due to leadership,

but rather, due to the lack of time properly invested to fuse the merging two staff and student

bodies to create a new sense of collective culture.

Prior to the merging of two staff populations and student populations, along with the onset

of multiple staff retirements and restructuring of leadership at the administrative level, the previous

makeup of Green Elementary seemed to function as more of a collaborative team. Administration

and previous leadership, operated in the reverse of “Theory X” mentality offered by Bolman and

Deal’s (2017) research where leadership attempted to control, manipulate, and “fear losing control

or indulging workers” (p. 137). Instead, previous administration (due to increased fund equity and

monetary resources allotment) were thus able to “promote egalitarianism” allowing employees to

be a part of the decision-making process (Bolman and Deal, p. 150). This more open-book

mentality, operating including all members of its faculty and inviting them to collaborate and

successfully achieved higher morale amongst most employees. As a result, test results were

significantly higher and relationships with community members remained active.

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Previous administration and monetary allocations subsequently allowed for teachers to take

ownership of problems within their building or team, encouraged whole grade level teams to work

together and actively research problems proposed by them through paid subbed out time during

the day. This apportionment of time provided more effective communication amongst peers, true

collaboration, and increased self-efficacy. As all schools have felt this pinch of the pocket book,

Green should look for additional ways to support their ideas and need for vertical teaming and

time to collaborate effectively, by perhaps restructuring their building Professional Development

days to include more time to work together.

Teachers at Green actively sought solutions for other team member’s problems as their

priorities and goals were visible, collectively created, and norms established through more

meaningful meetings. The previous professional development model at the district level led to

active PLCs within the building to collaborate vertically. Once again, due to restructuring and state

budget allocations, many of the systems once in place to encourage collaboration have since ended.

However, recently, the building has tended to operate on a more ‘close your door’ mentality with

guarded statements and a general feeling of mistrust, particularly amongst a select few, resulting

in far fewer genuine relationships, and consequently, less collaboration of ideas. Green might

benefit from a increased social gatherings with one another or department lunches to begin

reconnecting with each other on a collegial level. Trusting relationships take time but with further

time invested, Green would greatly benefit.

Green Elementary’s meetings are currently well structured and maintained but could

perhaps be improved if different teacher leaders were entrusted to lead. In addition, the staff

culture would greatly benefit through the creation of both shared norms and new school vision

being established with input from all staff members. The current leadership in place has actively

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pursued investing interest in collective collegiality through special social events such as: coffee

day, food events in the teacher’s lounge, painting with the staff, and various other methods.

However, due to the general low morale throughout the district as a consequence of state budgetary

cuts and setbacks, the leadership’s attempts have been appreciated and acknowledged by the staff

itself.

PRINCIPLE 4: Using Data to Guide Decision Making and Continuous Improvement

Data usage at Green Elementary has always been a productive, consistent, and continuous

process that allowed and encouraged staff consensus, collaboration, and creation of solutions to

fixing gaps in achievement. Green’s leadership effectively used data to stimulate and promote

improvement through adherence to Blankstein’s (2013) “four C’s:”

1. Collecting, sorting, and distributing data in the form of reports.

2. Creating the climate and culture of trust for effective data use.

3. Capacity building for analysis of data.

4. Committing to and achieving consistent implementation of data-based decisions (p. 164,

165).

L’Anse Creuse Public Schools has always required elementary instructional staff to assess

student achievement through a variety of data driven pieces to help promote student improvement.

Green Elementary has adhered to these policies successfully and with fidelity. As Green was

considered a focus school by the state of Michigan’s previous requirements for two years (2014-

2016) until the model changed at the state level, data were an essential element and tool used to

create ways to attempt to fix the achievement gap. Such pieces as StarMath™, DIBELS™, Fountas

and Pinnell™ running records, MLPP, district common assessments including six times a year

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writing prompts, standardized state assessments from formally MEAP to now M-STEP

assessment, were all required to be uploaded into a central data base system and incorporated into

the Needs Assessment configuration at Green Elementary.

These standardized assessments provided baseline examples with clear and concise language

that helped to form the basis of Response to Intervention groups (RTI). Staff members at Green

consistently were subbed out to experience staff data-digs to find common themes,

misconceptions, and reflect on areas of curriculum instruction where additional support was

needed to improve overall level of student performance. In addition, Green Elementary effectively

used the data appropriately according to Blankstein’s research (2013). Green consistently used

their data to “advance student achievement, address ‘whole-child’ needs, provide feedback to

students on academic progress,” and “to guide professional development activities (p 177).

Green Elementary should increase the frequency of these meetings to improve continuous

examination of student achievement. As LCPS eliminated early release days previously used for

PD hours and data conversations monthly, data digs took place less frequently, leaving too much

time in between staff discussions on data assessments. The district administrative incentives

beginning to take shape are successfully allocating critical time for careful examination of data

collected through vertical and horizontal teaming. Green Elementary should also take time

together as a staff, perhaps at mandated staff meetings, to process these data teaming meetings.

Through continued discussions and analysis together, Green’s student achievement will benefit.

Data collection at Green is one that is embedded in their professional culture. Faculty are well

versed in disaggregating relative data in a timely and consistent manner. What Green does well

include the use of the district’s human resources that serve to “encourage autonomy and

participation” as Bolman and Deal alluded to in their research (p. 146). Green frequently invites

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and incorporates the district’s Title I support teacher to aide in data-digs, the district’s Literacy

and Math coach members to provide assistance in planning newly aligned lessons to address issues

found in the data digs, as well as provided additional subbed out time to look through, sort, and

carefully plan out RTI groups that will be most successful. As the data driven meetings persist at

Green, it might be more beneficial if additional time were allocated to allow staff members to

create lessons through “vertical or grade level teams to analyze student work” (Blankstein, p. 171).

Using Title I allocated funds, Green Elementary might be able to do this by providing additional

subbed out time to utilize the data collection and analysis to then implement crucial best practices

collaboratively. This will only better serve Green’s faculty, students, and community members.

Although budget and monetary restrictions have also become apart of the Green’s cultural

norms, this school is not lacking in resources, talent, or professionalism. Teachers,

paraprofessionals, coaching support staff, and administrative leadership worked collaboratively

through careful analysis of standardized data to successfully graduate out of focus school status.

This celebratory moment was due in large part to the data immersed professional culture

maintained within Green Elementary and most especially, at the district level as well.

A frequent complaint amongst faculty at Green Elementary was not in the lack of data to assess,

but rather, in the amount of data collected and used to evaluate “evidence of systemwide,

schoolwide, and classroom-level achievement” as Blankstein (2013) referenced (p.171). Adhering

to the voiced concerns amongst Green Elementary employees’ (and other various elementary staff

members throughout the district), L’Anse Creuse recently formed a new political learning

committee to examine, analyze, and critique the recent methods of data collection in the 2018-

2019 academic school year. This PLC team, comprised of a variety of both instructional staff and

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elementary administrative leaders, engaged in thoughtful discourse and recently revised the current

data collection programs that will be used in the future, beginning in 2019-2020.

Listening to the constructive criticism, Green Elementary, along with the nine other elementary

buildings in this district, will be adopting a new method of data collection by means of utilizing

NWEA that neighboring districts already utilize. Not only did they evaluate and change the new

data collection method, but they did what many staff members frequently complained about in

years passed and eliminated certain data collections rather than adding to the plethora of data

collective methods already in place. Eliminating something from their instructional staff’s already

full plates will only better serve their employees morale while simultaneously promoting more

effective means to validate and improve classroom, staff, and community success for the Green

Elementary’s population. This success, thanks in large part to the new district administrative

leadership in place, has already proven effective in improving staff morale. This increased district

morale has consequently increased staff motivation and investment into their building’s success.

PRINCIPLE 5: Gaining Active Engagement from Family and Community

Green Elementary continues to incorporate an actively involved parental base whose presence

is quite known throughout the building daily. Their sustained presence successfully achieves a

partnership formed purposefully and with intent between parents and faculty at Green Elementary,

whose common goal revolves around “fundamental student achievement” and success at school

(p. 189). From volunteer family members working in teachers’ classrooms routinely, to employing

parents as paraprofessionals, noon-aides, and substitute teachers, to utilizing guest speakers and

assemblies both planned and directed by parents within our diverse community, to an extremely

supportive and active PTC group: Green Elementary excels at what Blankstein referenced as

“closing the gap between parents and schools,” (p. 192).

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Green Elementary demonstrates great proficiency in “building positive family and community

relationships” within its learning community in Chesterfield Township, through attempted

adherence to Blankstein’s (2013) suggested three key beliefs:

1. Mutual understanding based on empathy and recognition of shared interests.

2. Meaningful involvement of family and community in a variety of school activities.

3. Regular outreach and communication to family and community (p. 192).

This building’s parental base unit has a history of and a reputation for being tenaciously energetic

and extremely active within the building. The PTA often acts as communication liaison officers

for all families at Green. They maintain and control the school’s Facebook page, engage in

conversations with bi-monthly meetings, but do not incorporate a newsletter highlighting their

specific events. Rather, they rely on the teachers for their extension of their communication to be

inclusive in their own classroom newsletter or reports. As some instructional staff forget to include

these events in their own classroom news notes or receive information after their newsletter has

already been sent, many family members in the community miss out on participation in these

events. Green would greatly benefit from a weekly bulleted list for staff members to easily copy

and include.

The parent outreach into the community continues to be powerful, often creating special

social events that serve as significant fundraisers for instructional support at the building level. In

accordance to Blankstein’s (2013) “Implementation Guidelines” listed, see figure 1 below for a

list of the current Green PTA sponsored events sorted by the National PTA standards for family

involvement (p. 203):

Fig. 1
National Standard PTA Event
Event Description
Standard Description Name

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Trunk or A socializing event during Halloween candy and dinner during

Welcoming all the fall, designed as a community outreach program.
Treat
Standard families into the A yearly event of connectivity welcoming to all members of
Back to
1 school Green’s community members to partake in dinner together during
School Corn
community. the fall to celebrate back-to-school.
Roast
Faculty and community members are invited to partake in
Standard Communicating Monthly collaborative discussions regarding the direction of Green
2 effectively. Meetings Elementary.
Collaborating A beginning of the year fundraiser connecting local community
Standard businesses and programs with engaging academic assemblies and
with Fun Run hands-on fun while focusing on the well-being of our student
6
community. population.

In addition to the PTC’s active involvement with Green Elementary itself and its deep

connection with the surrounding community, Green’s teachers are quite actively involved in

engaging family support throughout the school year as well. Being mindful of the diverse learning

needs and variant socio-economic status, teachers incorporate parent volunteers into their

classroom to engage parents with their children’s learning needs. Teachers communicate with

families of Green using a variety of platforms from updated websites, e-newsletters (and paper

copies for those without internet access), text message alerts, and special celebratory events that

serve to invite the community into the school while encouraging active participation and

engagement in their child’s education. These successful events “provide a positive experience,

expand the (parent-school) relationship, and encourage meaningful and helpful interactions

between parents and their children,” (Blankstein, p.198). Such events have been sorted using

Blankstein’s suggested “Implementation Guidelines” as listed previously into figure 2:

Fig. 2
National Standard
PTA Event Name Event Description
Standard Description
Green Elementary has a Halloween parade and party as well as a
Welcoming all Holiday Parties winter holiday celebration aimed at welcoming families and
encouraging an inviting atmosphere for all.
Standard 1 families into the
Both events are jointly sponsored by collaborating teachers and
school community. Mother’s Day Tea/
family members whose goal strives to infuse Green’s school
Dads and Donuts culture with activities of connectivity.
Faculty and community members are invited to partake in
Communicating
Standard 2 Monthly PTA Meetings collaborative discussions regarding the direction of Green
effectively. Elementary.

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Parents and family members are invited into the school’s climate
Daily Volunteers daily to participate in daily academic activities being able to work
with a variety of students.
Supporting student
Standard 3 Teachers at Green nominate two writers of the month to showcase
success. their learning growth. These various pieces of work are then
Writers of the Month displayed, and parents are invited into see their child’s work
whenever possible.
A club initiated by L’Anse Creuse Public Schools 2019 Teacher
Speaking up for Self-Esteem Running of the Year and Green Elementary teacher, Mrs. Pamela Olcese,
Standard 4 this club aims to raise awareness to issues within the building by
every child. Club
focusing on physical outlets for those prone to anxiety issues.
Fall conferences offer a chance for parents and teachers to
effectively collaborate ideas to help bring success for each
Parent Teacher
individual student. Spring conferences used to showcase a
Conferences celebration of learning for all students using a portfolio, but have
recently reverted to “as-needed only” conferences.
Standard 5 Sharing power.
Student council encourages various family members to
participate in events designed and implemented by the students,
Student Council
faculty, and family members collaboratively. They work together
Sponsored Events to raise money for students in need as well as children in need
within Chesterfield Township.
Green’s faculty have encouraged students and families to work
together to “expand their learning opportunities by creating
Collaborating with Service-Learning
Standard 6 projects to better service their surrounding community. 2019 saw
community. Projects a mitten drive, service dog project, and bookmarks for cancer
patients.
Although Green Elementary has several programs already initiated and designed to engage

families from their community, many PTA sponsored events focus heavily on Standard 1 of the

National PTA guidelines and would be better if they incorporated more events revolved around

student learning and growth. With the transient changing demographic at Green Elementary,

student needs have changed drastically. More students are housed under the umbrella of Title I

needs as well as more students require additional academic support than in previous years. Perhaps

a homework support club could be enacted involving active PTA members and teachers

collaborating to enrich the learning for all students involved. Also, PTA meetings are usually only

visited by the same few individuals. As parents in Green’s changing community struggle with

proper transportation and sporadic work schedules, perhaps the PTA might offer free child care

and use part of its monetary resources to provide a simple catered dinner as an incentive for

increased attendance and participation.

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Regarding faculty improvement, as Blankstein (2013) referenced “the first step toward

building or repairing home-school relationships is to gain a common understanding, with empathy

for students’ families” (p. 193). Teachers at Green are proficient in parent outreach in reference

to misconduct and behavior problems. Perhaps enacting a positive behavior parent contact first

should be mandated to establish a positive outreach. Additional Title I funds should be allocated

to accommodate for Green’s student population’s need for additional academic support. Green

might extend these parental supports through evening events for parents and family members.

Green instructional staff together with the PTA should also illicit parent surveys in the form of

Google surveys that are easily accessible during Fall and Spring Parent Teacher Conferences.

Using these data findings, Green staff would increase engagement with families and discover

current demanding academic needs or concerns within the community. Additional soliciting of

Green’s community members might stimulate academic teams of leaders to help coordinate and

plan math nights, literacy events, science activities, and even a homework support group for all to

benefit.

In addition to the above stated proposals, leadership should continue to provide ongoing

professional development for helping staff members deal with cultural disparities, language

barriers, as well as proper ways to deal with ‘difficult’ family members. Many teachers at Green

are hesitant to invite family members into the classroom out of fear of being ridiculed, judged, or

criticized on media outlets by parent and community members within the community. As

Blankstein (2013) referenced “parents must be given clear guidance about how to be involved

when they volunteer” (p. 198). Perhaps initiating a parent-training session might help cultivate

further empathy and understanding only serving to better engage families and the community of

Green Elementary.

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PRINCIPLE 6: Building Sustainable Leadership Capacity

As Blankstein (2013) stated in his research “proposed purpose of education-sustaining

high-achieving schools because failure is not an option for any student- is a big job,” one that

Green Elementary’s faculty, community families, and leadership has worked tirelessly and

relentlessly to maintain success for their students, even when facing transitions (p. 208). Green

Elementary’s recent leadership transition and merging of the two building’s vastly different

pedagogies, has resulted in many core belief changes to those identifying elements that help

maintain this elementary as a successful school. What began as an insurmountable task,

leadership at Green Elementary continues today to attempt to “enable school cultures to thrive

despite challenges” by beginning to develop leadership capacity (Blankstein, p. 208). As a result,

teacher leadership capacity and sustainability are moving forward from their beginning stages.

The previous leadership at Green Elementary was run by a former and veteran teacher of

the building. This leader’s knowledge of the steady and perhaps, more homogenous,

demographic at the time of her leadership, her familiarity of the original staff’s teaching

practices, and her securely established trust amongst her faculty and community, allowed her to

accomplish many tasks through a shared leadership mentality; she rarely “flew solo” as

Blankstein (2013) cautioned leaders against in the field of education (p. 209). This sustained

leadership capacity in the means of established Political Learning Communities (PLCs), frequent

conversations and dialogue with staff members, and consistent perception surveys helped to

ignite the faculty’s passion for teaching by empowering them with resources and partnering them

in teaching teams based on similar interests: established leadership capacity and sustainability

were present. This created a contagious dynamic that district staff members frequently sought a

transfer to Green Elementary prior to the merging of buildings.

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When leadership transitioned proceeded by another shift in staff with the merging of

student populations, this merger resulted in an expected rockier launch at the beginning stages

and Green’s staff sustainability suffered consequently. However, current leadership’s exemplary

work has worked tirelessly to create new visions of shared leadership by working to establish

trust amongst the staff members. For example, when new teacher evaluation laws went into

effect in the state of Michigan, to be transparent, new leadership at Green worked to gather input

from the staff regularly during meetings in regard to teacher walkthroughs.

Unfortunately, due to contract language, current employees were prohibited from viewing

each other in the act of evaluating teaching, thereby making viewing examples of current

leadership’s view of effective teacher leaders virtually impossible for other staff members.

Although current administration attempted to adhere to Best Practices and involve the entirety of

Green’s teaching staff by viewing models of what a walkthrough might look like, displaying the

objective language that would be used, and attempted to set a “clear, definable purpose,” many

staff members lacked the sustained collegiality (Kachur, Stout, Edwards, & Gale Group., pp. 64,

67). As a result, staff members experienced increased anxiety and a general feeling of building

mistrust when their new evaluations were displayed as compared with previous years’

evaluations from the prior administration. Although this sense of mistrust was mostly a result of

the merger, transition, and the new Marzano system put into place, new leadership could

alleviate stress and anxiety by displaying and offering the staff shared visions of clearly defined

expectations prior to proceeding with walkthroughs.

Leadership at Green Elementary certainly did not lack in the presence of new ideas to

promote collective collegiality, instructional discourse, and professional development, but there

was a certain element lacking in fidelity. Green Elementary’s leadership could be characterized

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as what Hattie (2012) deemed “instructional leadership” where leadership “attends to the quality

and impact of all in the school” (p. 174). Perhaps if this school shifted to encompass the

“transformational” leadership approach as well (one that is “attuned to inspiring teachers to new

levels of energy and commitment towards a common mission, which develops the school’s

capacity to work together to overcome challenges”), those efforts to build and repair

relationships with staff members would continue to provide further sustained leadership (p. 174).

Current plans at Green Elementary have recently received a transformative overhaul that

have dually served to instill a new sense of positivity and helped to establish collaborative

relationships with newly found trust amongst its staff members; resulting in newly formed

sustained leadership. Active administration at Green have recently “distributed leadership” by

“creating a culture of initiative and opportunity” (Blankstein, p. 232). This new direction should

continue as it has resulted in restoring feelings of connectivity, collaboration, empowerment, and

emboldened different teachers to take on the role of leadership positions through active

recruitment of new voices, rather than relying on the same teacher leaders of the past

(Blankstein, p. 232). This was demonstrated in: new voices being represented at the district

level, new volunteer teachers being allowed to lead Title I events and School Improvement

processes, more consistent gathering of information, and a general feeling amongst staff

members as feeling valued.

Green Elementary would continue to sustain leadership and build capacity if their efforts

to change their school’s narrative continued with active reflection, continued support,

incorporating Mindfulness programs and techniques, collaboration, distributed leadership, and

empowering all staff members to actively share leadership processes for advancing their school

as a formal organization. As Jensen (2016) stated, when you “change the narrative” you “change

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your teaching,” not just with students, but with staff members as well (p. 54). Perhaps if

buildings, such as Green Elementary, actively seek to “establish a collaborative of schools” in

neighboring districts as Blankstein (2013) referenced, results will inevitably follow creating

continued success for all community learners, building leadership capacity, and continue to

sustain leadership across the span of times (p. 236).

Conclusions

Green Elementary, a diverse suburban Title I elementary building part of L’Anse Creuse

Public schools in Chesterfield Township, Michigan, as aligned to Blankstein’s (2013) six

principles, presented evidence that consequently proved its ability to strive for student

achievement amid numerous transitions. In a just a few short years, Green Elementary has

endured an administrative transition, a building merger, staff retirements, new and extremely

transient population move-ins, decreased enrollment, and a surge in student cultural diversity and

learning needs as well. In addition to the latter, extraneous factors including new mandated state

teacher evaluation models, budgetary constraints and restrictions, as well as both vast and

positive leadership overhaul at the district administrative level, posed additional challenges for

Green Elementary to meet.

Although challenges continued to arise at Green Elementary, its staff, community

members, and students alike have demonstrated many areas of strengths in Blankstein’s (2013)

second, fourth, and fifth principles. Green continued to ensure achievement for all students with

an effective RtI model in place, continuous staff development, and further support training

planned for all staff members. Green school’s use of data effectively and successfully drove

curriculum needs by proposing ways to continue their overal student growth and success rates as

well.

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L’Anse Creuse Public Schools excellence and mastery in the area of data collection was

displayed at Green Elementary consistently. Green’s staff has efficaciously and collaboratively

worked together to consolidate their data by eliminating sources deemed unfit or unworthy of

providing valid results. Through collaboration, conversations, and analysis, Green Elementary

as Blankstein (2013) suggested “successfully used data to drive continuous improvements” (p.

171). Green offered rigorous and relevant changes to their curriculum needs as needed when

uncovered through their rigorous data-dig meetings. These learning needs were continuously re-

assessed and re-evaluated collectively, efficiently, and collaboratively.

Family engagement and involvement at Green Elementary continued to be apparent and

felt at all levels of this building as well. Community and family members were encouraged to be

included at Green Elementary through volunteer opportunities, decision making as it pertained to

school fundraising, and with various social events. These parent partnerships were as

Blankstein’s (2013) fifth principle recommended, “purposely cultivated and planned” resulting

in successful outcomes for Green’s achievements (p. 196). School culture and climate

demonstrated to be a large force behind establishment of trust within its community.

The recommended areas in need of further reassessment in order to continue to provide

highly effective education and practices for their students, staff members, and community

stakeholders fell within Blankstein’s (2013) first, third, and sixth principles. Although Green had

a Mission and Vision statement present along with five measurable goals strategically set in their

School Improvement Plan, due to staff members being shared between buildings and commuting

within the district, this posed quite a challenge for access to and input on creation of a shared vision

statement. Green Elementary might benefit from devoting allocated professional development to

the editing of their goals to better align them with the SMART notion. Perhaps soliciting opinions

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from all members at a PTC meeting or even through perception data surveys sent out in text

messages to the community prior to the creation of the new goals will better provide all members

access to providing additional professional and community input in a more welcoming manner.

Given the recent transitions of staff members, family demographic shifts, and merging student

populations, re-evaluating Green’s vision and better aligning their goals to suit the new and

changing demographic’s learning needs may increase a sense of unity amongst staff members

through this sense of shared purpose and increase their self-efficacy along the way.

Furthermore, and due largely in part from budget constraints set by the state, teacher

leaders at Green Elementary were consistently the same volunteering staff members, posing a

challenge to building sustainable leadership capacity. As witnessed in the evidence collected, this

issue may easily be repaired by encouraging new staff members to take an initiative through an

offering of additional incentives such as supplemental pay, reassurance, and commitment to

providing the time necessary to accomplish tasks. If Green staff members were allocated

appropriate time at the district level to create shared building resources (like the complete School

Improvement Plan or visible school goals) and then take time to post these items visually so that

they are readily accessible to all in each classroom, hallway, and special area classroom, this might

help to alleviate a feeling of disconnect by building transparency through collaboration and

awareness. In addition to the above suggestion, Green would greatly benefit by having one special

area staff member stationed at the building rather than shared; this concept continues to be

considered by district leadership.

Green Elementary’s turbulent past has thus created consistent challenges for ensuring

success for all students as demonstrated by the collected data. However, I have witnessed this

building’s ability to rise to challenges successfully. The current emphasis and cultural shift

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taking place at Green Elementary as gathered through the evidence of this research, is one of

promise and assurance that research seems to suggest will continue to build shared leadership

and sustainable leadership capacity for future generations of educators and students alike.

Green’s new initiatives and recent administrative changes at the district level have since helped

to establish additional voices within the staff in leadership roles. By continuing to encourage

collaborative collegiality, empowering members of the community to stay involved, engaging

each other in thoughtful discourse on pedagogy and educational ideals, and providing the staff

with additional time, collaborative opportunities, and shared building resources necessary to

sustain leadership, the research suggests that Green Elementary is well on their way to

successfully following Blankstein’s (2013) six principles and proving his notion that Failure is

Not an Option.

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References

Blankstein, A. M. (2013). Failure is not an option: six principles that guide student achievement

in high-performing schools (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.

Bolman, L., & Deal, T. (2017). Reframing organizations: artistry, choice, and leadership (6th

ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey: Jossey-Bass.

Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers: maximizing impact on learning. London:

Routledge.

Jensen, E. (2016). Poor Students, Rich Teaching: Mindsets That Raise Student Achievement (the

Science Behind Students’ Emotional States). Bloomington: Solution Tree.

Kachur, D., Stout, J., Edwards, C., & Gale Group. (2013). Engaging teachers in classroom

walkthroughs. Alexandria, Virginia: ASCD

Nelson, K. (2019). Green Elementary School Improvement Plan 2018-2019).

Marzano, R., Yanoski, D., & Paynter, D. (2016). Proficiency scales for the new science standards:

a framework for science instruction & assessment. Bloomington, IN: Marzano Research.

MindUP™ Training Staff, (2017). MindUP parent workshop manual. (pp. 3-33). Santa Monica,

California: Hawn Foundation.

Zemelman, S., Daniels, H., & Hyde, A. (2005). Best practice: today’s standards for teaching and

learning in America’s schools (3rd ed.). Portsmouth, N.H: Heinemann.

https://www.lc-ps.org/schools/elementary/green/

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