WJCC SB Hears Progress of Advancement Coaches

By Amber Lester Kennedy Wednesday, December 07, 2011

In their first three months, Williamsburg-James City County’s seven student advancement coaches have made 767 classroom visits, 98 home visits and 668 phone calls to parents.

The WJCC School Board received its first look at how its new intervention program is working in a presentation at its Tuesday work session. While much of the evidence of change is anecdotal at this point, middle school and high school principals said they already have noticed positive changes, due to the addition of the coaches.

The seven coaches, installed at each middle and high school in the division, have created Individualized Learning Plans for 258 students. They also have informally assisted 227 students. Berkeley Middle School is the only school to have two coaches.

The student advancement coaches were conceived as a comprehensive intervention effort for middle school students, replacing the previous intervention program, the Academy for Life and Learning. The board approved the elimination of funding for ALL in March. Board members felt the coaches, who were tasked with identifying and supporting struggling students, should be able to reach more at-risk children than the 48 that were enrolled at ALL.

The budget for the coaches was also lower, coming in at $300,000 compared to ALL’s $570,000 budget in the 2010-11 school year.

In August, seven coaches were named for both the middle and high schools. The coaches are Nancy Merrill, Toano Middle School; Jennifer Stultz, Hornsby Middle School; Lisa Winfield, Berkeley Middle School; Edward Van Dyke, Berkeley Middle School; Virginia Owens, Warhill High School; Archie Jefferson, Lafayette High School; and Trisha Farinholt, Jamestown High School.

On Tuesday, Assistant Superintendent for Academic Services Dianna Lindsay explained how the program was structured. Its values were based on the research of educational theorists, including Edgar Shein of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ron Heifetz of Harvard University and Ron Edmonds, also of Harvard. In addition, the coaches studied the research of the Educational Alliance at Brown University, which identified six developmental needs: voice, belonging, choice, freedom, imagination and success.

From the start of the year, the coaches have worked to identify students who could benefit from their advocacy. Factors that singled out students included previous academic performance, both in grades and on Standards of Learning tests; behavioral history; living situations (any child identified as homeless meets with a coach); and attendance.

The coaches establish contact with students’ families, talk frequently with their teachers and meet on a weekly basis with their principals and guidance counselors. All of the coaches meet twice a month for an informal meeting, where they share their successes and setbacks, and meet more formally once a month with Lindsay.

Board member Denise Koch asked what specific metrics will be used to measure success. Lindsay said grades, attendance, discipline records and the rigor of students’ course schedules will be used as metrics to evaluate how the coach program is working.

Principals said they’ve already noticed improvements with the addition of the coaches. Hornsby Middle School Principal Byron Bishop said it took time for the staff to understand the coaches are not disciplinarians or counselors, but advocates. Berkeley Middle School Principal Karen Swann said students now know to look for the coach if they’re having a bad day.

Lafayette High School Principal Anita Swinton echoed that account, saying she’s seen students stop themselves before they act out and instead, look to the student advancement coach for support. “They’re learning to advocate for themselves,” she said.

The coaches will meet with Lindsay on Friday to discuss crafting a survey of their customers — both students and parents — to evaluate how they could improve their efforts. She said she will consider the program a success if they have changed students’ minds about what they can achieve. “Believing that you can is the first step to success,” she said.

Superintendent Steven Constantino acknowledged that many people were disappointed with the decision to close ALL at the end of the 2010-11 school year. While recognizing the high level of emotion attached to the issue, he said he is more interested in facts and evidence. “There will be hard evidence. If we do see success, it’s important to see what did we do to create that success,” he said, adding that if there isn’t success, the division will look for another solution.