Fort Wayne Community Schools

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Leading an Urban District to Fulfill NCLB
Expectations

• Fort Wayne Community Schools
• Dr. Wendy Robinson, Superintendent
• Becky Glasgow, LEAD Project Director
• February 27, 2004
• www.fwcs.k12.in.us

One Wagon, One Direction
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• Overview of FWCS
• Demographics
• Student Achievement
• Challenges of Urban Districts
• Framework for District/School Improvement
• 4-Circle Model
• Components
• Strategic Plan Strategies
• Support Systems
• Wallace LEAD Grant

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Fort Wayne Community Schools
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Fort Wayne Community Schools

• 32,000 Students
• 53 Schools
• 6 High Schools
• 11 Middle Schools
• 35 Elementary Schools
• 1 Career Center
• 4,200 Employees

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Student Population

• Student Composition
• 61.7 White
• 26 African American
• 7.8 Hispanic
• 2.2 Asian
• .6 American Indian
• 1.7 Multi-racial
• 49 Free and Reduced Lunch

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Student Population

• 61 languages spoken
• Graduation rate 89
• Per-pupil revenue 5,402
• 60 took SAT at least once
• 82 pursue higher education
• ALL 3rd grade Math ISTEP scores outperformed the
  State
• Including SES, White, African American

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District Trends
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The Top 5 Allen County Schools in Math are FWCS
The Top Allen County School in Eng/Lang Arts is
FWCS
Pass Plus Scores
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2003-04 Percent Passing
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Pass by Subgroups MathScott Elementary (73
SES)

• Indiana 13
• Overall 51
• SES 48
• White 58
• Black 64
• Only two schools in Indiana had more Black
  students score higher one school had 12 Black
  students and one school had 15 Black students.
  Scott has 259 students, including 93 Black, 82
  White, 55 Hispanic

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Challenges Facing Urban Districts

• NCLB / PL 221
• Achievement Gap
• Scarce Resources
• Financial
• Human
• Changing Demographics
• Community Perception of Public Education

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These Challenges Require

• Redefining the role of leaders
• Reconstructing University Preparation Programs
• Focus on new competencies needed, aligned with
  conditions in public education
• Connecting with community stakeholders

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"We can, whenever and wherever we choose,
successfully teach all children whose schooling
is of interest to us. We already know more then
we need to do that. Whether or not we do it must
finally depend on how we feel about the fact that
we haven't so far."
---Ron Edmonds
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Framework for District/SchoolImprovement
The Four Circles Model

• What do we WANT?
• What do we BELIEVE?
• What do we KNOW?
• What do we DO?

Want
Believe
Do
Know
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Components
Strategic Plan
School/Department Improvement Plans
Support Systems
Curriculum Instruction
Professional Development
HR Quality Employees
Financial
Intervention
Monitoring
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Strategic Plan

• We will ensure high levels of learning for all
  students
• We will provide a positive culture for student
  and staff
• We will function as a professional learning
  community
• We will function as a center of learning in the
  community

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Support Systems
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Wallace LEAD Grant

• Wallace Foundation
• State Action for Education Leadership Project
  (SAELP)
• 15 states
• SAELP II
• Leadership for Educational Achievement in
  Districts (LEAD)
• 12 districts
• 2nd of 5 years

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FWCS LEAD Grant

• SAELP partnership
• Indiana Promise Consortium members
• IPLA/FWCS program alignment
• Minority Awareness Summit
• SAELP Project Director member of LEAD team
• University partnership
• Four Academies
• Aspiring principals
• Practicing principals

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Exploratory Leader Academy

• Purpose
• Allows teachers to explore the possibility of
  being a principal without giving up teaching
• Target
• Teachers with at least 3 years experience
• Content
• Teach ½ day, Intern ½ day
• Reflective journal, activity calendar
• Building-based project
• Practicum check list
• Cohorts meet once a week
• Text Assignments
• Three graduate credit hours through IPFW

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Aspiring Leader Academy

• Purpose
• Provides opportunity for inexperienced licensed
  administrators to experience school leadership
  firsthand
• Target
• Individuals with administrator license, but no
  experience
• Five years teaching experience
• Content
• Full-time, one-year internship with required
  field experiences
• IPLA Aspiring Principal Academy
• Monthly Intern Leadership cohort meeting
• Reflection Journal and Administrator Guidebook
• Evaluation
• Under 215-day administrator contract
• Rights to return to classroom

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Introductory Leader Academy

• Purpose
• Provides a mentoring support system while
  increasing knowledge about district policies and
  procedures
• Target
• 1st year principals or principals new to FWCS
• Content
• Mentor current FWCS principal for one year
• 2-day New Administrator Orientation
• Periodic training on FWCS policies and procedures

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Advancing Leader Academy

• Purpose
• Provide professional development coherency
• Target
• All FWCS administrators
• Content
• Best Practices
• District Messages

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Best Practices Connections

• Instructional Models
• Resnick
• Researchers
• Charlotte Danielson
• Rick DuFour
• Jim Collins
• Ron Heifetz

• Quality Measures
• Brazosport's PDCA
• Six Sigma
• Leadership Assessments
• Balanced Leadership
• Behavior Profiles
• Attitudes and Values Surveys

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For Further Information

• Please contact
• Becky Glasgow, Manager Training
  Development/LEAD Grant
• Fort Wayne Community Schools
• 1200 S. Clinton Street
• Fort Wayne, IN 46802
• [phone]
• rebecca.glasgow_at_fwcs.k12.in.us