National conference validates JCPS plan

Culture was among the central themes at the national model schools conference attended by Jefferson City Public School administrators, affirming that improving building culture will be a catalyst for student achievement.
Several administrators recounted their biggest takeaways from the conference during the school board's Monday meeting.
This year 27 staff members - central office administrators and buildings principals - attended the conference and $25,000 was budgeted for the district-paid trip. The conference expenses were split up over two years and attending the conference is budgeted again next year.
With the district experiencing a $1.1 million deficit for the coming year, it's likely not as many faculty will go next summer, Superintendent Larry Linthacum said.
"Being that it's my first year, it was important to me to get everyone on the same page and get alignment and clarity," he said. "There are all kinds of conferences and we probably won't send everyone next time."
Board President John Ruth attended the conference his first year on the board and hopes the board members will continue to approve it as part of the budget.
"My personal view is that in any profession it's good to see what the best of the best are doing and to build relations with those schools and steal ideas from there," he said. "I was impressed when I left there and had a lot of good takeaways."
Around 5,000 educators nationwide attended the model schools conference. Several of the seminars focused on how districts can better tell "their story" to the community, how technology can be utilized in instruction, best leadership practices and have a healthy school atmosphere.
"It was enlightening to hear that culture doesn't necessarily mean that everyone is happy and touchy feely,"said Assistant to the Superintendent for Student Information, Planning and Assessment Dawn Berhorst, during the meeting. "I think that's what people think of when you talk about culture. It's that the desire to improve exists and staff are motivated and committed to doing that."
Creating an atmosphere where people feel their voices are heard and staff feel supported is one of the top priorities for the district next year and it's part of Linthacum's strategic plan.
"(The conference) validated our values - focusing on student success and working on a culture of pride," he said.
Another priority on the list is student achievement. Last school year, the district partnered with the International Center for Leadership in Education (ICLE) and have been working on a refocused, rigorous curriculum in English language arts and math.
Several other districts in Missouri and across the state shared their experiences with ICLE and how student achievement at their districts went up leaps and bounds after three years working with the center, said Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Staff Services Gretchen Guitard.
North Kansas City and Riverview Gardens School Districts were among those that managed major turn arounds with student test scores during their time with ICLE, she said. About three years ago, North Kansas City was in the bottom of the state for test scores and is now among the top performing school districts, she said.
The key aspect to remember is that progress, especially in education, takes time, Guitard said.
Over the past year, the district has worked with 140 staff in pre-kindergarten-through-12th-grade on English language arts and mathematics curriculum. They've also focused on professional development with head principals at each school so the principals can look at the daily learning process with a more critical eye, she said.
Staff are typically given one school day to work on curriculum and the rest of their work has to be done on their own time, but this year they were given four days to revamp next year's curriculum.
The progress of that work could have been derailed when the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released new Missouri Learning Standards. But the district decided to move forward updating their curriculum and incorporated the new state standards into that process.
"We spent an entire day going through all the new standards," Guitard said. "We could have put it on hold and said we'll come back to (the ICLE work) but we would have lost our momentum."
The new material will be unveiled before the school year starts.
Even though staff have been working on a more rigorous approach to learning for almost a year, the outcome of that work won't be seen until next year's standardized test results.
Going through the standards for every subject in every grade level takes time and making major improvements in student test scores takes longer than people might think, she said.