Experts Help Principals See Forest, Not Trees

By LINDA BORG Journal Staff Writer

Intervention experts are working in six middle schools to find what is working — and help fix what is not.

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PROVIDENCE – Last summer, the state Department of Education had a choice: it could aggressively intervene in the city’s troubled middle and high schools or it could work from within, hiring outside experts to help schools figure out what they were doing wrong — and right.

The department chose the latter approach. As a top state official put it, “The tricky thing is there is no such thing as a universally bad school. You need to figure out what each school needs.”

The state hired a nonprofit company, the Education Development Center Inc. of Newton, Mass., to select eight former teachers and principals, many of whom worked in Massachusetts, Connecticut or Rhode Island. These so-called turnaround specialists were asked to work with each school’s staff to identify weaknesses in discipline, instruction or teacher training.

The Education Department dedicated all of its support and intervention money — $700,000 — on putting the intervention experts into Providence’s schools.

Five months later, the model seems to be working. Principals say that the consultants have been very respectful of faculty and staff. The specialists say that the schools have been welcoming and willing to change.

Roseclaire Bulgin, the principal of Roger Williams Middle School, said that her consultant, Linda Clark, has been instrumental in helping her refine teacher training and organize model classrooms where teachers can observe outstanding instruction.

“She came into a building with a new principal and has taken the time to understand me,” she said. “Adapting to a changing world isn’t easy for educators. Linda understands that. She has the capacity to work with teachers in a non-threatening manner.”

Bulgin didn’t stop there:

“We work together hand in glove,” she said. “This woman keeps me sane. She tells me that I can’t do it all in one day.”

The turnaround specialists are working in six middle schools — Nathan Bishop, Samuel W. Bridgham, Nathanael Greene, Esek Hopkins, Oliver Hazard Perry and Roger Williams. They are also engaged at two high schools — Hope and Mount Pleasant.

The schools all have one thing in common: they are in need of “corrective action,” which means they have failed to make adequate progress on state tests for four consecutive years. Under federal law, the district or the state must intervene in those schools.

Perry Middle School principal Robert Palumbo is enthusiastic about his school’s specialist, who he said is gently pressing him to focus on the big things.

“She tells us, ‘Look at the forest, not the trees,’ ” he said. “The only problem is that she’s only here two days a week. We need her here for five.”

Perry’s consultant observes teachers and gives them feedback, helps the school improvement team pinpoint its strengths and weaknesses and helps fine-tune professional training.

Mary Burns, a turnaround specialist at Bridgham Middle School, says she wears many hats — that of a coach, confidante, cheerleader and data wonk.

“It’s hard being a teacher today,” she said. “My job is to help teachers step back and say, ‘Here’s what we’re doing right and here’s where we need some help.’ “

Sometimes the curriculum needs tweaking. At Perry, the math curriculum is very language-based, which is a problem because many of its students come from Spanish-speaking households and have weak English skills.

Burns is also helping teachers use test data to identify where the curriculum is falling short. At many of the middle schools, students lack critical-thinking skills.

At least a half-dozen states are using some type of intervention expert to help failing schools improve, but Rhode Island’s model is more collaborative than most, according to Leslie Hergert, who runs the program for the Education Development Center.

“In Rhode Island, this collaborative spirit is unique,” she said. “Other states are quite punitive. Mary Canole’s idea is that we’re all in this together.”

Canole runs the program for the state Department of Education and she is largely responsible for its cooperative tone. Rather than a one-size-fits-all model, each intervention is tailored to the needs of the school.

At Greene, the specialist helped the school develop a student achievement plan. At Hope, the consultant is helping faculty figure out how to implement the state’s new graduation requirements. At Mount Pleasant, the faculty has voted to carve out common planning time.

Canole, however, isn’t relying on anecdotal evidence to determine whether this program is working. She has hired a firm from Philadelphia to review the program at year’s end by interviewing principals, teachers and students.

“The hope is that this work will continue,” Canole said. “We’re hoping to replicate this approach in other districts.”

lborg@projo.com / (401) 277-7823