Wish list for school improvement

Do turnaround plans work because of the mass firing of teachers, or because of the amount of support and resources a school receives after its Level 5 designation? Surely this is a question that must be addressed and investigated before any of my hardworking colleagues are required to reapply for their jobs.

There are currently a plethora of reports and investigations involving what makes good schools work, and seldom do they address the need to fire staff and administration. Instead, they speak to many of the best practices that schools, students and teachers need to be successful. My colleagues and I have been speaking to these for years, though seldom has anyone really listened.

In my opinion, here are some of the things we need to succeed:

Effective, standard, district-wide protocols and policies to deal with extreme attendance and discipline issues.

Daily school-based social, emotional and psychological support for students and families.

Effective communication among parents, teachers and administrators based on mutual respect.

System-wide, research-based programmatic interventions for struggling students in reading and math.

Professional development for teachers that is supported by data and differentiated by school.
Foundations of Reading training used system-wide.

Curricular resources and materials that are current, reliable and extensive.
Sufficient materials and supplies for our classrooms.

Daily common planning time for grade-level teachers, particularly at the elementary level.
Current technology for students and staff at all schools.

Time to do the work (most studies state five years is needed before scores begin to rise reliably, not the three the state has required).

Fair and quantifiable goals based on research and common sense.

Respect as professional educators who work daily, often without many and even most of the things mentioned above.

We have been asked for years to do more with less: fewer materials, fewer supplies, fewer counselors, fewer nurses, fewer resources and less support for families.

Donna Kirby-Blanchette