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Spring Woods High School
Houston, TX
School Type: Public
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School Setting: Urban
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Level: High
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School Design: Traditional
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Content Presented By:
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National Awards Program for Model Professional Development
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Summary
The practice: Professional development should be primarily school-based and built into the day-to-day work of teaching.
- 100% of teachers work in pairs
- Meet six times during the year
- Partnership rubric
- Annual "best practices" highlight successful lesson plans and student work
- Schoolwide Leadership Cadre composed of the principal, teachers, parents, professional community representatives, and central office personnel meet systematically in the school
- Scores increased dramatically:
- 22.2% to 77.3% in math;
- 23.1% to 86.1% in reading;
- 10.9% to 85.2% in writing
When the student population at Spring Woods High School in Houston, Texas, began to change, the school's faculty decided to take action to meet the academic demands of a more culturally diverse student population. They began working with Margery Ginsberg, author of "Motivational Framework for Culturally Responsive Teaching," and focused on implementing a school-wide approach to change. Teachers, parents, students, and community leaders came together to form a leadership team to become site-based staff developers, mentors of instructional improvement, and advocates of continuous improvement. Teachers in discipline-specific and cross-discipline teams participated in work sessions, study groups, reflection groups, school-based institutes, and peer coaching. They have developed their understanding of motivation and culture, learned new instructional strategies, examined student work, and planned collaborative lessons. Through these job-embedded, school-based learning experiences, teachers have contributed to significant increases in student achievement.
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