A school that’s part of a cohort of low-performing schools from Virginia (disclosure: that I’m working with through a contract with VDOE) is featured in a recent Washington Post article (posted & linked below). Obviously, there’s still a great deal of work to do, but the major shift in the school environment is a very strong indicator of early improvements.
Low-achieving Va. high school turns crisis into challenge
When the bell sounded one autumn morning, the first-floor hallway at T.C. Williams High School was nearly empty. No lingering. No fights like last year’s [sic]. No one talking on cellphones or dragging in late to class. …
This time it’s a 21st-century struggle that began in March, when Alexandria’s only public high schoolwas labeled “persistently lowest-achieving” in Virginia because of lagging test scores among some of its 2,900 students.
Nine months later, the school has an energetic new principal, more order and discipline and a stronger emphasis on writing. Teachers set goals and get critiques. Counselors are assigned fewer students so that they can help devise detailed achievement plans for each one. There is a new math and writing center where students drop in for tutoring.
Strategy • Implementation • Transformation 
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