AF
Nearly all the staffers at New Haven-based Achievement First (AF) charter schools reported feeling cared about and supported at their jobs. Fewer than half could see themselves having a long-term career there.
AF CEO Dacia Toll presented those staff survey results as well as statistics on academic progress at a recent meeting to the charter network’s board members from across New York, Rhode Island and Connecticut. The occasion was the first board meeting of 2016, held at Amistad High School on Dixwell Avenue.
Click here for the full presentation.
AF operates five schools in New Haven: Amistad Academy Elementary, Middle and High Schools as well as Elm City College Prep Elementary and Middle Schools.
The staff survey showed a variety of results, taken networkwide across 30 schools in New York, Rhode Island and Connecticut.
Of the 30 schools, 22 schools had staff that reported being “highly engaged” at their schools, with a mean score of 80 percent or higher. Toll said she did not want to disclose school-level survey data.
At the January board meeting, she presented the statements with the highest and lowest percentages of staff agreement. High percentages — between 87 and 96 — of staff reported that someone at work cares about them as people, their peers or administrators have encouraged their development and they have adequate materials to be effective at work.
Low percentages — between 43 and 49 — reported they could see themselves with a long-term career at AF, feel connected to the larger network and feel that their school was effective at developing student character.
AF teachers’ primary concern is usually the “workload,” especially in the first two years at an AF school, Toll said. “Even if they feel like they could do it now, they can’t imagine doing it forever,” she said. “Teaching is emotionally and physically draining,” and AF is “particularly challenging” with its extended school year and work day.
She attributed the fact that only 43 percent of teachers said they can see themselves at AF long-term to those challenges, as well as to cultural changes that prompt younger generations to move around the country more frequently. Many new teachers come to AF through the Teach for America program and may leave for their hometowns or for other cities after the two-year commitment is up.
Toll said she was heartened by the fact that more staffers responded in 2015 that they felt supported in pursuing personal priorities than last year — from 45 to 55 percent. That meant more people thought they were fitting their work and personal lives together in positive ways.
She said AF is working hard to make sure “everything else about the job is wonderful” and that teachers feel connected to a strong community. It is also providing more “high-quality resources for staff so they don’t have to reinvent the wheel” — which includes resources for daily lessons and unit plans.
Teacher retention increases significantly after the first two years, Toll said, which is the most difficult stage of the job
Toll said at the board meeting that staff was “not wrong” in thinking schools need to refocus on student character. Since schools began prepping students for the new Common Core-aligned state test, they have been “so academically focused” that they haven’t adequately incorporated that aspect into professional development for staff.
“We used to be consistent about defining character” across the schools, she said.
She said each school will work on an action plan based on its specific data.
Suspensions Drop
File Photo
Toll.
Toll explained changes in the curriculum and instruction at elementary and middle schools across the network. Elementary school students have been more focused on effectively using computer programs in math, meaning students are passing more lessons faster, she said. Middle school students are focusing more on reviewing cumulative material in math, to make sure they retain skills learned at the start of the semester.
Attendance is flat at the network’s Connecticut schools, staying at a high of 96.7 percent.
The network has been criticized in the past for its high suspension rates and high attrition rates, which often lead to students with behavioral issues heading from the charter schools to underfunded neighborhood schools midyear.
The suspension rate in Connecticut schools has decreased 30 percent since 2013 – 14 academic year, with 11.9 percent students with at least one in or out-of-school suspension in 2015 – 16, compared to 19.6 percent in 2013 – 14. The Elm City College Prep schools have shown the most significant reductions in suspensions of all Connecticut schools; Hartford Middle Schools have progressed the least in decreasing suspensions.
Despite the overall decrease in suspensions, “I think we’re still high,” Toll said.
She attributed the high reduction rates at Elm City College Prep to the fact that certain “strategies pursued to decrease them have taken hold faster there.” She described three main strategies:
• Providing alternatives to suspensions such as restorative practices, which allow students to talk through their problems with community members instead of zero-tolerance discipline. Some schools have added Saturday extensions, which provide students who act out with an extra day for instruction, instead of reducing their instruction.
• Improving teachers’ ability to manage their classrooms and build relationships with students, through professional development and follow-up coaching.
• Better supporting the small number of students who account for a disproportionate number of suspensions, with individualized academic or social-emotional plans and supports.
The percentage of students who leave the school — either for another district or another school in the district — has also decreased in the past two years, Toll said. About 3.7 percent of students across the network left their Achievement First schools in 2015 – 16, compared to 4.3 percent the previous year. The percentage of students who left their Achievement First schools without moving out of town decreased from 2.8 to 2.2 from 2014 – 15 to 2015 – 16.
Elm City College Prep kindergarten, fifth and sixth grades are now using a new educational model called Greenfield, which orients students toward self-directed and small-group learning. Toll said Elm City College Prep schools, including the Greenfield grades, have low rates of attrition in part because they have a “much more intentional approach to building relationships” among staff and students.
Toll said the suspension and attrition data was likely linked — fewer suspensions meant fewer students were leaving for other schools.