EdisonLearning partnership helps elementary school go from lowest to highest performing in the district

ThE ChALLEngEIn 1999, the School District of the City of York in Pennsylvania was struggling with student achievement. Schools were not performing well, with students at Lincoln Elementary schools performing at the lowest level in the district. The superintendent, with the support of a group of parents and teachers from Lincoln Elementary School, sought a new approach to help improve the school.

ThE SoLuTIonLincoln Elementary School was converted into a charter school in 2000. The school partnered with EdisonLearning using EdisonLearning® School Designs to build and manage the school, now called Lincoln Charter School. The road to charter approval for the school was at times difficult, but with the dedication of a group of parents and teachers, combined with a strong, supportive partner EdisonLearning, it was achieved. In 2008, spurred by the success of the elementary school, the Helen Thackston Middle School opened as the second charter school in the district with EdisonLearning as its partner.

ThE RESuLTS

• Lincoln Charter School became the first and remains the only conversion charter school in Pennsylvania.

• Within 5 years from opening, Lincoln Charter School went from the lowest performing elementary school in the district to the highest performing school.

• Lincoln Charter consistently outperforms the other schools in the district – between 2002 and 2009 Lincoln Charter School’s Pennsylvania System of State Assessment (PSSA) Reading scores grew by 25.2 points compared with other schools in the district that grew by 14 points.

• Based on the success of Lincoln Charter School, support came to open the Helen Thackston Middle School in 2008.

ThE STEpS ALong ThE WAyThe School District of the City of York in Pennsylvania is a district with a challenging socio-economic and demographic profile. The district includes a diverse mix

of students, including 43% African American and 37% Hispanic. A majority of the students (83%) qualify for Free and Reduced Lunch; nearly 34% of students live below the poverty line. In 2000, all schools in the district were not performing well and struggling to make improvements.

The road to charter approval

The superintendent at the time was looking for new ways to help improve the district’s schools. Highly interested by EdisonLearning’s innovative approach to building highly effective schools, he decided to try the company’s methods with one of his schools. The district entered into a partnership with EdisonLearning and chose Lincoln Elementary School as the first partnership school. Lincoln Elementary School was chosen for a number of reasons, namely: 1.) the school was the lowest performing in the district, 2.) the school’s administration had strong ties to the community and 3.) the administration was also known as innovators in their own right and was open to trying new methods to increase student achievement.

The Lincoln Charter School & Helen Thackston Middle School Story

An EdisonLearning Success Story

“EdisonLearning services are without a doubt very professional and high quality. They are a top-notch company to work with.” �Oscar Rossum,

Parent & Charter Board President

Jamy Jackson was the assistant principal at Lincoln Elementary School at the time. Jackson had deep roots in the community, having spent 13 years as a teacher in the York City School District prior to assuming the assistant principal role. She was eager to embrace what EdisonLearning had to offer for many reasons, one of those being the accountability the EdisonLearning approach brought. “Partnering with EdisonLearning, if it’s not good for the kids, we don’t do it”, states Jackson.

In order for Lincoln Elementary School to be converted to a charter school, 50% of the school’s parents and 50% of school’s teachers needed to sign a petition in support of the conversion. Oscar Rossum, a parent with children attending Lincoln Elementary School who would eventually become the charter board’s president, led the charge to get the required signatures. Oscar states, “We started as a small band of daring parents trying to help our kids. EdisonLearning was a great partner to us. They gave us the resources to believe this school could happen.”

Supporters of the Lincoln Elementary School conversion encountered many hurdles as they sought to have their charter approved. They enlisted the help of an attorney, Dan Fennick, who worked diligently to file all the necessary motions.

The charter was approved on Aug 24, 2000. The school opened 4 days later on August 28, 2000. As Fennick puts it, “We were approved a weekend before the school opened and EdisonLearning was there for us. They had tractor trailers literally waiting around the corner to start setting up the school once we got approval. Teachers and administrators were there to start the first day. I don’t know how we could have done it without EdisonLearning.”

The School Designs Model

EdisonLearning’s School Designs model was implemented at Lincoln Charter School. The model is based on EdisonLearning’s Four Cornerstones™ of highly effective schools: Top Talent; Culture of Engagement and Aspiration; Demanding Content and Customized Instruction; and Achievement-Driven Management.

Certain components of the School Designs model stand out as making an impact on achievement at Lincoln Charter School, according to Jamy Jackson, now principal at Helen Thackston Middle School.

eValuate™ (previously called the Benchmarks system) is an online formative assessment system that combines monthly benchmark assessments aligned to individual state standards with easy-to-use reporting and analysis tools. eValuate is at the core of the Achievement-Driven Management cornerstone.

Students take monthly assessments online through eValuate. Teachers then analyze eValuate’s reports and use the information to make adjustments to classroom instruction to impact student achievement. They also use the questions and answers in the system as a teaching tool. eValuate also allows teachers to celebrate students’ success as they watch their growth and progress.

Jamy Jackson believes eValuate is a vital part of the school’s success, “eValuate has been invaluable to us for tracking achievement toward end-of-year state tests. eValuate has been accurate every year.” She adds, “When we talk to teachers about setting monthly goals, eValuate provides a great tool to help monitor student progress and drive effective instruction that will help teachers meet those goals. The results speak for themselves. ”

Another aspect of the School Designs model that stands out in the district is the professional development, which is born out of the EdisonLearning cornerstone, Top Talent. Daily professional development sessions occur with topics that include data analysis using eValuate reports, lesson planning, Response to Intervention and other subjects that provide teachers ways to improve student learning. House team meetings also occur during this time at Helen Thackston Middle School. Jamy Jackson states clearly, “EdisonLearning has some of the best professional development I’ve encountered in my career – always innovative and cutting edge. Not only is the content of the professional development stellar, but the frequency helps pull it all together.”

In addition to the daily professional development sessions, EdisonLearning provides internal national instructional and leadership conference which offer educators a valuable and unique experience. Jackson states, “At EdisonLearning’s internal conferences, I can interact with my colleagues across the nation. I can see what an EdisonLearning partner school is doing in California and learn from their successes. This is very beneficial.”

A change in culture

A change in culture to one of engagement and aspiration, the second EdisonLearning cornerstone, was needed in order for the school to be successful. Embracing EdisonLearning’s Eight Core Values (Wisdom, Justice, Courage, Compassion, Hope, Respect, Responsibility and Integrity) helped set the stage for this transformation. Oscar Rossum watched the change occur and believes it became most apparent in the interaction with parents.

Rossum recounts his first speech to parents after the opening of Lincoln Charter School. “Parents did not seem engaged in the presentation and after the speech, left the auditorium in disarray.” Two years later, Rossum addressed the same audience and noticed the outcome was completely different. Parents were very attentive and showed the utmost respect. They ensured the auditorium was neat and back in place when they left. Rossum remembers thinking at the time “We did it! We changed the culture. Our parents truly respect the school and all we have accomplished.”

Strong community focus is also a big factor that contributes to success at Lincoln Charter School. The school is aware they need parent engagement to be successful. Staff members take a genuine interest in their students, often attending sports events or other student activities outside school hours. Staff members are regularly outside greeting parents and students as they come to school.

Spurred by the success of Lincoln Charter School, parents and teachers worked to get a charter approved to open a middle school. When the school was denied a charter on its first try, parents and teachers turned to EdisonLearning to help determine a curriculum that might help get approval. The school received its charter on the second try and opened in August 2009.

ThE BoTToM LInELincoln Charter School consistently outperforms the other elementary schools in the York City School District. From 2002 to 2009, PSSA Reading scores have risen by 25.2 points at Lincoln Charter School, as compared to other schools that have risen on average 14 points. In Math, the point gains are 29.2 points for Lincoln Charter School, as compared to 23 points for other schools in the district.

Jamy Jackson states, “It is hard work to implement EdisonLearning’s School Designs. The model comes with high accountability, but the results are worth it. Jackson believes there is an overall reason why the model has been so successful. She continues, “We stick to the Four Cornerstones, see what EdisonLearning has to offer, and work together to meet our students’ needs, identifying areas of improvement that can range from improving quality of staff to implementing new curriculum materials. Working with EdisonLearning is a true partnership.”

The community hopes to one day open a charter high school.

FInD ouT MoREFor more information, call us at 1-800-I-CAN-LEARN (1-877-422-6532), email us at information@edisonlearning.com or visit www.edisonlearning.com/casestudies.

Working together for student success™Reading pSSA Score gains – 2002-2009

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Math pSSA Score gains – 2002-2009

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