Local education leaders are teaming up with East Carolina University (ECU) and the Panasonic Foundation to improve education in classrooms through FORCE.
The Focusing on Rural Challenges in Education (FORCE) goal is to improve equity for all students. During a Tuesday work session for the Sampson County Schools (SCS) Board of Education, it was presented by Dr. Kathy Spencer, a teaching professor in the Educational Leadership Department at ECU. Along with the leadership of Superintendent Dr. Eric Bracy, the district is participating in the national initiative with roots in southeastern North Carolina.
“Equity is a big piece of this effort,” Spencer said.
Based out of New Jersey, the Panasonic Foundation joined forces with ECU and four local districts. The others include Duplin, Jones and Pender school systems. All four of the counties are recognized as rural school systems.
Panasonic has generally been grounded in urban education work, looking at equity for all students. Last year, a decision was made to expand to rural areas. Spencer said the current structure with SCS is a unique operation within the FORCE.
“This is really about making sure all students not only have access to their education, but as result of that, to their future economic and social well-being,” she said. “The purpose of the group is to make sure that equity maximizes student achievement.”
Spencer added that SCS is making great strides through Bracy’s work.
“The North Carolina assessment data reflects that,” she said. “We know that your schools and your leaders are on the right track.”
FORCE’s job is to come in and provide support in areas identified by district teachers and administrators. As a result of this, SCS and the other school systems met at ECU with the Panasonic Foundation and drafted a memorandum of understanding to work together based on the needs of the four districts. The steps involved researching theories in May and bringing leaders together in August.
A theory of action was formed around good strong instructional leadership on different levels such as the district and classroom levels.
“Then we’ll be able to ensure that all students would be prepared,” Spencer said. “That means that those leaders must be able to diagnose what’s happening in the classroom to ensure that it’s quality for all. They have to be able to provide meaningful feedback to all of those in the classroom and then they’ll have to make appropriate decisions about how to make adjustments.”
Spencer said those actions are important to reach all students. But one of the problems is not having a common understanding when it comes to supporting students.
“That means they’ll have to be able to really look at the instruction that’s occurring in the classroom,” she said. “They’ll have to provide honest and appropriate feedback. And they’ll have to be able to support the practices that teachers, principals and district leaders are trying to move forward with in order to improve student outcomes.”
She said a lot of steps in the process occur when staff members look at subgroups, individual students, teacher evaluations and principal effectiveness.
Since the call to leadership in August, SCS representatives went to Pender County for a “Learning Walk” and researched how to determine if instruction is reaching the needs of all students.
“That work was so powerful that when we got the principals back in the room afterwards and went through the entire process, they said ‘we need more people involved in this,’” Spencer said.
Through this observation, a principal cohort was developed for the elementary, middle and high school levels, for all four districts. Twelve principals will travel to districts and participate in Learning Walks. The representatives from Sampson County are Linda Carr, Union Elementary School; Kevin Hunter, Lakewood High School; and Susan Westerbeek, Sampson Early College High School.
Spencer believes it will be beneficial to everyone involve by improving the capacity of everyone involved. At the end of February and the beginning of March, SCS will host the same group of members from FORCE.
“Dr. Bracy and his staff have opened up the doors and you’ll be hosting this same group,” Spencer said. “We’ll be going into your classrooms with this same group of people, learning and building the capacity of our leaders.”
Also, participants attended a national conference in New Orleans to receive feedback from others in attendance.
“What we have found is that some of the challenges in terms of equity that face urban districts are some of the same ones that face rural districts,” she said. “That conversation was a little meaningful. They may have a little different twist, but the challenges are still the same.”
Spencer said it sparked a new conversation in southeastern North Carolina. She added that the local districts may learn from schools in larger cities such as Oakland, Calif. and Newark, N.J.
“We know that there are some things we can learn from each other together,” she said. “That has become a valuable piece to our work.”
Following the February and March event in Sampson County, a spring national collaborative will follow.
“(The Panasonic Foundation) is very excited about the work that’s already begun with this collaborative,” Spencer said. “It’s the first of its kind for them, so they’re really watching to see how we move forward.”
In 2017, the organization will continue to have Learning Walks, a state presentation and a national meeting in April. The foundation will assist by providing materials and consultants to help build collaboration.
“Most importantly, this group provides expertise, experience and some external resources, that in southeastern North Carolina, we would not have without them,” Spencer noted.