Transforming Turnaround Schools: Community Engagement, School Culture & Core Instruction
First Presenter's Institution
Putnam County School District
First Presenter's Brief Biography
Dr. Surrency is the elected superintendent of the Putnam County School District. He has 44 years of experience in education and serving in his 6th year as superintendent.
Second Presenter's Institution
Putnam County School District
Second Presenter’s Email Address
smcdaniel@my.putnamschools.org
Second Presenter's Brief Biography
Sarajean is the Executive Director of Leadership Development for the Putnam County School District. Prior to serving in her district level position, she was the Florida Principal of the Year for 2020 due to her leadership at one of the district's turnaround schools.
Document Type
Event
Primary Strand
Positive Behavior Interventions and Support
Relevance to Primary Strand
The presenters provide systematic behavioral and cultural practices that were implemented at a traditionally failing school. The school was transformed and became a model for the rest of the district's turnaround schools. One example of an effective practice implemented by the model school was the ringing of the bell in the front office. When students had small victories, they were allowed to come ring the bell with the school's administration present. Students also took ownership of their own learning and behavior. The school demonstrates a true student centered learning environment and culture.
Alignment with School Improvement Plan Topics
Climate and Culture
Brief Program Description
A district superintendent and former state principal of the year describe how a failing school was transformed into a successful model for other schools to follow. By changing the culture of the school with a focus on community engagement, school culture, and core instruction participants will learn the critical ingredients for school and district improvement.
Summary
A superintendent from a Florida school district describes how his district improved the student achievement in schools that were considered in turnaround status with the State of Florida. The Putnam County School District in 2017 had 11 of 18 schools that were considered traditionally failing schools according the state's grading system. The superintendent along with 2 other district staff members highlight the change in district and school culture, community engagement, and the improvement in core instruction in all 11 schools. By 2019, no schools remained in turnaround due to the transformation of the schools. Brief video clips of principal interviews and classroom instruction will be provided. Presenters will engage the audience in conversations about how this approach could be expanded to other school districts.
Evidence
The practices implemented in the turnaround process were evidenced based from the work of Learning Sciences International, led by researcher Robert Marzano.
Learning Objective 1
1. Identify strategies for changing the culture of a school and/or district to promote positive outcomes.
Learning Objective 2
2. Identify strategies for engaging both community and industry within a community to support the mission of the school.
Learning Objective 3
3. Implement strategies for teaching grade level, core instruction to students at all achievement levels. All students will experience a time period of intervention that will focus on both extension and remediation of the standards.
Recommended Citation
Surrency, Rick Ed.d, "Transforming Turnaround Schools: Community Engagement, School Culture & Core Instruction" (2023). Southeast Conference on School Climate. 52.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/secsc/2023/2023/52
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Transforming Turnaround Schools: Community Engagement, School Culture & Core Instruction
A superintendent from a Florida school district describes how his district improved the student achievement in schools that were considered in turnaround status with the State of Florida. The Putnam County School District in 2017 had 11 of 18 schools that were considered traditionally failing schools according the state's grading system. The superintendent along with 2 other district staff members highlight the change in district and school culture, community engagement, and the improvement in core instruction in all 11 schools. By 2019, no schools remained in turnaround due to the transformation of the schools. Brief video clips of principal interviews and classroom instruction will be provided. Presenters will engage the audience in conversations about how this approach could be expanded to other school districts.
