Kuss Middle School: Expanding Time to Accelerate School Improvement In 2004, Kuss Middle School became the first school declared “Chronically Underperforming” by the state of Massachusetts. But by 2010, Kuss had transformed itself into a model for schools around the country seeking a comprehensive turnaround strategy. Kuss is using increased learning time as the primary catalyst to accelerate learning, deepen student engagement, and improve instruction, and has become a rare example of a school on the path to successful turnaround. This is their story. What Can We Learn about School Transformation from Kuss Middle School? Today, education leaders and policymakers are focused outlined by the federal government, including increased on the need to dramatically improve the nation’s learning time. By strategically redesigning their school lowest-performing schools. Yet, few comprehensive models day to incorporate 90minutes of additional learning time exist to guide struggling schools. Kuss Middle School’s for all students each day, Kuss has been able to improve impressive record of sustained progress over the past five instruction, broaden enrichment opportunities, and years is one of those rare examples of a school on the path advance academic outcomes. The school credits more to successful turnaround. Since 2005Kuss has pioneered learning time as the catalyst that enabled and accelerated many of the school improvement strategies recently the other turnaround elements, including: Key elements of the federal guidelines Key elements of Kuss Middle School’s for turning around the nation’s transformation, 2005—2010 lowest-performing schools, 2009 The Massachusetts Department of Education recruited and hired an experienced Effective School Leadership principal to take over Kuss once it was deemed “Chronically Underperforming”. She led the effort to increase learning time. Kuss adopted a new curriculum; established a school-wide focus on writing; and Comprehensive Instructional Reform implemented a common set of best instructional practices in every classroom, used across the expanded school day. Kuss implemented quarterly peer observations for all teachers as well as professional On-going, High-Quality, Job-Embedded development focused on writing strategies and other data-driven priorities. Professional Development The expanded schedule includes time for data-centered collaboration for all teachers throughout the week. Kuss instituted interim assessments in core subjects; trained staff on how to analyze Use of Data to Monitor Student and use data; and publically posted data to make progress transparent. Interim Progress and Inform Instruction data is used to place students in new academic support and enrichment classes and monitor progress. The new principal implemented a more frequent and focused system of support Develop and Increase Teacher and evaluation for staff; as of 2010, two thirds of the faculty are new to Kuss since Effectiveness 2005. Most teachers work the entire expanded school day. Kuss devoted some of the additional learning time to an advisory program and Provide Social—Emotional Support integrated community partner—led health, wellness and mentoring programming and Community-Oriented Services into the expanded school day. Kuss is one of more than two dozen schools that added across the state to rethink the traditional six-hour, learning time through participation in the Massachusetts 180-day school schedule and collaborate with teachers, Expanded Learning Time (ELT) Initiative. Launched in union leaders, community partners, administrators, 2005, the Massachusetts ELT Initiative is a partnership and parents to develop redesign plans. Those schools between the National Center on Time & Learning and that develop the highest quality proposals are awarded its state affiliate Massachusetts 2020,together with the $1,300per pupil per year to support an expanded state legislature, the governor, and the Massachusetts school day and year. Today, over 10,500students in nine Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. districts across Massachusetts attend ELT schools. These partners have called on schools and districts “The gift of time has allowed our staff to create new and exciting ways for our students to learn and achieve. These new approaches have, in turn, informed classroom instruction throughout our day.” Nancy Mullen, Kuss Principal “More learning time has significantly increased student engagement and allowed students and staff to establish more meaningful relationships that create credibility in the classroom.” Marc Charest, Kuss Teacher I n 2004, Kuss Middle School became the first school By 2010, the school was being featured in state and to be designated “Chronically Underperforming” national publications, including The Boston Globe, The New by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary York Times, USA Today, The Washington Post, and Education and Secondary Education, initiating a state “take Weekfor its schoolwide success. over” of the school. Located in the small city of In the four years since becoming one of the pioneering Fall River in southeastern Massachusetts, the region’s schools taking part in the Massachusetts Expanded steady economic decline was reflected in the school’s Learning Time Initiative, Kuss has made steady achievement tired hallways and classrooms. Student achievement gains, hitting their was among the lowest in the state, and the school had Adequate Yearly Progress failed to improve after years of low performance on the (AYP) improvement targets In conjunction with Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS). expanding time, Kuss for the past two academic Student and teacher morale was low, as the school strug- has implemented a years. A school that once gled with dwindling enrollment and unstable leadership. schoolwide instructional struggled to fill its focus on writing, a need But with the state designation of underperformance came classrooms and attract they identified through the opportunity to transform the school. The new state- teachers now has a waiting ongoing analysis of appointed principal recognized that a six-hour school day list, as students and their student data. All staff is now trained to use was insufficient to meet the needs of all students and families are drawn to common techniques to reach the school’s goals without a dramatic narrowing of the school’s culture of high integrate writing the curriculum, sacrificing time for science, social studies, achievement, superior instruction and practice foreign languages, the arts, and athletics. Led by a team instruction, diverse into all academic and of teachers, administrators, parents, community partners, enrichment offerings, and enrichment classes. and the local teachers’ union, the school engaged in robust science programs. an eight-month planning process to redesign the entire Now in its fifth year with school day in order to add significantly more learning time an expanded school day, Kuss has defied the odds and is for all students. In fall 2006, Kuss opened its doors with a model for schools seeking to leverage increased learning a brand new school schedule that included 300more hours time as a catalyst to accelerate student achievement and of learning time per year for all students, providing them provide students with a well-rounded education. with a balance of personalized academic instruction and engaging enrichment, as well as additional time for teacher collaboration to strengthen instruction. 3 Expanded Learning Time (ELT) at Kuss Middle School Kuss has redesigned the school day to incorporate 300additional hours of learning time per year for all students. It now offers all 650students a customized balance of academics and enrichment, while providing more time for teachers to work together to improve instruction and better meet student needs. Redesign components include: 1.More time for core academics, personalized video production, martial arts, and an award-winning instruction, and individualized support.All Kuss theater arts program. Most courses culminate in a final students have daily, 90-minute blocks for English Language product, performance, or presentation, where students Arts (ELA), math, and science, and social studies is now demonstrate what they have learned for their peers, taught daily in 45-minute blocks, with one 90-minute families, and the Fall River community. Electives are taught double block each week. In addition to core science primarily by Kuss teachers, with community partners instruction, all 6th and 7th graders participate in applied such as the YMCA, Boys & Girls Club, and SMILES program science electives, choosing from options like Design Lab, leading specialized offerings like swimming and Project Go-Green, and Astronomy, while 8th graders benefit mentoring. Partner programming is integrated throughout from a 20-week course to review content for the state the school day, instead of being tacked on to the end science & technology test. of the school day or after school. Kuss has also added small-group ELA and math “ramp-up” 3.More time for teacher collaboration to strengthen classes to the weekly schedule. These 45-minute classes instruction. All teachers at Kuss now have time target specific skills where students need additional for individual planning, collaboration with colleagues, and support, and students are grouped with peers that have professional development built into their expanded similar needs. Student groupings are flexible—as students weekly schedule. These meetings are used primarily for show progress, they move to another group or out of analyzing assessment data to identify individual student the ramp-up class all together—and teachers use interim needs, examine student work, and implement common assessment data to carefully monitor progress. Students instructional strategies that support the schoolwide excelling in ELA and/or math take on more challenging writing focus. Teachers also have the opportunity to enrichment courses in place of ramp-up classes. participate in and lead a number of schoolwide commit- tees, such as the Redesign Team, which oversees the 2.More time for engaging enrichment programming ongoing improvement of the expanded school day, and where students develop interests and gain mastery the School Climate & Culture Team, which shaped a in specialized subjects. All Kuss students participate in new student support plan. Kuss has also added a number of two kinds of enrichment programming during their school early release days to the schedule for whole-faculty profes- day: a rotation of standard specialty classes offered to sional development devoted to research-based instruc- all students (PE/health, art, music, and family & consumer tional practices, with a cross-curricular focus on writing. science), and mixed-grade electives, where students chose from a menu of classes each semester. Options include Sample Student Schedule: Kuss Middle School Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Legend 7:18–8:06 Elective: Journalism Core Subjects: Core: Science Core: Science Core: ELA Core: Math ELA, Math, 8:08–8:52 Math Ramp-Up Science, and Social Studies. 8:54–9:38 Specialty: PE/Health ELA Ramp-Up Core: Social Studies Core: Math Core: Science Science Elective: 9:40–10:24 Additional Forensics Core: Math Core: ELA Academics: 10:28–11:12 Core: Social Studies Specialty: Art Math Ramp-Up Math and ELA ramp-up Lunch classes and applied science 11:14–12:26 electives. Core: Social Studies Specialty: PE Core: Social Studies ELA Ramp-Up Specialty: Art 12:28–1:12 ELA Ramp-Up Enrichment: Core: ELA Core: Math Core: ELA Core: Science Rotation of specialty 1:14–1:58 Math Ramp-Up classes (Art, Music, PE/Health, Family & Consumer Science) 2:00–2:44 Elective: Martial Arts and enrichment Core: ELA Core: Science Core: Social Studies Core: Math electives. 2:46–3:30 Science Elective: Endangered Species *On Tuesdays and Thursdays, each block is 41minutes long; this creates two 25-minute blocks for Advisory. 4 “An "expanded day" leads to expanded learning, but it is so much more than that. More time gives Kuss the opportunity to reinforce learning objectives taught during core subject instruction, disguised in an activity that my child is enthusiastic about.” Bethany Toure, Kuss Parent Results Since first adding time and embarking on their Like all ELT schools, Kuss also looks at other measures transformation, Kuss has seen dramatic improvements on to gauge their progress and assess the impact of a number of key academic measures. Highlights include: expanding time, including: 4School-wide gains in math and English Language Arts. 4Increased enrollment and attendance.Enrollment at Kuss Between 2006and 2010, Kuss increased the percentage has ranged from a low of 480before ELT to 650for the of students scoring Proficient or Advanced on MCAS 2010—2011school year, making it the largest of Fall River’s by 34points in math and by 16points in ELA, as compared middle schools. In addition to the increase in enrollment, with the other three middle schools in Fall River, which daily attendance rates have risen to 94%, and suspension have seen more modest gains of 18points in math and 10 rates have decreased 10% since the 2008—2009 points in ELA during the same time period.1 school year. 4Closing the achievement gap in math.Kuss’s math gains 4High rates of teacher satisfaction.In 2009, Kuss teachers have been particularly impressive, with graduating participated in the Tripod Project3survey, responding 8th graders showing tremendous results. Over the course to questions about their perceptions of the school. of five years, Kuss 8th graders have all but eliminated Ninety percentof Kuss teachers agreed that their school a 28-point achievement gap with the state. “sets high standards for academic performance” and 96% agreed teachers in their school “are a professional 4Enhanced writing skills.Since first incorporating a community of learners focused on being good teachers.” cross-curricular focus on writing into their expanded day in 2008, the percentage of Kuss students scoring 2 4Stronger partnerships. More time has helped Kuss forge or higher in MCAS open response writing has increased deep community partnerships, which bring additional 24points in ELA and 17points in math.2The school now programs and resources into the school day. Key partners surpasses the state average in ELA and has narrowed include the YMCA, Boys & Girls Club, UMass, Harvard the gap with the state in math. University, and the SMILES mentoring program. A number of these partners also serve Kuss students after the 3:30 pm dismissal and during the summer. Four Years of Sustained Progress at Kuss Middle School Percentage of all Kuss students scoring Percentage of Kuss 8th graders scoring proficient/advanced on MCAS proficient/advanced in Math on MCAS 4-point gap 2006 (Pre-ELT) 28-point gap State 2010 (with 4years Kuss of ELT) Math ELA 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 In 2009-10, 83.1% of Kuss students were low income; 32.9% of the state was low income 1 Weighted for school size and rounded up to the nearest whole number. 2 Open response writing questions of the MCAS are scored using a Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education rubric with a scale of 0-4; 2or higher is considered “passing.” 3The Tripod Project administers student, teacher, and parent surveys and analyzes the data to help schools measure the impact of effective teaching and student engagement. 5 Other Essential Components of the Successful Transformation of Kuss Middle School •Diverse stakeholder support.In expanding the school day, As a result, she simultaneously strengthened the existing Kuss built support among district and union leaders, faculty and hired a number of strong new teachers community partners, families, and teachers at the school. each year. Kuss teachers work and are compensated for the eight-hour •District champions. Kuss has had the support of two school day, and credit the overall culture shift of the school consecutive superintendents who value how expanded to the full faculty’s ownership of expanded learning time. time can be leveraged to support significant school •Strong, distributive leadership.One of the first improvement. Based on the success at Kuss and the two interventions at Kuss the year prior to implementing other ELT schools in the district, two additional Fall River ELT was to bring on a new leader with a record of success schools are expanding the school day by one hour in 2011, and a commitment to maximizing learning time. As using federal and district funds. principal, she has shaped a Leadership Team that shares •State-of-the-art facilities. In 2009, Kuss moved into a new responsibilities and accountability, ranging from teacher building equipped with a modern auditorium, library, training and evaluation to grant writing and partnership nine science labs, two gymnasiums, and other amenities management. that support their redesigned day. The new building signals •An infusion of new talent. Upon her arrival at Kuss, the to students, faculty, and families that Fall River is invested new principal implemented a more focused, rigorous cycle in providing a top-notch education to every Kuss student. of teacher support, observation, feedback, and evaluation. “Being involved in the Kuss theater program helped me find something I want for my major in college and my future career. I think more people are coming to our school because they know that there is at least one thing that will make their middle school years memorable.” Xavielys Perez, Kuss Student 6 Growing Momentum for More Time Education experts have long recognized that expanding Reinvestment Act, an additional 750low-performing learning time beyond the traditional 180six-hour days schools are increasing learning time. should be a part of improving public education. Over the The National Center on Time & Learning (NCTL) is past decade, more than 850schools across the nation— encouraged by the growing recognition that students, including both district and charter schools—have broken especially those living in poverty, need more time to away from those schedules in an effort to provide more succeed. Increased learning time is a long-term reform time for core academics and a well-rounded education, strategy that requires careful planning, effective leadership, as well as more time for teachers to collaborate and and thoughtful implementation, school by school. NCTL improve their practice. urges states, districts, and schools considering the use With the leadership of the current Administration—which of expanded time as a strategy to transform schools to has prioritized increased learning time in its pursuit to turn consider the following lessons learned from Kuss Middle around the nation’s lowest-performing schools—the School, and other high performing expanded-time issue has emerged on the national agenda. This year alone, schools around the country. with federal funding from the American Recovery and Guiding Principles for Expanding Learning Time •Add significantly more learning time for ALL students in targeted schools by rethinking how the entire day and year are structured to improve student achievement, increase student engagement, and provide teachers with time for collaboration and professional development. •Maximize the effectiveness of new and existing time through the relentless use of data, a schoolwide effort to strengthen instruction, and an intense focus on a small number of key performance and instructional goals. •Capitalize on increased learning time by using data to individualize instruction and provide tiered support, grouping students based on like-needs and frequently monitoring progress to adjust groupings, content, and instructional strategies accordingly. •Prioritize more time with quality teaching when allocating resources by first determining how much additional student learning time is needed to raise the achievement of all students, then thinking strategically about how to support it through a variety of staffing and scheduling models. “We're still waiting for America to replace an agrarian 19th century school calendar with an information age calendar that increases learning time on a par with other countries. We're still waiting, and we cannot wait any longer.” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, September 2009 The National Center on Time & Learning (NCTL) and its state affiliate Massachusetts 2020are dedicated to expanding learning time to eliminate the achievement gap and provide a well-rounded education for all children. Massachusetts 2020focuses its efforts in Massachusetts and is currently leading the country’s most ambitious initiative to redesign public schools by adding significantly more learning time to the school day and year. NCTL is the leading national organization focused on the impact of time on learning outcomes. NCTL conducts research and advances public policy at the federal, state, and local levels and provides direct technical assistance to a growing number of states, districts, and schools that seek to expand learning time to prepare students for success in college and careers. www.timeandlearning.org www.mass2020.org One Beacon Street, 34th Floor Boston MA 02108 This publication represents the work of the National Center on Time & Learning and our state affiliate Massachusetts 2020to expand quality learning time in schools and districts across the country. Our work is made possible, in part, by the generous support of the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.