Like many cities in the northeastern rustbelt, Utica has experienced a
major decrease in manufacturing activity in the last several decades and
is in serious financial trouble. Public services have been curtailed to
save money, and Utica's schools have felt the pinch. This solidly
working class city has lost population as its manufacturing base has
declined. From more than 100,000 in 1960, its population now is an
estimated at 59,000. An influx of Bosnian immigrants, who now make up
about 10% of the city's total population, has recently staunched that
loss. Seventy-nine percent of the city's population is listed as white,
13% as African American, and 6% Hispanic or Latino.

![](media/image1.jpeg){width="5.69375in" height="2.525in"}Built in 1992,
Watson Williams School occupies the newest of Utica's nine elementary
buildings. This performing arts magnet school houses a classroom-sized
dance studio, two small amphitheatres built into the corners of the
first floor corridors, a stage area for student activities, and two
technology labs. The simple two story concrete block building is across
the street from a row of small multi-unit dwellings. Teachers park their
cars in a fenced and gated parking lot across a street to the side of
the building. The school is near the city center, has very little land
beyond the building, and no off-street area for buses and cars to park
when discharging or loading children. Only children living more than 1.5
miles from the schools are bussed, so many walk or are driven to school.
The school hopes to acquire a vacant lot behind the school, the building
on which has recently been demolished. Frequent violence in the
neighborhood has led to locking the school doors with a single point of
entry.

**Creating a Safe and Caring Environment**

Inside the building, the halls are clean and well painted, with student
work on the walls. From time to time a student may be seen walking
purposefully down a hall from one class to another, courteously greeting
strangers to the building. Escorted by teachers, classes of younger
students gather at the top or bottom of a staircase to assemble into two
orderly lines before moving on down the hall. At least one teacher, says
principal Henry Frasca, has her students recite math facts as they climb
the stairs in order to make use of all the limited time that they have
in school.

![](media/image2.jpeg){width="2.525in"
height="2.3020833333333335in"}What is immediately apparent on entering
any of the school's classrooms and watching adults engage with students
is the strong culture of caring. The principal explains that outside the
school walls, Watson Williams's students are used to harsh, negative
interactions and raised voices. They know how to tune them out. Inside
the school, teachers and the administration provide a safe, caring, and
supportive environment. With universally strong management skills,
teachers spend little time on classroom management or student
discipline. "Are you going to be talking much more, sir?" a third grade
teacher asked a student who was talking without being recognized. Seldom
was even this admonition required in the classes we observed. Instead,
students were continually complimented on their work and always spoken
to respectfully. Students reciprocate, and demonstrate respect for each
other and their teachers. When a new student comes into the school,
others will let him or her know what the school's expectations are. The
principal himself may take time to teach or test a student who is having
particular difficulty focusing and will not otherwise attend to the task
at hand.

Attention to school safety extends beyond the school day and walls.
Because school dismissal time has been an occasion for student fighting
and parent conflict, special education and students who live over 1.5
miles away board their buses first. Other students are then dismissed in
groups through different building doors, eliminating a large mass of
students in front of the building.

**Conveying High Expectations**

This supportive environment is coupled with high academic and behavioral
expectations. "There is a culture of achievement," said one teacher. "If
the kids are quiet, that's not enough." Children attend school to learn,
and must apply themselves at Watson Williams. The message is that
teachers and administrators care. They know both the academic
achievement and personal background of each student. Recognizing that
each student has different needs, the work of school staff is different
every year because the students change. Principal Frasca reminds
![](media/image3.jpeg){width="2.44375in"
height="3.2506944444444446in"}his teachers that Watson Williams's
students come to school with very different experiences than those the
teachers have had. He expects teachers to actively seek to understand
their pupils and to adjust their instructional practice to the needs of
their individual students. Instruction that worked with a prior group of
students may not be as effective with those currently in front of a
teacher. Constant review of student learning is built into the way that
the teachers work.

Learning, say the teachers in turn, is the students' "work." They are
expected to excel, and they are given the support they need to do so.
"We don't let them not do the work," said one teacher, adding that
students are expected to do reasonable amounts of meaningful homework
from the time they enter kindergarten. The students may be less
advantaged than suburban peers in other schools. They may arrive in
kindergarten on average 1.5 years behind their academic developmental
age, but they are good learners and with adequate attention and
application they will and do achieve. A kindergarten teacher summarized
what high expectations look like and result in for the students entering
Watson Williams:

> "We give them something to read the first week they are here. They
> don't know that those squiggles make sounds. Then week after week as
> they start making the connections, they do start realizing what they
> are. We start right away, give them three \[sight words\] that first
> week they're here. They don't even know what the letters are. They
> don't know what writing is. They don't know whether to read it left to
> right, right to left, top to bottom. They don't know what it is. I
> think that's a real classic example \[of our high expectations\], and
> I had a hard time with that in the beginning. It just didn't seem
> right. But over the years I can see that it does have its benefits
> because we are getting them used to seeing print. High expectations
> really do bring out the best in everyone."

These high expectations, with caring support, continue throughout the
grades. "All these students," said a fourth grade teacher of the class
in front of him," will score a '4' on the state science test this year,"
and he meant it. He introduced a social studies lesson on Document Based
Questions (DBQ) by saying, "I love DBQs, you know why? ... Because
they're so easy." He modeled, with student interaction, writing an essay
response to a state DBQ as he would answer it, reasoning that this would
give the students a higher quality example of what they needed to strive
for than if they collectively wrote a model response. He also wanted to
show that educated adults draft and redraft their words before arriving
at a final text that conveys what they want to express.

Parsimony is a guiding principle: no unnecessary programs are brought
into the school. Instead there is continuous, limited, focused
innovation based on how and what the current students are learning. "We
are careful not to mistake activity for achievement. Just because they
are moving does not mean that they are learning," says Mr. Frasca.
Another Watson Williams principle is that change and learning take time
and occur in small increments. In brief daily meetings before students
arrive, teachers review assessments, discuss what their students
achieved, and plan what they need to do to change their instruction to
enhance student learning. There is a strong sense of teacher efficacy
and empowerment, a certainty among teachers that if they teach the topic
adequately and the students apply themselves, those students will learn.
"The focus," says principal Frasca, "is not on what we can't control,
but rather on what we can control."

**Studying Data, Continuously Adapting**

![](media/image4.jpeg){width="3.234722222222222in"
height="2.936111111111111in"}"There is no magic wand," says Principal
Frasca. There is no single reason for the school's success. It results
from clear, imaginative thinking, hard work, and continuous adaptation.
The school staff studies student data and assessments, and constantly
hones what and how they are teaching to help their students achieve
uniformly high standards.

Watson Williams' teachers unapologetically explain that they do teach to
the state assessments because they are based on the New York State
standards; criterion--referenced, they communicate what is expected to
be taught. The Watson Williams staff systematically reviews each state
assessment to determine what is essential for their students to know.
They also use textbook tests (the district selected the ELA and math
texts for their alignment with New York State standards) and mock state
exams to learn what their students know. After students' responses to
each state assessment have been scored, the school makes a copy of them
so that staff has information with which to work long before the school
formally receives student scores back from the state. Finally they use
data from computer-assisted instruction in math and ELA, on which every
student spends half an hour daily.

![](media/image5.wmf){width="6.94251968503937in"
height="4.290157480314961in"}Using an approach modified from
professional football, in which coaches look for patterns in broken
plays that result in big gains and then try to replicate that pattern as
a designed play, teachers analyze student performance for patterns in
the responses of individual and groups of students. The diagram below
illustrates how state tests are analyzed, item by item, to determine
where groups of students have performed less well than their state
counterparts. Those items on which Watson Williams's students score
significantly below other students in the region are intensely examined.
(Red rectangles in the diagram show questions to be examined.) What
common patterns in the students' responses give a clue to some concept
that wasn't adequately taught? What pattern in the way the questions
were asked might have led students to misunderstand what was being asked
of them? Did any sub-groups of students get the question wrong? How does
teaching need to change for students to understand some concept that
they are missing? Teachers discuss and revise their teaching, and then
check to assess their impact. This, says Principal Frasca, is part of "a
culture of diagnosis, prescription, and then evaluation that is used for
further diagnosis." This description inadequately captures its
"messiness." There may be "hiccups" when teachers try something and the
learning they are seeking does not occur, but such attempts are part of
the necessary learning and are not regarded as mistakes.

![](media/image5.wmf){width="6.915354330708661in"
height="4.2736220472440944in"}

**Graphic Analysis of State Assessment to Identify Items for
Exploration**

This frequent, detailed analysis of state assessments also informs the
teaching staff of other knowledge and skills students need. Teachers
have identified key vocabulary for all subjects, and integrated them
into the everyday curriculum. Kindergarten students are, for instance,
asked to sit around the *perimeter* of a circle in preparation for
understanding a math concept yet to be taught. Teachers have identified
essential science vocabulary and assigned mastery expectations by grade
level, so that kindergarten students, for example, are expected to
master the words *flower*, *germinate*, *gravity*, *leaves*,
*precipitation*, *roots*, and *stem*. Through frequent assessment
aligned to the state standards, teachers also identify which students
are "fence sitters," who need additional attention because with a little
effort they can ensure they don't slip a level on the state assessment.
Frequent assessment also informs teachers what students know so that
they can move to new content, providing only reinforcement for what has
already been learned. "We don't have time to teach them what they
already know or what is not essential," says Frasca.

This attention to detail is achieved under the leadership of the
principal, who also provides workshops on data analysis for other
principals in the district and region. He has structured the school day
so that teachers meet for fifteen minutes every morning before students
arrive to talk about the data and its meaning for their instruction.
Grade-level meetings take place Monday through Thursday; on Fridays
teachers meet for cross-grade subject-area discussions. This permits the
curriculum integration that is a hallmark of Watson Williams. Frasca
seldom attends these meetings, preferring that teachers make the
necessary instructional and programming decisions independently. Through
this process, teachers base decisions about instructional change on
data, not on teacher beliefs about instructional practice. These fifteen
minute meetings originated from a decision to provide professional
development in the use of math manipulatives, and have become a primary
form for embedded professional development.

Integrated Schoolwide Initiatives

![](media/image6.jpeg){width="3.4583333333333335in"
height="2.3222222222222224in"}Three principal schoolwide initiatives
support classroom instruction. As **a performing arts magnet**, all
students are involved in what is referred to as an "arts-infused"
curriculum. Each year the performing arts teachers work with classroom
teachers to plan the arts program for the following year. Through
careful planning, relevant concepts and vocabulary from each subject
area are integrated into the performing arts program so that it is part
of a seamless whole of instruction. Students in science, for example,
were having difficulty understanding friction, so experiments and
discussions of friction were integrated into dance classes. For the
2006-2007 school year, the program is entitled Finding Avenues to Boost
Learning in Elementary School (FABLES). Each grade is performing a play
based a different fable; other grades watch the performance. The plays
also integrate character education.

A second schoolwide initiative is **computer-assisted instruction
(CAI).** Every student in the school receives a half-hour of CAI daily.
CAI addresses both math and ELA, comprises a single curriculum covering
the span of grades in Watson Williams, and is fully integrated into the
instructional program. This gives classroom teachers daily access to
information on their students' progress as well as custom CAI courses
for students who are struggling. Instructional leaders receive daily
summary information that is used in monitoring and planning.

![](media/image7.jpeg){width="3.582638888888889in"
height="2.1625in"}**Academic Intervention Services (AIS)** are also
seamlessly integrated into the instructional program. When AIS staff
works with a class, all students in that class are grouped so that they
all receive small group instruction, whatever their level of subject
mastery. Every student receives, minimally, a half-hour of this small
group instruction; students who need more support receive it either
during lunch hour or after school. Students enjoy individual adult
attention: to eat and spend lunch with a teacher while learning is no
punishment. Classroom teachers and AIS reading specialists work together
"as if these kids are with both of us all day," said one of the
teachers. Scheduled time for AIS teachers to talk with classroom
teachers and the wealth of academic information on each student allows
AIS staff to make good decisions about what to work on. All students are
grouped for AIS by the end of the first day of the school year, with
services beginning no later than the first full week of the year.
Students are subsequently regrouped as necessary. AIS are not referred
to as remediation, nor do any students receive instruction covering new
curriculum during this time.

**Authentic Instruction**

The staff of predominantly young teachers uses a variety of
methods---cooperative learning, small group, whole group, direct
instruction---but all focus on real-life, hands-on learning; for
example, students use math manipulatives and letter tiles. This year the
school is experimenting with a system, Watson Wages, to integrate
practice with use of money into learning. Kindergarten students, for
instance, are rewarded with pennies and can exchange every five pennies
earned for a nickel, and so on. Kindergarten students, teachers learned,
understood their math facts but did not translate them to the actual
value of different coins.

Most Watson Williams students come from homes with few books, yet
research confirms that children who consistently read authentic texts
become good readers and writers. Concluding that textbooks did not
provide their students with enough high quality reading, Watson Williams
faculty analyzed the types of reading included on state assessments, and
combed children's magazines such as *Highlights* and *Cricket* for
stories that would meet the criteria, compiling an instructional packet.
The school could have purchased a set of readings and related exercises,
but the selection process and the experience of creating the discussion
questions to go with the packet offered yet another opportunity for
embedded professional development. The teachers, for example, now frame
and ask better questions of their students. The discussion also led to
full integration of the stories into the curriculum. For K-2 students
the school has arranged for the local Board of Cooperative Education
Services (BOCES) librarian to supply them with K-2 books so that the
children can read a book of their own each day. All students now read
four different types of literature a day. This adds up to approximately
a thousand interactions with good reading and writing every school year
and, in turn, results in a long-term increase in knowledge and skills.
And reading is not just viewed as a consumer activity. Real reading, say
teachers to their students, "changes you."

**Planning and Leadership**

![](media/image8.jpeg){width="1.8263888888888888in"
height="3.9791666666666665in"}Watson Williams School has a thick school
plan. It contains everything that each grade covers in its curriculum,
making it a powerful tool for teachers' lesson planning. The entire plan
is reviewed annually, and if something isn't being taught, it is
removed. If teachers decide to change what they will cover, they add new
items. New text and commitments in the plan are entered in **bold.**
Because the plan has been refined over a number of years, the amount of
new material is very manageable. The plan, says principal Frasca, is a
living, breathing document. There is flexibility in the structure of the
plan, and the staff can always revise benchmarks if they discover that
they are inappropriate. Planning itself is done well in advance of
implementation so that teachers have time to integrate new approaches
into their instruction. It is also accepted that nothing planned is
likely to be fully and effectively implemented in a single year.

The concept of a flexible structure that seeks to maximize instructional
time permeates the school. Creative scheduling, attention to classroom
dynamics in assigning children to teachers, and continuous re-grouping
are all part of managing a flexible structure with a focus on student
learning. Closely allied to this is a fierce attention to the best
possible use of the time available. In the classroom little time is
spent on matters such as attendance. Academic Intervention Services
begin in the first full week of school, teachers and students may spend
lunch eating and working together, and teacher meetings are tightly
structured, to name a few examples.

Behind this is a principal who assists with the structure, supports his
staff when they take risks and make decisions, and constantly asks
questions of his staff such as, "What makes sense in this instance . . .
And what does the data say?" He emphasizes the importance of commitment
from all the staff in a team effort for the successes at Watson
Williams. He seeks to cultivate leadership in the entire community and
emphasize the importance of teacher leadership, hiring only those who
will invest the effort required to build the institution that Watson
Williams is becoming into their work. New teachers are usually hired
from among those who have been regular or long-term substitutes, and so
have been able to demonstrate their commitment to the school's values
and the way in which it works.

**Conclusion**

The success that Watson Williams students have achieved and the culture
that staff have co-created in the school speak to single-minded
attention to the personal and learning needs of all its students. The
school depends not on imported programs, but on a number of basic
principles of good instructional and organizational practice that are
well executed and continually examined and refined. It also depends upon
the commitment of young, hardworking staff members who concentrate on
what they can control to create an island of civility, mutual support,
and learning within the larger context of a financially strapped and
struggling community.

  ---------------------- ----------- ---------- -------- --------- --------
  Watson Williams                                                  
  Student Performance                                              
  State                                                            
  Criterion-Referenced                                             
  Tests                                                            

  \% proficient and                                                
  above: 4th grade                                                 
  Reading                                                          

                         2002        2003       2004     2005      2006

  All                    59          62         49       95        76

  Low income             60          61         47       94        

  Special Education      67          40         33       88        

  \% proficient and                                                
  above: 4th grade Math                                            

                         2002        2003       2004     2005      2006

  All                    86          85         84       100       97

  Low income             90          81         84       100       

  Special Education      82          100        84       100       
  ---------------------- ----------- ---------- -------- --------- --------