Mount Vernon, New York is a small city on the Hudson River about 20
miles from New York City. Bordering both the Bronx and Yonkers, the city
has a population of about 68,000. Lincoln is the largest of the
district's 11 elementary schools (the district also contains two middle
schools and a high school).

Lincoln Elementary is situated on a busy but tree-lined street in a
largely mixed-use area, giving it both an urban and suburban atmosphere.
Signs at the school's entrance proudly announce the school's USDOE Blue
Ribbon School award. Also welcoming visitors is a vibrant, buoyant,
grandmotherly woman who expertly puts visitors at ease; she is the
school's security guard, and has been for more than 21 years. Her warmth
is repeated over and over by students and staff throughout a two-day
visit.

![](media/image1.jpeg){width="3.120138888888889in"
height="2.0347222222222223in"}The school consistently leads all the
elementary schools in New York State assessments in ELA, math, science,
and social studies, and since 2002 no fewer than 96% of its tested
students have scored on levels 3 and 4, often reaching 100% on math,
science, and social studies, as they did in the 2005-2006 school year.
This means that in a school where 28% of the students are classified as
Limited English Proficient and 54% are eligible for free or reduced
price meals, the achievement gap that plagues many urban schools is
largely non-existent among the disaggregated groups.

Before 2002, Lincoln students performed well on the state assessment,
but not as well as now. The principal and staff admitted that the
earlier state testing (the PEP test) was not very challenging. The
movement toward accountability and No Child Left Behind, coupled with
new, more challenging state assessments, stimulated school leaders to
review and revise the curriculum and instructional supervision. Today,
all students consistently score high.

How does this success occur in this setting? Part of the answer hangs on
the walls of the school corridors and literally in just about every nook
and cranny of the school: student work. This means not merely the
display of best papers, but rather artistic presentations of student
work from all grades and with appropriate degrees of sophistication.
"The corridors are another learning center" explains Principal Albano.
The quality of displayed work emphasizes the high expectations for all
students and provides a sense of a shared mission. And there is not an
![](media/image2.jpeg){width="4.7875in"
height="1.9034722222222222in"}errant mark, rip, or tear on the
displays---signaling respect students show to each other and their work.
There is even a large display of student-made miniature clay figurines
at the entrance to the school office.

The theme of student creativity is carried over to the open classrooms
where more content-specific and both large and small scale works are
displayed. The term print-rich only begins to describe the school
environment.

**Key Practices**

![](media/image3.jpeg){width="3.7715277777777776in"
height="1.6916666666666667in"}Asked the cause of students' success as
measured by test scores, teachers, both new and more experienced, as
well as parents and members of the school leadership team universally
answer: "The principal, George Albano." All describe a principal who has
taken it upon himself to become a true instructional leader comfortable
discussing content areas with teachers, a mentor to faculty, and an
administrator familiar with all the children and their accomplishments
and struggles. Albano reads all the work on all the walls and can call
out from the classroom, by name, its student authors to read or explain
their work to a visitor. He has made a deliberate attempt to balance
testing with an infusion of arts, saying "Capture them in the arts and
the academics will follow." And finally, he has consciously set out to
create an environment where there is discipline and respect for all.

Principal Albano's whole-school approach to education involves a handful
of key practices. The school's assessment program includes both
comprehensive formative and standardized assessments. Results are
communicated to all stakeholders and drive decision-making,
instructional policies and programs, resources and expenditures,
curricula, and academic and support services. Curriculum frameworks are
aligned with state standards in all content areas. Reading, writing, and
the arts are integrated throughout the content areas. A supervisory
presence in all classes, formally or informally, has fostered a dialogue
among teachers and administration that has heightened awareness and use
of best instructional practices in the classroom. Professional
development includes training in data use to determine needs and assess
effectiveness. Faculty members are identified, chosen, and nurtured to
maximize and ![](media/image4.jpeg){width="2.5881944444444445in"
height="2.061111111111111in"}support their abilities. The principal
capitalizes on his staff members' expertise to share their "best
practices." Students have ample opportunities to develop leadership and
social awareness as a formal part of their education.

This approach has developed over time since Mr. Albano assumed school
leadership in 1980, when the district was under an Office of Civil
Rights order to integrate. With a \$100,000 state grant, Mr. Albano
stocked the school with culturally relevant materials and hung oil
paintings and reproductions on the walls, forerunners of the student
work on display today. This was a deliberate attempt to offer students a
diversity of role models and to raise their awareness of the
contribution of the groups represented in their school and community. He
then set out to develop and attract proficient educators who shared his
high expectations of all students and comfort with a diverse student
population.

Signal among these educators are the Assistant Principal and members of
the Resource Team. The Resource team comprises two reading specialists
and one ESL specialist, experienced faculty members continually
motivated to expand their skills and share them with the faculty. The
team is instrumental in keeping messages consistent across grades and
content areas; it spends time in classrooms mentoring teachers,
coaching, and organizing in-house professional development workshops to
keep teachers motivated and professionally up-to-date. The principal and
assistant principal conduct regular formal and informal observations.

![](media/image5.jpeg){width="3.5444444444444443in"
height="2.3375in"}Staff turnover is low; one teacher just completed her
42nd year of service to the school, while a former student has returned
as a teacher, and another former teacher (now retired) serves as an
adjunct science teacher in Kindergarten classrooms and also makes
recommendations on schoolwide science supplies. Students are rewarded
for good behavior through PA "Good Citizen of the Day" announcements,
and students recently made and sold a school chorus tape, donating
\$8,000 to charity. Many students are moved to action without external
rewards: student Future Teacher Volunteers donate their free time in
classes, and fourth graders tutor first graders in some classes.
Students' academic success has generated both publicity and funding,
such as a sizeable, multi-year donation to the school's chess club from
a benefactor in Connecticut, which has supported a chess master who
teaches the game's fundamental principles and how to notate games to all
interested students.

![](media/image6.jpeg){width="3.326388888888889in"
height="2.1395833333333334in"}Parents expressed appreciation for the
school's structured reporting of student progress through scheduled
conferences, monthly meetings, and child study meetings, to name a few.
A trilingual monthly newsletter also helps to keep parents informed. An
active PTA raises funds and coordinates after-school activities such as
sports and reading, chess, and language clubs. A parent said that her
child "feels the caring and expectations put upon her, which results in
not wanting to disappoint her teachers." Parents often volunteer to help
classroom teachers and are welcomed throughout the school.

A member of the leadership team remarked that there is "a high level of
accountability for teachers" but that they are also given a great deal
of recognition and support. Teachers observed that Principal Albano
ensures that all faculty members have the supplies they need for
teaching and that the office administrative assistant has all the
materials and supplies ready by the first day of school. On each floor
of the building, teachers have access to a copy machine.

**Support for the Key Practices**

Lincoln Elementary School offers two ELA programs in support of the
school's Balanced Literacy Program. Additionally, every classroom has
its own library of leveled readers, trade books, multicultural
anthologies, and supplementary workbooks. The school Reading Specialists
provide grade-level support for teachers in implementing the literacy
program. The school library occupies a large, prominent area in the
school and is home to many student-centered activities and the computer
lab. The dynamic librarian has created many attractive displays and
story areas for teachers and students.

Student support programs include small-group pull-out and push-in
programs by reading specialists. The district has trained teachers in an
intensive, short-term, one-on-one intervention to meet the needs of the
hardest-to-teach children and to help struggling readers catch up. At
Lincoln all K-1 teachers use a multi-sensory program to teach reading,
spelling, and handwriting.

![](media/image7.jpeg){width="3.3569444444444443in"
height="2.045138888888889in"}School administrators and staff are deeply
committed to fostering the love and habit of reading in their students.
Monthly schoolwide reading themes thread the school year, such as
"Reading is a Gift You Give Yourself" in December and "Reading is at the
Heart of Everything We Do" in February.

As examples of literacy across the curriculum, the music teacher and
first grade teacher collaborated and taught first graders to read and
perform a jazz rendition of Dr. Seuss's *Green Eggs and Ham* for a
Reading is Fundamental distribution day honoring the famous author. Two
fifth grade classes used the scientific method to make a hypothesis,
gather materials, collect observations, and draw conclusions about the
differences between combining an egg with green vinegar and combining an
egg with green water.

![](media/image8.jpeg){width="3.502083333333333in"
height="1.9340277777777777in"}As part of "Star Search," a schoolwide
literacy incentive that integrates the arts, students were not only
required to read books, but asked to write original songs about their
favorite book characters or turn the plots of their favorite books into
lyrics set to their favorite songs. Students who successfully completed
the incentive's goals were invited to attend or perform at a musical
competition. Four hundred fifty students met the goals, 80 of whom
volunteered to perform. Those 80 students also volunteered to compete in
the first "Lincoln School Idol Competition," inspired by the popular
television show.

Science and math in particular are frequent centers of multidisciplinary
experience. For a fifth-grade project about rockets, the teacher built
on an exercise led by the physical education teacher, using bouncing
balls to demonstrate the theory of velocity. Lincoln students, who by
second grade have already learned the difference between a dependent and
independent variable, use rocket-simulating balloons to test their
hypotheses about how far the balloons will travel, based on their
measures of inflated air.

The school schedule provides uninterrupted 90-minute literacy blocks.
Weekly common planning time gives grade-level teachers and coaches time
to meet to discuss instructional and curricular issues. Common pull-out
times by support staff minimize class interruptions and maximize teacher
class time.

"At Lincoln, assessments drive instruction," members of the leadership
team concurred. Teachers said they don't wait until a month before
testing to begin to monitor student progress; they give the principal
monthly student reading and writing portfolios to gauge their and
student progress. In addition to the NYS standardized tests administered
from third through sixth grades, less formal assessments include
portfolios, program assessments, diagnostic tests, and specifically
designed rubrics used by both teachers and students. Classroom teachers
and specialists meet to analyze individual student profiles and to
identify students "at risk." Students are made aware of their progress
and assessment results through weekly test folders sent home and signed
by parents or guardians as well as through frequent teacher-student
conferences.

The visitors found a variety of instructional approaches in use:
modeled, whole-group, and direct instruction as well as small-group and
individual instruction. Flexible groupings and cooperative learning
groups, based on ability, interest, or choice were well-implemented.
Teachers have designed rubrics specifically tied to the ELA Standards to
enable students to understand what is expected of them. The school's
strong mentoring program is provided to all new teachers and to more
experienced teachers whom administrators feel may benefit from it.

**Conclusion**

![](media/image9.jpeg){width="3.2319444444444443in"
height="2.216666666666667in"}Principal Albano has developed an
understanding of what a sound educational organization should look like
and what it takes to maintain it at a high-functioning level. The
elements are a strong curriculum tied to standards, with a strong
assessment component that informs instruction, a highly qualified and
motivated staff, a strong but supportive supervisory presence, and
empowered parents and students.

With a talent for hiring imaginative, creative people who really want to
teach, Mr. Albano is also skilled at finding talented people or spotting
potential in people with some special quality or content knowledge. And
he has leveraged the students' high test scores (and the attendant
national fame) to attract even more resources and talent to support and
enhance the educational programs. For example, the leader of the
school's science education program is a former NASA engineer who was
unemployed when his children attended Lincoln; Mr. Albano brought him
into the school to work as a teacher assistant, then urged him to pursue
the Master's program at Fordham University.

Mr. Albano has spread the word about Lincoln's success to national and
international educational conferences as well as on television shows and
in newspaper and magazine articles. Open discussions with numerous
visiting educators have led to the sharing of ideas, practices, and
valuable information. Lincoln's "Success" booklet details the school's
most effective strategies for improving student performance levels on
state assessments.

  ---------------------- -------------- -------------- -------------- -----------
  **Lincoln Elementary                                                
  School State                                                        
  Criterion-Referenced                                                
  Tests**                                                             

  \% proficient and                                                   
  above: 4th grade ELA                                                

                         2003           2004           2005           2006

  All                    97             99             96             100

  Low income             94             100            95             

  State average                                                       68

  \% **proficient and                                                 
  above: 4th grade                                                    
  Math**                                                              

                         2003           2004           2005           2006

  All                    97             100            100            99

  Low income             100            100            100            

  State average                                                       78
  ---------------------- -------------- -------------- -------------- -----------

![](media/image10.jpeg){width="4.457638888888889in"
height="2.6430555555555557in"}