‘No Excuses’ – Estill County schools at their PEAK

By Steve McClain

Staff Writer

Estill County school employees and officials believe all students can learn and at high levels regardless of socioeconomic background or other variables.

No excuses accepted for anything less.

The only thing district leaders have an excuse for is beaming with pride after judges awarded the system the KSBA PEAK Award for its No Excuses continuous improvement initiative.

“We believe there is no excuse for students not to achieve,” said Superintendent Kim Shaw. “Our district has bought into it especially now seeing some exciting results from test scores.”

KSBA presents the PEAK (Public Education Achieves in Kentucky) Award twice a year to focus statewide attention on outstanding public school efforts that enhance student-learning skills and promote the positive impact of public elementary and secondary education.

It’s about attitude

Estill County launched the No Excuses initiative in 2002. School board member Patricia Hood said it required the support of all those involved.

“Attitude plays a whole lot in this,” she said. “We had buy-in starting with the superintendent and board members to the teachers to everyone else.”

The district kicked off No Excuses with several workshops focusing on the principles of the project – total quality management and effective schools. The idea was to change the culture of the schools.

“Teachers have been challenged to leave all excuses behind. When looking for reasons students do not succeed, it is easy to point fingers at families, economics and other factors of failure,” said parent Gina B. Flynn. “The Estill County school district decided to look beyond these factors and find a way to increase the success of each student.”

Flynn admitted she was a bit skeptical until the first day of school under the initiative. There were banners everywhere and employees were wearing identical shirts, all proclaiming the “No Excuses” logo.

“The bus drivers, the cooks, the members, everyone had shirts with the logo. Everybody shares responsibility for students’ success,” said Elke Davis, federal program director for the district.

“It is very difficult to change attitude. What Estill County is attempting is a major undertaking,” said PEAK judge Tacy Groves with the Kentucky Department of Education.

Power up

Once everyone was on board with the project, district officials zeroed in on problem areas test scores showed needed attention, particularly objectives that had not been mastered.

“We rank those and start with the weakest objective and work our way up,” Shaw said. Schools spend a specified amount of time each day for two weeks on the area of concentration. These sessions are called Focus or Power Periods. At the end of the two weeks, students are assessed to determine if they need more time on the subject or if they have mastered it.

“We look at results and give remedial help immediately and not let students get so far behind they can’t catch up,” said board member Verlon Prewitt.

“Our entire learning environment has changed to focus on the Kentucky Core Content objectives that are being taught at a specific time,” said Billie Martin, a teacher at Estill Springs Elementary School. “These objectives are posted in each classroom on walls, student desks and are visible throughout our building and are communicated to parents on a bimonthly basis through our ‘No Excuses Focus Newsletter.’”

That newsletter is one way Davis said the district is working to keep parents involved.

“They have activities to do at home to reinforce classroom lessons and we are having Family Fun Nights focusing on concepts students are learning,” she said.

The payoff

Estill County school leaders say the district’s test scores and other data are proof that having an attitude that every child can learn produces dividends.

Martin said her fifth-grade class was at a 4.8-grade equivalency in math at the beginning of last year. By the end of the year, the class average was nearly at seventh-grade level.

“Many students are so advanced that they can apply themselves at levels higher than their current grade level,” she said. “I strongly feel that this success was directly linked to No Excuses.”

Shaw said the latest CATS scores reflected dramatic improvement for some of the elementary schools. One school raised its math scores 33 points, another 34 points and one more 12 points. In social studies, one school showed an increase of 31 points.

“We’re thrilled with the test scores and we attribute those scores to the No Excuses,” board member Hood said. “It’s made a big impact.”

The structure of the initiative allows the district to constantly tweak and improve it.

“It’s a continuous improvement model, which means we’re constantly evaluating and making adjustments,” Shaw said, complimenting the district staff. “They’ve done an excellent job of doing that.”

“This is an excellent districtwide initiative to improve the focus on improving achievement of each and every child,” wrote PEAK judge Roger Marcum, Marion County’s superintendent, who represented the Kentucky Association of School Administrators.

Estill County is the 20th school to receive the PEAK Award, which is presented in the fall and spring. The next nominations will next be accepted in March 2005.

‘No Excuses’ – Estill County schools at their PEAK

Kentucky School Boards Association

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