Principal Darlynn Gray noticed a pattern that could wreck her school's chances of meeting federal achievement targets if left unchecked.
She shared the news with the eight members of her leadership team at McDaniel Elementary in South Philadelphia, who were gathered around a table for a meeting last week.
"There was a pattern, the day before a holiday, the day after, and if it's an early-dismissal day: Attendance is lower," Gray told the group of teachers, counselors and administrators. "So now I'm going to put it out to the table: What is our action plan? What are some of the things that we can do?"
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This kind of conversation is happening in 14 of the Philadelphia School District's most academically troubled schools - all of which have principals who are participating in a University of Virginia program that tags them "turnaround specialists." All but two of the schools are in the "CEO region," schools chief Paul Vallas' "line in the sand" for improving schools with long-standing low performance.
Such an effort comes as the district grapples with a high dropout rate, a budget deficit, and increasing federal pressure to raise test scores.
Chief in the training is the use of a "balanced scorecard." Using an approach designed for business and adapted for schools, the leadership teams at each school meet weekly to measure progress in achieving goals on attendance, discipline, test scores and other benchmarks, then plan to improve.
At the Philadelphia schools, one of the goals on their "balanced scorecard" centers on attendance. McDaniel, a 525-student school in a city neighborhood with one of the highest rates for shootings that occur during the school day, failed to meet "adequate yearly progress" under the No Child Left Behind law last year, in part because its attendance fell below 90 percent.
Staff members suggested holding prize and recognition assemblies on days when absences tend to be higher, to entice students. They also proposed identifying students with numerous absences, searching out the reasons, and trying to help. Gray had an idea, too: "I'm going to send a letter to the parents, telling them we have an early dismissal and encouraging them to send their child to school."
Throughout the school year, the specialists in Philadelphia and in the other locations - Chicago; Broward County, Fla.; and Virginia - stay in contact with the university program team via e-mail and phone.
As part of the program, for which Philadelphia is paying $836,000 over two years, they also maintain contact with one another via a Web site, where the balanced scorecard for each school is posted. They share successes and pitfalls.
Despite the dramatic title, university program spokeswoman LeAnn Buntrock emphasized: "We don't look at our turnaround specialists as gunslingers looking to come in and fix everything and turn everything around. They need support."
At the university's one-week summer training, principals studied concepts such as team building, the "art of influence," and motivation techniques, Buntrock said. Philadelphia principals then returned to the district and spent a week with their leadership teams.
In January, principals and their teams will return to Virginia for more training.
Along with the balanced scorecards, most schools in the program, including those in Philadelphia, also have built in extra instructional time for students struggling in math and reading, Buntrock said.
While the program is too new in Philadelphia to show results, 10 Virginia schools that pioneered it in 2004 at the urging of Gov. Mark Warner have done well, Buntrock said. Seven of 10 made adequate yearly progress; none did so the year before, she said.
The Washington-based Center on Education Policy recently called turnaround specialists "reform lite," meaning little more than a new title. The group, however, looked at programs where the specialists were not principals but other administrators who worked with several schools at once and had little funding or authority to make a difference, said center president Jack Jennings.
The University of Virginia model, he said, sounded promising. He cautioned that turning around a school takes more than a new leader or any one approach. Successful schools use a variety at once, he said.
Gregory Shannon, the regional superintendent who oversees the Philadelphia schools, said they are doing that, with a common goal: "Our bottom line is student achievement."
Vallas said he would like to expand the district's program and enroll more principals in the university training next year.
Besides McDaniel, others in the program are Bluford, Sheridan West, Douglass, L.P. Hill, Webster, Blaine, Barry, Roberto Clemente Middle School, and University City, Fels, Olney East, Olney West, and South Philadelphia High Schools.
Principals work 12 months - two more than other principals - and are paid extra. The specialists include district educators who are new or relatively new to administration, and educators from elsewhere.
"What I was looking for was charismatic leaders," Shannon said.
McDaniel principal Gray, a graduate of the district's Olney High, was assistant principal at Clymer Elementary last year and before that a teacher. She has a bachelor's degree in business administration from Temple University and a master's in education from Chestnut Hill College. She chose the program because she wanted to be a principal and liked the model.
At the leadership team meeting, McDaniel assistant principal Clayton Scott told the team that only one student had been suspended since school started, a big change from last year, when there were more than 170 suspensions from September through June. Reducing suspensions is one of McDaniel's goals; students out of school aren't learning, the team said.
"So, we're doing good," Gray said, hearing the report.
To reduce suspensions, the school stationed one staff member to monitor each floor; no student can leave a classroom unaccompanied. The staff member periodically enters each classroom, looking to stop problems before they start.
Maria Nicodemo, a fourth-grade teacher and union representative, is supportive of the approach. She and other team members also credited Gray with setting a consistent, firm tone and having an open door (actually two, one on each side of her office).
Team members said they like the balanced scorecard approach, with its business savvy.
"We're looking at the finished product [the goals] and working backward," said teacher leader Anita Pendleton.
Team members said success also depends on caring about students and letting them know.
When the school day ended, Gray passed through the front gates with students and began to walk them home.
In a suit and black high heels, she stopped a girl from running into the street to retrieve a homework paper swept away by the wind; Gray got it for her.
"You know better, Antoine," she called out to another child who veered into the street.
For the next five blocks, she gripped the hand of third grader Elexia Davis, who on this day would be walked to her door.
Grandmother Donna Kerns was impressed.
"She's not even running for anything," Kerns quipped.
Political aspirations or not, Gray does want the community to see her dedication and her staff's: "We're going the extra mile."
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