By Katie Labovitz
The start of a new school year highlights the end of an intense two-year program for teams of Appalachian educators from all over the region who have worked to develop skills and knowledge in order to enhance their respective school districts.
These teams are the third cohort from the Ohio Appalachian Educator’s Institute (OAEI), a collaborative group which brings school superintendents, administrators, teacher-leaders and other members of a district’s influential educators together for the goal of finding ways to positively change their school system and ultimately improve student achievement.
The OAEI is delivered by a partnership with Ohio University Southern and Ohio University’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs. Representatives from each OAEI team met at Ohio University’s main campus for their final project presentations on September 29.
Support from all educators involved is a must in order for school districts to feel the biggest impact. OAEI Interim Director Lesli Johnson said that over the course of working with the different cohorts, participants found that “you really need a strong cadre of teachers, including local association leadership, with a couple building administrators and the superintendent.” Without complete support, school districts run the risk of not being able to implement the kind of change needed to further enhance their students’ learning experiences.
Modifying instruction to make education more effective is not an easy task and takes time, as well as energy, to accomplish. Johnson commented that the first year of the program focused around getting the educators to collaborate and use data to make informed decisions to better cater to the needs of their students. With these acquired skills, educators spent the second year of the program implementing change to positively affect their students.
No two school districts are alike, especially in Appalachia, so each district’s plan was unique to its own needs. The Chesapeake Union Exempted Village School District decided to focus on increasing student achievement by living up to their mission statement to “inspire all students to become passionate life-longer learners, innovative problem solvers, effective communicators and responsible global citizens who are empowered to pursue their purpose.”
The presenters from Chesapeake were adamant in their desire to improve student achievement by implementing curriculum reviews to ensure their students are meeting both the state and their school’s standards. They’ve also worked at turning their district of three separate buildings (elementary, middle and high schools) into a metaphoric solitary unit where all of the teachers are working towards giving their students the most effective education achievable.
The school districts participating in OAEI are each under guidance of a coach, in Chesapeake’s case, George Tarbuck. Coaches worked with the team members throughout their entire process and answered questions, gave advice and conducted on-site visits. Tarbuck called the OAEI a “wonderful program that prepares (districts) to initiate and sustain change to improve student achievement”.
School districts were not the only participants in the quest to improve student achievement as Gallia-Vinton Educational Service Center took part in this final cohort of OAEI. Representative and Education Consultant Fannie Metcalf said that the Gallia-Vinton Education Service Center’s overall goal was to make the schools themselves the center of the five communities in their region. Her colleague Emily Dailey said “there is a much stronger movement toward getting parents and extended families into the school buildings.” Families in poverty-stricken areas are less likely to get involved with their children’s education so schools and communities are forced to come up with a way to amend that specific situation.
Through being involved with the OAEI, the Gallia-Vinton Education Service Center has made great strides and has opened parent centers, which provide computers and other educational resources, as well as hosted intergenerational nights where children invite their parents and grandparents to the schools to eat food, play games and make crafts. Members of the team have gotten great feedback from families in that they are already feeling a positive sense of community.
“OAEI is really an empowerment model and it is great to see people own their work and realize the power they can have when they come together to pursue common goals,” Johnson stated. She said the program’s highest praise has come from the participating educators who have commented that OAEI didn’t tell them what to do, but instead helped the districts identify critical needs and supported the teams while they came up with their own solutions of how to improve their communities and schools.
Armed with the necessary tools and an open line of communication, the educators involved in the program can now take what they’ve learned from their colleagues and other participants in the region over the past few years to further develop their staffs and continue to positively impact the students in their districts. Through their hard work with OAEI, Appalachian educators have the capabilities to better teach and inspire their students as together they work towards a more academically sound future.