DAPHNE, Ala.—The institution of a professional learning communities model last summer at Daphne High has teachers and administrators  pleased with results.

In fall 2007, 66 freshmen, 62 sophomores, 54 juniors and 37 seniors recorded failing averages in their core subjects of math, English, science and social studies.

Last semester, 27 freshmen, 29 sophomores, 18 juniors and nine seniors—a decrease of 60 percent—failed in those same classes.

Enrollment has declined slightly—by about 100 students—since the opening of Spanish Fort High, which may account for a portion of the lower totals.

A professional learning community comprises three parts: peer tutoring, teacher collaboration and teacher/administrator interaction with parents.

How it works

On Wednesdays, students with an average below 70 report to tutoring sessions; the teacher creates a personal lesson plan, phones their parents and places the student on a “watch list.”

The list is delivered to each grade counselor, who also speaks with the student and calls their parents.

Monitoring of the student continues and if no progress is made, the student’s name is sent to an administrator’s list before midterm.

“The watch list has increased the number of contacts with the students and parents,” Assistant Principal Meredith Horton said. “The teacher calls home, then the counselor and then I call.”

“The focus on accountability has caused teachers to be more cognizant of student averages,” she said.

Students with scores below 70 are paired with a peer tutor; a teacher will recommend students who have exhibited solid comprehension of material and achieved exemplary test scores to be tutors.

“You always learn something when you teach other people,” senior Matthew Sinks, who tutored a fellow student in geometry this year, said.

Students who volunteer to be peer tutors must have teacher or administrative authorization before they can begin helping another student.

Collaborative teacher meetings are key to successful community learning, according to organizers, who said that during these common assessments, teachers compare students’ progress and devise interactive means of helping their students.

“The teachers have a collaborative time, a 45-minute session on Mondays and Wednesdays,” Horton said.

On “Purple Days,” English and math teachers convene for student reviews. On “Gold Days,” science, social studies, and Spanish teachers meet. The days are named after Daphne High’s school colors.

“The central theme of the meetings are common, formative assessments,” Horton said. “They compare their students in each class and turn in spreadsheets to the administrator.”

Students whose grades fall in between tutoring thresholds can choose between participating in character education or club activities.

Character education involves students watching leadership training videos in a classroom and then talking about what they’ve learned with classmates.

Club activities can range from choir and band to dance and athletic teams.

“I have choir,” senior Laura Akines said. “It’s good because we get to focus more time on the songs.”

“In FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes), we talk about the Bible,” freshman Laura Kinsey said. “We have a lot of pastors come in.”

Daphne High, like its fellow county high schools—Fairhope and  Foley—began learning communities last summer.

“Baldwin County Board of Education has provided funding for all county high schools for PLC training,” Baldwin County Board of Education director of instructional support Pamela Henson said. “For the past two years, we have provided each school with $3,000 to send teams of teachers and administrators to PLC institutes across the nation.”

“These federal funds were from our Title II professional development funds,” she added.

“We had the PLC Institute last summer for all the schools,” Henson said of a program that introduced teachers and administrators to the community approach to teaching; it prepared them for working together to facilitate student success.

The program, administrators hope, will serve the school’s ultimate purpose.

“We want our kids to graduate,” Horton said. “That’s the main thing.”