One Voice For All Schools
“Everyone owns everything now.” With those words, Marcia Baldanza, the newly appointed Principal on Task for the Superintendent (underperforming) Schools spoke of the need for everyone to buy into the One Voice Program. The setting was the “exit meeting” following classroom walkthroughs and meetings with the principal and staff at Dillard High School.

Essentially, the One Voice academic program is a research-based strategy using best practices to help guide individual school’s staff to improve teaching and learning in the classroom. The essential question being asked in these assessments is what do schools look like when they organize around a commitment to high achievement by all students.

Every school – not just the underperforming schools – is expected to incorporate best practices into their school improvement plans and programs under the One Voice Program. The level of support provided individual schools varies depending on need. Obviously, a FF school will be receiving more attention and support – including money -- than a solid A school under the plan.

“It’s like an ice sculpture. You know what you want the finished product to look like, so you chip away by doing the work necessary to get there,” said David Goldstein, South Central Area Director, during the exit meeting at Dillard High School.

Principal Merceda Stanley and her academic department heads were all at the table with Baldanza and Goldstein. Their purpose was to go over the results of the classroom visits and review the student performance data – the latter being the periodic mini-assessments conducted of every student’s performance on a bi-weekly basis.

“These sessions started out as kind of compliance ventures on the part of school staff,” said Ms. Stanley. “Now, we’re all aligned and moving forward. It’s exciting, and we feel it will make a real difference in terms of student performance,” she said.

The classroom visits involve observations of teaching objectives and learning expectations, ensuring that what is being taught in specific grades and classes is on target for specific levels of students. The observers also review textbooks and other materials being used in the classrooms to ensure they are specifically aligned with the curriculum being taught. The observers also look at instructional strategies selected by individual teachers and the level of engagement with the students. What follows is a survey of the learning environment in every classroom visited, to see if it is positive and productive.

“What we are able to give the school is a snapshot in time of what we saw in very objective terms,” said Baldanza. “We don’t assign value to it. That’s the school’s role. Then we look at what we would like to see more of and discuss next steps,” she said.

Baldanza’s team visits the Superintendent Schools at least every six weeks to hold these three-hour structured conversations about teaching and learning. However, between those visits, principals and their school leadership teams with the support of their respective Area Directors continue the process with their own observations and mini-assessments on a daily and weekly basis in order to incorporate recommended adjustments to teaching and learning and review the effectiveness of plans and programs.

Consistency is important, because the goal is to get to the point where the One Voice Program will be effective wherever it is implemented, independent of personalities and other subjective influences.

Under the One Voice Program, level one and two students receive reading and math instruction consistently throughout the school year in preparation for

FCAT tests, which are administered in February and March. In the past, low performing high school students might not have been enrolled in reading and math courses until later in the school year, depending on course allocations. Under the One Voice Program, individual student course schedules are being adjusted to meet the specific needs of individual students.

The core of the One Voice Program is the 8 Step Process. “You can look at school performance data and pinpoint exactly where we need to put our best people – and it’s our best people doing the right things at the right time utilizing the right resources and facilities that can make all the difference in the world,” said Baldanza.

Staff development is also an essential component of the One Voice Program. Teachers are taught effective strategies for engaging students and creating the type of interactive atmosphere in their classrooms that escalate student learning and achievement.



Students Need Mentors Now!
January is National Mentoring Month
Was there someone special in your life - a teacher, parent or neighbor - who cheered you on and motivated you to be the best that you could be? Youth Mentoring Programs of Broward County Schools encourages you to make a difference in the life of a child by being that special someone to an at-risk youth. You could be a friend, a listener or just someone with whom the child can share their thoughts and dreams.

Almost 27,000 students in Broward County are considered to be at-risk. They need a special person to listen to them and help them through difficult times. With your help as a mentor, they can learn to cope and deal with their life challenges.

Youth Mentoring represents all mentoring programs working with Broward schools’ students including Take Stock In Children, a nonprofit organization that offers students of financially at risk families an opportunity receive scholarships; Women-of-Tomorrow, a scholarship group mentoring program for female high school students; Big Brothers, Big Sisters; Mental Health Association “Listeners”; and America Reads and America Counts. There are many more mentor groups under the department’s umbrella - too numerous to mention - all are dedicated to recruiting mentors to help our students.

It’s easy to become a mentor. After participating in a training session and passing a security clearance, you’ll be assigned a Kindergarten through 12th grade student near your home or work. Then you’ll meet with that student for one hour a week during school hours. Sound rewarding? Contact the Broward County Youth Mentoring Program at 754-321-1972 for more on how you can become a mentor and make a difference in a child’s life.