Brockton High School Leadership Case Study

At Brockton High School in Brockton, Massachusetts, the school put forth an initiative to integrate literacy-related instructional strategies across all content areas. This school-wide instructional goal has attributed to the overall boost to student achievement. The leadership team at Brockton High School recognized that changing the school culture would require the adults on campus to re-evaluate curriculum and instructional strategies. Moreover, changing the mindset of a school requires an examination of data to determine the areas of need. The leadership at Brockton recognized that the greatest gaps in student achievement stem from the lack of literacy skills. With the use of content-specific information, literacy skills such as reading,

No matter how well a given school or district is performing, there will always be sub-pockets of failure and upcoming changes in the environment that will challenge even the best systems. It’s crucial that school administrators not force change or people will rebel. An effective change process shapes and reshapes good ideas while it builds capacity and ownership among members of the group. One of the biggest blocks to change is that people do not know what to do with it. One method is to use delegation to distribute power and influence throughout the school community. Building capacity means working with others who already have the capacity to lead and to influence. Leaders need to be strong enough to accept suggestions and criticism and be open to change that comes with giving up the lead. By participating as learners, alongside staff, the school moves forward. Additionally, the principal becomes more knowledgeable about problems to be solved and, at the same time, foster leadership with

They explained that in order to refine a school system, it requires administrators to develop an approach to change. Change takes time and leaders must select a few complementary strategies and stay focused year after year. At Lemon Grove Academy, our staff has dedicated four years to focus on implementing strategies surrounding the modern learning framework. The modern learning framework consists of three domains of focus: continuous growth and mastery, mindfulness, and contribution. Over the course of the year, the staff engaged in professional developments, actions walks and pushing classroom support from Dr. Magaña. We collaborated to discuss best practices and reflect on how students are responding. The decisions to build on the three domains, within the Modern Learning Framework, were based on student data from the California healthy kids survey. Through this process, our staff has shared commitments and built deeper relationships to sustain this change. Through organic collaboration and reflection, we have fostered ownership around effective