Measuring What Matters
By Becky Salato, Superintendent, Konocti Unified School District
In education, we strive for continual improvement. We compare ourselves against statewide standards. By measuring our performance, we can figure out where we are making progress and where we need to put in a little extra effort. But some things–some really important things–are hard to measure. These are some of the areas I am most excited about at Konocti Unified.
STUDENTS - Campus Culture and School Pride
In late May, our high school was tagged with graffiti. When I saw it, my heart sank. I was worried it would derail some of our students, shifting their focus from ending the year well to retaliating against perceived enemies. But that didn’t happen. The students were angry, of course, but they stayed on their path and didn’t let anyone ruin the end of their year.
Then, when it came time for senior prank night, they weren’t destructive or mean-spirited. Instead, they did a hilarious prank, covering EVERYTHING in the principal’s office with wrapping paper. They said, “From the Class of 2023, that’s a wrap!” At one point, they accidentally tripped an alarm. Instead of running away and letting the police come and wasting everyone’s time, one of the student leaders who had my cell phone number called me and apologized for tripping the alarm and asked if I could help them. Everything went fine. No harm, no foul.
The school spirit instilled by Lower Lake High School Principal Teresa Rensch has been nothing short of miraculous. I am so proud of the LLHS Class of 2023 and for all of the students who are taking positive steps to make their school the kind of place they can be proud of.
TEACHERS/STAFF - Workplace Morale
I also see a shift in employee morale. I don’t know if you’ve ever been part of a team with low morale. It causes a heaviness that everyone feels and it can be really hard to get motivated to do much of anything. On the other hand, when you belong to a team full of people you trust and admire, people who have your back and are excited about the work you’re doing together, it feels like anything is possible. I am seeing signs of the latter.
We’ve been pushing really hard to improve elementary reading scores. Many of our kids had fallen behind, so as a district, we purchased 25 licenses for a curriculum based on the Science of Reading. The educators who participated in the training witnessed transformations in their students’ ability to read. I had a veteran teacher with decades of experience bound into my office with the enthusiasm of a first-year teacher. She was so excited about the results she was seeing.
Everyone who signed up for Year 1 has already registered for the second year of this two-year program. And when we purchased 35 licenses for the new Year 1 cohort, all the seats filled immediately.
This kind of excitement is contagious. Teachers come to school every day because they want to make a difference in students’ lives. Success breeds success and hope is among the most inspirational forces on the planet. I see hopeful, engaged teachers and it makes me so happy.
PARENTS - Family Engagement
We’ve also seen an increase in parent engagement, specifically with our District English Learner Advisory Committee (DELAC). Instructional Support Services Director, Tim Gill, has done an amazing job reaching out to a group of parents that sometimes struggles to be heard and recognized.
Previously, DELAC meetings had a couple of attendees; now we routinely have 30 to 60 people at every meeting, with parents setting their own agendas and driving the action. When parents are empowered and engaged, students win.
How did Tim engage parents? At his first meeting, he was willing to be vulnerable and do something he wasn’t super comfortable with–he cooked chicken tortilla soup for the five best cooks in our community who happen to be DELAC parents. For many of us, including these parents, having a meal together is a way to connect. The cooks who attended told him they deeply appreciated his efforts and, “From now on, we’ll bring the food. Needs more spice.”
Tim structured the monthly meetings with food and childcare to make it easier to attend. Then he listened to parent concerns until every issue had been aired. Only then could a collaborative effort begin–and it has. When trusting relationships exist, we can dig into the challenges we face together. We’re moving from us/them to we.
STUDENTS - Seeing What’s Possible
Students are also benefiting from some of these changes in mindset.
Sometimes we get so used to our surroundings, we forget we can change them. We know health is important, and many of us grew up walking to school, but when parents look around and see how dangerous it would be for their kids to walk, they put them on a bus or drive them to school–even when they only live a few blocks away.
This year, we’ve worked closely with Blue Zones Project Lake County to identify ways we can change unhealthy practices, making it easier to choose healthy options. One great example was our walking school bus. We invited families and community members to walk from Austin Park to Pomo School, and four hundred people showed up to walk with us!
Before we started, I asked kids to raise their hands if they had ever walked to school. Fewer than 20 kids raised their hands–these are kids who live within walking distance of school. I challenged them to use all their senses as they walked, to pay attention to what they saw, heard, smelled, and felt.
When we arrived, I asked if their minds and bodies felt ready to learn. “Do you feel more energized?!” I asked. “Yes!” They responded. First graders started chanting, “We want sidewalks. We want sidewalks!” I asked who wanted to walk to school from now on, and all hands went up. They want to be out and moving and this is where we’re going. We are working with state representatives to get funding for sidewalks and other safety measures so our kids can walk to school.
At the high school level, our partnership with Blue Zones Project led to powerful insights based on student research into the concept of belonging. Many kids reported not having a close, trusting relationship with any adult on campus and those students made specific recommendations to change this, many of which we plan to implement.
Getting Better at Getting Better
We know we cannot transform our district or our community overnight. But if we continually focus on improving, we can make significant changes. It’s a domino effect.
Another win came in the face of a statewide teacher shortage. Rather than throw up our hands and give up, we focused on what our teachers needed to stay in the classroom. We know young teachers often have children of their own, so we’ve opened an early childcare center for staff where they can be sure their children are cared for while they spend their days in the classroom.
And the more we are able to keep experienced teachers in the classroom, the more likely our students are to succeed. I know we are not scoring as well as we’d like to on standardized tests and other state measures, but we are building the foundation that will allow us to in the future.
When I arrived just months before COVID hit, I had a plan for Konocti Unified–call it a blueprint. Now, we’ve built the foundation. We’ve begun creating the relationships and creating the infrastructure that will allow us to thrive.