Assessment/Accountability
School and District Accountability and Assistance

School Panel Review Report
Putnam Vocational Technical High School
Springfield Public Schools

Introduction

The purpose of the School Panel Review Process is to assist the Commissioner of Education in determining whether State intervention is needed to guide improvement efforts in schools where students' MCAS performance is critically low and no trend toward improved student performance is evident from MCAS data. The Putnam Vocational Technical High School met this criterion and was one of two high schools selected for panel review in spring, 2002. The panel review was conducted on April 10-11, 2002.

The review panel's charge was to analyze data and written information on the school's performance and improvement efforts, visit the school, and meet with school and district officials in order to advise the Commissioner on the answers to the following two key questions:

1. Does the school have a sound plan for improving student performance?
2. Are the conditions in place for the successful implementation of the school's improvement plan(s)?

The panel's responses to the two key questions that defined the scope of their review are included in this report. These findings and conclusions are the product of the panel's analysis, discussion, and observation, based on the evidence available to them. A list of panel members who participated in the review is provided in Appendix A. A detailed schedule of the panel's activities is provided in Appendix B.

The panel's findings and conclusions on the two key questions will be forwarded to the Commissioner of Education for consideration, together with school performance data, in determining whether the Putnam Vocational Technical High School is deemed under-performing. The panel was not asked to formulate a sound plan for school improvement where such a plan does not presently exist, or to recommend a course of action to create the conditions for successful implementation of sound improvement strategies where such conditions at present do not appear to exist. Diagnostic and/or prescriptive intervention, where needed to assist an under-performing school, occurs at the next stage of the school review process.

Putnam Vocational Technical High School Profile

The Putnam Vocational Technical High School (Putnam VTHS) enrolled 1442 students in 2001. The Putnam VTHS is one of four Grade 9-12 high schools in Springfield with student enrollments exceeding 1400 students. The school identified 14% of its students as White, 57% as Hispanic, 28% as African American and 1% as Asian. The school reported that 68% of students are eligible for free or reduced lunch and English is not the First Language for approximately one-half the student body (45%). In 2001, 10% of students were identified as Limited English Proficient (LEP) and approximately one-third of the student body (30%) received Special Education services.

Total enrollment figures as well as the distribution of student populations across reported subgroups have changed over the last three years. While the total enrollment has declined by approximately 100 students from 1998-200, the percentage of FLNE students has increased from 42% to 45%, the percentage of LEP students has doubled from 5% to 10%, and the percentage of students receiving Special Education services has increased from 21% to 30%.

In 2000 (the most recent attendance data available to the panel), the Putnam Vocational Technical High School's daily attendance rate was 76.2 percent, representing a decline from a rate of 81.2% in 1997. The attendance rate at Putnam VTHS is the lowest in the district among the large high schools. Students at Putnam VTHS missed an average of 42.8 days of school in 2000. The state average is 11-12 days per school year. In 2000, the number of Putnam VTHS students missing between 11-20 days was 266 or 19%, which is lower than the district rate of 20.2%. However the number of students who missed more than 20 days of school was 891 students or 62% of the student body, which is twice the district rate of 29.8%.

The three-year retention rate at Putnam VTHS is 14.2%. In 2000, 199 students were retained with over one-half (104) of the students retained being 9th graders. The 2000 retention rate at Putnam (13.8%) was twice the district retention rate (6.6%) and over five times the state retention rate. The dropout rate (6.2) has held relatively steady since the 95-96 school year.

Out-of-school suspensions at Putnam VTHS have been declining since 1998, dropping from 23.3% to 15.1 % in 2000 with 217 students receiving one or more out-of-school suspensions. In-schoolsuspension rates have fluctuated over the last three years, with 395 students receiving one or more in-school suspensions. The 2000 ISS rate at Putnam VTHS (27.4%) was approximately twice the district percentage (13.6%).

The exclusion rate has increased from 54.6 in 1998 to 59.8 in 2000. Exclusion rates represent instances of exclusion per 1000 students enrolled. Eighty-six students were excluded from Putnam in 2000. Nevertheless, exclusions involving illegal substances were cut in half from 1998-2000, from 31.0 to 16.3 respectively. Exclusions involving assaults on students remained relatively stable, however assaults on staff declined from a rate of 20.2 in 1998 to a rate of 3.0 in 2000.

Staffing

Putnam Vocational Technical High School's administrative structure includes the acting principal, a vocational programs director, as well as five assistant principals, one of whom focuses on special education, and two vocational programs supervisors. Within guidance, there are six guidance counselors, two adjustment counselors, a vocational counselor, a School To Work Transition teacher as well as two student mediators and an attendance monitor. Central support staff includes three (SPED) evaluation team leaders and three curriculum facilitators.

Putnam VTHS students are taught by a full-time staff that includes 151 teachers. The school reported that 25 of the full-time teachers are on waiver and six are not certified to teach in their current position. More than one third of the faculty (67) have master's degrees.

MCAS Results

The Putnam Vocational Technical High School overall performance Category for Cycle I was "Critically Low" - Category 6, and the school failed to meet its improvement expectations for 1998-2000. Overall grade 10 MCAS results revealed a decline in the average scaled score from a baseline score of 204.3 in 1998 to an overall scaled score of 203.7 for the 1999-2000 average.

Throughout Cycle I, the number of students scoring in the Failing performance level in English/Language Arts steadily increased - from 89% in 1998 to 90% in 1999 and then to 95% in 2000. A slight improvement was registered in 2001 when the failure rate declined to 82%, with over eight out of ten Putnam VTHS students scoring at the Failing level. No movement was registered at the Proficient/Advanced levels. Over the four years, only 1% of the student body scored at these levels. The 2001 Failure rate for Putnam 10th graders is significantly higher than the district percentage and over four times the state percentage of grade 10 students scoring at the Failing level in ELA. The district and state failure rates were 50% and 18% respectively.

MCAS results in Mathematics showed a slight decrease in failure rates during Cycle I. Scores remained stable from 1998 to 1999 with 97% of 10th graders failing; 95% scored at the Failing level in 2000. The failure rate declined in 2001 to 89%. Over the four-year period, the number of students at the Proficient/Advanced levels increased from 0 to 1%. A comparison of school and district figures reveals that the Putnam VTHS failure rates in mathematics are well above district percentages. Moreover, the gap between district and school failure rates increased during this period. Within the district, the failure rate declined from a baseline figure of 83% in 1998 to 66% in 2001. While six out of ten students within the district scored at the Failing level, this figure approximates nine out of ten students at the Putnam VTHS. In 2001, the state percentage of students failing the grade 10 MCAS in math was 25%, or one out of four students.

MCAS participation rates for both regular education and Special Education students have declined from 1998 in both content areas. In 2001, three-quarters of students in both categories participated in the English/Language Arts testing. In mathematics, the rates of participation approximated twothirds of grade 10 Putnam VTHS students.

Panel Reponses To The Key Questions

Key Question 1: does The School Have A Sound Plan For Improving Student Performance?

The Roger L. Putnam Vocational Technical High School has three documents with the designation "plan": a Strategic Plan (August 1996-2002), a Perkins Local Plan and Update (FY2001-2004), and a High Schools That Work (HSTW) Action Plan (2000-2001). While certain elements of each of these three plans address a number of improvement issues, and although the recently appointed acting principal has begun to outline his own plans for the school, there is no current formal school improvement plan for improving student performance with clear goals, measurable benchmarks, timelines, identified resources and responsible parties.

A. Has the school analyzed appropriate data and program information to accurately identify the gaps in student performance and determined why those gaps exist?

Both the school and district, to identify gaps in student performance and possible reasons for poor student achievement, have analyzed data and program information. This includes test data such as the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS); the ITBS (Iowa Test of Basic Skills); the Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE); data on student marks in academic courses; data on disciplinary incidents and suspensions; attendance data; demographic information including special education incidence; staffing; physical plant issues; and structure and schedule of the school day and year, including the ten week on/off cycle of vocational and academic instruction (10 weeks vocational; 10 weeks academic). Much of the data has been disaggregated.

In determining direction for the future, the school is well aware of student assessment results such as extremely low performance on MCAS, and the teachers and administrators acknowledge the need to modify the school's programs and services to be more appropriate for the student population. Many students enter Putnam with serious deficiencies in basic academic skills, and the school has initiated the Putnam Academy and Putnam Prep programs to provide remediation.

Although specific achievement objectives have not been formulated and prioritized, some initiatives are in place to address the following weaknesses identified in the School Leadership Report:

• Academic deficiencies of a large proportion of entering 9th graders are addressed in the Prep School, a small learning community that provides small group and computer-based instruction in English, reading and math for 120 (of 450) entering 9th grade students who demonstrate low scores on the TABE assessment. The program is intended to "accelerate" learning and prepare students for 9th grade work. However, once they attain a 7th grade reading or math level on that same test, they are mainstreamed into 9th grade courses for which many are not yet ready. A prep school focus group has recently been formed to examine this program with the possibility of expanding the Prep School to function as a "fifth" year for students that need it. Many in the school community believe this would be extremely beneficial, but the team found no evidence of firm plans by the district or school for this kind of program.
• Repeating 9th graders and older at-risk students: The Putnam Academy is intended to provide academic support for repeating grade 9 and older at-risk students who are frequent dropouts at Putnam. An Academy/Challenge focus group has been formed to look at ways to improve this intervention program.
• Student Attendance: Personnel who call parents of absent students and conduct home visits are addressing poor attendance. A school-based health center addresses many physical and social-emotional causes of absence. Nonetheless, the most recently available daily attendance rate was 76.2%, down from 81.2% in 1997 and is the lowest among the district's high schools.
• Safety issues are paramount at the school, which has 63 separate entrances/exits. A volunteer faculty group has recently been formed to develop an effective crisis management plan. The concern for safety was described in the School Leadership report. Current security measures include the employment of three full-time security guards, two "civility" rooms where regular education students are sent for time out, a special needs time-out room, and a full time in-house suspension room. Two full-time police officers also work in the building during the school day. Regular student searches are done using handheld wands, walkthrough metal detectors, and an x-ray machine for backpacks and bags. According to the School Leadership Report, incidents of student violence, drug possession and weapons possession keep staff, administration, security guards, mediation specialists and police busy.
• Collaboration between vocational program and academic teachers needs to be improved and is seen as a way to improve student achievement, according to the acting principal and some of the faculty interviewed by the panel review team. Some collaborative efforts currently exist, but they are not programmatic or coordinated school-wide. The acting principal is developing a plan to form three grade 10-12 smaller learning communities (SLCs). Each SLC will serve students in one of three vocational strands: construction, human services and transportation. Both students' vocational and academic course work will be provided within the SLC. Each SLC will also have its own service team (teachers and counselors who review student academic and social/emotional needs and act in a pre- special education referral capacity). There will also be a continuation of the two current 9th grade SLCs, one for regular grade 9 students and one for Putnam Prep students. Each of the five proposed SLCs will be under the aegis of one of the five assistant principals. Each of the three vocational clusters will be supervised as well by one of the three vocational supervisors. A scheduling focus group has been formed to work toward implementation of the SLCs, which would also require changing the school's master schedule from a five period day to a six period day. Teachers will teach four periods (as they do currently) and have one prep. The sixth period would be used for two duties per week to help improve building safety, two periods for common planning time (very much stressed by all stakeholders) to coordinate instruction within each SLC, and one period for participation of the service team associated with the particular SLC.

  The acting principal also sees changing the academic/vocational 10-week cycle, likely to 5/5, as a necessary next step. The SLC intervention, planned for September 2003, along with concomitant schedule changes, is seen as a way to more closely monitor, and thus improve student achievement and attendance.

• Faculty attendance and certification are concerns reflected by high percentages of lengthy teacher absences and uncertified and waivered teachers. Of 151 faculty members, 25 have waivers on certification, and six are not certified in the area of instruction. Additionally, some long-term teacher absences are covered by day-to-day substitutes (seven in the past two years according to the Leadership Report) who do not prepare lesson plans and may be unable to teach in the area of assignment. The school sees this practice as having an impact on student achievement. The superintendent would like to provide zone substitute teachers who would be guaranteed 150 days of work each year, but this initiative is facing both collective bargaining and possible financial roadblocks to implementation. The superintendent also indicated that staff implementation of new initiatives is an issue systemwide. He hopes to develop a mentoring system where expert teachers will model instructional strategies for their peers.
• Results-based planning, including focus on test scores and looking at student work, are initiatives reportedly under development by the district and will be addressed in professional development.

  The district and school leadership have a shared understanding of a number of major improvement initiatives that have been developed or are under consideration to address the gaps in student performance. For example, the Springfield School Committee, effective September 2002, approved an admissions policy for entry to Putnam. Previously, no student was denied entry to Putnam despite regulatory requirements that all vocational technical schools have an admissions procedure. District and school leaders, as well as the teachers interviewed by the panel, agreed this was necessary for change to take place at the school. However, given the assignment procedures and distribution of students across the district's high schools as described by school and district leaders (and reiterated by the staff), the implementation of the policy, and its potential impact on the makeup of the student body or on student achievement are open questions.

  The school also anticipates an accreditation visit from the New England Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges next school year, which will create additional impetus for self-assessment and examination of practice.

B. Does the plan set out specific improvement objectives that are grounded in the school's analysis of the reasons for poor student performance?

The three unconnected planning documents provided to the team contain few specific, measurable improvement objectives that are accompanied by strategies, benchmarks and timelines that are clearly linked to an analysis of the reasons for poor student performance.

For instance, one of the three plans, the 2002 Perkins Local Plan, indicates the minimal goal of increasing by 1% the number of students in MCAS passing performance levels, while at the same time setting goals for improving graduation rates. At the same time, goals for increasing the number of students attaining a high school diploma are also indicated in the Perkins Local Plan. Moreover, the Massachusetts School and District Accountability System set specific improvement expectations for each school in Massachusetts, which are absent from any of the plans provided.

The Strategic Plan for August 1996-2002 calls for "higher achievement for all students" but with no specific improvement initiative for achieving this goal. It also sets goals of 96% attendance and tardy; 0% fight suspensions; 25% honor roll; 100% passing marks; and 100% on grade level on system testing. However, there are no strategies, benchmarks, or timelines for achieving these seemingly arbitrary goals.

The High Schools that Work (HSTW) Plan for 2000-01 has several specific objectives for students:

• 85% daily average attendance by June 1, 2001
• 100% of "Prep School" students experiencing integration by January 19, 2001
• 100% of students below 7th grade level in "Prep School" by September 1, 2000
• 100% of incoming 9th grade on "Four Year Plan" by September 1, 2001
• 100% of "prep School" students exiting as a result of TABE scores by September 1, 2000

Again, this plan outlines no strategies for achieving these results, and there is no evidence that the attainment of these goals was monitored for accomplishments. There was no 2001-02 update of the HSTW Plan.

C. In order to accomplish each improvement objective, does the plan specify strategies which appear likely to lead to improved student results?

Some of the programmatic changes and strategies under consideration or currently being implemented would appear likely to lead to improved student results. However, they lack specific improvement objectives with priorities, timeframes, professional development, and focused instruction that is responsive to particular student weaknesses.

For example, although the document describing the school's demographic and achievement data identifies the specific skill areas where Putnam students were lacking on MCAS, and students did indicate that there is faculty help in the form of tutoring available to assist students with MCAS, it is not clear that these efforts are productive, given an 82% rate of failure in 2001.

Key stakeholders, such as the School Centered Decision-Making Team (essentially the School Council), which consists of staff, parents, the principal and the faculty, are in agreement that existing plans are unfocused and elusive.

While both the academic and vocational teachers will all ultimately be responsible for having students meet the state standards, the vocational departments follow state competency-based curricula and assess their students based on the standards in those curricula. The new school improvement plan will need to focus on training all teachers to teach to the learning standards outlined in the Massachusetts State Curriculum Frameworks, with whatever modifications are necessary for the large number of special needs students at the school.

D. Are the school's written improvement planning document (s) clear and specific enough to guide their implementation of planned improvement initiatives?

No. As the acting principal acknowledges, the documents provided for the team's review do not constitute a workable plan. The school's leadership has not initiated a broad-based planning process that will unify the Putnam Vocational Technical High School around a single written improvementplanning document that will guide the school's planned improvement initiatives. The central office has developed a template for such a plan, designed to be responsive to the school's achievement data, and the superintendent indicated his expectation that a first draft of the plan would be completed by September 2002.

Present and planned strategies, such as the creation of smaller learning communities (SLCs), increased school attendance and safety, and the initiatives being examined in the focus groups should be tied to the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks and the need for higher standards and a culture of achievement at the school. Current planning document do not address student weaknesses both diagnostically and prescriptively in relation to helping students attain the Massachusetts standards. Students interviewed indicated that academic classes, particularly in math, are not sufficiently challenging, that there are inadequate books and supplies, and that they don't get enough homework. It was also not clear from student interviews that the advanced placement classes are at a bona fide honors level.

While faculty express genuine caring and concern for their students, based on the survey results, interviews and focus groups, the team found that faculty have generally low expectations for the academic achievement of their students. Demographic trends from 1998-2001 show an increase in student populations that in the aggregate have historically performed poorly on standardized measures. For example:

• the percentage of white students has decreased by 7% - from 21 to 14%
• the percentage of Hispanic students has increased by 7% - from 50 to 57%
• the percentage of FLNE students has increased from 42 to 45%
• the percentage of LEP students has doubled from 5 to 10%
• the percentage of SPED students has increased from 21 to 30%

The needs of such a large high at-risk population, many of whom enter the school with skills below grade level, can only be addressed through highly targeted instruction that is embedded throughout the curriculum and is accompanied by high expectations for student achievement regardless of past performance.

E. Was the School Improvement Plan developed through a process that will support its successful implementation?

According to information provided during the visit and supplemented after the panel review, the school's previous principal and members of the school faculty worked with consultants on the three plans currently in existence. The school's prior principal then assembled a cross-section of stakeholders to begin a strategic planning process in which some members of the school community participated during the first half of the 2001-2002 school year. As indicated in 1D above, however, the existing planning documents generated through these processes are not adequate to guide the school's improvement efforts. The new planning process is designed to use (and augment as necessary) the new school improvement plan template provided by the district.

In the brief period since he assumed his current position, the principal has engendered much support for his leadership among the staff and the School Centered Decision Making Team (SCDMT) and therefore appears in a good position to lead the development of a viable school improvement plan. The initiatives and strategies he is proposing could, along with specific objectives, timelines, and designations of responsible parties, become the nucleus of such a plan that has strategic objectives that focus on improvement in curriculum and instruction and where identification of student needs moves from generalizations to specifics.

Members of the SCDMT indicated that they need a clearer vision of what a good plan should be, as well as a facilitator who could keep the group on-track during any planning process. They identified priority needs of the students in the areas of English Language Arts and Mathematics. A key part of the planning procedure will be participation and involvement of faculty who, through the staff survey and interview, showed little knowledge and ownership of the plans that currently exist.

Key Question 2: Are The Conditions In Place For The Successful Implementation Of The Improvement Plan(s)?

The conditions are in place for the successful implementation of an improvement plan once it is developed. The new principal, appointed at the end of January 2002, appears to be an effective leader who has the support of the faculty and the superintendent (himself just completing his first year in Springfield). Additionally, the faculty supports suggested improvement initiatives, and the district is reportedly implementing policies that seem focused on data-driven instructional improvement.

A. Does the school have effective leadership and sound management?

The acting principal of Putnam Vocational Technical High School was appointed on January 23, 2002, and will shortly be one of several candidates to be interviewed for permanent appointment to the position of school principal. With respect to the changes he is proposing in the master schedule, admissions, smaller learning communities, and crisis management, the principal has the support of staff, students, School Centered Decision Making Team, and parents interviewed by the panel review team. He cites his background as a vocational teacher, a business owner, and a comprehensive high school assistant principal as advantages in facing the formidable challenges to this position.

The principal is aware of the lack of a strong integrated school improvement plan, along with tools to measure its success, but he feels that he has had other priorities since the commencement of his service at Putnam Vocational Technical High School in January. He did study the current planning documents when he assumed his position in order to familiarize himself with the school and its needs and determined that the crucial issues of school safety and climate, which have a strong impact on teacher and student morale, required his immediate attention. He did articulate a possible need for guidance in the planning process.

His planned professional development for the summer includes hiring a consultant to help staff with reading and writing across the curriculum. He also wants to work with staff over the summer to plan the implementation of the smaller learning communities initiative.

He is aware of the tension between the academic and vocational programs. Academic teachers feel that problems stem from shop schedules that take time from academics, and the school is attempting to address this issue through schedule and cycle changes and the development of the smaller learning communities.

The principal wants to see more outreach to parents who do not appear to be connected to a significant degree at present. Parents interviewed indicated that there is just one open house annually with an opportunity to meet with teachers and that there is a lack of communication regarding MCAS. Although parents can enter the building and observe at any time, few take advantage of the opportunity do to so. The parents interviewed support the concept of a fifth year through the Prep School and implementation of an admissions policy for the school.

Community members were mobilized by the school to help tutor the class of 2003 to prepare for the December retake of MCAS, resulting in an additional 100 students passing district wide.

The assistant principals, vocational supervisors, and the principal conduct staff evaluations. The department heads are part of the teacher's bargaining unit and receive stipends to facilitate budgeting as well as ordering and distribution of materials and supplies. They are elected by the members of their departments. This system, universal throughout Springfield's high schools, does not allow for instructional leadership on the part of the department heads. This system may create obstacles to adequate implementation of the school improvement plan once it is developed since those conducting the evaluations (i.e., the assistant principals and vocational supervisors) may not be content specialists in the areas evaluated.

B. Is there evidence that the school's faculty supports the planned improvement efforts?

From faculty interviews and from faculty's willingness to participate with the new principal on some of his initiatives for improvement, there appears to be faculty support for these efforts to improve the school. Staff members are very positive about the principal and believe that he has the vision and skills to implement change. He listens to them and is very open-minded, according to several teachers. Several indicated that morale is "moving up" and people are optimistic about working with him.

Faculty members have been willing volunteers on the three focus groups the principal organized (Scheduling Focus Group; Academy/Challenge Focus Group; and Prep School Focus Group) as well as a task force on crisis management. In addition, 36 vocational technical teachers are working to update and expand Competency Based Vocational Education (CBVE) programs at the school. Some academic and vocational teachers are already working together to improve student MCAS achievement, and a number of vocational teachers are incorporating mathematics and language arts as part of the "related" lessons.

Hopefully, the move to smaller learning communities and proposed change of schedule (to a six period day and shorter academic-vocational cycles) will engender support for improvement efforts. Faculty members believe this change would have positive impact.

A number of staff members interviewed report a tension between the academic and vocational faculties. There is competition for instructional time; neither group wants to see students having less time in their divisions. Faculty is also concerned that any changes be implemented with consistency and enough time to see them through.

Teachers interviewed would also like to see more student support from home. These teachers see parents as part of the problem for students and report that there is little outreach to parents from school. Some said that despite the effort put in by students, they don't get much parental encouragement to achieve.

Teachers are also discouraged by the fact that students placed in courses that are above their grade level frequently fail. Faculty also needs more guidance in how to target instruction to students' MCAS gaps and assistance in making effective use of data from achievement tests and MCAS.

In the staff survey, some teachers demonstrated little knowledge or ownership of previous plans, indicating that extensive professional development is needed to help them contribute to the development of a good school improvement plan, understand its scope, priorities and timelines, and their responsibilities for active participation and accountability in carrying it out.

C. Is the school receiving adequate guidance and support from the district leadership?

The district has a improvement plan, and the school improvement plan template is modeled on it. The district plan is focused on three main goals:

• Improving student achievement
• Improving the capacity of adults learners (i.e., staff development)
• Improving support systems (such as policy changes, technical assistance, and program supervision)

The school plans will reflect these goals as well as local concerns for the particular school. The district provides disaggregated data for the schools and is now developing complete data profiles for each school. The district has also aligned the curriculum with the Frameworks, although the superintendent believes that more consistency is needed in implementation throughout the system. This is indeed the case at Putnam as observed in classes and in conversations with teachers.

The district leadership has an awareness of the challenges at Putnam and is supportive of the principal's change efforts within the constraints of upcoming budget cuts. The superintendent has been to the Putnam campus and has met with the principal numerous times. He views the principal as a "master scheduler" and thinks he can "get the job done." Because of the unique characteristics of the program at the Putnam Vocational Technical High School, the superintendent has given the principal permission to design a plan for professional development that is unique to the school, and separate from the professional development mandated for the rest of the district.

A pupil progression plan for the district is being developed system-wide with specific benchmarks for promotion from grade to grade and includes a requirement for targeted 8th graders to attend summer school before entering grade 9. The superintendent believes it is important to improve the attendance and achievement of middle school students prior to high school entry. The district is piloting a new interdisciplinary reading program, Read 180, in three middle schools this year as part of the thrust to increase the skill level of 8th graders before they enter high school.

The principal feels that he has the confidence and support of the superintendent and the assistant superintendent for secondary schools. This has been evidenced by the superintendent's support for the new admissions policy for the Putnam Vocational Technical High School. In addition, there has been involvement from the language arts supervisor, the math director, and the science director who has recently provided the school with a new science curriculum and calculators.

Unfortunately, the current fiscal climate will make it nearly impossible to increase resources for the school in terms of much needed, and to some extent safety-related, building improvements, updated books, supplies, technology or additional staffing. In fact, cuts are anticipated. To date, Perkins grant funds have been used almost exclusively to offset personnel costs, rather than using a portion of these funds to upgrade shop areas. The principal is now attempting to cut three positions out of the Perkins budget but is not sure that the district will pick them up due to the anticipated cuts. Additionally, in Springfield, no high schools currently receive Title I funds, although the superintendent is exploring the possibility of directing Title I funding to grades 4-9.

Conclusion

The panel review team has concluded that the Putnam Vocational Technical High School does not have a viable, current school improvement planning document with clear goals, measurable benchmarks, timelines, identified resources and responsible parties. The three planning documents currently available are all lacking in one or more of the essential ingredients. A process for creating and implementing a sound document is not currently in place. A number of promising strategies for school improvement are in the planning stages and could become part of a school improvement plan as it is formulated.

Once a plan is developed, however, a number of conditions are present for successful implementation. The acting principal, appointed at the end of January 2002, has garnered the support of both his faculty and the superintendent of schools. The district has provided a good base of collected and analyzed data as well as a template for a data-driven school improvement planning and a timeline for its development. District leadership, which changed in the past year, is cognizant of the needs of the Putnam Vocational Technical High School and will provide all the support it is able. This support, however, will be tempered by the funding limitations present throughout the Commonwealth and in particular in districts such as Springfield where urban issues weigh heavily on the success rate of change.

Appendix A
Team Members

Geri Lyn Ajemian, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Malden, MA
Denise Delorey, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Malden, MA
Peter Crafts, Director of Vocational and Technical Education, Worcester, MA
Donald Rebello, Principal of Somerset High School, Somerset, MA
Gary Rivers, Assistant Director, Charles H. McCann Technical School, North Adams, MA
Kevin Hart, Acting Principal, William J. Dean Technical High School, Holyoke, MA
Janet Schultze, Schoolworks Consultant, Beverly MA
Zita Samuels, Schoolworks Consultant, Beverly MA

Appendix B
Evaluating School Performance
Detailed Schedule for Review Panel School Site Visit

The times specified on the following schedule may be adjusted slightly to align with the daily schedule and practices in each of the schools being reviewed.

Day 1

Day 2 : All activities take place in the school