Archived Articles
The Secret to Successful Site Visits
by Mark A. Thompson, Director
National Educator Program
Article #306
An important tool in the design, implementation, and continual improvement of academies and small learning communities (SLC) is the site visit. Research is important, but the thing many educators want most is a tangible example; someplace where the concept is actually working. 800 volumes of research can never stack up to the words of one teacher who says “this works,” or “this doesn’t work.”
A site visit can be a powerful ally in the effort to improve schools and student achievement. A site visit can also be a terrible waste of time and money. Which one will your next site visit be?
Here are some things to consider to make sure you get the data you need. Before any site visit is planned, ask the question, “Where can we get information about the school site without actually going there?” There are many ways to gather data by using a “virtual site visit.” Virtual site visits include poring over the school’s web site, e-mail, conference calls with educators at the site, video conferencing, and requesting all forms of written documentation from the school. Once all of this data is gathered, disseminate it and see what else is needed. An actual site visit may then be in order.
So, why visit another school personally?
Some good reasons include:
- Sit in classrooms and observe instruction.
Many academies and SLCs are what I call “paper academies.” They look impressive on paper because they exist only on paper. It can pay big dividends to sit in the classrooms of a promising academy and see how that academy’s English class looks different from any other English class. This is also one of the best ways to pick up ideas on teaching style, instructional tools, effective classroom management, and curriculum integration. These are ideas you can take back home and apply right away. Every good teacher knows that theft - not imitation - is the greatest form of flattery.
- Interview students at random.
High school students have a propensity for telling the truth, whether we want them to or not. Since SLCs are implemented to help students, the students are the ones we should be talking to about effectiveness. What a student is willing to tell you may, or may not show up in a school’s published literature.
- See the geographic setting and student population first hand.
Reports on disaggregate data are very useful, but can also be deceiving. When we say a school has an “inner city population,” what do we really mean? It depends on which city. Every school and school population has its own character and that can rarely be detected by reports and documentation.
- See the bell schedule working (or not working).
Bell schedules are one of those things that can work great in theory but can struggle in practice. Standing in a school’s hallway is the only way to tell if traffic flow and incidence control is effective or not.
- Observe person-to-person interaction.
Those of us who have the privilege of working with school’s nationally can tell what a school’s climate is in the first 10 minutes or so. In that time you have been able to have an experience with the front office reception desk, chat with a staff member, and overhear bits of conversations in a hallway. You will quickly tell if this is a place where passionate educators come to make a difference, or if it is a school where people put in their time and make as few waves as possible. Being on site is usually the only way to detect which is the case. White letters.
- To conduct a “teacher exchange.”
Yes, this can be done. Take three of your best teachers who teach different subject areas and have them teach classes in the other school for a couple of days. They will be replaced by three counterparts from the target school who will teach in yours. It’s amazing how much can be learned this way by both sides! (This can also be done vertically with teachers at the high school swapping with teachers from one of your feeder middle schools.)
Some poor reasons to visit a school include:
- To tour the school.
This is too vague of a goal.
- Get copies of literature, lesson plans, etc.
These can be mailed or faxed.
- See the physical layout of the school.
This can be done by looking at a site map.
- Look at the master schedule.
This can be mailed, emailed or faxed.
Before visiting a school, important questions should be answered. These include:
- “Why are choosing to visit this particular site?”
- “How do we know this school has what we are looking for?”
- “What in particular will this site teach us?”
- “What will we learn by a visit that we can’t through email, their website, conference calls, etc.?”
In addition to these questions, site visit forms allow you to work through and plan the site visit long before you leave your own district. The National Educator Program’s Site Visit Worksheet will help establish the rationale and plan the objectives for the visit. It also helps clarify who the visitation team will be and why those individuals were selected to gather the data. The NEP's Site Visit Log helps your visitation team stay on target throughout the visit and document their findings. Each member of the team should have this in hand during the visit. The documentation on these forms is shared with your school's leadership team or full faculty upon return.
Once you think you know a site to visit, it’s important to establish to the rest of the administration and team why it needs to happen. This will insure your time and resources are used wisely.
Some good reasons to select a particular school include:
- You saw their team present at a conference and know they have much to offer.
One of the reasons conferences are so valuable is they give you access to many schools at one time in one place. That’s why they are so cost-effective. At the NEP’s SLC Success Conferences, there is a “Field Strand” devoted solely for school sites to share what they are doing with their academies. This is an easy way to “visit” many school sites in a couple of days. This can go a long way toward determining if you want to put “feet-on-the-campus.”
- A valuable conversation with a faculty member got your attention.
When follow-up data collection supports there is activity you would like to replicate, this can indicate a valuable school site to spend your time.
- Word-of-mouth from students or parents.
"Paper academies” do not stand up to parent and student scrutiny. These people almost always give you the straight scoop. If you happen to be talking to this constituency, put much value in what they say.
- Dramatic swing in aggregate data.
A wholesale rise in test scores, graduation rates, attendance, and college acceptance;or a wholesale decline in dropout rates or discipline referrals can make you stand up and take notice. After preliminary fact-finding (emails, conference calls, copies of data faxed or mailed), this could be a great place to get more data in person.
Poor reasons for selecting a school include:
- Many other educators are visiting them.
Because a school site has been beneficial to other schools, it doesn’t mean they will be helpful to you. Personalize your site visit selections based on a) what your school or district needs and b) what their school has to offer.
- Their district touts them as a model.
School districts have much to gain by having “national models,” so that label can go up pretty easily. The question is, do national organizations consider them a model?
- USDOE touts them as a model.
Washington, D.C. is not always up-to-speed with what makes an academy great. If you have attended any of their regional SLC technical assistance conferences, you may have left scratching your head as to why some of the schools presenting were selected. Some schools identified by USDOE are excellent and some are not. More information is needed.
- The school touts themselves as a model.
This does not automatically disqualify a school, but I have a general rule: If a school believes they have “arrived,” they have often stopped moving forward and been passed by several other schools. More information is needed.
- It seems like you have heard their name a lot.
If you hear a school’s name being frequently mentioned as having a wonderful program for visitors, it means just that: they have a wonderful program for visitors. The question is do they have good academies? A school you hear about often bears further investigation, but don't invest in a site visit only on the fact they are talked about.
- Polished marketing materials make them look like they “have their act together.”
Many 10th graders can create PR materials that will rival the best New York and L.A. marketing firms have to offer. Just like the point mentioned above, if you see something that catches your eye, it merits further investigation. It may be a great site to visit, or it may not be.
- The site charges you to a fee to visit them.
Schools having a large volume of visitors sometimes charge a fee. A school that does this may be a great school, but there are over 2000 career academies throughout the United States that don’t charge a fee for you to visit. Take “the road less traveled” and pick up treasures others are missing by visiting schools that are just happy to have you.
If you feel a school has much to offer, don’t be shy about wanting to go. Two of my favorite schools to recommend for visits are Waipahu High School just outside of Honolulu, Hawaii, and Miami Beach High School in Miami Beach, Florida. Unfortunately, these schools suffer from being located in beautiful places. I know that sounds silly, but some district administrators are hesitant to authorize trips to such places because of “how it will look.” If a school has something to offer, GO! If you have answered all of the questions on the Site Visit Worksheet before hand, you already have your defense.
For help in locating schools that are good models of some aspect of academy implementation, check with national organizations such as the National Educator Program (NEP), the Career Academy Support Network (CASN), or the National Academy Foundation (NAF). A few questions and a little planning can create a valuable experience for your visitation team, and ultimately, for your students’ classroom experience. Good luck and safe travels! |
