Introducing
Jorge Barrera
District Billingual Coach
When leaders grow, students benefit
In Holdsworth’s Campus Leadership Program, the principal and a team of 3-4 other school leaders take a 2-year journey to become better leaders and learn new ways of solving persistent problems.
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“It’s not training. It’s not a professional development. It is the most transformational experience you will ever have as a leader.”
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Aisley Adams
Holdsworth Alum, Aldine ISD
Each school chooses an area — rooted in data and related to student learning — where they have an opportunity to get better.
Using continuous improvement methods, they learn to:
- Analyze the root cause.
- Break the problem into bite-sized chunks.
- Test out potential solutions before spreading to the whole school.
41 of 49 schools made
significant progress
Despite the challenges of the past two years, 84 percent of schools in our program made significant progress toward an ambitious student impact goal.
McNeill Elementary
near Houston is one of
many success stories.
Speaking skills soar at
McNeill Elementary
Lamar CISD
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Nearly 41 percent of McNeill students are still working to master the English language.
Source: Texas Education Agency, 2020-21
~ 41%
McNeill students working to master English
This mirrors a state trend. In Texas, the population of students working to master English has risen 40% over the last 10 years.
Introducing
Jorge Barrera
District Billingual Coach
In the faces of the students at McNeill Elementary, Jorge Barrera sees himself.
Barrera’s family immigrated to the United States from Mexico when he was in the 5th grade.
He went from being a top performer at his school in Mexico to being placed in easier classes – especially in math – though he was capable of more advanced work.
As the bilingual coordinator for McNeill during the 2021-22 school year, Barrera felt motivated to help young students like himself build their language skills.
If students perform well on state tests, they can unlock more advanced classes in middle and high school.
“I was a smart student. People just didn't know that because I didn't speak the language.”
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Jorge Barrera
District Billingual Coach
Digging into data
After digging into data, school leaders at McNeill realized that less than 10 percent of 5th graders were mastering the speaking portion of the state test for non-native speakers.
This was a problem Barrera understood because he had experienced it as a student. Holdsworth’s Campus Leadership Program equipped him and his team with the tools to solve it.
Using methods taught through Holdsworth, Barrera and the team got to work identifying root causes and figuring out potential solutions. The team observed teachers as they worked with students and conducted interviews with both students and teachers.
Here’s what they discovered:
Students felt teachers always called on the “smart kids.” They didn’t feel safe speaking up.
Jorge Barrera
District Billingual Coach
Students wanted teachers to include everyone in class discussions, and they wanted more opportunity to collaborate with classmates on the best answer before being called upon by the teacher.
Trying new strategies
The responses motivated teachers to try new strategies. Through trainings led by district staff, teachers learned how to incorporate more “turn and talk” opportunities into the schedule so that no matter the subject, students had a chance to practice higher-level speaking skills.
Teachers also learned to structure classroom conversations and seating in a way that gave all students a chance to contribute.
“When we heard the responses from the students ... it made us want to make changes so that they did have opportunities to speak and they felt confident and secure in the classroom.”
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Berkeda Taylor
4th grade reading teacher
Making a difference
for students
The changes made a huge difference for Oladiran, whose parents are from Nigeria and speak two different languages at home.
While his English is good, Oladiran had not yet mastered the speaking portion of the state test.
As a result of changes teachers made, students were able to rotate among different assigned speaking partners, collaborate on answers and get to know each other a little better. Teasing stopped and class became more fun.
After a semester implementing the new strategies, Oladiran mastered the speaking portion of the state test.
Not only that, Oladiran decided to run for president of National Honor Society.
And won.
“By the end of the year, we all felt like family. We were bonded because we weren't laughing at each other. I do feel confident about my speaking ability.”
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Oladiran
6th grader, Wertheimer Middle School
Little changes lead
to big results
Former McNeill Principal Toni Scott – now the principal at Wertheimer Middle School – said Oladiran wasn’t an isolated case. The changes that flowed from their Holdsworth learning had ripple effects across the whole school.
In the small Holdsworth test group of 33 students, the percentage of 5th graders who mastered the speaking portion of the state test rose from nine to 23 percent. The state average is six percent.
As an unexpected bonus, the same group of students outperformed the entire school in reading on the STAAR test, with 83 percent reaching mastery level.
The school population as a whole performed better – in grades, on state tests and in their general confidence around speaking. In 2022, McNeill earned an A rating from the state accountability system and earned five of six possible distinctions.
In Scott’s view, the game changers were Barrera sharing the story of his own childhood and students sharing their perspectives.
These strategies, recommended by Holdsworth, moved teachers in a way Scott had never witnessed, inspiring total commitment.
“When we saw the big picture of the results from the kids, I just started sobbing because I could not believe that our little project had such a huge impact on all of our kids.”
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Toni Scott
Principal, Wertheimer Middle School
Sharing the knowledge
This year, Barrera is serving in the same district office that assisted McNeill with training and is now coaching his former peers. They all want to know – what did you do to get such great results at McNeill?
As a districtwide coach, he will be able to spread the strategies he learned through Holdsworth, especially the importance of including student voice and gathering data to inform better practice.
In this new role, Barrera will be able to serve more students like him – kids excited about their future who need caring adults to help unlock their potential.
Their stories are his story.
“The things we did here were very close to the heart because I was able to step in their shoes. That's what made the difference – when we saw their faces. Not the numbers, but their faces.”
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Jorge Barrera
District billingual coach
Barrera is one of nearly 750 school leaders in more than 220 schools The Holdsworth Center served in 2022.
Santos Livas
Elementary
Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD
At this elementary school in the Rio Grande Valley, Principal Rodrigo Hernandez and his team noticed that when emerging bilingual students reached 5th grade, they stopped making progress on speaking skills, and some even regressed.
Introducing more speaking opportunities during class and via an audio recording app helped the team reach a goal set through the Holdsworth program.
55% of 5th graders made progress on the speaking domain of the state test, up from 29% the previous year.
Rodrigo Hernandez
Principal, Santos Livas Elementary
Rolling Meadows
Elementary
Judson ISD
At this diverse school in San Antonio, leaders discovered that too many 3rd graders in special education were not mastering grade-level content. After trying several change strategies, Principal Michelle La Rue and her team began to move the needle by focusing on small group instruction and extended planning time for teachers.
The changes had a much broader impact than expected.
The share of all 3rd graders meeting grade level expectations in comprehension increased by over 10%.
Dwan Joseph
Academic Trainer, Rolling Meadows Elementary