Learning Community

To implement SLC strategies successfully, a school must have an effective learning community that serves as an infrastructure for change and decisionmaking. The Glenville Academic Achievement Plan Core Team develops and updates the school's continuous improvement plan. The team consists of elected staff representatives, plus the union chair and the principal, who complete the voting membership; however, any staff member is welcome to attend meetings and provide input. Before proposed changes are implemented, they must be approved by 70 percent of the staff. This ensures an inclusive decisionmaking process that fosters trust and collaboration.

Glenville's atmosphere of mutual trust between administration and staff is apparent. The principal, who is warm and welcoming, makes everyone feel their contributions are valued and sets the tone for the entire school.

Administrators place implicit trust in the decisionmaking ability of the academy teacher teams, which are granted the autonomy to make decisions based on individual and collective student needs. Every academy has a number of teacher teams, each of which is assigned a group of students. Teacher teams are able to reassign students to a different team if they feel it would be in the best interests of the student. They also collaborate on student intervention and instruction. The thinking is that those who are closest to the students are in the position to make the best decisions for those students. Ongoing professional development—such as Critical Friends, Tuning Protocols, Chalk Chat, and instructional pedagogy workshops—equips these teachers with the required skills and knowledge for this shared leadership. A "Training the Trainers" approach ensures sustainability, since Glenville staff members have the capability to train their colleagues.