By Sylvia Zircher
Principal, March/April 2016

The teachers and administrators at Ethel McKnight Elementary School in East Windsor, New Jersey, often sat around the table discussing students, who at a very young age, seemed to have lost their love of learning. We sometimes referred to these students as unmotivated children who lack engagement and accountability. Their schoolwork tended to be incomplete and lacked effort. They were going through the motions of school, but lacked passion and drive. As the number of students in this category increased, we realized it was time to take action. Getting Students to Care About Learning.

We brainstormed ideas to get all of our students to care more about their achievement and progress. The discussion went beyond researching and implementing strategies to increase student engagement in the classroom. Instead, we redesigned several school practices, and added programs to foster and increase student accountability and recognition.

Individual Report Card Conferences
Report cards are more than a process for informing parents about their child’s progress and achievement. Report cards belong to students, too. We therefore set aside time each marking period to hold a 5-minute report card conference with each of our students. During these conferences, we review areas of strengths and the skills students have mastered. We also discuss areas for growth, and talk to students about some of the action steps they can take toward improving. We put the power, ownership, and control for self-improvement in the hands of our students.

To coordinate this effort, the teachers have found various formats for managing time. Some of them hold a few conferences each day for a week. Others choose to set aside one to two days and hold their conferences while students work on group or independent projects. Some teachers hold conferences as students arrive in the morning or at recess time. Managing and coordinating the time is up to each individual teacher.

Helping students understand their report card takes time and practice, but it’s well worth the effort. Students appreciate the time their teachers take to speak to them individually, and this fosters a true partnership. Now, our students have come to expect their one-on-one report card conference and really treasure this time to collaborate with their teacher. The conference is also a great opportunity to offer students reminders and redirection as needed throughout the marking period.

Recognition Assemblies
Many schools recognize achievement with programs such as Student of the Month. At Ethel McKnight School, our process is a little different. Each month, every classroom selects three to four students to recognize. We choose names from each class list randomly and often pick names out of a hat. By the end of the year, every single student in our school will be recognized for a personal achievement.

Randomly chosen students meet with their teacher, and choose a personal achievement they are proud of. These achievements can be based on a personal academic goal, a behavior-based goal, or a personal achievement outside of school. At the monthly assembly, students present their achievement to the grade level, and receive recognition from their peers and a certificate from the teacher. Each certificate is personalized and highlights the accomplishment the student has chosen for recognition.

We provide a sentence frame for any student who needs a bit of prompting and support in presenting their accomplishment in front of the group. Valuing and recognizing personal achievements has now become the norm and part of our school culture.

Self-Monitoring Rubrics
Students often benefit from individualized behavior or academic improvement plans. Sticker charts and monitoring plans are commonly used in elementary schools. We use these as well, but we like to say that we “put rewards in the hands of our students.”

If a teacher recognizes a need for improvement related to behavior or academics, he or she will begin with a one-on-one conference with the student. Together, the student and teacher will develop a goal based on this need. We try to keep the goals simple and realistic and choose goals that are based on observable behaviors. We develop a rubric toward meeting the goal during a specific academic period.

Students use this rubric to rate their own success toward meeting expectations on this specific goal during the pre-selected academic period. An example of a goal might be to “actively participate and stay on topic during Social Studies.” A student might score a rubric score 1 if he participates zero or one time, a rubric score 2 if he participates two to three times, or a rubric score 3 if he participates and is on topic on at least four occasions. After the student scores himself, the teacher reviews the score and “checks off” if she agrees. If she’s not in agreement, the teacher discusses an adjustment to the score and her rationale. We have found that during this process, students hold themselves to very high standards, and often rate themselves much lower than we would. This results in students continuously aiming to raise the bar, and their own achievement levels. Essentially, a student is in competition with him- or herself, and continuously strives for improvement.

We are often asked if we use rewards in combination with our rubric-based behavior and learning modification plans. In most cases, we have found that rewards are not necessary at all. Students are motivated by the concept of the rubric score. In some cases, however, and when necessary, we may use a special privilege in conjunction with achieving a specific rubric score over time. After a student has met with a level of success, we increase the expected rubric score.

The purpose of our behavior modification plans is to help students develop self-monitoring and reflection skills. None of our plans are meant to be used for long periods of time. The tool is meant to guide students through a process for self-improvement and self-analysis. These are lifelong skills that students will benefit from for the rest of their lives. The concept of reflection, analysis, and self-monitoring require higher-level thinking skills. These skills transfer to students’ learning overall.

Results
The practices we’ve incorporated have resulted in a noticeable increase in student engagement and accountability. Within two years, our school closed an achievement gap between subgroups by 11 percentage points, as measured through our state’s standardized assessments. The success of our programs has been a direct result of consistency and buy-in from teachers. Our parent community has played a big role in supporting and encouraging students to meet their individual goals. We have found that even when home support is lacking, students maintain ownership of their learning through the partnership they’ve developed with their teacher.

Self-monitoring and tracking progress are now part of our students’ daily routines. Students graph their assessment data, maintain their own work sample portfolios, and continuously measure their own growth over time. We explicitly teach students how to set goals, self-monitor, and celebrate their own achievements. While this process takes effort and time, it is repaid through our students’ passion for learning, and worth every moment we invest.

Sylvia Zircher is principal of Ethel McKnight Elementary School in East Windsor, New Jersey.

Copyright © National Association of Elementary School Principals. No part of the articles in NAESP magazines, newsletters, or website may be reproduced in any medium without the permission of the National Association of Elementary School Principals. For more information, view NAESP's reprint policy.