Want to show teachers appreciation? This top school gives them more freedom
BOCA RATON, Fla. — When teachers at AD Henderson School, one of the highest performing schools in Florida, are asked how they succeed, one answer is universal: they have autonomy.
Nationally, most teachers report feeling stressed and overwhelmed at work, according to a Pew Research Center survey of teachers last fall. Declining job satisfaction over the past two decades has been accompanied by a decline in teachers’ sense of autonomy in the classroom, according to a recent study from Brown University and the University at Albany.
But at this South Florida school, administrators allow their staff to have a high degree of creativity in the classroom – and it works.
Henderson, a public school with 636 kindergarten through eighth graders on the campus of Florida Atlantic University, scored in the top 1% to 3% in every subject and grade level on the state’s latest standardized tests, with the exception of math in the sixth grade, where students scored in the top 7%. In almost every subject, 60% or more of Henderson students score significantly above the state average.
“A lot of our own individual input is allowed in doing the activities we want to do in the classroom,” says Vanessa Stevenson, a high school science teacher who is completing her third year at the school. She plans to start an equine medicine course next fall, even though the school doesn’t have stables. She believes she will find a way.
“It’s a bit of trial and error, because nothing is handed to you that says, ‘Do it this way.’ You just have to figure it out,” she said.
Joel Herbst, superintendent of Henderson and its sibling FAU High School, calls the faculty his “secret sauce” and argues that the school’s success can be duplicated anywhere — if administrators relinquish some control.
When that happens, he says, teachers create practical programs that help students “not only demonstrate their understanding, but also gain more depth.”
“Give (teachers) the freedom to do what they do best, which is imparting knowledge, teaching beyond the textbook,” he said.
Portland State University education professor Madhu Narayanan, who studies teacher autonomy, said independence has a high correlation with faculty morale and success. But autonomy must be accompanied by administrative support.
“It can’t be, ‘Here’s the classroom, here’s the textbook, we’ll see you in six months.’ Those teachers have enormous autonomy, but they feel lost,” he said.
Henderson emphasizes science, technology and math, and uses the arts and humanities to assist with those lessons. Each year, approximately 2,700 families participate in a lottery for 60 spots in Henderson’s kindergarten class and for vacancies in other grades. There is no screening; some of the children who enter Henderson are child prodigies, most are average students and some have learning difficulties such as dyslexia.
The only adjustment is to comply with a Florida law that requires that the student population at university-run “laboratory schools” match the state’s demographics for race, gender and income. As families sign up, parental involvement is high – a benefit Herbst and his staff recognize.
Selected preschoolers are tested months before arrival so that any needs can be met immediately.
“Some of them come to read and some of them know five letters – and it’s not just reading, but all subjects,” said Lauren Robinson, assistant director of the elementary program. “We’re going to provide every opportunity to close those gaps before those gaps get bigger and bigger, rather than waiting until a certain level and saying, ‘Now we’re going to try to close them.’ It’s day one.”
In Jenny O’Sullivan’s art and technology classroom, preschoolers learn the basics of computer coding by guiding a robot through a maze. Fourth and fifth grade students create videos in honor of Earth Day. Students learn to design by building cardboard arcade games like Skee-Ball for their classmates. Lego teaches technology.
Although her new classroom has the latest technology, she insists such lessons can be taught anywhere, if the teacher is given space to be creative.
“My grandmother is from Louisiana and there’s a (Cajun) saying: ‘Lagniappe,’ that little bit extra,” O’Sullivan said. “I can be the lagniappe in (the student’s) education. Could you live without it? Yes. But would you want that? No.”
The sixth-graders in Amy Miramontes’ Medical Detectives class work in small groups, dressed in white lab coats and goggles, to solve a daily mystery. They examined strands of rabbit muscle under a microscope, using safe chemicals to determine which neurological disease each animal had. They tested fake neurotoxins to determine what ailments affected their imaginary patients.
Miramontes hopes the class will not only spark students’ interest in medicine, but also provide them with the knowledge they will need in two years when they take the state science test.
“They always learn by having something in their hands,” Miramontes says. “If they screw up, that’s no problem, we’ll start over. But then we learn a great life lesson: we have to be very diligent.”
Marisha Valbrun, 12, hired medical examiners because she might want to become a doctor. She has learned that while science is challenging, she can overcome obstacles by seeking help.
“I feel like if I just ask anyone in this room for help, they can give you the right answer,” she said.
Even at a school where teachers exude enthusiasm, art teacher Lindsey Wuest stands out: She can’t keep still as she describes how her lessons are about science.
This afternoon, during her Science as Art class, Wuest and a visiting artist will show third-graders how to make clay bobblehead dolls of endangered species — while also learning the chemistry behind why glazes change color in the kiln.
“Hopefully the students who love art can also develop a love for science,” she said. “Project-based learning sticks with the children longer.”
Third-grader Maximus Mallow said that by working on his leopard bobblehead, he learned how the animal’s camouflage works.
“We have fun while creating things about science,” the 9-year-old said.
Henderson’s success leads to grants — and nowhere shows that more than the high school’s drone program, which recently won a national competition in San Diego.
Henderson’s drone teams have an area to practice flying the 75-millimeter, four-rotor craft through an obstacle course, plus flight simulators donated by the local energy company.
The drone program is an opportunity to compete while utilizing the physics and aviation learned in the classroom, said teacher James Nance. While expensive equipment is an advantage, Nance said, drone lessons can be taught on a budget. At a previous school he made a flying course from PVC pipes and balloons.
Eighth-grader Anik Sahai pulls out his cell phone in Stevenson’s science classroom, an action at Henderson that usually means a trip to the office. But he is demonstrating an app he created that uses the camera to diagnose diabetic retinopathy, an eye disease that is one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide. It took first place at the state science fair and is being considered for commercial use.
The 14-year-old credits his success to his years at Henderson, starting in the preschool program.
“The teachers here are great,” he said. “They are trained to take us to the next level.”
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Sharon Lurye contributed reporting from New Orleans.
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