Rhythmic Concepts
When the Hewlett Foundation decided to assist the Ravenswood City School District in East Palo Alto, the little district was struggling with low test scores, low English-language proficiency, and high turnover of a polarized and demoralized faculty.
That was 2003, when the Foundation funded the New Teacher Center at the University of California, Santa Cruz, to embark on a multiyear plan to help turn around Ravenswood.
Today, thanks to the hard work of the Ravenswood staff and the intensive involvement of the New Teacher Center, which supports the Ravenswood faculty with an array of professional development skills, schools in the 4,500-student elementary and middle school district have a new start. Annual teacher and administrator retention in three pilot schools rose from 27 percent when the work began to 87 percent in the 2005–6 school year. Standardized test scores are sharply up, and both student and faculty expectations have been transformed.
In its 2006 interim report to the Foundation, the Center reported, “The district culture is changing from one of mandates and negativity to a culture of support and an understanding of the need to invest in human capital at every level.”