CORRECTION: The original version of this story incorrectly referenced Jonesboro Public Schools. The story has been updated.

Jonesboro, AR – JonesboroRightNow.com – Leadership Magnet School is teaching staff members to take ownership of every child’s success – one step at a time.

That is the goal of the Professional Learning Communities (PLC) at Work process. The process employs a strategy that focuses on whether students are actually learning while fostering a collaborative culture between teachers. Since implementing this framework, the school has seen some major improvements.

JRN spoke with Principal Kim Newcomb to discuss how a shift in mindset, a global pandemic, and a focus on data have contributed to those improvements.

The Beginning

The school began its commitment to PLC at Work in 2019, months before the COVID pandemic caused significant changes to the educational field. While many schools retreated into survival mode, Leadership Magnet used the new process to navigate the uncertainty.

According to Newcomb, having PLC in place allowed them to immediately gauge the students’ needs during that challenging time.

“Because it’s anchored in student data and student performance, we were able to gauge exactly what kind of learning loss our kids experienced, if any, and then make instructional decisions just to meet those students where they are,” she said.

Moving teachers from working in isolation to being in unified teams can be a challenge when improving schools. For Leadership Magnet, the tipping point came during a summer trip to San Antonio, TX, where the entire faculty attended a PLC at Work summit.

“The topic of that summit was ‘All Means All,’ and so that mantra kind of became the way we did business in our building. It’s the idea that it’s all of our responsibility to educate all of our students,” Newcomb said.

The WIN Time Strategy

Typical class times don’t always allow for deep dives into every student’s specific struggles. To ensure no child is left behind, Leadership Magnet altered its daily schedule to include a 40-minute block called “What I Need” (WIN) Time, where staff meet with students and help them grow.

“During that time, we have seven interventionists, plus all of our activity team, plus our teachers on each grade level, and pull students into small groups,” Newcomb explained.

Including this block in the main schedule has helped improve students’ reading skills. When the process began, the principal noted that nearly 90% of the students were below grade level in foundational reading. By implementing the strategic interventions during WIN time, the school saw significant improvements within a year.

Behavior and Academics

The impact of PLC at Work goes beyond improvements in test scores. According to a Facebook post by Jonesboro Public Schools, Leadership Magnet reported a 60% reduction in behavior office referrals.

Newcomb attributed this to a mix of the academic support that comes with PLC and the “Leader in Me” social-emotional framework on which the school is also based. She said combining reduces classroom frustration.

“We acknowledge that a lot of misbehavior is a result of misunderstanding or a lack of understanding,” she said. “If kids know what you expect of them, they’re going to rise to that occasion.”

Perhaps the biggest change is the students themselves. At Leadership Magnet, students utilize “data folders” to track their own progress on “showcase standards.”

“One of my favorite things is to hear a student come up to me in the hallway and tell me about their goal and that they’ve met their goal on an assessment,” the principal shared. “That’s a pretty proud moment for me.”

With the systems in place, the school wants to get every student to grade level. That’s why their target for this year, according to Newcomb, is to “catch them at tier one.”

“We believe that the majority of students can access that material if we’re doing all we can do in our core instruction,” she said.

As for next year, the school will also focus on the power of individualized feedback.

“That’s kind of our learning right now, is thinking about how we can give effective, productive feedback to students on an individual basis to help them grow as a learner,” Newcomb said.

For now, the school will continue to improve its standards, ensuring that “all” truly means “all.”

“I’m just so very proud of the work that this faculty and staff pour into these kids every day. They go above and beyond to meet the needs of students. That’s really what makes this place so special,” Newcomb said.