Richland Union Elementary
Meeting the Challanges with Grit + Determination
Just twelve miles south of Bakersfield and ten minutes east of Highway 99 you will find the town of Shafter. With a population of just over 12,000, Shafter boasts several five-way stops,a McDonald’s, and a town square with a veteran’s hall. The community is small, but Shafter citizens come to stay.
The Richland Union Elementary School District, which serves Shafter, has staying power too, despite being in a resource-poor area with limited access to improvement opportunities. Of the 3,100 kids in the system, not enough are reaching their achievement targets, including the 44 percent who are English Learners. Budget cuts and the need to improve test scores are adding to the pressures.
As Superintendent Ken Bergevin describes it, there was an urgency to “get well fast.” But Richland knew it couldn’t afford to act in haste and get it wrong. In a decision that Bergevin calls courageous, the district instea took a step back. Supported by a committed board of trustees, Richland’s administrators and teachers took the 2007-08 school year to examine what they wanted to achieve and how they planned to get there.
Holding Everyone Accountable
Bergevin acknowledges that looking at what was – and wasn’t – working took grit and determination. People at every level of the system were challenged to be accountable. The English Learner (EL) program, as suspected, was found to be fragmented and often ineffective.
A team of Springboard coaches was assigned to look at data, share best practices, and offer support to teachers and administrators at every level of the district, including the boardroom. Working together, Richland and Springboard began to identify the changes that were needed and achievable.
With Springboard acting as a catalyst in cooperation with other consultants, the district began developing a culture of collaboration and a research-based, system-wide approach to English Language development. An English Learner task force
was established. “They’re looking at student data, and coming up with really smart goals,” says Bergevin. “We’ve got the collaborative model firing on all cylinders.”
Small but Determined
Today, an instructional plan is in place that is poised to raise Richland to a whole new level in 2008-09. At its heart, Bergevin says, “It’s all about doing whatever it takes to raise our
collective capacity to make a difference every day, in every classroom, for every child.”
Richland seeks to become an example of how even a small and rural district can achieve remarkable results for all its students. Despite budget cuts, Richland is moving forward.