The bulletin board in Tara King's new office at Washington Street Elementary School sums up the status of the Comer Process implementation in Hartsville, South Carolina: Comer's on the Move! Much has been accomplished in the year since a group of education and business leaders met with Dr. Comer and the SDP faculty to discuss implementing the Comer SDP in Hartsville.
In the five months since Tara became the Darlington County School District's Comer Facilitator, she and a group of Hartsville educators have visited New Haven; school teams have completed three of the four days of Comer 101 training; School Planning and Management Teams are up and running; and teachers are integrating the six Developmental Pathways into their classrooms. Teachers and administrators have reported that they are already seeing a positive impact on student learning and behavior since they began implementing the Comer Process.
"Tara brings a wealth of knowledge, experience, great people skills, and energy to her role as the district Comer Facilitator," said Camille Cooper, the SDP's director of Teaching and Learning and the Implementation Coordinator for Hartsville. "She has been a classroom teacher, a master teacher, the district's elementary curriculum facilitator, and a program leader."
Tara is planning to return to New Haven this fall to shadow Comer District Facilitator, Shelia Brantley. "This is a great opportunity especially since we have already started our teams here," said King. "I think Sheila would do a fantastic job of coaching me on how to coach the teams."
Partnership for Unparalleled Local Scholastic Excellence (PULSE)
Implementation of the Comer School Development Program in four Hartsville schools is one component of the Partnership for Unparalleled Local Scholastic Excellence (PULSE) initiative, a unique public-private partnership of the Darlington County School District, Coker College, Sonoco, and the South Carolina Governor's School for Science and Mathematics. The four pilot Comer schools are Southside Early Learning Center, Washington Street Elementary School, Thornwell School for the Arts, and West Hartsville Elementary School.
"They had an opportunity to learn about the SDP from the founder in an informal but very personal way," said Cooper. "They were able to dialogue with him over lunch about how to introduce the SDP to their school communities."
Dr. Susan Henderson, chair of the education department and the director of the teacher education program at Coker College, and Amanda Easterling, the director of education internships, also participated in the site visit. Forty Coker College students will do internships in the four Comer schools in Hartsville.
The four school teams also had an opportunity to review draft copies of the contextual analysis reports prepared by the SDP faculty. The purpose of the contextual analysis is to identify concerns and challenges to be addressed in the SDP implementation plan that is co-developed by the SDP faculty, school leadership teams, and central office administrators.
The Hartsville school teams included Patricia A. Toney, principal of Southside Early Learning Center, and Stephanie Hall, a pre-K special education teacher; Julie Mahn, principal of Thornwell School for the Arts, and coordinating teacher, Wanda Govan-Augustus; Valerie Sawyer, principal of Washington Street Elementary School, and first grade teacher, Francena Johnson; and Dr. Kay Howell, principal of West Hartsville Elementary School, and 5th grade ELA teacher, Kendra Woods.
The group also included the Darlington County School District administrators who will lead and manage the SDP implementation at the system level, including Linda G. Graham, the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, and Emily Lunn, the director of Federal programs.
Sonoco, a global packaging company headquartered in Hartsville, recently launched the TEACH Foundation to administer the PULSE initiative which they are funding with a $5 million grant that will be paid over five years.
Hartville Educators Visit New Haven
In June thirteen Hartsville educators spent three days in New Haven learning about the Comer Process. They met with Dr. James P. Comer, members of the SDP faculty, principals, teachers, instructional coaches, and Shelia Brantley. They also visited three Comer schools--Columbus Family Academy, Davis Street Arts and Academics Magnet School, and Nathan Hale School--to see the SDP in operation.
On the first day of the visit Dr. Comer gave a brief overview of the SDP and talked about how his experiences in his family and community informed his life's work. He said that he is excited about the potential for real change in Hartsville, because the educational, business, and civic leadership have enthusiastically embraced the SDP.
Dr. Abie Benitez, the principal of Columbus Family Academy, invited the Hartsville group to the last PTO meeting of the school year, an event that was both festive and focused on children. The PTO elected new officers, families learned about a summer program, and received bags of books for their children. There was great food and Zumba, a Latin-inspired dance fitness program.
"The visit to Columbus Academy had a big impact on me," said Kendra Woods. "I loved the way they conducted their PTO. I felt like we had been invited into their family and culture." Wanda Govan-Augustus thought the family meeting was dynamic. "I felt the use of dance was a method for allowing parents to be in their comfort zone."
At Davis Street Arts and Academics Interdistrict Magnet School, the Hartsville group met with principal, Lola Nathan, and administrative intern, Mary Derwin. They toured the new, state-of-the-art building and visited classrooms. Many parents were in the school working as volunteers, attending the college fair in the cafeteria, or participating in the orientation for parents of incoming kindergarten students. "I liked the way the principal had such a good rapport with parents," said Francena Johnson. "She had them volunteering and doing all kinds of things within the school. As she said, they were her 'recruits.'"
The group visited Jess Atnes's 4th grade classroom where students were working in teams on skits about a variety of ethical dilemmas. Atnes had developed realistic scenarios of situations her students could imagine experiencing, like finding a popular video game that had fallen out of someone's backpack.
Atnes was concerned that her students' behavior had been slipping. She wanted to get them back on track by having them focus on the ethical pathway. Based on the developmental characteristics of the age group, Dr. Fay E. Brown, the SDP's director of Child and Adolescent Development and the Implementation Coordinator for the New Haven Public Schools, recommended having the students do skits, an activity that would address their need for creative self-expression and their heightened awareness about fairness. "I was impressed with the creativity of the student skits. The scenarios were real and important for every child. The importance of learning about each of the pathways was clearly shown through their commitment to help each other work through authentic situations," said Amanda Easterling.
When asked what impressed them most about their visit to Nathan Hale School, two things stood out: the shared leadership style of principal, Lucia Paolella, and the school's developmental focus. "The principal of Nathan Hale School exemplified the characteristics of shared leadership," said Tara King. "She exerted effort to build leaders within her school, therefore everyone felt important and had a vested interest in the school and strived to make the school successful." For Stephanie Hall, Nathan Hale had "a true extended family feel."
During their visit to the Read 180/Turn Around Room, 6th grade students talked about how they had used the Developmental Pathways to learn how to work together, to solve problems, to control their emotions, and to improve in their academics. They had worked with their teachers and classmates to create a positive classroom environment. As the year progressed they learned how to support one another to stay focused and on track. Dr. Kay Howell said that she thought "the student work demonstrating the six pathways was awesome. I took pictures, developed a PowerPoint of student work and have shared it with the West Hartsville staff."
Teacher Leaders Share Implementation Insights
Several teacher leaders from the Comer Renewal schools in New Haven shared their experiences with the Hartsville educators. The panel included Rose Evans, the library media specialist at Columbus; Lisa Pietrosimone, the math coach at Nathan Hale; Michele Alex, a 6th grade teachers at Benjamin Jepson; and Erin Michaud, the magnet coach and School Planning and Management Team chairperson at L.W. Beecher Museum Magnet School.
Kendra Woods thought it was "very helpful to hear how well the process works in other schools. Hearing about the struggles and hurdles was also helpful." Wanda Govan-Augustus thought the panelists provided them with "great insights and practical strategies. They brought Comer to life."
Dialogue with New Haven Comer Principals
One of the standout activities during their visit to New Haven was the opportunity talk with a group of New Haven principals whose schools are part of the Comer Renewal in New Haven. Sharing their knowledge, experience, and wisdom with the Hartsville educators were Kathy Russell Beck, L.W. Beecher Museum Magnet School; Dr. Abie Benitez, Columbus Family Academy; Dr. Michael Conte, Jr., East Rock Global Magnet School; Lucia Paolella, Nathan Hale School; and Peggy Pelley, Benjamin Jepson Magnet School.
"I enjoyed getting to eat lunch with principals and talk with them as well as ask questions about their perceptions of how staff accepted and related to Comer way of doing things," said Dr. Kay Howell. "Having the opportunity to speak with principals already implementing this model was significant in my understanding of the model and its impact on the entire school community," said principal Valerie Sawyer. "Listening to these school leaders and hearing the success that they have had in their schools and students progressing was positive and encouraging."