PRIDE is the pervasive spirit and focus in the Walkersville community in suburban Maryland. Five schools surrounding the small town in Frederick County serve students from rural farms, rapidly growing housing complexes, and students from the outskirts of Frederick City. “Positive, Responsible Individuals who Are Disciplined,” (PRIDE) defines and celebrates every member of the school community.

The Maryland State Teachers Association’s “Improving Maryland’s Schools Program” has been instrumental in creating a school culture where problem solving is the norm. Beginning with a middle school with student achievement data that had stagnated and a staff that faced rapid growth and a changing socioeconomic culture, Frederick County Teachers Association President Kim Lewis worked with staff, parents, and the administration to improve conditions of teaching and learning.

KEYS indicators were carefully aligned with the National PTA Standards for Community Involvement to set an agenda that puts student achievement as the focus. KEYS moved quickly from a single school to become the common language of school improvement for the middle school, three elementary schools, and a high school.

At the middle school, instructional leadership has moved from the principal and eight teachers on a school improvement team responsible for guiding the school to an instructional leadership council with 24 leaders who represent every stakeholder group in the school.

One of the most exciting changes at the middle school is the student council structure. The teamwork and collaboration modeled by adults is now reflected in the student leadership group. Students compete for the position of school representative based on their proposals for community service projects and work in a collaborative structure where each member experiences the responsibilities of leadership. The focus of student leadership has moved from the typical middle school “self focus” to a community-based group that believes in the empowerment of people (kids) to make a difference locally and around the world.

Professional development has been a key to the collaborative effort. A look at the schools through the KEYS data exposed the need for more comprehensive and consistent professional development opportunities.

Many significant professional development activities and programs have been implemented to meet the needs of each and every member of the community, including education support professionals and parents. A recent staff development day found all five school staffs working in cross-graded groups to look at student work and discuss the educational journey of the children. Action Research study groups are operating through a Feeder Improvement Team that is looking at issues in early literacy, home/school communications and conferences, and consistent expectations for home and school, preschool through twelfth grade.

As several schools readministered the KEYS survey, after a few years of work, the perceptual results showed dramatic improvements across the KEYS indicators. Efforts on behalf of the Association and schools to collaborate, assess teaching and learning, and renew a commitment to high goals are making a difference. State and national achievement measures, once flat or declining, have been replaced with student achievement scores that have moved one school from a “focused” status, below expected standards for improvement, to meeting local and state standards. The correlation between KEYS and student achievement was highlighted this year as School Superintendent Jack Dale reported on academic progress in the county. He recognized three of the five Walkersville schools that had met or exceeded the system requirements for improving schools on at least 75 percent of the national, state, and local data items. Just 14 of the 59 county schools earned the high expectations for improving schools status, and these included three Walkersville schools!

There is a commitment throughout the five Walkersville feeder schools to provide a school experience that is focused on the optimum Walkersville graduate. The entire community has defined what the Walkersville graduate should know and be able to do. This includes more than 40 attributes from being altruistic to demonstrating literacy. Decisions that are made in Walkersville schools are based on considerations of children from pre-K to 12th grade.

Walkersville has created a culture where shared understanding and commitment to high goals are viewed from the vantage point of students moving through their schools. The focus begins with the end in mind—the Walkersville graduate.