Upon returning to her position as a science teacher at Ascencion Solorsano Middle School, Dawn O’Connor noticed significant changes in the school district. Teachers were now actively visiting each other’s classrooms and regularly meeting to assess student performance.
Previously, when the scores from the previous year were received, there was a sense of resignation and disappointment. O’Connor recalls that, aside from her regular evaluations, there was rarely anyone in her room. However, this dynamic has shifted. The leaders of the Gilroy Unified School District, which serves 10,000 students, aimed to establish a collaborative environment where teachers continuously make adjustments throughout the year. They have formed "data teams" where they exchange insights and plan instructional improvements.
This transformation was not immediate. Initially, the district followed a top-down approach to establish consistent teaching and learning practices across its 14 schools. However, some teachers felt stifled by this approach. Now, teachers have more flexibility. Instead of focusing on specific teaching methods, the district emphasizes a common process of improvement planning for all schools. Teachers are now held more accountable for their results rather than how they teach.
Superintendent Edwin Diaz, who has been leading the district since 2000, believes that schools wouldn’t have the current flexibility without first aligning everyone’s goals. However, he also recognized that continued improvement would not be possible if the central office made most decisions. Diaz states that teachers need to be empowered to make decisions about which strategies to use and when in order to achieve significant growth.
Gilroy’s experience highlights the ongoing challenge of finding the right balance between site-based management and centralized decision-making, which has become an important issue as superintendents become more involved in instructional matters. The district’s demographic trends, with a mix of low-income families and a growing number of high-paid professionals, present unique challenges for education.
Six years ago, Gilroy’s schools had magnet programs that focused on specific academic areas and had their own instructional philosophies and schedules. This led to a significant variation among schools. Additionally, conflicts between the school board and superintendent created a leadership void at the central office. As a result, Gilroy was one of the lowest-performing districts in Santa Clara County, with many schools failing to meet improvement targets.
Superintendent Edwin Diaz, a Gilroy native, identified a strong connection between the district’s decentralization and its underperformance. During his first year in this position, he visited classrooms in every school and observed a lack of consistency and rigor in the content being taught.
In 2003, after three years of the district’s campaign for consistent instruction, every school in Gilroy met its state improvement target. That year, the district achieved greater gains on the performance index than all but one other district in the county. Teachers had mixed reactions to the district’s efforts. Some recognized the benefits of using similar tools, such as having a standardized way to assess students’ reading abilities. However, others resented being told what to do and referred to the walkthroughs as "drive-bys." It is widely acknowledged within the district that these efforts led teachers to implement the same practices. They learned the same methods during seminars and visited each other’s classrooms to observe them in action. Theresa Graham, a 5th grade teacher at Antonio Del Buono Elementary School, admits that they didn’t always agree with the modeling but appreciated the opportunity to see what the district wanted them to do.
However, the district’s strategy had its limitations. In 2004, the performance in Gilroy leveled off, and half of the schools did not meet their improvement targets again. Some even experienced score drops. Superintendent Diaz recognized that teachers needed more autonomy but was also concerned about returning to a time when teachers used methods of their choice without ensuring their effectiveness.
To find a solution, the superintendent sought the help of outside consultants from the Center for Performance Assessment. This Denver-based group advises districts on creating accountability systems for continuous improvement. The result was a new planning process that all schools implemented a year ago. Each site creates a document annually that identifies areas of greatest need and strategies to address them. The plans reference test scores and outline performance objectives for the following year. For example, Rod Kelley Elementary School committed to achieving a 12 percent increase in the number of students proficient in district writing assessment by improving students’ understanding of good writing.
Within schools, similar planning occurs in data teams consisting of teachers in each grade or department. These teams meet regularly to compare students’ performance on specific skills and brainstorm ways to improve. A crucial aspect of the district’s new approach was a change in the use of student assessments. Superintendent Diaz introduced districtwide tests three times a year to assess students’ progress. He also gave schools the freedom to decide which tests to use but emphasized the importance of using tests more frequently.
At least one teacher from each team received training in data-driven decision-making. The Stupski Foundation, which provided planning and financial assistance to the Gilroy schools, funded visits for about 20 educators to the Norfolk, VA school system. Teachers’ planning rooms are now equipped with tools for tracking progress. Some schools use color-coded computer spreadsheets to track students’ scores on multiple tests, while others employ Post-It notes and poster boards to identify which skills students have mastered.
Teachers engage in ongoing conversations about what strategies are effective and what aren’t. Theresa Graham highlights the role of her data team in improving 5th grade reading instruction at her school. By sharing ideas on teaching students to recognize an author’s purpose, they observed improvements in reading performance over several weeks.
Teachers still have concerns, and the Gilroy Teachers Association filed a grievance against the district arguing that data-driven decision-making requires more planning time than stipulated in their contracts. Nevertheless, many teachers prefer this collaborative approach over the district’s previous efforts. As Heidi Jacobson, another 5th grade teacher at Del Buono, explains, it now feels like things are starting to settle and become the new normal.
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