AIM at Middle Grades Results: About Aim

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FEATURE STORY

A DISTRICT THAT KNOWS HOW TO SPREAD SUCCESS
By Ruby Midkiff and Amy Clark, January 2004

One of the most popular sessions at the 2003 National Staff Development Council (NSDC) Annual Conference featured a group of people that specialize in spotting “deviants.” They can survey a classroom, school, or an entire district and find the teacher or principal who, working under the same difficult conditions as her peers, gets results her peers do not currently match. The success strategies used by the deviant are then made accessible to everyone in the larger organizational setting, thus seeking to improve conditions for all. This method of finding solutions to complex organizational problems is known as the “Positive Deviance Approach” and was developed by Jerry Sternin and his wife Monique while conducting relief work in Vietnam.

Earlier this year, NSDC chose six schools and districts from across the country to participate in a study of how best teaching practices are identified and disseminated widely across schools. The study, “Amplifying Positive Deviance,” forms the basis of the soon-to-be-published book From the Inside Out: Learning from the Positive Deviance in Your Organization. One of the districts to be profiled in the book is the Starkville (Mississippi) School District where AIM at Middle-Grades Results has been working for nearly four years.

AIM began its partnership with the district in 2000, when the faculty at Armstrong Middle School made a commitment to engage in a rigorous process of school improvement that would be guided by AIM’s principles and facilitated by an AIM site developer. A second school, Henderson Intermediate, began using the AIM model during the 2002-2003 school year. As a result of their work with AIM, the two schools have adopted a number of practices and processes designed to improve student and school performance.

The district was quick to pick up these practices and adapt them for use in other contexts. For example, it took note of the teacher study groups (also known as Faculty Inquiry Teams) that meet weekly at the two AIM sites. These groups provide a place where teachers reflect on their practice and plan ways to improve their students’ learning. On any given week, a group can be found critiquing a lesson plan, examining student work to determine if learning goals were met, or discussing an article in a professional journal. The district recognized the value of these communities, and it was not long before they would be found in all schools. It went a step further and established an administrator study group and a study group for the District Curriculum Council. The positive deviance at the AIM sites had been amplified a hundredfold.

When Janet Henderson, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, was originally interviewed for the NSDC study, she attributed the district's success in amplifying positive deviance to three areas of work: (1) the teacher leader conference it conducts every other year, (2) its work with SERVE, the regional educational laboratory serving the southeast, and (3) its partnership with AIM at Middle-Grades Results.

The process by which complex problems can be solved through the positive deviance approach is described extensively in the work of Sternin and his colleagues. Though none of the districts profiled in the NSDC study knowingly engaged in such a process, they all had well-developed strategies for analyzing problems, developing solutions, and evaluating the effectiveness of their actions. Furthermore, they expected to arrive at their solutions by tapping into internal resources rather than relying on external expertise. According to Sternin, “People learn best when they discover things for themselves. It is our own discoveries that change behavior. [When] someone from the outside provides the solution, those to whom it is directed may not believe it and do not have an investment in it. Once that person leaves, it is difficult to sustain the changes.” (Sparks, 2004)

AIM’s approach to school improvement resonates deeply with Sternin’s theory of change. At the core of the AIM model is the belief that all schools have the capacity to accelerate student learning and development. Using research-based tools, processes, and structures, AIM facilitates the discovery and implementation of strategies that improve school performance. In particular, Faculty Inquiry Teams (FIT) empower teachers to create their own learning experiences and to see themselves as successful change agents. As a result of her involvement with AIM, says Lenora Hogan, a sixth grade teacher at Henderson Intermediate School, “I find I want to become involved in everything at the school.”

The synergy between AIM’s approach and Starkville’s can-do mentality is based on their common belief that teachers and administrators should direct their own learning and develop their own solutions. AIM site developers do not tell teachers and administrators what to do; rather, they provide information, guide them through the change process, and continue to ask the hard questions that push improvements to a new level. The goal of AIM’s site developers is to see schools integrate and assimilate the AIM processes and structures so completely into the life of the school that AIM’s services will no longer be needed. Di Heineck and Miki Smith, 7th grade language arts teachers at Armstrong, agree that this philosophy is what makes AIM unique from other programs. Referring to her experience with FITs, Smith reflects, “It’s not AIM anymore. It is our process; it is what we are doing.”

Reference
Sparks, D. (2004). "From Hunger Aid to School Reform," Journal of Staff Development, 45 (1), pp. 46-51.

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