Old challenges, new principal at Eisenhower Middle

Brenda Chapman has had a few months to settle into her new position as principal at Dwight D. Eisenhower Middle School. Now, well into the first term, she said it's been "so far, so good."

"It's a very welcoming staff," she said. "They're very eager to move student performance."

Chapman replaced former principal Charoscar Coleman at the school this summer. Coleman is now principal at Central High, in Capitol Heights.

She has several goals in her new school. Chief among them is bringing Eisenhower up to meeting Adequate Yearly Progress — a benchmark met only twice in the past 10 years.

AYP is measured by annual Maryland State Assessment scores. Under the 2001 federal No Child Left Behind Act, every student at a school must score at least proficient on these tests by 2014 or the school is at risk of losing federal funding.

"Every student is expected to be college- and work-force ready," Chapman said. "That's a school system goal, and that's our goal, that students are academically and socially prepared to enter college or work.

"It's not just about a score: It's about ensuring that when students graduate from high school, they're ready with the necessary skills."

In 2011, Eisenhower students scored 77.9 percent proficient in reading, up from 74.4 percent in 2010; and 59.6 percent proficiency in math, also up from 56.2 percent last year. Despite those increases, those scores still do not meet AYP.

The students' low scores put Eisenhower in a two-year "school improvement plan" in 2010, while Coleman was still at the school. Chapman is continuing to implement initiatives laid out in that plan, as well as some of her own.

"We're still building on that foundation," she said.

One of the building blocks Chapman has introduced is the teacher accountability notebook, a kind of portfolio, she said, for professional development, self-reflection and goals.

"In order to improve student performance, you have to improve teacher performance," she said. "I want to build the capacity of teachers. (In this notebook) there's a self-reflection assessment; goals for student improvement and professional growth; formal and informal observations, so teachers can always reflect on where they are, what the administration sees, what practices they can put in place to improve their performance. You can walk around the school and see the classroom goals teachers have posted outside their rooms."

The foundation provided by the school improvement plan includes increased collaborative planning among teachers and plans for a Universal Design for Learning, or UDL, for math, as well as more extended learning opportunities for the students.

"(Math is) a great area for improvement," Chapman said.

The UDL framework, Chapman said, is approved by the state to help schools make AYP and focuses more on individual students.

"It's a way of addressing more designed classroom instruction based on the learning style of the student," Chapman said.

Eisenhower is also starting a partnership with Bowie State University that will bring education majors at the college to Eisenhower to tutor special needs students.

'Teacher at heart'

Chapman, 39, a Clinton resident, comes to Eisenhower from Bowie High School, where she served as assistant principal for six years. This is her 18th year in Prince George's County schools, where she got her start as a business teacher at Eleanor Roosevelt High School. The connection to her teaching roots is something Chapman said she strives to maintain.

"I'm a teacher at heart," she said. "I have a passion for education, so it doesn't matter where I am, as long as it's in my niche of education. I'm always looking for new ways to encourage students, as well as staff."

Chapman's classroom visits — she tries to make visits three times a day, she said — are her way of connecting back with her students and they allow her to observe teachers: just one of several ways Chapman lets the staff know they're appreciated, she said. Still, the focus is academic rigor, and during her rounds in the classrooms, she asks is it challenging for students, and does the work reflect that?

"You want to look at the focus of the teacher, collaborate with what the best instructional practices are and to make sure they're being utilized," she said.

Chapman said her plan is working, and she is "pleased."

"But, I want to take it to the next level," she said. "We're at about seven or eight, but we need to take it to a nine or a 10."