Change is a constant as school moves ahead

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While Seattle school officials have been twisting the arms of some principals to write plans for the "transformation" of their schools, the principal of Thurgood Marshall Elementary has embraced the challenge with open arms.

Since he was appointed principal of the Central Area school two years ago, Ben Wright has spoken the language of transformation, and he has wasted no time making big changes:

• The school day has been extended for struggling students, who stay every afternoon to work on academic and leadership skills.

• Boys and girls are in separate classrooms much of the day.

• With help from the University of Washington, a more challenging math curriculum is in place.

• An individualized educational plan is developed for each child.

Now, the school is looking at a longer school year, with students spending 45 more days in the classroom.

This latest, boldest idea — to be discussed at a community forum tonight — has been on the drawing board for two years. If endorsed by parents and staff, the new calendar would take effect in September.

Community forum The Thurgood Marshall Elementary School Parent Teacher Association will host a community forum on the proposed year-round school calendar from 7-8:30 tonight in the cafeteria..

Like the other innovations at Marshall, the proposed change has one central goal: helping students become more successful scholars. Not only would students be in school longer, they would have shorter summer vacations — a time when lower-income students often lose ground academically.

Two-thirds of Marshall's 360 students are African American; nearly 75 percent qualify for subsidized lunches.

Though details of the year-round calendar have not been worked out, the schedule would add a number of "intersessions" during the regular school year and the summer. Those sessions would push the last day of school into July, with a final intersession stretching to the end of July in one version under discussion.

Thurgood Marshall would be the second Seattle elementary school to extend the school year. T.T. Minor, with support from businessman Stuart Sloan, provides an extra 20 days during the summer.

Wright proposes to pay for the extended year out of his school's current budget.

Like the extended school day, intersessions would be required for underachieving students. Arts, athletics and other enrichment activities would be offered to students performing at or above grade level — and Wright expects most students would participate.

Wright, who worked with incarcerated youths, taught and coached at Rainier Beach High and was principal of alternative Orca Elementary, sees a longer year as one more step toward serving students who haven't succeeded in more traditional schools.

"We're just constantly transforming," he said. "We cannot stop. You cannot start to transform a school and then stop. Then you get back into the same rut you were in before."

The most noticeable change so far has been the separation of boys and girls, a move prompted by discipline problems that were disrupting classes. When Wright arrived at Marshall, he was confronted with a nonstop stream of students referred to the office for bad behavior.

Most of the offenses were conflicts between boys and girls: teasing, harassing, touching, hitting.

When two fourth-grade teachers experimented with gender-separated classes last year, incidents of hitting and grabbing stopped and the atmosphere in the classrooms changed, said teacher Linh Le, who is in her second year with an all-boys class.

"I see the boys just get stronger, and I see the girls who are shy and timid speak up — especially in math class. They would speak up and be themselves," Le said.

Alex Coberly, an administrative assistant who also teaches swimming, said a number of girls who refused to participate in mixed-gender physical education are now playing enthusiastically in girls-only games.

Several fourth-grade girls said they like the system. "When boys are coming into our classroom, some girls want to concentrate on the boys and not get their work done. We can concentrate better in our classroom without boys," said Carie Connor, 9.

Fifth-grader Joshua Mitchell, 10, isn't happy about the change. "I think they should mix up the classroom with girls and boys. I think it gets too rowdy with just boys."

None of the students interviewed welcomed a year-round school calendar.

PTA President Mary Meullion wants more information before deciding whether to back a modified calendar but is leaning toward supporting it. "I normally send my son to some kind of summer program anyway," she said. "It just makes it easier not having to search for one and being around the same kids."

Thurgood Marshall administrators believe the changes at their school are paying off. Fourth-graders have posted impressive gains in the Washington Assessment of Student Learning. From 2000 to 2001, those meeting the state reading standard jumped from 27 percent to 51 percent; in math, from 13 percent to 35 percent.

On the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, though, third-graders' reading scores fell from the 61st percentile in 1999 to the 42nd the following year and still have not recovered.

Wright believes the school is on the right track, though, and he is in a hurry to continue the transformation. "It's never too fast to save a kid," he said. "We've never acted fast enough."

Keith Ervin can be reached at 206-464-2105 or kervin@seattletimes.com.