Given second chance by lawmakers, Dunbar leaders striving to improve

A last-minute bill in the State Legislature kept Lubbock's struggling Dunbar College Preparatory Academy from having to close this year, and now there's a significant effort being made to improve the school's academic performances.

Principal Gabe Gillespie said there are already results, from classroom retention, extracurricular participation, overall attitude from the students, and behavior. At this time last year, Gillespie said there were 770 different instances of necessary school discipline, and so far this year the count decreased to 140 instances. He said middle school students need structure, and every minute of the school day at Dunbar is planned with some of the district's most effective teachers.

Dunbar had been given an F grade over the summer by the Texas Education Agency in its annual state accountability rating. It was the fifth year in a row that Dunbar received a failing grade, which was supposed to be grounds for either closing the school or having the Texas Education Agency install a board of managers that would essentially take control over the local elected school board. In such a large district, the action would have likely been to close Dunbar, Estacado High School's only feeder school with an enrollment this year of about 575 students, and bus them elsewhere.

However, a bill pushed by Lubbock's elected state officials at the last minute included a measure to stop this from happening. State Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, said this was the last bill the senate approved during the 86th legislature.

Now Dunbar has implemented a new academic turnaround program that means lots of change. Implementing the Accelerated Campus Excellence (ACE) turnaround program was the key to keeping Dunbar open, and the focus of what's happening internally.

Now using the ACE model, Dunbar has two years to increase its state accountability rating grade to a C.

Officials at Lubbock ISD and Dunbar are aiming higher. Gillespie and LISD Superintendent Kathy Rollo are aiming for a B grade this year, which would be a significant gain.

"I am confident that ACE is the necessary change agent," LISD Superintendent Kathy Rollo wrote in an editorial published in the A-J in May. "It will bring about the improvements and academic results that students and parents in the Estacado feeder pattern expect from their schools. This is positive change with a proven track record. I so hope you will embrace it."

ACE was required in keeping Dunbar open. Rollo said schools in some of the state's bigger districts, like Dallas, have seen success with this relatively new teaching program, and state lawmakers are interested in seeing it tried elsewhere. What lawmakers — helped led by Perry and Reps. Dustin Burrows and John Frullo — got passed was House Bill 4205, an education bill related to the turnaround plan and this ACE model. Attached at the bottom of this bill is a provision that says the commissioner of education shall select one school that received an unacceptable rating to submit an ACE turnaround.

Rollo said almost immediately after the bill was signed, she received a letter from the state education commissioner saying Dunbar was the campus chosen.

Perry, Burrows and Frullo hosted a town hall at Dunbar this week, and it was sort of celebration for Dunbar and the changes being made at the school. Perry referred to it several times as the Dunbar bill.

"It was literally the last bill out of the senate chambers to go to the governor's desk," said Perry. "It was actually probably past the time, but that's how contentious that piece of legislation became."

The bill was getting push-back from various teacher and education groups, mainly because part of the ACE model features teacher incentives and teacher scoring. Burrows testified before the House's Public Education Committee when it was being argued for and against, and said Lubbock ISD had already been taking steps toward the ACE model, adding the learning model has proven impacts.

Something Burrows, Perry and Rollo discussed is the importance Dunbar has in the community, and the need to make it thrive. The students have their own challenges — TEA's school profile states 97% of the students at Dunbar are economically disadvantaged.

"Dunbar has been the center for learning in East Lubbock since the 1920's, and if you look around, there really isn't a good place for those students to go," said Burrows. "It was important to the community, it was important to the superintendent, it was important to the LISD Board of Trustees, and therefore it was important to me. I'll tell you, I feel very right having done this, based on the commitment by the faculty, the staff, the principal and the students, you can tell."

Since the bill passed, Gillespie said they've basically reopened Dunbar as a new campus.

What is ACE?

The ACE plan focuses on five key aspects, which Gillespie said are strategic staffing, instructional excellence, extended learning, social and emotional support, and parent and community partnerships.

It began with bringing in the most proven teachers in the district. According to LISD, 60 percent of the teachers at Dunbar were brought in to help implement this program. This is Gillespie's second year, and he said some of the vice principals are new as well. Rollo said previously she had a recruitment dinner with the district's highly effective teachers, and invited them to move to Dunbar, offering a $10,000 a year incentive.

Much of the other changes involve structure. Students and teachers are constantly being evaluated.

Gillespie said every teacher and student has a schedule from the first minute of the day to the last. And he said teachers are continuously trying to get better, as teachers meet regularly with the assistant principals, the assistant principals meet regularly with him, and then he meets regularly with their educational consulting service, Big Rock Educational Services.

"A lot of the focus on student improvement starts with adults, because if we're not constantly improving the adults, how are we constantly improving students? That's been probably the biggest piece," Gillespie said. "It's all very regimented...Teachers are planning from bell to bell, it's all purposeful. The structure is the biggest piece we're doing."

When Gillespie met with A-J Media on Friday, he said they were visiting classrooms to gauge the students' learning attentiveness per every few minutes. He said teachers strive for at least a 90% on-task rate. Even in hallways, Gillespie said students go from classroom to classroom in lines.

Gillespie says the school day at Dunbar was extended an hour to give more time for core instructions. But Gillespie said it's more than just teaching core instructions, adding there's a large focus on fine arts and electives as well, with teachers taking the time to get to know each student. Gillespie didn't call it teaching, he always called it coaching.

Then after school there are social clubs, and many different groups in the community are helping at Dunbar. Texas Tech's Department of Physical Education has an after-school track club at Dunbar, Austin Coding Academy has a coding club, Alliance Federal Credit Union has financial literacy classes, and the National Society of Black Engineers at Tech teach robotics. Students who stay after school are also provided dinner.

"We have students who want to stay after school, for something positive," Gillespie said. "That, alone, is indicative of the change and the culture here. I stand at the door literally every single morning and give fist bumps to like 500 kids, and it's routine now. They tell me good morning and they smile. They're happy. If you walk the hallway, kids are smiling. They want to be here. That's where we had to make a change — we had to make this a place people want to be."

Gillespie was complimentary of the teachers, stressing they should get most of the credit. He said teachers are making a big difference at Dunbar.

Gillespie said he knows there are eyes on Dunbar. This turnaround program is relatively new, and something lawmakers hope succeeds.

TEA spokesman Jake Kobersky sent the following statement: "The passage of House Bill 4205 gives Dunbar an avenue for improvement through ACE, while allowing the TEA to study how it supports and monitors the program’s implementation. The end goal is to provide a means of effectively educating students and provide a pathway for success.”

Dunbar was given a second chance, and lots of resources are being put into the school to see it succeed.

"The pressure that's on our entire faculty is warranted, because the job we have to do is very, very difficult," Gillespie said. "We're taking an F campus to our goal of a B by the end of the year. In order to do that, there's no opt out. This is what we all signed up for."