From Attendance to Test Scores to Teacher Satisfaction, FISH! Helps Transform Three North Carolina Schools
About six years ago, a friend gave Candace Call a gift, the book FISH!. She didn’t realize at the time that it was about to change the way she did her job, the way she performed as a leader and the way she lived her own life. She was Principal of Archdale Elementary at the time and decided to give FISH! For Schools a try. “It just took off like wildfire and was the most incredible thing,” Principal Candace Call said. “I made up my mind that I did not ever want to be principal at a school that did not practice The FISH! Philosophy.”
Three years later, Call was asked to take the helm at a struggling school called Southmont Elementary. It was on “the watch list”, which meant it was on the verge of being taken over by the state. “I went to Southmont, met all the teachers and I knew I needed FISH! to turn it around,” Call said. She got permission to order FISH! kits and have a FISH! trainer come in for staff development seminars. “It helped transform the school . They made AYP [a measure of year-to-year student achievement on statewide assessments], they’d been in the paper for all these bad things and everything just started turning around. Attendance was great, kids were loving it, teacher turnover stopped, test scores went up and so it was a great success story,” Call said.
It was more than just a feeling of change. The proof was in the test scores. The school had not met the Federal Government’s AYP goals for three years in a row. After implementing FISH!, the school met all AYP goals and made expected growth as determined by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Writing scores increased 31 percent, 3rd grade math scores increased 18.09 percent, 4th grade math scores increased 23.36 percent, 5th grade math scores increased 20.14 percent, 3rd grade reading increased 19.3 percent, 4th grade reading increased 8.83 percent and 5th grade reading increased 18.95 percent.
After a fantastic couple of years at Southmont, Call moved to another at-risk school. She became Principal at Donna Lee Loflin Elementary in Asheboro, North Carolina in 2009. It’s certainly a challenging post for her: a school that’s been in trouble with test scores and has needed team building for the staff. After the success at Archdale and Southmont, Call knew the first thing she had to do was bring FISH! to Donna Lee Loflin. After just six weeks of implementing FISH!, dramatic change was evident. “We have board meetings where we have to present school improvement plans. Last week one teacher spoke so passionately about the changes in our school. She’d been here 10 years and said she’d never had a year like this and it was the best six weeks of her teaching career. The teacher spoke so passionately that she moved our superintendent to tears,” Call said. A parent said that it was the best six weeks her child had ever had at school. Her son is in 4th grade and had struggled academically for five years. Now he’s excited about school. He’s having fun, he has a wonderful relationship with his teacher and he comes home talking about the FISH! practices.
The culture is already changing, and so are some of the stats. When Call started at Donna Lee Loflin, she was told that nothing could be done about the attendance problems. But the school has just been recognized for having the best attendance in the district for the first month of school. A 3rd grader who had 55 tardies last year has had just one tardy this year. “It’s just the culture of at-risk populations, the negative stereotype that people don’t value school and all this and I said, ‘oh yes they do’. It’s about expectations. Reward what you expect and that’s what we do with FISH!. We make school fun so they don’t want to dare miss school. We have kids that want to be here Friday afternoon because I play music when they leave. They don’t want to miss a day of school because you never know what you’re going to miss if you miss a day of school at Loflin,” Call said. There were similar results at Southmont, where the school had traditionally struggled with students coming to school late and being absent. After implementing The FISH! Philosophy, Southmont was recognized repeatedly for having the best attendance.
It’s not just the students. Some teachers who had attendance problems themselves last year haven’t missed a day of school this year. “If the kids don’t come to school, we can’t teach them. If the teachers don’t come to school we can’t teach either, so in addition to the student attendance, teacher attendance has been tremendous,” Call said.
After looking over stats on discipline from last year, Call expected to be seeing many students for bullying. There were 40 cases last year, but that’s not the case since FISH! came to school. So far this school year, Call has had to talk to just one student for bullying. “It’s really hard to be a bully if you’re focusing on making somebody else’s day. It’s really hard to be a bully if you’re spending time being there for each other,” Call said. “Children want attention. In our school, they’re getting attention for these positive behaviors so they don’t have to bully to get their way or get attention.”
At Archdale, Southmont and Donna Lee Loflin, FISH! has helped pave the way to lasting change. Candace Call says it has also provided hope in schools that seemed hopeless. “[Donna Lee Loflin] has gone from a school where, ‘we’re just doing the best we can, these kids can’t do any better’ to ‘we’re going to make miracles happen’. It’s been a renewed hope and inspiration and, well, maybe we can do this after all,” Call said.
"It’s gone from a school where, we’re just doing the best we can, these kids can’t do any better to we’re going to make miracles happen." -Candace Call, Principal at Donna Lee Loflin Elementary in Ashboro, North Carolina
Just the Facts:
Just the Facts: After implementing FISH! at Southmont Elementary:
Overall writing scores increased 31%
3rd grade math scores increased 18% and reading scores increased 19%
4th grade math scores increased 23% and reading scores increased 9%
5th grade math scores increased 20% and reading scores increased 19%
FISH! In Action at Donna Lee Loflin Elementary School
-The hall patrol jots down names of students being good, gives them stickers and says their names on morning announcements.
-A teacher created FISH! medals for each practice. Students get to wear them when they exemplify one of the FISH! practices.
-Students take home “Bubbles” the fish and write about his adventures during the overnight stay, using as many descriptive works as possible in their writing.
Three years later, Call was asked to take the helm at a struggling school called Southmont Elementary. It was on “the watch list”, which meant it was on the verge of being taken over by the state. “I went to Southmont, met all the teachers and I knew I needed FISH! to turn it around,” Call said. She got permission to order FISH! kits and have a FISH! trainer come in for staff development seminars. “It helped transform the school . They made AYP [a measure of year-to-year student achievement on statewide assessments], they’d been in the paper for all these bad things and everything just started turning around. Attendance was great, kids were loving it, teacher turnover stopped, test scores went up and so it was a great success story,” Call said.
It was more than just a feeling of change. The proof was in the test scores. The school had not met the Federal Government’s AYP goals for three years in a row. After implementing FISH!, the school met all AYP goals and made expected growth as determined by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Writing scores increased 31 percent, 3rd grade math scores increased 18.09 percent, 4th grade math scores increased 23.36 percent, 5th grade math scores increased 20.14 percent, 3rd grade reading increased 19.3 percent, 4th grade reading increased 8.83 percent and 5th grade reading increased 18.95 percent.
After a fantastic couple of years at Southmont, Call moved to another at-risk school. She became Principal at Donna Lee Loflin Elementary in Asheboro, North Carolina in 2009. It’s certainly a challenging post for her: a school that’s been in trouble with test scores and has needed team building for the staff. After the success at Archdale and Southmont, Call knew the first thing she had to do was bring FISH! to Donna Lee Loflin. After just six weeks of implementing FISH!, dramatic change was evident. “We have board meetings where we have to present school improvement plans. Last week one teacher spoke so passionately about the changes in our school. She’d been here 10 years and said she’d never had a year like this and it was the best six weeks of her teaching career. The teacher spoke so passionately that she moved our superintendent to tears,” Call said. A parent said that it was the best six weeks her child had ever had at school. Her son is in 4th grade and had struggled academically for five years. Now he’s excited about school. He’s having fun, he has a wonderful relationship with his teacher and he comes home talking about the FISH! practices.
The culture is already changing, and so are some of the stats. When Call started at Donna Lee Loflin, she was told that nothing could be done about the attendance problems. But the school has just been recognized for having the best attendance in the district for the first month of school. A 3rd grader who had 55 tardies last year has had just one tardy this year. “It’s just the culture of at-risk populations, the negative stereotype that people don’t value school and all this and I said, ‘oh yes they do’. It’s about expectations. Reward what you expect and that’s what we do with FISH!. We make school fun so they don’t want to dare miss school. We have kids that want to be here Friday afternoon because I play music when they leave. They don’t want to miss a day of school because you never know what you’re going to miss if you miss a day of school at Loflin,” Call said. There were similar results at Southmont, where the school had traditionally struggled with students coming to school late and being absent. After implementing The FISH! Philosophy, Southmont was recognized repeatedly for having the best attendance.
It’s not just the students. Some teachers who had attendance problems themselves last year haven’t missed a day of school this year. “If the kids don’t come to school, we can’t teach them. If the teachers don’t come to school we can’t teach either, so in addition to the student attendance, teacher attendance has been tremendous,” Call said.
After looking over stats on discipline from last year, Call expected to be seeing many students for bullying. There were 40 cases last year, but that’s not the case since FISH! came to school. So far this school year, Call has had to talk to just one student for bullying. “It’s really hard to be a bully if you’re focusing on making somebody else’s day. It’s really hard to be a bully if you’re spending time being there for each other,” Call said. “Children want attention. In our school, they’re getting attention for these positive behaviors so they don’t have to bully to get their way or get attention.”
At Archdale, Southmont and Donna Lee Loflin, FISH! has helped pave the way to lasting change. Candace Call says it has also provided hope in schools that seemed hopeless. “[Donna Lee Loflin] has gone from a school where, ‘we’re just doing the best we can, these kids can’t do any better’ to ‘we’re going to make miracles happen’. It’s been a renewed hope and inspiration and, well, maybe we can do this after all,” Call said.
"It’s gone from a school where, we’re just doing the best we can, these kids can’t do any better to we’re going to make miracles happen." -Candace Call, Principal at Donna Lee Loflin Elementary in Ashboro, North Carolina
Just the Facts:
Just the Facts: After implementing FISH! at Southmont Elementary:
Overall writing scores increased 31%
3rd grade math scores increased 18% and reading scores increased 19%
4th grade math scores increased 23% and reading scores increased 9%
5th grade math scores increased 20% and reading scores increased 19%
FISH! In Action at Donna Lee Loflin Elementary School
-The hall patrol jots down names of students being good, gives them stickers and says their names on morning announcements.
-A teacher created FISH! medals for each practice. Students get to wear them when they exemplify one of the FISH! practices.
-Students take home “Bubbles” the fish and write about his adventures during the overnight stay, using as many descriptive works as possible in their writing.
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