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Studio Art Vertical Teaming in Polk County Schools
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by Patricia Lamb
Polk County Schools
Bartow, Florida
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| | The Challenges of a Large, Diverse District
The Polk County School District is located in the heart of central Florida. One of the 35 largest school districts in the United States, the district has 61 elementary schools, 17 middle schools, and 15 high schools located in a geographical area that is larger than Rhode Island. It is also one of the most rapidly growing school districts in Florida.
Minorities compose 45 percent of the students, and more than 56 percent of students qualify for free or reduced lunch assistance. The district includes 17 cities and municipalities, but 62 percent of the students live in rural areas. Students frequently transfer from school to school within the district. Many of the municipalities in Polk County are located in primarily rural areas, but because the county is next to Walt Disney World and the Orlando area, our district's students are influenced by trends in these areas.
Polk County has many schools located in culturally diverse areas. We found that our visual arts curriculum varied, that the expectations for students were low at some schools and high at others, and that low expectations resulted in low student achievement. Vertical teaming seemed to be the solution to put our district's faculty expectations on the same high level for all students, regardless of their location and economic status.
In addition, the mission of Polk County Public Schools is to ensure rigorous and relevant learning experiences for our students that result in high achievement. Vertical teaming has helped teachers define rigor and relevance in the visual arts and has also helped define what is essential to teach in grades K through 12. It has also provided accountability in the visual arts to students, parents, administrators, and the community.
Beginning the Vertical Alignment Process
As in most school districts, we have a limited amount of time with students at all levels. We wanted to establish a clear understanding of what students should know as they transitioned from elementary school through high school and AP courses. We also needed to ensure that all students, regardless of economic status or location, would be prepared to enter higher-level courses.
To achieve these goals, we needed to define the essential curriculum for the visual arts in grades K through 13, find a way to select course offerings in our high schools to match that curriculum, and ensure that both horizontal and vertical alignment occurred among all schools, including feeder schools and beginning with kindergarten. Vertical teaming provided the help we needed in all these areas.
We began our vertical teaming process in 2003-04 by recruiting a committee to revise the elementary school curriculum; the committee's membership reflected the makeup of our school district. We selected nine members who served for one year. The district's staff development funds covered the cost of materials and the process, which included having substitute teachers one day a month for the committee's members and additional pay for the members' time spent beyond the school or contract day. Several NBCTs (National Board Certified Teachers) spent many hours working on the curriculum revisions without pay as part of their mentoring requirements.
The elementary committee met one day a month plus additional hours as needed. We began by looking at two items: an assessment of the curriculum already in place and ways to meet the mission statement of our district. The committee had to answer three questions: How do we define what is essential? What is taught in all of these elementary programs? How are the classes significantly alike?
The original curriculum in place was process-based. The committee members decided the district needed a concept-based curriculum that included lesson plans for novice teachers. They envisioned this revised curriculum as a skeleton plan that would support instruction but could be fleshed out or enhanced by experienced teachers. They also decided to include a planning guide indicating when concepts should be taught.
With these questions and thoughts in mind, the committee designed and wrote a curriculum for grades K through 5 with instructional scaffolding. To provide consistency, and because teachers were already familiar with these concepts, the committee selected the elements and principles of design as the fundamental concepts to be addressed. The committee intended the curriculum to be a living document to which teachers could add concepts, such as those related to social issues.
The new curriculum includes a 36-week planning guide that lists when and at which level to address the concepts during each nine-week period. Each concept is supported by lesson plans that include resources, historical references, a materials list, vocabulary, procedures, critique questions, and assessment ideas for each grade level.
The committee then developed and delivered a short training session to introduce the new curriculum at the beginning of the next school year. Every elementary teacher received the curriculum (with its planning guide) and an accompanying set of posters about the elements and principles of design.
The Next Step: Revising the Middle and High School Curriculum
Once we designed the elementary curriculum, we focused on the middle school and high school levels. Jerry Stefl, a College Board consultant, came to the district for a Saturday workshop in May 2004. We invited teachers from certain middle schools and high schools to participate in this professional development experience. More than 35 teachers volunteered.
Stefl introduced the purpose and methods for vertical teaming. Excitement ran high as workshop participants began to talk with one another about the strengths and advantages of vertical teaming. The participants learned to determine when student work was at the emerging, proficient, or advanced level. This process helped set the bar for high school and middle school teachers and also helped each level understand what the other level did.
In September 2004, a group of middle and high school teachers began writing a vertical teaming guide for grades 6-12. The people selected for this group mirrored the makeup of the district. They represented large and small schools as well as an equal number of middle and high schools. (As noted above, the district's staff development funding covered the costs for the project, including substitutes and materials.) The group met one day a month for the entire school year. Again, several NBCTs gave many additional hours to support the project as part of their mentoring requirements.
The Florida Course Code Directory and Instructional Personnel Assignments 2006-2007 offers approximately 24 middle school and 105 high school courses. The group agreed that the concepts of drawing, 2-D design, and 3-D design were basic to all of the course offerings in the directory. Using these three terms would also introduce middle school students to the AP Studio Art courses.
At the initial meeting, the group also looked at the elementary school curriculum (including its planning guide), treating it as the foundation on which to build the vertical teaming guide for secondary schools. The group used the elements and principles of design to link this new guide with the elementary curriculum. We consider the resulting vertical teaming guide as a living document to which we can add other artistic or social concepts as necessary.
The vertical teaming guide illustrates the elements and principles of design by those three major categories with exemplars of work at the emerging, proficient, and advanced level. For every element and principle, we show six examples -- three design and three drawing -- selected from work by Polk County students. For example, the element of color has visual exemplars in the drawing and 2-D design categories. A lesson plan accompanies each visual exemplar and includes resources, historical references, a materials list, vocabulary, procedures, critique questions, and assessment ideas.
While developing the vertical teaming guide for secondary schools, the group's members viewed slides of student work. Together, they decided if the works were emerging, proficient, or advanced and which artworks to use as examples in the guide. The discussion was often spirited.
Initially, we wanted to include a 3-D design example for each element and principle. As we searched for examples, we found that Polk County schools did not have strong exemplars for three-dimensional design. We have strong, traditional clay programs, but our students were not asked to explore three-dimensional works in a sculptural way. Recently, our programs have begun to incorporate more sculptural approaches in ceramics. We also hope to see more courses on three-dimensional design in the high schools’ curriculum.
Ensuring Success Through Training and Support
In the 2005-06 school year, we offered training for select middle school and high school teachers to introduce the new vertical teaming guide. We used staff development funds to buy the materials and pay the substitutes for that day. The vertical teaming guide includes slides of all the exemplars and lesson plans as well as a CD of the exemplars. We also gave every teacher in the middle and high schools a copy of the College Board's AP Vertical Teams' Guide for Studio Art, compiled and edited by Jerry Stefl. In the fall of 2006, a second wave of teachers (including new hires) received training.
Vertical teaming has given the teachers and students of Polk County visual examples of quality work and has set the bar for student achievement in the visual arts. We now see the College Board's AP Vertical Teams' Guide for Studio Art open in classrooms and teachers using it to help students decide which level their artwork reaches -- emerging, proficient, or advanced. We believe that, as we do a better job of preparing students in all grades, we will see increased enrollment in AP courses and more students preparing portfolios for college entrance requirements.
Patricia Lamb is the Senior Coordinator of Fine Arts for the Polk County School District in Florida. She taught at Frostproof Middle Senior High School and at Lake Region High School before assuming duties at the district office. Since 1991, she has served as a Reader and Table Leader for AP Studio Art as well as a consultant for the College Board. She is a member of the AP Studio Art Development Committee.
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