Restructuring Manual High School

Peoria’s Manual High School will begin a new chapter this fall, implementing the first steps in a major restructuring process as required by the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

After failing to meet federal requirements under the No Child Left Behind Act for five consecutive years, Manual High School must go through an extensive, mandated restructuring process. The list of guidelines a school must follow when restructuring is quite extensive, and because Manual is a Title I school—one in which at least 40 percent of the student body are from low-income families—there are even more requirements to fulfill.

Stepping up to the challenge, Peoria Public Schools District 150 brought in new administrators to facilitate the restructuring process. In speaking with two of those individuals—Dr. Sharon Desmoulin-Kherat, new principal of Manual High School, and Sandra Burke, Manual’s turnaround facilitator—we got an inside look at the process and reasoning behind the changes.

In a summary of Manual’s restructuring process, the district asserts, “The purpose of restructuring is to improve student academic achievement and enable the school to make adequate yearly progress as defined in the State’s accountability system.” Adequate yearly progress (AYP) is determined by each state and measures the progress school districts are making to ensure that each student meets or exceeds academic standards in reading and math. After five consecutive years of failing to make AYP, a school is required by law to make drastic changes in how it is run, specifically in terms of governance, curriculum and structure.

Studying What Works

To get the ball rolling at Manual, internal and external teams were formed. The internal team comprised of District 150 and Manual High School administrators crafted a plan that was then sent to the state board. They also recommended utilizing a document entitled What Works When—a guide for education leaders produced by the Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement—and convening an external team of 65 community members, parents and Manual staff members. Sandra Burke was hired to oversee the external team and facilitate the restructuring process, and Dr. Kherat was selected to serve as Manual’s new principal.

The District understood that the restructuring plan needed to be research-based—they had to study successful schools and learn from them. The teams chose to use a model called Talent Development High Schools (TDHS), initiated in 1994 at Johns Hopkins University in partnership with a high school in Baltimore. Since its inception, the model has been used by schools in 11 states.

Burke explained, “What [TDHS] brings to the table are the experience and successes in other high schools that are similar to Manual. It also brings a wealth of professional development.” Two commonalities were found in all of the successful models researched by the teams: the use of small learning communities and a curriculum focused on relevancy.

But simply implementing these things at Manual wasn’t enough, said Burke. “The external team made the recommendation for 7th through 12th grades [to be in one building] because they recognize that we need to start earlier.” In addition to small learning communities and a relevancy-focused curriculum, students need a firm foundation in reading and math. By housing all academies at the Manual High School location, it is hoped that communication among teachers, students, parents and staff will improve, ensuring that students are where they should be in those subjects upon entering high school.