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The T.C. Transformation Model and Structure Chart

PLA Transformation Model includes:

The T.C. Teacher Leadership Committee
Participants include T.C. teachers and administrators who discuss and implement short-term solutions.

Staff PLA Steering Committee
Central office and school administrators.

Internal Lead Partner
An ACPS senior-staff officer who is required by the U.S. Department of Education to serve as a school-based liaison to the lead turnaround partner.

External / Lead Turnaround Partner
A Virginia Department of Education-approved outside organization or consultant to guide the reform process.

Ongoing

Superintendent's Student Advisory Committee
Meets throughout the year to discuss ideas on creating a school culture in which every student feels supported and respected.

ACPS Strategic Plan
Adopted March 19, 2009, the Strategic Plan states that ACPS will set the international standard for educational excellence, where all students achieve their potential and actively contribute to our local and global communities.

The T.C. Vision and Action Committee
This committee, led by Peter Balas, comprises more than 100 parents, teachers, administrators, students and community members. The committee will meet regularly over a three-to-five-year period to develop and oversee a long-term vision for the school.

The Transformation Model

The U.S. Department of Education is providing $4 billion to reform the nation's PLA schools. To qualify for this funding, PLA schools must use one of four intervention models. ACPS will most likely follow the Transformation model for T.C. Williams High School.

Federal Definition of the Transformation Model: Implement each of the following strategies:

  1. take steps to increase teacher and school leader effectiveness
  2. institute comprehensive instructional reforms using research and data
  3. increase learning time and create community-oriented schools
  4. provide operational flexibility and sustained support

What does this mean for T.C.?

  • Increased accountability
  • Increased learning time
  • Improved professional development for teachers and staff
  • Differentiation of instruction
  • Use of research-based programs
  • Consideration of online learning, International Baccalaureate, and early college credit opportunities
  • Increased family and community involvement
  • Additional grant funding

Five Focus Areas

(from Superintendent's letter to the School Board, May 2010 )

The Transformation Model proposed for T.C. Williams High School focuses on high achievement for each student. The transformation we are seeking moves us from a good high school to a great high school through attention to individual students and staff.

Our belief is that each student can achieve at even higher levels.

Our belief is that the T.C. Williams staff is committed to ensure the success of each student through our professional accountability, responsiveness, responsibility, standards, clear expectations, and unwavering devotion to all students.

Our belief is that partnerships with parents and the community are an important and essential part of students' success.

The transformation process implements enhancements and modifications of content, pedagogy, and relationships at T.C. Williams and the middle schools. The process stems from ACPS' commitment to high school renewal and the imperative for an effective response to T.C.'s designation as "persistently lowest achieving" among Virginia Title I-eligible high schools.

The first stage of T.C.'s transformation was implemented in the 2010-2011 school year. The work of the T.C. Vision and Action Committee will complement the initial transformation efforts and continue as ACPS addresses increasing enrollments, changing programs, and high levels of expectations for all students.

Goals of the T.C. Williams Transformation Process

  1. Embracing the purpose of public schools as the creation of literate, participating, and productive citizens in our democracy.
  2. Equipping every learner with 21st century skills through a fundamental shift in how we think about student learning and how we work.
  3. Operating with a shared vision and drive committed to ensuring the success of every learner.
  4. Embodying the core belief that all students can learn by providing a useful, meaningful curriculum and exceptional instruction with immediate and long term benefits.
  5. Creating clearly articulated policies, behaviors, and organizational practices that maximize student achievement.
  6. Moving from a teacher-centered to a student-centered learning community that promotes rigor and efficacy for every student.
  7. Reorganizing the school as a consensus-driven learning organization.
  8. Building a well-articulated and explicit commitment to a Pre-K-12 learning environment that is personalized, customized, engaging, and which advocates for each student.
  9. Embodying the concepts and goals outlined in the ACPS Strategic Plan and Education Plan, resulting in a coordinated K-12 plan for a world-class school system.

Key Components of the T.C. Williams Transformation Process

The following are the key components of a unified system of reform and transformation: