Initiativitis? Not in Gilmer ISD!

Have you heard of “initiativitis,” the disease that contributes in significant ways to our nation’s continuing achievement gap?

Schools and districts with initiativitis pursue program after program in a desperate and frantic effort to improve performance. What they get instead is overwhelmed teachers and administrators and flat or even declining student results.

The cure to initiativitis is what Deming called “constancy of purpose.” Gilmer ISD, a high poverty district in east Texas, is an exemplar of constancy of purpose. I’ve written about Gilmer before; after 3 years of work with this brilliant district, I’d like to share their story again as it illustrates the power of sustained, focused leadership.

Gilmer ISD leaders committed to fully embracing just one initiative—the S.M.A.R.T. Goal Process for improvement. Last May, Terry Morganti-Fisher and I visited with students, staff, administrators, and board members to celebrate their remarkable results. Reviewing their progress in 3 key areas—improved student results, increased strategic focus, and increased leadership capacity, we celebrated that:

• In every academic area, students at every grade level have significantly improved their performance
• The achievement gap between African American and Hispanic and Caucasian students has all but closed
• Close to 100% of Gilmer's teachers have adopted the S.M.A.R.T. Goal Process as their professional development practice
• Teachers are collaborating across subject areas, grade levels and schools, helping each other teach students who once seemed unteachable
• Students are taking responsibility for their learning and are motivated to come to school each day
• Students who had never seen themselves as “college material” are now determined to go on to higher education
• The district has in place a sustainable system for improvement that will carry them far into the future

The most important impact of Gilmer’s commitment is on their students. Last May we met Silvia, a brown-eyed, dark-haired 7th grader who is a first generation immigrant from Mexico. Her parents speak only Spanish and did not finish high school. “When I came to Gilmer in 6th grade,” she told me, “I was angry and bored. I hated school, and I always got into trouble. But then I started learning how to use S.M.A.R.T. goals, and I started wanting to come to school. I wanted to see if I could beat my goals, do better each time. It made me want to work harder at school and study harder at home. I didn’t use to think I was smart but now I know I am. I’m in honors classes and I’m doing well in them. And my dream now is to go on to college, maybe university, and become a lawyer. I want to do better than my parents did. And because I’m the oldest, I’m telling my brothers and sisters to set goals too, and to work hard to get to them. They’re doing better in school too.”

Gilmer ISD isn’t just closing the achievement gap - they’re eliminating generational poverty. How? By leading through example, building a system of collaboration and support, providing ongoing job-embedded professional development, staying focused on students and most importantly, by constancy of purpose.