The new direction would mandate a change in RG Jones educators’ mindset on how to support students not on grade level. With guidance from Equity Matters, through a tailored and customized approach they engaged in a joyful retreat concentrating on self, the current climate and data asking the following questions: “Do I fundamentally believe students can achieve at high levels?” How can I provide strategies to better address the needs of the whole child?

From our early Five-Course Framework conversations, the team embraced strategies to address mental models and deficit thinking. Driven by a desire to challenge low expectations and the current status of the school, the team used a SWOT Analysis to confront the reality of their school's status and ability to meet the needs of all students.  Principal Melissa Watts, Assistant Principal RahSheen Clay, Equity Matters Consultant Sonya Murray and the school’s staff were on a journey toward equity and academic excellence for all students. 

During the first two years of our partnership, Principal Watts, worked closely with the Dr. Murray to define strategy, align structures, and adjust the staff’s habitual instructional behaviors. This work began with establishing a vision and mission that continues to govern the school. RG Jones staff worked to identify instructional priorities and subsequent habits to maintain, eliminate, or modify to enhance quality and consistency, and implemented strategies to monitor and enforce these changes.

At RG Jones, this initial shift included a shared commitment to:

• Offering mini-lessons or tutorials right before students began a related activity.

• Providing resources or guidance as students encounter difficulties or new challenges.

• Using formative assessments to identify gaps and then delivering targeted instruction based on those findings.

There were grumblings and some were weary of the new path, but the team persevered guided by what was possible. The approach they embraced made learning more efficient by focusing on immediate needs rather than overwhelming learners with information that may not be directly applicable at the time. 

The RG Jones staff recognized that a different approach to trauma was critical and so they coupled the approach to student well being with the JIT approach, RG Jones prioritized addressing the impact of trauma on students through responsive strategies. Every session they ended their time with the question, “How can we take action on what we learned?” They humanized their approach to student support by exploring ways to increase collaboration across management, curriculum, and assessment functions.

Some topics explored were:

1. Trauma Matters 

2. Consistency: Student + Teacher Relationships Matter

3. Building Safe and Healthy Student Relationships

4. Restorative Practices to Address Trauma

With the invaluable support of Equity Matters, the school convened an Academic Acceleration & Assessment Plan. Principal Melissa Watts, Equity Matters Lead Consultant Dr. Kristen Taylor, Equity Matters Consultant Dr. Sheldon McAfee and CEO/Founder Dr. Sonya Murray began designing assessment strategies making assessment actionable to improve achievement for all students. As a result, RG Jones staff refocused on including instructional structures enabling teachers to teach so students could learn, using data to uncover where students needed support to inform instruction better.

In addition, the new approach would inform how teachers should adjust when students are not learning. Also, the RG Jones team explored how educators can be more intentional and act with purpose. This work empowered the RG Jones staff to build their knowledge and expertise and make recommendations to enhance quality and streamline their academic approaches so all students could thrive.

"We developed our current academic acceleration strategy and baked it in data strategy, which created a streamlined approach across our school," says Principal Watts, "based on the idea that academic acceleration is an educational equity strategy."

Armed with the vision and change in practice, RG Jones staff, in collaboration with Equity Matters, worked together to create a multi-year plan to implement academic acceleration. They knew this work would take time as change takes time, but they knew they had to be clear about coherence, clarity, and a focus on core instruction. RG Jones wanted to be clear about the need for intentionality and data strategy, understanding that strategic direction, pace, internalization, implementation, and refinement would lead them to their goals.

One intentional strategy employed by RG Jones staff was the use of collective efficacy to achieve their goals collaboratively. They firmly believed they could succeed, and they did. Recognizing that they were not meeting their goals with "WIN" strategies and denying students access to academic acceleration while using remediation approaches, they decided to restructure and adopt a more intentional, streamlined approach to academic acceleration. The staff acknowledged that their lack of role clarity, fragmentation, and unclear focus on academic acceleration were preventing them from moving forward cohesively. RG Jones increased collaboration across assessment strategy,  curriculum implementation, and assessment functions, all in service of teaching and learning. This year, EM consultants Dr. Kristen Taylor and Dr. Sonya Murray are providing extensive support to teachers to help take the school to greater heights.