Running head: WHERE IS MY CHEESE? A CASE STUDY ON CHANGE

Where is my Cheese? A Case Study on Change

Angela Miller

Houston Baptist University

1

WHERE IS MY CHEESE? A CASE STUDY ON CHANGE 2

Fort Settlement Middle SchoolSugar Land, Texas

“Where Is My Cheese?"

Fort Settlement Middle School (FSMS) is located in Sugar Land, Texas in Fort Bend

County the sixteenth fastest growing county in the nation and fifth in the state of Texas (Stiles,

2010). In 2009, FSMS was one of nine middle schools in the Fort Bend Independent School

District that educated 68,507 students (Academic Excellence Indicator System). The

demographics in 2008-2009 school year consisted of 1,057 students, 331 in grade six, 383 in

grade seven, and 343 in grade eight. Ethic distribution of students was African American 6.5%,

Hispanic 7.2%, White 42%, Native American .1%, and Asian/Pacific Islander 44.2%.

Economically disadvantaged 4.3%, Limited English Proficient 3.8%, and At-Risk 10.4% made

up the students at FSMS. Professional staff was comprised of 59 teachers, 16 professional

support, and 3 campus administrators. Ethnicity and gender of teachers was 2 African American,

2 Hispanic, 52 White, 1 Native American, 2 Asian/Pacific Islander with 13 males and 46

females.

In February 2009, Fort Settlement experienced new leadership to the campus. Karon

Crockett retired as principal and Julie Diaz became the new principal. The initial condition of

Fort Settlement was and is very inviting. The school’s mission statement is painted on the wall,

and the students took pride in their school and wanted to come to school daily. As one teacher

stated, “When you walk into Fort Settlement the school, is so inviting. The teachers are nice,

positive, and the front office staff is welcoming.” The teaching staff was mostly responsible for

the students that were assigned to them with a lot of individual islands and “pockets of good.”

Mrs. Diaz noticed a hidden culture among teachers by how some teachers interacted negatively

WHERE IS MY CHEESE? A CASE STUDY ON CHANGE 3

in the hallways with students, other teaching staff, and were not following through on their daily

responsibilities.

The teaching staff lacked the collaboration within teams to plan the best teaching,

lessons, and assessments for students. The school lacked the collective capacity to promote

learning for ALL students within the framework that was established. The core teachers that

were teaching the same subject were spread throughout the building based on the teaming model

of middle school that the school district had not implemented since 2004. Mrs. Diaz observed

that the teachers did not know what was going on in each other’s classrooms, although the staff

claimed to know. The department meetings were random with no purpose to communicate

congenial information.

As a teacher with new leadership in the building, it was expected that some form of

change was going to take place. In the beginning, Mrs. Diaz interviewed all faculty and staff.

Most of the faculty and staff were not thinking seriously about changing the way the school

worked and were not interested in any kind of help to get better. In fact, the teachers that were

seen as negative and neglecting their duties defended their current way of doing things; they did

not feel there were any problems. They became defensive when asked, “What do we need to do

better?” There were some teachers, “pockets of good,” that stated that they felt the school and

teachers had become complacent and stagnant. They felt that there was a need for some type of

change, but they were not sure what type of change was needed. They needed some pushing or

motivation to change.

Fort Settlement Middle School received an Exemplary accountability rating by the Texas

Education Agency on its testing performance from 2007 to 2011 school years. See Appendix

Table A.1- A.4 for Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) Scores 6th - 8th Grade.

WHERE IS MY CHEESE? A CASE STUDY ON CHANGE 4

These scores showed that even though FSMS had top scores that not all the students’ needs were

being met. Mrs. Diaz used this data to show where the schools accountability was in the district

by trying to help all the teachers become aware of the consequences of the current state of the

schools’ commended scores not improving. There was a need to get the teachers thinking about

ways to approach teaching. In department meetings, the talks began with ways of doing things

differently. They began studying Professional Learning Community (PLC) models in

department chair meetings. A few more teachers started to get on the bus, and Mrs. Diaz was

brutally honest with department chairs as to why she saw the need to do things differently. Her

justification change was based on observations of “data team” meetings where teachers’

conversations were congenial, adult centered, and not focused on students. There was a lot of

“coblaberation” verses collaboration. She was also charged by the superintendent to have a

collaborative planning amongst teaching staff in the school.

At the end of 2009, the testing data and observations of data teams were shared.

Teachers were given the opportunity to be leaders of change, and if the could not meet the

responsibility, then they would be asked to step down as a department chair and a replacement

from the department would be found. The 2010-2011 school year saw the implementation of

regularly scheduled department meetings on Wednesdays. Modeled meetings on how a

department meeting should be held with examples of collaboration of professional learning and

discussing students and student achievement and how to meet the needs of all students were also

conducted. Many teachers were ambivalent about the initial meetings; however, they were open

to receiving information about true professional learning communities and what it meant to

collaborate. Teachers were beginning to see a need for the culture change at FSMS.

WHERE IS MY CHEESE? A CASE STUDY ON CHANGE 5

Staff continued to read about PLCs and how to help students. Helping teachers were

brought into the department meetings, and everyone looked at vertical alignment of the

curriculum to see what students were expected to see and know above and below their grade

level. Using the released TAKS test was eye opening for teachers as most had never seen other

grade levels; they only knew what their kids were expected to know. Then teachers were asked

to look at curriculum one grade above and below, and they found gaps that they never knew

existed. Plans were developed to address the gaps and at this point Mrs. Diaz realized that her

teachers were ready for the next step in the change process, physical change, to take

collaboration to the next level.

The campus purchased the book, Who Moved My Cheese? , by Dr. Spencer Johnson for

each department to read and pass it on to other teachers to read. The first step was to create a

culture change where teachers began to operate as a collaborative team. One teacher commented

that after reading the book they were able to understand the need for change. Teachers turned in

a “What I would like to do…” sheet with their certifications as a strategy to determine what they

were qualified to teach and to feel a part of the change process. Mrs. Diaz hosted a “Whine and

Cheese” party in the front office to have teachers and staff whine about the upcoming change

process and discuss any topics of concern. Much of the whining was positive in context and

there were a few comments that were out of the school’s control. For instance, one teacher

wanted more electrical outlets in their room. Another teacher was angry that the parents did not

keep up with school homework. All comments from teachers were listened to and Mrs. Diaz

focused on what the school could control and influence.

The 2011-2012 school year brought about physical change in the school. The old

teaming model (one core class in each pod) of teacher classrooms setup was reconfigured. Pods

WHERE IS MY CHEESE? A CASE STUDY ON CHANGE 6

were configured to have teams of the same subject. See Figure 1 and 2 of the FSMS Floor Plan.

This promoted collaboration of teachers in the same subject area and provided a common area to

plan and see how their collogues were teaching. The staff received Foundations training, and it

was implemented into the daily duties of the teaching staff. Foundations encouraged the

visibility of teachers in the hallways and to make connections with students beyond the

classroom. The teachers continued to work in data teams with the focus on collaborative

meetings where teachers focused on students, interventions, knowing individual students, and

setting up a “Kid Watch” intervention plan.

The 2012-2013 school year proved to be a year of success. TAKS was replaced by STAAR and

students maintained their high achieving standards. The outcome of the change process was

successful because the culture of the teaching changed. The hidden culture of negativity, lesson

plan hording, and “coblaberation” was gone. The teachers planned and met as teams in a

collaborative group discussing the need of all students. Without the given steps in this change

process, the students would not have been able to maintain the scores from TAKS scores to the

more rigorous STAAR testing. See Table A.5 Texas Academic Performance Report 2012 -2013

STAAR Scores 6th - 8th Grade.

At Fort Settlement Middle School, WE BELIEVE ALL STUDENTS CAN LEARN at

high levels, and we are committed to doing whatever it takes to ensure that all students learn at

high levels within a warm and caring environment. FSMS was awarded the distinction

of STATE SCHOOL OF CHARACTER in 2012.  FSMS earned 7 out of 7 possible academic

distinctions for the 2013-2014 school year from the Texas Education Agency.

WHERE IS MY CHEESE? A CASE STUDY ON CHANGE 7

References

Academics Excellence Indicator System. (n.d.) Academic Excellence Indicator System.

Retrieved October 24, 2014 from http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/aeis

Stiles, M. S. (2010, March 23). One the Records: Texas’ Suburban Growth, by Matt Stiles.

The Texas Tribune. Retrieved October 20, 2014, from

http://www.texastribune.org/2010/03/23/several-texas-counties-among-fastest-growing-

in-us/

WHERE IS MY CHEESE? A CASE STUDY ON CHANGE 8

Appendix

Table A.1 Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) Scores 6th - 8th Grade

6th GradersYear #Tested Reading Commended #Tested Math Commended

2007 309 100% 81% 309 99% 71%2008 331 100% 81% 332 99% 79%2009 320 99% 76% 323 98% 76%2010 318 98% 70% 325 99% 79%2011 314 98% 73% 317 99% 76%

7th Grade ScoresYear #Tested Reading Comm

ended#Tested Math Comm

ended#Tested Writin

gCommended

2007 357 99% 59% 358 98% 62% 352 100% 74%2008 317 100% 70% 316 100% 71% 314 100% 74%2009 376 99% 67% 378 99% 62% 376 98% 69%2010 341 99% 70% 343 100% 61% 339 100% 71%2011 348 99% 69% 349 99% 70% 347 100% 80%

8th Grade Scores Math and ReadingYear #Tested Reading Comm

ended#Tested Math Comm

ended2007 367 100% 74% 364 98% 61%2008 364 100% 86% 358 98% 71%2009 337 100% 76% 331 99% 73%2010 386 99% 77% 388 99% 69%2011 357 99% 83% 357 99% 69%

8th Grade Scores for Social Studies and ScienceYear #Tested Social

StudiesCommended

#Tested Science Commended

2007 362 100% 78% 364 93% 49%2008 362 98% 68% 360 97% 60%2009 333 99% 77% 331 95% 59%2010 382 100% 77% 387 96% 60%2011 358 100% 79% 341 95% 59%

Table A.2 6th Grade Sub-Populations

WHERE IS MY CHEESE? A CASE STUDY ON CHANGE 9

WHERE IS MY CHEESE? A CASE STUDY ON CHANGE 10

Table A.3 7th Grade Sub-Populations

WHERE IS MY CHEESE? A CASE STUDY ON CHANGE 11

Table A.4 8th Grade Sub-Populations

WHERE IS MY CHEESE? A CASE STUDY ON CHANGE 12

Table A.5

Texas Academic Performance Report 2012-2013 STAAR Scores 6th - 8th Grade

WHERE IS MY CHEESE? A CASE STUDY ON CHANGE 13

Figure A.1 First Floor

WHERE IS MY CHEESE? A CASE STUDY ON CHANGE 14

Figure A.2 Second Floor

WHERE IS MY CHEESE? A CASE STUDY ON CHANGE 15