An Introduction to The Gheens Academy

Each year, groups of educators visit the JCPS Gheens Academy in Louisville, Kentucky. Some come from other states across this nation. Some come from other countries around the world. While their purposes for coming vary, they tend to ask similar questions: How do you build an infrastructure that supports school reform? What are ways to support continued teacher growth and provide collegial opportunities for teachers? How can you ensure that the best, most qualified teachers are available to work in your schools? What are strategies for developing principal candidates who are concerned first with teaching and learning? How do we develop curriculum, teacher content knowledge, and district policies that support increased student learning?

We do not have all the answers to these questions, but we have been engaged in the asking over the past fifteen years. We've tried and experimented and have gained some wisdom. More importantly, we continue to ask and to learn from our visitors and other colleagues who endeavor to make schools better places for the children and the adults who work with them.

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Background of the Academy

The Gheens Academy started in 1983 as a public-private partnership in an effort to ensure a more qualified workforce for the city of Louisville. The Gheens Foundation committed over $4 million to the district to improve educational opportunities for students by creating a teacher center for adult learning and the exchange of new ideas. A building was renovated and dedicated for this purpose, housing a small staff and making meeting rooms and training space available. Other community leaders, foundations, and companies gave both financial and human resources support, as did the teachers' association. The Gheens Academy was viewed as a center for innovation--the spark that would cause the district and schools within the district to strive for continuous improvement.

Many ideas and practices now accepted as proven strategies for reform had their origins in the Gheens Academy, such as the Professional Development School initiated by the first executive director, Phillip Schlechty. Formally adopted by the Holmes Partnership, a national coalition of universities, school districts, and professional associations, the Professional Development School was viewed as a means for promoting a culture of inquiry and teacher research in schools, while at the same time providing intensive induction experiences for new teachers and teacher candidates.

The Gheens Academy was also linked to other national reform movements, such as the Coalition of Essential Schools based at Brown University and the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools and Teaching (NCREST) based at Teachers College, Columbia University. It became the prototype for teacher centers across the country.

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Leadership and Support

Because the Gheens Academy is part of the Jefferson County Schools, a large urban district of over 97,000 students, the focus of the work changes with the changing needs of the district. For example, the passage of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) in 1990 meant a shift in focus from working with interested schools on redesigning their practices, to working with all schools in implementing a set of complex and interrelated reforms. These include multi-age primary school, curriculum aligned with performance standards, authentic means of assessment, professional development, School-Based Decision Making, and technology.

Kentucky's high stakes testing, where schools receive sanctions for lack of progress, requires a district infrastructure that can assist schools in understanding the state assessments, interpreting test data, and developing action plans for improved performance.

KERA prescribes for schools the "what" of reform, but not necessarily the "how". Another important function of the Gheens Academy, therefore, is to connect schools with ideas and reform networks that support deep, fundamental change. The Academy provides an important link, in the form of training, coaching, and support, to reform structures such as Accelerated Schools, America's Choice for School Design (formerly the National Alliance for Restructuring Education) and Different Ways of Knowing (DWOK). It also functions as a partner with local universities for make the Professional Development School a real vehicle for change.

No longer a small structure within a large district, the Academy houses nearly 150 people--teachers, administrators and support staff whose role is to provide leadership and support to the schools in Jefferson County. The Academy forms a touchstone within the district for improving student learning and within the state for fostering implementation of Kentucky education reform.

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Challenges We Face

The Gheens Academy's challenges reflect those of the district and, in many ways, of urban districts across the country. An ongoing challenge is to keep close to schools so that we respond to their instructional needs in ways that have a positive impact on student learning. More specifically, the Academy must address these concerns:

• Helping schools to remove barriers so that the students at the greatest risk are supported in their learning.
• Finding ways to give teachers time and opportunities for learning, collegial support, and sharing.
• Helping to develop leaders for our schools, in both formal and informal roles, who can increase the quality of education we provide our students.
• Keeping new ideas and practices before principals and teachers, and giving them the necessary support to implement these ideas at their schools.
• Finding avenues for developing and supporting the instructional expertise of school site councils, so the policy and personnel decisions they make have a salutary effect on student learning.
• Building relationships in a very large system, with individual schools which result in increased learning for students, and sustained professional growth for teachers and principals. 

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