Chipping Away at Generational Poverty One Student At a Time

My name is Greg Watson and I am currently the principal at Gilmer High School. I came to work for the Gilmer Independent School District in June of 2004. Gilmer is a city of approximately 5,000 people in rural East Texas. Fifty-five percent of the students in the school district are categorized as Economically Disadvantaged. I quickly realized the challenges facing the school district as I began to see first hand the generational poverty in many families. Part of the problem also stemmed from the fact that the adult literacy rate in the area was very low. State-mandated test scores were less than desirable, particularly in math and science. The school district had been using a portion of their Title I funds to provide the teachers with professional development opportunities. Even though the teachers were receiving some quality training, it was not translating into improved test scores. It seemed as though we would just “add another training” as a way of addressing our shortcomings.

After making small gains during my first two years as a principal in Gilmer, we turned our attention to the SMART Goals process developed by QLD. As a principal, I feared taking “another training” before my teachers. I did not want them to feel like we were just adding something else to their plate. As a staff we discovered through much study and discussion that SMART Goals was not a program, it was a process. This understanding eased my concerns as well as that of the staff. As a district, we entered into a three-year agreement with QLD to help us implement the SMART Goals process. During the first year, each campus set one goal. During the second year, each department/grade level set one goal. During the third year, the goal setting was introduced at the student level. Over this three-year period, our teachers really bought into the process and they began to take ownership and share responsibility for the progress of our students.

The fruits of our labor began to show in the first year of implementation of the SMART Goals process. As a result of our goal setting in the area of math, scores from state testing increased dramatically. As the goal setting expanded into the other subject areas, scores began to increase in reading, science, and social studies. Students began to share responsibility for their learning as they were introduced to the SMART Goals process. In a nutshell, our entire district was transformed as the results from our efforts only encouraged the students, teachers, and administration to expand the process.

Even though I am currently the principal at Gilmer High School, I have also been the principal at the Jr. High and the Intermediate School during my five year stay in Gilmer. Because of the time I have spent at each of these campuses, I see first hand that this process is alive and well across the district. During my time there, Gilmer Intermediate became the first campus in our district to receive a “Recognized” rating from the state of Texas. This accomplishment happened during the first year of the SMART Goals implementation. Since then, our Elementary School has also received a “Recognized” rating from the state. This year, our High School missed receiving the “Recognized” rating by one student. Our Jr. High School missed receiving the “Recognized” rating by four students.

We have come a long way since I arrived in this district back in 2004. Hard work from the teachers, students, and administration coupled with our focus on the SMART Goals process has transformed our district. We will continue sharing responsibility for student learning by employing a process that requires us to focus on areas of concern, collaborating on how to address it, and reflecting on our progress toward meeting stated goals. We have worked hard, we have had to make changes, we have seen our test scores increase, but I think that all of our staff would agree that the most important thing is that we have created an environment where student needs are being met and we feel like we are chipping away at generational poverty one student at a time.