Overview
Situated 10 minutes south of downtown San Diego and 11 miles north of the international border with Mexico, National City is one of the oldest communities in San Diego, dating back to 1871. Over the past 50 years, the city has experienced significant transformation. Once dominated by a high-income community, the city is now considered one of the poorest in California. In fact, according to Dr. George Cameron, National City School District superintendent, National City is the 13th-poorest city of 50,000-plus residents in the country. Over 40% of adults in National City are not literate. Over 70% of the housing in National City are rental units. Over the past three to four years, the community has experienced a significant increase in the average rent, which has led to a loss of over 650 students from the school district.
In spite of these challenges - or perhaps because of them - National City School District has developed a strong reputation for placing children first. In National City, the motto is "Creating Successful Learners. Now." The district's vision emphasizes a strong belief that all students will learn and their success is everyone's responsibility. The district takes this charge seriously and promises its community a safe, nurturing learning environment; an active partnership with parents and community; a solid foundation in reading, writing and problem-solving; and a focus on individual student achievement.
National City School District's efforts have been recognized by the California Distinguished School Awards, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Outstanding School Lunch Program Award and four Golden Bell Awards, among others. These successes are a tribute to the dedicated personnel who serve National City's schools and a supportive community whose cultural diversity enriches learning opportunities for all of its children.
National City School District Web site
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The Teachers' Story in National City
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National City School District enjoys extremely low teacher turnover. Many teachers in the district attended as students, obtained their credential, and came back to the community where they grew up to teach. Tremendous respect for teachers as professionals exists within the National City community. A key factor in this culture is the open relationship and sense of empowerment that exists between National City teachers and Dr. George Cameron, the superintendent. Many teachers expressed how comfortable they feel picking up the phone to call him with questions. This relationship has developed as Cameron has served as the teachers' advocate and champion within the district for over 14 years as superintendent, and 33 years in the district as a whole.
The district office strives to keep "administration" and support as its primary role so that teachers can focus on teaching. The teachers interviewed commended the professionalism they felt as teachers in this district and the discretion they are afforded in terms of choosing materials and instructional strategies – as long as they are aligned to standards and increased student achievement. Teachers expressed confidence in this responsibility because of the aligned, sustained district vision, the consistent use of curriculum programs (for example, Successmaker), common planning time with other teachers, and data systems in which instructional data is delivered to teachers in a timeframe that allows for diagnostic decisionmaking on instruction for students.
Margaret Godshalk: Teacher, Kimball Elementary
Margaret grew up in National City School District, and she talks about how teaching in National City is very important to her because of her commitment to her home community. She became a teacher because she wanted to teach at Kimball Elementary to improve opportunities in the community in which she was raised. Margaret expressed her appreciation for her principal and the superintendent for allowing her to focus on kids by removing any barriers that might keep her from providing excellent instruction. While schools in National City experience tough times, the transparency of the leadership, the community's ability to stay focused on the same goals, and Margaret's sense of confidence in being able to be a risk-taker make her feel like she has a degree of autonomy. All of these factors keep her motivated.
Lupe Valladolid: Teacher, Kimball Elementary
Lupe has been employed in the district for 30 years and has taught at Kimball for six years. She remains passionate about teaching for several reasons. Principal Cindy Waters is incredibly supportive of her and all the staff at Kimball. Lupe has never had to worry about getting what she needs from the school in order to do the best job in the classroom. Similarly, the district and superintendent have been very supportive of the teachers at Kimball. Through Superintendent Cameron's vision, the district has set clear and concise goals for the district, schools and teaching. Lupe believes in Cameron's motivations and unwillingness to accept excuses for failure. Even when tough changes and decisions were being made about teaching expectations and personnel, and Lupe saw some of her closest friends leave the district because of these expectations, she knew all the decisions were in the best interest of the kids. She knew this because of her trust and faith in both her principal and the superintendent to always make decisions first and foremost based on the best interest of the children.
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The Principal's Story in National City
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Principals in National City School District have often been recruited from within the district's teaching ranks. The development opportunities within the district to produce home-grown leadership are readily available at both the school and district levels. Principals are clear about and believe in the vision they created with the superintendent, and they see it as their job to tailor that vision and practically implement it in their school setting. Principals understand and respect the delicate balance the superintendent and district maintain between holding principals accountable and allowing the proper level of autonomy so that principals can make decisions specific to their school. Principals value the consistent pushback and dialog with Superintendent Cameron because it shows the emphasis on continuous improvement and instructional involvement from the district. Each principal said that when decisions are ultimately made at the district office, principals always feel supported in implementing them.
Rick Hanks: Principal, Palmer Elementary
Rick believes that the key to his success as a principal lies in the leadership and camaraderie among his teachers. He has focused on building leadership teams and professional learning communities with his teachers in order to increase their ability to lead in the classroom as well as the school as a whole. Leadership teams are required to understand and act on student data, and Rick takes an active role in this training process. The leadership teams may focus on different aspects of the school improvement process each year, but year after year, the principal maintains the same level of commitment and unity of purpose in his school.
Beverly Hayes, Principal, Ira Harbison Elementary
Beverly believes that her school can always do better, regardless of its current achievement level. Both she and her staff describe her as a very “hands-on” school leader, not afraid to get involved in the classroom when needed, but also understanding of the fact that her teachers are her greatest resource. She values staff input in the development of the school vision, motto and improvement process and she sees her role as principal as one of support to her teachers. Beverly has created staff leadership teams around grade-level collaborations in order to encourage teachers to grow with one another. The message is always clearly conveyed to all staff that every effort in the school is ultimately for the kids.
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The Community's Story in National City
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University-District Math Partnership
National City School District has a long history of partnering with the University of California at San Diego (UCSD), particularly in providing professional development for math teachers. Teachers in this program continue as classroom teachers but also serve as leaders by being available as a resource and guide for other teachers at their school. The university focused on providing a Math Specialist Certificate to create more involvement and thereby more decision-making and distributed leadership capacity for the schools. The university would not allow any teacher to fail or to drop out of the program and this requirement insured that any teacher who wanted to participate could be successful. Interest in the program grew to such a level that some courses were offered as many as four times. Teachers' confidence in math skyrocketed and the ultimate result was an amazing increase in collegiality within the district and the National City community.
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The District Office Story in National City
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The goal of the National City School District office is to implement the superintendent's vision at all levels of district and school administration. The district leadership has taken a team approach to the decisionmaking process. With input from teachers, principals and other school staff the district office makes healthy and trusting relationships the basis for their work together. Teamwork is key, and in order to stay on the same page and ensure the team is headed in the same direction, the district emphasizes data-based decisionmaking and a common vocabulary for improvement processes. In addition, district staff speak with pride about their facilities being the best maintained in the district, knowing that students will learn better in a clean, hospitable environment. District leaders also take pride in their close-knit community where parents and grandparents are constantly encouraged to be deeply involved in the school system. National City School District considers itself a teacher-driven district with a commitment to a culture of collaboration.
Chris Oram: Director, Student Assessment and Technology
Chris has been in the district since 1979, serving the schools in a variety of ways. In his current position he has implemented a strong focus on staff development at all levels in order to better facilitate both top-down as well as bottom-up continuous improvement. He believes strongly in the value of teacher-to-teacher teaching and learning as a means of increasing teacher capacity. Chris also helps the district implement a continuum of principal training and capacity building programs both with community institutions and district in-house programs. He understands the importance of knowing what is happening in the classrooms, thus he has made a point to be involved in the evaluation process of every teacher in the district so he has a clear understanding of the ongoing professional development needs of the most important instructional people in the district.
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The Superintendent's Story in National City
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Dr. George J. Cameron: Superintendent, National City School District
When George Cameron talks about leadership in National City, he begins with a key piece of advice for realizing and maintaining a healthy district: the organization must understand and value the balance between "transformational" leadership and "transactional" leadership. In this, he emphasizes two points: the importance of incremental, sustained achievement and the opportunity for every person in the community to be involved in decisionmaking that helps students achieve.
"You can't say one thing and practice another. People will see it," Cameron says. "You must hold all staff and administrators to the same standard." Indeed, Cameron defines the model of incremental change and sustained achievement – he has served National City School District for 33 years: 14 years as superintendent and the remaining years as an assistant superintendent, district administrator, principal and teacher. He makes it his priority to model instructional leadership for sustained achievement in his schools. He is in school buildings every Tuesday for a half-day and makes it a priority to visit every class. He maintains a "no excuses" philosophy for himself and for every member of the National City community (including parents, business members and other community members) so that every child will learn. Cameron emphasizes depth over breadth in every aspect of learning in order to realize incremental but sustained achievement.
When it comes to creating the opportunity and the expectation for all members of the National City community to be involved in decisionmaking that helps students achieve, Cameron emphasizes relationships, professional development and empowerment. He highlights the need for everyone to speak the same language and for leaders to be redundant about the messages so they become integrated into the culture. For example, in providing professional development for his teachers, he nurtures relationships and creates opportunities for empowerment by using district teachers to provide the instruction for their colleagues. Superintendent Cameron also talks about the importance of building community collaborations. For instance, he has created creating space for family resource centers in school buildings – a place where students and their families have access to resources and assistance so that the learning process is not impeded. People are empowered to get to the root of issues preventing students from learning so that teachers can do what they do – teach. This enables the “no excuses” mentality.
When principals and other staff talk about Cameron's leadership, they describe him as "the king of asking questions" and a person who is deeply committed to the success of every child in the district. They attest to the fact that he reads every teacher evaluation every year and writes a personal narrative for every person he evaluates.
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