Cohort 4
Bay Area
Founding Principal, Manzanita SEED Elementary
“A strong vision attracts strong teachers. Go for it.”
In 2005, Katherine Carter began serving as the founding principal of Manzanita SEED Elementary in Oakland, Calif. The school she redesigned was underperforming and overcrowded, with a high degree of both principal and teacher turnover. Student proficiency in math was under 30 percent and in reading it was under 20 percent.
Katherine saw being a principal as an opportunity to be a visionary leader and lead a change process, while also feeling an immense responsibility to her students. After hiring her staff, Katherine set her first priority as clearing out the physical space. There were decades of old materials, broken equipment, and cupboards and file cabinets full of junk. She needed to assess what the school needed, make sure classrooms had materials and literally rebuild the school building. She furnished the school herself through runs to Home Depot.
The successful transformation of Katherine’s school started with building a strong school culture. She believes that a “strong vision attracts strong teachers,” and that the culture should support learning for groups and individuals, build relationships between adults and students, and instill and reward positive character traits.
She also used data to drive her instructional leadership, using assessment as a support for learning, not simply as a summative measure. Results of assessments in her school drove instruction and were known by students. Coupled with a rigorous curriculum tied to real-life context, Manzanita SEED was on its way to success.
Highlights from Manzanita SEED:
- When Katherine began leading Manzanita SEED, student proficiency in math was under 30 percent. Now it has risen to 76 percent. Reading scores were once under 20 percent, and now they are at 65 percent. Additionally, since 2006, API has increased 181 points to 850.
- The school won a National Title 1 award in 2010 – with more progress than any other Title 1 CA school in closing the achievement gap.
- High-quality teachers are staying at the school, and three pursued National Board certification last year
- Student demographics at Manzanita SEED are as follows: 49% of the students are Latino, 20% are African-American, 16% are Asian and 14% are White. Forty-seven percent of the students are English language learners, and 89 percent participate in the free and reduced lunch program.
Through strong leadership, and the collective effort of the Manzanita SEED staff and community, students are achieving at higher levels than ever before. And aside from test scores, Katherine says that one of her major successes is creating a school where teachers and other staff send their own kids.
