Partnership Principal
Joy Walton

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      When Joy Walton arrived at Olympia’s (WA) Avanti High School seven years ago, she found a group of students who for one reason or another had struggled before coming to the small, alternative school. Not only did she want to provide them with a challenging learning program, she also wanted to make sure that they realized a high school diploma required work.

     “Ours is the alternative school for our district, and our 140 students come here for a variety of reasons,” she recalls. “They are very capable but disenfranchised with the conventional school system. Some struggled academically; others didn’t like the large size of their previous school; others wanted to be challenged more academically; still others didn’t like the social drama that can play out daily in a high school.

     “It is really important to me that students feel they have to work for their diploma. When they look back on their high school career, I don’t want kids to think that they wasted their time here. And a recent survey told us that graduates do believe time at Avanti was well spent.”

     She also found that Avanti students were generally very creative and usually pretty deep thinkers. Many were perfectionists and would work and re-work tasks to their own standard of accomplishment—many times highly than the standards the school requires. All that required a challenging learning program.

     One of the key elements of Avanti’s success is personalized learning plans which all students have. While the plans don’t apply to all areas of the curriculum, they allow students to study in areas of their interests and focus on that topic in depth.

     “We realized that our students really wanted to see how their education was relative to their interests and what they wanted to do with their lives,” Walton explains. “Showing that relationship is a constant goal of our teachers.”

     The diversity of student interests is one characteristic that is apparent at Avanti. One youngster wanted to learn how to build a guitar, so a personalized learning plan was developed for him, resulting in a guitar that not only “looked gorgeous, but also sounds really good,” according to Walton. Another student wanted to learn about operating a small business because he hoped to own a comic book store. His learning plan included writing a business plan and participating in an internship in a local store.

     While these strong academic interests are exciting for an educator to see, they can also be difficult to fulfill with only six teachers on staff.
“ Our teachers become facilitators of learning. Many times their job is to hook a student up with a mentor or find resources that will meet a student’s needs.”

     Another aspect that has led to success at Avanti is that both Walton and her staff are risk takers.

     “As a group, we take risks, we like change, and we change pretty quickly. That has served our students well.”

     Among major changes at Avanti has been adding a performance-based approach for students to earn a diploma. When only having a credit-based diploma system, the staff felt that some students were graduating without the skills they needed to be successful. And once they had all the credits they needed, staff couldn’t convince students to take additional courses that would have provided some of those skills.

     Three years ago a performance-based system was added, and now 70 percent of the students are opting to use that approach. Walton calls it a “better reflection of the way life is.”

     She is also proud of the environment of acceptance for new students that has been created at Avanti.

     “We wanted new students to be infused into the school and not feel like outcasts,” she says. “We instituted an orientation program six years ago to help them transition into Avanti from wherever they were coming, and that starting to build a camaraderie among students. Now, when current students see new ones, they offer advice and support.”

     All these efforts are paying off for Avanti students as evidenced by recent awards. The school has won Washington Academic Improvement Award for outstanding, continuous improvement in student achievement for the past two years, and Walton has received a district honor for innovation in education.

    While Avanti students are receiving a solid education, Walton is still concerned about the inaccurate perception of the school some hold in her community because it is an alternative school.

     “We are dealing with the stereotype that an alternative school has problem students, and that does a real disservice to this school. Many parents have questions about the school, but the perception is slowly changing as more and more of our students go into the community through internships and jobs. Parents are talking to other parents and community members are talking to other community members. My concern is that if a negative perception does exist, students who could really benefit from this school may never get here.”

     As Walton and her staff are implementing a quality academic program for students, she believes that The Principals’ Partnership is providing valuable resources for her, including the Web site and consultants.

     “I really appreciate how principals are treated as professionals at our conferences and in visits,” she explains. “As a principal, sometimes your cup can get a little low. The Partnership really makes a principal feel good and keeps you going.”

     More information about Avanti can be found at avanti.osd.wednet.edu, and Walton can be reached at [email protected].

Past Focus Principals:

Focus- William Roberts
Focus- Franklyn Wesley
Focus- Magdalena Gutierrez
Focus- Kent Bergum
Focus- William "Rick" Johnson
Focus- Ken Ball
Focus- Dan Tenuta
Focus- Charlesetta Deason
Focus- Rene Posey
Focus- Stuart Baker
Focus- Paul Smith
Focus- Christie Gestvang
Focus- John A. Butterfield
Focus- Janie Hill Hatton
Focus- Steve Warmack
Focus- Glen Clark
Focus- William Dunn
Focus - Richard Pemberton
Focus- Dr. Anthony Spivey
Focus - John Weigel