Teddy Meckstroth:
You’re able to do it with your colleagues, looking at other people’s D&F lists and say, “Hey, look, that kid’s on your list. That kid’s on my list. What can we do?” or, “Hey, that kid’s not on your list. That kid is on my list. What are you doing that’s supporting them that I could be doing in my class to help them out?”

Alec Patton:
This is High Tech High Unboxed. I’m Alec Patton, and that was the voice of Teddy Meckstroth. For the past 20 years, Teddy has been teaching science at Bell Middle School, a Title I school in Southeast San Diego. In 2022, Bell Middle School joined the CARE Network, a network of middle schools focused on continuous improvement. Specifically, CARE’s goal is to increase the number of eighth grade students who have a strong academic identity and are on track for success in middle school, high school, college and beyond, and it’s facilitated by the High Tech High Graduate School of Education.
I wanted to talk to Teddy about Bell’s improvement work, in particular, the remarkable drop in their D&F rate. That is the percentage of students with a D or F in one or more classes. Here’s the remarkable drop I’m talking about. In 2022, Bell Middle School’s D&F rate was 51%. By 2024, it had dropped to 28%. That’s a 23 percentage point reduction. But what’s really impressive to me is that specifically for low-income students, the D&F rate was 67% in 2022, and Bell cut it by more than half, down to 29% in 2024. So I asked Teddy, “How did you do it? Here’s what he told me.

Teddy Meckstroth:
I think it was five years ago when we started to do the welcoming routines, and I think that was the big start of it. Then we started looking at grade book reviews. We also started looking at the book Grading for Equity by Joe Feldman. We started off with looking at what we’re grading and realizing that we want students to know the information, the standards, and really looking at what we’re grading in our classrooms. So we started off looking at grading more assessments, which really shows the student’s understanding of the materials, and less other assignments besides assessments, and focusing on grading assessments.
We’re looking at less homework. Some of them don’t have the resources and support at home, especially a lot of the low-income students. Their parents are working two, three jobs, so they may not get that homework help, so transitioning that into more classwork. Another factor along with that is since we’re grading mostly assessments, we give the students a chance to retake those assessments, so the retakes and redos where they’re able to get a bad grade, they look at the bad grade, they’re able to do some work, make sure they’re ready to retake it, they retake it, and if they get a better score, that’s the score that goes on their grade. That’s been a huge influence as well.

Alec Patton:
Do you remember when you first heard that there was this thing called CARE?

Teddy Meckstroth:
Yeah. I mean, I was on the CARE team since the beginning. We received an email basically saying, “Hey, would you like to be part of this program?” And our staff was like, “Sure, let’s do it.” Again, it’s trying something new, trying something different to help the students out.

Alec Patton:
So you get this email. It looks interesting. You’ve also been teaching for 15 years. This is not the first initiative, I’m guessing.

Teddy Meckstroth:
Oh, absolutely not.

Alec Patton:
So where were you at between, “Another thing, we’ll see,” and, “Actually, this sounds awesome”? Initially, where was your head at?

Teddy Meckstroth:
Well, we don’t always get the initiatives. I mean, we have quite a few programs, but not ones that deal with all subjects. So there’ll be maybe an initiative for math. Maybe there’s going to be an initiative for English. But to do it for all four core subjects and also to do it for the eighth graders, it was really interesting because we’ve had initiatives before where everybody gets involved and I’ve seen the value in it. I’ve seen that when all the departments get involved together, we’re working together, we’re able to talk and collaborate, that it’s powerful.

Alec Patton:
Had you ever done anything, any continuous improvement work before this?

Teddy Meckstroth:
Not like this. I mean, every once in a while we’ll have some sort of mandate or idea, find a focus student, find a focus class, and I feel that that work kind of over the course of the school year, unless it’s intentionally followed up on, it kind of goes away, whereas this, I mean, this has been five years, and I’ve had about the same team for five years. We’ve increased in number. We’ve tried to spread it to the whole school, but it’s been here for five years because myself and the rest of my team, which my team is awesome, they want to do this work because they see the value in it as well, and just be able to have that piece of time carved out of your day where you can meet with other people and have these discussions, that’s why it’s successful really is the fact that we’ve been able to meet as a team every other week for essentially five years, which is a long time when you think about it.

Alec Patton:
Okay. You talked about welcome routines and you talked about types of assessment. What was your initial diagnosis and prescription for what Bell was going to do to improve on track?

Teddy Meckstroth:
So it actually kind of was. It was the first change idea we tried out was welcome routines to see if by having the students feel welcome in our classes, they would be more likely to show up, that they’d be more likely to be successful, they’d be more likely to be receptive to what we’re trying to do. And it was a success. I mean, it was something where we would do two by tens where we are sitting with a student for two minutes a day for 10 days straight getting to know that student, and really it was kind of focused on absenteeism in that we were hoping that they would have connection with this teacher, be able to want to be in class, and then would want to show up to class.

Alec Patton:
For those of our listeners who are like, “What is a two by ten?”, talk me through it.

Teddy Meckstroth:
So a two by ten is where a teacher will, during the period that you have this child, sit next to them for two minutes a day. You talk about usually non-academic stuff, try to have a conversation with them, and in that time, you’re hoping that you’re able to maybe get to know their likes, their interests, their hobbies, and be able to bring some of the things that they enjoy and they like into your classroom. So if they, for example, like skateboarding, maybe you can try to see if you can bring something about skateboarding into a classroom. They’re more engaged, they’re more wanting to be there, and then they’ll be more successful. Obviously sometimes it doesn’t work. Sometimes they don’t talk to you for a little while. But with your persistently being there next to them, they’re more likely to open up because they realize that after a while, you’re there, you’re still there, okay, let’s talk because you’re not going to go anywhere.

Alec Patton:
Is two by ten a welcoming routine or is it something else?

Teddy Meckstroth:
It’s a welcoming routine because you are increasing their belonging in the classroom. Welcoming doesn’t just mean beginning of class. It’s basically just your desire to be in class. Do you feel comfortable? Do you feel like the teacher wants you in class? Those all go into the idea of welcoming.

Alec Patton:
Got it. I mean, a two by ten is an interesting one because it’s both an intervention and a data collection tool.

Teddy Meckstroth:
Yes.

Alec Patton:
You’re hoping that the kid is going to feel more a part of things and it’s going to help their feeling about school, but you’re also learning stuff. What else were you doing early on and throughout to collect data to understand the problem better?

Teddy Meckstroth:
So we did empathy interviews, and we usually do those at least once a year with a few students. And again, we can share that information during our huddle meetings so that we’re able to… because we’re teaching the same students. So if someone has some cool insight into a student, we can share that with everybody else so they can have that same insight as well, which is another reason those meetings are powerful.
But we also did questions of the day, so like, “Would you rather have breakfast for dinner or dinner for breakfast?”, something like that, to get conversations started so that they feel part of the class, so they feel they can talk to each other, that those conversations can be respectful, but then hopefully those conversations transfer from we’re going to talk about something kind of silly to we’re going to talk about the subject area so they can have those conversations as well.

Alec Patton:
Stuff like this I find fascinating because in some ways it’s not different from what’s happening anyway, and in some ways it’s super different. I presume you were having conversations with students.

Teddy Meckstroth:
Oh, absolutely. Yeah.

Alec Patton:
So what felt different about what you were doing?

Teddy Meckstroth:
I think what’s different is it’s intentional. You’re planning these things in your classroom and then seeing what kind of effect they have by collecting data. So there’s a survey that all students take four times a year, so it’s measuring classroom belonging, affirming identity, feedback for growth, teacher caring, meaningful work, and student voice. And by measuring data on that, you’re able to see what effect you have by trying something out in your classroom. We can actually see classroom belonging is improving and you’re like, “Oh, I tried this out, and classroom belonging improves, and then the byproduct of that is the D&F rate goes down.”

Alec Patton:
Yeah, it’s interesting. I feel it’s like probably eight years ago, you saw a kid was wearing a skateboarding related t-shirt and you make some kind of jokey reference to Tony Hawk and the kid kind of laughs or rolls their eyes and you kind of made a connection and then you move on with your life because you’re thinking about a million different things, and now it’s like, has the Tony Hawk joke moved the needle on this kid’s level of engagement? It’s not the things that you’re doing, it’s the way that you’re able to think about and really put a magnifying glass onto those things.

Teddy Meckstroth:
Yeah. I mean, one of the reasons I like it, it’s very sciencey. It’s very like you’re trying something out and then you’re collecting data to see the improvement on it.

Alec Patton:
Now, the welcome routine side of things, I’m guessing there wasn’t a lot of pushback from staff.

Teddy Meckstroth:
No. I mean, the two by tens, I’m not going to say there was a lot of pushback, but it was like, “Well, how does this work?”, and, “Hey, it’s not working,” and it’s definitely one of those things you have to give it time and you have to be persistent with it.

Alec Patton:
I imagine that the assessment and homework stuff, I’m guessing that there was a different kind of tension and pushback there.

Teddy Meckstroth:
A little bit more, yeah. There is, I guess the traditional ideas that we grew up with of what a classroom is supposed to be like, what kind of work you’re assigned and things like that. But as you look at, I guess, the effect on it and you can show data that shows, “Hey, this is going to work,” it becomes a little bit more acceptable. And also though, you’re grading what you really are wanting the kids to know. I think that’s a big buy-in right there because you’re saying, here’s the standards. How do you know that they know these standards? Well, that’s assessments. So you have these assessments that they’re doing and taking, and that’s where the grade’s coming from. So I think it’s a little bit more logical that they would look at that and say, “Okay. Well, that’s fine.”

Alec Patton:
Can you give me the example of the kind of thing you might have been grading before you tried this and then the kind of assignment that you switched to?

Teddy Meckstroth:
So I think before they would maybe go home, they would take notes on a chapter, and then after taking notes on the chapter, they would maybe do an experiment in class, go home, answer some analysis questions about that, and then put in maybe a CER even about what they’re doing because we’re still looking at NGSS for science. So they’d be going home writing a CER, and we’d be looking at every part of that to make sure they have everything. Do they have their notes? Do they have their analysis questions? Do they have all their data and the CER, and all of that would be kind of bundled up into one grade.

Alec Patton:
And the CER is the claim, the evidence and the reasoning?

Teddy Meckstroth:
Yeah, whereas now, I would just be looking at that CER because that really shows do they get it? Do they understand it? You have to do all the other stuff that I mentioned before. You have to do the notes, you have to collect the data, you have to do all this other stuff to get there, but what I’m really looking at and assessing is that CER, the assessment piece, instead of all the other stuff that went into it as well.

Alec Patton:
Are they getting a grade for taking notes on the other stuff?

Teddy Meckstroth:
No. So the only thing they would be graded on is that claim, evidence, reasoning statement.

Alec Patton:
So are they still doing the other stuff?

Teddy Meckstroth:
They’re still doing it.

Alec Patton:
I understand that they’re supposed to be still doing it, but I could imagine a bunch of kids being like, “Oh, we’re not getting grade on the notes anymore. I’m not doing that anymore.”

Teddy Meckstroth:
It’s funny because that’s what I was afraid of. I was afraid of them being like, “Okay, yeah, we’re not going to do everything else.” I make sure, first of all, that I’m very upfront about, “Hey, when you do the CER, you’re using all of this stuff we’re doing,” and they buy into that. They really do, and they’re working on it. I think also, sometimes it’s trial and error. They’ll do it and they’ll realize that, “Gosh, I do need this, so I better go get it.” We give them time to be able to redo the assignments that they have. That’s another big piece right there is giving them time in class to retake and redo their assignments.

Alec Patton:
They’re doing their own improvement project, they’re doing their own experiments of, “Maybe I can just skip this bit. That didn’t go so well. Maybe I’ll try again and actually do it. Oh, getting better results.”

Teddy Meckstroth:
Right, exactly, because again, it’s like, “Hey, let’s see what we can get away with,” because we get that sometimes kids, they want to do a little bit less work, but when they realize they got to do it all just to get to that final product, then they’re like, “Okay, let’s do it.” And I know talking to our math team, they’ve encountered similar things where they give the assessment on whatever topic they’re doing on, and again, it’s that same idea of, “Okay, yeah, we do have to do the classwork, make sure the classwork’s done. We understand that. Then we can take that assessment and, oh, we’re going to do better,” and they see that. Sometimes, yeah, it is a little trial and error, but they’ll get it.

Alec Patton:
Well, it’s interesting because it’s a more rigorous assessment. If you’re getting assessed on go through all these steps, then you can kind of not do great with your actual claim, evidence, and reasoning and not explain it that well, but you’ve got all the other stuff, you’re probably going to end up with an okay grade, whereas if it’s like, “No, can you explain the complex concept that you are learning?”, there’s really nowhere to hide there.

Teddy Meckstroth:
Right. It’s a higher level thinking skill.

Alec Patton:
Yeah, that’s really interesting. The retakes thing has always made perfect sense to me. If somebody cannot do something that they’re supposed to have learned, it’s pretty important to help them to actually learn the thing.

Teddy Meckstroth:
Right. And I mean, to me at least, it doesn’t matter when they learn it, it just matters that they learn it. So if they learn it three weeks after you do an assignment, but then they’re working on it, they’re trying to figure it out, and then all of a sudden they figure it out, that shouldn’t be any less value than if you got it right away, because you still get it. You still got the concept, you still got the idea, it’s just a little bit later than maybe you’d like them to, and that’s all right.

Alec Patton:
It’s potentially harder for you as teachers.

Teddy Meckstroth:
Oh, definitely, it can be. Oh my gosh, yeah. I mean, re-grading some stuff over and over until they get it, it can be a lot sometimes, but seeing them be able to get it is cool. One more thing that really helped those numbers go were being able to do grade book reviews, and we do this in two ways. Every huddle meeting, we write down the number of Ds and Fs and As and Bs that we have in all of our classes. We also have a focus class, and in that focus class, we write down the students who have Ds and Fs, so you can focus on them. You can say, “Hey, what’s going on?” You’re also thinking about the reasons they have it. Are they absent frequently? Is it chronic absenteeism? Is it the fact that they don’t get the work? Is the fact that they didn’t turn the work in? And then you’re able to give them that support because you have it in your mind, “These are the students who need the help.”
Also, when you’re doing it, you’re able to do it with your colleagues looking at other people’s D&F lists and say, “Hey, look, that kid’s on your list. That kid’s on my list. What can we do?”, or, “Hey, that kid’s not on your list. That kid is on my list. What are you doing that’s supporting them that I could be doing in my class to help them out?” I think that’s been huge. It’s just I think probably one of the, if not biggest factors that our Ds and Fs have gone down is the ability to really look at that D&F list that you have, have those conversations with other people about what you can do to support that kid.

Alec Patton:
I love that. What’s a huddle meeting?

Teddy Meckstroth:
Okay, so a huddle meeting is basically all the teachers that are on the CARE team meet with each other every other week.

Alec Patton:
And how many teachers is that?

Teddy Meckstroth:
We started off with five. We are now at, I think it’s 10 and it’s basically all the eighth grade teachers, but we’ve been able to add more teachers because they are interested in our program, interested in CARE, interested in what we’re doing. If you look at the D&F rate for the teachers who are in the huddle group alone, it’s even lower than the overall school rate.

Alec Patton:
What’s the secret to a good huddle meeting?

Teddy Meckstroth:
Keep it on task, keep it productive, keep it moving, and make sure that everybody’s voice is heard, and we try to keep it to about an hour and to make the most out of that hour we possibly can. I got to say though, the other part is I have a great team. I mean, my team is awesome. The people we work with, they’re onboard, they’re excited, they’re eager, they want to do this, they see the value in it, they see how much it improves these kids’ grades, and I give all the credit really to them. I mean, they’re amazing. They really are.

Alec Patton:
And my final question. For somebody who’s listening to this and thinking, “I want to help kids feel more welcome, help kids feel more connected to what’s happening,” what’s one thing they can do to develop that learning culture across the staff?

Teddy Meckstroth:
The biggest thing they can do would be the grade book work, because I think that’s something that doesn’t take a lot of direction. It takes some time, but the conversations hopefully kind of come naturally. It’s not something that needs to be scripted out. It’s not something that is really difficult to implement, is just to be able to look at the Ds and Fs that you have throughout the entire year. So have a meeting after every progress report comes out, pick a class, write down the kids who have Ds and Fs in the class, and meet with other people who are teaching that same grade level to have the conversations about why they’re having the Ds and Fs that they do. That’s probably the easiest, simplest thing you could do to support these kids.

Alec Patton:
Awesome. I think that’s a perfect place to end it. Teddy, thank you so much for taking the time.

Teddy Meckstroth:
Hey, thank you for having me here. This is great. I’m honored to be here.

Alec Patton:
Thanks for all the great work we’re doing.

Teddy Meckstroth:
Hey, thank you guys.

Alec Patton:
High Tech High Unboxed is hosted and edited by me, Alec Patton. Our theme music is by Brother Herschel. Huge thanks to Teddy Meckstroth for this conversation. You can find resources, including a guide to doing the two by ten strategy, in our show notes. Thanks for listening.