Virginia Rhodes, EdD has over 35 years experience in Urban School District Policy, Development, and Administration and Teaching. Dr. Rhodes' specialty is persistently failing city schools.
Consulting Focus:
- *STEM Start-ups
- *STEM and Environmental Strategies with Urban High School Students
- Innovative Teacher Hiring while Honoring Teacher Union Contracts
- Rebuilding School Culture and Effective Security and safety
Background - Dr. Rhodes provided consulting services to an international firm on certain aspects of U.S. public school practices prior to their exploration of a related market sector. She also acted as a consultant to the University of Cincinnati Career Center assisting in the development of pre-service teacher hiring expectations. Dr. Rhodes was retained by Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center to co-investigate a study for mental health and achievement factors related to excessive student mobility.
As a Consultant to AdvancedEd Accreditation Team School Evaluation, she has evaluated various high schools on issues of performance. Dr. Rhodes has researched and written numerous articles on school mobility, achievement, culture, and STEM (NSF). She has delivered lectures on urban school district policy and other related topics to various groups and educational institutions.
View Dr. Rhodes' Expert Witness Profile.
What does it take to improve science performance in an inner-city high school? Could a science "immersion" strategy change motivation and interest in science? How can we meet a key strategic goal of our urban district: "All students graduate and are prepared for postsecondary education, successful careers and productive citizenship."
Creative professionals in team-based work settings value work communications skills among their colleagues. As public schools create professional learning communities and experiment with teacher-led curriculum and program development, traditional interview processes may prove inadequate for these new collaborative environments. New and creative selection models may be needed to enable teacher or other professional teams to choose candidates with the 21st century skills needed for success. In public sector environments, work rules are often highly developed and professionals are entitled to interview. Qualifications, training, experience and seniority as determinants often get reduced to transfer rights using seniority as the main or only criteria. This trend detracts from creating a competitive environment in which to attract & retain a high-quality teaching staff. Solutions can be found within existing contract parameters, however, if the attributes necessary to teach 21st Century skills are actually required to be demonstrated, not just described, in the interview process.
Critical to a dynamic STEM school is a high level of instructional rigor. While this is true in all STEM schools, it is a particular challenge in those programs that serve populations inexperienced with high levels of rigor in their previous coursework.
OK, I did learn enough in 35 years of high school teaching, administration, and marriage to know one thing: The way to anyone's heart is through their stomach! Feed them, and they will come.
Establishing a STEM High School (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics), and the Aiken Environmental, Ohio's first public environmental high school proved to be successful strategies to increase student engagement and raise standardized scores in science. High-poverty urban students from declining academic and disciplinary environments produced significant gains on science test results and credit attainment towards graduation. Using multiple overlapping rigor and SEL strategies, students experienced "science immersion," project-based learning, and a social-emotional curriculum that emphasized personal development and team/community-building skills.
