It was only fitting that Mike Carbone, Rhode Island’s 2008 Middle-School Principal of the Year, would give me his story while we toured his pride and joy, the Kickemuit Middle School. Carbone believes that what finally helped his school turn the corner were “learning walks” and other practices that involve the adults observing one another’s work, and giving honest, constructive feedback. Resembling a happy, oversized middle-schooler himself, Carbone enthused about how “getting everyone out to take a look for themselves” finally gave traction to what was once a hard-working but academically idling school.

Carbone began his career in Massachusetts, first as a music teacher and later as the principal of a K-8. While trying to make school and life better for kids going through those quirky middle-school years, he became a big fan of the compassionate logic of Turning Points (TP), Carnegie’s seminal report for reforming middle schools. At the time, its recommendations were radical. For example, teachers didn’t particularly want “common planning time” — time to work together on curricula and case-managing students —– because back then teachers weren’t accustomed to working together on much of anything.

So Carbone figured that applying to be a new principal somewhere would allow him to be clear with a hiring committee that he wanted to implement the TP recommendations. In 1990, he became principal of Guiteras, then a Warren elementary school with grades six and seven, which he organized into a middle-school model.

But he hadn’t counted on Bristol and Warren merging into one school district in 1993. Such as it was, Carbone became the principal of the Bristol/Warren Regional middle school. For five chaotic years, he shuttled between “Kickemuit at Guiteras,” which housed both towns’ sixth graders, and the old Warren High School, which housed the seventh and eighth grades. Not until 1998 did grades six, seven and eight move into the expanded and refurbished Kickemuit Middle School. Big relief.

But as of 2002, Kickemuit still appeared to be struggling badly. Rhode Island’s then-new classification system deemed it “low-performing,” and Information Works’ school accountability data showed that Bristol/Warren’s students as a whole were seriously under-performing when compared with similar students statewide.

However, 2002 was also the year that Kickemuit began training with the University of Pittsburgh’s professional-development staff. They were the ones who turned Carbone on to the practice of taking small teams of school staff, parents and outside observers on what are called “learning walks.”

Carbone says, “On my first walk through my own building, I saw one teacher working with kids who I thought was excellent. And then there was one not so excellent. I thought, wow, wouldn’t it be great if the teachers could see each other?”

But at the time, going into each other’s classrooms was considered a violation of the time-worn tradition of closing the classroom door and teaching in private.

Even so, the teams quickly made discoveries so dramatic that teachers embraced the help. Carbone read me a bit of a letter to the school community written by the very first learning-walk team, in which they reflected on what they saw. The team was specifically charged with investigating the quality of the math instruction, and found, with their own eyes, that the sixth-grade math curriculum duplicated what the kids had already learned in the fourth and fifth grades. The kids were bored. Academic momentum stalled. The letter urged the fifth- and sixth-grade teachers to meet to work on the curriculum. This cross-grade conversation became the first of many such conversations that are now built into the annual schedule, to keep the curriculum aligned, on an ongoing basis.

Carbone says, “Teachers look forward to going on walks to see what others are doing that they could use to better their instruction. Children look forward to talking with those participating [the adults on the team], if the lesson and time permits. It’s just part of the culture of KMS.”

As are Kickemuit’s “model classrooms.” Two teachers in each core subject act as teacher mentors and models for other teachers. Indeed, the eight East Bay school districts have model teachers dotted throughout, with a wide variety of expertise. New or struggling teachers can spend a day in a master-teacher’s classroom, watching and learning new techniques from a peer. Carbone boasts that Kickemuit has many excellent teachers who could be such models but don’t want to put up with the training or hoards traipsing through their classrooms. Model teachers receive no stipend for their pains.

One of the beauties of school staff observing and collaborating on improving each other’s work is that they own the results, good and bad. It’s their school, and the school’s problems are their problems. Carbone facilitates and leads, but never dictates. This was one of the most important lessons he learned along the way.

In 2003, Kickemuit finally came off the “bad schools” watch list, though “with caution.” In 2004, it was deemed “Moderately Performing,” without qualification. In 2005, it hit “High Performing,” where it has remained, even as the state’s benchmarks have risen. Indeed this year it is also a “Rhode Island Commended” school.

Carbone wanted me to focus on the school and the staff. Still, it’s right that he’s honored for his work.

Julia Steiny, a former member of the Providence School Board, consults for government agencies and schools; she is co-director of Information Works!, Rhode Island’s school-accountability project. She can be reached at juliasteiny@cox.net , or c/o EdWatch, The Providence Journal, 75 Fountain St., Providence, RI 02902.