In El Monte, CA, Keith Richardson of Arroyo High School empowers staff members through a program called vertical teaming. Arroyo has five independent elementary districts that feed into the high school. Students were showing up at high school unprepared for the mandated English, algebra, and geometry testing. Richardson let the assistant principals at the feeder schools know what the high school goals we’re. “It was difficult at first,” said Richardson, “but what the feeder schools enjoy seeing is the data and the success rate and the grades and all of the information on the students they had previously.” Teachers in the high school go to the middle school and observe, do a walkthrough, or take a common lesson or project, and the middle school teacher and the high school teacher get together and evaluate it. “It isn’t really costing us money because I’m in the classroom subbing for that day, and it gets the two [groups of teachers] together,” said Richardson.