Transcript LEADING MIDDLE SCHOOLS AND HIGH SCHOOLS TO …

LEADING MIDDLE
SCHOOLS AND HIGH
SCHOOLS TO
PROFICIENCY
A Workshop from the Kentucky
Department of Education and
the Kentucky Association of
School Councils
OBJECTIVES
After completing this workshop, participants will be familiar with the
following keys to School Council Proficiency:
 Student achievement
 Research-based practices, including those outlined in Kentucky’s
Standards and Indicators for School Improvement
 Community-wide participation in understanding and meeting school
challenges
 Positive relationships that support effective teamwork
 A planning process of needs assessment, plan development,
implementation, monitoring, and revisions
 Policies that support school strategies
 Ongoing learning about effective SBDM practices
In addition, participants will understand:
 Key issues that specifically affect middle and high schools
 Three main strategies to use in leading secondary schools to
proficiency
All the workshops approved by KDE for school
Council member training credit are aligned with
the School Council Proficiency Keys, the best
practices in Standards and Indicators for School
Improvement, and all legal requirements for
school councils (What Councils Do).
STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
“Humans have a success instinct. This is what
makes humans different from all other living
things. They want success, and they strive for
their success potential. You can accomplish
anything with students if you set high expectations
for behavior and performance by which you
yourself abide.”
How To Be An Effective Teacher: The First Days of School, Wong
Key 1
A proficient school council keeps its
focus on student achievement.
What student proficiency goals does the law mandate for
schools? PROFICIENCY GOALS DOES
• Kentucky: An accountability index of 100 (of a possible 140) by
2014 for each school.
• The overall goal is for all students to be proficient in reading, math,
science, social studies, writing, arts & humanities, and practical
living/vocational studies. However, a school accountability index of
100 can still be reached without all students being proficient, since
students who score distinguished score 140 points. The
accountability index is primarily based on the results of the Kentucky
Core Content Test (KCCT).
• Two years of scores are averaged to judge whether schools have
reached incremental goals on the way to 2014. These biennial (twoyear) goals are unique to the school and are based on where the
school started.
Proficiency Goals Mandated By Law (cont’d)
• Federal requirements / No Child Left Behind (NCLB): Every
student must be proficient in reading, and math by 2014.
• The focus is on proficiency in every population — free and reduced
lunch, minority groups, students with disabilities, and students with
limited English proficiency (ESL).
• Each state defines proficient; Kentucky uses the same definition for
NCLB as for our state accountability system. There is no separate
NCLB test.
• Schools have to meet the NCLB goal — Annual Measurable
Objectives (AMO) — for every population of students to be
successful. The objectives are a specified percentage of students
scoring proficient or above. If a school meets the goals for all
populations, it is labeled as making Adequate Yearly Progress
(AYP). If a school misses AYP for two years in a row the tiered
sanctions begin.
• For NCLB, the expectation for the district is the
same as for schools — proficiency for all
students. The district could be labeled as not
making AYP even if some of the schools do
make AYP. The district numbers for populations
are taken from ALL the students in the district in
that student population group. It is best for
school councils to work closely with the district to
make AYP.
WHAT MAKES A SUCCESSFUL
SECONDARY SCHOOL?
As a part of the Kentucky Department of
Education “Voices of Reason” Student
Summits, Middle and High School
students attended a session entitled “The
Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.” When
discussing what is “good” about their
schools, students were asked to talk about
what is awesome—what makes them want
to go to school every day.
WHAT MAKES A SUCCESSFUL
SECONDARY SCHOOL?
Teachers and administrators who care,
students having a voice, teachers having
high expectations, positive teacher
attitudes, a good sense of community,
student-teacher relationships
Kentucky Students
WHAT MAKES A SUCCESSFUL
SECONDARY SCHOOL?
According to the CATS Briefing Packet 2007 on the
Kentucky Department of Education’s website, there are
only eight middle schools and four high schools that have
reached an accountability index of 100. This session will
focus on leading schools to high levels of achievement,
guided by research focused on secondary education.
Part of having a clear mission and vision for your council is defining what
success means. You can start with some basic measures of success:
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Reaching proficiency as a school
Every demographic group reaching proficiency
Every student reaching proficiency
Students not needing remediation in college
• Research on successful secondary schools reveals that
a school must have two foundational beliefs:
 We believe all students can master the necessary content:
High Expectations for All Students
 We believe it is our job to help students master that content:
High Expectations for School Staff
• If the culture of your school doesn’t reflect high
expectations, begin leading your school in having high
expectations for your students and staff.
This workshop will focus on three main
strategies that build on the foundation of
high expectations:
1. Know the students personally
2. Know the students academically
3. Make students part of the team
1. KNOWING YOUR STUDENTS
PERSONALLY - RELATIONSHIPS
Extensive research has shown that building
relationships with students is essential to
their achievement. We will be exploring the
importance of relationships with middle and
high school students and how this
translates into the “real world” after high
school.
From: National Association of Secondary Principals,
Breaking Ranks II:
Strategies for Leading High School Reform (2004)
“Many of the practices associated with personalization set
the stage for learning. They are practices that address
the school environment, climate and culture, such as:
 Establishing schedules and priorities that allow teachers to
develop an appreciation for students’ abilities…
 Creating structures in which the aspirations, strengths,
weaknesses, interests, and levels of progress of each student
are known well by at least one adult…
 Ensuring that the physical and mental health needs of
students are addressed…
…Research shows that personalized learning initiatives
can increase attendance, decrease dropout rates, and
decrease disruptive behavior.”
From: Blankstein, Failure is NOT an Option:
Six Principles that Guide Student Achievement in
High Performing Schools. (2004)
The research is clear that relationships are a crucial element of student
achievement and school success. (Barth, 2001; Bryk and Schneider,
2003)
Leaders create relationships, and often those relationships are between
individuals and their work. Ultimately we all work for a purpose, and
that purpose has to be served if we are to feel encouraged.
Encouraging the heart only works if there’s a fit between person, the
work, and the organization.
Schools reporting strong positive trust levels in 1994 were three times
more likely to be categorized eventually as improving in reading and
mathematics than those with very weak trust reports…schools with
weak trust reports in 1994 and 1997 had virtually no chance of
showing improvements in either reading or mathematics. (Bryk and
Schnieider, 2002)
From: Purkey and Novak, Inviting School Success:
A Self-Concept Approach to Teaching, Learning and Democratic Practice (1996)
Also from: High-Performing Kentucky Middle Schools and High Schools;
presentations from annual KASC conference 2004 through 2006
“Emerging research continues to support the concept that boys and girls are
more committed to academic learning when they are surrounded by a
caring and supportive school environment.” (Eccles & Midgley 1989;
Matthews, 1991)
 Success requires close relationships between students and
staff.
 Schools need to have positive parent (family/guardian)
relationships and communicate high expectations for
students.
 Know the students and the parents.
 Students need to know that the staff cares about them. Staff
needs to know that the administrators care about them and
will provide support for their student learning efforts.
From Sanborn, The Fred Factor (2004)
Here is proof that success is built on relationships.
The Fred Factor is a true account of an amazing mail
carrier who is passionate about his job and serving
others. Fred went so far above and beyond the call of
duty that one of his clients, Mark Sanborn, was moved to
write a book about him. The Fred Factor has been on
The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and
Business Week bestseller lists.
FRED FACTOR PRINCIPLES
The idea of building relationships is not unique to
schools. Relationships are crucial in the “real world” and
important to all organizations. Principles from The Fred
Factor provide a way for us to explore the importance of
relationships with middle and high school students.
Principle 1: “The quality of the relationship determines the
quality of the product or service.”
Principle 2: “Leaders succeed when they recognize that
their employees are human.”
Strategies for Building Relationships
The Fred Factor proposes actions you can take to build
relationships. These strategies are worded in the book as ways to
“Be” (Be interested, Be a better listener). We’ve adapted The Fred
Factor’s list to address the middle school and high school setting.
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A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
Be a better listener.
Be consistent with high expectations for all students.
Be empathetic.
Be helpful.
Be interested.
2. KNOWING YOUR STUDENTS ACADEMICALLY—
CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT
What Do We Mean By
Continuous Assessment?
An important key to success for individual students is the use of
regular classroom assessment to guide instruction. Continuous
assessment occurs throughout instruction and encompasses all the
different ways to find out what students know and are able to do.
When we use this information to guide instruction, we are talking
about assessment for the purpose of improving learning.
Assessment for learning is using the assessment process not
merely to gauge student learning, but also to cause students to learn
more—that is, to increase student achievement.
Examples of Continuous Assessment
• Common Assessments or Learning Checks are an effective way
to monitor each student’s progress. Working in teams, teachers
identify the standard(s) they will assess and develop a test all of the
students will take. After completing the assessment, teacher teams
analyze the results and use the data to guide instruction for
adaptations such as enrichment, review, and reteaching.
• Bell Ringers and Flashbacks are popular review tools. Before a
class or lesson begins, the teacher gives students about 5 questions
that review content. The questions are usually fill-in-the-blank,
multiple choice or short answer. The teacher can collect these daily
to see where content knowledge is lacking and provide appropriate
re-teaching.
Examples of Continuous Assessment
• Exit Slips or Exit Tickets are given during the last few minutes of
class. The teacher gives the students slips of paper with space for
writing. One or two questions are written on the board for students
to answer. The teacher collects slips as students leave class. The
teacher reviews the student responses to learn how many students
got the big idea and what kinds of misunderstanding exist. Lessons
for the next day are adjusted to address student needs.
• Journals, Learning Logs, and Electronic Blogs allow teachers to
respond to each child individually, sharing their questions and ideas.
Some teachers hold individual conferences with their students and
use these journal/learning logs as part of the conference discussion.
Why Should Your School Use Continuous Assessment to
Know Your Students Academically?
1. Uses respected, common-sense,
research-based practices
2. Focuses the school’s work on student
results
3. Allows teachers to catch gaps or
misunderstandings early and address
them before the problem worsens
CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT INFORMATION
The successful schools, described in It’s Being Done:
Academic Success in Unexpected Schools by Karin
Chenoweth, use data analysis to know more about their
students. They embrace and eagerly study all the data
they can get their hands on: state test data, district data,
classroom test data, and any formative assessment
data. That data represents a kid’s face or a group of kids’
faces. Each of these schools has found ways to pay
attention to every student. That’s a life. That’s a future.
CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT INFORMATION
Success in your classroom has to be defined by student work that
demonstrates mastery and meets the minimum standard of
proficiency. The goal is always for every student to do quality work,
not just to get work done. We want demonstrations of learning. The
focus has to be on the end result of student learning. With this as a
foundation:
 Students understand and can say what they are expected to
know, understand, and be able to do.
 Students know and can explain quality work.
 Teachers constantly assess student progress mastery and
adjust instruction.
 Students know about their own level of mastery and how they
can work to increase it.
High-Performing Kentucky Middle Schools and High Schools;
presentations from annual KASC conference (2004-2006)
Special Note to Teachers
Knowing what students need to know
and be able to do and continuously
assessing their learning can actually give
you back more time in your life. Education
is overwhelming and being able to focus
specifically, frees up time for you and your
students, because you are working smarter.
Once you are focused on the needed outcome
and you are monitoring student progress toward
that outcome, you can focus your time and energy
at the heart of the problem.
3. MAKING STUDENTS PART OF THE TEAM
Students are great, untapped resources in improving
student achievement. We need to include students as
part of their own education team. Many students are not
mature enough to realize the limits they are putting on
their future by not learning. In schools featured in the
book, It’s Being Done: Academic Success in Unexpected
Schools, students are part of a team. The schools know
what the stakes are. They know that if their students
don’t get a good education, they face the probability of a
lifetime of struggle.
WAYS TO INVOLVE STUDENTS AS PARTNERS IN
THEIR OWN EDUCATION:
Ask Students How to Solve Problems
Expect Students to Know What They Need to Learn
and Help Monitor Their Own Mastery
Lead Students in Setting Goals For Their Future and
Using The Individual Learning Plans (ILP)
Give Students Choices
THE GOOD, BAD, AND UGLY—KENTUCKY
STUDENT RESPONSE SUMMARY
Earlier we shared what Middle and High School students
who were part of the Kentucky Department of Education
“Voices of Reason” Student Summits said was “good”
about their schools. They were also asked to tell what
they did not like about their schools, “The Bad”. Last,
they were asked to indicate what was absolutely in need
of change in their schools, “The Ugly.” While “The Good”
and “The Bad” lists indicated many cultural issues, it was
“The Ugly” that revealed serious barriers, particularly in
light of recent Refocusing Secondary discussions. Here
is what the kids said…
COMMITMENT TO ACTION
In order to make sure the adults in our school know the students personally,
academically, and include them as part of the team…
 What work do we need to as a council?
 What guidance and direction need to be given to the professional
development committee?
 What policies need to be reviewed?