3Year School Improvement Plan

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3-Year School Improvement Plan

• David Quattrochi
• Principal
• Angela Penner
• Teacher

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The Beginning

• The Whole Faculty Study Group concept (Carlene
  Murphy) is the foundation behind our 3-year
  School Improvement Plan.
• Training for Administrators (2004)
• Jefferson County ESC
• Franklin County ESC
• Principals Study Group
• Training for Staff
• Leadership Meetings
• Professional Development Days
• Implemented in 2005-2006 School Year

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Whole Faculty Study Groups (WFSG)

• What is it?
• School embedded professional development that
  focuses on 5 guiding principles
• 1. Students are first
• 2. Everyone participates
• 3. Responsibility is equal
• 4. Leadership is shared
• 5. The work is public
• Murphy (2001)

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WFSGs

• Why Whole Faculty Study Groups?
• 1. Creates a collaborative environment.
• 2. Opportunity to analyze student data and
  identify student needs
• 3. Provides time during the school day for
  teachers to collaborate
• 4. Improves student and teacher learning

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WFSGs Key Components

• 1. Context
• 2. Process
• 3. Content

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A Framework for Designing Professional
Development (Murphy)

• Context Organizational or cultural factors that
  facilitate or impede progress toward intended
  results, such as a shared vision and
  collegiality.

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A Framework for Designing Professional
Development (Murphy)

• Process How individuals, groups, and the whole
  will function, behave, or perform procedures to
  be followed means for the acquisition of new
  knowledge and skills.

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A Framework for Designing Professional
Development (Murphy)

• Content What individuals, groups, and the whole
  will study, learn, or become skillful in doing to
  achieve intended results skills, attitudes, and
  knowledge to be acquired.

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National Standards

• The National Staff Development Council (2001)
• Correlates with the WFSG concept
• Context learning communities, leadership,
  resources
• Process data driven, evaluation,
  research-based, collaboration
• Content equity, quality teaching, family
  involvement

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Review of 3-Year School Improvement Plan

• Goal
• The goal at WES is to obtain a 90 passing rate
  on the Ohio Achievement Tests.

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Definitions

• 1. Standards - describe, in broad terms, what
  students should know and be able to do.
• 2. Indicators A specific statement of the
  knowledge and/or skills that a student
  demonstrates at each grade level.
• 3. Content Where is the material coming from?
  Example, Textbooks, Supplemental Resources, etc.
  
• 4. Assessments How are we measuring student
  progress.
• 5. Benchmarks What all students should know and
  be able to do at a specified time (check point)

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Context, Process, Content (Murphy, 2001) WFSGs

• Context addresses the culture of the school
  Teachers are feeling comfortable meeting in grade
  levels and across grade levels Collaborative
  culture
• Process the how of staff development
  Teachers are using the WFSG process job-embedded
  professional development
• Content the actual skills and knowledge
  acquired through professional development
  Teachers mapped the curriculum Completed Power
  Standards Analyzed Test Data Assessment For
  Learning and Value-Added Assessment

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Review of 3-Year Plan
Context (Culture)
Process (WFSG)
Content (Assessment)
Content (Power Standards)
Content (Mapping)
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Results Now (Schmoker,2006)

• Life in Multivariate
• There are many factors that affect student
  achievement (SES, race, etc.)
• However
• Quality of Teaching (Value-Added Assessment)
• Focus on Standards (Curriculum)
• Balanced assessment system (formative/summative
  assessments)
• These outweigh the variables that students bring
  to the classroom.

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Review of 3-Year Plan

• Phase I Creating the Tools
• Teachers mapped the curriculum
• Math Map
• Reading Map

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Review of 3-Year Plan

• Phase 2 Power Standards/Analyzing Maps
• Teachers will address the following question
• How can we implement Power Standards in our
  classroom?
• Other Questions that will be addressed during
  this phase
• Do all the indicators correlate with the
  Benchmarks?
• Are there any gaps or redundancies in the
  curriculum?
• Are all the indicators/benchmarks being taught?
• How can we integrate different content areas?

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Power Standards

• Definition
• Power Standards refers to those standards or
  indicators that are CRITICAL FOR STUDENT SUCCESS.
• We can substitute the word Standard for
  Indicator

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Important Points

• 1. We are not advocating the elimination of
  certain indicators.
• 2. We are prioritizing the indicators rather than
  regarding all of them equal.
• 3. Knowing the essential skills is more
  effective than covering every concept in the
  book.
• 4. All standards must be taught however, it is
  important to decide which standards are critical
  and which ones can be given less emphasis

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Identification Criteria

• One way of looking at the Identification Criteria
  in simple terms
• School
• Life
• State Test
• What do your students need for success in
  school (this year, next year, etc.), in life, and
  on the Ohio Achievement Test?

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Power Standards

• How are we going to implement Power Standards in
  our Whole Faculty Study Groups?
• Answer
• Review OAT test score results as they relate to
  your grade level.
• Identify the indicators that were tested

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Power Standards

• Identify the indicators on test that caused your
  students difficulties. You can find this data
  using the Item Analysis Report, which is in your
  binder along with last years practice tests.
• 4. Revise your Power Standards as needed

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Power Standards

• 5. Meet in grade levels and across grade levels
  to review content and check for Vertical Flow
• Summary
• At this point, we will also use our curriculum
  maps to determine if gaps or redundancies exist
  in the curriculum. Are there indicators that are
  completely being missed between two or more
  grades?
• Power Indicator Example

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Review of 3-Year Plan

• Phase 3 Assessment
• Summative and Formative Assessments
• Value-Added Assessment
• Common Assessments
• Phase III will be used for teacher reflection and
  self-directed professional dialogue

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Review of 3-Year Plan

• Summary
• Teachers will use WFSG to complete process
• Teachers will have the tools and time (embedded
  professional development) to improve student
  learning
• Teachers will differentiate instruction and
  develop a well balanced assessment program.

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Results 2005-2006

• Our School Designation according to the State
  EXCELLENT
• We met 10 out of 10 Indicators
• We met 5 out of 9 tested areas with a 90 or
  better.
• The 10th Indicator is for Attendance We had a
  94.7 attendance rate.

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WFSGs

• State report card.pdf

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Wintersville Elementary Test Scores

• 2002-2006
• Test scores.xls

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Qualitative Research

• What Does Wintersville Elementary Think About
  Whole Faculty Study Groups?
• Whole Faculty Study Group Perceptions

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Findings

• I surveyed 5 Teachers and 1 Superintendent
• Teacher Results
• All teachers have been involved in the WFSG for
  at least 2 years
• Grade levels meet at least once a month

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Guiding Questions

• 1. Please describe your participation in the WFSG
  process.
• How long have you been participating in the WFSG
  process?
• How often do you meet?
• 2. From your perspective, describe the purpose of
  the WFSG process?
• 3. Please describe the impact of the WFSG process
  for teachers?
• 4. Please describe the impact of the WFSG process
  for students?

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• 5. Based on your experiences with WFSG sessions,
  what would you say are the strengths of the WFSG
  process?
• 6. What are the weaknesses of the WFSG process?
• 7. If you had the opportunity to change the WFSG
  process in your school, what would you do
  differently?
• 8. Is there anything else you would like to tell
  me about the program that I havent thought to
  ask?

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Superintendent Questions

• 1. Please describe the process of implementing
  WFSG in Indian Creek?
• 2. From your perspective, what is the purpose of
  the WFSG?
• 3. Please describe the impact of the WFSG
  process.
• For teachers?
• For students?
• Student learning?
• 4. What are the strengths of the WFSG process?
• 5. What are the weaknesses of the WFSG process?

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• Most teachers stated that the purpose of the WFSG
  was to
• 1. Align content standards to curriculum
• 2. Work collaboratively
• 3. Download resources from ODE website
• It allows us to look at the curriculum more
  carefully. The Ohio Achievement Test is
  critical.

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• Majority of teachers believed the goal of the
  WFSGs was to
• 1. Increase student achievement
• 2. Prepare students for the real world
• 3. Prioritize indicators (skills)
• The mapping process helps us to better
  understand what should be taught and identify
  gaps.

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• The strengths of the WFSGs include
• 1. Teacher collaboration
• 2. Opportunity to analyze curriculum
• 3. Meet across grade levels with other teachers
• 4. Determine if gaps and/or redundancies exist in
  the curriculum
• It holds the teacher, students, principal
  accountable. Good teacher collaboration.

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• The weaknesses of the WFSGs include
• 1. More time to work in grade levels (bi-monthly)
• 2. Meet with other grade levels more often
• 3. Difficult to stay on task for 2 hours
• We would like to meet more with other grade
  levels.

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Superintendent Responses

• The WFSG concept is a collaborative effort among
  the administrators and teachers.
• It improves teacher instruction and student
  learning.
• The WFSGs gives teachers time to share best
  practices and discuss processes.
• Test scores have improved. It has a positive
  impact. We are comparing apples to apples.

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Document Analysis

• I examined Whole Faculty Study Group Logs from
  the teachers I interviewed.
• We started at 830 AM. We mapped Reading,
  Language Arts, and Math Benchmarks. We revised
  Januarys maps.
• Students are learning reading, language arts and
  math skills as outlined in the Academic Content
  Standards.

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• We continued our mapping activities for reading,
  math and social studies and added some science.
  Reading, Math, Social Studies maps are finished.
• The students are working to master their
  indicators in order to improve their academic
  skills and achievement scores.

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Summary of Findings

• Teachers perceive the WFSG process as a viable
  tool that increases student and teacher learning.
• The documents analyzed in this study are
  consistent with the teacher interview responses.
• The superintendent supports the WFSG process and
  believes that principals should play a key role

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• The majority of teachers feel that more time is
  needed to meet with other grade levels.
• Test scores have improved since the
  implementation of the WFSG process
• The high school still has not implemented the
  WFSG process
• Job-embedded professional development allows
  teachers to work collaboratively

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Closing Thoughts

• Every student can learn, just not on the same
  day or the same way (George Evans)
• Lastly, If the only tool you have is a hammer,
  you tend to see every problem as a nail
  (Maslow).