Personalizing the Achievement Gap

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Personalizing the Achievement Gap

• Understanding the Role of Leadership, Data and
  Technology

Peggy Raun-Linde, Ed.D. Principal, Fremont High
School Sunnyvale, California
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The Heart of the Game
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At the Heart of the Game

• Hope has a human face. The most powerful
  fuel for sustaining the initiative to improve a
  school is not the desire to raise test scores but
  rather the moral imperative that comes with the
  desire to fulfill the hopes of those we serve and
  those with whom we work.
• Richard Dufour, 2004 Whatever It Takes

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Playbook Front Cover

• Team Name __________________
• Coachs Name ________________
• Number your inside pages.

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Playbook, Page 1 Inherited Team, Talent
and Equipment
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Inherited Team

• Credentials interns, emergency credentials,
  limited CLAD, tenured non-re-elects
• Strong teacher leadership, though pawn worry
• Shared decision-making process
• Some cycle of inquiry
• Staff development choice and interest based
  versus tied to school plan
• Strong commitment by all staff to students

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Inherited Equipment

• Grades, attendance, DFI lists
• Limited querries and inconsistent data entry
• Data gathering bottle neck/gatekeeper
• Reading scores limited to reading teachers
• Probation lists, at risk list
• IEPs, cumulative files--limited access
• Star test compared to other district schools
• Limited district-provided data

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Integrating Old and New Equipment

• Interview of staff
• Surveys/scales of satisfaction/survey monkey
• Cruncher CST/Cahsee/CELDT
• Data Querries Of color in math/science
• District data analysis seminars
• Increasing district capacity and assistance with
  data

• Teacher laptops
• Wireless campus
• Mounted and mobile LCD projector systems
• Mobile labs
• School Loop
• Library/media lab as hub
• SWAT Team refurbished computers

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Current FHS Team and Talent

• Affirmed school values and vision
• Explicit statements of the problem
• Emerging clarity of leadership and individual
  responsibility
• Strategic, focused plan (FHS 09)
• Discipline-specific and school-wide goals

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• Clear cause and urgency
• Data benchmarks identified and tracked over time
• Resources aligned to support goals (time, talent,
  and treasure)
• Staff development tied directly to classroom
  practice and measurable goals.

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Playbook, Page 1 Inherited Team, Talent and
Equipment

• Describe your current team, talent and equipment
  in your playbook.
• Give your elbow partner a one sentence synopsis
  of each team, talent, and equipment.

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Playbook, Page 2 ScoutingIntegrating goals of
the players and goals of the organization

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Scouting Gathering DataWhat information is
important for your teams success?

• Personalizing data choosing data that hooks
  staff
• E.g. mobility rate schedule and master schedule
• E.g. school climate survey truancy abatement
• E.g. data that validates progress--kids of color
  in higher math and science as well as AP classes.

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Data-Rich Data Scouted

• Commit to benchmarks early and stick with them
• Look at data collaboratively
• Choose data that fits the question e.g.
  lifers in EL
• Gather objective data current data with old
  data
• Gather objective research current research and
  multiple sources
• Create ease of access
• Create ease of use

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Playbook, Page 2 ScoutingIntegrating goals of
the players and goals of the organization.

What are your data priorities for upper
management, players, and fans? 1. What data
should you be collecting that you are not
currently collecting? 2. Discuss with your
elbow partner the whys of your answer to
question 1.
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Playbook, Page 3 Creating a Team with the
Goals in Mind
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Creating My Team With the Goals in Mind

• Hiring for a specific purpose
• Recruiting quality staff who hold the same
  priorities, not just philosophy
• Raising the bar expecting the bubbling effect
  years before it occurs
• Expecting and creating teams

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Creating My Team

• Personalizing the school plan and goals
• Staff development tied to classroom practice with
  measurable goals
• Whole-school practice Its a team!
• Courageous conversations

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Who Plays What Position Leadership
Responsibility

• Moving to goal-based staff development
• Positioning the best staff in the goal areas
• Individual accountability to the team
• Giving and expecting leadership

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Playbook, Page 3Creating Your Team with the
Goals in Mind
Who plays what position and does anyone need to
move positions? What are the goals you want as a
focus for your team?
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Playbook, Page 4Team Philosophy and Game
Strategy
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Strategic, Focused Site Plan FHS 09

• Non-negotiable whats
• Negotiable hows
• Scaffolding through the years
• SMART Goals and benchmarks
• Discussions framed in data vs. free-flow
• Disciplined leadership

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Identifying the Opponent Problem Statements

• 2003-2004 Underachievement
• 2004-2005 Improve student achievement
• 2005-2006 Improve student achievement by
  simultaneously accelerating and remediating

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2006-2007 Statement of the Problem

• FHS students are not achieving at acceptable
  levels in math and English Language Arts when
  compared to state or district standards.

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What dangers threaten this work?FUHSD Associate
Superintendent Kate Jamentz

• Being forced to comply with state directives
• Valuing professional autonomy over student
  success
• Undisciplined action Loss of focus
• Letting our own low expectations influence our
  work
• The challenge of sustaining our energy
• Not getting enough small wins

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Sense of Urgency/CauseSingle Elimination
Tournament Avoiding the Dark Side

• Look deeply at data--understand and make time for
  it
• Articulating the gap
• Articulating the unacceptable nature of the gap
  social justice
• Landscape changes
• High stakes nature of accountability

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SMART Goals The Reliable Plays

• Shared creation or shared understanding of goals
• Understanding of how goals scaffold into long
  range plan
• Critical friendships gathering ideas from other
  coaches

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Data Explicitly Linked to Staff Development

• Explore results in relation to instructional
  practice
• E.g. Test scores by standards unpack and
  resequence
• Common assessments re proficiency
• E.g. Student work, protocols, school-wide rubrics
  and instructional practice
• Use time well

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Less than Obvious Data and Technology

• Championship ready means
• E.g. Master schedule
• E.g. YouTube
• E.g. My Space
• E.g. Cameras

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Playbook, Page 4 Team Philosophy and Game
Plan

• How will you organize your practices?
• What skills do you need to get the team
  championship-ready?

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Playbook, Page 5 What do you need to be a great
coach?
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E.g. The Players Coach

• Visibility
• Consistency--and consistency in administrative
  team
• Campus safety and academic environment as a
  priority
• Classroom understanding and familiarity--administr
  ators in the classroom
• A person of team work and action Show me
  something by January. Lets get some action
  now!
• Consistent communicator and safe
• Wellness and acknowledgement of what IS well
• Validation and recognition of staff
  contributions.

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Fremont Union High School Districts goals for
student performance assume that

• All students can and should achieve to high
  levels
• Race should not predict achievement
• Socio-economic status should not predict
  achievement
• Special Education and English Language
  Development interventions should accelerate
  achievement enough so that students in these
  programs can compete academically with their
  mainstream peers.
• All students who enter high school should have
  the option to enter college upon graduation
  without having to take remedial coursework.
• The goal of every school should be to increase
  (or sustain at high levels) the average level of
  achievement and narrow the gap between subgroups.

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Needs

• Time for quiet and group reflection
• Strong instructional leadership
• Align resources to the plan
• Align the plan and resources to data results
• Understand the thinking behind the querry
• Free up time for leadership
• Be disciplined commit to things in writing
• Be courageous and garner support for your
  courageous acts

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Playbook Page 5

• What do you need to be a great coach?
• What will be uncomfortable in being a great coach?

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Playbook, Page 6 Final Entry

• Highlights What would you like to praise at
  the end-of-the-season team party?

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Sample of Celebrations

• Out of Program Improvement danger
• All current sub-groups in the 600s or better for
  the first time
• A subgroup above 800

• Overall API score over 700 for the first time
• Performance indicator success
• More students taking and passing algebra

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Sub-Groups Over Time The Heart of the Game
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CAHSEE ELL StudentsThe Heart of the Game
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Sample Team Party Hopes June 2007-June 2008

• Master schedule Collaboratively built in spring
  07 list of priorities outlined department wide
  understanding of process and whys
• CAHSEE Decrease in the total number of seniors
  still needing to pass
• Placement of math students team-built with feeder
  schools
• All incoming 9th Fine or performing art--UC/CSU
  requirements started
• All 07-08 ELL students in an English class
• 07-08 school-wide writing rubric and teaching

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Playbook, Page 6 Final Entry

• Highlights What would you like to praise at
  the end-of-the-season team party?

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Heart of the game

• Hope has a human face. The most powerful
  fuel for sustaining the initiative to improve a
  school is not the desire to raise test scores but
  rather the moral imperative that comes with the
  desire to fulfill the hopes of those we serve and
  those with whom we work.
• Richard Dufour, 2004
• Whatever It Takes