Schoolwide Systems and Procedures

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School-wide Systems and Procedures

• For Academic Success

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IDEA Academy at a Glance

• Founded 2000-01
• Location Donna, TX
• 8 miles north of the Rio Grande
• 3 sites
• 6 schools
• 2200 students
• Additional 6 schools in 3 more years
• School Day
• 730 to 500 p.m.

• 3 week summer session
• Saturday schools
• Grade levels served
• PreK 5th in primary
• 6th 12th in secondary
• 93 Hispanic
• 70 Economically Disadvantaged
• 60 reside in Spanish-speaking only homes

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A Day in the Life of a Student

• Gets picked up via bus between 530 am and 700
  am
• Arrive on campus before 730 am
• Morning Work and Homework Check from 730 to 800
• 800 a.m. to 400 p.m. Core Classes and
• 400 to 500 Compulsory Electives (mandatory)
• 510 to 615 Bus Ride Home
• 615 to 700 Dinner and Relaxation
• 700 to 900 Homework
• 900 recommended bed time

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IDEA 1999 TAAS Results
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2002 TAAS Passing Rates
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2003 TAKS Passing Rates
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Trajectory of TAAS Reading
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Trajectory of Math Results
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Strategies for At Risk Kids

• Family Involvement
• Contracts
• Orientations
• School of Choice
• Positive School Culture
• Sweat the Small Stuff
• Highly Structured Environment
• Consistency at every school, in every grade level
  and in every classroom
• Excellent Teaching
• Results Matter!
• Safety Nets

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Family Involvement

• Before Enrolling
• Lottery application
• Orientation
• Enrollment
• Home visit
• Sign Contract
• Summer school
• After Matriculation
• Meet the teacher nights
• Four days of Parent-teacher conferences
• Mandatory report card pick-up night
• Work with TWC to enlist parent volunteers
• Service Projects and field lessons

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Destroy the culture of student apathy and replace
it with a tradition of hard work and purposeful
pursuit of excellence.
Creating the Culture
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Creating the Culture

• The contract Holding students and faculty to
  high expectations
• Paychecks
• Discipline
• Porching, Sentences, West Wing, Detention
• Songfest
• Electives
• Field Lessons
• Trust tickets
• Large Literary Life Lessons
• Investment
• Touchstone Quotes
• Sayings and Chants

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Culture ChecklistAssess your schools culture

• Provide to teachers and administrators
• There should be no surprises
• Walkthroughs
• Feedback daily and weekly
• 2x2s
• Mid year evaluations
• Let them know what you are looking for
• Inspect what you expect
• Practice, check, inspect, provide feedback

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There Are No Shortcuts Rigor and More Time

• All students can learn when they are held to high
  standards of personal conduct and academic
  performance. There are no shortcuts to a good
  education the method requires hard work from
  students and high quality teaching from teachers.

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Highly Structured Environment

• Uniforms
• Every school, every grade level, every student
• Belts, shoes and jackets included
• Black Board Set up
• DO NOW!
• Assign Yourself
• Objective
• Consequences
• Primary
• Middle
• Secondary
• No down time
• Planners
• Organizational skills
• Parent commuication

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The keys to an efficient school

• Procedures, Procedures, Procedures.

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To make a procedure stick, dont just say it

• Explain, model, and demonstrate
• With teachers
• With Staff
• With Subs
• With Students
• With parents
• Practice until its right
• Dont start teaching til the procedures are
  down
• Summer school or the first weeks of school should
  be all about getting procedures down
• Lesson plans should reflect procedures
• Keep practicing until its permanent
• If in November things are getting chaotic,
  encourage teachers to go back and teach
  procedures
• Dont get mad or upset if students dont get it
  right away,
• just keep practicing

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Remember, remember

• The best classroom management is to be organized
  and ready to teach the moment students walk in
  the door
• There should be an assignment posted so student
  know what to do the minute they come in dont
  waste any instructional time
• Once a student breaks a rule, all teachers can do
  is dole out a consequence, but effective teachers
  prevent the infraction before it takes place.
• There are no consequences that a principal can
  give out that a teacher can not give out
• Call parents
• Detention
• Porching
• Sentences
• Take aways no field trip, no party, etc.

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Paychecks

• Paychecks are an effective tool for
• Team communication
• Parental contact
• Incentives
• Letting students set goals and chart progress
• Everything goes on those checks

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Discipline

• Think of discipline not as punishment, but as a
  moment to teach students about responsibility,
  character, and making better choices.
• As a school develop a clear plan that is used by
  all teachers in every classroom all the time,
  without exception.

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Excellent Teachers, Excellent Teaching

• Recruitment
• Begins in November of each year
• Apply, audition, interview, selected
• Training
• Four week training to all new hires--regardless
  of experience
• Ongoing Feedback from frequent observations
• Continuous professional growth
• Retention
• Pay 20 More
• Treat as Professionals
• Lots of extras

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What tests and quizzes are not intended to do

• Reward students who are smart and penalize those
  who struggle
• Provide meaningless numbers to be placed in a
  grade book

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Effective Safety Nets

• SRA Sequenced, scripted reading program
• Junior Great Books on Saturdays
• Tutoring and Homework Help from 400 to 500
  everyday
• Cell phones for all teachers, numbers given to
  every student
• Student Planners are signed every evening
• Wall Street
• Detention

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Questions and Answer Session

• Contact Info
• JoAnn Gonzales
• joanng_7_at_hotmail.com