SCHOOL 4 ALIGNS CHALLENGES

Last year I had the opportunity, as part of a contract with Rochester City Schools in NY, to work with the school based management team at George Mather Forbes School #4 and its principal, Karon Jackson. I especially remember Ms. Jackson as she volunteered to help me model what a coaching conference with a principal might be like. I often promote principals asking to be publicly coached in front of their staffs as an ideal way to model that vulnerability to coaching as a key to ongoing professional growth.

Recently a newspaper article, School 4 Aligns Challenges, Understanding, from the Rochestrer Democrat and Chronicle, featured Jackson and School #4 because the achievement gap — the difference in math and reading test scores between various groups of students — is lower at School 4 than at any other high-poverty school in the state. School 4 was named a National Title I Distinguished School,[an award reserved for schools that receive federal Title I poverty aid, have improved test scores and have narrowed the difference between the scores of its lowest- and highest-performing student subgroups, such as students with disabilities, those with limited English skills and those in various ethnic groups.]The National Association of State Title I Directors recognized 71 schools this year from 37 states, including just two from New York.

As I read the article, the following words said by Jackson or about her caught my attention:
Knowing students
Collaborating
Empowering
Celebrating
Hugging and gently scolding
Mothering Caregiver…Hard on kids
These words strongly connect for me to the work I do with increasing student effort. I asked Karon to respond to a few questions I had. Here they are with her responses.

1. What did your students do that was critical to their success?
The students learned to accept and work with differences (cultural, physical and academic) of the students and staff. They learned specific strategies to support themselves in the areas of English, Language Arts, Math and Writing.

2. What did teachers do that motivated the necessary responses?
The staff focused on the needs of the students by aligning specific strategies to specific needs. They embraced the concept of the school’s intervention block (30 minutes where students switch classes according to the skills they need). They used students’ data to drive their instruction, their grouping and their discussions with parents. They all celebrated small successes in the classroom.

3. How important was teacher collegiality to your success?
Collegiality played a major role in School No. 4's success. School No. 4 staff, involved in the Urban Teacher Leadership Academy at the University of Rochester, did a unit of study on vocabulary. They created a word wizard and a word of the week for primary and intermediate grades. This initiated a school-wide vocabulary program. The school-wide intervention block (Soar 4 Success) provided teachers opportunities to work closely with each other and to know each other’s students.

4. What did you do as principal to promote that collegiality?
Built common planning time into the schedule.

Throughout the year brought in Arthur Brown and Dr. Jason Berman to do workshops on “Where is the Love: How to love our students”.
Worked with specialists to align all School wide professional development to the needs of the students (always hands–on, interactive with thought provoking questions and reflection).
When I talk with the staff, I speak from the heart, making connections to self, the students and the entire school community.
Set up a monthly staff award called “Give Me Love Award” .

5. Words of Wisdom for readers looking to increase student achievement.

Know your students, know your staff (Relationships, Relationships, Communication, Communication, collaboration, Collaboration).
Know the data and make sure your staff does, too.
Model the way and lead by example.
Don’t sweat the small stuff, celebrate the small victories, but most of all do “Whatever It Takes” .

PLANNING FOR PLCs: Connecting to Student Achievement

I recently had the opportunity to work with the administrator and teacher leaders at Eustis Middle School looking to establish a plan for teachers to work in PLCs as professional development for the next school year.

We used a backwards planning process to establish a focus and a plan.

First, we identified the student performances, behaviors, and practices that would be critical in reaching the desired student achievement.

The list looked like this:
Students…
...take responsibility for their own learning and their classmates learning.
...have plans for their futures.
...show interest and engagement in learning.
...are thinkers.
...direct many learning activities.
...have active conversations in learning.
...are collaborative.

The following drawing by teacher Julia DeLaCruz illustrates.

The Ideal EMS Student:

Having decided upon the desired student performances, we then brainstormed
the teacher practices most likely to generate these student responses.
That list was then summarized into three focus areas:

Co-operative Learning
Motivating the Unmotivated
Higher Order Thinking

Teachers will have the opportunity to select one of these three areas for study in the coming school year. Initial professional development opportunities will be offered to the three groups. Then smaller PLCs will be formed in each of these three areas. Those PLCs will work together making specific applications of their studies with their students. It is expected that those learnings will follow back to the larger group and potentially back to the entire faculty.

MENTORING AND STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

I recently spent an afternoon with the mentor teachers at St Mary’s County Public Schools in Maryland. Prior to my presentation Jeff Maher, the director of professional development, reviewed the results of a recent survey of beginning teachers regarding the time, type of activities, and quality of mentoring they were receiving. Jeff celebrated the results which showed increased positive finding across the past few years. I sent Jeff a few questions to understand the investment and commitment the system had made to the mentor program. Here is the information Jeff sent back……

St. Mary's County Public Schools (SMCPS) is located in St. Mary’s County Maryland about 100 miles south of Washington, D.C. on the western peninsula in Southern Maryland. SMCPS serves approximately 17,000 students and 1,500 certificated staff; 94.2% of which are highly qualified. Generally we hire between 150 & 175 new teachers each year.

Our school system is large enough to offer a wide variety of academic programs and services, and small enough to maintain an atmosphere of friendliness, helpfulness, and personalized service. As a school system, we are focused on student achievement and assuring that our students meet rigorous standards; at SMCPS all children can and will learn. In fact our mission statement says it all:


“Know the learner and the learning, expecting excellence in both. Accept no excuses, educating ALL with rigor, relevance, respect, and positive relationships.”

Mentoring in SMCPS involves experienced teachers paired with novice teachers, providing coaching, support, and guidance as the new teachers transition in their first two years. Mentoring is a key component of our long-range Teacher Induction Program.
Our induction program includes:
New Teacher Orientation:
· Day 1 & 2 – Optional Content Sessions
· Days 3-5 Required Professional Development on content, curriculum, classroom management, and system orientation. One-half day is devoted to demonstration classroom visits with monthly follow-up sessions.
· Electronic Learning Community forum
· Peer mentors are provided release time for peer coaching.
Induction Support includes:
· For 1st year teachers – Monthly New Teacher Seminars, Weekly Teaching Tips via email, Financial Seminar, New Teacher Socials and Annual Spring Re-Energizer with mentors
· For 2nd year teachers – Classroom Management that Works! course
· 3rd year – collegial partners

We request that all mentors are trained. Twice a year we offer a 1-credit course entitled Skills for Coaching and Mentoring. This course is based on the Performance Learning Systems’ course: Conferencing Skills for Mentors & Coaches and Steve Barkley’s book Quality Teaching in a Culture of Coaching.
Throughout the course, participants:
· Develop effective coaching and communication skills to build rapport among colleagues, create positive instructional change, and enhanced self-esteem for new teachers.
· Learn a prescriptive process for communicating with a colleague in a pre and post classroom observation.
· While observing instruction, become skilled at the use of several data collection instruments.

We attribute our positive results to the adage: Communicate, communicate and communicate. Weekly, new teachers, along with their mentors, receive a Teaching Tip via email. Mentors receive a monthly newsletter, The Mentor News.

Contact information: Jeff Maher, jamaher@smcps.org

WHAT IS STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT?

Many of the school improvement, coaching and leadership sessions that I facilitate at some point explore the definition of student achievement that drives the work of the school and teachers. I find two approaches that often emerge. Some schools and educators see the state standard as their goal. Others have a broader, richer picture, and see the state standard as something to be met on the way to the broader goal.

Here are two school settings examining a broader definition:

A. Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia

List the following student achievement goals:

1. Academics – all students will obtain, understand, analyze, communicate and apply knowledge and skills to achieve success in school and life.

2. Essential Life Skills – all students will demonstrate the aptitude, attitude, and skills to lead responsible, fulfilling, and respectful lives.

3. Responsibility to the Community – all students will understand and model the important attributes people must have to contribute to an effective and productive community and common good of all.

B. Recently, Miami Dade College announced a plan to examine each of its 2000+ course offerings to determine what key skills are, and are not, being taught. The goal is to make sure that no student can go through an entire program of study without being exposed to the following ten key skill sets:

1. To communicate effectively using listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills.

2. To use quantitative analytical skills to evaluate and process numerical data.

3. To solve problems using critical and creative thinking and scientific
reasoning.

4. To formulate strategies to locate, evaluate, and apply information.

5. To demonstrate knowledge of diverse cultures, including global and historical perspectives.

6. To create strategies that can be used to fulfill personal, civic, and social responsibilities.

7. To demonstrate knowledge of ethical thinking and its application to issues in society.

8. To use computer and emerging technologies effectively.

9. To demonstrate an appreciation for aesthetics and creative activities.

10. To describe how natural systems function, and recognize the impact of human beings on the environment.

Click here to view entire Learning Outcomes Covenant.

If you are working with a broader definition or list of skills for achievement, please comment, so others can contact you.

SCHOOL BASED PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

I am currently working with two state departments of education and one county wide school district that are focused on designing and implementing building based professional development plans. In each case we are using a backwards design approach starting with desired student achievement.

After identifying specific student achievement goals, designers focus on what students would need to do in order to get the student achievement being sought. This is new to most of the teams with whom I’ve worked. This “what do we need students to do” is the best starting point for designers to consider what teachers need to do. I am suggesting that when teachers are focused on “what students need to do” to reach the achievement goal, they are set to plan instruction. Too often teachers are only focused on the achievement outcome not the precursor student work process.

Having identified the needed teacher behaviors, designers can now plan professional development trainings, peer coaching activities, collaborative staff conversations and professional learning community agendas that would support the desired teacher performance. School leaders are now in a position to determine how their work supports the entire process.

Here is a questioning sequence I recently use to facilitate the above process.

-What is the student achievement goal(s) driving your professional development effort?

-What changes in student experiences/behaviors are precursors to those achievement goals?

-What teacher changes are needed to create the desired student behaviors?

-What will initiate and support those teacher changes? Professional Development/ Coaching/PLC activities/ Leadership

-What resources from Central Office Professional Development would support your efforts?

TAPPING STUDENT EFFORT...INCREASING STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

Teachers don’t cause student achievement...students cause student achievement. Do you agree? If so, then the teachers’ effort should be spent generating student effort. This is where the efforts of trainers and coaches are focused. Here are five strategies to get you started exploring effort with your students and generating your own ideas:

#1 Have students identify and journal times in their lives when they have been successful.
Have them label each success as being mostly due to ability, effort, degree of difficulty (the task was easy) or luck. Ask them to generate examples for each reason. Have examples from your personal experience to share that identify definitions for the reasons.
My examples:
Ability—I sing in a choir with minimal investment in practice or training
Effort- I was a starting soccer goalie in high school after practicing and sitting the bench for three years.
Degree of difficulty—I got an A in my first college math class (Fundamentals of Mathematics---I had taken calculus in high school).
Luck--- won $60 on the first trip to horse racing…lost $120 on the second

#2 Define the elements of effort for students.

Time—effort takes a commitment of one’s time
Persistence—effort requires continuous action
Practice-guided and independent
Repetition of Success—you can’t quit after the first success

Are the elements present in the effort examples that students identified in #1? Ask student in writing to apply the elements of effort to a current goal.


#3 Teach students the following formula:

Effort x Ability focused on a manageable task = Success

The key is recognizing that effort is a multiplier. It doesn’t add a little to the success. Effort causes the ability to increase. Thus over time, the same effort is rewarded with increased success. The next activity will illustrate.

#4 Take students to a weight training room and have each benchmark their current lifting ability. Have a trainer lay out an 8 week workout plan. If students complete the plan they will concretely see the payoff of effort. A similar trip to the reading lab could allow students to benchmark their current reading fluency. The reading “trainer” can provide an 8 week plan and students can see another example of effort/payoff as their fluency increases.

#5 Differentiating assignments is critical for ALL students to be learning the rewards of effort. Teachers like trainers and coaches help identify a manageable task…challenging enough to require effort and manageable enough so that repeated effort produces a noticeable increase in ability (a step toward success). Look at the band for a great example…Many differing ability levels are present. While creating music together, individuals are practicing at various levels of complexity and difficulty so that ALL can continue to improve. When working on a new topic with your students, consider offering three homework options:
A-for those students who believe that with more practice they will get this
B-for students who are convinced they’ve already mastered the concept (a stretch assignment)
C -for those who are “lost” and need more review and practice with lead up skills or knowledge
For each student, the assignment should require effort and be manageable.


For more information see Tapping Student Effort…Increasing Student Achievement by Steve Barkley.