Improving Test Scores in Five Easy Steps: The Silver Bullet

Improving Test Scores in Five Easy Steps

Improving Test Scores in Five Easy Steps The Silver Bullet

Gary W. Quinn

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD EDUCATION A division of ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.

Lanham • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK

Published by Rowman & Littlefield Education A division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 http://www.rowmaneducation.com Estover Road Plymouth PL6 7PY United Kingdom Copyright © 2010 by Gary W. Quinn All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Quinn, Gary W., 1955Improving test scores in five easy steps : the silver bullet / Gary W. Quinn. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-60709-503-3 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-60709-504-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-60709-505-7 (electronic) 1. Educational tests and measurements—United States. 2. Academic achievement— United States. I. Title. LB3051.Q56 2010 371.260973—dc22 2009032105 Printed in the United States of America

 ™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

This book is dedicated first and foremost to my wife and three sons. My sons are the joy of the lives of their mother and me. They are excellent students and growing into respectable young men. My wife is the best teacher I know. She is a National Board Certified teacher. She is highly respected by her peers, parents, and students. My wife impacts every child with whom she comes in contact. She has taught our sons and me not only about education, but also valuable lessons in life. I want to thank my family and especially my mother who instilled in me a quest for learning. She encouraged me to be a good student and tried to answer all of the questions of an extremely inquisitive child. My mother helped guide and direct me toward learning and achieving. This book is further dedicated to teachers everywhere—especially all of the teachers I had teach me, and all of the ones with whom I have had the pleasure to work. Teachers are the ones who make the biggest impact in the lives of children and they are the ones who will make the difference in our future. Teachers are the most critical component in improving test scores and in improving education. I want to give a special thank you to teachers for your dedicated service to the children of our nation.

To the students, who are our future, and to all dedicated educators who are working diligently to provide the students with the best possible education.

Contents

List of Figures

ix

List of Tables

xi

Introduction STEP 1 Chapter One

STEP 2 Chapter Two STEP 3 Chapter Three STEP 4 Chapter Four STEP 5 Chapter Five

xiii 1 School Board Focused on Student Achievement

3

Principals’ Focused Leadership on Instruction

23 25

Develop Quality State and District Assessments

41 43

Site Improvement Plans Focused on Student Data

59 61 77

Teachers Focused on Meeting Each State Objective

79

Chapter Six

Additional Assistance

97

Chapter Seven

Roles and Responsibilities vii

107

viii

Contents

Chapter Eight

Results

115

Chapter Nine

Conclusions

129

Appendix A

133

Appendix B

137

References

149

Index

153

About the Author

155

List of Figures

Figure 1.1 Figure 3.1 Figure 3.2 Figure 3.3 Figure 3.4 Figure 3.5 Figure 4.1 Figure 4.2 Figure 4.3 Figure 4.4 Figure 4.5 Figure 4.6 Figure 5.1 Figure 7.1 Figure 8.1 Figure 8.2 Figure 8.3 Figure 8.4 Figure 8.5 Figure 8.6 Figure 8.7 Figure 8.8 Figure 8.9 Figure 8.10 Figure 8.11 Figure 8.12

Student Performance Objectives Mathematics Content Standards Grade 5 Example of Test Blueprint Grade 5 Example of Mathematics Test Specifications Grade 5 First Quarter Assessment Fourth Grade Math District Assessment Plan District Report Card Site Improvement Plan Template Site Improvement Plan Summary Example Principal Test Score Analysis Principal Test Score Analysis (Example) Test Scores Improvement Reporting Test Score Improvement Plan Flow Chart Responsibility Flow Chart Fourth Grade Reading Fourth Grade Math Fifth Grade Reading Fifth Grade Math Fifth Grade Science Sixth Grade Math Eighth Grade Math District API Elementary School Seven Third Grade Reading Elementary School Seven Third Grade Math Elementary School Seven Fourth Grade Reading Elementary School Seven Fourth Grade Math ix

11 46 52 53 54 56 63 65 67 70 72 74 92 108 116 116 116 116 117 117 117 118 119 119 119 119

x

Figure 8.13 Figure 8.14 Figure 8.15 Figure 8.16 Figure 8.17 Figure 8.18 Figure 8.19 Figure 8.20 Figure 8.21 Figure 8.22 Figure 8.23 Figure 8.24 Figure 8.25 Figure 8.26 Figure 8.27 Figure 8.28 Figure 8.29 Figure 8.30 Figure A.1 Figure A.2 Figure A.3 Figure A.4 Figure A.5 Figure A.6 Figure A.7 Figure A.8 Figure A.9

List of Figures

Elementary School Seven Fifth Grade Reading Elementary School Seven Fifth Grade Math Elementary School Seven Fifth Grade Social Studies Elementary School Seven Fifth Grade Writing Elementary School Seven API Elementary School Three Third Grade Reading Elementary School Three Third Grade Math Elementary School Three Fourth Grade Reading Elementary School Three Fourth Grade Math Elementary School Three Fifth Grade Reading Elementary School Three Fifth Grade Math Elementary School Three Fifth Grade Science Elementary School Three Fifth Grade Social Studies Elementary School Three Fifth Grade Writing Elementary School Three API ACT Composite Elementary API Scores Secondary API Scores Third Grade Reading Third Grade Math Fifth Grade Writing Fifth Grade Social Studies Eighth Grade Reading Eighth Grade Writing Eighth Grade US History Biology I End of Instruction Algebra I End of Instruction

120 120 120 121 121 122 122 122 123 123 123 123 124 124 124 125 126 126 133 133 134 134 134 134 135 135 135

List of Tables

Table 1.1 Table 1.2 Table 1.3 Table 3.1 Table 3.2 Table 3.3 Table 4.1 Table 5.1 Table 5.2 Table 5.3 Table 5.4 Table 8.1

Fifth Grade CRT History by Site 6 Longitudinal Metrics Sample (2007) 8 Longitudinal Metrics Sample (2014) 9 Example of a Curriculum Map 48 Example of Pacing Calendar for Math 52 First Quarter Assessment Fourth Grade (Sample Key) 55 Weakest to Strongest Objectives 68 Teacher Weakest to Strongest 84 Objective Remediation Chart 85 Objective Remediation Chart (example filled in) 86 Student Remediation Plan 88 District Academic Performance Index 125

xi

Introduction

SETTING THE STAGE There is an indisputable dichotomy in the process of improving test scores. The concept of raising test scores is both simple and complex. It involves both the technical and the sensible approach. It includes the scientific research base of instruction and the art of teaching. But, most of all, it requires two things: (1) the courage to do whatever it takes regardless of past personal beliefs and the present culture of the organization and (2) the desire and will to assure each child has mastered the defined objectives. If you have those two things, this book is a blueprint on how to improve the test scores in any school district—no matter the level of achievement you presently have. If you do not have the courage to make change and the will to do whatever it takes in order for each child to be successful, then no advice, recommendation, or program will make a significant difference.

WHY FOCUS ON TEST SCORES? Many educators in the past have found it abhorrent to focus attention on test scores. They have found it against their values of educating the whole child. Many speak of teaching toward a test and find fault with a focus on test scores. However, it is not a focus on teaching toward a specific test that must be considered, but rather, a focus on teaching the national standards, state curriculum, and district curriculum. If local, state, and national assessments are aligned with the curriculum—then test scores should be a valid measurement of how students are progressing on mastering the assigned curriculum. xiii

xiv

Introduction

Measuring students’ progress often by assessment, allows the educators to focus on the individual student. It gives educators the information they need to adjust instruction, to determine remediation or enrichment opportunities, and to monitor their own progress as instructors. All of these are valuable reasons to examine the results of assessments. By far, the most important reason is to be able to immediately make decisions on how to assist students who are not mastering the objectives. If a focus is on the students, then measuring their progress toward mastering the defined curriculum is critical. One should always keep in mind that if students are not able to master the objectives of the core curriculum then their future will be minimized. By assuring that students have mastered the curriculum sufficiently as assessed on criterion reference tests, students then have much broader opportunities available to them. They can then expand their attention to other areas of interest to them. However, if students cannot master the curriculum, then many of the areas in which they have an interest will not be available to them. In essence, by ensuring that the students can pass the assessments based on the curriculum, the teacher is teaching the whole child by giving the child the undergirding needed to allow him or her to participate in a wider scope of learning.

CAN SCHOOLS MAKE A DIFFERENCE? There are extensive results which indicate that most students who come from disadvantaged backgrounds do not score well on tests. Students who come from poverty many times are not successful in school. Schools with high percentages of poverty are often not scoring well on state and national assessments. The questions asked by many are: Can those students learn? Can those schools do something to be successful? Are they destined to fail, no matter our efforts or interventions? Some previous studies have indicated that schools cannot overcome students’ background and home life. However, there are students of difficult backgrounds who are successful. There are schools with high poverty levels that are improving every year. According to Marzano (2003), “Even those studies that have been interpreted as evidence that schools do not significantly affect student achievement do, in fact, support the potential impact of schools when interpreted properly.” He further said, “The research on the effectiveness of schools considered as a whole paints a very positive image of their impact on student achievement.” Finally, Marzano asserts, “The schools that are highly effective produce results that almost entirely overcome the effects of student background.”

Introduction

xv

Schools can make a difference. They can overcome the students’ background. There are “best practices” in which schools are demonstrating that they can be successful even when the typical indicators of success are not in their favor. They are demonstrating that schools do not have to be destined for failure unless they do not plan for success. It is imperative for each school to develop the plan and actions steps needed to benefit their students. LEADERSHIP MATTERS Is Leaderships important? What type of leadership is needed? These are questions asked of any organization. It is asked of most initiatives. In the case of improving test scores, leadership does make a difference. It is important that those in the formal authority positions set a clear vision and goals. It is imperative that they create a culture of focus toward the one common goal of improving students’ future by improving student achievement. They should cause others to embrace and fulfill this vision. According to Heifetz (1994), “A leader has to engage people in facing the challenge.” Those in positions of authority, whether it is the school board, superintendent, curriculum directors, principal or teachers, must engage every person in their scope of responsibility to take up the challenge and to focus on meeting the needs of the students. What if those in authority fail to set the vision and do not require those they supervise to focus on student achievement? Heifetz (1994) further states, “Our societies require leadership that takes responsibility without waiting for revelation or request.” If those in supervision do not give direct “orders” to improve student learning, it still remains incumbent on each individual to do what is needed for the common good of the student and our society. It is the mission and calling of everyone involved in education to improve student achievement. One does not need a direct order to do that which he is called to do. WHAT IS NEEDED FOR IMPROVEMENT? There are three components needed for improvement. They are: data, analysis of data, and creating a plan from the data. These components are necessary to determine how to meet the needs of students. Must Have Data The appropriate data must be available to make the plans that are outlined in this book. The states are improving in developing assessments based on national standards and a defined state curriculum. Utilizing criterion reference

xvi

Introduction

testing based on these standards will assist educators in making decisions on developing plans to improve student achievement. In addition to annual state testing, school districts should develop common assessments on at least quarterly intervals. These assessments should be based on what is going to be tested on the criterion reference state testing for that grade or class. By utilizing the curriculum maps and pacing calendars described in Chapter Three, the assessments should cover the instruction for that interval of time. In addition to quarterly assessments, the departments should develop unit tests, short weekly assessments, and daily checks to determine if students are progressing toward mastering the required objectives. Must Analyze Data To develop a plan for improvement, one must understand that there is a science to developing plans for improvement. There is a process to analyzing assessment data that will allow the utilization of a diagnostic approach in developing the plan that will increase student achievement and impact test scores. When a mechanic runs diagnostic tests on a car, he is analyzing data that will become useful in determining what needs to be done to the vehicle to get it to run properly. When a doctor orders certain tests on a patient, he utilizes that data to make decisions on what is causing the health problem in the patient. Utilizing their data, both of these professionals do a data analysis to determine their steps to repairing the vehicle or healing the patient. In education, we have improved and now are doing well in creating new and better assessments aligned with the defined standards. Educators should now be in a position to have the data available to use to make decisions on how to assist students in increasing their achievement. Educators must now take advantage of that data to diagnose what needs to be done to assure each student is learning each objective. Analyzing data to utilize for diagnosis of improving instruction is a critical component of assuring that the correct measures are employed to assist the students in mastering the required objectives. Must Create a Plan from the Data Analysis With using the diagnostic analysis of data, a prescriptive approach can be developed to assure improvement in test scores. Too many times educators have believed that if they would just work a little harder, the students would learn better and score better on tests. While it is true that it is hard work to

Introduction

xvii

assure each child is learning, just working harder and more hours will not, in and of itself, improve test scores. The mechanic does not just run the test and analyze the data. He then must create his plan and carry it out in order for the car to be fully repaired. Likewise, it would be ludicrous to think a doctor just runs tests and analyzes the test, but does not create a plan of action to improve the health of the patient. Educators must do the same thing. Once a diagnosis of the data tells educators what the areas of weakness are, then a prescriptive plan must be developed. That plan must be specific on what will be done to improve those areas of weakness and how it will be measured. The plan that results is one based on the data, the analysis of the data in a diagnostic methodology, and a prescription for assuring those areas of weakness are improved. This plan will improve instruction. It will ensure that the educators are working on the correct things. The plan for each student will ensure that he is mastering each objective. This plan will make certain that educators are not just working in the dark. It will be the blueprint for the success of any school and each student. In the chapters that follow, a detailed plan of how to analyze data to diagnose what needs to be done to improve instruction will be outlined. The book will further demonstrate how to be prescriptive in utilizing the diagnosis into developing a school academic improvement plan. If the resulting plan based on these steps is then implemented, test scores will improve.

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PLAN It is the responsibility of everyone within the organization and many on the outside of the organization to develop, implement, monitor, and improve the Site Improvement Plan. The plan must outline responsibilities for every task. The plan involves: the school board, superintendent, curriculum directors, principal, teachers, elective teachers, special education teachers, support employees, parents, and students. It will involve the community members and everyone associated with the community. It takes everyone with a vested interest in the students of the community to focus on the plan for the school district to inprove. An accountability plan must be developed to assure all parties are focused on the district and site improvement plans. If there is accountability for each individual to fulfill his responsibility to assure each student is learning, then this plan will ensure success. If there are breakdowns in the different levels of responsibility on the focus to adhering to the plan, then it will jeopardize

xviii

Introduction

the effectiveness of the plan. The success rate will be diminished. That will mean some students will not be assured of success.

TEACHER MUST BE FOCUSED ON EACH STUDENT Each teacher must work with each student on each objective that he or she has not mastered. The teachers must target individual students and not teach to the “masses.” Teachers can not teach to the norm and be satisfied that some received the information and others did not. While students should be accountable for their learning, schools and teachers must determine that they are responsible for whether students are learning. If a child has not mastered the objectives, the teacher must develop a plan on remediating students to assure mastery.

SUMMARY Leadership does matter. Everyone in the organization must work toward assuring the success of the students in their charge. All must be diligent to follow the improvement plan developed by the organization. Teachers must be focused on meeting the needs of each student. Every student must have the opportunity to be successful. Through the chapters in this book, a plan will be outlined, that if followed, will improve test scores in any school district. The amount of improvement will be determined by various variables including present level of achievement, previous implementation of some of these concepts, the level of implementation, the vision from the top, and the focus on the plan. A school district must make the decision that it is going to create this plan and that the plan will be its primary focus, if it is going to be successful in improving test scores. If a school district does that, the resulting test scores will be on a steady incline.

Step 1

Chapter 1

School Board Focused on Student Achievement

The first step and perhaps the most critical component of developing the plan for student achievement is to assure that the school board is knowledgeable about the plan, accepting of the plan as the focus of the school district, and demonstrates that they will align the resources and their attention to this plan.

LEADERSHIP MATTERS The leadership the school board exhibits in their action and their talk has to demonstrate to the entire organization and the community that their focus is first and foremost on student achievement. The school board is central in ensuring that the entire organization and community it serves is focused on this mission. Several studies indicate that school board focus is critical to the success of student achievement. According to the Wisconsin Association of School Boards (2007), “Boards can provide leadership for focusing their policy making and actions on student achievement by adopting a district vision/mission, providing a structure that allows the vision/mission to be realized, providing for accountability, and being advocates for education.” They further note that setting up a system of accountability is important for the school board. The board should: “Continually assess progress and compliance with board policies and monitor student achievement, evaluate district administrator and board performance (take responsibility for board activity and behavior), keep district focus on the vision/mission, and keep the public informed (report back the district’s progress toward expectations/goals).” The school board must take the responsibility to 3

4

Chapter 1

plan for student achievement improvement and ensure that the district is focused and progressing toward this most important function of the district. In another study, by the National Learning First Alliance (2002), there were some findings and recommendations from successful school boards of school districts that are improving student achievement. They included the following: “School boards were policy and accountability driven. Board held the superintendent and his or her colleagues accountable for progress but did not engage in the daily administration of the schools. The boards took their policy roles seriously and set policies to support instructional reform. The boards were driven by the goal to improve student achievement. They maintained a focus on teaching and student learning needs in their decision making. They adopted visions and strategic plans that placed children’s learning needs at the center, and they attempted to implement policies to support the strategic plan. Most boards also placed importance on speaking publicly with one voice. The boards strove for consensus and collegiality, and members acted respectfully toward one another in public discourse.” The school board must act in one accord when a decision is made, and must always demonstrate that student achievement is their primary responsibility.

FORMAL DEMONSTRATION OF FOCUS ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT The school board should take public steps in demonstrating their commitment to student achievement. They should develop a Board Student Performance Committee. The focus of the committee should only be on improving student achievement. The school board should approve district Student Performance Objectives, district goals, and district strategic plans outlining their commitment to the academic success of every student. The board should receive and review Site Improvement Plans. They should spend their time in board meetings examining the plans, rather than on trivial matters. The school board should have each Site Improvement Committee present their Site Improvement Plan at a school board meeting. All of these formal actions demonstrate to the staff and community that the school board takes seriously the work of the school district in regard to student learning.

School Board Focused on Student Achievement

5

BOARD STUDENT PERFORMANCE COMMITTEE The school board should develop a Board Student Performance Committee. It should be a standing committee, established by the school board, comprised of board members and key administrators. The sole mission of this committee is oversight of improving test scores. This committee is one of the most important committees in a school district. The committee should meet on a regular basis, at least monthly, to evaluate student academic progress. The committee should monitor student test scores metrics, test score results, and review plans from the instructional administrators on improving test scores. This committee should be immersed in the test score data. The committee should set benchmarks and examine improvement. They should compare test data to comparable peer school districts. The district instructional administrators should prepare metrics for the committee to examine. The data should include demographic data that should be examined to determine if there are demographical changes in the student population. This information is useful when determining possible reasons for changes in test scores. The data should list district scores of every state and national test taken by students. Comparison of national, state, and peer schools should be listed. This will allow the committee to determine how the students are doing in comparison to students of other school districts. In the metrics of data, the district administrators should include data over several years which compare year to year (see Table 1.1). The metrics should list all of the test scores over time. This will assist in determining trends of improvement or losses. Obviously, a district has to be careful to not make rash decisions with just one year’s data. There are ‘blips’ in a class of students or on a certain test. However, utilizing data over a several-year period can assist in making informed decisions on how a particular program, curriculum, professional training, or resources are benefitting the mastering of certain objectives by students. In the table, fifth grade test scores for the district and each of the elementary schools over a ten-year period are listed by each test. This demonstrates areas of growth and areas of concern over that time. The district instructional administrators should also create Longitudinal Metrics (see Tables 1.2 and 1.3) for the Board Student Performance Committee to examine. These metrics will allow the committee to examine cohort groups. This will give a snapshot of how student groups are progressing over time. In the example in Table 1.2, the first table is for students who are graduating in 2007. It shows all of the state and/or national tests the cohort group took over the years in the school district.

6

Chapter 1

Table 1.1. Fifth Grade CRT History by Site 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Elementary School One Mathematics

63

77

76

68

68

68

92

89

93

Reading

75

75

61

80

76

74

87

88

81

98 98

Science

82

84

72

89

77

81

94

88

84

100

Social Studies

X

X

X

X

X

X

80

62

65

85

Writing (Composite)

93

98

95

94

86

90

44

64

86

91

History

56

61

49

69

69

77

X

X

X

X

Geography

47

56

58

68

59

51

X

X

X

X

Art

X

68

65

75

72

X

X

X

X

X

Mathematics

78

76

92

80

76

94

100

100

100

100

Reading

87

83

85

85

96

90

95

96

100

96

Science

87

89

82

92

92

94

98

93

100

100

Social Studies

X

X

X

X

X

X

88

91

85

83

Writing (Composite)

96

100

97

98

93

96

78

90

89

98

History

87

83

80

82

80

89

X

X

X

X

Geography

71

71

73

75

78

73

X

X

X

X

Art

X

72

76

77

84

83

X

X

X

X

Mathematics

79

81

59

46

32

50

68

63

63

91

Reading

63

76

62

39

41

57

71

69

75

96

Science

71

71

65

28

38

75

68

59

53

87

Social Studies

X

X

X

X

X

X

39

28

50

65

Writing (Composite)

91

95

90

82

70

48

27

50

87

96

History

61

67

48

33

35

46

X

X

X

X

Geography

39

47

52

28

23

29

X

X

X

X

Art

X

17

22

21

20

25

X

X

X

X

Mathematics

59

72

86

81

76

53

79

86

82

92

Reading

55

82

77

69

76

53

68

84

82

92

Science

68

79

85

75

85

73

79

76

86

88

Elementary School Two

Elementary School Three

Elementary School Four

Social Studies

X

X

X

X

X

X

58

62

41

68

Writing (Composite)

72

100

100

94

89

38

62

81

100

89

History

73

77

71

69

70

44

X

X

X

X

Geography

41

69

71

69

61

27

X

X

X

X

(Continued)

School Board Focused on Student Achievement

7

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Art

X

56

74

53

64

43

X

X

X

X

Mathematics

89

95

90

85

83

89

92

88

91

96

Reading

87

89

82

87

85

89

90

88

91

92

Science

91

92

92

88

90

85

91

98

93

96

Elementary School Five

Social Studies

X

X

X

X

X

X

80

88

80

94

Writing (Composite)

99

100

100

92

93

94

57

87

85

96

History

85

89

78

82

89

76

X

X

X

X

Geography

69

88

78

82

77

76

X

X

X

X

Art

X

89

89

92

83

78

X

X

X

X

Mathematics

91

96

95

84

77

90

97

96

98

98

Reading

95

97

98

93

86

88

98

96

97

94

Science

96

95

93

96

91

90

99

94

98

98

Social Studies

X

X

X

X

X

X

89

92

97

94

Writing (Composite)

98

100

99

95

87

97

84

92

100

97

History

88

94

86

91

86

90

X

X

X

X

Geography

80

93

89

81

80

80

X

X

X

X

Art

X

77

76

78

80

82

X

X

X

X

Mathematics

78

82

84

73

52

76

81

91

89

97

Reading

69

82

72

83

56

77

78

85

86

94

Science

84

86

91

88

63

85

80

97

86

92

Social Studies

X

X

X

X

X

X

78

85

83

97

Writing (Composite)

94

94

95

87

74

84

50

73

92

94

History

78

73

78

84

65

87

X

X

X

X

Geography

52

66

73

74

52

72

X

X

X

X

Art

X

75

71

66

39

60

X

X

X

X

Mathematics

94

84

84

74

69

79

89

89

91

95

Reading

85

87

78

80

76

79

88

87

89

94

Science

79

84

83

83

80

85

89

88

90

96

Elementary School Six

Elementary School Seven

District

Social Studies

X

X

X

X

X

X

78

76

76

85

Writing (Composite)

76

X

97

93

85

84

58

77

91

95

History

80

79

71

76

74

77

X

X

X

X

Geography

60

72

71

70

65

63

X

X

X

X

Art

X

X

69

68

68

68

X

X

X

X

8

Chapter 1

Table 1.2. Longitudinal Metrics Sample (2007) 2007

5th

8th

CRT

2000

2003

Math

84

78

Science

83

81

Reading

78

82

Writing

97

87

History

71

73

Geography

71

59

Art

69

63

ITBS

3rd

Reading

60

Language

62

Math

65

Composite

62

EOI

EOI Tests

ACT

1998

2006

US History English II

83

Algebra I

50

Biology I ACT

2007

English

22.2

Math

21.6

Reading

23.1

Science

22.4

Composite

22.5

Table 1.3 is for students who will graduate in 2014. While it is not yet filled in completely, it will be as the years progress. (It may be noted the state testing has expanded into several more grades, and the nationally norm-referenced tests have diminished.) This assists in developing trends of student achievement. It also assists the school district in finding “weak” classes and developing a plan of action to improve their achievement. While this requires long-term examination of data, the information is extremely useful in making decisions that affect instruction, curriculum development, and professional development training.

School Board Focused on Student Achievement

9

Table 1.3. Longitudinal Metrics Sample (2014) 3rd

4th

5th

6th

7th

8th

CRT

2014

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Math

88

94

95

Science

X

X

96

Reading

90

96

94

Writing

X

X

95

History

X

X

X

Geography

X

X

X

Art

X

X

X

EOI

EOI Tests

ACT

2013

US History English II Algebra I Biology I ACT

2014

English Math Reading Science Composite

The Board Student Performance Committee should assure that plans are developed by the district instructional administrators to improve test scores. The committee should review those plans to determine their effectiveness. The Board Student Performance Committee should be completely immersed in the test score data. They should utilize this information to set benchmarks of where the district should be on each test during the next testing period. They should continually monitor for improvement. The district should determine a list of peer schools of which they want to compare. The district instructional administrators should prepare data comparing district test scores with each of the peer schools on the list. This should not be done as a competition, since every school is different in many ways including demographically. However, it should be another gauge for how the district is progressing. The Board Student Performance Committee is critically important to the school board. This committee is the one that should direct the school board’s

10

Chapter 1

focus on student achievement. The committee will be directly involved with receiving and analyzing information from the instructional administrators. They will be extremely involved in examining the site improvement plans. This committee should continually focus the entire school board on the main function of the school board-student achievement.

SETTING THE DISTRICT VISION The school board should set a district vision. It should be well-thought out, have buy-in from all constituencies, be easily communicated, and become the focus for the district. The vision should be simple. It must primarily state that the district is going to assist every student to reach his or her maximum potential. The district will assure it they assist every student over the bar of proficiency. The employees and all concerned must accept that the bar that is set is the minimum. The district must determine it is going to assist every student to achieve his or her maximum level of achievement—regardless of the level at which he or she is now performing. By working to assist each student to achieve at the highest level of which they are capable, whether they are regular education students, special education students, or highly gifted students, all students will be successful. The vision must capture the main focus of the organization.

SETTING THE DISTRICT STUDENT PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES, DISTRICT GOALS, AND STRATEGIC PLAN The school board should approve district Student Performance Objectives, district goals, and district strategic plans outlining their commitment to the academic success of every student. These plans should be fully considered and attainable.

STUDENT PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES The District Student Performance Objectives should be based on the data of where the district is and the level of performance at which it expects the students to achieve (see Figure 1.1). The objectives should list at what level of performance the district expects to reach over the next few years. They should become the challenge of the district to reach that level. Objectives, however,

School Board Focused on Student Achievement

11

Student Performance Objectives I.

The School District will rank in the upper one third of nine selected schools by the 2006–07 school year and rank number one by the 2008–09 school year. Areas of comparison will be as follows: • Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth State Core Curriculum Testing • Algebra I, English II, Biology I, and American History End of Instruction Tests • American College Test (ACT) • Academic Performance Index (API)

II.

The School District will annually meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) with all subgroups as defined by the State School Accountability Report Card.

III.

Ninety one percent of third grade students will be proficient in reading as measured by the Third Grade State Core Curriculum Testing by the 2006–07 school year.

IV. The average daily attendance at each site will be 96% or above by the 2006–2007 school year. Figure 1.1. Student Performance Objectives.

should not be insurmountable to achieve. The district can set them based on a level of improvement from previous results or in comparison to the state, national, or peer districts. In the example of Student Performance Objectives in Figure 1.1, the level the district expects to achieve each year is listed. It also lists how the district expects to measure against peer districts. It is very specific. These objectives were written to stretch the example district. However, the objectives were considered reachable. These objectives will bring a focus to the district. It will give the entire organization the level to which they are to strive to obtain. The Student Performance Objectives are where the sites are going to focus their Site Improvement Plan Objectives. They will write at what level they expect their site to improve in order to meet the Student Performance Objectives. Their plans should be directly focused on meeting these objectives. This will assure that all of the site plans are aligned to the district plans. The site plans from each site should then become a plan regarding the issues that site is going to do to reach the objectives.

12

Chapter 1

Each department in the district should develop the goals of its department toward assisting the district in meeting these Student Performance Objectives. As each supervisor works with those he supervises, he should have them write their personal goals, again focused on the Student Performance Objectives. Since all goals and action steps by all sites, departments, and employees in the district should be focused on these Student Performance Objectives, this strategy creates a collaborate focus on the true mission of the school district. It will assist in everyone fulfilling their obligation of assuring the success of meeting the objectives. SETTING DISTRICT GOALS The school board should develop district goals. These goals should be focused primarily on meeting the Student Performance Objectives. The school board should lead by example in creating goals that align directly with the Student Performance Objectives. The school board should write annual and three-year goals. While it may be good to have workshops discussing longer-term goals than three years, goals longer than three years are of minimal use. Rarely can a school stay with that long-term of a goal in education. The goals should be limited to three or four specific goals. As with the Student Performance Objectives, they should stretch the district. However, they must be attainable. If they are not reachable, people will not work diligently to meet the goal. The school board should demonstrate their commitment to their goals by constantly making decisions to reinforce meeting those goals. They should make choices during budgeting and during difficult decisions that demonstrate they are focused on meeting their goals. DEVELOPMENT OF A STRATEGIC PLAN The school board should invest time working toward creating a strategic plan. It should outline what the expectations of the school district are in the community. Action steps should be developed with a timeline, person responsible, and cost. The school board should consider it often when making decisions. The strategic plan should become the “blueprint” for future decisions of the school district. According to William Cook, Jr. (1988), a strategic plan is “aimed at total concentration of the organization’s entire resources on mutually predetermined, measurable outcomes.” A strategic plan will determine

School Board Focused on Student Achievement

13

where an organization is going over the next period of time. It will list how the district will get there. It will have a measurement to determine when the goals of the plan have been met. All successful organizations have a plan on how they are going to improve. If it is going to be successful, a school district must also have a detailed plan of what it plans to accomplish and how it will accomplish it. Perhaps having a strategic plan is even more important in school districts, since there is an elected school board whose membership may change from year to year. This plan should be a guideline of where the school board intends for the organization to focus over time. As new school board members are elected, they should be given the plan by the board president. The board president should communicate the process of the development of the plan and assure them that this is the plan the board expects to follow. As a new superintendent is selected, he should be given the plan before he makes a decision to come to the district. He should be asked to commit to implementing the plan before he is selected. As new employees are hired, they should be given the plan by the superintendent or their supervisor and be directed on what their part is to implement the plan. This will assure that everyone is knowledgeable of the plan when they are selected to come into the organization, and what their part is in making it successful. Some of the benefits of strategic planning include: having an agreement on the goals and objectives of the school district; a sense of ownership in the plan; and the ability to communicate to the community the focus of the organization. Other benefits are that it allows the superintendent to direct the employees toward common goals; allows the school board to make decisions based on already agreed-to plans; gives the school board and superintendent direction on how to align resources—particularly during difficult budget times; and allows the school board to communicate to special interest groups why they can not meet their request. The strategic plan should be used to determine future actions and during budgeting. When decisions have to be made, the plan should be considered. The resources, energy, time, and focus of the district should be directed toward meeting this strategic plan. The strategic plan should be followed as closely as possible. However, one should accept that it is still just a plan. There will need to be adjustments made to the plan as time goes by—based on new information and new results. The school board must be willing to invest time in revisiting the plan on a yearly basis to update the action steps and to monitor the progress made. There may have to be different action steps added and others abandoned that did not provide the results expected.

14

Chapter 1

The strategic plan is a fluid document. It is not considered a failure if every action step does not produce the expected results. One must remember, this plan brings a focus to the district on certain goals. If those goals are not fully realized, the district has not failed. It is almost a certainty that the focus will have improved the district much more than if no plan were ever developed and implemented. When goals are not reached, the district should examine new research and information to assist in developing new action steps to meet the desired goals.

REQUIRE DISTRICT AND SITE IMPROVEMENT PLANS TO BE DEVELOPED The school board should require a District Academic Improvement Plan. It should be directly focused on meeting the Student Performance Objectives. It should detail how those objectives will be met. The superintendent and instructional administrators, in conjunction with the Student Performance Committee, should develop this document. It should detail the steps that the district will follow that year to assure that it meets the Student Performance Objectives. The District Academic Improvement Plan should be a model for the Site Improvement Plans that will be expected from each of the sites. Every year, the Board Student Performance Committee should evaluate the success of this plan in meeting the Student Performance Objectives. The school board should also require a Site Improvement Plan for each site focused on the district Student Performance Objectives. That Site Improvement Plan is the roadmap for that site on what they are going to do during that year to meet the Student Performance Objectives. Each site should have a Site Improvement Committee comprised of the principal and representatives from each grade level or subject level. The committee should also include parents, support staff, and students (if at an appropriate age level to contribute). They should work with the entire staff on developing the plan. By having the entire staff involved, the necessary “buy-in” for success is present. The staff should fully examine all of the test data. They should look at the Weakest to Strongest Objectives document. They should examine the students who are not performing at proficiency level. After all of the analysis is completed, they should start developing the Site Improvement Plan. In the plan, they should detail at what level they are presently performing. They should show where they are performing well. They should list where they are scoring the lowest. They should then

School Board Focused on Student Achievement

15

detail what steps they are going to enact in order to assure that students are performing to the acceptable level of the Student Performance Objectives. These action steps for improvement should be developed from research of successful interventions in schools from transferrable settings. The site must know with a reasonable certainty that if the steps are implemented, the desired results will follow. On the Site Improvement Plan, the staff should list the measurement used to determine the success of the plan. The final measurement will typically be on the required state assessment. However, the site should list benchmarks along the way during the year to determine if it is on track to meet the objective. It should not wait to find out after state assessments. That is too late. The benchmarks could be quarterly assessments. There should be even shorter intervals of assessments to assure that the students are progressing to meeting the expected outcomes. Once test scores are received, the sites should develop another document that outlines at what level the students’ achievement met their Site Improvement Plan objectives. The site should fully analyze how their interventions were successful to better utilize the action steps for future improvement. The site should also show the areas in which the site didn’t meet expected outcomes. This information is important to determining future interventions. If an action step did not provide the expected result, then new actions steps need to be considered for the next year. If some progress was made, the site needs to analyze if they fully implemented the plans. If not, the results may be realized the next year by more fully implementing the action steps. This information is useful as part of the site plans for the next year. Next, the site needs to detail how it will meet the objectives during the next year. Immediately after the results have been analyzed and determination of the actions steps were successful or not, is the best time to begin that discussion. The principal and Site Improvement Committee should begin the analyses of the results in the summer. The Site Improvement Committee should be prepared to meet with the entire staff during pre-service meetings to discuss fully the results and to develop the plan for the next year. After this is completed, then each teacher should examine her test results to determine how successful her students were. She should then develop personal plans on how she is going to meet the site plan in her preparation for her classroom. Each grade level or department in the building should develop its grade level or department building goals from this document. All of this is critical for the success of the site.

16

Chapter 1

This planning by the site is necessary if improvement in student achievement is expected. It must be planned and not just “hoped” it could happen. The staff should be intimately involved in examining the data, developing the plan, analyzing the results, and developing the new plan. That “buy-in” by the staff is necessary for the staff to fully implement the plan. The site should “celebrate” the success they have achieved. The staff should be congratulated for their accomplishments. That will reinforce their desire to continue improvement. This document is extremely important for student achievement improvement. The school board should demonstrate the importance of the plan by investing time examining the document, monitoring the progress of sites meeting the plan, and taking time in board meetings to receive reports on the plan.

REVIEW SITE IMPROVEMENT PLANS The school board should review the Site Improvement Plans focused on improved student achievement. Once the plans have been developed and finalized by the principals, Site Improvement Teams, and staff of each site, they should be submitted to the central office. The plans should be reviewed and approved by instructional administrators and the superintendent. The instructional administrators and superintendent should check to assure that all components are in the plan. They should consider the intervention strategies to determine if they are aligned with present research. The instructional administrators and superintendent should develop a list of questions they want the site to clarify for them. They should then set up a time for the principal and the Site Improvement Team to meet with them to discuss their plan in detail. Once agreement is made on the interventions, then the plan is approved. During the school year, the instructional administrators should continually monitor the progress that the sites are making on meeting their plan objectives. They should frequently be at the sites to see the plan in action. They should regularly ask for an update of how the site is meeting the plan. They should look at assessment data during the year to determine if the plan is meeting its target. The superintendent and instructional administrators should present the Site Improvement Plans to the Board Student Performance Committee. The Board Student Performance Committee should examine each of the Site Improvement Plans in detail. The committee can ask for any clarification if needed.

School Board Focused on Student Achievement

17

This should happen before the document is sent to the full board and before any reporting at a board meeting by the sites. Once the Student Performance committee is satisfied with the Site Improvement Plans, they should be sent to the school board members for their review. The school board should examine the documents carefully. The board members should be thoroughly knowledgeable about each of the sites as well as what each site is doing to improve its student achievement. The school board should be familiar with the Site Improvement Plan before the Site Improvement Team presents the document to the full board at a school board meeting. At the board meeting when the Site Improvement Plan is presented to the school board, the board members should be prepared to ask probing questions to better understand what the site is doing to improve. This will assist the site to know that the board is fully interested in their success. To be able to do this, the board members will have to invest time examining the documents in detail. Having the school board review the Site Improvement Plans assures that the sites are prepared appropriately. In addition, it lets the district know that it is of high interest to the school board. There is an old adage that says, “What gets measured—gets done.” It is a true statement. The district principals and teachers will realize the importance the school board places on their site improving. As a result, they will assure that the Site Improvement Plan is well crafted, carried-out, and completed. This will assist in assuring school improvement.

SITE IMPROVEMENT PLANS REPORTING TO BOARD OF EDUCATION Time should be allocated by the school board for site administrators and Site Improvement Teams to report directly to the school board at public school board meetings regarding their site goals and the result of action plans on meeting their goals. This gives the sites a sense that the Site Improvement Plan is being discussed at the highest level in the school district. In addition, it builds a feeling of teamwork that everyone above them in the organization is knowledgeable of their plan and is working to assist them in meeting their action steps. Typically, school board meeting time is taken up with many minor, trivial, and unimportant functions. However, a school board can demonstration what the most important function of the district is by utilizing the school board meeting time on receiving these important reports.

18

Chapter 1

By presenting the Site Improvement Plan at a public meeting with patrons and perhaps even media present, it brings the level of importance of this plan to the highest level. This will further demonstrate to the district and the community the importance that the school board places on student achievement improvement. Since media can be present at school board meetings, hopefully, they will communicate to the community the academic successes in the school district. In addition, it is extremely positive pubic relations if the media communicates that the school board meetings are primarily focused on improving student achievement. Whether the media is at the school board meeting or not, the school district should write news releases about each of the Site Improvement Plans. The parents of the school district should know which areas of improvement the plans are for at each of the sites. In addition, news releases about the academic success of each of the sites should be prepared for the community to celebrate with the school district. The Site Improvement Plans should be posted on the district website. This increases the level of public accountability in the community. The public focus on student achievement is important for the school board, school sites, and the community.

INFORMAL ACTION OF THE SCHOOL BOARD DEMONSTRATING FOCUS ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT Even more important than the official public actions of the school board are the informal actions of the school board. If the school board is sincere in demonstrating their focus on student improvement, then the entire organization and community will recognize it. The board will consistently make decisions by asking questions when recommendations are brought to them of how this action will impact student learning. They will attempt to keep their own personal projects as well as bits of news from others out of the conversation at board meetings. They will be focused on this one question each time they are asked to approve an action item: “How will this action impact student achievement?” The action of the school board at school board meetings demonstrates what they value. The items placed on a school board agenda (excluding those items they are required to legally discharge) usually demonstrate the focus of the school board. If the majority of the items and time are taken up with trivial discussions and actions, then the community will not believe they are focused on student achievement. The school board should demonstrate in action and deed that they are focused on students being successful.

School Board Focused on Student Achievement

19

In light of school boards having the final authority on decisions impacting the entire organization, they have responsibilities as leaders. In that role, they must demonstrate discipline in exhibiting their commitment to student achievement. If they allow their actions to be focused on non-academic concerns, then the employees will see those areas as most important for the organization. If the employees see the school board making decisions based on whichever way the wind is blowing at that time and not based on following their Strategic Plan, then the employees will not value the plan. If the school board makes decisions based on what certain vocal special interest groups want, the employees will not think the school board is committed to their plan. However, if the school board will demonstrate that they are primarily focused on academic success, are committed to following their strategic plan, and that they spend most of their time in board meetings discussing academics and the plan, then the employees will know that is where they need to be focused. This informal action will dictate the focus of all employees of the school district.

SUPERINTENDENT AS LEADER The superintendent as leader is critical for the success of improving student achievement. Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) (2006) is a nonprofit education and research organization. The organization conducted meta-analyses to determine the influence of district superintendents on student achievement. They listed three findings from the research: Finding 1: District-level Leadership matters, Finding 2: Effective superintendents focus their efforts on creating goal-oriented districts, and Finding 3: Superintendent tenure is positively correlated with student achievement. If a school district is to improve its test scores, it must have an effective superintendent. The leadership that the superintendent provides is centerpiece to the success of the school district. He must provide the effective focus to the district. He must facilitate the discussion on how to improve and how to develop plans. The superintendent must implement the action steps for improvement. He must, as Collins (2001) stated, put the “right people on the right seat on the bus.” The superintendent must utilize the policies and procedures to assure that employees focus on the action steps. While the school board has ultimate authority, the superintendent is the one who is charged on a daily basis to mobilize all employees to implement the plan. The leadership he exhibits in this capacity matters and must be present for the success of improving student achievement.

20

Chapter 1

The superintendent must focus on developing the district into a goal-oriented organization. Once the goals have been developed, the superintendent should assist the school district to focus on the goals. He must help focus everyone in the organization—including the school board—on the goals and not on the minutia. The superintendent must focus the entire organization on meeting those goals. He should assist in protecting the organization from becoming sidetracked by various extraneous influences away from that mission. The superintendent should become a compass—always pointing toward the goals of the school district. If others are not focused on the goals, he should bring them back to the common vision of the organization. The superintendent must be supported by the school board and be given a long-tenure to assure that he has the support to make the necessary changes with those who are not focused on meeting the mission of the organization. This is critically important. If employees see that the superintendent is completely supported by the school board and they are supporting him in acting on the goals, the employees will follow his leadership. If this plan is to be successful, the school board has to support the superintendent and give him the authority necessary to carry out his enormous duties and responsibilities.

SUPERINTENDENT/BOARD RELATIONSHIP The relationship between the school board and the district superintendent is critical to the success of any school district. It is even more important to the success of the academic improvement plan. According to the New England School Development Council (2003), “The board and superintendent, while understanding and respecting their separate roles, work together as a leadership and governance team for high student achievement. This team assumes collective responsibility for building unity and creating a positive organizational culture in order to govern the school system effectively.” The study further said, “The ‘Team’ concept used herein is successful when the board/superintendent team works together in an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect for one another’s roles (legal and otherwise). It is essential that the board and superintendent work together in a harmonious, collaborative, and effective manner to achieve the objective of improving student achievement.” According to Goodman & Zimmerman (2000), the Board/Superintendent Team’s first responsibility should be “having as its top priority the creation of teamwork and advocacy for the high achievement and healthy development of all children in the community.”

School Board Focused on Student Achievement

21

The relationship the school board has with the superintendent can have a positive or an adverse affect on student achievement. This relationship should be positive and collaborative. Each person should know and understand their role in improving student achievement. The school board should develop a positive working relationship with the superintendent. They should invest time in workshop settings—agreeing to what the role of the superintendent is, and what role should be reserved for the school board. They should determine what their role will be in student achievement. They should determine how to best keep their focus on the improvement in academics. With a dynamic school board working harmoniously and within their roles with the superintendent, a school district can have the leadership to foster improvements in student achievement.

SUMMARY School Board members are important in ensuring that student achievement is taking place. According to the Iowa Association of School Boards (2000), “School Board members are not professional educators, but it would appear they have important responsibilities related to teaching and learning, curriculum and instruction, and the learning environment. This does not suggest that board members need to become educational experts. It does suggest that they need to develop sufficient understanding, knowledge, and beliefs in order to create the conditions within the system which will ensure that the professional educators can grow in their educational expertise and generate productive change. There is a need to impact the governance doctrine and assumptions that are driving deliberations of school board. School boards members can be dynamic leaders in the school renewal processes without ‘micro-managing’ the system.” The school board should put into place the formal actions to demonstrate their commitment to focus on student achievement. They must exhibit in their informal actions that they will not let other influences deter them from that focus. The employees and the community must see that commitment. The district must have the type of leadership from the superintendent that reinforces the district’s commitment toward student achievement. The relationship that the board has with the superintendent must be collaborative and must demonstrate to the entire community the support for student achievement. Being a school board member is challenging, frustrating, and thankless work. However, it is one of the most important roles in a community. School boards have many pulls by different interest groups and individuals. Many times, the groups change sides from one issue to another. However, if a

22

Chapter 1

school district is going to be successful in this important mission of improving student learning, it is critical that the school board members remind the employees and the constituents of the district that they are focused on student learning, and that everything else will take a back seat to that focus. Interesting questions for school board members are: “Does the voting constituency elect and keep into office school board members based on student achievement data? Is it important for a school board member to focus on student achievement in getting re-elected?” According to a study done by Berry and Howell (2007), “Evidence for South Carolina shows that voters do at least sometimes evaluate school board member on the basis of student learning trends as measured by average school test scores. Changes in average school test scores from year to year can affect the number of votes incumbents received, the probabilities that they run for reelection, and the likelihood that they face competition when they do.” It can and should make a difference to the public whether school board members are focused on student achievement and whether the school district is improving. School board members must have the courage to remain with their convictions on student achievement. Their conversation, their actions, and their leadership are critical for the plan to be successful. If their full commitment is not present and demonstrated in every facet, the plan will fail. However, if the school board is committed to ensuring that the district remains focused on student achievement and they demonstrate that focus by their formal and informal actions, then the school district will have the necessary leadership to fulfill the steps necessary to improve student achievement.

Step 2

Chapter 2

Principals’ Focused Leadership on Instruction

The second step in improving student achievement is to assure that the principals are focused on providing instructional leadership to their sites. Principals must provide the focus in their building for student achievement. They are some of the most critical people (if not the most critical person) in assuring the success of improving student achievement. They must create the vision in their building, work with staff to analyze the student data, develop the plan, and assure that the plan is being carried out on a daily basis. They must continue to monitor the results during the year to assure that the plan is succeeding, or initiate a change in the plan. The principals must be effective leaders. They must lead their site toward improvement. The principals must understand the concept of being instructional leaders and must provide that leadership for their staff. The principals should demonstrate in their action and their vision that their focus is on student achievement in every capacity—including during their meetings with staff. The principals should further demonstrate their focus on student achievement by being in the classrooms on a daily basis. The principals should demonstrate their focus on student improvement in the way they supervise and evaluate their staff. The superintendent should model this to the principals in the way principal evaluations are conducted. Teachers are integral to the student improvement process. They should be involved in the development of the school improvement plan in their building. Learning communities should be created to assist in the collaboration of staff directed toward student achievement improvement. The principal must be the leader in assuring that all of these actions take place at the building level. As with the school board and the superintendent, the principal must demonstrate in his formal actions as well as in his informal 25

26

Chapter 2

actions and talk that the building will be focused primarily on improving student achievement and that everything else will be secondary to that one true mission.

PRINCIPALS MUST LEAD IN CREATING THE VISION The site should create a site vision/mission, site goals, and Student Performance Objectives based on how their site will meet or exceed the district vision/mission, district goals, and Student Performance Objectives. The principal should lead in creating this focus for the site. The principal should lead the staff in a vision-setting process similar to what the superintendent does at the district level. The staff should be intimately involved with the process. The principal should create time for the staff to set their vision/mission. Once developed, this vision/mission should be internalized and be able to be repeated by everyone associated with that site. It should be displayed prominently throughout the building. It should be so evident that, if asked, students and parents would be able to recite the vision/mission. The vision/mission should be fully integrated into the culture of the site. The site goals should be aligned with the district goals. As with the district goals, the site goals must stretch the site to accomplish them. However, the goals must be attainable or employees will lose their focus. There must be buy-in from all employees at the site. By the principal’s leadership in including the teachers in setting the site goals, and by teachers serving on the Site Improvement Team, the staff will have more ownership in the site goals and will be more likely to work toward achieving them. The site should then develop its Site Student Performance Objectives. Again, these are based on the District Student Performance Objectives. These objectives should be working toward or exceeding the district objectives. These objectives will become the focus of the Site Improvement Plan. The district vision/mission, district goals, and Student Performance Objectives should be used as the starting point for developing the site vision/mission, goals, and objectives. These site goals and objectives will ultimately be the genesis for developing the Site Improvement Plan.

PRINCIPAL MUST LEAD IN ANALYZING DATA The principal must be the leader in the building in organizing the staff to examine and analyze data. The principal must be data-driven and must provide the necessary data for the staff. He should organize the data into a

Principals’ Focused Leadership on Instruction

27

meaningful format to allow the staff to easily be able to examine it. He should provide them with site data, grade-level or department data, their individual teacher data, and their students’ data. The principal should train the teachers in how to read and understand the data. He should give sessions to small groups of staff on how to interpret the data and how to analyze it. He should further train his staff in how to create valid assumptions based on the analysis of the data. This is extremely important especially when the teachers are expected to make decisions, adjust instruction, and develop remediation plans based on the data. The principal should create opportunities for the staff to work together in analyzing their site data. He should structure the schedule to allow the staff to work in appropriate groups to analyze the data, report their assumptions, and develop plans on improving the scores. This should primarily happen during the regular workday. That is when staff members are fresh and can be focused. In addition, it indicates to the teachers that this is important enough work that the principal and the district are creating time for the teachers to do it during the regular workday. The principal should lead the teachers to analyze the site data. The principal and staff together should identify the weakest objectives in their building. This will be useful as they make determinations from the data on what plans should be implemented for improvement. The principal should expect teachers to report to him their small group (i.e. site grade-level or department) and their individual teacher analysis and plans. He should expect them to report to him what action steps they are utilizing to meet the goals of the Site Improvement Plan. The principal should continually remind the staff that they must be datadriven in their decision making. He must require the staff to report on what basis they are making changes and how the intervention that they are implementing will meet the need.

PRINCIPALS MUST LEAD IN DEVELOPING THE PLAN Utilizing the data analysis, the principals should lead the staff as they develop a plan of the interventions they are going to implement to improve student achievement. As stated earlier, they should make a list of their weakest to strongest objectives. As they examine the weakest objectives, they should then develop a plan to improve those weakest objectives at the building level. Once the principal and staff have identified the objectives that need improvement, they should research the tools that other schools of similar demographics have utilized successfully to improve the same weak objectives. If, after that

28

Chapter 2

research, they determine the intervention at other schools is transferable to their setting, they should develop action steps to implement the interventions. Since this plan will be the focus of the site, the staff should be extremely confident that it will provide the expected results. It must be accepted by all staff members as the focus of each employee of that site. There should be a formal approval of all staff. This document will then become the Site Improvement Plan. Once the Site Improvement Plan has been approved, each teacher group (i.e. site grade-level or department) should develop improvement plans based on the weakest objectives of their group. That will assure that their gradelevel or department is improving their weakest objectives and assisting in meeting the site plan. In addition, each individual teacher should examine his or her weakest to strongest classroom objectives. The teachers should develop similar plans for their weakest objectives. With the site, teacher groups and individual teachers developing a plan to improve their weakest objectives, the site should experience significant gains in student achievement.

PRINCIPALS MUST ASSURE THAT THE PLAN IS IMPLEMENTED Once the plan is developed and accepted, the principal must assure that the Site Improvement Plan is implemented and carried out to the expected level. Many plans have been developed (usually with good intentions of being carried out by the employees) through a good process; however, the plan was not fully implemented. In education, when the students are there, the staff is extremely busy and may take their focus off of the implementation of the plan. However, the plans must be implemented to the outlined level to get the expected results. The principal must assure that the Site Improvement Plan has the appropriate attention. He must remind staff often during staff meetings and individual meetings with staff members of the site’s focus on the plan. The principal should periodically report the progress on implementation of the plan. He should have the teachers frequently report their progress on implementation. The principal will be held responsible by his supervisor if the plan is not fully implemented. The instructional administrator supervising him should visit the building often to monitor progress. He should request that the principal report to him periodically as to the level of implementation and the progress on achieving the expected results.

Principals’ Focused Leadership on Instruction

29

PRINCIPALS MUST MONITOR RESULTS The principal should continuously monitor results during the year. This will assure that the expected level of implementation is being achieved. This will allow him to address with individual teachers the changes that need to take place if they are not fully implementing the interventions. Continually monitoring the plan will further allow the principal to measure the results during the year to determine if adjustments need to be made to the plan. If the students are not progressing as expected, adjustments to the interventions or additional interventions may need to be developed to assure that the expected results at the state testing time are achieved. The monitoring during the year is critical to let the principal and staff know whether the students are prepared for the state testing.

PRINCIPALS MUST LEAD IN REFINING THE PLAN The principal must lead in refining the plan during the year. If, while monitoring the results during the year, it is determined that students are not progressing as expected, he should lead the staff in refining the plan. While the best effort may have been utilized in developing the action steps in the plan, it may not give the desired results. Therefore, the principal should lead the staff in refining the plan as early as it is determined the need exists. The staff should be completely involved, as they were before, with the development of the refinement to the plan. The refinements may include additional time for the previously approved interventions, more intensive focus on the interventions, or additional interventions. However, the site must make the refinements as soon as the need is identified. They should base the refinements on their ongoing assessments during the year. This gives the site an opportunity to improve on the previous plan and to continue to meets its goals.

PRINCIPAL AS LEADER For a school site to improve student achievement, the principal must be an effective leader of the school. The principal must provide the leadership necessary to energize the staff to accomplish more than they previously accomplished. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell remarked, “Leadership is the art of accomplishing more than the science of management says is possible.”

30

Chapter 2

“Leadership is about taking risks, striking out in new directions, creating visions, tapping imaginations, changing the way people think about what is desirable, creating excitement about working with children and communities, building new relationships and structures, and changing the existing cultures” (AASA, 2001). Principals must provide the leadership to push the organization toward improvement. “Research shows that effective school leadership is essential to developing and sustaining a school culture that produces improved student achievement” (Guthrie & Wong, 2004). “Schools of different races and socioeconomic groups and improving learning among all students are schools with highly effective leaders” (Guthrie & Wong, 2004). Robert Marzano said, “ . . . leadership could be considered the single most important aspect of effective school reform” (Marzano, page 172, 2003). A quality principal focused on student improvement will lead his staff to student success. The quotes in other chapters about leadership from Heifetz are applicable to the principal as leader. He must engage the employees that he supervises to face the challenge. He must take responsibility without waiting for revelation or request from those supervising him. The principal must be a dynamic leader who is focused on the vision/mission of the school. John Seaman Garns said, “Real leaders are ordinary people with extraordinary determination.” The principal must have that determination. The most important person in improving student achievement is the adult (the teacher) that the district puts in front of the students every day. However, critically important and almost as important is the principal that will lead the school site. According to Leithwood, K., Seashore-Louis, K., Anderson, S. & Wahlstrom, K. 2004, “It turns out that leadership not only matters; it is second only to teaching among school-related factors in its impact on student learning.” The principal will be the impetus to encourage the staff toward improvement. The leadership of the principal is necessary to gain the collective focus of the entire staff into one common vision. The principal can be the catalyst for the staff that will energize them to accomplish more than they otherwise would. The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) describes today’s effective principal as being prepared to focus time, attention, and effort on changing what students are taught, how they are taught, and what they are learning (Bottoms & O’Neill, 2001). According to Schmoker (1996), “The combination of three concepts constitutes the foundation for positive improvement results: meaningful teamwork; clear, measureable goals; and the regular collection and analysis of performance data.” The principal is the key person to facilitate all three of these concepts in his building. As mentioned previously in this chapter,

Principals’ Focused Leadership on Instruction

31

principals must create opportunities as well as a climate that facilitates teamwork. They must create time in the day for this collaboration to take place. The principals must lead their site in setting goals. They should develop annual, quarterly, and monthly goals. The goals should be measurable and attainable. The goals should be reviewed often. Principals must lead the staff in the analysis of data. The data must be readily available and meaningful. The principals must put the data in the hands of the staff for their discussion. The principal is central in assuring that the building is collaboratively analyzing and using data both to effect change and to monitor that the student achievement goals are being met. The School Improvement in Maryland (2007) organization has identified five performance areas as critical leadership skills that a principal must demonstrate to effectively lead a school in improving student achievement. They include: • • • • •

Promoting collaborative problem solving and open communication Collecting, analyzing, and using data to identify school needs Using data to identify and plan for needed changes in instruction program Implementing and monitoring the school improvement plan Using systems thinking to establish a clear focus on attaining student achievement goals.

These performance areas are aligned with the plan being outlined in this chapter. In addition, the School Improvement in Maryland (2007) organization has identified “a number of critical beliefs which underlie a principal’s effectiveness in leading the process of improving student achievement. The principal must believe in, value, and be committed to: • • • • • • • •

Student learning as the fundamental purpose of schooling The proposition that all students can achieve high standards of learning Collaborative problem solving with staff and stakeholders Ongoing collection and analysis of data Data-driven decision making Life-long learning for self and others Focus and alignment to achieve goals Doing the work required for high levels of personal and organization performance”

These beliefs must be innate and not superficial. They must be at the center of what the principal believes as the function for schooling. He must focus all of his attention to meeting these beliefs.

32

Chapter 2

One could ask what type of leadership is necessary for student achievement gains. It appears that transactional leadership may be more effective in improving student achievement in poor schools. According to one study, “In terms of improving student achievement, it appeared from this research that transactional leadership made a difference in student learning as measured by standardized tests in elementary schools with a high poverty rate” (Niedermeyer, 2003). However, the same study indicated Transformational Leadership was related to increased teacher satisfaction, a greater perception of principal effectiveness, and an increased willingness on the part of teachers to give extra effort. Therefore, it depends on what the needs are in the school site as to what type of leadership style a principal should exercise. Principals must know at what pace they need to push their school. John Kotter, author of What Leaders Really Do, reminds us that when the pace of change in organizations speeds up, so does the need for leadership. The knowledge of how fast to accelerate the change process is important in order for school leaders to know how hot to heat up the environment to cause the necessary change process to take place without “blowing” the environment.

INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP VS. MANAGEMENT LEADERSHIP The days of a principal being just a good manager that keeps the day to day activities of the school running smoothly is past. Today, principals must be instructional leaders. “Effective instructional leaders are intensively involved in curricular and instructional issues that directly affect student achievement” (Cotton, 2003). Instructional leadership is needed to improve student learning. In fact, the No Child Left Behind Law demands accountability for student achievement. The law calls for principals to have “the instructional leadership skills to help teachers teach and students learn” and “the instructional leadership skills necessary to help students meet challenging state student academic achievement standards” (Title II, Section 2113). Therefore, principals are now required by law to be instructional leaders. “While management skills are necessary aspects of the school leader’s job and some time must be devoted to managing resources and people, management skills and time are no longer sufficient to meet the escalating challenges and demands” (AASA, 2001). Schools need leaders who are leaders. Consider Peter Drucker’s observation: “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. The

Principals’ Focused Leadership on Instruction

33

problem is that we have a lot of managers doing the wrong things very well.” The principal must continue to be a good manager of buildings. Obviously, a school district must have leaders who keep the buildings clean and functioning orderly, students well-behaved, and employees working as directed. That is a given. If principals do not do those things well, they will not survive as principals. However, with that as a given, there is a much larger and more important role for the principal to fulfill—instructional leader. The principal must be an instructional leader if he is to be successful. This is the most important role of the site principal. Principals must have instructional leadership at the core of their belief about what is the most important aspect of their position.

SUPERINTENDENT AS EXAMPLE OF INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP The superintendent should model instructional leadership to the principal. He should demonstrate the importance of developing a focus on student achievement. The district meetings the superintendent presides over should change from a focus on management issues to one of instructional issues. He should lead or cause others to lead book studies in such areas as: instructional leadership, leadership in general, supervision, analysis of data, and evaluation of employees for improvement. This modeling will demonstrate to the principals the type of training they should provide in their buildings during staff meetings—rather than management functions that can be conducted in other ways. The superintendent should constantly be requesting that the principals provide updates on the progress they are making toward meeting their site plans. The superintendent should continually be directing the entire staff toward the common vision/mission of the organization. Superintendents can have a positive impact on student learning through the way they select and support their principals as instructional leaders. According to Cudeiro (2007), superintendents can impact the student achievement of their principals. In a study she did of three superintendents of districts that have improved student achievement, she determined that superintendents made a difference by: “establishing a district-wide vision centered on meeting student learning needs.” Secondly, they “set clear expectation by establishing the primacy of the principals’ instructional leadership role verbally and in writing.” And finally, they “held principals accountable for being instruction leaders.” Superintendents can create the atmosphere to foster the type of instructional leadership needed by building principals.

34

Chapter 2

Reeves (2006) developed four quadrants where the vertical axis reflects results (student test scores) and the horizontal axis displays the leader’s understanding of what he called the “Antecedents of Excellence” (measurable indicators of leadership and other factors that influence results). If a school has high results and low understanding of the antecedents, it is “lucky.” Such schools probably cannot replicate the excellent results. If the results are low and the antecedents poorly understood, they are “losing.” They will be doomed to repeat their bad results and continue failing. If a school has low results but has high understanding of the antecedents of excellence, then it is “learning.” School leaders in this quadrant will examine the data rather than blame their students, parents, or staff. The school which has high results and high understanding of the antecedents of excellence is “leading.” According to Reeves, you want to be either learning or leading. If you are in either of those two quadrants you are examining your data and making decisions on how to improve your results. You are doing something with what you have. You are making a difference. Superintendents should lead the principals in this manner. Principals must then model that behavior and that action at their site.

MEETINGS The building principal should follow the lead of the superintendent by focusing most of the time in staff meetings toward the Site Improvement Plan. He should lead by example by focusing the time in meetings toward instructional issues focused on improving student achievement. The building principal should meet with grade levels and/or departments on a consistent basis. During those meetings, he should have them review their grade level or department student achievement improvement plan. They should discuss their state testing results broken down by each objective. They should discuss their quarterly district assessment results and what they are going to do to improve the scores. The principal should meet regularly with individual teachers. He should, once again, have them discuss their personal classroom test data broken down by objectives. He should have them provide him with their quarterly assessment results and their plans for improvement. Most importantly, the teacher should list by name to the principal each student who did not master an objective and detail the remediation plan for each of those targeted students. This targeted focus of an emphasis on instruction, even during typical weekly staff meetings, grade-level or department meetings, and regular individual meetings, will demonstrate to the staff the importance the principal is placing on student achievement.

Principals’ Focused Leadership on Instruction

35

PRINCIPALS IN CLASSROOMS The principal must be in classes on a daily basis. The principal must get out of the office and spend time in the classrooms. That is where instruction is taking place. That is the most important thing going on in the building during class hours. As a result, the principal should be in classes. The management duties that can be done after hours should be moved there. Perhaps other responsibilities can be assigned to other staff members. The principal cannot adequately supervise instruction if he is not in the classrooms. He cannot give suggestions or needed direction on what could be improved, if he is not investing time in the classrooms. He cannot have a pulse on what is happening with instruction—good or bad, if he is not in the rooms. Being in the classrooms also gives the staff a demonstrated understanding that the principal believes what they are doing is the most important thing going on in the building during class hours. If improving test scores is truly the focus, then principals must demonstrate this by being in the classrooms. The principal should incorporate the Curriculum Walk-Through concept when he visits classrooms. Training is available to assist principals in recognizing key indicators to assure that instruction is taking place and that it is focused on the assigned curriculum. This concept further assists in encouraging principals to visit classrooms on a frequent basis. The principal should keep a log of when he visits each classroom. He should develop a schedule which allows him to visit every teacher during different hours throughout the semester. He should structure his daily calendar to allow time to visit classes each day and have the office staff protect this time. Routine items usually can be covered by the office staff or be scheduled later in the day. After each visit, the principal should send a note to the teacher of what he saw while visiting her classroom—particularly noting what objectives she was teaching. This further demonstrates to the staff that the principal is interested in what is being taught on a daily basis, that he noticed what was taking place, and that he believes what is happening in the classroom is the most important function of the school. As a take-off of what was mentioned in Chapter 1, it is often said that “what is monitored, gets done.” This is certainly the case with supervision of teachers. The principals must monitor daily what is happening in the classrooms. The principal should also document and communicate to the staff what he observed was going on while he was in their room. The principal should let the teachers know the level of implementation of the site plan he observed while he was visiting their classrooms. “Characteristics of effective monitoring include not only frequency but also the specification of the levels of

36

Chapter 2

implementation” (Reeves, page 78, 2006). This will allow the staff to know it is vitally important how they utilize all of their class time. In addition, the principal should let teachers know what he saw the students doing. The principal should let the teacher know if the students were engaged in learning. It makes little difference for the teacher to teach a great lesson if the students are not engaged and not learning. School is not about teachers teaching, but rather, about students learning. Therefore, it is critical that the principal let the teacher know how the students were learning when visiting their rooms on a daily basis.

EVALUATION AND SUPERVISION The principal should demonstrate, in his evaluation of staff, the importance of student achievement in the classroom. He should put particular emphasis on the area of student achievement in his evaluation of the teacher. He should further demonstrate the importance he places on the evaluation process in general. He should make many more classroom observations than the minimum required in the agreement with the staff. He should spend the time necessary to provide a good review of their progress during the year. He should spend time in conferences with the teachers describing what went well and what needs improvement in their instruction. If the principal demonstrates that the evaluation process is an afterthought and that it is not very important to him—he has just demonstrated to the teachers that he does not value what they do in the classroom. The principal must invest a great deal of time and effort into the evaluation process throughout the year. This will demonstrate to the staff that what they do in the classroom is extremely important to their supervisor and the school district. This is a critical piece of improving student performance. When necessary, the principal should make the difficult decisions to not renew ineffective staff members. While, this is not a pleasant part of the job, it demonstrates to the entire staff that a high level of achievement is expected at his site. Principals should be willing, when the conditions warrant it, to admonish staff, write plans of improvement, and to non-renew or terminate staff members. Other staff members are well aware of when another teacher is not making adequate progress in student achievement. If the staff see that it is important enough for the principal to work toward helping that staff member improve or to terminate them if progress is not adequate, the staff will realize that the district is placing value on what they say they value—student achievement. One thing to keep in mind is that the principal is responsible to assure that every student learns all of the objectives of that class or grade for that

Principals’ Focused Leadership on Instruction

37

semester or year. This is the only time that student will be in that grade or class in his life. That is an awesome responsibility for the teacher and the principal. The principal must be willing to do what is necessary to assure that the students receive the level of instruction needed for them to master the objectives. That is the principal’s responsibility.

EVALUATION OF PRINCIPALS The supervisor of the principals needs to assure that focus is placed on student achievement through the evaluations made of principals. Principals should be made aware during the evaluation process they will be held accountable for student achievement. While they have many duties, none is more important than improving student achievement. Over the years, principals were held accountable by how few calls were made to the superintendent. While, as mentioned previously, they still have to successfully do the management functions of their job, they must embrace the concept that the most important component of their role is that of instructional leader. This must be demonstrated in the evaluation the superintendent or direct supervisor does of the principal. If a district is to expect improvement, this expectation must be demonstrated in the evaluation and review of building principals. The superintendent should cause the supervisor or evaluator of the principals to focus a great deal of attention on the evaluation of the principal with regard to accountability for student achievement. In addition to demonstrating the importance to the principal, it should also model for him how he should focus his evaluations of his staff.

TEACHERS INTEGRAL TO IMPROVED STUDENT LEARNING Teachers are integral to the process of improvement of student achievement. The principal’s role in assuring that teachers are performing well is central to improving instruction. He must lead by helping the teachers to develop the vision and mission to improve their site. Principals cannot lead alone. For long-term success to be achieved, teachers must be involved in the process. There must be a “buy-in” by the staff if improvement is expected to happen. The principal can assist in creating the opportunity for teachers to become leaders at the site. Principals must create a learning environment for teachers to become learning leaders.

38

Chapter 2

The National Association of Elementary School Principals (2001) frames instructional leadership in terms of “leading learning communities.” According to the NAESP, instructional leaders have these roles: • • • • • •

Making student and adult learning the priority Setting high expectations for performance Gearing content and instruction to standards Creating a culture of continuous learning for adults Using multiple sources of data to assess learning and Activating the community’s support for school success

One of the best ways for these relationships to work is to develop professional learning communities. This creates a culture that fosters and encourages the desired behaviors and actions by the staff. The principal must be confident in his role and allow the staff to take on more leadership responsibilities. “A critical element in creating these powerful school cultures is the principal’s leadership. Each is clearly committed to empowering staff, delegating authority, and developing collaborative decision-making processes . . . The principals delegate authority and serve as leaders of leaders rather than as the central problem solver of the school” (Dufour, 2004). The principal must create time for teachers to work together in learning communities. This time is essential in allowing teachers to examine the data, develop the assessments, and develop strategies for improvement. According to Schmoker (2002), “It starts with a group of teachers who meet regularly as a team to identify essential and valued student learning, develop common formative assessments, analyze current levels of achievement, set achievement goals, share strategies, and then create lessons to improve upon those results.” The principal is the one who can assist in scheduling the day to provide that time. He is the one who can set their agenda. He should meet with these teams of teachers often to monitor their progress and to provide more direction, vision, and information to the teams. The principal must be responsible, while developing a relationship with the staff that makes them feel they are responsible. According to Dufour & Eaker, “The relevant question for the learning organization is not “Who is in charge?” but rather, “How can we best get results?” (DuFour & Eaker, 1998, p. 153). It must be a team effort with the principal as the conductor of this important work. He must lead the site. However, he must develop teachers into leaders in improving student achievement. The principal must develop a culture that promotes an atmosphere for improvement. “Culture has been defined as ‘the way we do things around here.’ Leaders shape the norms of behavior (and thus the culture) of their

Principals’ Focused Leadership on Instruction

39

organization in a number of ways. When principals work with staff to build processes to monitor each student’s learning and to develop systems of intervention that give students additional time and support when they experience difficulty, they create the structure that supports the concept of learning for all” (Dufour, 2004). Teachers should develop plans for improving learning. They must develop assessments to measure the learning if they are going to have the necessary information to make adjustments to their teaching. “When teachers in a school are truly focused on student learning as their primary mission, they inevitably seek valid methods to assess the extent and depth of that learning” (Dufour 2004). Teachers must develop quality assessments at specific intervals to check students’ progress. Dufour further states, “They do not denigrate data that suggest all is not well, nor do they blindly worship means, modes, and medians. They have a healthy respect for the results of their common assessment.” The examination of data is critical in leading to the decisions that must be made based on that information. However, they do not just use data. They examine other indicators. In addition, even if their data is generally positive, they will continue searching for ways to continue to improve.

SUMMARY As stated earlier in this chapter, the principal may be the most critical person in the process of improving test scores. Principals must manage the building while improving student achievement. They must focus their staff on improving at the principal level, teacher level, and most of all at the student level. Principals are held responsible for the improvement in their building. If principals fail to sense the urgency in assuring that this plan is developed and implemented, then they are demonstrating that they do not accept the concept that adults are responsible for student learning. They are demonstrating that they are not interested in being an instructional leader, but rather, a manager of a group of people. The principal is the critical linchpin in this process. Principals should be carefully selected, properly trained, and wholeheartedly supported. They are accountable for the site improvement. Accountability of the principal for site improvement is important. According to Covey (1991), “Accountability follows responsibility. If there is no accountability, little by little, people lose their senses of responsibility and start blaming circumstances or others for their poor performance.” The principal should have a sense of responsibility for each of the students in his building.

40

Chapter 2

Principals must create the opportunity for the staff to work together to develop the vision, mission, goals, and Student Performance Objectives. Principals must lead in helping the staff to analyze the data. The principals should lead in helping the staff to develop the Site Improvement Plan. He should assure that the plan is implemented, monitor the results, and lead in refining the plan as needed. The principal should be a leader. He should be an instructional leader and not just a manager of people or the caretaker of the building. The superintendent should demonstrate and model acceptable instructional leadership to the principals by his actions, the way he leads meetings, and the way he leads the principals. Principals should be in the classrooms every day. They should invest a great deal of time and effort into the evaluation of their teachers—holding them accountable for student achievement. The superintendent should cause the evaluator of the principals to hold them accountable for the student achievement. Teachers are integral to improve student learning at the site. The principal should develop a structure and support to develop Professional Learning Communities at his site to assist in developing the plans to improve student achievement. Teachers are, obviously, very important for improved student achievement. Each teacher is the adult in front of the students every day. Teachers are the ones that can adjust instruction and do the necessary remediation to assure that the students are mastering each objective. However, teachers must be led by an effective principal. If the principal is not effective and providing dynamic leadership for the site, the site will not experience the success necessary for sustained improvement. A school district should hire the best possible candidates for principal, train them well, and support them to be effective leaders to lead the sites.

Step 3

Chapter 3

Develop Quality State and District Assessments

The next step and the first step assigned to teachers in improving student test scores is to define where you are. A district must be aware of its students’ progress if the staff is going to be able to take effective steps to improve test results. A district must know where its students are throughout the school year. A district should never get to test day and not know what to expect. First of all, one’s heart may not be able to handle the suspense. More importantly, if staff members do not know where the students are in terms of mastering the curriculum during the year, then the district does not have the opportunity to remediate along the way. The school district should develop Quarterly Assessments that align with the state test. Teachers and staff should write those assessments with the assistance of software. While there is no magic timeline of whether they are quarterly, every six weeks, or another time interval, it is vital to assess the students throughout the year to know where they are in terms of mastering the state objectives. Having assessments throughout the year allows a district to see how the curriculum and instruction is aligning with the state testing standards. In addition, it allows the opportunity to remediate students who are not passing the tests at a proficient level. An additional byproduct of the assessments is that it gives the students the opportunity to practice a test in the same format in which the state gives it. This allows an opportunity to alleviate some of the anxiety for students on test day. The initial step in developing quality Quarterly Assessments is to know the defined curriculum and the objectives that students are expected to master to be successful on the test. 43

44

Chapter 3

The district should utilize national standards and the state curriculum for its state to develop its district curriculum. From this starting point, the district should make certain that the curriculum it develops is aligned both horizontally and vertically. The district should then create a Curriculum Map for every subject and every grade level of its curriculum. From the Curriculum Map a Pacing Calendar should be developed. The Pacing Calendar will allow the district to develop Quarterly Assessments to check students’ progress at different intervals throughout the year. These Quarterly Assessments should be modeled after the state assessment by utilizing the state testing blueprints, test specifications, item specifications, test structure, and retired state tests questions. Developing quality state and district assessments will allow the district to have data to make improvements in instruction during the year and to give needed information to the teachers regarding issues in which students need remediation. While this is a time-consuming process, it is invaluable to assist the district in developing a plan to improve test scores. Principals must be required to work with classroom teachers on knowing what is on the state test and how the state test is constructed. The teachers must be fully aware of what is expected of the students on the test. They must be knowledgeable of the state curriculum, district curriculum, state assessments, and district quarterly assessments. They must develop daily lesson plans, student tests, and daily assignments to assure that the objectives are mastered by the students before the state test dates. These quality district assessments will give teachers the information they need to assure that each student is prepared to pass the state test.

AWARE OF STATE CURRICULUM AND ASSESSMENTS The teachers have to be aware of the objectives that are on the state assessments and the ways in which the questions will be constructed. Most states have developed a blueprint for their criterion reference tests that tell what objectives are tested at each grade level, how many questions are on the test for each of those objectives, and how many questions students will have to answer correctly to be considered proficient on that test. The staff must become intimately familiar with all aspects of state testing if it is serious about wanting to improve test scores. A good suggestion is to have as many of the staff as possible to serve on the state committees that write the state test questions, set cut scores, and grade those tests. That will bring some valuable insider information to the district beyond what they might otherwise have.

Develop Quality State and District Assessments

45

In addition, curriculum directors should prepare a binder with all of the state objectives, test blueprints, test specifications, item specifications, test structures, and examples of retired state test questions. The binder should also include the curriculum map and pacing calendar for those courses. This should be given to each teacher for the courses they teach, as it allows the teachers to have at their fingertips the expectations for students to master in that course. This is the blueprint the teachers will use to construct their lessons, assignments, class activities, and unit tests.

DEVELOP DISTRICT CURRICULUM The first step in the process of developing quality Quarterly Assessments is assuring that the district curriculum is aligned to the national standards and the state curriculum. The district curriculum must have as its foundation the same expectations as those on which the state will test the students. Therefore, careful attention much be given to developing the district curriculum to align with those same standards. The district should begin with utilizing national standards as set by subject area national organizations. Some of these subject area organizations are the National Council of the Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE), and the National Council of the Social Studies (NCSS), and others for other subject areas. Most all states have aligned their curriculum to defined national standards organizations have developed. Therefore, a district should ascertain which organizations their state utilized in developing the state curriculum and examine the national standards from those specific organizations. This will allow the curriculum to be based on the same foundation that the state utilized in developing the state curriculum. The next step in assuring that the district curriculum is aligned appropriately is to examine the state curriculum. Every state has developed a state curriculum. Assuring that the district curriculum is aligned to the state curriculum is critical—since this document is the basis for the development of the state tests. If the district curriculum is not directly aligned to this document, the local quarterly benchmark assessments developed by the district will be focused on objectives not tested on state testing. Therefore, the Quarterly Assessments will not give an accurate measurement of how the students will do on the state assessment. An example of state curriculum objectives for mathematics in fifth grade can be seen in Figure 3.1. With the basis of the national standards and the state curriculum, the district should utilize teachers, specialists, and others to develop the curriculum for each subject at each level. Careful attention should be given to

46

Chapter 3

MATHEMATICS CONTENT STANDARDS Grade 5 The following concepts and skills are required by all students completing fifth grade. The Major Concepts should be taught in depth using a variety of methods and applications so that all students have accessibility to and an understanding of these concepts. Maintenance Concepts have been taught previously and are a necessary foundation for success in mathematics at this level. MAJOR CONCEPTS - MAINTENANCE CONCEPTS Patterns and Algebraic Reasoning - Patterns and Algebraic Reasoning – Algebraic Expressions and Equations Extend Rules, Functions Number Sense - Number Sense – Fractions, Decimals, & Percents Place Value through 6 Digits, Basic Number Concepts Decimals to the 100ths place, Fractions Number Operations and Computation - Number Operations and Computation Multiplication and Division Algorithms, Estimation, Basic Division Facts, Decimals - Add, Subtract, Multiply, Divide Fraction Concepts Geometry and Measurement - Geometry and Measurement Classify 2- and 3-Dimensional Shapes, Lines, Angles, Perimeter, Area, Customary & Metric Customary & Metric Measurements Measurements Data Analysis and Probability Data Analysis and Probability Interpret Tables and Graphs, Range, Mean, Interpret Graphs, Probability Probability (From Oklahoma State Department of Education Priority Academic Student Skills [P.A.S.S.], page 27. Adopted by the State Board of Education 70 O.S. § 11-103.6 (a).) Figure 3.1. Mathematics Contents Standards Grade 5.

assuring that each objective in the state curriculum is covered in the district curriculum. While this is a time-consuming exercise, it is critical in order to be certain that the district is expecting the students to learn the expected state curriculum on which they will be assessed. Once the curriculum is written, a district must assure that the curriculum is horizontally and vertically aligned. The district should continue to utilize teachers in the process of checking alignment. This will assure the acceptance of teachers of a curriculum they have written. Teachers of the same course or

Develop Quality State and District Assessments

47

grade level should work together to assure that the curriculum is horizontally aligned. They should assure that all of the required national standards and state objectives are met in the curriculum. They should all agree on the objectives that are to be mastered by the students in that course. The next step is assuring that the district curriculum is aligned vertically. The district should lead teachers of different grade levels or adjacent courses in the secondary through this process. As an example, once the curriculum is horizontally aligned, teachers from the second grade and third grade meet to examine the curriculum together. They must agree on what should be mastered at each level. Once that agreement is ascertained, the third grade teachers meet with the fourth grade teachers to do the same exercise. This process would continue between each grade level and between each secondary course that would be a normal progression for students. The purpose of the exercise is to assure that there are no gaps in instruction—such as one grade believing something is being taught at a lower grade and the teachers in the lower grade thinking it is being taught in a higher grade. That would cause gaps in the instruction, which would be detrimental to student learning. In addition, the teachers also analyze if there is overlap in instruction. While some review of previously learned material may be necessary, if there is a great deal of overlap in instruction, much time may be utilized teaching the same objectives again that students have already mastered. This is valuable curriculum work that will assure that the district curriculum is aligned to national standards, to the state curriculum, horizontally, and vertically. The curriculum, once approved, is non-negotiable. These are the expectations that the district has agreed must be mastered by the students. At this point, individual teachers cannot determine that they are going to change the expectations of the students on their own. This step of developing the district curriculum is critical to the development of quality Quarterly Assessments to measure students’ progress toward meeting the state objectives tested on state assessments. This becomes the foundation for the steps that follow.

DEVELOP A CURRICULUM MAP The next step in developing quality Quarterly Assessments is to utilize the approved curriculum to develop a Curriculum Map. The curriculum director should lead teachers in this process. To begin the exercise, they will list all of the objectives from the defined district curriculum. Then they identify the order in which the objectives should be taught. Next, the team will determine the expected time frame needed to effectively teach each objective. Once this is accomplished, the group develops a plan regarding when each of the objectives will be taught throughout the school year.

5th Grade Math

Grade Level/ Course Commutative & associative properties Estimation Review addition & subtraction with re-grouping Addition & subtraction of greater whole numbers & decimals Interpreting & analyzing graphs & charts

Place value (whole numbers to millions; decimals to thousandths) Comparing & ordering large numbers (whole & decimal) Rounding whole numbers & decimals Problem solving as related to skills is on-going Simulation of algebraic problem solving is on-going Beginning awareness of averaging, percentages, & decimals (finding grade percentages & average) Fractions: -Prime & composite -Ordering -Reducing -Adding & subtracting like denominators -Mixed numbers & improper fractions Simple percents: -Conversion to fractions & decimals Measurement: -Conversion of length, weight, & capacity Geometry: -Identify, analyze, & compare angles (acute, obtuse, right) -Identify, analyze, compare, & classify geometric figures

October

August & September

Table 3.1. Example of a Curriculum Map

Review State test objectives

Multiplication of whole numbers & decimals

November Division of whole numbers with one & two digit divisors, with & without remainders Review for State Testing State Testing

December

Begin Teaching Next Year’s Objectives

May

48 Chapter 3

Develop Quality State and District Assessments

49

The plan is developed to assure that all of the objectives are taught previous to state testing. They put the timeline developed into a document called a Curriculum Map. The document will list each month of the school year and what is expected to be taught during that month. This gives the teachers a map to assure that they are progressing toward meeting the objectives in the assigned timeline (see Table 3.1). The Curriculum Map is a necessity to develop Quarterly Assessments. DEVELOP A PACING CALENDAR Once the Curriculum Map has been fully developed, the next step is for the curriculum director to lead teachers in developing a Pacing Calendar. During this exercise, teachers will take the Curriculum Map and assign their Table 3.2. Example of a Pacing Calendar for Math Fifth Grade First Semester Dates

# Days Lesson(s)

Aug 15–17 Aug 20–24 Aug 27–31 Sept 4–7 Sept 10–14 Sept 17–21 Sept 24–28 Oct 1–5 Oct 8–12 Oct 15–16 Oct 22–25 Oct 29–Nov 2 Nov 5–9 Nov 12–16 Nov 19–20 Nov 26–30 Dec 3–7 Dec 10–14 Dec 17–19

3 5 5 4 5 4 5 5 5 2 4 5 5 5 2 5 5 5 3

Total Teaching Days

82

1/1 thru 1/2 1/3 thru 1/6 1/7 thru 1/10 2/1 thru 2/3 2/4 thru 2/7 2/8 thru 2/10 2/11 thru 3/3 3/4 thru 3/6 3/7 thru 3/10 3/11 only 4/1 thru 4/4 4/5 thru 5/2 5/3 thru 5/7 5/8 thru 5/11 5/12 only 6/1 thru 6/3 6/4 thru 6/7 6/8 thru 6/11 Review

Second Semester Dates Jan 3–4 Jan 7–11 Jan 14–8 Jan 22–25 Jan 28–Feb 1 Feb 4–8 Feb 11–15 Feb 18–22 Feb 25–29 Mar 3–7 Mar 10–13 Mar 24–28 Mar 31–Apr 4 Apr 7–11 Apr 14–18 Apr 21–25 Apr 28–May 2 May 5–9 May 12–16 May 19–22 *Total Teaching Days

# Days Lesson(s) 2 5 5 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 4 91

7/1 thru 7/2 7/3 thru 7/6 7/7 thru 7/9 7/10 thru 8/2 8/3 thru 8/6 8/7 thru 8/10 8/11 thru 9/1 9/2 thru 9/4 9/5 thru 9/8 9/9 thru 10/1 10/2 thru 10/5 10/6 thru 10/9 10/10 thru 11/3 Review for test Review for test 11/4 thru 11/8 11/9 thru 12/1 12/2 thru 12/5 12/6 thru 12/9 12/10 only

* 3 inclement weather days are “built in” to the 2nd semester. Total Teaching Days excludes Oct. 26 and March 14 (parent-teacher conference days).

50

Chapter 3

lessons to it, thereby designing the Pacing Calendar. The calendar will list every lesson to be taught to assure that the objectives are mastered by the students. The teachers will utilize their textbooks, supplemental resources, software, and other instructional helps to develop the lessons to teach each objective. Once they have developed their lessons, teachers will list those lessons on the Pacing Calendar by days of the school year (see Table 3.2). As a result of developing a Pacing Calendar, the teachers will stay on pace to deliver the entire assigned curriculum before the state assessment dates. It will assure that no part of the assigned district curriculum is left neglected or minimized. In addition, it gives the necessary information on what is expected to be taught during each quarter, to allow the district to develop quality Quarterly Assessments.

DEVELOP DISTRICT QUARTERLY ASSESSMENTS Once all of the work has been completed to develop the curriculum and assure its alignment, development of a Curriculum Map, and construct of a Pacing Calendar, then information is in place to begin the work of developing quality district Quarterly Assessments. The Quarterly Assessments should be developed by the district teachers with the leadership of the curriculum director. Quarterly Assessments should be developed initially for every level and subject for which there is a state mandated test. Eventually, the district should develop a Quarterly Assessment for every level, every subject, and every class offered. This will assure that the district is teaching the adopted curriculum and that students are progressing adequately toward mastering the objectives of the curriculum. The district should utilize the Pacing Calendar to determine what objectives should be assessed each quarter. All of the objectives that are scheduled during the first quarter should be listed in a column, and the same should be done for each subsequent quarter. Once the list is made of what objectives should be taught and mastered by the students during each quarter, the work can begin on crafting the test for the first quarter. The district should invest a great deal of time and effort in producing the Quarterly Assessments in order to receive valid results. These results will assist the district in developing the plan to remediate students. If the state testing is conducted with scan sheets, the district should model that method on the Quarterly Assessments. If the state test is administered online, then the district should utilize that method of testing. This will allow the district the best information on ascertaining how the students will perform on the state

Develop Quality State and District Assessments

51

testing. It will also give students practice in the same format that the state test is administered. The district should craft the test in the same manner as the state testing. Most states have created Testing Blueprints for the development of the state testing. These blueprints outline the objectives on each test. They typically list the number of items on the test for each objective. The blueprints should outline the percentage of the test that is devoted to each objective. This is extremely valuable information as teachers prepare their students for the state testing. The district should attempt to model its Quarterly Assessments after these blueprints. By aligning the Quarterly Assessments to model the state test as closely as possible, the district will receive the most accurate information on how prepared the students are for the state test (see Figure 3.2). As the curriculum director and teachers create the Quarterly Assessments, they should also utilize information available from the State Department of Education on the development of the state tests. Many times, in addition to Testing Blueprints, state departments also have Test Specifications, Item Specifications, Test Structure, and retired state test questions available that can be utilized. All of these can assist in writing quality district Quarterly Assessments to receive effective data to be utilized to determine student progress and areas of needed remediation. Test Specifications consist of more detailed information about the test. Item Specifications are specific to the type of questions that will be asked and how they will be structured. Test Structure includes the Depth of Knowledge level required on the test. The structure would outline the expected depth of knowledge for the test by listing the percent of items that should be on the test in different levels of expected knowledge. The same Oklahoma Core Curriculum Testing as shown in the Testing Blueprint (see Figure 3.3) shows an example of the Depth of Knowledge expected and a description of the different levels. Many states provide retired state test questions as examples for school districts. These retired questions are extremely helpful in assisting districts to develop their Quarterly Assessments. It assists the district to see how items are structured on the tests. Utilizing all of this information from the state testing information including: Testing Blueprints, Test Specifications, Item Specifications, Test Structure, and retired state test questions, the district should develop the best possible Quarterly Assessments to provide the needed data to make quality decisions on improving instruction and remediating students. As an example of a quality Quarterly Assessment aligned to the state testing specification, please see Figure 3.4. Table 3.3 is a sample key for that test. It

52

Chapter 3

Oklahoma School Testing Program Test Blueprint GRADE 5 MATHEMATICS The Test Blueprint reflects the degree to which each PASS standard and objective is represented on the test. The overall distribution of operational items in a test form is intended to look as follows: Ideal Number of Items for Alignment to PASS*

Ideal Percentage of Items **

Patterns and Algebraic Reasoning

8

18%

Algebra Patterns (1.1)

4

PASS Standards & Objectives

Problem Solving (1.2)

4

Number Sense

8

Fractions/Decimals/Percents (2.1)

4

Number Theory (2.2)

4

Number Operations and Computation

8

Estimation (3.1)

4

Whole Numbers/Decimals/Fractions (3.2)

4

Geometry and Measurement

12

Geometric Figure Properties (4.1)

4

Perimeter/Area (4.2)

4

Convert Measurements (4.5)

4

Data Analysis and Probability

9

Data Analysis (5.1)

5

Probability (5.2)

4

Total Test

45

18%

18%

27%

20%

100%

The Oklahoma Core Curriculum Tests (Criterion Reference Tests) for Grades 3-8 and at the “End-of-Instruction” (EOI) secondary level tests are aligned to the state-mandated curriculum, the Priority Academic Student Skills (PASS) which has been adopted by the State Board of Education and is the curriculum foundation for all public schools. Figure 3.2. Example of Test Blueprint Grade 5.

Develop Quality State and District Assessments

53

also has a column that lists the state objective that each question is addressing. It is important that the district construct quality items to allow the best possible data for use in remediation. Once the Quarterly Assessments are developed and utilized, the district should check for validity and reliability of the assessments after each Grade 5 Mathematics Test Specifications Depth of Knowledge Assessed by Test Items The test will, as closely as possible, reflect the following “Depth of Knowledge” distribution of items: Depth of Knowledge

Percent of Items

Level 1—Recall and Reproduction

20–25%

Level 2—Skills and Concepts

60–65%

Level 3—Strategic and Extended Thinking

10–15%

Level 1 (Recall and Reproduction) requires the student to recall facts, terms, definitions, or simple procedures, and to perform simple algorithms or apply formulas. One-step, well-defined, or straight algorithmic procedures should be included at this level. Level 2 (Skills and Concepts) requires the student to make some decision as to how to approach the problem or activity. Level 2 activities include: making observations and collecting data; classifying, comparing, and organizing data; and organizing and displaying data in tables, charts, and graphs. Level 3 (Strategic and Extended Thinking) requires complex reasoning, planning, developing, using evidence, and a higher level of thinking. These processes typically require an extended amount of time. The cognitive demands of the item should be high and the work should be complex. In order to be considered at this level, students are required to make several connections (relate ideas within the content area or among the content areas) and select one approach among many alternatives as to how the situation should be solved. Level 3 activities include: making conjectures; drawing conclusions from observations; citing evidence; developing a logical argument for concepts; explaining phenomena in terms of concepts; and using concepts to solve non-routine problems. (Taken from Oklahoma School Testing Program Oklahoma Core Curriculum Tests, Test Specifications, Mathematics, Grade 5.) Figure 3.3. Example of Mathematics Test Specifications Grade 5.

54

Chapter 3

FIRST QUARTER ASSESSMENT FOURTH GRADE MATH (SAMPLE QUESTIONS) The following questions are multiple choice. Please select the best answer and fill in the bubble on the answer sheet. 1. Find the missing terms for the pattern. ______ A. B. C. D.

30, 32, 35, 39, ______, ______,

41, 43, 45 44, 49, 54 44, 50, 57 40, 41, 42

2. What is the missing number in the box? 3. IN

OUT

4

24

7

42

3 8 A. B. C. D.

48

12 18 9 26

Figure 3.4. First Quarter Assessment Fourth Grade Math.

administration of the tests. There should be an item analysis conducted and an examination of that data. A thorough review of the student responses should be done by the curriculum director and the teachers who created the test to assure that the items and the distractors gave the correct information and did not “trick” or otherwise limit the ability of the students to demonstrate their knowledge of the curriculum. The data generated is going to be used to affect future instruction and will be a

Develop Quality State and District Assessments

55

Table 3.3. First Quarter Assessment Fourth Grade Math (Sample Key) Question #

Answer

State Objective

1

C

1.1

2

B

1.1

3

A

1.1

4

D

1.1

5

A

1.2b

6

D

1.2b

7

C

1.2b

8

B

1.2b

9

B

2.1a

10

C

2.1a

11

D

2.1a

12

A

2.1a

13

B

2.1b, 2.1b[1]

14

C

2.1b, 2.1b[1]

15

A

2.1b, 2.1b[1]

16

C

2.1b, 2.1b[1]

17

A

2.2, 2.2[1]

18

C

2.2, 2.2[1]

19

C

2.2, 2.2[1]

20

D

2.2, 2.2[1]

21

A

5.1a

22

C

5.1a

23

B

5.1a

24

C

5.1a

guide to remediate students. Therefore, the assessments should be as valid and reliable as possible.

DISTRICT ASSESSMENT PLAN The District Assessment Plan should be inclusive and allow the district to receive the information needed for effectively assessing the students’ mastery of the district curriculum. If quality assessments are in place, the district will

56

Chapter 3

be able to base decisions on valid information. This information will assist teachers to adjust instruction. It will also help as decisions are made on which students need remediation and to what degree. The District Assessment Plan (see Figure 3.5) should show that the state curriculum is being assessed by state testing. It should further demonstrate that the district has used the state curriculum as a base to develop the district curriculum, then the Curriculum Map, and the Pacing Calendar. The district curriculum is then assessed by the district Quarterly Assessments. From

Figure 3.5. District Assessment Plan.

Develop Quality State and District Assessments

57

the Pacing Calendar, the teachers will develop their lesson plans. The daily lesson plans are assessed by unit or chapter test, daily formal assessments, informal assessments, guided practice, and homework. This plan is a full, well-rounded assessment plan which will give the district the needed information to provide quality instruction and needed interventions to assure that students master the state curriculum.

SUMMARY As stated earlier, a district must be aware of its students’ progress if it is going to take effective steps to improve their results. A district must know at what level its students are proficient throughout the school year. A district should never get to test day and not know what to expect. The district must be aware of the state curriculum and state assessments. One of the key methods to make certain that it is aware of the state assessments is to volunteer to serve on the state testing committees that write the state curriculum and assessments. This is valuable information. The district has to develop the district curriculum. The district curriculum must be aligned to the national standards and the state curriculum. It must be horizontally and vertically aligned. The district should then develop a Curriculum Map of the district curriculum. From the Curriculum Map, the district should develop a Pacing Calendar. This will assure that the curriculum is taught at an appropriate pace. With all of these components in place, the district has the information to begin writing the Quarterly Assessments. While writing the Quarterly Assessments, the district should utilize the information from the State Department of Education on the state assessment program such as: Testing Blueprints, Test Specifications, Item Specifications, Test Structure, and retired test questions. These will be helpful in assuring that the Quarterly Assessments are constructed as closely to the state assessment as possible. The district should conduct analysis of the test after each administration to assure validity and reliability. The district should develop a District Assessment Plan that assures that all of the steps in this process are carried out effectively. This is critical to the continuity needed in this process. The development of quality Quarterly Assessments is a critical step for the steps that follow. This step creates the opportunity to provide the district with the information needed to improve instruction and for prescriptive remediation of students.

Step 4

Chapter 4

Site Improvement Plans Focused on Student Data

The fourth step in the process to improve test scores is developing Site Improvement Plans which are focused on student data. In previous chapters, it has been outlined how to develop quality state and district assessments to determine where the district is and what progress each student is making. In this step, it will be outlined how a district and a site take that information and develop plans on improving each site based on the data. It is only by basing the Site Improvement Plans on this valid information that a site can expect to improve. The site should utilize test results to develop the Site Improvement Plan. A site must take advantage of the data it receives to adjust the plan and to plan for the rest of the current year and all of the next year. The principal and teachers should analyze all of the state and district testing data. They should utilize the Site Report Card that they receive from the State Department of Education as pertinent data as they develop their plan. They should draw conclusions from this analysis. This will assist in developing plans which are focused on the correct information. The site should list all of their objectives—listing the ones the students did the weakest on to the ones on which their students scored the strongest. This will easily identify the objectives that need the most attention. With this information, the site should develop its Site Improvement Plan. The principal should develop a Principal Test Score Analysis to report to the curriculum directors and to the superintendent. This information will assist the principal in identifying the areas of most concern and demonstrating that there is a plan to improve test scores. The district should develop a timeline on when each report should be reported to the curriculum directors to keep the focus on the Site Improvement Plan throughout the school year. The 61

62

Chapter 4

principal and teachers should revisit the Site Improvement Plan throughout the year and make revisions as necessary. This focus on assuring that the Site Improvement Plans are based on student data will keep the sites focused on their common mission of existing for student achievement.

ANALYSIS OF STATE TESTING DATA The district and each site should receive results of their state testing disaggregated by different subgroups. This data is extremely beneficial to examine the strengths of the site and the areas that need additional focus. The site principal and teachers should utilize this data to determine trends in increasing or decreasing scores on certain objectives. The site should detail the competencies that their students mastered on each objective. Careful attention should be given to the areas which were set as the focus for that year. This will assist the site in determining if its interventions the past year were beneficial to improving the objectives on which they focused or if different interventions need to be implemented. The site should also examine how each subgroup fared on each objective. This is critically important. One of the goals should always be to close the achievement gap between different ethnic groups or other subgroups. This can only be discovered as the site carefully analyzes the test data. The site should carefully analyze each subgroup to determine if there are any discrepancies among the way the subgroups scored. If discrepancies exist, a careful analysis should be conducted to determine what caused the discrepancies and what interventions need to be implemented to meet the needs of those students. It is useful to compare the scores with previous years’ data. By doing this, the site can determine trends over periods of time. This should be done by objective, subgroup, and any other disaggregation of data available. It may be useful to also make three-year trend charts. That is when a site examines three years together as a group on a graph. Some believe this is a better way of determining trends. Another useful tool is to examine the data by cohort groups. Longitudinal metrics of groups of students over their entire test-taking career in the school district can provide valuable information. Many educators comment on classes that are not as gifted academically as others. These longitudinal metrics of cohort groups should assist in providing that information early to educators and allow a site to develop plans to assist that class with needed interventions. The State Department of Education should also send the district a District Report Card (see Figure 4.1) and each site a Site Report Card. These report cards are valuable in analyzing data. In some cases, some of the

Site Improvement Plans Focused on Student Data

63

disaggregation is already put into a useful format to measure the subgroups’ proficiency. Utilizing the report cards and comparing them to previous years can make an easy visual while analyzing data. It also gives the site information that parents and community members will be viewing. This can be

Figure 4.1. District Report Card.

64

Chapter 4

helpful as the site attempts to improve its results that will be reported to the public. It is helpful to develop charts and graphs to display the data. These charts and graphs assist the site as visuals to determine trends. A site can develop the graphs that will be most beneficial to them and their constituencies to more easily determine the objectives, subgroups, or students for which to develop interventions.

DRAW CONCLUSIONS FROM ANALYSIS After the site has invested the necessary time and effort to comprehensively analyze the available data from state testing results and the Site Report Card, then the site should draw valid conclusions from the analysis. The conclusions must be based entirely on the data and the analysis of it. The analysis should be in a format which will easily allow the site to develop conclusions. The conclusions should list what the site is doing well and the reasons for it. They should list what objectives the site as a whole is struggling with mastering and the potential reasons for it. The conclusions should also list which subgroups are not mastering certain objectives and the determination on what is causing the discrepancy in the success of those students. It should also list any unusually high number of students who are not mastering certain objectives—even if they are not of a known similar subgroup. The conclusions should list any trends over a period of time and what is possibly causing the trends and what can be done to replicate it (if it is a positive trend) or to combat it (if it is a negative trend). These conclusions are going to be the basis of developing the Site Improvement Plans. Therefore, the site should take care in making valid assumptions from the data. All assumptions and conclusions must be documented and supported by the data. This will assure that the Site Improvement Plans are based on valid conclusions and that effective plans can be developed to meet the needs outlined in the analysis of the data.

DEVELOP SITE IMPROVEMENT PLAN With the conclusions from the analysis of the testing data, the site now has the information to develop a Site Improvement Plan. The Site Improvement Plan will be the blueprint for the site to improve over the next school year. This plan should be developed jointly by the principal and the staff. It should be accepted by the entire staff as their focus for the next year. They should be aware of the plan and be supportive of the action steps throughout the year to assure its success.

Site Improvement Plans Focused on Student Data

65

SITE IMPROVEMENT PLAN District Strategic Plan #1: (List the District Curriculum Goal Here) Site: _____________________________________ Date: ___________________________________________ Site Team Members: ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ Site Improvement Action Plan # _____ Five Year Improvement Goal: The percentage of students who will be at or above proficient status in __________ will be ____% by May of 20?? as assessed by the __________ (state, district or school assessment). Annual Improvement Goal: The percentage of students who will be at or above proficient status in __________ will be ____% by May of 20?? as assessed by the __________ (state, district or school assessment). Specific high-scoring student achievement standards (areas of strengths) based on data analysis: (Must include data from state mandated tests.) (There should be a spreadsheet attached of test data from ongoing assessments that the site could annually update.) Specific low-scoring student achievement standards (areas targeted for improvement) based on data analysis: (Must include data from state mandated tests.) The site should identify the student sub group that it is using to report this data. (There should be a spreadsheet attached of test data from ongoing assessments that the site could annually update.) Assessment Plan for Ongoing Evaluation of Student Achievement Growth for Target Group: (The site must include a timeline.) Solutions for Improved Student Achievement for Target Group: (The site should include a description of the changed learning experience for the students centering on the instructional time within the student’s regular classroom environment. There should be a timeline indicated for implementation. Instructional solutions should be implemented in short cycles that are continually adapted based on on-going assessment data. Narrative Describing Results: Formative results: (To be reported in January and May) Summative results: (To be completed after state testing results are returned to the site) Figure 4.2. Site Improvement Plan Template.

66

Chapter 4

The Site Improvement Plan (for a template see Figure 4.2) will list the site, date, and team members. It will specifically list each of the five-year improvement goals and the annual improvement goals. The Site Improvement Plan will list areas of strength and areas which are targeted for improvement. It will list the assessment plan to evaluate the achievement growth of the targeted areas. The Site Improvement Plan will describe what interventions will be implemented to improve the targeted areas. It will give dates to examine progress during the year. The Site Improvement Plan should list the professional development plan to assure that the staff is well prepared to implement interventions of the plan. At the end of the year, there will be a summative list of results to demonstrate the success of the plan. (In Appendix B is an example of a plan that has been completed by a site.) To assist the school board and others looking at several Site Improvement Plans, a cover page called a Site Improvement Plan Summary (for an example see Figure 4.3) has been developed. This gives all of the pertinent data in an easy-to-read format on one page. This is convenient when a group is looking at several plans and wants to see the key points in an executive summary format. The Site Improvement Plan must be followed by the entire staff. All staff members should “sign off” on the plan. Each staff member should develop plans to reinforce and support the Site Improvement Plan. The principal should speak of the plan often with the staff, and during instructional and faculty meetings he should report on the progress in meeting the plan. The principal should post the plan in the building and on the school site’s website. This is the document by which he will be measured by his supervisors. This is the plan he will report to the superintendent and the school board at a board meeting. The entire staff must be working toward the success of the Site Improvement Plan. While this section is focusing on Site Improvement Plans, a district should also develop a District Improvement Plan. The district should utilize the same process as described for the sites to use. This will assure that the district is focused on developing plans for student achievement improvement. WEAKEST TO STRONGEST Another important element to developing the Site Improvement Plan is developing plans to improve each individual objective. A site should list all of the results of state testing by objectives (see Table 4.1). The site should then list those objectives in order beginning with those in which the least number of students mastered to those in which the most number of students mastered

Site Improvement Plans Focused on Student Data

67

Site Improvement Plan Summary Name: Principal School: Elementary School One

Year: 2008-09

List goals from last year and progress: 2007-2008 Site Goals 1. Reading: 3rd –5th graders would score proficient or better in Figurative Language. 2. Math: 3rd-5th graders would be proficient or better on OCCT.

2007 2008 Scores Goal 75%

90%

96%

89%

List goals for this year in each API area, expected results and strategies to improve. Elementary and Middle School sites will complete items 1 – 3. Mid-High and High Schools will complete items 1-5. 2008-2009 Site Goals 1. Reading: 100% of students in third through fifth grades will score proficient or better on the OCCT.

2008 2009 Scores Goal 99%

100%

Strategy: Differentiated instruction through the use of the cluster grouping model, flexible groups, curriculum compacting, enrichment, and/or acceleration. 2. Math: 100% of students in third through fifth grades will score proficient or better on the OCCT.

97%

100%

Strategy: Differentiated instruction through the use of the cluster grouping model, flexible groups, curriculum compacting, enrichment, and/or acceleration. 3. Attendance:

2008 2009 Rate Goal 96.87% 97%

Strategy: We will work to increase parent and student awareness of the importance of attendance. We will include information in newsletters and at parent-teacher conferences. The attendance secretary will communicate with parents regarding absences and the importance of attendance. Figure 4.3. Site Improvement Plan Summary Example.

68

Chapter 4

Table 4.1. Weakest to Strongest Objectives School_____________________ Grade: ________________ Content Area ____________ Percent Proficient

Skill

State Objective

(weakest to strongest). This will be an asset in developing the blueprint for the plan for the year. The site will obviously analyze all of the results and attempt to make adjustments to improve the students’ mastery of each objective. However, once the list is made of the weakest to strongest objectives, the site

Site Improvement Plans Focused on Student Data

69

will develop a plan on improving those items which are the top three (the weakest) on the list. A site will make the most gain on improving test scores by concentrating on improving those three objectives on which the students performed the lowest. By attempting to make the weakest objectives the site’s strongest, it will have the statistical advantage to make the most significant gain in test score improvement. Principals should work with teachers to develop a plan on how their site will improve those three objectives. After the staff develops the plan focused on raising their three weakest objectives, these action steps will become a component of the development of the formal document—the Site Improvement Plan for that school site. Teachers should develop plans to improve those objectives. The Site Improvement Plan should be submitted to the superintendent and the principal’s supervisor for acceptance. Metrics should be developed to measure if the objectives were met. It should be reviewed with staff at several intervals throughout the year. The progress should be reported during the year. At the end of the year or during the summer, when testing data is made available, a formal listing of the results of how students mastered these identified weakest objectives should be presented to the staff. In addition, steps should be put in place on improving each of the rest of the objectives. Teachers should work to develop plans on improving each objective through different teaching strategies, more focus on certain objectives, or focus on a student-by-student basis. In addition to the Site Weakest to Strongest Objectives, each department and/or grade level at the site should develop a Weakest to Strongest form for their department or grade level at the site. The department or grade level should then develop plans to improve the three weakest objectives of their department or grade level. And finally, each teacher will complete a Teacher Weakest to Strongest Objectives (see Table 5.1) from the current data they receive. The teacher will also develop plans to adjust her instruction based on this information. It is by having the district, site, department or grade level, and each teacher working on raising the weakest objectives in their area, that the district will receive the compounded impact of improvement. This improvement will be considerable, immediate, and sustainable.

PRINCIPAL TEST SCORE ANALYSIS Each year the principal should prepare a Principal Test Score Analysis (see Figure 4.4). This is a simple document that allows the principal to document to his building, his supervisor, and the superintendent his analysis of the

70

Chapter 4

Principal Test Score Analysis Name _________________ School _________________ Year __________ List of three most improved objectives: 1. ___________________________________________________________ 2. ___________________________________________________________ 3. ___________________________________________________________ Your analysis of what caused the significant improvement in these objectives: _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ Fill out the Weakest to Strongest Objectives Scores for each Department (Secondary) or Grade Level (Elementary) and attach to this form. Using this data, list the three Weakest objectives: 1. __________________________________________________________ 2. __________________________________________________________ 3. __________________________________________________________ Give detailed strategies you are going to do this year to improve these objectives: 1. ___________________________________________________________ 2. ___________________________________________________________ 3. ___________________________________________________________ Figure 4.4. Principal Test Score Analysis.

student testing data. The form is intended to be simplistic and concise. The information should be succinct. The Principal Test Score Analysis should list the principal, name of the site, and the year. The principal will list the three most improved objectives his site had last year. The principal will then list the analysis of what caused the gains in those areas. The intent for this section is to have the site consider what caused these gains and to internalize it. This will allow them to replicate the scores next year, if they know what caused the gains. In addition, it gives information that may be useful to other sites that may need to improve those

Site Improvement Plans Focused on Student Data

71

particular objectives. Therefore, analyzing the reason for the gains on these objectives is a powerful tool for continual improvement. The principal will then list the site’s three weakest objectives. After the weakest objectives are listed, the principal will list the strategies and action steps developed by the principal and the staff to improve those objectives. The goal is to focus attention and to develop effective interventions and strategies to make the weakest objectives the strongest ones the next year. This has to be achieved while still working at the same level on all of the rest of the objectives, thereby assuring that they continue to score as high as previously. By utilizing the simple tool of the Principal Test Score Analysis, the entire site, supervisors, superintendent, and board members will know what the site’s focus will be for the year. The site will demonstrate its analysis of the data and will display its plans to improve the site’s scores. (See Figure 4.5 for an example of a Principal Test Score Analysis completed.) This will be a simple document to be measured and updated during the school year.

TEST SCORE IMPROVEMENT REPORTING The district should develop a plan for when the sites should report information to the district office (see Figure 4.6). The reporting plan for the next year should be communicated to principals before they leave for summer break. This will allow the principals to be prepared for each expected reporting period. The Principal Test Score Analysis based on state testing and the fourth Quarterly Assessment in grades or subjects where state testing is not given should be due within a couple of weeks after the start of school. In addition, the Weakest to Strongest Objectives form should be filled out and reported at the same time. The data to prepare these documents should be available to the principals during the summer. However, since they should involve the staff in this process before finalizing the report, they should not be expected to report it until the staff returns to school. Within the first month of school, the site should develop a Student Remediation Plan by Objective (this document will be discussed in subsequent chapters) for each student that did not master an objective. The Site Improvement Plan should be fully developed and reported no later than the fifth week of school. Within two weeks after the end of the first quarter, documentation should be developed on how each student who was on a remediation plan during the first quarter mastered those objectives during the first quarter. In addition, the site should list every student who did not master an objective on the first Quarterly Assessment and list the remediation plan

72

Chapter 4

Principal Test Score Analysis Name_________

Site_______

School Year 07-08

List of three most improved objectives: 1) 100% of the 5th grade students scored proficient in math. 2) 100% of the 4th grade students scored proficient in reading. 3) 98% of the 3rd grade students scored proficient in reading. Your analysis of what caused the significant improvement in these objectives Teachers used the lesson study model to design lessons focused on improving student achievement in the specific area of summary and generalization. Teachers engaged in collaborative planning of lessons based on mastery of the PASS objectives. Analysis of the quarterly math assessment results were used to determine which students needed extra help and support. Teachers engaged these students in mini-lessons and/or provided tutoring in the areas where they needed help. Teachers continually collaborated with their peers for support when students were not mastering the objectives or progressing. Teacher participated in a book study of Ruby Payne’s book; Understanding Learning; the How, the Why and the What. List the Weakest to Strongest Objectives Scores for each Department (Secondary) or Grade Level (Elementary) and attach to this form. Using this data, list of three Weakest Objectives at your site: 1) 3rd grade-Reading-Research and Information (6.)-67% 2) 3rd, 4th and 5th grade-Reading- Figurative Language/Sound Devices (4.3)-75% 3) 3rd and 4th grade-Math-Measurement (4.2)-75% Give detailed strategies you are going to do this year to improve these objectives: 1. Continue to emphasize the importance of making sure that our lessons actively engage students in the learning process. 2. Plan lessons that are based on the PASS objectives. Continually assess students and use the results to determine which students need additional instruction. 3. Teachers will write remediation plans focusing on students who did not master the objectives based on quarterly and EveryDay Math assessments. Third grade team members will develop a plan to work with librarian to address the specific objectives. Figure 4.5. Principal Test Score Analysis (Example).

Site Improvement Plans Focused on Student Data

73

TEST SCORES IMPROVEMENT REPORTING By September 10 Elementary: Principal Test Score Analysis Based on State Criterion Reference Test and 4th Quarterly Assessments in grades where CRT’s are not given. Weakest To Strongest Objectives on CRT Secondary: Principal Test Score Analysis Based on End of Instruction and 4th Quarterly Assessments in subjects and classes where EOI’s are not given. Weakest To Strongest Objectives on EOI By September 24 All: Student Remediation Plan by Objective for each student that did not master an objective By October 1st Site Improvement Plans By Two Weeks After Quarterly Assessment Results at end of First Quarter: Documentation of how each student on remediation plan met the previous objectives and a follow-up plan on remediation of those that didn’t. Quarterly Assessment Student Remediation Plan by Objectives for those students that failed to master objectives on the quarterly assessments. By Two Weeks After Quarterly Assessment Results at end of Second Quarter: Documentation of how each student on remediation plan met all previous objectives and a follow-up plan on remediation of those that didn’t. Quarterly Assessment Student Remediation Plan by Objectives for those students that failed to master objectives on this quarterly assessment.

74

Chapter 4

By Two Weeks After Quarterly Assessment Results at end of Third Quarter: Documentation of how each student on remediation plan met the previous objectives and a follow-up plan on remediation of those that didn’t. Quarterly Assessment Student Remediation Plan by Objectives for those students that failed to master objectives on the quarterly assessments. End of Year Begin Analysis of how site met the Site Improvement Plans During Summer Principal Test Score Analysis Based on 4th Quarterly Assessments in subjects, classes, and grades where CRT’s or EOI’s are not given. Figure 4.6. Test Scores Improvement Reporting.

for each student of the interventions that will be utilized to assure that they master those objectives. Within two weeks after the end of the second quarter, documentation should be developed on how each student who was on a remediation plan met those objectives during the second quarter. In addition, the site should list every student who did not master an objective on the second Quarterly Assessment and list the plan on the interventions that will be utilized to assure that they master those objectives. The same process will be utilized at the end of the third quarter. After the school year has ended, the site should utilize the data that is available to begin its analysis of how the site met the Site Improvement Plans. During the summer, the principal should begin the process of developing the Principal Test Score Analysis based on the fourth Quarterly Assessments in grades or classes that are not tested by the state. As soon as the state testing is received during the summer, the principal will continue to complete the Principal Test Score Analysis and develop the Weakest to Strongest document.

REVISING THE PLAN AS NEEDED Oftentimes, even with the site’s best effort, the interventions selected do not produce the expected results. Even though, the Site Improvement Plan

Site Improvement Plans Focused on Student Data

75

is based on hard student testing data and the site has done its best effort to make valid assumptions and develop conclusions from the data. The site’s staff may have worked at finding quality research to support the interventions they deem will best meet the needs of the site. Even if the interventions they have select is research-based and the interventions have previously worked at a site they determine should be transferable to their setting. The site may still have to revise its plan if they do not realize the expected results. Even though, the interventions have worked at a site they determine should be transferrable to their setting. Oftentimes, even with the site’s best effort, the interventions selected do not produce the results expected. The site needs to continually monitor results to assure that it is realizing the expected outcomes. If it is not, it should reevaluate the plan and determine if adjustments need to be made to ensure that it has the appropriate interventions in place. The site should be willing to reconsider its plans if that will mean better results will be obtained. A site does not have to wait until the end of the year to make changes to its plan, if it determines from Quarterly Assessments and other ongoing data collection that students are not mastering the objectives at the expected level. The site must be willing to make those changes during the course of the year, if needed. SUMMARY The focus of this chapter is to do something with the information you have available to you. It is vitally important to develop plans based on the student data. Data-based decisions are the only ones that assure that the decisions are based on valid assumptions. The Site Improvement Plans must be based on valid student data. The principals and the sites should conduct a quality analysis of the state testing data. This analysis must be thorough and conclusive. It must be based on reliable student data. The principal and teachers at the site should draw conclusions from the analysis. They should use their best information to develop this analysis. The principals and the site teachers should use this information to develop Site Improvement Plans. The plans should be comprehensive. The site should utilize the Weakest to Strongest Objectives document to assist in designing the Site Improvement Plan. This will assist the site to focus on the weakest objectives. The district should expect the principal to fill out a report from the Principal Test Score Analysis document. This will assure that the principals

76

Chapter 4

are on track to develop quality plans. The district should create a Test Score Improvement Reporting expectation for principals. This will assure that the principal and the site know what is expected in terms of reporting. Finally, the principal and the site need to revise the plan as needed. Monitoring the plan during the year and revising as needed will assure that the plan will meet the expectations of the site. Only as a site develops plans that are based on valid student test data will it assure that it will receive the expected results. By following these steps, the site will develop a Site Improvement Plan which will assure student achievement gains and student mastery of the state objectives that are tested.

Step 5

Chapter 5

Teachers Focused on Meeting Each State Objective

In the next step, each teacher must be focused on meeting each state objective as a district, a site, a department or grade level, as a classroom and for each individual student. Much of the work in the previous chapters has built a foundation for this step. The teacher is the one who makes the difference in the entire plan. The one most critical component to improved student achievement is the adult, the teacher, who is instructing the students on a daily basis. All of the comprehensive, extensive previous effort will only be successful if the teacher utilizes that information to meet the needs of each child in her room individually. If the teacher will utilize the steps in this plan to target students in a prescriptive manner, then student learning and, ultimately, student test scores will improve. The teacher must be focused on teaching only the assigned curriculum. She should not allow extra “fluff” to be a part of her instruction. This will assure that there is enough time for all students to master the curriculum that will be tested. The teacher should utilize a weekly instructional focus calendar based on the Curriculum Map and the Pacing Calendar. The teacher should differentiate the instruction based on the students’ needs and levels of learning. She should incorporate “no new instruction time” as a strategy for remediation and enrichment. The principals should assure that the teachers stay focused on the assigned curriculum by utilizing the Curriculum Walk-Through strategy of observing classroom instruction. He should meet often with teachers to discuss the curriculum that they are teaching in their classrooms. He must continue to keep his site meetings focused on curriculum. He should lead the department heads and grade level heads to utilize their meetings to focus on the curriculum and appropriate pacing of the instruction. In addition, principals should hold their 79

80

Chapter 5

teachers accountable. This accountability will assure that teachers know what is expected of them in regard to the curriculum and instruction. Teachers should adjust their instruction based on the data they receive from the state and Quarterly Assessments. It is after they do their Teacher Weakest to Strongest that they discover what adjustments they need to make to their instruction. Teachers should target students who need remediation. Once teachers examine their data, they should fill out the Objective Remediation Chart. This will assist them in organizing their plan on remediating students. From this information, they will develop the Student Remediation Plan for every student who did not master an objective. The teachers will develop the remediation plan for each student utilizing all of the resources available to them. This process of developing remediation plans will be repeated after every Quarterly Assessment. This will assure that all students are on pace to pass the state testing at the end of the year. FOCUSED INSTRUCTION As discussed in previous chapters, the district curriculum must be aligned with the state curriculum and what is tested on the state tests. Once that is assured, the instruction must be focused exclusively on that curriculum. The curriculum is non-negotiable. Teachers can not determine on their own accord that they are going to change the curriculum. It is a district initiative and must be adhered to by all teachers. Teachers must move away from the special units that are “pet projects.” Teachers must not determine that they have some units they want to teach of their own volition. “The easiest and greatest increases in productivity in knowledge work come from redefining the task and especially from elimination of what needs not be done” (Dufour & Eaker, 1998). The site and teachers must eliminate all units which are not included in the curriculum. One of a school’s major limitations is time. There is not time for those special units. However, if some of those units are used occasionally as reinforcement or after the state testing has been completed, it may not impact the test scores of the current year in an adverse manner. (However, as will be discussed later, a site must consider the time after the state testing as beginning the process of teaching for next year’s objectives.) Teachers must focus their limited time on the assigned curriculum and on assuring that every child is mastering that curriculum.

Teachers Focused on Meeting Each State Objective

81

Teachers must develop their instruction to meet each of the objectives at designated intervals throughout the school year. As discussed in the previous chapter, a Curriculum Map must be developed for each grade and each subject (see Table 3.2). It must list what is expected to be mastered by the student during that class. In addition, the Pacing Calendar should be developed to list what is to be mastered at appropriate intervals throughout the year (see Table 3.3). The Quarterly Assessments should be developed to align directly to the Curriculum Map and Pacing Calendar. This process will direct what is taught when, and will assure that there is adequate time for students to master all of the objectives before state testing. The teachers must utilize the District Curriculum, Curriculum Map, and Pacing Calendar to develop their lesson plans for the year. It is useful to have teachers fill out a Weekly Instructional Focus Calendar. This calendar will be their map for that week. If these are filled out before the year begins, it assists the teachers to stay focused. This will keep the teachers focused on meeting the timeline necessary to cover the entire curriculum before state testing. After the testing data is available, teachers must adjust their instruction based on their own data from the previous year. Based on that information, they may need to improve their strategies for teaching certain objectives. They may need to spend more time on an objective than they did last year. These adjustments should be made by the teacher. The other key component to staying focused is to focus the curriculum to align with the needs of the students. Teachers may need to make adjustments based on the student data from testing. This group of students may be farther along than the previous group or not as far along. The students may need more help in different areas than the previous year’s class. The teacher has to utilize the data to make those decisions. He or she must differentiate the curriculum to match the students’ abilities.

PRINCIPALS’ RESPONSIBILITY TO ASSURE FOCUS ON CURRICULUM Principals should be in the classrooms on a daily basis to determine whether the instruction is exclusively focused on the state curriculum. The aforementioned Curriculum Walk-Through is useful at this point. It allows the principal to walk through classes on a daily basis and assure that the appropriate pacing is taking place. Utilizing this process, the principal is not relegated to waiting on Quarterly Assessment data to know whether the teacher is on the appropriate pace.

82

Chapter 5

The principal should report to the teacher what he observed while visiting his or her classroom. He should ask the teacher to be specific in telling him what part of the curriculum was being taught. He should ask the teacher to report if he or she was on the correct pace as outlined in the Pacing Calendar. The principal should remind teachers that he is expecting them to adhere to the Pacing Calendar. The principal should meet with teachers often to discuss their progress on following the assigned curriculum. It is only by his constant attention to the curriculum that he is assured that his staff is following it. As mentioned previously, the principal must focus site meetings on curriculum, pacing, and instruction. He must also assure that all departments, grade levels, or team meetings are focused on curriculum, pacing, and instruction. The principal is the one who will assure that teachers are focused on the assigned curriculum, following the appropriate pacing, and differentiating the curriculum for the individual needs of their students based on testing data. The principal must hold teachers accountable for following these focused steps. This is a central piece to assure that all students will pass the test at the end of the year. “As a fundamental, moral principle, no child in any school will be more accountable than the adults in the system” (Reeves, 2006). Therefore, teachers must be accountable for how their students master the curriculum. A principal cannot wait until the end of the year to find out that the site is not on pace to meet all of the curriculum or that students are not being remediated at the appropriate level to pass the test. At that point, the site is at a place of no return and can not rectify the situation. The principal must be the leader in assuring that the teachers are meeting these critical obligations to assure success on test day.

ADJUST INSTRUCTION BASED ON STATE AND QUARTERLY ASSESSMENT RESULTS One of the key components of improving test scores is making adjustments and plans for improvements with the data that is available to the site. This begins for the individual teacher with the data that he or she receives from state testing results. The teacher should comprehensibly analyze all of the data that he or she receives from state testing, and should examine the data just as the site did, by analyzing it in total and by each subgroup. The teacher should analyze the data by individual student in the class the previous year, and should do so in detail in order to draw conclusions from the analysis which will assist in the instruction in the current year.

Teachers Focused on Meeting Each State Objective

83

One of the key strategies in this analysis is for the teacher to fill out a chart similar to the one the site does when examining their success on mastering objectives. This chart (see Table 5.1) is the Teacher Weakest To Strongest Objectives chart. The teacher will list all of the state objectives or skills, and how his students as a group scored on it. He will list by the objectives on which they scored the weakest to the ones on which they scored the strongest. This chart is a simple way to examine the objectives on which he needs to focus during the next year. The teacher should intently examine his three weakest objectives and develop extensive plans to improve those objectives. This is a powerful tool which will impact the teacher’s instruction. The teacher should seek out the other teachers who teach that class to determine who has scored better on his weakest objectives. He should have conversations on how they taught those objectives better to cause their students to score higher. He should develop a detailed personal improvement plan to improve those three weakest objectives to cause them to become his strongest objectives. This is the method by which teachers can improve their instruction. The teacher should outline all of the new strategies he needs to incorporate to improve these objectives, additional time that may be needed for instruction, and any professional development that he believes he needs in order to improve them. This prescriptive approach to improving instruction will assist teachers tremendously in improving their instruction.

TARGETING STUDENTS Targeting students who didn’t master an objective is the key to improving test scores. This is the reason to do all of the previous steps from the school board level through this level. A site’s staff must care enough for their students to not let them fail to master the required objectives. If a site does not target and remediate each student on each objective that the student did not master after each state testing and Quarterly Assessment, then all of the previous work in this plan is of little consequence. The teacher must know which students did not master an objective and which objectives they did not master. A district must have a plan in place to give teachers the previous year’s state testing data on their new students before the school year begins. This data is critical for the teachers to be able to develop their class plans. The teachers should utilize the state testing data on the new students to develop plans for remediating the students on the objectives that they did not master. A helpful tool is the Objective Remediation Chart (see Table 5.2).

84

Chapter 5

Table 5.1. Teacher Weakest to Strongest Objectives Teacher____________________ Grade: ______________ Content Area _______________ Percent Proficient

Skill

State Objective

Teachers Focused on Meeting Each State Objective

85

Table 5.2. Objective Remediation Chart Fifth Grade Mathematics 1.0

1.1

1.2

2.1

2.2

2.3

3.1

3.2

3.3

3.4

3.5

3.6

An Objective Remediation Chart should be made for each course at each grade level tested. The chart lists all of the objectives tested by number (or name) in a one-page format. The teacher should list all of his students who did not master an objective on the state testing under the heading of the objective. This will give the teacher an easy-to-read visual of which objectives need to be remediated, along with the names of students who need remediation for that objective (for an example of a form completed, see Table 5.3). This one-page form will become the guide for developing remediation for each student who did not master an objective. This form will be useful to define what needs to be included in the next step.

86

Chapter 5

Table 5.3. Objective Remediation Chart Fifth Grade Mathematics 1.0

1.1

1.2

2.1

Julia Adam

Julia

Julia Aaron

Julia Andrew

2.2

2.3

3.1

3.2

Adam Aaron

Julia Andrew

Aaron Andrew

Vera

3.3

3.4

3.5

3.6

Phil Jim

Zachry

Julia Adam Aaron Andrew Vera Phil Jim Zachry Lisa Dianne Tim

None

STUDENT REMEDIATION PLAN Once again, all of the previous work leads to this next step. This step is the critical component to improvement on test scores. This next step is the prescriptive component of the plan. By having all of the information from all of the previous data, the teacher can develop a prescriptive remediation plan differentiated for each student. It is only by remediating in a prescriptive manner that a site can assure that it will improve test scores.

Teachers Focused on Meeting Each State Objective

87

It is the previous process of assessing and then diagnosing that a site will now have the information to prescribe an individual remediation plan for each student. The teacher should utilize the information from the test data, including the Objective Remediation Chart, and should fill out a Student Remediation Plan (see Table 5.4). In this plan, the teacher will fill out the site, school year, quarter (if it is after the Quarterly Assessment), grade/department, subject/ class, and objective. The teacher will then list each student who did not pass that objective on the state test (or Quarterly Assessment). The next step that the teacher will complete is the plan on remediation of each student on that objective. He will describe in detail what he is going to do to assure that the student will master that objective during the next quarter. In addition, the teacher will list how he will check to determine if the student has mastered that objective. The teacher will do this for each objective. By developing a plan for remediation of every student on every objective that the student did not master and re-checking for mastery, the teacher is taking a prescriptive approach to assure that the student masters all objectives. Even though he did not teach those objectives to those students last year, it is vitally important that the teacher remediate students who did not pass last year’s objectives. If this does not occur, there will be gaps in the students’ learning. Some of those gaps could cause the students difficulties in later years as they attempt to construct new knowledge on knowledge, skills, and objectives that they were to have previously mastered. By remediating as soon as the gap is recognized, the student has a better opportunity to learn the deficient objectives.

STUDENT REMEDIATION IMPLEMENTATION The remediation of students must be well-planned. The teacher should utilize all of the information available to design a remediation plan for each student who did not master an objective. It must be specific to that student. In this method of being prescriptive for each student, the teacher will be able to meet each student’s need. As the teacher is implementing remediation, the teacher should create the plan regarding what will best help this student to master the deficient objective. The plan should be specific for that student (although, more than one student could be remediated in similar ways). The teacher has to determine the best instructional delivery method for that student.

88

Chapter 5

Table 5.4. Student Remediation Plan Site ___________ School Year_________ Quarter _______________ Grade/Dept. _______________ Subject/Class ____________Objective: _________ STUDENT

REMEDIATION PLAN

How are you going to check to assure that remediation has worked? ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________

Teachers Focused on Meeting Each State Objective

89

The teacher should utilize direct, individual, or small group instruction as much as possible. However, there are numerous methods of intervention that should be considered. Technology may be a means for the teacher to remediate a particular objective. Utilizing computers with integrated learning software, which is prescriptive for what the student needs, can be a good instructional delivery method for some students. Utilizing additional resources such as alternative textbooks, other resources, or innovative programs may assist the teacher in providing remediation. The teacher needs to accept the concept that for some reason the traditional instructional method utilized did not meet that student’s needs of learning styles, and he should be willing to try other methods during remediation. Every effort has to be put into the process of remediating the student—regardless of the effort required.

IDENTIFY TIME FOR REMEDIATION The teacher has to identify when the remediation will take place on the Student Remediation Plan. Oftentimes, this is one of the greatest challenges. While one method may be to utilize time before and after school, on weekends, or during the summer, some students will not choose to avail themselves of these opportunities. (Even so, the site should make these opportunities available.) Therefore, the time for remediation must be factored into the time that students are required to be at school. There are many different ways that teachers can craft this into their day. Some will utilize the time during which other students are at learning centers. Some sites will create time in their schedule for remediation while other students are involved with enrichment. Many times, students who need remediation will be taken from an elective or specials class for remediation. While many do not want to take a student from an elective, this work is vitally important. If students do not have the basic skills in reading and math computation, they will not have success in other subjects throughout their school career. Therefore, a site needs to find the time for this work, even if students are taken from an elective class. Another method utilized by some sites to find time for remediation and enrichment is what is called “No New Instruction Time.” During this time, the teacher does not teach any new concepts. The teacher utilizes this time in his day to remediate students, enrich other students, or assist students who need a little extra help in understanding a concept that was taught that day. This gives the teacher time for remediation.

90

Chapter 5

Creating time in the day for remediation is of paramount importance. The principal should have teachers report to him or her when they are setting aside time for remediating students. The time when remediation is occurring must be identified on the student’s remediation plan.

REASSESS STUDENTS FOR MASTERY The teacher must indicate on the Student Remediation Plan how he will reassess the student to assure mastery of the objective. The assessment does not have to be the full-blown state testing instrument or a full Quarterly Assessment. However, it must be done by the teacher in a manner that will assure that the student now has full understanding of that objective and will demonstrate mastery of it on the state test. It is recommended the teacher create a few test questions for each of the objectives to utilize for this reassessment. As the teacher remediates the student, he should have a good indication the student is ready for a quick assessment. This gives validity to what the teacher probably already knows about the student’s mastery of the objective.

REVIEW PROGRESS AND UPDATE EVERY QUARTER AFTER QUARTERLY ASSESSMENTS The process detailed in this section is very important at the beginning of the school year to assure that students have mastered last year’s objectives. However, each quarter after each Quarterly Assessment, the site will follow the same level of analysis as described above for the state testing. Since the district has the Quarterly Assessments during the school year, the site will have the opportunity to remediate those students before they take the state test. This is a great advantage to improving test scores in the current school year. An individual remediation plan must be developed for each of the students who did not master an objective on the first Quarterly Assessment. The teacher should utilize the same documents—the Objective Remediation Chart (see Table 5.2) and the Student Remediation Plan (see Table 5.4) for developing this plan. Just as during the first quarter based on state testing, the site should provide interventions for the students who did not master an objective. This will create an opportunity for the students to become proficient.

Teachers Focused on Meeting Each State Objective

91

The site must determine what will assist these students to move to the level of proficiency needed to master the objective before the upcoming state testing at the end of the year. Just as during the first quarter, the interventions may include tutoring, computer assistant learning, and additional intervention materials. The site must be willing to do whatever it needs to do in order to assure that each student will become proficient on those objectives during that quarter. Once again, the teacher must reassess the students to make certain that they master that objective. After the next Quarterly Assessment, the site will revise its plan, identify students who need remediation on certain objectives for the next quarter, and repeat the entire process again. The same process will be conducted after the second quarter and the third quarter. By utilizing this process, the site will have the opportunity to address student remediation immediately throughout the year instead of waiting until after state testing to know if a student is deficient. This process will allow teachers to correct student deficiencies before state testing. This plan is to assess the students, diagnose their deficiencies, and prescribe a plan to meet those deficiencies. This will allow the site to know exactly what to expect on state testing day and to have the best opportunity to prepare all students for the testing.

TEST SCORE IMPROVEMENT PLAN FLOW CHART This Test Score Improvement Plan (see Figure 5.1) is a comprehensive plan. It is based on assessments, diagnosing students’ weakness, and prescribing an individual plan for them. This plan closes up the loop on any gaps in student learning and assures that each student will be successful. The plan analyzes state testing results and an examination of the weakest to strongest objectives. From that information, the site completes a student remediation plan, and then remediates students and reassesses them for mastery. In addition, the teacher adjusts instruction based on the report. At the end of each quarter, the same process is duplicated. This assures that the students are mastering the entire curriculum during the current school year. The process is repeated after each quarter. At the end, there is a review for the state testing just prior to administering the state tests. After the test, the teacher begins teaching next year’s objectives. After the site receives the state testing results, the process starts again by analyzing the state test results. This plan is comprehensive in assuring that no student’s needs are being neglected.

92

Chapter 5

Figure 5.1. Test Score Improvement Plan Flow Chart

Teachers Focused on Meeting Each State Objective

93

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS If a district or site determines that it needs additional assessments or needs to assess at shorter intervals in order to have the needed information to remediate, it should do so. There is not a magic timeline for assessments. They need to be conducted often enough for the site to have the information it needs to remediate students during the school year. The site should assist students by training them in test-taking strategies. It is important that students have an opportunity to view the format of the state test, and be able to practice on that format before the state testing. The Quarterly Assessments should be developed in the exact format as the state test. The teacher should prepare students for strategies on how to take that type of test whether it is multiple choice, true/false, short response, etc. The teacher should craft some of the chapter or unit tests in the same format as the state test. In addition, there are some test-prep materials that can be purchased which are useful to assist teachers in preparing students for testing. A site does not want the format of the test to limit its students in demonstrating their knowledge of the objectives. While briefly mentioned previously, it is extremely important for the district to provide this year’s teachers with the state test data by objective for each of the students that the teachers have this year before school starts. This allows the teachers to fill out the remediation plan for the students before they enter the next classroom. This is useful for the teachers to be prepared to start the year with those students. Another important consideration is the time after state testing. Many times, the state testing is completed four to six weeks previous to the end of school. Too often, the time after state testing is considered a time to relax. Many times the teachers will teach their pet units during that time or take field trips. However, a district has too few teaching days to take time off of teaching the curriculum. The time after state testing has to be utilized. The teachers should start the process of preparing their students for next year’s testing. They should work with the teachers at the next grade level, or the next secondary course in the normal progression of classes in a secondary school, to determine the next objectives that will be taught next year. The teacher should begin teaching those objectives for next year. This will better redeem that time. This is excellent practice by the teacher (even thought the scores do not count on his state testing data). The principal should continually be attempting to improve her site. She should support the teachers and attempt to help them improve. She should hold them accountable and should expect excellence from her staff. The

94

Chapter 5

principal should model professionalism and should always demonstrate to the staff that the focus will be on the students. The principal should attempt to create a positive climate in the building. This is important if the site is going to develop a focus on student achievement and focus its efforts on the students. The principal should attempt to hire and retain the best teachers available. She should put the right teachers in the right seats on the bus. By hiring the best possible staff, putting them in the right positions, giving them data, and focusing and setting high expectations, the principal can expect good results. The principal and teachers must continue to utilize data to make all decisions. The principal should be putting data in front of the teachers often. She should be expecting them to assist in analysis of the data. By working collaboratively, the site will develop the best plans possible. In addition, when decisions are made to add programs or strategies, sites should utilize all good programs. However, they must be research-based, data-driven, and transferrable to their setting.

SUMMARY The teachers must focus their instruction on the assigned curriculum. This will assure the best opportunity for their students to be prepared for state testing. The principal must assure that this focus is in place. Teachers must adjust their instruction based on state and Quarterly Assessment results. This will assist them in improving their instruction. The teachers must determine which students did not master an objective and develop an individual remediation plan for those students. This is done by targeting individual students who did not meet the proficiency level of performance on state testing. Plans must be developed to remediate the students on each objective in which they did not meet the level of proficiency. The site must not neglect these students, but rather must help them to master those objectives. Otherwise, the students will be advanced to higher grades or classes with gaps in their learning. At some point, they will not be successful. The site must find the time in the school day for remediation. It should reassess the students for mastery of those objectives in which they did not previously demonstrate mastery. This process must be repeated after each quarter. By following this plan, the site has the best possible process in place to assure that every student masters the curriculum. This is a proven strategy which will be successful at any school site, at any level, and at any previous level of proficiency.

Teachers Focused on Meeting Each State Objective

95

This plan is called prescriptive intervention. This is a process of assessing students to determine their current level of proficiency. Next, the site diagnoses the assessment to determine deficiencies. Finally, the teacher utilizes this information to prescribe the intervention plan to help students master the objectives. Thus, the prescriptive intervention is to assess, diagnose, and prescribe. A site must assist every student to master every objective by utilizing this plan.

Chapter 6

Additional Assistance

While the previous chapters have outlined a detailed, prescriptive plan to assure that a district raises its test scores and that each student demonstrates mastery of the curriculum, there are some additional considerations to assist in a district implementing the plan. These considerations will assist in the district receiving the necessary support to fully implement the plan. While most of the work lies with the district staff and school board, the district needs a community supporting the mission. This can only be achieved by effective communications with the community. The district needs the community to support the schools in every way. The best avenue to garner that support for the district vision is for it to be their vision. If patrons are involved with the process of developing the vision, they will have ownership in the plan. They will make it much more successful than it could have been without their ownership. It is important to inform the community of the focus of the district. The community is a vital key to the success of the plan, so the district should involve members of the community in several of the committees of the district. They should be involved in curriculum committees. Parents should serve on every Site Improvement Committee. The goals of the district should be communicated to the community often. Patrons should be aware of what the district focus is and how that focus was developed. The first they hear of the district vision and focus should not be when they are being told that a request cannot be met because it is not part of the district vision. The district should develop a plan for community engagement. This plan should assist the community to develop a sense of ownership and partnership in the school district. 97

98

Chapter 6

The district should invest in a communications director who continuously informs the community about the district vision, mission, and focus. He should not only be the cheerleader publicizing the positive accomplishments of the students, staff, and district, but also should keep the community informed as to what the district is doing to improve student achievement. The communications director should also create opportunities for the district officials to receive information from the community. Community relations should be a two-way street. It is imperative for the district to know what the community values and what they want their school district to be. The more the community is aware and accepting that the primary focus of the district is on student achievement, the more assistance the district will receive from the community when a special interest group is raising an issue on focusing more attention on its interest. If there is not “buy-in” by the community previous to that time, then there will not be any place to solicit support for focusing resources and attention on the district vision. The district should work with the community to develop a mentoring program for students who need a positive role model. In addition, the district should develop a rich tutoring program to assist students who may be struggling to learn. Volunteers from the community can be a valuable resource for assisting with both of these key areas. A strong working relationship should be developed by the district with state legislators. This can assist the district when requesting important legislation that could assist to improve test scores such as more school days and moving the testing dates to later in the school year. In addition, developing a relationship with the state education officials may be valuable to securing assistance when needed. The district should be involved with national and state educational organizations. This relationship can bring a level of expertise and research to a district that might not otherwise be available. The district should develop a strong relationship with all individuals, groups, and organizations that can assist them in this important mission of assuring that every student is succeeding in mastering the entire curriculum. These relationships are valuable to meet this goal.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT The school district should develop methods to engage the community in the school district. According to the New England School Development Council (2003), school boards should “Engage the community and staff to set a direction for the district (mission), provide a structure by establishing policies,

Additional Assistance

99

ensure accountability, and provide community leadership on behalf of the district children. The Leadership team engages in an ongoing, two-way conversation with the entire community.” This communication should develop a partnership with school patrons on what their part is in improving student achievement. It should assist them in developing a sense of ownership in the district mission. According to Heifetz (1994), leaders “must challenge their community to face problems for which there are not simple, painless solutions—problems that will require learning new ways.” The district should lead the community to understand the current level of performance of the district and to realize the district’s deficiencies. They should assist in assaulting the barriers that are hindering the district from helping all children to learn. They should inspire the community, employees, and everyone who has a stake in the school district to “join in” in meeting the mission of the school district in assuring that all students are successful.

COMMUNICATION WITH THE COMMUNITY In developing a communications plan with the community, it is important for a district to invest time in determining what should be communicated and in what ways. To assist with the development of the plan, a district should consider hiring a director of community relations. This expert can be a great asset to the district in developing the communications plan. This person can build relations with local media outlets. He can assist in determining additional communication methods which were not being utilized previously. One of the key components in the plan for school communications to support the district student academic improvement effort is informing the public. The district should consistently inform the community of the present performance of the district and the plan to improve. Even if the brutal facts are less than positive, the community should know at what level the district is performing, the level it has set as a goal at which it wants to perform, and the plan to get there. The community can only be expected to assist in supporting the plan if they know what that is and what their expected role to meet the goal is. Therefore, the district should communicate the district vision, mission, goals, and objectives often to the public through various mediums. The district should solicit patrons to serve on various district committees. A district has many committees. In order to create ownership from the community for improving district test scores, community members should assist in planning for improvement. Oftentimes, districts verbalize frustration that

100

Chapter 6

community members do not exhibit the same amount of enthusiasm for plans to improve test scores as they do for certain student activities. However, most activities have booster clubs and public performances or games that involve the patrons. They actively invite the public to participate in their activity. If a school district expects support from the public for an improvement plan, then the public should have the opportunity to assist in the development of the plan. Some potential committees that patrons could be valuable in serving on may be the district vision-setting committees where the district vision, mission, goals, and Student Performance Objectives are being discussed and determined. A district should involve patrons on those vision-setting exercises each time it initiates one. Patrons could be included on any curriculum committees. As each site has its Site Improvement Team work on the Site Improvement Plan, parents should serve on those important committees. Patrons should be included on any budget development committees. This will assist in them understanding the challenges with funding many of the plans. Patrons definitely should be included on any Long Range Facilities Planning committees. This will assist in garnering their support for any necessary bond issues for improved instructional space. Each site should develop methods for involving the parents at its site as often as possible. Developing these positive relationships will allow the community to know what the focus of the building is, and to better support that focus at home with their student, at school, and in the community as they interact with other patrons.

RECEIVING COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMUNITY While it is important to communicate to the community, it is just as important to receive communications from the community. Many times, schools do a good job of informing the community about their successes. However, they may not do a good job of creating opportunities to receive input from the community, even though such information would be valuable in developing a plan and giving a perspective of what the community wants the students to be upon graduation. A district should develop several forums for patrons to give their perspectives. Some of the aforementioned committee opportunities are valuable methods of receiving input. Public meetings can be a good method of receiving information. Even the opportunity for patrons to send ideas and suggestions to a link on the website has been found to result in fruitful information for school districts.

Additional Assistance

101

The superintendent should create opportunities to interact with parent groups. The superintendent should develop a method to meet with leaders of parent support groups. The superintendent/parent councils allow the superintendent an opportunity to relay information which she would like for the group to communicate back to the parent support groups at each site, and allows an opportunity for her to hear what questions and concerns the site parent support groups have. The superintendent may host an annual Former School Leader Luncheon. This could be an opportunity to interact with previous school board members and retired administrators. This group of leaders can offer invaluable insight for the district. In addition, they can be some of the best supporters of the district improvement plan if they are apprised of it. Another group that can be a great resource, both to offer input and to be good supporters in the community, is the retired teachers. These retired educators have a wealth of experience to offer the district.

BUILD RELATIONS WITH COMMUNITY LEADERS In order to more effectively succeed in improving the test scores of all children, a school district will need the support and assistance of all groups in the community. The often-quoted African proverb, “It takes a whole village to raise a child,” is never more evident than in the process of assisting all students to master the curriculum. In the case of students who are easy to instruct to mastery, the district is probably already helping those students to succeed. However, the students who have not mastered the objectives at that point are probably the most difficult to move to mastery. The statistics will bear out, in most cases, that these are the students who have the most challenges at home that the district can not change. These are the students for whom the district needs the most help from the community in order to meet their needs. Therefore, building relationships and developing partnerships with the community is critical. The district should develop a positive relationship with the local Chamber of Commerce and the businesses which belong to it. This organization can assist in organizing groups to support the school district. In addition, the district should develop strong partnerships with the civic clubs in the community. These organizations can generate groups of volunteers to assist in tutoring and mentoring. The same is the case with developing partnerships with churches. The churches should be solicited to adopt schools. Again, these partnerships can generate human resources to assist in the tutoring and mentoring programs.

102

Chapter 6

Relationships should be fostered with local elected officials as well as with other business, city, government, and university officials. All of these relationships can be beneficial to a school district as it works to help each student pass all of the objectives on state testing. When these groups understand the goals and the plan, they are more able to support them. In addition, these groups can be a valuable resource for tutoring and mentoring, and perhaps even with financial resources.

DEVELOP A MENTORING PROGRAM A school district should develop a mentoring program to support certain students who may not have the support from their home as needed. The mentoring program should be well-planned and purposeful. The mentors must be well-trained as to their role in this process. While mentors cannot replace well-intentioned parents, they can be a support for students. The mentors should be allowed to view appropriate data to allow them to check on student attendance, homework completed, and discipline issues. The mentor should develop a relationship with his or her student first, and then move into supporting those success factors with the student.

DEVELOP A RICH TUTORING PROGRAM Similar to the mentoring program, a district should develop a rich tutoring program. This tutoring can be done at different times and conducted in several different methods. It can be done during the school day, before or after school, during the evenings, during the weekends, or during the summer. It can be individual or small group. It can be teacher focused, softwareenhanced, student provided, or patron provided. The program should be focused on the deficiencies of the student. When utilizing community members to assist with tutoring, the site should make certain that they train the community members. The site should match students with community tutors who are knowledgeable in the field in which the student needs help. The site should provide the tutor with the materials and information about the skills the student needs to work on each time he or she comes to the site. The community tutors should not have to develop their own materials for tutoring. The district should develop a list of the skills the tutors should possess, and should attempt to engage the community groups to volunteer their time and expertise for this important part of assisting each student to succeed.

Additional Assistance

103

DEVELOP RELATIONS WITH THE STATE LEGISLATURE AND STATE OFFICIALS The school district should develop a close working relationship with the state legislators. It should develop an intimate relationship with the local legislators that represent the local community at the state legislature. This relationship will serve the district well as it interacts with the state legislature and State Department of Education on key educational issues. One of the strategies recommended is to develop an informal monthly meeting when local legislators can meet with district officials and a few board members (less than a quorum). This gives the district an opportunity to share issues that are important to the local school district. Time should also be set aside to keep the legislators informed of the district vision, mission, and goals, as well as to solicit their support for the goals of the district. The district should constantly ask the legislature for their help on a few key items. It should continuously request anything that gives the district more local control. That gives the district the freedom to utilize its resources in a way that a district best believes will most improve student performance. The more control that is lost to the state level, the less opportunity the district has to make decisions on improvements that will impact the students they are trying to help. Therefore, the district must remind the legislators often to make decisions to give more local control to the people who are closest to the students—the local board of education. Another issue to request of the state legislators is that the state testing dates be moved later in the school year. This allows more time to prepare the students for the tests. While the district should ask for more schools days to be funded, improvement could be made on the students demonstrating their mastery of the curriculum if the tests were moved later in the school year. This gives more time for the district to prepare its students before the state tests. There is no cost for this decision and it will improve test scores. It will allow the district to change its Pacing Calendars to a more reasonable pace of instruction. The district should continually request the legislature to extend the school year. As mentioned previously, one of the variables that a school district has little control over is time. The additional days, if focused entirely on preparing students to master the curriculum, can be a great benefit in improving the test scores of students. In addition, the district should also request that the legislature fund extending the school day. By extending the instructional day, more time would become available for remediation and enrichment, thereby, increasing prescriptive intervention. The district should also ask the legislature to fund summer school for all students. This gives the district the opportunity to assist students on the cusp of

104

Chapter 6

mastering the objectives to retain their learning during the long summer break. In addition, it makes it easier to develop policies to require students to attend summer school or they would be retained. Having a full, no-cost summer school allows the district to extend its school year for those students most in need. A district should always create a positive working relationship with its local legislators. They should be informed of the limitations placed on the district and of the ways in which the district’s request will help their local school to improve student learning. They can affect legislation that will give the district more local control and more focus on student achievement. While state funding is critical to school districts, a district should guard against only discussing funding with the legislature. The state legislature should assist in improving laws and State Department of Education policies that will help the local school district. In addition, the state legislature should reduce all mandates that are not necessary and not focused on student achievement improvement. According to the Education Commission of the States (2002), state legislatures “may enact or repeal other policies to better support school board and superintendents as they work to meet the new demands for increased student performance, particularly for the nation’s most disadvantaged children.”

NATIONAL AND STATE ORGANIZATIONS The school district should participate in national and state educational organizations. These organizations can provide a great deal of research of what has been successful in other settings in helping students to improve their performance. In addition, they can provide a great deal of professional development for school board members, administrators, and teachers. This support can help when making decisions on programs or strategies to improve the district instruction. Many times, these organizations also provide a voice to congress or the state legislature with their lobbying efforts. It is recommended that school districts support and participate in the national and state organizations they believe best meet their needs.

SUMMARY The tremendous challenge to assure that each student masters all objectives in the state curriculum is too great for a school district to do alone. It must have the support of the entire community and everyone that has a vested interest in the students of the community. To that end, the district must

Additional Assistance

105

develop relationships with many groups. These relationships are valuable in assisting the school district in its mission of educating the students of the community. The school district should engage the community in being involved with their school district. This engagement should lead to a sense of ownership by the community. The district should develop a communications plan with the community to both inform the community and to receive information from the community. The district must develop positive relations with the community leaders. This partnership will assist the district as it utilizes these contacts to develop mentoring and tutoring programs for the students. The district must develop positive relationships with state legislators and state officials. These positive interactions can assist the district as it requests that they develop laws and polices that will support the academic improvement plan. Districts should belong to and actively participate in national and state educational associations. These associations can lend good support to the district mission. The relationships developed through all of these partnerships will support the district’s plan. The challenging students who have the most difficulty getting over the bar will need the assistance of the entire community. To be successful with those students, the district must foster relationships with the community and must actively solicit their support.

Chapter 7

Roles and Responsibilities

To assure that a plan to improve test scores is implemented to success, clear roles and responsibilities must be determined for all participants. The district must agree to these assigned roles and then hold each person accountable for his or her responsibilities. Defining clear roles and responsibilities and then developing an accountability plan will assure that the plan is fully implemented and will assure success. It is only when each individual fulfills his or her responsibilities that the plan will fully impact student learning.

WHO DOES WHAT? The Responsibility Flow Chart (see Figure 7.1) indicates who should be assigned to each of the responsibilities required for the plan to be successful. The flow chart, while simplistic, outlines those responsible to assure that each assignment in the plan is completed. The key for success is consistently implementing the plan and monitoring to assure that all parties are fulfilling their responsibilities adequately.

BOARD OF EDUCATION’S ROLE The school board members fulfilling their responsibilities is the genesis for this plan. The board members must be the trailblazers in focusing attention on student achievement in their actions and in their discussion. The school board must set the vision, mission, goals, and Student Performance Objectives. This is the most important and first action to assure that the plan will be successful. 107

108

Chapter 7

Figure 7.1. Responsibility Flow Chart

The school board should involve all of the stakeholders as they develop the vision, mission, goals, and Student Performance Objectives. After including input from others, the school board must determine the district goals and approve them. Once these have been approved by the school board, the district should assure that the goals are effectively communicated to district staff and the community. The board members should reflect their focus on the objectives by considering them as they make decisions for the district. They should revisit them often to assure that the objectives remain the focus of the district.

Roles and Responsibilities

109

The school board must develop a Board Student Performance Committee to examine student achievement data and to assure that the plan is being implemented. This committee should keep the entire school board focused on the primary mission of the school district—student achievement. The committee should report to the school board student performance data from the district. The Board Student Performance Committee should also recommend to the school board plans to improve student achievement. The school board should develop a plan on receiving the Site Improvement Plans from the sites. They should examine the plans in detail and demonstrate that they value the work the sites are doing in developing the Site Improvement Plans by their interest and attention to the details of the plans. The school board should develop an opportunity for the sites to report their Site Improvement Plans to the entire school board. This detailed attention to the Site Improvement Plans will assist the sites in communicating the focus of the school board. The school board’s role is extremely important. It sets the tone for the entire district in terms of a focus on student achievement and the expectation of continual improvement. The school board should fulfill this important responsibility.

SUPERINTENDENT’S ROLE What is the superintendent’s role in this plan? She is the compass and gives direction. The superintendent points the way, continuing to focus everyone in the organization toward that common, overriding mission of improving test scores. She must have a single focus with dogged determination to not let any outside influence or another worthwhile endeavor detour the vision. Every time someone brings a suggestion to the organization for consideration, she must always ask how it will impact student learning. Many good, worthwhile ideas and suggestions presented by the community, district employees, well-intentioned legislators, or board members may have to be dismissed if it takes the focus of the organization away from the primary mission of student achievement. The superintendent must set the district focus toward meeting the district vision, mission, goals, and Student Performance Objectives which the school board has approved. In all of her actions and discussions with the staff, she must demonstrate that she is focusing the organization on meeting the district vision and goals. She must continually focus all district decisions on the goals of the district, and must continually be asking administrators, teachers, and other district staff to demonstrate how they are progressing in meeting the goals. Her focus on the plan is critical for its success.

110

Chapter 7

The superintendent must assure that the sites are developing the Site Improvement Plans based on test data. She must lead them in utilizing data to make decisions, and must monitor the plans to assure that they are analyzing the data accurately and developing action steps based on good information. Superintendents should provide appropriate professional development for the administrators of the school district which focuses them on improving instructional leadership. Moving building administrators from a position of manager to that of an instructional leader is a big leadership shift. To make this move successful, it is vital to provide the necessary training. The superintendent must provide adequate training and provide the leadership to move building administrators through that paradigm shift in educational philosophy. The superintendent should focus on student performance improvement through all of her meetings, structuring her meetings toward improving instruction. She should move away from discussing operational issues at meetings with principals and teachers unless it is absolutely necessary. She should model what she wants the principals or department heads to be doing at their meetings with their staff—modeling a focus on student performance through all meetings. The superintendent should provide strong leadership for the school district, constantly focusing it toward the students and their achievement. While the employees are definitely important, the students must be the primary focus of the superintendent and she should focus the entire organization on them. A superintendent should have a tremendous passion for students and their success. She should have a great empathy for the students’ future and what the district’s actions will mean for their future and the future of the country. The superintendent should be extremely humble, deflecting praise and building up others who are helping the students to succeed. She should be a servant leader, constantly working for the betterment of the students without any desire to build up her own personal ego. The superintendent has a huge responsibility, and will be much more effective if she delegates responsibilities to others. The superintendent must fulfill her role if the employees in the district are expected to fulfill their roles and responsibilities.

CURRICULUM DIRECTOR’S ROLE Depending on the size of the school district, the district may have Curriculum Directors. If the district is larger, it may have assistant superintendents fulfilling these roles. If it is a small school district, the role of Curriculum Director may have to be filled by the superintendent. This role must be filled by some

Roles and Responsibilities

111

person in the district. It is important for this person to provide the necessary leadership and focus to the principals, teachers, and staff. The Curriculum Directors must reinforce the district focus on meeting the district vision, mission, goals, and Student Performance Objectives. They must hold principals accountable for implementing the plan at their school site and assuring its success. They must provide the necessary leadership for principals in emphasizing the meeting of the plan’s goals. They must provide the necessary training, discussion, and expectation of the principal and the site meeting the plan. They must create a culture of improvement. The Curriculum Directors should develop or cause others to develop (with help from the instructional staff) the Quarterly Assessment Program. This is extremely important work and is necessary for the plan to be successful. Careful attention should be given to the development of these quarterly benchmark assessments. This should have direction from the district office. The Curriculum Directors must be the leaders in assuring that these assessments are developed and administered appropriately. The Curriculum Directors should monitor to assure that the Site Improvement Plans, Quarterly Assessments results, Weakest to Strongest Objectives, Objective Remediation Charts, and the Student Remediation Plans are completed appropriately and with the correct information. They must assure that these documents are utilized for student achievement improvement. The Curriculum Directors must monitor often to assure compliance to the plan. The Curriculum Directors should evaluate principals according to instructional leadership objectives. They certainly should give consideration to operational and management issues. However, they must base most of their evaluation of the principals on instructional issues and certainly on improvement in results of student achievement. If the principals know they will be measured according to these criteria, they will be much more focused on them. If the Curriculum Directors focus their attention on instruction, monitor the progress of student achievement, and evaluate their principals accordingly, the principals will then be inclined to focus their attention on instruction. This process of monitoring what is expected will give the desired results.

PRINCIPAL’S ROLE As with the previous roles and responsibilities, the principal must reinforce the district focus on meeting the district vision, mission, goals, and Student Performance Objectives. This focus has to permeate the entire organization. The principal must assure that focus is evident at her site. The building

112

Chapter 7

administrator must assure that she is communicating the focus on these goals and that she expects the site’s staff to focus on them. The building principal must develop (with her staff) the Site Improvement Plan, administer the Quarterly Assessments, complete the Weakest to Strongest Objectives for the site, and monitor to assure that teachers have completed the Teacher Weakest to Strongest Objectives and the Student Remediation Plans. These must be utilized by the principal and staff for improvement. The principal must monitor the curriculum taught in the classrooms on a daily basis, visiting the classrooms daily. The teachers should recognize that the principal’s focus is on classroom instruction, which, in turn, should be focused on the approved district curriculum. The principal should assure that all meetings and discussions with the staff are focused on instruction. The staff must not doubt her commitment to improved student achievement. The method the principal utilizes to evaluate teachers should be focused on instructional objectives. This will assure that the teachers know that the principal values instruction as the most important function of their role. The principal’s role is critical to the success of the program. If there is a disconnect in this role, the plan will not be as successful. The principal is a linchpin in the plan for improvement. TEACHER’S ROLE The teacher should develop the personal and team’s Weakest to Strongest Objectives. He utilizes this to improve his instruction. In addition, he completes the Objective Remediation Charts and the Student Remediation Plans. From this information, he remediates the students until they achieve mastery of the objectives. Obviously, the teacher’s role is critical for student achievement. He is the person assigned to the student on a daily basis, providing instruction and remediation to assure the success of each individual student in his classes. He will direct the students in the remediation effort, monitoring often the progress of the students. He will be the one who will make the plan a success. PARENT’S ROLE Parents are responsible for their children’s education. They should accept this responsibility. The parent should assure that his or her child is preparing daily for class. The parent should assure that the student is doing his

Roles and Responsibilities

113

homework and assignments. The parent should continually check the student’s grades and talk with the student about the classes and how they are progressing. The parents should reinforce to their child the importance of the testing program and the reasons the child should attempt to do his or her best on the state tests. They should be knowledgeable about the testing and the dates of the testing. The parents should be reinforcing to the child the necessity of being prepared for the state testing. While a school district cannot require that the parents fulfill their responsibilities in the plan, they should continually remind the parents of the need for their assistance. The school district should inform parents often about the role they need the parents to play. They should remind them about the research in regard to the success of students with parents involved in their child’s education. The district should develop a partnership with parents and continually remind them of the role the district needs them to fulfill.

STUDENT’S ROLE The student is the obvious recipient of all of the work by others in the plan. However, the student’s must fulfill their role in order for the hard work of others to be successful. The student should be actively engaged in his learning, preparing daily for class by doing homework and assignments as well as studying. Teachers and parents should work together to assure that the student fulfills his role. If remediation is needed by the student, he should actively participate in all requested remediation. He should give his best effort to meet the objectives in which he is deficient. The student should attempt to be successful on all assessments administered to him. He should know the reasons for the assessments and the reason why his success is dictated by his effort. He should know the consequences if he is not successful on the assessments. While the district cannot control the student’s effort, it should work with students to help them value their education and to make the curriculum rich and relevant for the students. The district should communicate to students the reasons why they should work to be successful and the ways that doing so impacts their future. The student must be a willing participant in this process. However, the district must develop a culture which will foster the students finding value in their experience at school.

114

Chapter 7

ACCOUNTABILITY Throughout the entire process, accountability must be maintained. Through each line of the Responsibility Flow Chart (see Figure 7.1), the person or people in the box above should hold those in the next box accountable. They should remind them often of their responsibilities and hold them accountable through evaluations, monitoring, frequent meetings, and informal discussions. This accountability is paramount to assuring that the plan is implemented to its fullest and that the highest level of results can be expected. It is only by this assurance that a district can realize its highest level of achievement.

SUMMARY The plan to improve test scores in a school district can only be expected to be successful if everyone involved with the plan knows their roles and fulfills their responsibilities. The district must have defined roles and must communicate the responsibilities clearly to each participant. The district must let each participant know who does what and list it on a Responsibility Flow Chart (see Figure 7.1). The board of education, superintendent, curriculum directors, principal, teachers, parents, and students have defined roles in the plan for improving test scores. It is necessary for each person to completely fulfill his or her responsibility. If each person at each level fulfills his or her role, then the plan can be expected to realize success. The plan must have accountability built into it to assure that no step is missed. This is critical to assure during the school year that the plan will be successful. The accountability plan must be well-defined and followed by all participants. The assurance that every child masters every objective is a huge undertaking. However, it is the overriding mission of the school district. Therefore, having a well-planned method of assuring that this plan is successful is important. To guarantee that success, the plan has to assure that everyone involved knows their role and fulfills it. Accountability must be in place to give the district assurance that the students’ needs are being met. If this Responsibility Flow Chart is fully implemented and followed, each student will receive the best possible opportunity to become proficient on every objective.

Chapter 8

Results

The results the district has experienced while developing this plan and implementing it are significant. The district has experienced strong, steady growth. A continuous, upward trend is what a district strives to achieve. Growth that is steady is sustainable. There have been a few blips on the improvement graphs caused by other influences; however, the trend has been toward continually improved scores in most areas. While the scores in the district were not exceedingly low as a school district, compared to many other districts, the improvement in scores are conclusive to demonstrate that every district and every site can improve with this plan. The test score data indicates significant improvement. The data in the figures presented in this chapter list the percentage of students scoring proficient on the state Criterion Reference Test. The district fourth grade scores improved by 2 percent each year in reading to 98 percent proficient (see Figure 8.1). The fourth grade math scores improved by 5 percent the first year and by 2 percent the second year to 96 percent proficient (see Figure 8.2). The fifth grade reading test scores improved from 87 to 89 to 94 percent proficient (see Figure 8.3). The fifth grade math improved from 89 to 91 to 95 (see Figure 8.4), and the fifth grade science improved from 88 to 89 to 96 percent proficient (see Figure 8.5). Sixth grade math improved from 89 to 91 (see Figure 8.6). Eighth grade math improved from 78 to 87 to 89 percent proficient (see Figure 8.7). These are just a sampling of the results over the past few years. This plan has assisted the district to continue to improve—even the sites which were already doing very well. More data on the district’s results can be found in Appendix A. 115

116

Figure 8.1. Fourth Grade Reading.

Figure 8.2. Fourth Grade Math.

Figure 8.3. Fifth Grade Reading.

Figure 8.4. Fifth Grade Math.

Chapter 8

Results

117

Figure 8.5. Fifth Grade Science.

Figure 8.6. Sixth Grade Math.

Figure 8.7. Eighth Grade Math.

In the state, there is a numerical calculation by the State Department of Education to measure a school’s academic progress. It is a measurement primarily utilizing test data with some additional measurements of school completion data (including attendance) and academic excellence. This measurement was developed and first utilized in 2002. The measurement is known as the Academic Performance Index (API). The district Academic Performance Index is publicized by the State Department of Education and is viewed by many as the indicator of a district’s success. The range is from 0 to 1500. A score of 1500 is perfect. The first year, 1000 was the average score.

118

Chapter 8

Figure 8.8. District API.

The Academic Performance Index for the district has improved each year. In 2002, it started at 1084. In subsequent years, it was: 1129, 1207, 1263, 1327, 1347, and finally 1372 (see Figure 8.8). That is strong, steady improvement. With the plans in place, the district should continue to see improvement. By utilizing this plan, not only has the district improved its high ranking in the state on the Academic Performance Index, it has focused on developing a prescriptive plan for each student. This assures that each student will be successful at the next level.

SELECTED SITES All of the school sites improved during the implementation of this plan over a short period of time by utilizing the procedures outlined in this book. Some sites were previously already scoring extremely high; however, they improved by following this plan. The sites scoring the lowest in the district improved dramatically during the implementation of this plan. As an example of a particular school site, Elementary School Seven improved its test scores significantly. This is a Title I site with 59 percent of students qualifying for free and reduced lunches. Their scores improved from 97 to 100 percent proficient in third grade reading (see Figure 8.9). They improved from 94 to 97 percent proficient in third grade math (see Figure 8.10). In fourth grade, they improved from 82 to 100 percent in reading (see Figure 8.11). In fourth grade math, they improved from 73 to 91 percent (see Figure 8.12). In fifth grade reading, they improved from 85 to 94 percent proficient (see Figure 8.13). In fifth grade math, they improved from 91 to 97 percent pro-

Results

Figure 8.9. Elementary School Seven, Third Grade Reading.

Figure 8.10. Elementary School Seven, Third Grade Math.

Figure 8.11. Elementary School Seven, Fourth Grade Reading.

Figure 8.12. Elementary School Seven, Fourth Grade Math.

119

120

Chapter 8

ficient (see Figure 8.14). In addition, their scores improved considerably in social studies and writing (see Figures 8.15, 8.16). The Academic Performance Index of Elementary School Seven improved from 854 in the first year to during subsequent years—1115, 965, 1246, 1347, to an amazing score of 1464 (see Figure 8.17). That is improvement of an unbelievable 610 points.

Figure 8.13. Elementary School Seven, Fifth Grade Reading.

Figure 8.14. Elementary School Seven, Fifth Grade Math.

Figure 8.15. Elementary School Seven, Fifth Grade Social Studies.

Results

121

Figure 8.16. Elementary School Seven, Fifth Grade Writing.

Figure 8.17. Elementary School Seven API.

Elementary School Three improved its test scores even more impressively. This school is also a Title I site with 91 percent of the students qualifying for free and reduced lunches. At one time, this site was on a state needs improvement list. However, with the plan outlined in this book (along with other interventions and a dedicated staff), the site realized remarkable progress. Elementary School Three’s third grade reading score improved from 86 to 95 percent proficient (see Figure 8.18). The third grade math scores improved from 73 to 95 percent (see Figure 8.19). Fourth grade reading scored 100 (see Figure 8.20), and fourth grade math improved from 56 to 100 percent proficient (see Figure 8.21).

122

Chapter 8

Fifth grade reading was 69 percent and improved to 96 percent proficient (see Figure 8.22). Fifth grade math scores improved from 63 to 91 percent proficient (see Figure 8.23). As was the case with Elementary School Seven, other subject areas improved significantly (see Figure 8.24, 8.25, 8.26). Elementary School Three improved its Academic Performance Index from 439 in the first year to subsequent years—801, 844, 1038, 1061, to a phenomenal score of 1451 (see Figure 8.27). That is a total gain of an incredible 1012 API over five years. Those are tremendous results.

Figure 8.18. Elementary School Three, Third Grade Reading.

Figure 8.19. Elementary School Three, Third Grade Math.

Figure 8.20. Elementary School Three, Fourth Grade Reading.

Results

Figure 8.21. Elementary School Three, Fourth Grade Math.

Figure 8.22. Elementary School Three, Fifth Grade Reading.

Figure 8.23. Elementary School Three, Fifth Grade Math.

Figure 8.24. Elementary School Three, Fifth Grade Science.

123

124

Chapter 8

Figure 8.25. Elementary School Three, Fifth Grade Social Studies.

Figure 8.26. Elementary School Three, Fifth Grade Writing.

Figure 8.27. Elementary School Three API.

As a result of all of the work on student achievement improvement, the high school American College Testing Score (ACT) improved over the last few years from a composite score of 22.0 to 22.1, 22.5 and then 22.6. (see Figure 8.28). That improvement is statistically significant.

Results

125

Figure 8.28. ACT Composite.

While the other school sites in the district were already scoring well before the plan was implemented, those sites also raised test scores even higher by implementing the plan. In fact, Elementary School Two climbed to a perfect score of 1500 on the Academic Performance Index, and other sites scored close to perfect (see Table 8.1 and Figures 8.29, 8.30). These test score improvements are the result of working to improve each weak area each year while continuing to work on the areas the district was doing well on the previous year. It is also the result of immediately remediating every student who did not master an objective during the Table 8.1. District Academic Performance Index 2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

Elementary School One

978

962

1202

1312

1386

1405

Elementary School Two

1198

1249

1380

1483

1464

1498

Elementary School Three

439

801

844

1038

1061

1451

Elementary School Four

1017

888

1148

1225

1232

1266

Elementary School Five

1215

1258

1260

1407

1384

1421

Elementary School Six

1236

1308

1359

1429

1455

1456

Elementary School Seven

854

1115

965

1246

1347

1464

Elementary School Eight

X

X

X

X

X

1362

Middle School One

1103

1127

1252

1231

1315

1299

Middle School Two

1168

1119

1285

1002

1338

1345

High School One

1219

1169

1149

1228

1223

1325

High School Two

1229

1030

1142

1215

1231

1295

126

Chapter 8

Figure 8.29. Elementary API Scores.

Figure 8.30. Secondary API Scores.

school year. These results are across all of the sub-groups and all of the demographic areas. The improved test scores were in the schools previously scoring the highest on state testing and the schools that were scoring the lowest. The district results demonstrate that all children improved with this effort. It was further found every school benefited—both high social-economic status schools and high-poverty schools. Also, test scores in all subject areas improved. This plan assisted the school district to improve to an extremely high level of achievement—receiving numerous awards. In light of this data, this plan is transferable to most all settings.

HIGH EXPECTATIONS

Results

127

The district must set high expectations that the plan will be fully implemented by all participants at the highest level. If the district has everyone fulfilling their responsibilities of the plan, good results can be realized at the district, site, teacher, and student level. As the district continues to examine the test score data as it makes improvement, it should continue to raise its goals higher and higher. These expectations must continually be increasing toward the goal of every child mastering every objective. That is the goal of the plan.

SUMMARY The results conclusively demonstrate that the plan works. The district has realized steady but significant growth trends. The sites with the lowest test scores improved tremendously utilizing this plan. The sites which were doing well before also saw improved test scores. This data indicates that the plan is transferrable to any setting. According to the disaggregated data, all student subgroups improved with this plan. This plan, if implemented fully, will help any site to improve.

Chapter 9

Conclusions

By following the recommendations in this book, a district will develop a plan that involves all stakeholders. Once the District Student Performance Improvement Plan has been approved by the school board, the plan will begin to develop. The Site Improvement Plans will have been formulated by the teachers and principal and it will have been approved by the superintendent and the principals’ supervisor as well as reported to the school board in a board meeting. The teachers’ improvement plans will have been developed by each individual teacher and approved by the principal. After the state testing and each Quarterly Assessment, the teachers will document the weakest to strongest objectives in their classroom. After each assessment, the teacher for each targeted student will develop a remediation plan. The plan, when fully implemented, will affect every person in the school district. A very high level of accountability will be in effect for every person in the school district from the school board, superintendent, principals’ supervisors, principals, teachers, and students. By utilizing this plan, a district will improve test scores. The plan outlined in this book is one I refer to as “Prescriptive Intervention.” This plan is not a program that can be purchased. Too many times, educators are looking for the answer from the next new program. Many times, legislators and business people believe they can help educators jump on a new bandwagon that will help all students to pass the tests. The plan outlined here is not a program that can be bought or materials that can be assigned to the students. Instead, the answer is using the prescriptive intervention approach. Educators must assess students often enough to know what their deficiencies are at specific times, and they must diagnose those 129

130

Chapter 9

deficiencies to know what to prescribe for them. Schools must remediate all students according to their needs. Regardless of the programs, strategies, resources, or technologies utilized by a school district, this prescriptive intervention approach is the key. One of the most critical concepts in this plan is focus. The school and all of the participants have to remain focused and not waiver from the plan. When schools attempt to try many different programs and when their professional development training is scattered, oftentimes schools do not have the focus to prescriptively address the needs of their students. The focus is critical for the successful implementation of any plan to improve student achievement. There is a concept in Jim Collins’ book, Good to Great that involves the Hedgehog Concept. In his book, Mr. Collins talks about the Isaiah Berlin essay based on “The Hedgehog and the Fox.” According to the essay, the hedgehog does one thing and he does it better than anyone else. When the hedgehog senses danger, he rolls up into a perfect ball and becomes a sphere of sharp spikes. This protects him from the fox. Since the hedgehog is so proficient at it and does it better than any other creature, it serves him extremely well. Collins says that Berlin used this parable to divide people into two basic groups. One of the groups is the hedgehog group. These people simplify a complex world into a basic principle and use it to guide everything they do. They reduce the complex world into simplistic ideas. However, they are very successful because of this simplicity. In many ways, people may look at the concepts in this book as very simple. The concepts are so basic that many will scoff at their ability to provide the expected results. However, if a district, site, principal, or teacher will focus on the one thing that is the most important to its students’ education (mastering the required state objectives), then they can successfully help each student to succeed. This has been proven in the results outlined from the previous chapter. As a district is implementing this plan (or most any plan for that matter), it requires a great deal of effort to get it started. Another concept Mr. Collins discusses in Good to Great, is the “Flywheel Concept.” The concept is that it is difficult to begin moving the flywheel. However, once you get the flywheel moving, it helps in perpetuating itself. As a district implements the concepts in this book, the flywheel will begin to take over. Principals and teachers will respond to the positive results they will receive. They will become more focused on the concepts and improve even more. The momentum which will develop will help the district continue to improve—even when its test scores are considered good by most standards. The results will continue to be sustained over time. As these concepts

Conclusions

131

are implemented by the district, growth will occur and cause improvement in additional areas. In addition to the prescriptive plan outlined in this book, there is another consideration that overrides any program. As a district considers all of the innovative programs, curriculum, technology, facility upgrades, consulting, and professional development, it must realize the most critical component of improving student achievement is the adult who is assigned to direct the students each day—the classroom teacher. The classroom teacher can make a bad program good and a good program bad. Teachers have enormous influence on the success of the students each day they come in contact with them. A district must take the craft of selecting the best and brightest stars for their classrooms seriously. It may be the most important thing a district does to impact student learning. The district should develop teachers with appropriate professional development. A district should provide them with the tools and leadership they need to be successful. A school owes it to its students to be bold and absolute in eliminating poor teachers. The students deserve the very best, and a district has the control to make that happen by the selection, retention, development, and termination of staffing. The teachers are vital in making this plan work. There it is—The Silver Bullet. If a district will follow this simple blueprint, it will increase its test scores. As stated in the introduction to this book, there are two critical components to improving test scores that will override all of the work of this plan and any other intervention. They are: (1) the courage to do whatever it takes regardless of past personal beliefs and the present culture of the organization and (2) the desire and will to assure that each child has mastered the defined objectives. The main reason to improve test scores is not so that the superintendent will keep his job or to allow the district to stay off of a “school in need of improvement” list. The reason to improve test scores is that it indicates how the students are preparing for their future. The mission of every educator has to be to help each student to reach his maximum potential. We now know how to do it. It is now a decision we have to make on whether we care enough for the children with whom we are entrusted, to make certain that they will have a successful future. Did we get into this profession to have a fun job or as a mission to help build the future? If we determine that we are in this profession to prepare students for their future, and to improve our future way of life in America, then we must not allow any apathy or present culture to keep us from our mission. Our future as a great republic depends on public schools. Education is the great equalizer for students to advance their lot in life. Those are extremely high stakes, and

132

Chapter 9

we must not let our personal apathy keep us from doing whatever it takes to help students be successful. This is a challenge to everyone involved in public education to assure that every student meets every objective. We can not fail. The cost to our children and their future is too great. Thank you for all you do for the children of our great country. Best of luck to you as you develop a plan to help build the future of your students and of our great republic.

Appendix A

In the Illustrations on the following pages are additional results other than what was mentioned in Chapter 8. As can be viewed from these results, the plan will work for all subject areas and all grade levels. As students improve their literacy and mathematics basic skills, the students will improve in social sciences, science, and other areas.

Figure A.1. Third Grade Reading.

Figure A.2. Third Grade Math.

133

134

Appendix A

Figure A.3. Fifth Grade Writing.

Figure A.4. Fifth Grade Social Studies.

Figure A.5. Eighth Grade Reading.

Figure A.6. Eighth Grade Writing.

Appendix A

Figure A.7. Eighth Grade U.S. History.

Figure A.8. Biology I End of Instruction.

Figure A.9. Algebra I End of Instruction.

135

Appendix B

An example of a completed Site Improvement Plan is provided in this appendix. This will prove useful in completing a Site Improvement Plan at another school site. 2008–2009 SITE IMPROVEMENT PLAN DOCUMENTATION The Academic Goal of Vision 2012 is to have the highest API score of the largest 32 school districts in the state. All SIP efforts will focus on the components used to figure the API for the site. The components used to figure the API score for Elementary School Five are: Student CRT Scores 98.3% Students proficient Reading CRT Scores 95% Students proficient Math CRT Scores School Completion 94.5% – Student attendance Site Team Members: Elementary School Five Principal and Reading Facilitator with Classroom, Reading, & Special Education Teachers READING Summative results of 2007–2008 Reading Plan: Our goals were: The percentage of 3rd–5th grade students, with special emphasis on reading plan students, who will be at or above proficient status in reading will be 137

138

Appendix B

100% by May of 2008 as assessed by the OCCT. Based on our data, our site chose to target the growth needs of Research & Information, Accessing Information, Summary & Generalization and Comprehension/Critical Literacy for the 2007–2008 school-year. We, also, worked to increase the number of students scoring in the advanced category by 5%. Our results were: 98.3% of the 3rd–5th graders were at or above proficient status in reading as assessed by the 2008 OCCT. The areas of Research & Information and Accessing Information improved from last year. The pass rate in 3rd grade increased from 67% to 83%. In 5th grade, the pass rate for Accessing Information improved from 83% to 100%. The category of Summary and Generalization saw improvement for the school from 77.7% passing in 2007 to 87% passing in 2008. Although we did not have an across the board 5% increase in our numbers in the advanced category, we did make gains in the area. In 3rd grade, 16% of our students scored advanced. That was up from 10% in 2007. The 4th grade group increased from 7% advanced in 2007 to 8% in 2008. 5th grade went from 21% in 2007 to 20% in 2008. However, the 5th grade cohort group increased the percentage of students in the advanced category from 7% in 2007 to 20% in 2008. Reading Student Achievement SMART Goal 2008–2009 Analysis of site disaggregated student assessment data: 2008 CRT testing results for Full-Academic Year Students at Elementary School Five Grade and subject area

SATISFACTORY OPI range 700–806 %

at or above %

Unsatisfactory Limited OPI range Median Knowledge OPI OPI Range 400–603 % Score 604–699 %

3rd Reading

97

15

82

3

0

800

4th Reading

100

3

97

0

0

793

5th Reading

98

20

78

2

0

777

Appendix B

139

Academic Performance Index Data Relating to Economic Disadvantaged Student Subgroup Percentage of students scoring unsatisfactory or limited knowledge 2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

3rd grade

5%

20%

8%

16%

52.70%

63.7%

4th grade

0%

0%

5%

27%

n/a

n/a

5th grade

4%

0%

25%

17%

17.25%

41.2%

The committee hypothesis is that the majority of our reading plan students fall in the Economic Disadvantaged population. Therefore, our targeted student group is our reading plan students in grades K–5. Reading Achievement Improvement Goal for 2008–2009: The percentage of 3rd–5th grade students, with special emphasis on reading plan students, who will be at or above proficient status in reading will be 100% by May of 2009 as assessed by the OCCT. Based on our data, our site has chosen to continue to target Summary & Generalization and Comprehension/Critical Literacy for the 2008–2009 school-year. Additionally, Figurative Language/Sound Devices will be a focus of our attention. We also will work to increase the number of students scoring in the advanced category by 5%. Action Plan for Improved Student Achievement for Target Group: Timeline June 2008 • The targeted students were encouraged to participate in the Summer Boost or Summer Academy Reading Programs. We had 44/61, or 72%, attend Summer Boost. 18 out of the 21 who qualified for Summer Academy attended for 86%. Of the 3 third graders who did not attend Summer Academy, only one is still at Elementary School Five. The other 2 moved during the summer. August 2008 • K–5 students qualifying for a reading sufficiency plan were placed on one.

140

Appendix B

• The targeted students were placed in the Title I intervention in grades K–5 with reading specialists. September 2008–May 2009 Classroom 1st–2nd Grade Students • Students will be grouped across grade levels every 3 weeks to receive direct instruction on their level on the Phonics continuum. 1st–5th Grade Students • The targeted students will participate in flexible reading groups, stressing lessons on Research and Information, Accessing Information, Summary & Generalization and Comprehension/Critical Literacy. These groups may change after each Reading Sufficiency assessment period and/or at teacher discretion based on performance in class. • Students were clustered in classrooms and will be given differentiated instruction based on their achievement levels. • Teachers will collaborate to revise instructional strategies and assess the effectiveness of these revisions periodically. Results will be discussed at grade level team meetings. 1st–5th Grade Students • All students will participate in flexible, guided reading groups that will be evaluated for changes after each assessment period. • Because writing directly influences reading skills, all students will receive explicit instruction in writing daily for 30 minutes using Literacy by Design which focuses on all steps of the writing process (prewriting, rough draft, revising/editing, and publishing). 3rd–5th Grade Students • The students will receive explicit instruction in Summary & Generalization and Figurative Language/Sound Devices from the librarian and classroom teachers. • All students will participate in flexible, guided reading groups that will be evaluated for changes after each assessment period.

Appendix B

141

Auxiliary August 2008 • Results of the 2007 OCCT were reviewed with staff in the staff meeting during pre-service week. The Site Improvement Plan was discussed and updated at this time. September 2008 – May 2009 • Teachers will periodically meet in grade level teams to continually assess progress and evaluate strategies for classroom use. • Teachers will use Literacy by Design materials for study during staff meetings. • The targeted students in 3rd through 5th grades will be encouraged to attend before school sessions on Successmaker in the computer lab. • The targeted students will receive additional reading and writing instruction with reading teachers in our Title I program. • The targeted third grade students will read with a volunteer tutor from a local church at least once a week for a thirty- minute session. • The American Indian students who are struggling will be referred to Operation Eagle for tutoring. • All students who are on reading plans at the end of the 2008–2009 school-year will be encouraged to attend Summer Boost or Summer Academy Reading Programs in June 2009. March & April 2009 • Targeted tutoring will be available to 3rd, 4th, & 5th graders needing remediation before the OCCTs. Assessment Plan for Ongoing Evaluation of Student Achievement Growth for Target Group: May 2008 • Reading plan students who met the standards of grade level proficiency as assessed by the Reading Sufficiency Assessments were discontinued from a reading plan. August 2008 • All students in grades K–5 were given the Reading Sufficiency assessments.

142

Appendix B

September 2008–May 2009 • Reading Sufficiency Assessments will be administered throughout the school year. • OCCT Assessments will be administered in April of 2008 to 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students. MATH Summative results of 2007–2008 Math Plan: Our goal was: The percentage of our targeted students (Economically Disadvantaged) who will be at or above proficient status in math will be 94% by May 2008 as assessed by the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade OCCT. We will also work to increase our percentage of students scoring advanced by 3%. Our results were: 93.7% of our Economically Disadvantaged students were at or above proficient status in math on the 2008 OCCTs. We had 95% passing in 3rd grade, 93% in 4th grade and 93% in 5th grade. Our percentage of students scoring advanced improved in 3rd grade from 28% to 43.5%, in 4th we decreased from 24% to 22%, and in 5th we increased from 39% to 52.2%. Math Student Achievement SMART Goal 2008–2009 Analysis of site disaggregated student assessment data: Third Grade OCCT Results Percent of students at or above average Student Group

2008

2007

2006

2005

Economically Disadvantaged

95%

73%

87%

100%

Fourth Grade OCCT Results Percent of students at or above average Student group

2008

2007

2006

2005

Economically Disadvantaged

92%

92%

100%

88%

Appendix B

143

Fifth Grade OCCT Results % of students at or above average Student Group

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

2003

Economically Disadvantaged

96%

100%

92%

89%

63%

55.90%

2008 CRT testing results for Full-Academic Year Students at Elementary School Five Grade and subject area

at or above %

Unsatisfactory Limited ADVANCED SATISFACTORY OPI range Knowledge OPI range OPI range OPI Range 400–603 % 700–806 % 807–990 % 604–699 %

Median OPI Score

3rd Math

96

44

51

5

0

804

4th Math

91

22

69

8

0

777

5th Math

98

52

46

2

0

811

Math Achievement Improvement Goal 2008–09: The percentage of our targeted students (Economically Disadvantaged) who will be at or above proficient status in math will be 98% by May 2009 as assessed by the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade OCCT. We will also work to increase our percentage of students scoring advanced by 3%. Action Plan for Improved Student Achievement for Target Group: Timeline August 2008– May 2009 Classroom Instructional Strategies (PreK–5th) • The targeted students in each grade level are monitored closely. • Targeted students receive extra support from their classroom teacher in small groups. • Students will experience differentiated instruction, curriculum compacting, and enrichment/acceleration based on on-going observations and assessments. • 3rd–5th grade students use computer programs aligned to the state OCCTs to become familiar with testing format and to assess objective mastery.

144

Appendix B

• As need arises, individual grade levels may institute a “no new instruction” period each week to work with groups of students in need of remediation on specific objectives. As those groups work on remediation, the other students will be given enrichment activities. • 1st–5th graders work to increase their math fact mastery using software available in the computer lab. • All students are taught using the Everyday Math instructional materials. • All students are taught and use correct math vocabulary. • All students are engaged in real-life problem solving activities that are relevant to their lives. • Students use a variety of games to practice their math facts. Auxiliary Services June 2008 • The targeted students were encouraged to attend summer school. 44/59 or 74.6% of those students attended. August 2008 – May 2009 1st – 5th Grade Students • Native American students who are struggling will be referred to Operation Eagle for tutoring. • Targeted students will be encouraged to attend Successmaker sessions each morning before school in the computer lab. • Depending on need and availability of funding, we may hire Title I math assistants and/or teachers for 3rd – 5th grades. • We are looking for community members to tutor our students in math. • We will monitor students using Inform, teacher observation, Study Island, and quarterly assessments. • We will group and remediate those students who demonstrate weakness on above monitoring tools. March & April 2009 • Targeted tutoring will be made available for 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students before the OCCT tests. Assessment Plan for ongoing evaluation of student achievement growth for target group: May 2008 • The mid-year assessment from Everyday Math for the successive year was given to 1st – 4th graders. Those results, along with teacher observation, teacher-made tests, and district quarterly math assessments

Appendix B

145

were used to form cluster groups for differentiated instruction during 2008–2009. August 2008–May 2009 • Study Island assessments, ongoing classroom assessments and teacher observations will be used weekly to determine the level of mastery of each objective and the re-teaching or enrichment that is needed. September 2008 • The Inform program was used to group 4th & 5th graders for remediation in their low areas. • The 4th quarter quarterly assessment results were analyzed by Benchmark and remediation groups were formed for students in grades K–3rd. October 2008 • District Math Quarterly Assessments will be used quarterly to determine the level of mastery of selected benchmark objectives and the re-teaching or enrichment that is needed. January 2009 • District Math Assessments will be used quarterly to determine the level of mastery of selected benchmark objectives and the re-teaching or enrichment that is needed. March 2009 • District Math Assessments will be used quarterly to determine the level of mastery of selected benchmark objectives and the re-teaching or enrichment that is needed. April 2009 • 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade OCCTs will be given. August 2009 • OCCT test data will be analyzed. ATTENDANCE Summative results of 2007–2008 Attendance Plan: Our goal was: 96% attendance rate Our results were: 94.5% attendance rate

146

Appendix B

Attendance SMART Goal 2008–2009 2008–2009 Attendance Improvement Goal: 96% attendance rate Action plan for improved attendance: • Each day, we are honoring the classes with perfect attendance (all present and on time) on the bulletin board in the front of the school. • Those classes are also acknowledged during morning announcements. • Each time a class has 10 perfect days, the class members will receive a prize. • Every month, the students with perfect attendance will receive an extra recess and a ticket for Spirit Day. • Students with perfect attendance during the 1st semester will attend a PTO sponsored pizza party. • At year’s end, perfect attenders will be treated to Jupiter Jumps. • We will also continue to work with our district truancy team and the District Attorney’s office to help those families with chronic problems. Assessment Plan for Improving Attendance: • We will monitor attendance daily, monthly, and quarterly • We will know our yearly rate at the end of school May 2009. Site Professional Development Plan: Professional Development Timeline June 2008 • A workshop was held for 2nd–5th grade teachers to discuss cluster grouping, differentiated instruction, curriculum compacting, and enrichment/acceleration. August 26, 2008 • Teachers will attend an OETT workshop to learn how to use Professional Learning Communities for integrating technology into curriculum to increase student achievement. September 25, 2008 • Teachers will attend an OETT workshop to learn how to use Professional Learning Communities to integrate technology into curriculum to increase student achievement. October 15, 2008 • Teachers will participate in professional development devoted to increasing achievement for all students by using cluster grouping, differentiated instruction, curriculum compacting, and enrichment/ acceleration.

Appendix B

147

October 28, 2008 • Teachers will attend an OETT workshop to learn how to use Professional Learning Communities for integrating technology into curriculum to increase student achievement September 2008–May 2009 • Teachers will work in their grade level teams each month to refine their practice by sharing strategies that have worked for them, by looking at student work and assessment data, and by brainstorming alternate ways to help their students master the objectives. • The Instructional Coach will continually encourage teachers to increase their emphasis on the PASS objectives for their grade level in our identified weak areas. • Specific instructional tips will be shared during staff & team meetings for each area in need of improvement. January 19, 2009 • Teachers may participate in professional development devoted to using test results to improve student achievement in math and reading. * SMART Goals S pecific M easurable A ttainable R esults-oriented T ime-bound

References

Anderson, S. E. and Togneri, W. (2002). Beyond islands of excellence: What districts can do to improve instruction and achievement in all schools? Washington, DC: National Learning First Alliance. Berry, C. and Howell, W.G. (2007) Student learning seldom a factor in school board elections. Education Next. Board of Trustees of Leland Stanford Junior University. Bottoms, G. and O’Neill, K. (2001). A new breed of school principals: It’s time for action. Atlanta, GA: Southern Regional Education Board. Collins, J. (2001). Good to great: Why some companies make the leap . . . and others don’t. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publisher Inc. Cook, W. J., Jr. (1988). Bill Cook’s strategic planning for America’s schools. Arlington, VA: American Association of School Administrators. Cotton, K. (2003). Principals and student achievement. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Covey, S. (1991). The seven habits of highly effective people. New York: Simon & Schuster. Cudeiro, A. (2007). Leading student achievement. Los Alamitos, CA: Targeted Leadership Consulting. Dufour, R. (2004). Leading edge: Culture shift doesn’t occur overnight—or without conflict. Oxford, OH: Journal of Staff Development. Dufour, R. and Eaker, R. (1998). Professional learning communities at work: Best practices for enhancing student achievement. Bloomington, IN: National Educational Service. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Goodman, R. H. and Zimmerman, W. G. Jr. Thinking differently: Recommendations for 21st century school board/superintendent leadership, governance, and teamwork for high student achievement. Marlborough, MA: The New England School Development Council.

149

150

References

Guthrie, J. and Wong, K. (2004). Alabama education policy primer: A guide to understanding K–12 education. Montgomery, AL: A + Education Foundation and Peabody Center for Education Policy. Heifetz, R. (1994) Leadership without easy answers. Boston, MA: Belknap Press. Heifetz, R. and Linsky, M. (2002). Leadership on the line. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. IASB. (2000). The lighthouse inquiry: School board/superintendent team behaviors in school districts with extreme differences in student achievement. Des Moines, IA: The Iowa Association of School Boards. Kotter, J. (1999). What leaders really do. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. Leithwood, K., Seashore-Louis, K., Anderson, S., and Wahlstrom, K. (2004). How leadership influences student learning (Learning from Leadership Project Executive Summary). Retrieved online at http://www.wallacefoundation.org. Marzano, R. J. (2003). What works in schools: translating research into action. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Marzano, R. and Kendall, J. S. (1996). Classroom instruction that works: Researchbased strategies for increasing student achievement. Alexandria, VA: Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development. Marzano, R. J. & Waters, J. T. (2006). School district leadership that works: the effect of superintendent leadership on student achievement. Denver, CO: Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning. Marzano, R. J., Waters, T., McNulty, B. A. (2005). School leadership that works: from research to results. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. McGowan, P. and Miller, J. (2001). Management vs. leadership: placing leadership development and renewal at the forefront of school change. Alexandria, VA: The School Administrator, American Association of School Administrators. NAESP (2001). Leading learning communities; standards for what principals should know and be able to do. Alexandria, VA: National Association of Elementary School Principals. Neidermeyer, B. H. (2003). The relationship of principal leadership style and student achievement in low-social-economic schools. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University. NESDEC. (2003) Improved leadership for improved achievement: Recommendations of the New England Commission on school board/superintendent leadership for high student achievement. Marlborough, MA: The New England School Development Council. Reeves, D. (2004). Accountability for learning: How teachers and school leaders can take charge. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Reeves, D. (2006). The learning leader: How to focus school improvement for better results. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

References

151

Schmoker, M. (1996). Results: The key to continuous school improvement. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Schmoker, M. (2001). The results fieldbook: Practical strategies from dramatically improved schools. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. SIM. (2007). Indicators for effective principal leadership in improving student achievement. School Improvement in Maryland. Retrieved online at http://mdk12 .org. WASB. (2007). Board leadership for student success. Madison, WI: Wisconsin Association of School Boards. Ziebarth, T. (2002). The roles and responsibilities of school boards and superintendents: a state policy framework. Denver, CO: Education Commission of the States.

Index

AASA. See American Association of School Administrators accountability: board, 3–4; district, 129; plan, xvii, 107, 114; principal, 32, 37, 39; public, 18, 99; teacher, 80 American Association of School Administrators, 30, 32 Berry, C. & Howell, W.G., 22 board student performance committee, 4, 5, 9, 14, 16, 109 Bottoms, G. & O’Neill, K., 30 Collins, J., 19, 130 communication, 31, 97–100, 105 community engagement, 97–99 Cotton, K., 32 Covey, S., 39 criterion reference test, xiv, 44, 52, 73, 115 Cudeiro, A., 33 curriculum director, xv, xvii, 4–5, 47, 49–51, 55, 61, 114; role, 110–111

Curriculum Map, xvi, 44–45, 47, 48–49, 50, 57, 79, 81 data, xv–xviii, 5, 8–10, 14, 16, 22, 34, 38–39, 61, 64, 66, 69, 71, 75; analysis of, xvi, 25–27, 30–31, 33, 40, 62–63, 70 district assessment plan, 56, 57–58 district curriculum, xiii, 44–47, 49, 56–57. 80–81, 112 district goals, 4, 10, 12, 26, 100, 107–109 district improvement plans, 14, 66, 101 Drucker, P., 32 Dufour, R., 38–39 Dufour, R. & Eaker, R., 38, 80 Education Commission of the States, 104 evaluation, 25, 33, 36–37, 40, 111, 114 focus, xiii–xiv, xviii, 3–4, 61, 130; focused instruction 80–81 Garns, J. S., 30 Goodman, R.H. & Zimmerman, W.G. Jr., 20 Guthrie, J. & Wong, K., 30 flywheel concept, 130 153

154

Index

hedgehog concept, 130 Heifetz, R., xv, 30, 99

professional learning communities, 38–40, 146–147

Iowa Association of School Boards, 21

quarterly assessments, 43–44, 50–51, 53, 54–55, 57, 81, 90

Kotter, J., 32 leadership, xv, xviii; instructional, 32–33, 37, 110; management, 32–33; principal, 25–26, 29–33, 38, 40; school board, 3, 22; superintendent, 19–21, 33–34, 40 Leithwood, K., Seashore-Louis, K., Anderson, S., & Wahlstrom, K., 30 longitudinal metrics, 5, 8–9, 62 Marzano, R. J., xiv, 30 mentoring, 98, 101–102, 105 Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL), 19 National Association of Elementary School Principals, 38 National Learning First Alliance, 4 New England School Development Council, 20, 98 Niedermeyer, B. H., 32 No Child Left Behind, 32 objective remediation chart, 80, 83, 85–86, 87, 90, 111–112 pacing calendar, xvi, 44–45, 49, 50, 51, 57, 79, 81–82, 103 poverty, xiv, 32, 126 Powell, C., 29 prescriptive, xvi–xvii, 58, 79, 83, 86–87, 89, 97, 118; prescriptive intervention, 95, 129–131 principal test score analysis, 61, 69, 70, 71, 72, 74, 75

Reeves, D., 34, 36, 82 responsibility flow chart, 107, 108, 114 Schmoker, M., 30, 38 School Improvement in Maryland, 31 site improvement plans, 4, 14, 16–17, 61–64, 65, 66, 67, 109–111, 129 site improvement team, 16–17, 26, 100 Southern Regional Education Board, 30 state legislators, 98, 103–105 strategic plan, 4, 10, 12–14, 19, 65 student performance objectives, 4, 10, 11, 12–15, 26, 40, 100, 107–109, 111 student remediation plan, 71, 80, 86–87, 88, 89–91, 108, 109, 111–112 supervision, 36 targeting students, 83–85, 94 teachers, integral to student success, 37–39 teacher weakest to strongest, 69, 80, 83, 84, 112 test blueprints, 45, 51, 52 tutoring, 91, 98, 101–102, 105 vision, xv, 10, 25–26, 30, 33, 37, 40, 97–100, 107–111 weakest to strongest, 14, 27–28, 66, 68, 69, 71, 74–75, 80, 83, 84, 91, 111–112, 129 weekly instructional focus calendar, 79, 81 Wisconsin Association of School Boards, 3

About the Author

Dr. Gary W. Quinn has been in full time employment in education for more than thirty-two years. He has served in many capacities. Some of them include: teacher, coach, college assistant professor, college Assistant Dean of Students, assistant principal, principal, assistant superintendent, and superintendent. He has served at several institutions in three states. His present employment is as superintendent of schools with the Bartlesville Public Schools in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Dr. Quinn has received a Bachelor of Science in Educations degree and a Master degree of Educations from the University of Central Oklahoma. He received his Doctor of Education Degree in Educational Administration from Oklahoma State University. He has been published in the Journal of School Leadership and the Middle School Journal. Dr. Quinn has dedicated his professional life to improving the opportunities for students to gain a better education. He originated the quote: “It is not just that we are not leaving any child behind, but rather that we are assisting every child to succeed at the highest level to which they are capable.” Dr. Quinn and his wife, Julia (who has been a teacher and National Board Certified) have three sons, Adam, Aaron, and Andrew.

155