Feedback Was Lacking

Team,

I hope all enjoyed the weekend and are preparing for this week of learning.  I gave out copies of the Diagnostic Review results last week (additional copies available in the office) and I trust that you reviewed the document to examine the three improvement priorities and documented evidential observations we received to serve as high leverage objectives to accelerate our growth as a school.  Summarizing the findings, our priorities include (paraphrased):

• Improved two-way communication with all stakeholders to support academic and behavioral success for students
• Improved systemic clarity for delivery of core instruction based on Kentucky Academic Standards, bell-to-bell instruction, clear systems for analysis of student work and assessment data, and systemic next steps all to include high yield strategies for instruction and next steps for intervention
• Improved systems for school-wide behavior to minimize disruptions to the learning environment to maximize time for differentiated instruction to support student achievement

These improvement priorities impact the work of each staff member in our school, each student in our school, each family that our school partners with and supports and our community who supports us and we give back to.  These are contractual obligations that we accepted when we signed our employment contracts.

From a leadership standpoint, a blaring shortcoming was the implementation of consistent feedback and use of walkthrough and evaluation data trends to support staff improvement needs and professional development.  While I thought this was moving in the correct direction, I accept that this has to be an area of more intense focus.  This is being corrected immediately.  I want to apologize to those who have not received the attention to instructional and behavioral growth needed to maximize instructional time and increase student proficiency.  In the day-to-day details of managing the building, I have neglected to consistently follow up and ensure that everyone is getting the individualized feedback to succeed and the model to give this same attention to students.

I'm owning it and moving forward with great purpose in this work.  I expect us all to approach this with the same growth mindset and provide feedback to all stakeholders as well as support our two-way communication.

This week we have extended plan times for collaborative teams and I am committed to providing this time at least each six weeks.  I recognize this is a step and I hope we find ways to make more time available for this important work.  If you have ideas to implement this even more frequently than the six week interval, I am open to suggestions (but do be mindful of the barrier with sub coverage).

Faculty meeting is for committee work this week.  

Be purposeful and collaborative,

Dr. White

Progress Monitoring and Next Steps

Team,

Thank you all for your work with summative assessments last week.  When you meet as a PLC this week, you will discuss the progress your students have made and plans for next steps.  Attached to the email with this blog update is the Lesson Analysis Form that is used to analyze summative assessments.  You should have one sheet completed for reading and one completed for math.  This helps to analyze student work and make plans for next steps in instruction.

In team leader meeting, we discussed how we respond when students have not learned the information. The following were the notes we discussed in our deep dive into PLC question #3:

Question #3: How do we respond when they haven't learned it?

• Identify the two most common misconceptions in each class and across the grade level. Students must show their work at all times.
• What mistakes are students making -- is it understanding, process, calculation, text evidence...?
• What feedback do students need to understand their misconception?
• What learning has to take place (what do they need to know) for students to successfully answer questions on the re-test?
• When will the re-teach and practice happen? Can the practice be differentiated homework?
• What strategies will you use to re-teach differently?
• Plan the day for the re-test
• Review results and repeat this process

One of our biggest conundrums is often based around moving on when we don't have everyone at the same achievement level.  Please understand that some students will move forward and some will have to be re-taught and re-assessed until they have understanding.  This dilemma is exactly why the Learning Continuum will support our work along with Tiered Response Lessons. 

• The Learning Continuum tells us where our students are "ready to learn" according to specific standards.  You have set this lesson plan up to support three groups of students.  As students gain proficiency, the only planning that you are switching is your high group.  
• Your lowest group progresses to the mid-level group and your mid-level group progresses to the activities for the high group.
• Providing students feedback will tell them exactly where they are and what they need to move forward
• Goal setting is crucial -- share the goal and have them participate in this process -- this could also be homework to have parents assist with the learning goal.
• Have students track their progress -- why do you have to do all the work -- this also provides ownership (part of our ROARS expectations)
• Remember, the learning continuum supports gap closure -- so please USE IT!

Our goal as a school for the Winter MAP Assessment was to increase the number of students meeting the grade level benchmark by 10%, moving from 24% in reading and math to 34%.  We did not meet our goal.  We actually decreased by 6% in reading and 4% in math.  

We did see our growth in both subjects grow with 49% of students showing growth in reading and 57% of students showing growth in math, increasing from 34% growth on the Fall assessment.

The more specific we get, the better our results.  Last, in team leader meeting we also discussed daily formative assessment and had a breakthrough -- there was a misconception with daily targets and daily formative assessment.  Think of the daily target as the success criteria for the standard -- which small part are you teaching today?

• Each day you have a learning target.  This target should be explicit for the DAY.  At the end of the lesson, what should students be able to do/understand and how will they demonstrate or prove it to you?
• For example:  Target - We are learning to add fractions with like denominators.  The lesson you teach is on adding fractions with like denominators.  
• At the end of the lesson, give students one problem where they have to add fractions with like denominators (collect the student responses).
• Did they work the problem and get the correct answer?  Remember they have to show their work so that you can understand why they got it correct or what their misconception is.
• Sort the responses -- who got it, who didn't, who is waaaaay off?  This will inform your instruction for the next day when you work on fractions.

Updates

• Mr. Oliver is no longer with the Simmons program so he has left King
• Natalie is official as our Academic Instructional Coach
• Report cards go home Tuesday
• We have a parent engagement event Thursday -- Zoo Night -- we will have chili for families (5PM-7PM)
• Faculty Meeting Tuesday is dedicated to providing time to upload backpack artifacts
• SBDM meeting Thursday @ 4:15PM

Report Cards and Using MAP Data to Guide Instruction

Team,

Thank you for inputting student grades in Infinite Campus for report cards.  I re-opened the window and it will close Monday morning at 8:00AM.  All grades were due Friday, so there should be no issue with having everything complete.  Please be sure you print out copies of report cards by Tuesday evening so that we are prepared and all have plenty of time to ready report cards and envelopes.  As always the expectation is that you have completed grades and provided comments to guide parents in supporting their students.

Please know our cycle 2 celebration for honor roll and perfect attendance will be February 4th in the evening.  Teachers will provide a list of students who have earned honor roll so that we know how many certificates we need.  Please submit your list to Mrs. Perkins by Friday, January 24th.

In faculty meeting Tuesday, it is a final opportunity to collaborate and get assistance with your Tiered Response Lessons.  Each teacher is responsible for completed a plan for one upcoming reading and math standard.  Ms. Allen put together resources to assist with creating plans -- this was shared via email and included on the email with this blog post.  At the end of faculty meeting, you will turn in your tiered response lessons as your exit slip.

Friday, we will participate with embedded PD with Athena Hill, our MAP consultant.  Our sessions will focus on growth and the use of the ASG Quadrant Report.  Please come prepared with your laptop.

I appreciate your focus on student learning and growth as we work to close gaps and push students to proficiency.  Our PBIS work for this week centers around gathering feedback on the behavior matrix and solidifying our literature and school-wide expectations.

FYI:  We currently have two positions posted on the JCPS Employment Page:  Resource Teacher (PBIS Coach) and Instructional Assistant.  If you know anyone that may be interested, please encourage them to apply.

Please remember to post learning targets - link daily formative assessment to learning targets -- have your lesson plans out on your desk for viewing during walkthroughs and observations.

Have a great week!

Happy New Year

Welcome back and for a our new people, welcome to King!  This week, I want to just thank everyone for your work and your continued commitment to our students and one another.  We have a few new people that will join us soon, please take time to introduce yourself and welcome them to our school.

• Tiffany Embry will begin in the K/1 split class (104), her first day is January 7th.
• Susan Vialpando will be our new Reading Recovery teacher and her start date has not been determined yet -- she has to be released from her current district.
• Sara McCutcheon is our Education Recovery Specialists from the Kentucky Department of Education.  She will be in our building daily to support our school turn around work.  Her first day was Dec. 20th.
• Deborah Mapp-Embry will work with us as coordinator for our Family Literacy Program funded through the National Center for Families Learning (NCFL).  Dr. Mapp has been in the building over the past weeks, but she will will become a more permanent presence.

Grades Are Due

Please remember that grades are due in Infinite Campus by Friday, January 10th @ 4PM.  I will run a report the next day for missing grades.  Please be sure you are diligent in checking the accuracy and inclusion of all grades for every student as this is part of your professional responsibilities in Domain 4 of the evaluation framework.  Please be sure to print your report cards by end of the day January 14th, they go home with students January 21st.

Professional Learning Communities

We do have PLC tomorrow, the focus is on results from learning checks the last week of break.  Be sure to complete all sections of the PLC protocol as appropriate.  Minutes are due to Lisa by 9AM Wednesday morning, complete with work samples (high, med, low).

We will not have faculty meeting January 7th, but team leaders do have a meeting after school January 8th.

Have a great week!  Please take time to intentionally RE-TEACH expectations for learning and behavior.