Communications & PD Update
Jan & Feb 2017
PD Spotlight
ELA Leadership w/ Beth Bush:
Reading Now Network: http://gomasa.org/readingnow Uncompromising Focus on Reading --- From the minute they get to school they are reading. Everything revolves around reading. Relevant Data Used Deeply Staff & students live the data. Shared Leadership, Sustained Commitment - Instructional leaders-building ownership on decisions Principals define the “What,” teachers define the “How.” - Classroom Management Focused on Learning: Engaged students are partners. Collective Responsibility to Every Child’s Success: “We each feel they are all our kids.”
PPSC w/ Deb McCullom:
- An underlying belief must be established to change behavior - faculty and staff must believe that any change in student behavior starts with the adults in the school changing their approach to behavior management.
- Tier 3 needs to be individualized, intensive, specifically designed to address identified behaviors, data based and there should be the use of a FBA/BIP
5D Training w/ Allison Frey:
- teacher/student is interchangeable in the rubric
- the vision statements are the answers to our guiding questions
PPSC Check-In/Check-Out w/ Angela Weycker:
This is a valuable Tier 2 behavior intervention to use with our students
Implementing this intervention will help to promote positive behavior expectations and help the students to make positive changes in behavior. This intervention tool may also prevent a student from entering a Tier 3 intervention.
Michigan Music Conference w/ Donovan Tear: I was able to get some great information on programming, which contributed to our success at festival. I attended a session on running ensembles in small districts which provided tricks and tips that aid in organization and lessening the burdens and responsibilities of the director. I saw some master teachers work with and rehearse ensembles to demonstrate better methods of warming-up, tuning, toning, and preparing an ensemble to play.
5D Training w/ Justin Dickerson: How to script better, what to look for in certain situations and how to explain to staff the things that you are looking for when you come in.
5D Training w/ Pam Kelbel: That "wonderings" should not come from a deficit mindset. Ex. Wonder why they chose to call on a certain student, not why they did not choose a student.
Teaching at grade level has a high level of effectiveness in student growth.PE and Health Teacher Association w/ Dana Robinson:
- We had a guest speaker come in from Ele's Place and discuss what the program is and how it helps kids. Ele's Place is a great (and free) resource for kids who have lost a loved one. They attend on Tuesday nights with their family for grief counseling and a free dinner. Here is a link I encourage you to watch, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vZrFQS3vuc. I think this could be a wonderful place for a lot of our students.
- At our meeting we also talked about different PE curriculum. SPARK seemed to be a favorite and one we would love to get here at Bentley.
- We also discussed different PE grants, one being Fuel Up to Play 60. This is a grant that we are currently applying for at Barhitte and the Middle School.
GISD Middle School Principal's Meeting - February w/ Chris Brockmon:
Part of the meeting was dedicated to Rick DuFour's work. It was a great refresher on the following. Professional Learning Communities - Rick DuFour - passed away.
3 Big Ideas of PLC
- Focus on Learning
- A collaborative Culture
- A Focus on Results
Promises we make in PLC
- Enroll your child in our school and their success will not vary based on which teacher or teachers they are assigned.
- The essential skills will be the same from teacher to teacher, not dependent on individual teachers.
- The skills will be assessed the same way, regardless of which teacher their child is assigned.
The Four Critical Corollary Questions
- What do we want them to learn? Essential, guaranteed, and viable curriculum
- How will we know when they have it? Frequent, team-developed, common formative assessments
- How will we respond when they don’t? Timely, directive, systematic intervention.
- How will we respond when they do? Timely enriched content, extended activities
5D Training w/ Chris Brockmon: "... CEL is grounded in six foundational ideas that guide CEL's theory of action:
- If students are not learning, they are not being afforded powerful learning opportunities.
- Teaching is a highly complex and sophisticated endeavor.
- Practice of sophisticated endeavors only improves when it is open for public scrutiny.
- Improving practice in a culture of public scrutiny requires reciprocal accountability.
- Reciprocal accountability implies a particular kind of leadership to improve teaching and learning.
- Leaders cannot lead what they don't know."
Credit to: Center for Educational Leadership: University of Washington - College of Education
County Wide Transition Committee w/ Laura Costa:
- To increase the odds of our students' success after high school, schools need to begin connecting them to work experiences before they graduate.
- The number of schools in our county providing work experience coursework/ "soft skills" and on site job experiences, during school hours is increasing. Atherton has a program running.
State Drops A-F School Rankings Proposal
You may have heard that State Superintendent Brian Whiston was recommending we use a "report card" style to score schools (in replacement of the color coding and "percentile" rankings we currently use.) However, public feedback was not in support of this measure, so it's been scrapped...before it even began. :)
ESSA Plan Review
Michigan's Top 10 in 10 Initiative
Where do we rank now?
Among the 2015 NAEP results highlighted in the report:
• Michigan ranked 41st in fourth-grade reading, down from 28th in 2003.
• The state ranked 42nd in fourth-grade math, down from 27 in 2003.
• It ranked 31st in eighth-grade reading, down from 27th in 2003.
• It ranked 38th in eight-grade math, down from 34th.
School Improvement
- Design and implement a system-wide Strategic Plan including a marketing plan, a long-range facilities plan, a technology planning document, five-year budgeting protocols, and a program evaluation protocol that will not only guide the system and its schools in the continuous improvement efforts, but also to inform the decisions to continue, revise or discontinue new initiatives based on clear evidence.
- Develop a systemic process to monitor and evaluate assessment results from multiple data points including the identification of areas of strengths and challenges for all students and analyze data for the students who are not attaining expected performance levels for the purpose of adjusting curriculum and instructional practices aligned to student needs.
We will keep this in mind as we craft our district and school goals for the upcoming year.
Michigan School Testing Conference 2/15/17
- Be part of effective planning for teaching and learning. During the lesson. Don't leave the classroom without adjusting your lesson plans.
- Promote commitment to learning goals and shared understanding of the criteria by which they are assessed. Provide examples of the criteria and engagement in feedback and assessment.
- Recognized as central to classroom practice. often happens "in the moment" but has been intentionally planned.
- Focus on HOW students learn (self-awareness)
- Develop students' capacity for self-assessment so that they can become agents in their own learning.
Students should always be able to answer the questions
- Where am I going? (Why am I learning it?)
- Where am i now?
- Where to next?
And finally, remember that grading has nothing to do with formative assessment. When done effectively, feedback has a .73 effect size (See Hattie's work.)
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