OSP Connected
January, 2019-Office for School Performance-Volume 25
Message from Dayle
Sometimes in a school you hear or see things that may not sit well with you. Whether this is the way feedback is given to a colleague or parent, an interaction with a student, or something you see in print, at times you may find yourself thinking, “That doesn’t seem right”. Often this is quickly followed by your internal voice saying, “Are you sure? Should you say something?”
Whether or not you are a parent, we all have children we claim as ours. I am a parent of two. I also parented two foster students, helped raise my nephew and claim my mentee as mine as well. There are also two teenagers I keep tabs on and am invested in- I claim them too- that’s a total of eight. I am confident you have a list as well.
How do we feel about and how do we respond to things regarding our children? We celebrate and advocate for them. We encourage and support. Our eyes and ears are always attuned to their needs, their care and their success. One thing I feel children who are uniquely mine receive is what I will affectionately call “mother bear”. Mother (and father) bears take care of their young. Mother bears aren't always grizzlies. Sometimes they are sun bears or Koala or even teddy bears; yet all bears love their babies, bravely show up and have claws if needed.
Of the eight students that I claim, three are English Learners, two are TAG, one experiences Autism, one has a mental health challenge, one experienced homelessness, four have experienced food insecurities and- all of them are mine! When it comes to my children I know for certain that I step in when things don’t seem right- in print, in interactions, in feedback. I don’t spend a lot of time processing whether or not I should say something; these are kids I love and tend to and I am willing to step up on their behalf. Mother Koala just shows up. So why should it be any different for my 21,000 children?
The short answer is- it shouldn’t. But I find myself hesitating and questioning who should take action or say something. Is it me? Yes, it’s me. And, it’s you. In 2019 my challenge to myself- and to you- is let’s commit to saying something each and every time things don’t seem just right. Come up with a phrase for your pocket such as, “This just doesn’t seem right” or even, “Wait- can we talk about this?” Kids are counting on us to speak up for them and care for them as our own. You help me watch our for my children and I will care for yours.
HSD Focus 2018-2019
INSTRUCTION: Providing Feedback to Students
How do students know how they are doing and what they need in order to have success? Students are often taught a new concept or skill, but need time before it can “stick.” Relearning the same task often won’t result in sticking, but rather useful and precise feedback when students run into difficulty. Nancy Frey and Douglas Fisher in The Formative Assessment Action Plan discuss four levels of feedback to support student growth and learning:
Feedback About the Task: Also sometimes referred to as corrective feedback, in this type of feedback teachers provide learners with how well they are doing on their performance by identifying correct and/or incorrect responses, request additional or different information, and suggest attention to specific knowledge.
Feedback About Processing the Task: this feedback focuses on the processes a student uses to complete a task or assignment which supports the transfer of learning to new tasks.
Feedback About Self-Regulation: This feedback relates to the learners self-appraisal and self-management, working towards the goal that has been established. This could include their contributions to a group discussion/project, regulation of emotions, on-task behavior.
Feedback About the Self as a Person: This type of feedback is about the student him/herself. It is often paired with other types of feedback and best used after establishing a relationship with a student so as to better know their triggers and motivators. This could look like the following, “You showed great perseverance as you worked through that math problem.”
Whether feedback is provided orally, written, or via peers, it’s important for it to be timely, specific, understandable, and actionable. Through theses avenues, ultimately our students can begin to assess their own learning and take ownership of their journey.
BUILDING STRONG RELATIONSHIPS through Culturally Responsive Teaching: Motivation and Success: Chicken or Egg?
As educators, it can be challenging to support students with motivation. We sometimes hear frustrated teachers say, “But my students just aren’t motivated.” So where does motivation originate? Many would say that if students are motivated, then they will succeed as a result. Solution Tree’s Handbook for Formative Assessment challenges us to think about this in a different way: “However, there is another way to think about motivation— not as a cause but as a consequence of achievement.” Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi discusses this in his book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. When someone is completely engaged in an activity— because of intrinsic interest OR a match between ability and level of challenge— he describes this as flow. Vygotsky would call this same thing being in the zone of proximal development. We might call it productive struggle. The great thing about this is that the onus is not on either the student or the teacher to produce motivation; rather, motivation happens when there is a match between challenge and capability. This is where formative assessment comes in! If your formative assessment is telling you that a student is struggling and appears to lack motivation, then the student and the teacher need to try something different so that there is a closer match. Offer a language scaffold. Shelter the instruction. Try a different note-taking or study strategy or organizational tool. Differentiate by turning the level of challenge up or down. Once students (and teachers!) experience some success, they will be motivated to take the next step.
To learn more, check out the Handbook for Formative Assessment, p. 87: Motivation section and p. 88: bold list under Motivational and Cognitive Perspectives Integrated.
Formative Assessment Cheat Sheet for Teachers
FREE Formative Assessment Reproducibles to Download:
https://www.solutiontree.com/free-resources/assessment/hefa
CAREER & COLLEGE READY: Dual Credit
We are very happy to report that our teachers continue to work diligently to offer purposeful college credit in many of our high school courses. As we continue to expand this work, it is important that we understand how accelerated credit can impact financial aid opportunities. In particular, credits earned in high school do count toward the 90 credit allowance offered through Oregon Promise. Watch this short video for the specifics. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0W4yHkHbZ4
Our advice for students is to always engage fully in their college credit courses and enjoy the experience and preparation that these courses offer. However, they should only sign up to earn the credit if the course aligns with their post secondary plans, and they are confident they can earn an A or a B in the course so that the credit is a benefit to their transcript. We want to continue to support equitable access to accelerated credit while being mindful to inform students about both the benefits and caveats so they can make informed choices around their educational outcomes.
Hillsboro School District’s El Camino Grant Proposal One of Three Selected by Intel in the Northwest
DCA Corner
Each month we will highlight a dashboard, report, query or feature in DCA that you can use to make thoughtful, well-informed, data-driven decisions to better help students be successful.
For this month, we are highlighting the new “High School On-Track Summary” report. This report is one of the outcomes of district participation in on-track to graduation training and support from the National Freshman Success Institute — Network for College Success at the University of Chicago. According to a series of studies from the UChicago Consortium on School Research, student success in the first year of high school is a critical indicator for on-time graduation. The concept of being On-Track to Graduation entails 9th grade students meeting certain thresholds in four key areas: marks (grades) in core courses, GPA, attendance and behavior. The High School On-Track Summary report uses specific criteria to divide students into three categories; on-track, vulnerable, or off-track, based on the key indicators. The report can be configured to run by grade level or for a specific teacher and course. The report is color-coded to indicate if a student is on-track (green), vulnerable (yellow) or off-track (red) for each of the key indicators.
This report retrieves the most recent student marks (grades) and uses those for the GPA calculation. That means the report delivers accurate, up-to-date data as early as the end of the first period, such as the first quarter grading period, meaning student progress is captured in the report before failure at the end of the semester.
Each of the key indicator columns can be sorted A-Z so that, for example, students in the red zone for grades are organized to the top of the report. Clicking the + sign above the “Student Details” column displays additional student demographics, such as if a student is an active EL and/or is on an IEP or 504 plan. Clicking the “Go” link in the “On-Track Report” column for a student produces a detailed individual student report that can be printed and used in one-on-one meetings with students to make plans for improvement and reward student successes — sort of a “report card on steroids.” And, like all DCA reports, it can be exported as a .csv file so that users can use Excel or Google Sheets to further customize the data for individual school or teacher needs.
To access the report, navigate to DCA and then select Reports > High School On-Track > On-Track Summary.
If you have questions about this report, DCA in general, and/or would like training in your building on using DCA, contact Tom Luba (lubat@hsd.k12.or.us.)
Coffee Conversations - Classified Staff as Active Class Members (Episode #3)
We know how important each and every staff member is to the success of our schools and students. We also know it can be difficult for all staff to know the role of everyone in the class and how to best utilize time for the benefit of student learning. We hope this brief Coffee Conversation will give teachers and classified staff ideas and training resources. As always, please feel free to contact Student Services with questions and ideas! Click on the picture below to watch the video!