OSP Connected
April, 2019-Office for School Performance-Volume 28
Message from Dayle
When I am at a school the climate and culture is evident in so many ways. You can tell how people feel by the way they interact, expressions on their faces, what is displayed on the walls, how they interact with me and the way students behave in the environment. Culture is palpable.
There has been a lot of talk about improving climate and culture over the last few years and also lots of debate about what it actually is. One of the best definitions I have heard is, “Culture is a collection of behaviors that a community allows”. So, what do you allow? What is important to your school family that creates the climate and culture you want?
Let me suggest a simple and a first expectation. Greet each other. People who belong together see each other, speak to each other and interact positively. Start setting the tone by early morning greetings. Look at the students, staff and parents and say "good morning". Say “hello”, or “have a great day”. Being seen and recognized is important to belonging.
Some of you may think, “When I say hello to some students or staff they just ignore me. Why try?” Remember our definition? It’s behavior we allow that creates our culture. Stop allowing it.
First, make sure you teach this to students. Help them learn what to say as a greeting to friends, adults or guests. Help them learn to ask follow up questions or how to respond when they are hurrying to class or had a tough morning at home. No one is too old for sentence frames! Practice and role play.
Next, check your actions and response. Are you greeting people and responding to those who greet you? Are you at the door to say hello to students when they come into your class? If someone doesn’t respond to your warm “good morning” don’t make judgements- whip around and say, “Is everything okay?” or “You didn’t say hello and that’s unlike you. Are you alright?” Think of a group of people you love the most and treat your school family the same. Small changes make big differences in culture.
HSD Focus 2018-2019
INSTRUCTION: Activating Students as Owners of Their Own Learning
The very last key strategy for Assessment for Learning that drives instruction from Dylan William focuses on activating students as owners of their own learning. He states that ‘owning your own learning’ is at the heart of strong self-regulation and metacognition: setting learning goals, planning, monitoring and evaluating success in tasks links to those goals; forming effective schemata that take account of big-picture questions and themes that inform subsequent conscious rehearsal and elaboration. These learning goals become the next steps in improving reading, writing fluency, science knowledge, confidence with math and languages, physical fitness, etc. The ability for students to know how to self-reflect is key. William recommends the following 4 techniques:
Self-testing
Traffic Lights
Learning Portfolios
Learning Logs
To learn about each of these techniques follow this link. We encourage you to share with your colleagues any success with these techniques or any other technique that has worked to activitate students as owners of their own learning.
Check out this video to hear Dylan Willam talk about this strategy.
BUILDING STRONG RELATIONSHIPS through Culturally Responsive Teaching: Systems of Meaning
The concept "systems of meaning" is highlighted by Margaret Blaustein and Kristine Kinniburgh (2010), developers of the Attachment, Regulation, and Competency (ARC) framework. A concept the framework identifies is that behavior can stem from a lack of safety, meaning a fear of something negative happening or an unmet basic need. If we have perceived fear or an unmet need, we may act in a way that makes us feel safe or fulfill this need as best we can. Our brains are wired to survive, not thrive. As these systems develop, our interpretation of experiences in the future can be impacted by our past, what we are told to believe, and other peoples influence over us. They affect who we are and how we interact with others. While we will always carry these systems of meaning with us, it is important to acknowledge that they exist and challenge ourselves to "name" our potential biases and influences so that we can "tame" them. Kristin Souers and Pete Hall, co-authors of Relationship, Responsibility, and Regulation ask you to consider the following when you are examining the impact your systems of meaning might be having on challenging situations. Remember, every behavior is an expression of need.
What systems of meaning might I have accessed that influenced my decision and this outcome?
What systems of meaning might the student, staff member, or caregiver have accessed that influenced his or her decision and this outcome?
How can I take these into account and use them in my attempt to repair?
CAREER & COLLEGE READY: CCP Highlight at Proud to Be HSD Festival
Save the Date!!! This year our annual Proud to Be HSD Festival is taking place on May 11th in Downtown Hillsboro. The festival runs the same time as the HIllsboro Saturday Market operation hours and will showcase programs and talents of students in our school district. At the Civic Center our Career and College Pathway programs will showcase students work and activities for community participation in order to learn more about our various pathway program. Some CCP programs will have items to sell, such as our Glencoe Construction program will be selling dog houses that the students have made. There will also we activities led by students such as heart health and hands-on CPR workshops led by Health Sciences students. In addition to our CCP tables, our student entrepreneurs will be previewing their products that they will sell at the Tuesday Teen Market all summer long. This is another way our students can learn about how a career interest and talent can be applied in an entrepreneurial way, working with local Tuesday Market vendors to learn about being a small business owner. Please come out on May 11th to support and learn from our students and teachers about our Career and College Pathway programs in Hillsboro. We hope to see you there!!!
STATE ASSESSMENTS: Creating a Positive Testing Environment
State testing can be a stressful time for all involved: administrators, teachers, support staff, parents, and students. As teachers and support staff, we have a lot of influence over the testing culture that is established in our buildings and classrooms. Our attitudes and behaviors are easily picked up by our students. Here is a list of pointers and suggestions in creating a positive testing culture:
Positive attitude - if you are positive about the assessments, that attitude will rub off on your students
Parent connection - keep them aware and informed about state assessments and let them know how they can support their student(s) during this time.
Friendly competition - how can you partner with other teachers/classrooms in your building to create friendly competition? Think beyond results based competition
Encouragement and support - Little notes and comments like “You are going to rock this!” to your students can mean a lot.
Focus on “Do your best” rather than “Passing the test…”
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.
This month, we will cover two reports, the High School Students At Risk and the Middle School Students At Risk reports. These reports are a great way to obtain a quick yet detailed snapshot of students who may be at-risk due to a combination of core course grades, cumulative GPA, credits earned, attendance, behavior and state test performance. Each of these factors are assigned a value in the report with all values adding up to 10. Students with a smaller risk factor number are considered to be low risk or not at-risk. The higher the number, the greater the risk. Details regarding how the risk factors are calculated may be found in these linked documents:
These documents are also linked from the homepage of each report.
Once configured and run, the report is delivered looking something like the screenshot below.
The At Risk column allows users to sort low to high or high to low. Clicking the column header twice, for example, will force the highest risk students to the top of the report window. Clicking on the linked attendance percent for a student will bring up the Attendance Goal Calendar for that individual student, another very useful report:
In addition to the specific at-risk categories, the report also includes student demographic and program information (SpEd, EL) and provides a link to individual student profiles. Red and green highlighting of the state assessment performance levels indicates students who met or did not meet the standard on that assessment the last time they took it.
To access the Students At Risk reports, navigate to DCA and then select Reports > At Risk > and either the high school or middle school report.
If you have questions about these reports, DCA in general, and/or would like training in your building on using DCA, contact Tom Luba (lubat@hsd.k12.or.us.)
Coffee Conversations - Parent Perspective (Episode #6)
Sometimes in IEP meetings, it's easy to forget how parents may feel with professionals sitting around a table talking about their child. In this month's Coffee Conversation, teacher / parent Rachelle Hawks talks about the experience of special education meetings from her viewpoint.
You can see all the Coffee Conversations in the student services handbook (MyHSD, Departments, Student Services), along with Key Takeaways. Please feel free to reach out to your support specialist or student services administrator with questions or topics you'd like to see in future Coffee Conversations!
Click on the picture below to watch the video!