Plan gives schools solid direction for improvement
John Heim
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
MARCH AND APRIL are important testing months in Kansas public schools. Teachers must give State Reading and Math Assessments to all students in grades 3 – 8 and one grade at high school. The tests are high-stakes because the results are the primary indicator of whether schools and districts meet the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) targets of the No Child Left Behind Act.
The tests are especially important in Emporia this year. Even after six years of notable gains in reading scores, the district has not met AYP in reading for two consecutive years. Therefore, we are listed as a “district on improvement” and must have an improvement plan. The Emporia Board of Education has approved the District Improvement Plan and it has been submitted to the Kansas State Department of Education.
Several people spent the past six months writing a plan that carefully lays out our work in reading and math for the next two years. Three people deserve special recognition — George Abel, Patricia Smiley and Carolyn Koch. Preparing the plan was tedious work, yet our administrative team believes it may have been the most beneficial work we have done in a long time.
The nice thing about the new plan is that it does not call for a lot of new bells and whistles. Instead it consolidates into a single document all the things we are doing well in reading and math and adds specific, measurable goals at each grade level. We think it provides all employees with a clear road map for accomplishing our strategic plan.
Start with the data
Before we started the plan, we studied student achievement data and we found both good news and bad news.
In reading, our data tells a success story. Every year as a district, our reading achievement has improved for our all-student group. Not only did we make AYP as an all-student group in 2006, if we maintain our achievement levels this year, we will make AYP for 2007. In each of the subgroups, we also showed improvement.
These results have occurred because we have a good model in place to support reading instruction in our elementary and intermediate schools. Most of our schools use some type of professional learning group where teachers look at data and discuss how they can adjust instruction We aligned our communication curriculum with state standards and our literacy coordinator oversees the curriculum and instruction. The elementary schools also have reading coaches who provide training for teachers and help them make adjustments in their teaching for students who are struggling. Those same schools have hired reading specialists who provide intensive instruction for small groups of students.
Our math results are not as good as reading, but the data shows up to 70 percent of our “all-student” group meets or exceeds state standards. The data provides evidence that our elementary math curriculum, adopted four years ago, is a good program. We combine it with math lead teachers in all elementary buildings with district-level coordination much like we have in reading.
Another look at the data tells a different story. We have far too many students who are not meeting state standards in reading and math, especially in some specific categories such as Hispanic students, and students with disabilities. We see a good progression of growth at the elementary level but that trend changes in secondary school.
It has become evident to us that we have not put as many resources in reading or math at the secondary level. Our improvement plan calls for us to extend aspects of what has worked K-6 to the middle school and high school over the next two years.
Our improvement plan takes the successful components I’ve described and given them structure for our K-12 system. First, we plan to formalize our professional learning groups. Our goal is to create a structured method for small teams of teachers to look at student data, discuss and make changes in instruction to improve student achievement. A group of teachers and administrators will attend training in this concept this summer. Second, we will formally implement what we call a “three-tiered approach” to instruction in both reading and math. The first tier is the core program that all students will receive; tiers two and three are specific strategies for students who are struggling. This tiered approach relies on strong professional learning groups. Third, we will continue to align our curriculum through high school. We have done a good job with reading through grade 6 and math through grade 5, but we have much work to do. Finally, we will continue a coordinated examination of our instructional practices by relying on our achievement data.
The new district improvement plan will guide all of the work that we do in the next two years. Our budget priorities are being established with this plan in mind and each of our schools will use the plan to accomplish school improvement goals.
I believe the plan will lead us to achieve not only the requirements of No Child Left Behind but the higher graduation and achievement standards set by our community in our Strategic Plan.
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