St. James Major SIPSAW March 2018 Update

Strategies to implement the sipsaw at st. James Major Questions we asked: How will these strategies add to and enhance our Catholic learning environment? Including staff in daily, weekly, monthly discussions: What is working well? What do we need to change? Stop/Start/Continue PLCs to discuss programming and implementation Parent Involvement-Parent Voice Student Involvement-Student Voice Parish and Community Voice/Involvement

How we have monitored the sipsaw: what is the evidence How we have monitored the sipsaw: what is the evidence? How do we know what we know? How do we know we are making a difference? We have asked the following questions: -Is there evidence (and what is it) that the Catholic Graduate Expectations are incorporated in authentic ways? -Is there consistency of practice in classrooms and throughout school, which support a caring and safe environment for all? We have gathered evidence through: -conversations with staff, students, parents/guardians, parish and community partners -student work -visual artifacts “The evidence is tangible and explicit. By continually focusing on our SIPSAW goals, we are able to stay the course.” Teacher, St. James Major

“Super students” Monthly CGE recognition assemblies We celebrate each month with our students, staff, parents and parish by recognizing one student in each class who best exemplifies the CGEs.

Overcoming obstacles We have asked the following questions in identifying the obstacles and how they are overcome: How can we plan learner spaces given space constraints? What difference will voice and choice have on student engagement and achievement? What are the challenges in implementing UDL? “Our biggest obstacle in implementing and monitoring the SIPSAW is time and space. It takes creativity and open-mindedness to overcome these barriers.” Unanimously voiced by staff at St. James. We have worked to overcome this by continually going back to our goals and priorities and ensuring that the goals reflect our school. We have continued to match our goals and priorities to the BIPSAW.

Student Involvement in gathering evidence Student involvement included gathering data through pictures. The pictures were sorted according to the pillars and from there, students and staff were able to visually view what has been focused on and where any gaps may be. The gaps were then matched with our SIPSAW to see what our next steps are in meeting our goals and priorities by year end.

Moving forward: what the data tells us The data gathered through conversations, observations and visual artifacts indicate that we are on track for meeting the goals we set in the fall. In reviewing our SIPSAW, we have indicated in green what we feel has been completed; in yellow what is still in progress and in red what we need to begin.