CIP Updates September 17, 2013

System Success = Student Success Ensure that teachers aren't receiving conflicting signals about what they are supposed to be doing. When the task is vague but expectations are specific, we are expecting students/teachers to do the right thing without knowing what it is. Schools don't need more things to do. They need to do less with greater focus.

First Who…Then What If we get the right people on the bus, the right people in the right seats, and the wrong people off the bus, then we’ll figure out how to take it someplace great. In the well known book – “Good to Great”…it was determined that all great companies began by determining first …Who…then What. The rationale for this approach is that these companies thought (click and read). And so it goes with your Continuous Improvement Team at your school. (click) Of course, the Principal and the Asst Principal need to be the “Designated Drivers.” Their presence and collaboration with the writing team is invaluable as they are ultimately responsible for leading the faculty, staff, and students to the determined CIP destination. It is the administrations responsibility to drive the improvement efforts but they must also be careful that as they begin writing and setting the plan in motion, that they don’t leave the faculty standing on the curb! One group that should always be represented on CIP teams are your (click) core content teachers. You also need to include a (click) counselor, intervention teacher and a special ed teacher. Last year, for the first time, we saw many schools become more progressive by (click) including parents, community members, and students on the actual writing and review teams. This worked very well for many schools. A group of people that we would like for you to strongly consider for participation on your team this year are (click) your strategic planners and motivators . Every faculty has a few people who are really good at short and long term planning and also members who are known for their ability to motivate people to get on board. These people will be crucial in making sure that teachers are implementing and keeping adequate documentation and helping the faculty maintain a positive attitude towards continuous improvement. (Team Discussion) For the next 5 minutes we would like for you to discuss with your school team…who needs to be included (who needs to be on the bus) to write a quality CIP? Use the illustration of the bus provided for you to guide your discussion. Core Content Teachers Counselor, Special Ed Parents, Students, Community Planners, Motivators Principal, Asst Principal

Participate in Seven Reviews A Year Long Journey May - September Attend Training Disaggregate Data Get Input From Faculty Write the Plan August - April Set up Documentation Communicate the Plan Check Documentation Participate in Seven Reviews Make Amendments Keep the Plan Alive Why is getting the team right so important? Because over the course of a whole year, this team does more than write the plan. They (click) read and go over each one….

District-Wide Reading Goals “Non-negotiables” Goal 1 - Improve Literacy in All Content Areas Strategic Teaching TEACH THE STANDARDS! Increased Complexity in Reading and Writing (All Content Areas) Address Student Needs Add Honors/AP Courses ARI Schools (may add strategy)

District-Wide Math Goals “Non-negotiables” Goal 2 - Improve Math Proficiency Strategic Teaching Longitudinal Data AMSTI Schools (may add strategy)

Increase the percent of qualifying AP Literature scores from ___% to ___% during the 2013– 2014 school year. Specific Clearly define the outcome that you want to achieve Measurable Establish concrete measures of success Attainable Push your self past your comfort zone but you should still be able to achieve it with effort and commitment Relevant Connect the goal to the reason why you did not make AYP Consider areas of needed improve-ment Time Bound Create a sense of urgency by defining when the goal will become reality Over the past several years in our trainings we have stressed that you should write SMART Goals. (click) Everyone should know by now that SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time bound. The reason we are revisiting this is because in many cases, we find that goals are not clearly written. Here are some guiding points that may help you…(read the boxes). Let’s look at this sample goal – the red part of the goal is very SPECIFIC. The blue part makes the goal MEASURABLE by stating what % of students who are currently scoring proficient and what % of students you expect to score proficient. The orange part of the goal states when this will happen – it establishes the TIME this goal will be completed. If it is connected to the reason you did not make AYP and/or connected to other areas of need which surfaced after a thorough look at your data, then it is RELEVANT. As a group, you must decide if this is truly ATTAINABLE. Handout – where you are – where you want to be Smart Goals

Strategies: What will we do in order to achieve the goal we have set? All teachers and administrators All teachers and administrators What will we do in order to achieve the goal we have set? Many plans only involved intervention teachers and math and reading teachers Many plans were written by just a few people rather than guided by a leadership team who gained whole faculty input What needs to be done in core instruction to ensure that fewer students in the future will need intervention? What can general math and reading teachers as well as non core teachers do to help? Can these weaknesses be addressed in other content areas also? So now we have our academic goals set and have decided who we are wanting to target… It’s time to choose the strategies that will best help us meet our goal. We encourage you to write 2 – 3 goals with multiple strategies. The question you have to ask when selecting or writing your strategies is…(click and read) Ask the participants: “Who is we?” (click) all teachers and administrators implement the plan and (click) all teachers and administrators contribute to the writing. The problem in the past has been that many plans (click and read ). While these particular people will play a key part in your plan – you need to also consider these questions: what needs to be done in core instruction to ensure that fewer students in the future will need intervention? What can general math and reading teachers as well as any non core teachers do to help? Can these weaknesses be addressed in other content areas also? Even though math and reading are the accountability areas, do we want to include goals that address other subjects like Science, Social Studies, etc? If we are in improvement because of Grad Rate – what can all staff and teachers do to encourage kids to stay in school and be successful? Another problem is that (click and read). Writing the CIP should be a team effort. People will buy into something much quicker if they are part of the process not the end product.

Strategy and Action Step Reminders Effective Strategies and Action steps: Are measurable Include but are not solely centered around remediation/intervention Address core instruction Require evidence that is observable in a classroom, not just found in a box Involve more than just Math and Language Arts teachers Some good strategy and action step reminders (click and Read the content of the slide) To help schools write better action steps we created a tool that would lead schools through a thought process as they write their plans. (Hand out the tool)

Dept. select 2 objectives Strategy/Action Step Benchmark Evidence - DOC Evidence - WT S1. Provide reading instruction based on AHSGE reading objectives in all core and elective classes in grades 7 – 12 S1 – AS1. All teachers (7 – 12)will receive initial training on how to incorporate reading objectives using existing materials (textbooks, newspapers, magazines, etc.) in August; follow up training will occur in Oct and January AS1 – B1. 100 % of teachers are trained -Training is focused on incorporation of reading obj. using existing materials Sign in sheets for original and make-up training sessions, training agenda S1 – AS2. Each content area/department will select two appropriate reading objectives to be used weekly with content reading materials beginning in August AS 2 – B1. 100 % of the department heads turn in the objectives to the Principal List of the objectives by departments S1– AS3. All teachers will implement the use of appropriate reading objectives weekly with content reading materials AS3 – B1. 100% of teachers implementing on a weekly basis Lesson plans showing weekly implementation Observation of teachers teaching selected reading objectives in their content S1 – AS4. All teachers will assess the two reading objectives they have chosen using Item Spec – like questions added to their regular test at least twice in a nine week period AS4 – B1. 100 % of teachers giving test with added questions/ 2x per nine week period Student samples of test with added questions – 2 per nine weeks Department item analysis sent to Principal after each nine week period S1 – AS5. All teachers will use the results of reading assessments during regular content/department meeting to plan with English teachers for additional support AS5 – B1. 100% of teachers will use the assessment results and obtain additional support from the English teachers Improvement of mastery of reading objectives Minutes of all department meetings; Mastery/Non mastery list for each assessment; List of instructional recommendations from English Dept. Observation of department meeting and discussion of the reading assessments Teachers are trained Dept. select 2 objectives Teachers implement Teachers assess the objectives Let’s look at how this particular strategy may flesh out… Look at the first column – We have already shared the first action step – training - read the rest of the sequence (click) Notice the who, what when – the specificity of how often the teachers would use the objectives with content reading materials. The benchmark includes a percentage because we will not be successful until all dept have chosen their objectives. Notice the evidence that will need to be collected to support that the action step was completed. (click) Again we see the who, what, when…notice the benchmark and where will we find the evidence. Now that we are down to action steps that occur in the classroom, we will begin seeing evidence not only in a box, but also in a classroom. If you could see the intervention column, it would probably have something in it at this point. (click) (click) Look at the last two rows for who, what when, the benchmarks and the evidence Something to note is that before this training, we gave this same strategy to 4 other groups and each group came up with a different set of action steps. That is OK – your action steps will totally depend on the route that your faculty wants to take to successful implementation. The important thing is that each step is sequenced, specific, and measurable. Now it’s time for practice. Let each group choose a strategy from math or reading from the strategies list and use the blank template to fill it in. Teachers discuss data and use it to drive instruction

So….When’s It Due? October 11

General CIP requirements for schools (not necessarily in an evidence box): KISS - Keep it simple….. Principal Summary Forms (PSFs) - in school box. CIP (and amendments) - in school box. CIP on website. Principal(s) is ensuring teachers are creating lessons plans that reflect the COS/CCRS. Specific documentation, as mentioned in each school's CIP (in school box). Secondary Schools - Syllabus (with COS/CCRS/EOCT correlations strongly suggested).  Syllabus should be posted on teacher's website. 

General CIP requirements for schools (cont.)…. Intervention strategies (as mentioned in school's CIP). Evidence of student work/teacher lessons.  Only TWO GOALS: Math and Literacy (for all content areas).  

Other Items of Interest School web presence, including teacher webpages (especially if teacher/student communication is mentioned in CIP) Student engagement Classroom/school culture Utilizing technology, Web 2.0 tools, and/or project-based learning Four-Year Plans (Middle and High Schools) Kuder

Sample Lesson Plans

Google Drive Lesson Plans Government 6th Language 8th English 11th English 8th Science Syllabus

ACT Quality Core and ASPIRE ACT Quality Core website: http://www.ecboe.org/qualitycore Objectives Teacher-generated assessments Sample syllabi and lessons ASPIRE

SEARCH AL CCRS lessons by grade, strand, or anchor standard SEARCH AL CCRS lessons by grade, strand, or anchor standard. Click http://alex.state.al.us/browseEnglish.php and then the Alabama Insight graphic. Etowah County user name: guest28. Password: guest.

Walkthrough (or Rounds) Schedule https://docs.google.com/a/ecboe.org/document/d/1I6bKbwCltVgvdcxo9_W4TzIh1vZIa-R7dij3xvq_nRg/edit

Walkthrough Forms Online Form: https://docs.google.com/a/ecboe.org/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDhaUk02U0U1SW1XZXktVGtsanc0S2c6MA#gid=0 Graph Data Analysis Sharing forms

Suggestions Kill two birds - Utilize RtI data for math and reading goals (STAR Enterprise and SuccessMaker data) Have teachers print out lesson plans and leave on desk. If using lesson plans book, those are completely acceptable as well, as long as they are easily accessible to visitors.  Prepare tentative schedule for CIP walkthrough (list of teachers and general time frames).  Give visitor a copy.

eCIP 

CIP Resources IMPACT Survey SpeakUp Survey Attendance Report (Gail Rice) http://www.ecboe.org/cip ARI RTI AMSTI

What’s Coming….. ASSIST http://www.advanc-ed.org/

CIP Quick Sheet