1. 2015-2016 RPS SMART School Academy
Session III, Day 5
November 17, 2015
Time: 15 minutes (1/6 slides)
Resources Required: N/A
Purpose: Introduction to Session III
Lecture Notes:
Activity Notes:
FACILITATOR NOTE:

2. Session III Overview
Purpose: Assure effective implementation of goal-related strategies and professional learning by supporting school teams through the change process.
Concept: Reflection
Bridges: Day 5 Results
Day 6 Change
Time: 15 minutes (2/6 slides)
Resources Required: Participant Manual, Pre-Process tab, page 5
Purpose: Introduction to Session III
Lecture Notes: Quickly review the purpose, concept and bridges for this session then pull it all together with the following:
Implementation – the key to getting results! You can have the world’s best plan but it is the quality of the implementation of that plan that determines the quality of the results. Implementation is the key to getting results and not surprisingly, the point in the process where you will begin to see the rise in resistance. Why? People are actually going to have to change what they have been doing, in some cases for 30 or more years.
Activity Notes:
FACILITATOR NOTE:

3. Session III Overview
Essential Question: How does reflection on results support change?
Survey: Baseline measure of schools’ capacity to implement the SMART School Improvement Process
Outcomes
Agenda Overview
Time: 15 minutes (3/6 slides)
Resources Required: Participant Manual, Pre-Process tab, pages 5 and 6
Purpose: Introduction to Session III
Lecture Notes: Essential Question: How does reflection on results support change?
Have them read through the outcomes individually and then review the Agenda, pointing out when lunch and breaks are scheduled.
Activity Notes:
FACILITATOR NOTE:

4. SMART School Improvement Process
Step #5
Analyze and refocus
Begin again!
Step #4
Develop action plans
Between Steps
Implement plans
Step #3
Select strategies
Between Steps
Explore professional learning options
Step #2
Create school
SMART goal
Between Steps
Investigate effective practices
Time: 15 minutes (4/6 slides)
Resources Required: N/A
Purpose: Introduction to Session III – Transition Slide: Where are we in the Process?
Lecture Notes: By now, this should be a familiar image to you. We continue to bring you back to the big picture of the whole process so that you can see where you’ve been and where you’re going next. (CLICK to reveal first triangle)
The essential question of our first session was “How do we, as a community of learners, focus on student growth.” You learned how to identify your school’s Greatest Area(s) of Need, both through perceptions and data gaps and trends. The data were then used to create your school SMART Goal Tree. (CLICK to reveal the second triangle)
The essential question of Session II was “How does a collaborative culture impact adult and student learning? You learned how to investigate new and promising practices in the classroom and team, selected school-wide strategies for implementing promising practices and explored professional learning needs and options which then became part of a larger action plan for implementation. (CLICK to reveal third triangle)
Session III is all about execution and continuous improvement. As we finish up learning the final steps of the process, we will move more deeply into the skills you will need to coach the process in your schools and districts. This is the support that your staff and school-based leaders will need to sustain their leadership for school improvement.
Activity Notes:
Step #1
Isolate need
Between Steps
Gather and analyze data

5. Two on a Marker Goal: Draw something Rules: No talking
TWO hands, ONE marker
Do not lift the marker
Music signals start/end time
Time: 30 minutes (1/2 slides)
Purpose: Experience factors that contribute to (or detract from) adaptability to change
Resources Required: Music, Paper on tables and walls (different sizes and colors), colored markers
Drawing Process: (5 min)
Ask the audience to self-organize (Meg Wheatley). Find a new partner, someone who you have not yet worked with. Find a space. Choose a marker and paper from the tables or walls. (1 min)
Share purpose: Connect last session’s concept COLLABORATION
Goal: Draw something
Rules: No talking (starting right now);
Two hands on ONE marker;
While drawing, you can NOT lift the marker;
Music will signal when you start/stop drawing (do not tell them how much time)
Facilitator Note: Some people will want to talk; remind them again of the rule. Someone may ask what they are to draw, respond with anything, but no talking. Point is to have them experience this without talking. Provide them with assurance that they will have a something drawn at the end of the experience.
Start music and play for 2 minutes (without talking)
After stopping the music, allow them one more minute to complete their pictures. This time, they are allowed to talk. Start the music (Note: Change the tempo of the music for this minute. If you had a slow, quiet song for the first two minutes, play an upbeat, more high energy song the second time.)
Play new music for 1 minute and stop music. Remind them to keep two hands on the marker.
Facilitator Note: People will respond in many ways. Some finish early and stop before the time is up. Others will wish they had more time. I usually document some of the behaviors as this is going on to use in the facilitator summary.
Discussion about the experience: (3-4 minutes)
As partners answer the following questions: (This part of the discussion provides the partner to discuss what they just did. We are not analyzing the experience yet)
What did you draw?
What happened while you were drawing and why?
How did you feel about the drawing, the experience?
What would you have liked to have happen during the experience and why?

6. Two on a Marker - Metaphors
Self Organize
Time
Choices
Two Hands on a marker
Music
Directions
No Talk/Talk
Time: 30 minutes (2/2 slides)
Resources Required:
Purpose: Connect Session II with Session III – Collaboration and Team Effectiveness with Challenges of Implementation and Resistance to Change
An Analogy about the experience: (13-15 minutes)
As partners or table teams, discuss the impact of each of the following factors: (3-4 minutes)
Self-organization
Choices of paper, markers
Amount of time
Two hands on the marker
Music
Directions
No Talk/Talk
Debrief as a whole group.
Coach Notes: Hang a gallery of images in your areas after each person has signed their drawings

7. Between Steps #4 and #5: Implement Plans
Time: 75 min. (1/6 slides – 1 min.)
Resources Required: N/A
Purpose: Introduce next steps in the process
Lecture Notes: Implementation – the key to getting results! You can have the world’s best plan but it is the quality of the implementation of that plan that determines the quality of the results. Implementation is the key to getting results and not surprisingly, the point in the process where you will begin to see the rise in resistance. Why? People are actually going to have to change what they have been doing, in some cases for 30 or more years.
Activity Notes: N/A

8. SMART School Improvement Process
Step #5
Analyze and refocus
Begin again!
Step #4
Develop action plans
Between Steps
Implement plans
Step #3
Select strategies
Between Steps
Explore professional learning options
Step #2
Create school
SMART goal
Between Steps
Investigate effective practices
Time: 75 min. (2/6 slides – total of 15 min. with debrief)
Resources Required: Participant Manual, Process Tab, pages 82 and 83
Purpose: Introduce the Between Steps #4 and #5 content
Lecture Notes: We are here!
Activity Notes: Read through the Planning Guide for SMART School Improvement that appears on page 82 of your participant manual, process tab. As a whole team discuss and document your responses to the first question on page 83. (What are some things that you have done in your schools to address the challenge of time to implement new learning and test out new practices?) (10 min.)
Step #1
Isolate need
Between Steps
Gather and analyze data

9. SMART Action Plans Specific and Strategic Steps and Tasks
Measurable Outcomes Using Multiple Evaluation Methods
Attainable Timelines
Roles and Responsibilities Clearly Defined
Target Monitoring Embedded Within the Plan
Time: 75 min. (3/6 slides)
Resources Required: N/A
Purpose: Show elements of SMART Action Plans
Lecture Notes: Last session we shared our definition of a SMART Action Plan and we shared what it might look like and include. Take a moment to look back at the sample on page 90 of your participant manual. This Action Plan example provides big chunks of agreements about what the team has decided to do and what they will need to do it. It is a 5000 foot view of strategic actions aligned to professional learning, evidence and resources.
Activity Notes:

10. Blueprint for Implementation
Time: 75 min. (4/6 slides – 2 min.)
Resources Required: Participant Manual; Process Tab; pages 80 and 85
Purpose: Understand roll-out as a process and learn tools for mapping out the implementation plan.
Lecture Notes: Going from plan to implementation will require more specificity. Think about your implementation plan as a blueprint for action. What is the value of a blueprint? What does it tell you? (Specifications of size, dimensions, organization of space, etc. In other words, a more detailed picture of the “project.”) Compare the example on page 85 to the one you looked at on page 80.
You’re still going to need to schedule time, sequence of events, roles, responsibilities and resources. For this, we want you to spend some time examining some of the process planning tools that can help your team develop your implementation blueprint with the right amount of detail to get you started and keep you going.
Activity Notes:

11. Activity A ~ Fine Tuning Your Plan
Review and assess your SMART Action Plan. Identify improvements and refinements (10 min.)
Review process planning tools in your Handbook for SMART School Teams pages Which tools might you use to fine tune your plan?
Select one tool and try it out. (30 min.)
Time: 75 min. (5/6 slides – 55 min. including debrief)
Resources Required: Team Action Plans; Slide 10; Handbook for SMART School Teams
Purpose: Address the issue of time
Activity Notes: In your teams, review your own SMART action plan. Does it have sufficient detail to inform each step of implementation? Have you considered how and when you will monitor implementation? Have you identified roles and responsibilities? (10 min.)
In your Handbook for SMART School Teams, pages , you have examples of process mapping tools that can get you to that next level of detail. They are useful for teams because they are visual and can be created collaboratively. When people have been a part of creating the process map, they understand and can communicate the intricacies of the plan with greater confidence. You will have fewer missteps and omissions because the process for implementation has been thoroughly thought out as a team. (15 min.)
In your teams, review the various types of planning tools and select one you think might be useful for implementing your school improvement plan. Try one out on your plan. As you go further into the chapter, the tools become more sophisticated and provide greater detail, especially when it comes to responsibilities and timelines. (30 min.)
Facilitator Note:

12. Activity B ~ Fine Tuning Your Plan
Review and assess your SMART Action Plan. Identify improvements and refinements (10 min.)
Meet in like groups to share your plans and to discuss your response to the first question on page 83: What are some things that you have done in your school to address the challenge of time to implement new learning and test out new practices? (45 min.)
Time: 75 min. (6/6 slides – 55 min. including debrief)
Resources Required: Team Action Plans; Slide 10; Think Outside the Clock
Purpose: Address the issue of time
Activity Notes: In your teams, review your own SMART action plan. Does it have sufficient detail to inform each step of implementation? Have you considered how and when you will monitor implementation? Have you identified roles and responsibilities? (10 min.)
Arrange into like groups by level (elementary, middle, high). Then discuss how each has addressed the issue of time for professional learning and implementation of new practices. (45 minutes)
Facilitator Note: This and the previous slide are offered as options.

13. Step#5: Analyze and Refocus
Time: 75 min. (1/15 slides – 1 minute transition)
Resources Required: N/A
Purpose: Transition to Step #5
Lecture Notes: This step is all about progress monitoring and adjustments – the study and act portion of the PDSA cycle.

14. SMART School Improvement Process
Step #5
Analyze and refocus
Begin again!
Step #4
Develop action plans
Between Steps
Implement plans
Step #3
Select strategies
Between Steps
Explore professional learning options
Step #2
Create school
SMART goal
Between Steps
Investigate effective practices
Time: 75 min. (2/15 slides – 10 minutes)
Resources Required: Participant Manual, Process Tab, pages 86 and 87
Purpose: Orientation to where we are in the process
Activity Notes: Read through the Planning Guide for Step #5 on page 86 and discuss the questions on page 87. Document your conversation. Ignore Question 3 – Guskey is misplaced in this Session. Will be used in the Coaching portion of Session IV.
Step #1
Isolate need
Between Steps
Gather and analyze data

15. Small, incremental steps toward the results goal
Targets
Small, incremental steps toward the results goal
Time: 75 min. (3/15 slides)
Resources Required: Participant Manual, Process Tab, pages 88.
Purpose: Anticipatory set for conversations on targets
Lecture Notes: The statements that appear on page 98 define what targets do for us from both a practical and a motivational perspective. We’d like to give you a little time to talk about why targets are an important part of the school improvement process.
Activity: Take a quick moment to read through the bullets. (CLICK to next slide for activity)

16. Discussion ~ Target Monitoring
Why are targets important?
What is the purpose and use of different types of assessment targets?
How can targets be used to:
Monitor progress toward the goal
Evaluate interventions
Differentiate instruction
Why is it important to celebrate even small steps or partial steps?
Time: 75 min. (4/15 slides – 20 minutes)
Resources Required: Participant Manual, Process Tab, page 89; Chart paper and Marker
Purpose: Affirm the role and multiple uses of targets
Activity Notes: Discuss and document on chart paper your team’s responses to the questions on page 89.
Clarification of Question 2b: Question 2b is asking for the when and why you would use certain types of assessments and certain types of target templates. For example, under what circumstances would you look at targets for all students in the school? When might you monitor cohort data instead or in addition to all students? Why might you look at the data in terms of grade level targets? What is the purpose for monitoring student performance by zones?

17. Setting Good Targets
A target expresses where we want to be within a given time frame; our assessments tell us how quickly we are getting there (or not).
A good target is a stretch. It sets a challenge. It is something that those setting the target feel is attainable.
Give yourself about an 80% chance of achieving your target within the time frame you specify.
Targets should add up to goal attainment.
Time: 75 min. (5/15 slides –1 minutes)
Resources Required: N/A
Purpose: Understand the qualities of a good target.
Lecture Notes: These four items provide additional clarity for what a good target includes. In just a moment, we’re going to ask you to assess your goal targets against these criteria and give yourself a grade. (Review the four bullets in preparation for the next activity)

18. Spring 2014
Results
Focus:
Subgroups
All Grades
Measure:
District Annual
Writing Prompt
Time frame for
Target Monitoring
Spring 2015
Results
Percent Expected
To Meet / Exceed
Standard
Subgroups:
Base-line Data
Current Data
Targets
Yr. 1
Yr. 2
Yr. 3
End of Year %
ELL
40% 1 50 2 65 3 75
Spec. Ed.
25% 30 40
FRL
32% 60
Writing
Grade: B+
Time: 75 min. (6/15 slides – 5 min. of 30 min. for complete exercise)
Resources Required: Chart paper and markers
Purpose: Illustrate the product for this activity – Dissecting the target template
Lecture Notes: This is a picture of what we’re going to ask you to do with one of your target templates in just a few minutes. You’ll post it on a piece of chart paper and then identify all the important pieces of your template.
Activity Notes: Show this slide while they are working. Walk through the example so they can see how the “anatomy” is based on their decisions about how they put their target templates together. They should be able to explain their target template decisions. This exercise pushes them to not just review but to justify why they decided to complete the template the way they did. And, if they can’t, what they need to do to improve or refine it. Read the summary box – rationale for their grade.
Facilitator Note: The teams will remain at their own tables but the charts should be posted at the end of the activity so others can see what they have done.
Summary: We believe these targets are challenging but attainable because we have already begun to
focus on these subgroups and have writing interventions in place. They leave us short of our goal and we can only measure annually. The whole target needs to be supplemented with formative results. 18

19. Current Data (# of ALL students)
Baseline
Results
Number of Students
In Algebra I
Subject:
Algebra I (Operations)
Grade:
Department:
Subject:
Subgroup:
N= 105 Students
Current Data (# of ALL students)
Forms
Target
(# of ALL students)
Blue 8
Baseline 14
Green 24 30
Yellow 28 36
Red 44 25 23
Progress Check 35 27 45 15 10
Results
What Now? 52
Measure: District Math
Benchmark Assessment
District Benchmark
Projected # of
Students on
Mid-point Exam
Projected # of
Students on Final Exam
Actual # of Students
On Mid-point Exam
Time: 75 minutes (7/15 slides)
Resources Required: Not in participant manual
Purpose: Common Assessment Targets by zone/student
Lecture Notes: Walk through this example to show how formative assessments using zone analyses are used to create the targets. In this example, the end result still leaves 4 students short of meeting the standard. Additional supports would need to be provided for those students.
Activity Notes:
Plan Forward
Actual # of Students
On Final Exam
Grade: A-
Summary: Formative measure allows for periodic monitoring and
adjustment of practice. Targets are realistic, measurable and time-bound. 19

20. Spring 2014
Results (D)
Focus:
Grades 3-5
Spring 2015
Results
Measure:
DEA
Time frame for
Target Monitoring
Percent Expected
To Meet / Exceed
Standard
Focus: Reading Grades 3-5
Base-line Data
Spring 2014
% Levels
3 & 4
Current Year
Actual Data -Spring
Targets
Yearly Spring Data
Cohort 1
Grade 3
56%
62%
70%
77%
2015
60%
2016
65%
2017
75%
Cohort 2
Grade 4
48%
58%
55%
63%
Cohort 3
Grade 5
72%
Reading
Grade: B
Time: 75 min. (8/15 slides – 5 min. of 30 min. for complete exercise)
Resources Required: Chart paper and markers
Purpose: Illustrate how cohort analyses can be used to create targets.
Lecture Notes: Walk through this example.
Facilitator Note: The teams will remain at their own tables but the charts should be posted at the end of the activity so others can see what they have done.
Summary: We believe these targets were not challenging enough and should probably have been increased after the results came in. We also would like a target template that allows us to monitor more frequently using A and B data during the year. We would also like to follow our Cohort 2 and 3 groups into middle school to see if they are continuing to improve. 20

21. Monitoring Progress of Cohorts
Time: 75 min. (9/15 slides – 5 minutes)
Resources Required: N/A
Purpose: Understand how targets are used to monitor progress ongoing
Lecture Notes: This is a hand-sketched example from a previous Academy team that decided to review cohort information on a regular basis. It lays out a plan for annual progress monitoring at the school level across the grades.

22. Activity ~ Anatomy of a Target
Post one of your target templates on a piece of chart paper.
Identify the parts and specific details of your targets within each part.
How challenging is your target? How attainable is your target? Give yourself a grade.
Summarize why you gave yourself the grade you did and how you will use the target template for monitoring progress toward your goal.
Time: 75 min. (10 / 15 slides – 30 min. including set-up and debrief)
Resources Required: Chart paper and markers
Purpose: Refine and improve their own goal targets
Activity Notes: Review the 4 part instructions and then CLICK to slides to show examples.
Facilitator Note: The teams will remain at their own tables but the charts should be posted at the end of the activity so others can see what they have done.

23. Monitoring Progress Using Targets
Have a regularly scheduled time and place for reviewing target attainment. Make it visual!
Use common formative assessments to gather valuable information frequently enough to adjust practice and / or introduce interventions.
Know exactly which children are meeting the targets and which are not. Differentiate accordingly.
Share your team and classroom targets and progress with your students. Celebrate!
Time: 75 min. (11/15 slides – 5 minutes)
Resources Required: N/A
Purpose: Understand how targets are used to monitor progress ongoing
Lecture Notes: These are suggestions for how you will use your targets to monitor progress and share results on an ongoing basis. If you think back to your SMART Action Plans, we asked you to identify a schedule for reviewing your targets. Typically that coincides with the assessment schedule, but it might also include some perceptual, observational or other event-driven reason for looking at your progress such as the end of a unit, trimester, quarter or semester, parent-teacher conferences, etc.
The more you can build formative assessments into your plan, the better but be sure not to over-burden teachers and students with too much testing. Assessments for learning (a la Chappuis and Stiggens) provide valuable feedback informally and do not require testing events per se. This should become a systematic practice for PLCs at the unit level.
Matching up student names and faces with performance data (especially in zone analyses) will lead to informed differentiation and intervention. Even a good target is improved when the numbers are taken to the individual student level for analysis.
Finally, the targets should not be a mystery to your students. As entire classrooms demonstrate growth, there is reason for celebration. When students know they have been part of contributing to a larger classroom success, they are reinforced in their efforts.
Activity:

24. Time: 75 min. (12/15 slides –minutes)
Resources Required: N/A
Purpose: Show examples of visual progress monitoring
Lecture Notes: These charts are outside a principal’s office in a middle school. They illustrate movement up through the zones for every child in the middle school (column at the right) and for all students by name in four core academic areas by section (i.e. English Language Arts 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th period). The data are not accessible to the public and are used by the principal to talk with PLCs about flexible grouping strategies, RtI needs, additional support resources for the teacher(s) (e.g., reading resource teacher or instructional coach).

25. Time: 75 min. (13/15 slides –minutes)
Resources Required: N/A
Purpose: Show examples of visual progress monitoring
Lecture Notes: This is a teachers’ work room where the 3rd grade teachers are moving index cards with students’ names and the specific indicators the students are working on in a particular unit of study. They place a colored dot on the index cards to illustrate where the students began on the baseline assessment. As they improve, they move the index cards up to the next higher level(s). Not the distribution in this photo.

26. Time: 75 min. (14/15 slides –minutes)
Resources Required: N/A
Purpose: Show examples of visual progress monitoring
Lecture Notes: This is toward the end of the unit. Note the number of index cards left in the red zone compared to the baseline on the previous slide. Note the number of blue and green cards now.

27. CELEBRATE!! Time: 75 min. (15/15 slides – 1 minute)
Resources Required: N/A
Purpose: Show examples of visual monitoring
Lecture Notes: This was actually at the midpoint of the unit where the movement from the red zone to yellow and higher was being celebrated by these teachers.