1. GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR CONTNOUS SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PLAN
Hedi Belkaoui, Director of School Improvement & Accreditation
New Leaders Meeting: November 13, 2018 Office of Catholic Schools Archdiocese of Chicago

2. Sharing the Loaves and Fishes
(sign of the cross)
Sharing the loaves and fishes, You gave us an image of solidarity with the hungry, O Lord.
Sharing yourself in the bread and wine, You called all to the table, O Lord.
Give me the hunger to be a part of the feeding and the healing of this world.
Nourish me with your Grace, So I may work with joy to serve your children.
Open my eyes and my heart to recognize those in poverty And increase my awareness of the structures and systems That need to be changed so we may all break bread together. In your name we pray for the end of hunger. Amen.

3. Workshop Objectives
Objective 1- Discuss the process to identify instructional strategies that can address the skills that challenge students Objective 2- Discuss the process to identify an assessment plan to monitor the CSIP
Objective 3- Discuss the alignment between professional development and the CSIP
Objective 4- Identify key tasks in adjusting instruction as a result of the CSIP
Objective 5- Define a process to adjust instruction in response to assessment results
Objective 6- Distinguish between technical challenges and adaptive challenges

4. Why are we even here today?

5. Human Tower

6. My WHY! LESSON 2 You cannot do it alone!
“There are things that I can do that you cannot do. There are things that you can do that I cannot do. But together, we can do anything.”
Mother Theresa
LESSON 2

7. Katherine K. Merseth © 2017
My WHY! with research…
The main in-school influence on student achievement is the quality of the teacher and teaching

8. “The quality of an education system can not exceed the quality of its teachers.”
McKinsey. (2007). How the world’s best-performing
schools come out on top

9. ACADEMIC
IMPROVEMENT GOALS

10. Archdiocese of Chicago Academic Improvement Goals
Reading and Math
Student are to learn the Archdiocese of Chicago Curricular Benchmarks in English/language arts and math as measured by meeting or exceeding ACT Aspire College Readiness Benchmarks: “ready” or “exceeding”
Student growth from one year to the next is “high” or
above the expected level of performance

12. Instructional Guidance: Three Components
Katherine K. Merseth © 2017
Instructional Guidance: Three Components
Do you have a common curriculum that forms a coherent base of knowledge and skills?
Organization of Curriculum
Learning Opportunities for Students
Do you have organizational systems needed to advance instructional goals
Do you have a common language and school-wide understanding of high quality rigorous instruction?
Quality of Instruction

13. Strong Instructional Practices
Katherine K. Merseth © 2017
If you do nothing else…
Strong Instructional Practices
“The primary responsibility of school principals is their
continuous focus on improving instructional work in the classrooms”
(Bryk, et al., p. 47)

14. Workshop Objectives
Objective 1- Discuss the process to identify instructional strategies
that can address the skills that challenge students the most

15. CSIP Part 4 Key Tasks Identify the skills to target for improvement
Decide on instructional strategies
Agree on what the plan will look like in
classrooms
Put the plan in writing in the CSIP

16. CSIP Part 4. Strand and Benchmark Identification
Teacher teams identify the skills for the CSIP
Step 1. Meet in grade-level teams: Team 1: Pre-K to Grade 3
Team 2: Grade 4 and Grade 5 (Grade 6 can be in Team 2)
Team 3: Grade 6, Grade 7, and Grade 8 (can be just Grade 7 and Grade 8) Step 2. Grade-level teams identify ONE to TWO that will be documented on the CSIP
Access the Curriculum Benchmark Report and the Complexity Report for a grade.
Silently, review the skills for the strand that is targeted for improvement. Utilize both the priority standards as well as the lowest performing area on ACT ASPIRE
Discussion: being mindful of the degree of complexity, and its linkage to other grades identify two to three skills that will be targeted for improvement and documented on the CSIP.
Repeat for the other grades until skills have been identified for grades K-8

18. CSIP Part 4 Key Tasks Identify the skills to target for improvement
Decide on instructional strategies
Agree on what the plan will look like in
classrooms
Put the plan in writing in the CSIP

19. Three ways to improve student learning: simultaneously
1. Increase the level of knowledge and skills that the teacher
brings to the instructional process
2. Increase the level and complexity of the content that
students are asked to learn
3. Change the role of the student in the instructional process

20. Decide on instructional strategies
Read books and articles on the strategies; but don’t over think it!!!
Avoid just increasing the quantity of academic tasks as an instructional strategy, instead ask: “how does this strategy improve my practice?”
Avoid including multiple instructional stragies for each grade and school. Consistency is key!

21. CSIP Part 4 Key Tasks Identify the skills to target for improvement
Decide on instructional strategies
Agree on what the plan will look like in classrooms
– View videos that model the use of the instructional strategies; use the Teaching Channel as a resource
Put the plan in writing in the CSIP

22. Protocol: Examine Model Instruction
Watch a video of instructional strategy
What do you notice? Wonder?
Report and record noticings and wonderings
Discussion:
What patterns do we see in the noticings?
How did the model instruction add to our understanding of the
instructional strategy?
What is new about this instructional strategy? How is it similar to other instructional strategies we already use? 18

23. Protocol: Maitre’d Protocol
Find a partner (or triplet).
One instructional strategy will be called out. Discuss that strategy with your partner.
– How well does this strategy support teaching the skills on
the CSIP?
Switch partners (or triplets) and repeat, until all strategies have been discussed. 19

24. Instructional Strategy Resources
Marzano Research
Click here to access
Teaching Channel
What Works Clearinghouse
EduCore: Tools for Teaching the Common Core
Common Core Appendix B: Text Exemplars and Sample
Performance Tasks
Engage New York
Reading strategies book by J. Serravallo
Writing strategies book by J. Serravallo
Math strategies book by Hatfield, Edwards, Bitter, and Morrow
The Daily 5 book by Boushey and Moser

25. Workshop Objectives
Objective 2- Discuss the process to identify an assessment plan to
monitor the CSIP

26. Level and Type of Learning
How would you know the level and type of learning in
your school without using test scores?
No standardized tests
No benchmark tests
No unit tests
How would you know?

27. Levels of Demonstrating Learning:
Bloom’s Taxonomy

28. Levels of Demonstrating Learning:
Higher Order Thinking Skills

29. Levels of Demonstrating Learning:
Depth of Knowledge

30. Tasks predict student performance
Think of the task as the “ceiling” of what we would expect students to know from in class
Tasks with low cognitive demands require low
cognitive student responses
Tasks with high cognitive demands require high cognitive student responses
Task are high leverage because they predict student performance

31. Grade Level Standard to Average Assignment Grade Level12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Average Assignment Grade Level 1 2 3 4 5 6
Grade Level 7 8 9 10 11 12

32. Grade Level Standard to Average Assignment Grade Level12 12 11 11 10 10 9 9
Average Assignment Grade Level 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 1 2 3 4 5 6
Grade Level 7 8 9 10 11 12
Grade Level Standard

33. Grade Level Standard to Average Assignment Grade Level12 11
9.78 10
9.56
9 8.5
7.82
Average Assignment Grade Level 8 7
6.37
5.78
4.97
4.34 6 5
3.62
2.88 4 3
1.94 2
0.99 1
0.002 1 2 3 4 5 6
Grade Level 7 8 9 10 11 12
Grade Level Standard
Average Assignment Grade Level

34. Grade Level Standard to Average Assignment Grade Level12 11
9.78 10
9.56
9 8.5
7.82
Average Assignment Grade Level 8 7
6.37
5.78
4.97
4.34 6 5
3.62
2.88 4 3
1.94 2
0.99 1
0.002 1 2 3 4 5 6
Grade Level 7 8 9 10 11 12
Grade Level Standard
Average Assignment Grade Level

35. Grade Level Standard to Average Assignment Grade Level12 11
9.78 10
9.56
9 8.5
7.82
Average Assignment Grade Level 8 7
6.37
5.78
4.97
4.34 6 5
3.62
2.88 4 3
1.94 2
0.99 1
0.002 1 2 3 4 5 6
Grade Level 7 8 9 10 11 12
Grade Level Standard
Average Assignment Grade Level

36. Grade Level Standard to Average Assignment Grade Level12 11
9.78 10
9.56
9 8.5
7.82
Average Assignment Grade Level 8 7
6.37
5.78
4.97
4.34 6 5
3.62
2.88 4 3
1.94 2
0.99 1
0.002 1 2 3 4 5 6
Grade Level 7 8 9 10 11 12
Grade Level Standard
Average Assignment Grade Level

37. Questions to consider when analyzing the task:
What is the actual work that students are being asked to do?
What do you have to know in order to engage the
task?
What is the actual product of the task?
What is the distribution of performance among
students in the class on the task?
If you were a student and did the task, what would
you know and be able to do?

38. Questions to consider when analyzing the task:
What is the actual work that students are being asked to do?
What do you have to know in order to engage the task?
What is the actual product of the task?
What is the distribution of performance among students in the class on the task?
If you were a student and did the task, what would
you know and be able to do?

39. Analyze the task: Grade 4 math
What is the actual work that students are being asked
to do?
If you were a student and did the task, what would you
know and be able to do?

40. Analyze the task: Grade 4 math
What is the actual work that students are being asked
to do?
If you were a student and did the task, what would you
know and be able to do?

41. Plan to Assess Progress
Assessment Type
Examples
Short-term
student classwork, student homework,
ACT Aspire Classroom Assessments, Quizlets (select items) Teacher Classroom Observations: Peer to Peer and Principal
Medium-term
ACT Aspire Interim Assessments, Quizlets (select items), unit/chapter
quizzes (formative), unit/chapter tests (summative)
Long-term
ACT Aspire summative test
End-of-Course Assessment (teachers collaborate to create these assessments)

42. Example Plan to Assess Progress
What is the name of the assessment?
Assessment Type
Who is assessed?
When is the data collected?
Learning Goal
Who is responsible for collecting and keeping track of the data?
Teacher-generated formative assessments
Short-term
Grades K-8
Results will be collected bi-weekly on Fridays
through the end of the first trimester, Nov. 7
At least 66% of students will be proficient in each assessment.
Paul Bambrick-Santoyo (grade 3 teacher)
ACT Aspire Classroom Assessment #'s 5, 6, 7,
and 8
Grade 3
Classroom Assessment #5
on Sept. 15, #6 on Sept.
22, #7 on Oct. 6, and #8
on Oct. 13
At least 66% of students will be proficient in each assessment.
Paul Bambrick-Santoyo (grade 3 teacher)
Quizlets
Medium-term
Results will be collected by the end of the first trimester, Nov. 7
ACT Aspire Interim Assessments
Grades 3-8
Results will be collected
October 20, January 18,
and March 5
At least 66% of students will the minimum score that places them on- track to meet the benchmark
ACT Aspire Summative Assessment
Long-term
Results will be collected in June 2018
At least 90% of students will meet the benchmark in reading
Elizabeth City
(AdvancED Teacher Chair)

43. Workshop Objectives
Objective 3- Discuss the alignment between professional development and the CSIP

44. Improving Practice Improves Student Learning
Questions to consider regarding professional development
Is the professional development our school provide intensive, ongoing, and connected to practice?
Does the professional development our school provide focuses on the teaching and learning of specific academic content?
Is the professional development our school provide
connected to other school initiatives?
Does the professional development our school provide builds strong working relationships among teachers?

45. Characteristics of Effective Professional Development
Professional development should be intensive,
ongoing, and connected practice
Professional development should focus on student learning and address the teaching of specific curriculum content
Professional development should align with school improvement priorities and goals
Professional development should build strong
working relationships among teachers

46. BREAK

47. Objectives
Objective 4- Identify key tasks in adjusting instruction as a result of the CSIP
Objective 5- Define a process to adjust instruction in response to assessment results
Objective 6- Distinguish between technical challenges and adaptive challenges

48. Key Task in Adjusting Instruction: What skills?
Which skills on the CSIP have been taught
and assessed?
What is the evidence that shows students are learning the skills identified on the CSIP?

50. Key Task in Adjusting Instruction: What evidence?
Which skills on the CSIP have been taught and assessed?
What is the evidence that shows students are learning the skills identified on the CSIP?

53. ACT Aspire Interim Monitoring

54. ACT Aspire Interim Monitoring

55. ACT Aspire Classroom Assessment(s)

56. ACT Aspire Classroom Assessment(s)

57. Key Task in Adjusting Instruction: What Evidence?
1. Teacher teams work collaboratively to collect and analyze short-term data and medium-term data to evaluate the impact of the action plan on student learning

59. Key Task in Adjusting Instruction: What Evidence?
2. Teacher teams compare short-term and medium-term assessment results to individual- level and group-level student learning goals. Compare student results to the learning target.

61. Key Task in Adjusting Instruction: What Evidence?
3. Questions to respond to when analyzing tasks for
short-term assessments:
First: What is the actual work that students are being asked to do?
Second: What do you have to know in order to engage the
task?
Third: What is the task’s Depth of Knowledge level? Fourth: What is the distribution of performance among students in the class on the task?
Fifth: If you were a student and did the task, what would you know and be able to do?

62. Levels of Complexity: Webb’s Depth of Knowledge

63. Key Task in adjusting instruction: what evidence?
Teacher teams implement and assess the
instructional strategies described in the action plan.
Teacher teams use short-term and medium-term data to assess the impact of the action plan on student learning. Answer the question: Are these instructional strategies delivering the desired results?
Teacher teams use data about implementation and
student learning to make adjustments to instruction.

64. Are these instructional strategies delivering the desired results?
CSIP: Grade 3 reading
Benchmark: 3.RL.IKI.9 Compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar characters
Strategy: “Does the story have to be set there, and then?” from Reading Strategies (Seravallo, page 151). Think about the setting of the story. Consider if the settings is just background, or it it plays an important role in the story. One way to do this is to think, “If the story were set someplace else, or at a different time, how would the story be any different?” Then think, “Based on the setting the author has chosen, what impact does the setting have on the story?”

65. Are these instructional strategies delivering the desired results?
Adjusting the strategy on the CSIP
Identify a new strategy(ies) to teach the benchmark skill
Better lessons: theme lesson

66. Objective 1- Identify key tasks in adjusting instruction as a result of the CSIP.
Objective 2- Define a process to adjust instruction in response to assessment results
Objective 3- Distinguish between technical challenges and adaptive challenges

67. Whole-group or Small-group instruction?
The optimal percent of proficiency to determine adjusting to small-group instruction is 66%.

68. The optimal success rate for fostering student achievement is 80%.
A success rate of 80% shows large groups of students are learning the material.

69. Adjust from Whole-group Instruction to
Differentiated Small-group Instruction
Identify the skills on the CSIP that have a proficiency rate of 66% or greater. Provide differentiated small-group instruction: those not proficient and those that are proficient
Identify the skills on the CSIP that have a proficiency rate that is less than 66%. Whole- group instruction continues until a proficiency rate that is equal to or greater than 66% is reached.

70. Objective 1- Identify key tasks in adjusting instruction as a result of the CSIP
Objective 2- Define a process to adjust instruction in response to assessment results
Objective 3- Distinguish between technical challenges and adaptive challenges

71. Technical and Adaptive Challenges
What is the difference between technical and adaptive challenges?
Why is this important?

72. Technical Challenges vs Adaptive Challenges
Problems that can be solved through the knowledge of experts or senior authorities
Problems reside in the head; solving them requires an appeal to the mind, to logic, and to the intellect
The solutions are clear
Adaptive Challenges
Problems that require leadership are those that the experts cannot solve
The solutions lie not in technical answers, but rather in people themselves
Problem reside in the heart; to solve them, requires changes in peoples’
values, beliefs, habits, ways of working
The solutions are not clear
Requires a commitment to intentional collaboration

73. Schools face technical challenges
Establish a mentoring program for beginner teachers
Improve the technology infrastructure to
enhance teaching and learning
Organize field trips and assemblies

74. Schools face adaptive challenges
Create, implement, and monitor an authentic
school improvement plan
Provide meaningful performance evaluation that improves teachers’ practice
Provide students with high quality instruction that requires student collaboration and critical thinking

75. Why is this important?
The work of school leadership is not technical work. That is, the work is not made up of precise procedures done either correctly or incorrectly.
The skills on the CSIP are the ones that challenge students the most on the summative test.
A technical solution: use the same instructional strategies and tasks from prior years.
Adaptive solution: use new instructional strategies and tasks to target these skills.

76. Complete the key tasks from Objective 1 of this
webinar
Have teachers collect and analyze results from short-term and medium-term assessments
Identify the skills that show a proficiency rate at or above 66%
Have teachers share how they will adjust instruction in response to assessment results
Questions? @archchicago.org