1. POSTER TEMPLATE BY: www.PosterPresentations.com Increasing the Accountability of Teachers to Reach all Students and their Needs Raymon J. Smith References Options to Achieve our Goal Introduction Implementation Plan Goal: To Develop a system of tracking student growth that puts the focus on each students educational needs and achievement. Echo School District is on the verge of becoming a “School in Improvement” based on our achievement scores across the board in math and writing. Below is a sample of math scores over the past two years in our tested grades. As a district we meet and had open discussion on how to increase student growth and achievement. The discussions resulted in the goal above and left the administration to research options to reach the goal. As an administrative team we have researched multiple options in order for our K-12 school to reach our goal. Below are options and their pros and cons for our staff. Our staff has selected a plan addressing our need for discovery of standards, comparison of current curriculum to common core curriculum, assessment types, reporting and analysis. The information below will show the implantation plan and timeline. Resources and Projections Standards for Student Achievement Based on % Pass of State Test at Each Grade Level Pros Pre set standards of achievement Easily communicated goals In line with state report card Cons Lacks true individual student focus Doesn’t promote growth in all students Focuses on test not teaching Individual Student Growth Models True focus on each students learning needs Shows students growth in each subject not just met or not met Puts responsibility on student and teacher Very labor intensive Requires training for staff, students and parents Development of program and assessment tools Use Past Grade Level Pass % to Set Standard for Next Grade Level Achievement Level Shows cohort improvement Information easily accessible Staff comfortable with format Doesn’t truly show individual student growth Could give a false sense of improvement 2010-2011 4 In-service days to research and compare current curriculum to Common Core Standards 2 In-service days work in cohort groups for implementation and assessment strategies Develop the outline for what the reporting format will look like. Summer 2011 Staff - takes current reporting graph and alters to fit their assessment aspect and align with CCS Administration – Make changes to reporting chart as need by staff, provide staff with need past and current assessment information, and design in-service and workday schedules for 2011-2012 Develop growth model charts for each student in each content areas K-12 Provide training for parents and students on how to read and understand individual growth model charts. Align growth model information with report card information. Provide 4 in-service days for staff to continue work on deeper development, research and common school visits around CCS, assessment and making data work. School administration with staff direction has designed the chart to the left. This reporting system will allow the teacher to outline the CCS for each subject area in clear manor and describe a students growth and or needs in each selected core area. In addition the chart above can be altered to fit the content area, assessment type and or desired outcomes. The report allows for easy points of understanding for parents and students while still being very workable for teacher and administration. Finally our staff feels like this reporting system will allow for easy analysis of information, provide consistent feedback to them for student needs and assessment as well as sharing information from teacher to teacher as students progress through the grades. Like all school district in Oregon ours is in a budget shortfall. In order to advance our goal we have had to find creative was to meet the needs of our staff to gain the professional development needs to insure a successful outcome for our students. We have implemented the following actions to meet our needs for success. Addressing the Need for Professional Development and Curriculum Development Rearrange the school calendar to give additional time cohort and individual professional development Worked with our ESD to bring in training on data and assessment design Instituted teacher work days to build and regularly update individual student growth models Addressed need in the budget for staff to travel to schools for classroom visits Set dates and designed additional modes of information to educate parents and students about individual growth models Our projection is that we will see growth in all of our students as we shift our focus individual student needs. This assumption is based on the change in the NCLB direction as stated by Mr. Duncan from the USDE “our focus is to change education to address the completed research that states meeting students needs increases student success”. We will assess our results through the continuous revisiting of our methods, consistent application of progress monitoring of all students growth and courage to make changes that are deemed needed as we move through the process. Finally yearly peer evaluation of our student progress through cohort work. The "Student Centered" Growth Model. (2009, April 17). Retrieved from Oregon Department of Education website: http://www.ode.state.or.us/search/page/?id=2495 Growth Project Overview. (2009, April 17). Retrieved from Oregon Department of Education website: http://www.ode.state.or.us/wma/policy/accountability/growth/growth-and-report-card- overview.pdf Strauss, V. (2010, March 10). The problem(s) with the Common Core standards. The Washington Post. Retrieved from http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer- sheet/national-standards/the-problems-with-the-common-c.html The New Illinois Learning Standards Incorporating the Common Core. (2011, February 11). Retrieved from Illinois State Board of Education website: http://www.isbe.net/common_core/default.htm