Katherine Barbosa, Kimberly Grisdale, Scott Jenkins, Sara Palmosina Accountability and Organizational Improvement Dr. Caggiano 11/19/2013
INSTRUCTIONAL NEED ACTIVITY 2 Assessment and Analysis of Instructional Need On the 2012-2013 fifth grade Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) writing test, the state saw a significant decline in passing scores. There were many changes that arguably impacted scores across the state. Like much of the state, Hampton City Schools experienced a significant drop in the pass rate on the 5 th grade-writing test. School, division, and state report cards are published by the Virginia Department of Education as a way to provide information about student achievement, accountability ratings, attendance, program completion, school safety, teacher quality, and other topics. According to information published in these report cards, the state pass rate on the 5 th grade writing tests declined from 89% to 73%. In Hampton City, the rate fell from 78% to 68%.
Hampton City Schools Deborah Fahringer, English Language Arts Teacher Specialist for grades 2-5, outlined changes to the 5 th grade-writing test in an interview on November 7, 2013. She noted that 2012-2013 was the first year that the students took their writing test online. Other changes included a brand new type of writing called creative narrative. The school system did not receive notice of this change until December, just a few months before the test. The teachers had very little time to respond to this change in their instruction. The last major change was in the states scoring rubric for the writing test. The state altered the weights of certain items. This change impacted the scores as well. INSTRUCTIONAL NEED ACTIVITY 3 George P. Phenix Pre-K-8 schools instructional need in the area of writing will be assessed and analyzed here. Phenixs enrollment is around 1500 students. 44% of their population is considered economically disadvantaged. The racial breakdown can be seen below:
Scores on the 5 th grade-writing test at Phenix declined, generally speaking. One alarming trend is the decline seen in students who are economically disadvantaged. A 3-year decline in writing scores is evident, with the most significant drop occurring between the 2011-2012 and 2012- 2013 school year.
Literacy is the ability to read and write. The correlation between socioeconomics and literacy is well established historically in research. A number of variables are factors for students of economically disadvantaged households. Literacy development can be inhibited because these INSTRUCTIONAL NEED ACTIVITY 4 students spend less time reading, get less sleep, have higher rates of absenteeism and mobility, and less parental encouragement of academic pursuits. These factors are not only more likely to be experienced by children from low socioeconomic backgrounds, but research indicates there is often an interactive effect, meaning socially disadvantaged children suffer more adverse effects from these risk factors than other children (Buckingham, et al 2013). It is because of these extenuating circumstances, the change in the 5 th grade-writing SOL test, and the 3-year trend in dropping scores for economically disadvantaged students that an adjustment in instructional planning and teaching must be examined. Nonetheless, the sizeable decrease in 5 th grade-writing SOL scores cannot be attributed to the change in the assessment and the traditionally low performance of socially disadvantaged students alone. Brand new in 2010, Phenix is one of two PreK-8 schools in the Hampton City School Division. Servicing about 1,500 students each day, Phenix is also one of the largest schools in the division. Although Phenixs population does include a rather considerable number of economically disadvantaged students, the portion of these students is not large enough for the school to meet the criteria for Title I funding. Thusly, the extra support to help students that come from low socioeconomic status families lies in the hands of the regular classroom teachers, whose schedules do not often lend themselves to providing these focused learning opportunities. Time to do it, explains Stacy Walker, Literacy Leader and Reading Specialist. Since Phenixs opening, Ms. Walker has been tasked as the single language arts instructional resource at Phenix. She pushes into classrooms to provide support as she sees necessary, but functions mostly as a pullout teacher, often working with the lower performing students in an attempt provide the extra support needed to boost reading abilities and, ultimately, test scores. Writing requires more than just 30 minutes, she continues, and with having to teach every subject, and INSTRUCTIONAL NEED ACTIVITY 5 math and reading taking up such big chunks of the school day, teachers just dont have the time necessary to devote to teaching writing appropriately, (Walker, 2013). Time is also a factor when it comes to having grade-level conversations about the teaching of writing. Since its inception, Phenix has embraced the Professional Learning Community (PLC). This model requires grade-levels to formally meet as Collaborative Learning Teams (CLT) and, at Phenix, schedules have been adjusted to incorporate bi-weekly extended meeting times for this purpose. Our CLT is supposed to be for discussing student learning and whats working in classrooms to achieve great understanding, explains Jennifer Breault, a 5 th
grade teacher at Phenix (2013). Unfortunately, she continues, they are often taken up by curriculum leaders talking about the latest news on the test and what we need to do in the classroom. CLT meetings should be dedicated to reflective conversations and using data to plan with your team about how to help students succeed, (Breault, 2013). Stacy Walker also spoke to the importance of examining writing during CLT time. Bringing student samples to collectively grade and discuss brings cohesiveness within the grade-level as to the expectations for writing. It also sparks conversations on how to improve writing and the strategies teachers may have found that work, (Walker, 2013). Vertical teaming encourages teachers to look beyond their everyday colleagues to other resources above and below their grade-level. When implemented appropriately, 5 th grade teachers can work with the grade level teams below them to create a plan to develop writers before the onset of their 5 th grade, testing year. These same teachers can also work with middle school language arts teachers to learn how to enrich writing lessons with better strategies for teaching writing planning and development. Its sad that vertical teaming does not occur more often, as it creates a cohesiveness in the teaching of writing across grade levels, explains Ms. INSTRUCTIONAL NEED ACTIVITY 6 Walker (2013). By beginning writing early and building upon skills gradually, students at all levels can grow in their understanding and abilities each year, rather than starting over from scratch again and again, (Walker, 2013). Perhaps the largest hindrance to the teaching of writing is not the time, nor the resources, but rather the lack of teacher fidelity. Teachers in urban school districts often face a myriad of pressures to ensure student performance on standardized tests. According to a number of researchers, the achievement gaps created as a result of culturally and socioeconomically diverse student populations are often the focuses of state and federal mandates (Dooley & Assaf, 2009). A drop in scores could mean a decrease of funding resulting in an increase of pressure to raise scores. This increasing pressure then trickles down from district leaders, to school administration, to teachers, to students. Although Hampton curriculum leaders promote the use of research based writing strategies, teachers that do not test writing often succumb to the pressures of testing, leaving writing to wait until test scores have improved. Ive gotten used to my students looking at me like Im speaking a different language when I mention a t-bar (an HCS strategy for crafting a topic sentence), says Ms. Breault (2013). Its at that point that I know I have my work cut out for me, having only seven months to create effective writers out of students that have never been asked to write before (Breault, 2013). It is because of this reality that a cohesive, efficient, and effective plan needs to be developed to thoroughly address the goals of writing improvement; not only in 5 th grade, but also across the board. Establishing a plan of attack for the specific needs of Phenix in conjunction with the plan that has been established by the district can lead to addressing some of the above problems. Leadership Plan for Instructional Change Goals and Objectives INSTRUCTIONAL NEED ACTIVITY 7 Without a well-defined and integrated set of strategies for improving learning, teaching, and leadership- in short, a system- it is hard to imagine how leaders can be anything but reactive (Wagner, et al 2006). Based this idea, Phenix must adopt a clearly defined action plan aimed at improving writing skills and in turn scores. Using the previously discussed data, Phenixs goal is to increase the number of 5 th grade economically disadvantaged students passing the writing SOL by 10%. By implementing the changes addressed below, Phenix should not only increase their 5th grade writing scores, but proactively prepare lower grades for their upcoming assessments. Facilitation of Changes through PLC A modified use of PLC will play a major role in the improvement of writing scores at Phenix. This model will help facilitate the implementation of the districts new writing pacing guide and curriculum. Weekly team meetings through CLTs will continue; within these meetings teachers will participate in the lesson study protocol. In this paradigm, teachers create a common lesson and objectives, teach the lesson to their classes, and bring back work samples to CLT meetings. Teachers then examine the work samples to see whether or not students have met the appropriate learning objectives. This process is ...not to expose those who may be getting poor results, but rather to identify and learn from those teachers who are getting results far above average with comparable groups of students (Wagner et al, 2006). Accordingly, this forum allows for conversations centered around student learning and best-practice for the teaching and learning of writing. Another key change in the way the CLT meetings will function is the addition of vertical teaming. Using the vertical team model, teachers will periodically meet with teachers of other grade levels. The purpose of these meetings is to collaborate with teachers to identify areas of INSTRUCTIONAL NEED ACTIVITY 8 strength and weakness in the subject of writing. From these discussions teachers can share best practice and plan to address the most critical skills. In accordance with the idea of vertical teaming, Phenix will create its own need-specific pacing guide, coinciding with the district-wide pacing. Using data from district and school-wide common assessments, the building guide will be created to ensure that it appropriately addresses areas of weakness. Karen Johnson, current assistant principal at Tyler Elementary and former reading specialist, states, writing should have a plan vertically across the board; if given a plan on what it looks like and how it should work it is not as overwhelming and new in 5 th
grade...writing should build upon like math. Foundations should support the learning in the upcoming year, (Johnson, 2013). Phenix will also make use of other members of the schools PLC. Resources such as librarians, music teachers, physical education teachers, and art teachers will also help support action plan goals by assisting the teachers with ideas and concepts that are cross-curricular. Resource classes will infuse writing goals periodically in their classrooms as their specific curriculum allows. Additionally, resource teachers will intervene with differentiated small groups for intervention and enrichment during one planning period a week. Implementation of Professional Development A strong emphasis on professional development will help teachers and staff to effectively incorporate the new writing plan. A school-wide professional development explaining the new writing standards, pacing, and platform will kick off the implementation of Phenixs action plan. Throughout the year, teacher leaders will collaborate to provide additional professional development opportunities based on staff needs, concerns, and questions. District and school level coaches will provide professional development will centered around composition, usage INSTRUCTIONAL NEED ACTIVITY 9 and mechanics, and technology. Kaplan states, Professional workshops where participants can share their expertise with other teachers provide a sense of community and common purpose. (Kaplan, 2008). When there is a disconnect between school-based leadership and central office leadership, goal attainment at the school level can prove to be incredibly difficult (Green, 2013). Therefore, the goal of professional development is to ensure the fidelity of instruction by streamlining the understanding of the district writing plan. An additional area of professional development need is for teachers to receive information and training about meeting the needs of disadvantaged students. Understanding their unique circumstances will help teachers tailor their classroom instruction appropriately. Instructional Changes Instruction will also change in alignment with the new district initiatives and new school goals. There are several district-mandated components to writing instruction that will be incorporated into instruction at Phenix. Thirty-minute daily writing blocks are required to be set- aside for students in grades 3-5. Another major component of the district plan is for teachers to keep and maintain district-mandated writing folders for each student. These folders will contain samples of student writing that indicate mastery of various writing components. Student writing will be scored using the established district-wide rubric, which has been adjusted to match the rubric used to score the SOL test. Additionally, writing prompts released by the Virginia Department of Education should be utilized so that students can practice all of the writing styles tested on the SOL. Teachers will use and model writing graphic organizers with students. This strategy is particularly useful for disadvantaged students, helping them sort and organize information and prepare for writing (Payne, 2009). Phenix teachers will also implement a reverse-webbing INSTRUCTIONAL NEED ACTIVITY 10 strategy. This strategy asks students to take an already written essay and break it down into parts using a graphic organizer. This exercise encourages a deeper understanding of the organization of writing and emphasizes a strong need for clear, coherent main ideas and details. It also allows students to fully understand the organizers they are asked to use. A unique approach to writing instruction that Phenix will adopt is a writing workshop approach. In this approach, the teacher will act as a writing professional, helping young authors to explore and develop writing through needs-based mini-lessons, set writing times, and peer editing/sharing. Students will make use of age-appropriate rubrics for peer editing. Although these rubrics are useful for all students, they are specifically shown to enhance the writing performance of students who are disadvantaged. Championed by Ruby Payne, rubrics require students to evaluate writing through specific criteria, a higher level thinking skill according to Blooms Taxonomy (Payne, 2009). This evaluation helps students of all levels to master content, as they must not just recognize, but understand the criterion that indicates a skilled writer. Using rubrics to assess peer writing will help students to embed those criteria into their learning and approach their own writing with the same set of skilled eyes (Payne, 2009). Under the writing workshop model teachers will conduct individual writing conferences with all students. During these meetings, the teacher will offer feedback and instruction specifically tailored to individual student needs. Also at that time, the teacher and student will discuss writing progress, as demonstrated in writing folders, and collaborate to set goals for future writing endeavors. Working together to create appropriately difficult goals has proven to have an energizing and motivating effect on students. Challenging, yet attainable, goals are effective in enhancing student performance because they lead to a clearer notion of success and direct students attention to relevant behaviors or outcomes of that success (Hattie, 2009). Using INSTRUCTIONAL NEED ACTIVITY 11 writing time in such a way allows the teacher to concentrate less on whole group, direct instruction and more on one-to-one instruction with hard to reach learners. Because writing prompts and state assessments require students the use formal register, and formal register requires a pattern, teachers can capitalize on this individualized time to help disadvantaged students achieve this integral skill. During student writing conferences, teachers can help disadvantaged students develop mental models that help teach these basic patterns of formal writing (Payne, 2009). Progress Monitoring and Assessment Strategies Assessing progress is an integral part of the improvement process through which schools increase their internal accountability and find better ways to meet all students learning needs (Boudette et al, 2010, p.138). Indistar, an online forum for charting and managing the continuous change process, will provide the perfect platform for recording and monitoring Phenixs action plan. Schools immersed in the change process benefit from setting clear goals for student improvement and proficiency and precise plans for how and when they will measure progress toward these goals (Boudette et al, 2010). By establishing an action plan with transparent goals and logical steps to achieving them, shared accountability and a common focus ensures the fidelity of the program, as well as the commitment to the plan. Short-term data collection and analysis is often best delegated to individual classroom teachers because they can examine student work and observe student participation on a regular basis (Boudette et al, 2010). Sources of short term data that Phenixs educators will use to measure progress includes student classwork and homework, quizzes and tests addressing specific skills, and anecdotal observations of student performance. Writing folders will be INSTRUCTIONAL NEED ACTIVITY 12 examined during CLT meetings on a quarterly basis, with district level support, and serve as a wonderful means of progress monitoring for gains in student writing abilities. Establishing Stakeholder Buy-In It is important to ensure external and internal support when making a transition or change. Transitioning a new concept from plan to action is a task that can be daunting at best. The capacity to change is likely to exist if the change process takes place in an environment where stakeholder involvement is respected (Green, 2013). When a participatory approach is taken, stakeholders feel valued, take ownership for the implementation of change and are willing to assume responsibility for the outcomes (Spillane, 2005). One way of establishing teacher buy-in is to use teacher leaders to help facilitate the process. The focus of the writing plan is on what the students are learning rather than what the teachers are teaching. Through a combination of professional development and transparent discussion, student focused ideas can be formulated and decisions can be made through consensus. Parents are another important group of stakeholders to include in the change process. Workshops are a wonderful way to reach out to parents and to inform them of the academic goals the school has set for their children. Fiore (2011) points out that in addition to the myriads of studies that show parental involvement in schools having a positive affect on education, the recent push of the federal government, specifically in the eighth National Education Goal, advocates the importance of strong home-school connections. Phenix will structure parent workshops specifically with economically challenged families in mind. Workshops will be family-friendly and focus on useful ways parents can help their 5 th graders become better writers. Teachers, teacher leaders, and curriculum specialists will work to explain the writing process used by the school and give parents resources to help students reach mastery INSTRUCTIONAL NEED ACTIVITY 13 of this process through practice at home. By providing a specific way and means to be involved, the Phenix staff will increase the likelihood that the lessons taught in the classroom will become a jumping-off point for continued practice at home. Furthermore, greater achievement resulted for students whose parents were involved in education early on (proactively rather than reactively) and for those whose parents maintained consistent involvement throughout their childrens education (Henderson & Mapp, 2002). Strong home-school relationships were also shown to improve student attendance, behavior in school, and attitudes toward school (Henderson & Mapp, 2002). By providing parents and community members opportunity to become involved and knowledgeable about the process will solidify the efforts being made within the school building. Conclusion: Due to the change in the 5th grade writing SOL test, necessary changes to writing instruction at Phenix must occur. Whats more, regardless of the change in the SOL test, scores for disadvantaged students have shown a decline over the last three years. Some of the program changes will be come from the district level curriculum department, while some will be building specific for Phenix. Building specific changes include a shift in the usage of PLC time to include vertical teaming and lesson study. These strategies help teachers implement effective instruction through new types of collaboration. Changes in instruction include the use of reverse webbing and a writing workshop structure where students peer edit, conference with the teacher and set writing goals. Securing stakeholder support will help make the changes sustainable. These are just a few of the changes meant to enhance all student achievement, but specifically that of disadvantaged students.
INSTRUCTIONAL NEED ACTIVITY 14 References Boudett, K. P., City, E. A., & Murnane, R. J. (2005). Data wise: a step-by-step guide to using assessment results to improve teaching and learning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press. Breault, J. (2013, November 11). Personal Interview. Buckingham, J., Wheldall, K., & Beaman-Wheldall, R. (2013). Why poor children are more likely to become poor readers: The school years. Australian Journal of Education , 57(3), 190-213. Retrieved November 7, 2013, from http://aed.sagepub.com/content/57/3/190 Dooley, C. M., & Assaf, L. C. (2009). Contexts Matter: Two Teachers' Language Arts Instruction In This High-stakes Era. Journal of Literacy Research, 41(3), 354-391. Fahringer, D. (2013, November 7). Personal Interview Green, R. L. (2013). Practicing the art of leadership: A problem-based approach to implementing the ISLLC standards (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson. Hattie, J. (2009). Visible learning: a synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. London: Routledge. Henderson, A. T., & Mapp, K. L. (2002). A new wave of evidence: The impact of school, family, and community connections on student achievement. Austin, TX: SEDL National Center for Family and Community Connections with Schools. Retrieved from http://www.sedl.org/pubs/catalog/items/fam33.html Fiore, D. J. (2011). School-community relations (3rd ed.). Larchmont, NY: Eye On Education. Johnson, K. (2013, November 4). Personal Interview. Kaplan, J. (2008). The National Writing Project: Creating A Professional Learning Community INSTRUCTIONAL NEED ACTIVITY 15 That Supports The Teaching Of Writing. Theory Into Practice, 47(4), 336-344. Payne, R. K. (2010). Research-based strategies: narrowing the achievement gap for under- resourced students ([Rev. ed.). Highlands, TX.: Aha! Process, Inc. Spillane, J. (2005). Distributed leadership. The Educational Forum. Retrieved June 10, 2006, www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4013/is_200501/ai_n9473825 Wagner, T., Kegan, R., Lahey, L., Lemons, R. W., Helsing, D., Howell, A., & Rasmussen, H. T. (2006). Change leadership: a practical guide to transforming our schools. (1st ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Walker, S. (2013, November 11). Personal Interview. Running Head: INSTRUCTIONAL NEED ACTIVITY Appendix A WRITING ACTION PLAN 2012-2013 PHENIX PREK-8 SCHOOL HAMPTON, VA Target: To increase the pass rate on the 5 th grade writing SOL by 10% for disadvantaged students.
Result Statement: students will be competent writers by using meaningful text through short and extended responses; they will use new collaborative techniques to effectively and thoroughly communicate through appropriate means of writing. Support of student learning: Collaboration Professional Development Instructional Changes Progress Monitoring/Evaluation Stakeholder Buy-In Students Will
Effectively use meaningful techniques to communicate thoughts and ideas from oral to written language.
Write coherently, with details and complete sentences.
Use the various writing styles and genres to specific topic, purpose, and audience.
Sequence the writing process.
Use various types of graphic organizers during pre- writing.
Improve word processing skills.
Conference regularly with peers and teachers throughout writing process.
Peer-edit using the appropriate rubric for students. Staff will collaborate by-
Meeting in weekly content- based PLC team meetings.
Working with librarians and other resource teachers will support writing goals with cross-curricular writing activities and differentiated intervention or enrichment.
Meeting in vertical teams.
Using the lesson plan study model during CLT meetings.
Teachers will participate in-
Professional development provided by district curriculum leaders/specialist based on the district expectations and writing guides.
Professional development provided by in-house teacher leaders focused on building specific needs.
Professional development aimed at meeting the needs of disadvantaged students.
Teachers Will-
Follow writing expectations set forth by the district: Maintain writing folders Holding daily writing blocks (30 min) Use established rubric Use prompts released by the VDOE. Use pacing and curriculum guide provide Use a writing workshop model for instruction.
Use Phenix-specific pacing guide.
Model the use of graphic organizers for pre-writing. including reverse webbing
Provide differentiated instruction to meet the needs of all students.
Facilitate student goal setting for writing.
Model peer editing practices. Measurement Tools-
Indistar: formal goal setting and progress monitoring.
Student classwork, homework, quizzes and unit tests.
Informal observations of student participation and work.
Quarterly benchmark data.
Writing folders.
Buy-in will be obtained by-
Involving teacher leaders to provide professional development
Utilizing transparency
Utilizing meeting structures already in place
Providing parent workshops INSTRUCTIONAL NEED ACTIVITY 17