Barbara Peterson l4l5 Cia June 30 2014

A Cycle of Inquiry
Interventions for High School Students

Earning D&F Grades in Math and
Science.
Barbara Peterson, June 30, 2014, L4L5
A Cycle of Inquiry to Investigate Causes of Students Earning D&F Grades in Math

and Science in Chelan.
MEMO TO:
To:
Superintendent Rob Manahan

Chelan High School Principal Barry DePaoli
Chelan Middle School Principal Brad Wilson
Robert Fifer, GEAR UP Site Director
FROM:
Barbara Peterson, Executive Director, NLA Group
Dated:
SUBJECT:
July 1, 2014
Interventions to Address 9th grade students on the D & F List
The purpose of Central Washington Universitys MOSAIC 2 GEAR UP Program is

to help students become academically ready to pursue ambitious postsecondary
programs when they graduate. The MOSAIC 2 grant (Moving Our Students
Academically into College and Career) serves 100% of a two-grade cohort, the
Classes of 2017 and 2018, current 8th and 9th grader students, moving them toward
postsecondary readiness.
An ongoing challenge are students currently not in line academically to be
postsecondary-eligible, namely students on the D&F lists. Our specific concern is to
help those students, who we have coined the high hanging fruit students that are
out of sight and without help may fail, to get through their assigned math and
science courses. Each of our partner schools has a similar challenge, and it usually
affects about 20% of each districts students.
I would like to thank the district, and especially Principal DePaoli who agreed
to allow me, with Robert Fifers help, to engage in a study through a cycle of inquiry
(CIA) approach to investigate this problem. What we learn in our investigation in
Chelan will be valuable to the other eight districts in the consortium. Our intention
was to identify the data associated with the issue, specify the impact at the student,
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teacher and leader level, build a theory of action that we believe would address
the problem. We would then recommend possible subsequent actions and observe
whether our remedies were well considered and successful in helping these
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students or a significant percentage of them, to pass their math classes to become

postsecondary-ready.
The Problem of Practice: A group of twenty 9th grade students
(approximately 20% of the class) is on the Chelan High School D&F list for
math and/or science; without support we believe they are at risk of failing
these core classes.
The Issue of Student Learning:

From the first report card in November, Robert identified twenty students on
the D&F list in math and/or science. The demographics of this group are as follows:
Grad
e
Mal
e
Femal
e
Latino,
Hispani
c
Limited
English
Proficie
nt
Migra
nt
Special
Educati
on
SPED
+
LEP
SPED
+ LEP
+
Migra
nt
13
17
F&R
18
Seventeen of twenty are Hispanic/Latino/a. Thirteen are girls, seven are identified
as Limited English Proficient, two are students requiring special education services,
and two students are eligible for migrant services. Most (18/20) are low income as
identified by their eligibility for Free and Reduced (F&R) meals. Math grades were
as follows: 10 Fs, 4 Ds, 3 Cs, 2 Bs and 1 A; science grades were 15 Fs, 3 Ds 1 C,
and one withdrawal.
In October, 2013, Principal DePaoli administered a survey asking these

twenty students to self-report on the greatest challenges for them in school and the
personal reasons that might contribute to their low performance. Prior to reporting
the outcomes, he solicited teachers reasons why these students werent achieving.
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Teachers responses were: students do not turn in homework, or do not turn it in on

time; they do not pay attention in class; their parents do not promote homework
completion and parents do not value education. Following are results of the student
surveys (Note: Students could check multiple responses)
Study Skills
Personal Issues
68%
53%
Difficulty completing
Motivation (struggle to find meaning in
assignments
anything)
53%
47%
Unsure of interests, skills and abilities
content
47%
Feeling pressured, stress, anxiety, at school
47%
Poor preparation for tests
31%
No clear goals or plans
42%
Lack of study skills
24%
Home or family problems
42%
Difficulty managing time
16%
Balancing school with work responsibilities
16%
Health problems/illness = poor attendance
5%
Loneliness, lack of emotional control
5%
Problem w/other students, affecting
Unable to understand course
concentration
In addition to survey results, I solicited information from Robert Fifer, CWU
MOSAIC2 Site Director on his observations and those of two adult tutors who work at
least 15 hours each week with the students in this cohort. From all of this
information, I identify the following claims:

Issue of Student Learning
Claim 1: Students have a problem understanding and finishing
assignments; language could be an issue.
Evidence: Sixty-eight percent (68%) of students with D&Fs expressed difficulty
completing assignments and 53% said they were unable to understand course
content. Eighty-five percent (85%) are from Latino families, and 35% are
transitional bilingual. Seventy percent (70%) of Hispanic students indicated they
did not understand the lesson.
Evidence 2B: Teachers predict that the time needed out-of-class to complete
homework is 30 minutes; Robert notes that several students are not able to
complete the homework in that time. (NOTE: it could be that some students simply
need more time.)
Evidence 2C: Robert observes that at least 80% of the students who need his help
to complete assignments are significantly confused about how to address the
homework, indicating the instructions and/or the lesson were not clear to them as
they left the classroom.
Claim 2: Nearly half the students have problems studying for tests, lack
study and time management skills.
Evidence: Students self-assess that they have poor preparation for tests (47%);
lack study skills (42%) and have difficulty managing time (42%).
Claim 3: Much of the students personal issues they associated with their
inability to do schoolwork is associated with the work itself rather than
issues out of school.
Evidence: More than half the students (53%) said that motivation was a problem
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and 47% said they were unsure of their own interests, skills and abilities. Nearly a
third (31%) had no clear goals or plans.
Claim 4: Many of these students feel pressure, stress and anxiety at
school.
Evidence: Nearly half of respondents (47%) identified they felt pressured, stress,
anxiety at school.
Claim 5: Fewer than a quarter of these students identified issues outside
the school as possible reasons for their performance.
Evidence: Only five students (5, or 24%) identified any home or family problems,
only three students (3, or 16%) noted either health issues or balancing school with
work as a self-identified reason for their performance. Only one (1) student
identified loneliness or problem with other students as being a cause of their
performance.
Issues of Adult Practice: Teachers and Tutors
Several adults practice impacts this inquiry: two math and one science
teacher who teach all of these 9th grade students, and Robert Fifer and two other
adult tutors who he supervises.
Math and Science Teachers: Ken Barnes and Jeff Robinson share
responsibilities for teaching all the general education Algebra 1 math classes; Mrs.
Young teaches the three students who qualify for special education math support.
Ms. Driver is the science teacher for all those students now failing science.
Each teacher approaches his/her teaching responsibilities differently. Robert
Fifer has been a tutor in Mr. Barnes class for most of this year and last. He notes
that Mr. Barnes is a creative and flexible teacher who started making videos of all
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his lessons to allow students to review the lesson if a student needs clarification, or
have been absence. He allows test-repeats and late submission of homework.
Robert notes from his recent classroom observations Barnes seems to be more
aware this year when some students are not keeping up with his explanations and
re-explains the concepts. Robert wonders if this awareness was the result of doing
the videos, or doing the videos is an outgrowth of his observing students who are
not able to fully understand the lesson in the timeframe of the class. Barnes
teaches three sections of Algebra 1. Of the 20 students on the D&F list, 3 are
failing in one of Mr. Barnes Algebra 1 class.
Jeff Robinson teaches one section of Algebra 1; he comes with an industry
background and is more of a traditional math teacher. Fifer has observed
Robinsons classes and notes that he is less flexible in grading, allowing no test
retakes nor late assignments. Robinson is clearly very well educated in math but
does not believe in coddling students. His is a more singular way of presenting the
material than Barnes. If students fall behind in assignments and tests, they can
have failed his class by early March. Mr. Robinson teaches one section of Algebra 1;
of the 20 students in on the D&F list, 7 are failing and 4 have Ds in his class.
Ms. Driver, science teacher, first year in the district, is teaching the new
Principles of Engineering class from the engineering curriculum Project Lead
the Way (PLTW) adopted by the district based on positive outcomes from the
Toppenish School District (TSD). TSD found that many students, including high and
low performers, females and males, had taken well to this curriculum. Apparently
following the PLTW curriculum, there are many assignments in Drivers class. Of the
20 students on the D&F list, 15 have an F in her class, 3 have Ds and 1 has a
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C. Most failing students have volumes of missing assignments; however, some of
these students have passed tests and quizzes, suggesting that completing the
assignments is not strictly necessary to master the material.
Tutors: GEAR UP project dollars support tutoring for struggling students in
math and science. Robert has tutored in-district for several years through this and
a prior grant with afterschool and more recently with an in-class model of tutoring.
This tutoring help in the classroom allows Robert to collaborate and support
teachers, and gives Robert more reliable access to students; voluntary afterschool
tutorials were not well attended so Robert chooses not to fund them. The twenty
(20) D&F students are in classes in which Robert has provided tutors.
Tutors all follow the same basic practice in their in-class tutoring roles: they
come early to the class and move around the room as the teacher sets up,
encouraging kids to take homework out of backpacks, etc. They listen with the
students to the teachers lesson, then when students are given problems to work
on, they float around the room responding to students raised hands. If no one
raises a hand, they search out students they believe will be struggling. Having just
seen the lesson, they ask students where they are confused, reiterate the lesson,
and help the student complete the first part of assigned homework before the class
period ends.
Robert advised that tutors had access to review students grades, test scores
and completed assignments using Skyward, but only Robert indicated he had
accessed this data and only occasionally, until this project. Barry shared with him
the D & F list weekly, which he shares with his tutors. One of the tutors said, When
I see they are on the (D & F) list, I grab them in the halls and say, What gives?
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When asked how they measured effectiveness, tutors suggested students
receptivity to tutoring a measure of relationship between tutors and students.
Moving students off the D&F list was not mentioned as an outcome or measure of
effectiveness.
In focus groups, tutors were in agreement on most areas, especially that
language and vocabulary was a common problem to most of the struggling
students. As students came into the 9th grade (from middle school), they saw that
students were misunderstanding the teachers language: He (math teacher) would
be saying the same thing (they had heard in 8 th grade) but in a different language,
and the kids were hitting the wall. My job was as translator. Another said, They
miss the vocabulary in math the issue with vocabulary in math is huge. They
noted also low student motivation and compliance.
Claim 1: Teacher grading practices affect the possibility of students to
move off the D&F list.
Evidence: If a student had low test scores and missing assignments, it was
possible by late February to have irrevocably failed Robinsons class and be required
to take it again the following year. Barnes and Driver allowed students to improve
their grades through the spring. Driver apparently reduced the volume of
assignments, and some students had higher 3 rd quarter grades.
Claim 2: Language and comprehension were identified by tutors, but not
by teachers, as an issue central to student performance.
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Evidence: Language issues were given a focus in Barnes class; he developed
multiple ways to present material.
Claim 3: Teacher receptivity to students low motivation worked to rescue
some students.
Evidence: Barnes has many more students and many fewer failing despite the fact
the tests are the same. Students must pass EOC (end of course) exams in Algebra;
Barnes is able to get students through this in greater numbers. According to Fifers
observations, he was proactive about reaching out to identify individual students
issues. The principal notes that he is likely to give Barnes the more challenging
students.
Claim 3: Many of these students will be required to take Algebra 1 over
again next year and it will be even harder to motivate them next year.
Evidence: Half of the students in this D&F group said in a survey that they believe
their lack of motivation contributed to their low grades. Many of these from
Robinsons class will be required to retake Algebra 1 next year, and will have even
lower motivation to engage in this class.
Claim 4: The limited time available for tutoring in the in-class tutoring
intervention is not enough support for D&F students.
Evidence:
In-class tutoring allows tutors guaranteed access to students who will
not come to tutoring afterschool; however these students, supported with in-class
tutors continue to fail. The tutor budget in this district (funding certificated and
highly qualified math tutors and in-class tutoring) is higher than any other district,
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but student failure rates are similar to other districts. Robert notes that tutors have
about 15 minutes after the teacher releases students to in-class activities in which
to tutor students. There is no resource to support homework completion that cant
be accomplished in this 15-minute period.
Claim 5: Tutors do not use student data to design appropriate
interventions.
Evidence: Robert has access through Skyward to significant amounts of data,
including test scores, missing assignments, grades, attendance, behavior, course
and teacher assignments. However, until this assignment, he relied on teacher
feedback as to who needed help, passing this information on to tutors. Without
data, tutors were unaware of students missing assignments, or days absent.
Claim 6: Student language and vocabulary came up in tutors
conversations and observations as a persistent and vexing problem, but
tutors did not design a strategy to address it.
This issue came up in tutor focus groups, and in many conversations with Robert
with no remedy.
Issue of Leader Practice
Principal DePaoli has had a six-year long Gap Study Group to investigate
why some students are so resistant to interventions he has put in place over the
years. He shared that for students who answer that they do not understand the
lessons, which contributes to their inability to complete homework, it is a problem of
teacher practice. He said he would use survey results to engage a conversation
with teachers on how excellent in-class instruction is the first line of defense to
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improve students low scores, but that it would take time to change teachers
attitudes. The move for now would be on tutoring to help struggling students; he
would not let students fail.
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Within a week of our discussion about using a Cycle of Inquiry approach to

investigate the issue of the persistent D&F list, he had instituted a mandatory lunchtime Academic Success Program (ASP) program for all students on the D&F list.
Robert Fifer staffed this hour intervention each day.
DePaoli reviewed Skyward data on the D&F students noting that many were
failing Science because they had so many missing assignments, also noting that
there were many assignments! He noted that students who passed quizzes and
tests, but had missing assignments, were also failing. In standards-based grading,
this would not have been the case: if students could demonstrate content mastery,
they would pass, but with the press of TPEP and Common Core, the building would
not be adopting standards-based grading for a while (conversation, Novemeber
2013). it would not be possible to bring in standards-based grading in the
foreseeable future.
My leadership role is to provide supports necessary meet grant goals,
including funds, personnel and professional development. I oversee and collaborate
with nine site directors, bringing information from published research and books
that pertain to our student challenges, and sharing information on best practices I
might have discovered working in other rural districts. I work to provide flexibility in
funding. I hope to be a thought partner to districts.
However, until this CIA with Chelan, I passively provided resources without
evaluating investments against outcomes.
I assume a positive impact of resources

without evidence. I do not make clear my theory of action so my staff cannot
anticipate what should be happening with our efforts. I provide Robert latitude in
pursuing outcomes, without clearly defining outcomes to assess our efforts. I fail to
close the loop at the end of a school year to assess success/failure.
I feel a sense of urgency to act without clearly assessing the data and
underlying processes that may have brought about the outcomes we are concerned
about. I err on the side of action versus inaction. I tend to institute an action, then
get busy and not follow up to measure impact.
Claim 1: Leaders are inclined to take action sometimes without a careful
review of data and underlying processes that may contribute to the
problem.
Evidence: DePaoli noted that teacher practice was at the bottom of many of the Fs
but could not addressing those at this time; his accommodation was to find tutoring
support resources for students instead. I accepted that we would provide tutoring
without considering whether we could be successful.
Evidence: Because Robert and I had not analyzed students grade and assignment
data until late in January, we did not realize how much missing assignments and
student absenteeism contributed to poor student performance. Moving beyond inclass tutoring where tutors had 15 minutes to tutor students to a 30 minute lunch
sessions was an improvement in practice.
Claim 2: Improvements in the general education classroom would
probably have the greatest impact but teachers are overwhelmed with
other initiatives.
Evidence: DePaoli noted that a key driver in addressing student motivation and
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performance is through the teachers; and that changes in teacher practice
(flexibility in grading practices, reducing the volume of unnecessary assignments)
might achieve a positive outcome, but with Common Core and TPEP, teachers are
not open to additional changes at this time.
Claim 3: My leader moves are in the Tier 2 interventions outside the
classroom; I am not adequately thoughtful in how to choose and support
interventions and do not process information against outcomes at the end
of the school year to evaluate the intervention.
Evidence: I have the resources (staff, time, tutor payroll) to undertake analysis that
Barry is unable to do given his busy job as building principal, but it has not occurred
to me to make that central to my service to the grant and to the district.
The three parts of a problem of student performance, which includes student

practice, adult/teacher, and leader actions looks in summary like the following:
Student Practice
20% of students are failing
math and/or science.
Teacher & Tutor Actions

Two teachers allow late
assignments and test
retakes; one does not.
Students have tutors in

their math classes.
Tutors are assigned to

help support students not
performing in the school
day.
Many students have high

absentee rates; they
Tutors focus their limited

time in working with
Leader Actions
Leaders may be able to
affect school day
practices, but more easily
can take actions outside
the classroom, such as
promoting tutoring time
and resources for
students.
A busy schedule may
challenge the ability of
leaders to plan, implement
and evaluate new
interventions; such
interventions may not be
fully optimimized, but still
useful.
Leaders may not share
their thinking on how/why
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cannot be helped when
they are not in school.
Past missing assignments

indicate students will not
have the core foundational
information they need to
move off the D&F list.
Students with poor first
quarter grades and
missing assignments may
have failed the year as
early as February.
Students lack of
understanding of class
assignments may have a
language, ELL source.
students in the waning

moments of the class,
focused primarily on the
days assignment and
tonights homework.
Tutors do not use data to
inform them on how to
help lowest performers:
language issues, poor
foundational knowledge,
motivation and attitude,
absences.
Teachers practice
confounds tutors efforts
to keep students from
failing.
Tutors discussed students

confusion with language;
outside of acting as
translator they did not
address this.
to implement
interventions leaving staff
unclear what outcomes to
aim toward.
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Leaders had access to
data on assignments but
did not avail themselves of
it until mid-winter.
I as a leader did not press

tutors to map teacher
practice to identify this
issue; we should have
started in October to
redress missing
assignment issues.
I as a leader did not follow
up on this issue although I
was aware of the
demographic data.
THEORY OF ACTION: Following is my Theory of Action (TOA):

If Leaders: Principal (DePaoli) and GEAR UP NLA Director (Peterson)
Action
Rational
If the high school principal uses a
After engaging in conversations in
review of student survey and course
early fall 2013 with Peterson on the
performance data to clarify which
need to help students pass core math
students need additional support
and science classes, site director

Fifer and Principal DePaoli identified
all students on the D&F list for
additional services. He noted that as
he worked with teachers to improve
their in-class teaching strategies, he

would not let them fail referring to
those students on the D&F list.
Researchers recommend (Solorzano
and Ornelas, 2004, p. 24) that all
school must ensure that all students
have access to and are
proportionately enrolled in AP and
other college preparatory courses.
If Principal DePaoli structure
DePaoli initiated an ASP Academic
interventions to address the
Support Program in October which
identified problems.
was a mandatory lunch-time tutoring

sessions; students on the D& F list
would lose lunchtime to be with their
friends until they improved their
grade to get off the D&F list.
(November 2013)
If Peterson, working with her staff to
Information was shared by
monitor student progress, shared that
Fifter/Peterson with DePaoli that by
with DePaoli
January, students for whom losing the

social lunch time was paramount
(many girls) were off the D&F list; 10
students remained.
If Principal DePaoli, learning that not
To address the more intractable
all students were not advancing with
problems of the remaining 10
the ASP lunchtime program, and
students, DePaoli instituted a 5th
evolved a longer, class period
period class with additional
intervention
interventions: more time/dedicated
If Peterson could identify practices

from the research literature that
might better support these students.
time, Why Try curriculum, Sandra

Barnes/counselor, trained upper
classmen mentors as tutors.
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classes and also in high school; if I
Research (Stephens, 2014) indicates
also provide grant funding to send
that first generation students
more teachers to Summer AP training
encounter more obstacles to college
to help them differentiate their
completion than students with at
approaches (Kyburg, et al 2007)
least one college educated parent. An

(An, 2013) found significant benefits
to degree attainment for first
generation students who completed
dual enrollment courses in high
school. In fact, first generation
students received a disproportionate
benefit over students whose parents
had college experience.
If teachers/counselors:
If teachers of rigorous courses accept
Research (Wood, 2010) reports that
the AP Summer training I fund to
teachers of AP classes, who receive
upgrade their skills and to collaborate
AP training, are more likely than
with other teachers of rigorous
teachers teaching honors classes or
coursework to learn how best to help
general education teachers, to
Hispanic and Anglo students
believe that all students can be
succeed
successful in rigorous courses.
If teachers change their practice after
Students noted a specific class with a
the principal shares observations
reputation of being too hard for most
indicating that their practice may not
students; the principal agreed this
be adequately inclusive to
class would be a challenge for some
nontraditional (Hispanic, low income,
students (Conversation 11/14). The
ELL) students(Teachers are
principal admitted he did not share
Page | 17

constrained as the principal has not
concerns about differentiation with
made differentiation for
his AP teacher.
nontraditional students in rigorous

coursework one of his look fors. )
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If counselors and teachers who affect
A counselor who observed one of my
the decisions of Hispanic and Anglo
student focus groups mentioned that
students to enroll in rigorous classes
he was not aware of the research I
are made aware of the research that
cited to the students nor were the
students who complete rigorous
teachers; with this information they
coursework do better in college
would take special effort to recruit

more low income, first generation and
Hispanic students.
Then both Hispanic and Anglo students:

Will be encouraged and recruited to
While the principal told me that all
enroll in rigorous coursework
students engage with the counselor

to sign up for classes each late
spring, not one student remembered
or reported talking to a counselor
about these classes.
Will enroll in honors, AP or college-in-
Students indicated that they are very
the-high-school classes
positively affected by teachers

comments on their abilities; these
comments were more important than
parents recommendations.
Will be successful in completing these
The students were affected by reports
classes which will make it easier for
of other students experience in
subsequent classes of students to
rigorous classes; positive reports
take these courses.
could help encourage more students

to enroll.
Planning To Collect Data; Evidence of Progress:

Key Audience:
The immediate audience for this work has been the Chelan
School Board and senior administrators reflecting the in-depth analysis I did of
Chelan data. In truth, this effort has truly facilitated collective work among the
other eight districts are already benefitting from the findings as I have shared what
Ive learned. In addition, research I conducted for Principal DePaoli has been
presented to the January 2015 meeting of the Rural Alliance, with 150 school
personnel from 50 rural districts in attendance. It is logical to involve these groups
as all rural districts are newly engaged in ensuring students are college and career
ready, and many have very similar demographics to those in Chelan.
Specific Data Measures:
The data collected for this effort included
quantitative data (current grade/test score data of 10th and 11th graders not now in
rigorous coursework to identify students who should be recruited for courses),
process analysis (how is information regularly provided to inform targeted students
of these options) and qualitative data (student focus groups, interviews with
principals, superintendent and counselors) to conduct the process analysis, test
administration attitudes and awareness of unintended barriers in district/building
policies and processes, and to clarify district and building priorities for course
enrollment. Further qualitative data included information shared from principal
observations of teachers teaching rigorous coursework; informal feedback from the
principal as to the level of receptivity of his teachers of his teachers to research on
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student benefit of rigorous coursework.
This data was collected by various people,
including the principal, the Chelan site director, by me, and by the counselor so that
there was broad learning in the collection of data about the policy and practice.
Taking Action: A brief chronology of the steps of this process follows:
October: I engaged in a discussion with Principal DePaoli and Site Director Robert
Fifer and got their agreement to participate with me in this analysis; DePaoli
reviewed enrollment data of current class attendees by gender and ethnic.

November: Just before the Thanksgiving break, DePaoli facilitated my
conducting two student focus groups: one with students currently enrolled in
rigorous courses, and the second with students who would have been eligible,
but were not enrolled, in these classes.

December: I typed up verbatim transcripts from the focus groups, identified
themes and conducted a review of research on these issues.

January: At the request of Principal dePaoli, I compiled a short synopsis of relevant
national research on the effects of rigorous coursework on students, including
underrepresented populations. On January 26, I presented my 20-minute PowerPoint
presentation as part of my internship to the January convening of the Rural Alliance
with 40 rural school districts and area higher education representatives in
attendance, and circulated the PowerPoint and research citations. On January 28, I
trained my nine GEAR UP site directors using the PowerPoint and research to alert
them to these issues. Each was to bring this information back to their districts to
share with administrators. I forwarded via email this PowerPoint to all nine district
principals of our consortium in late January.

March: A similar collective effort among the other districts was initiated using
references to the work done in Chelan on this issue.
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April: The work to date was drawn up, with next steps outlined. A presentation to
the administrations and Board of Directors was scheduled.
Amending the Original Theory of Action: The Student Focus Groups added
information that caused me to retrofit my Theory of Action to be more mindful of the
informal communications networks that affected students enrollment decisions. In
truth, the district had what they believed to be a race-neutral admissions and
recruitment policy that they believed would not disadvantage any student; review of
actual enrollment data showed otherwise.
Unconscious actions were defining a
policy; consciously the principal believed he had an equitable system, with

inequitable outcomes. Two immediate actions that can be underway promptly fall
into the categories of information sharing and capacity building.
Information Sharing: Given the clear good will in the district to support
both Hispanic and Anglo students, a first step to finding a really equitable practice
for Chelan is in the sharing of data, engaging in discussions of issues raised by the
data, and referencing research that explicates the issues in similar environments.
Weve taken the first step which has brought us here.
The next step will be to ensure that teachers, counselors, board members,
parents and stakeholders are made aware of the research and the districts current
statistics. The district has been steadfast in promoting a college going culture with
its strong support of GEAR UP and other initiatives, its investment in the new CTE
wing providing an array of rigorous career options to students among other efforts.
The building has worked with CWU, WVC and EWU to plan for more college-in-thehigh-school programs, which will come on line in the next two years. This new
Page | 21

awareness of the value of rigorous courses to nontraditional students provides
greater rationale for bringing in these additional classes and enrolling more
students.
Capacity Building: This summer three Chelan teachers will be attending
AP Summer training the MOSAIC grant will fund this summer. They will join with
about 10 teachers from other GEAR UP schools, building a Community of Practice
here in the Okanogan Valley. Our intention in providing this training is to enhance
teachers repertoire of strategies for differentiating instruction in the AP or dual
credit classroom. We know that this training helps any teacher enhance their
teaching practice; we also know that the grant can reconvene these teachers into
PLCs next fall to get to a critical mass of rural colleagues able to share challenges
and best practices. The College Board will partner with us to develop individualized
training for our rural consortium.
We recognize that adding more students to classes and bringing in students
requiring more support will challenge teachers, so we will revise our budgets to
incorporate more in-class and after-school tutoring focused on supporting these
students. We will also follow the lead of programs accomplished at working with
struggling students, like Agile Minds, and incorporate into our AP classes some
social/emotional concepts from the Why Try curriculum that the district is already
promoting to students to help address stereotype threat and promote student
success.
We will also be building a cadre of near-peer 12 th grade advisors whom we will
call Ambassadors to go from class to class next year sharing information about the
Page | 22

value of rigorous coursework and answering students questions about how the
classes are organized. Our student focus groups told us this was the optimal way to
inform students about these classes:
Male student: I agree, about having guest speakers, I agree with what she
said. I feel like I could get the message better than just having some adult
talk to us - or like, reading it on a piece of paper -- you get a better
connection out of it if you can talk to someone who did it.
Constraints: Most of Chelans rigorous course offerings are in the 12 th grade

but our cohort students are 10th and 11th graders. That gives us all of next year to
build a communications plan to advise and ready this group for these classes as
seniors. Next year, working with administration, we will promote filling all classes,
with a goal to enroll 50:50 Hispanic/Anglo students.
Assessing what happened: As a result of this effort, many foundational
efforts were made to set in motion a policy shift for Chelan to promote rigorous
course enrollment; these are: Data is now reviewed as a guide to equitable practice
in course enrollment.
Research has been circulated and at least two staff meetings have engaged
teachers in discussions about the need to bring more Hispanic students into
advanced classes.
Teachers have taken advantage of additional training opportunities. Three of 19
teachers who teach core classes, or 15% of teachers of core classes, are this
summer enrolled in AP training; others have completed the training in years
past.
Page | 23

Teachers have voiced interest in having additional training opportunities next

year to convene with colleagues of other districts and welcomed working with
College Board trainers.

The effort started in Chelan has now been extended system-wide: all eight
partnering districts are reviewing enrollment data, reading research and
reviewing building/district policies to find unintended barriers to students
enrollment in rigorous coursework.

NLA has developed a back-to-back document printed in glossy paper, and has
designed a short training that would allow high school seniors, near-peers, to
bring the message of the value of rigorous coursework to other high school
students in English classes or advisory periods this spring after testing is
completed. Ambassadors will be a part of MOSAICs communication strategies
next year, inspired by our student focus groups.

Each district has drawn a flow analysis of the ways in which students are
provided information about, recruited for, and signed up for, rigorous coursework
to identify both barriers and opportunities to exchange critical information.

Discussions are underway to agree to one single metric for next year: that GEAR
UP will be allowed to advocate to bring in Hispanic, English language learner or
underrepresented students to bring to full enrollment (23-25) any AP or dual
credit class next year. As not all of our districts are through with course
assignments, and for those that are, information had not been provided to
counselors, teachers or students about the value of rigorous coursework, we will
work with principals and counselors to reassign deserving students into those
classes hoping to have full enrollment in all offered classes as a 2015-6 goal
metric.
Page | 24

We will be engaged in goal setting this next year in each district. Goals as
written into the grant were to improve 2015-6 enrollments 20% over those
registered in 2011 when the grant was written. I believe we can increase our
goal statement in this measure.
Next Steps: Measures of Progress:
Our first measure of progress will be the increased attendance in all nine
districts rigorous coursework, with a goal in each district to match enrollment
more closely to the relative enrollment by ethnicity. We will review that metric
next year as we have enrolled students to address its reasonableness.

Our second measure of progress will be to reprise student focus group panels
and expect to hear that students have a much more robust understanding of the
value of rigorous study.

Our third measure will be that this issue will be revisited at least bi-monthly in
MOSAIC GEAR UP meetings to surface and share implementation successes and
challenges.
CONCLUSION:
This completes our review of the Equitable Access to Rigorous Coursework
study. I thank Dr. Manahan for his authorization of my work in this project; to
Principal Barry DePaoli for his collegiality and openness to the issues brought up in
this study, and to the Board member of Lake Chelan School District for keeping
illuminated the goal to ensure all students are prepared for college and career.
Page | 25

Page | 26

Bibliography
Page | 27
From the prior analysis, we come up with the following Theory of Action.
Teacher/Tutor Theory of Action:
If teachers
Carefully review the issues that cause students to founder in their classroom
(language issues, attendance, missing foundational learning)
Engage resources wisely (tutors, study time, shared data on individual

student learning)
Partner with other staff (tutors, counselors, attendance clerks) to extend the
teachers reach and resources for dealing with struggling students
Share with each other the practices they find to work, or not work, with lowperforming students
Then they
Can assess and change testing/grading policies (late assignments, test

retakes) that do not further students performance in the content area.
Can, through partnerships with NLA and others, build wrap-around support
for students who need additional help (Why Try curriculum, counselors
including mental health counselors) without adding unnecessarily to their
own workload

Can share the responsibility of addressing these students learning deficits in

a stronger partnership with tutors who have more flexibility to help these
students.
Can learn what interventions are helpful, and which not, in addressing
students learning issues.
If tutors.
Work with teachers or Robert to be clear which students need the most
specific and urgent help
Review student data to understand the multiple reasons why students are
struggling
Consider this data and assess their current practice (focus on in-class only
tutoring, responding only to students seeking help, choosing to focus on
homework completion versus deeper assessment of actual student command
of the content)
Amend their practice to extend to other times with these students if doing so
is likely to be more successful in helping them (lunchtime, afterschool, before
school)
Monitor the efforts they take to help these students using a semi-formal
review and reflection protocol, and share these findings with Robert, the
teacher and other tutors
Then.
Tutors will have greater clarity about the impact they are making, and can
amend their efforts if they find they are not on point
Page | 28

Will learn more ways in which to systemically address struggling students

needs
Have information to share with other providers (attendance clerks,

counselors) that might bring in other resources the tutor cannot provide
(counseling, access to curriculum ideas to support social-emotional needs,
e.g. grief counseling to one student whose mother died in third quarter,
affecting this girl and her two best friends).
Rationale for the Theory of Action: The prime actors to improve student
outcomes are in-class teachers. Because of the crush of outside pressures (TPEP,
Common Core), teachers are husbanding their resources. Barry, through classroom
observations, can engage in conversations sharing strategies between the math
teachers; with only two teachers there is no formal PLC, and informal exchanges
only between math teachers. At the moment there is no evidence of a shift in
teacher practice for Robinson who has not loosened his adherence to a noforgiveness policy for late work and missing assignments. However, there are other
issues attendance that critically affect teachers abilities to draw students
through the complex Algebra and Science curricula. If they are able to find
partnerships with other district resources (counselors, migrant specialists, special
education teachers, attendance clerks) they might improve student attendance,
increasing the time they can engage with students, which will help student learning.
For tutors, this theory of action asks they do more than show up on time to
class. They need to know more about the individual struggling student, and bring
this information (volume of missing assignments, death of immediate family
members and consequent multiple days absence, drug use, gang association) to
Page | 29

teachers and others to identify supports students need which might include more
often, and longer tutoring times.
Student Theory of Action:
If D&F students.
Received very targeted help to address their individual learning challenges,

which could include learning math and science vocabulary,
have tutors who could describe a math problem in multiple ways until each
student had a way in which they could understand the subject matter
worked with tutors who could help them learn organizational and time
management skills, helped students complete assignments then helped
ensure students turned in the assignments
were contacted each day they were missing from school, learning that
someone noticed they were gone, and that staff was concerned about them
could find someone they could feel comfortable with, to share the reasons
these students were failing (death of a parent, other significant issues)
had multiple ways in which they might learn the math content, which could
include tutoring, having tutors or the classroom teacher reteach the class, or
engaged in on-line math curriculum
Then students
might experience more successes in school, and learn strategies to get

caught up and stay with the class
feel less anxiety, frustration and boredom in school
raise their grades to no longer be on the D&F list.
Page | 30

Page | 31
Rationale for the Theory of Action: After our review, both Robert and I are
humbled by all that we dont know. Soon after this CIA was instituted, Barry
determined that Chelan High School would institute a lunch-time tutorial for these
students; they would remain in this lunch tutorial until they came off the D&F list.
Robert and I believed that the issues that caused their being on the D&F list were
persistent and deep-seated, and that there was really no way to move off the list.
Yet within two weeks, eight of the young ladies, clearly the ones who felt the loss of
the social time at lunch, were off the list, although not for long. Although we had
added another 30 minutes a day to the time these students were in front of tutors
(lunchtime now as well as in their math classes) Robert noted that there wasnt time
enough to do justice to the long backlog of work that these students needed to
achieve. Because we acted in a very truncated TOA, moving to the lunch detention
tutorial, we learned from that limited effort that there needed to be more time, and
more resources if we were to achieve what we had posited: that we would move
students off the D&F list, presumably forever. We are seeing this as a much more
profound and confounding proposition than we initially had thought.

NEXT STEPS: Robert has reported that some students remained very
confused with assignments and just when they were getting into the meat of the
tutoring, lunch would end. These students, while invited and urged to attend, did
not come afterschool to the study table. DePaoli assessed that in order to get to
these particular struggling students, there had to be another longer period of time
for them to engage with Robert and his tutors. He therefore suggested that Robert
develop a 5th period session, when students had enrichment classes which meant
that students would not lose critical high school credits, with early discussions about
instituting the program in late winter quarter 2014. Robert would oversee the
program. I agreed that Roberts schedule could flex to oversee this class.
However Robert noted that many of the remaining 9 failing students seemed
not just unable to complete the work, but pretty disaffected. Some students had
many missing assignments, and Robert voiced concern that they were not very
motivated to get them done. DePaoli suggested that if they had a whole period
every day, they would get the assignments done. I asked if we could rethink this
5th period intervention and consider it like an AVID support class. Robert and Barry
were open to that suggestion. As the student list was further considered, Robert
and DePaoli identified possible gang affiliates in this group. I recommended that it
might be useful to engage some high school seniors (including Spanish-speaking,
also males) who had been academically successful at LCHS, to help mentor and
tutor these nine. DePaoli agreed and recommended that we recruit some high
school students and implement this for the rest of the 9 th grade year as a pilot for
Spring 2014, with the option of extending this ASP/AVID-like 5 th period into next year
to support these and other D & F students. I suggested that these tutors would
Page | 32

need training to understand their role, and to have good techniques for tutoring and
offered to find tutoring training from CWU. I also recommended, based on my work
in other districts, that the grant purchase licenses of ALEKs, an online tutoring
system that had been shown in other districts to help address students math
deficiencies in ways that were difficult to do in small group tutoring, and were also
difficult for even seasoned teachers to do as they could not always diagnose where
a student had gaps in foundational knowledge. I had known that this was a
recurring problem for students in these rural districts whose parents had traveled
for agricultural work, or other employment; students were enrolled in high poverty
schools and they had gaps in attendance. This meant that many students currently
placed in a 9th grade class often did not have 9th grade competence, having missed
a critical math building block in a prior grade, sometimes in the same district, often
from another one. The ALEKs adaptive computer programming would help
systemically address some of these missing components.
New Data and Insights Searching still for answers:
Significant absences by the ASP students. Research1 2 from Chicago City
Schools indicates that attendance is a key variable in student academic
performance. We therefore believed that this was the prime issue to address in
dealing with our ASP students, soon to be in the 5 th period tutorial. However, Robert
has identified that average daily attendance in Chelan High School as a whole is
70% (check this number). The incidence of absenteeism is so prevalent in the
district that they have hired a person to track daily attendance. Robert has found
1
Farrington, C., Roderick, M., Allensworth, E., Nagaoka, J., Teaching

Adolescents to Become Learners, University of Chicago Consortium on
Chicago School Research.
2
Page | 33

that many students are absent up to a month, yet they are able to pull good grades.
We dont know what to do with this new information.
The question Robert and I are struggling with is what more we can do to
th
make the envisioned intervention (a 5 period Remediation/Skill-building effort). We

noted through this process that it was possible for a limited period of time to have
students exit the D & F list, especially for high social females who wanted to regain
their lunch privileges. Only 2 came off the D&F list for good however despite the
required attendance at the ASP lunch sessions. At the end of the school year, of the
20 students we served, 15 will have to retake Algebra 2. There is some lack of
clarity about which science class failing students will take next year, as the teacher
in that class did not have her contract renewed. The question for ongoing
consideration for this lowest-performing 20% is this: for which students is additional
time on task the solution to their low performance? For which students is a sense
of belonging and finding a source to negotiate the challenges of high school the
solution to their low performance? For these two groups, the projected 5 th Period
may indeed work.
Attendance: As we find new information, we try to fit it into the TOA and
assess the outcomes as we proceed. We posited that a main reason that the ASP
students did poorly in school was that there was so many absences. In fact, the
average numbers of day absent for a non-ASP student was 27, where the average
for ASP students at 45 days was 60% higher. What we found in looking at the 80
non-ASP students was that absenteeism for 9 th graders at Chelan High School is a
serious problem, but does not seemingly account for the differences in their scores.
Page | 34

Psycho-social and Noncognitive Variable Survey Scores: We also wanted to
know if there was a difference in the measure of grit our students would test for.
Grit is a measure developed by Angela Duckworth and measures things like
persistence.
Non-ASP students had a score of 3.35 in grit, while our ASP students
had an average score of 3.13 on a 5.0 scale. Again, if grit is necessary for success,
the ASP kids are not seriously lacking in this trait.
We are perplexed about the outcomes of the surveys these students have
taken. We have researched the work of Angela Duckworth who has identified that
students/persons with grit often achieve to higher outcomes than similarly
prepared peers with less grit. What we have observed with some of these ASP
students is that school may not be the activity in which they choose to succeed.
Grit in the cases of two of our students suggests that these students are
bullheaded (Roberts phrase) and that if we cannot figure out how to make excelling
in school a priority for them, the 5th period is not likely to be successful either. We
need more time and information to know how to adequately assess this information.
We used also had ASP and nonASP students take the Hope survey. This
Gallup Inc. poll assesses students sense of hope and feelings of association with
their teachers and their schools. From this survey, Gallup reports, in more than the
600,000 students who had taken this survey (by 2010), students who strongly
agreed that they school is committed to building students strengths and that they
have a teacher who makes them excited about the future are almost 30 times as
likely to be engaged learners as their peers who strongly disagreed with both
Page | 35

statements. The following chart shows average scores for the ASP and non-ASP
students in both the Grit survey, and in the various components of the Hope ladder.
Non ASP
N=44
ASP
N=19
Grit
5 = high
Hope
Overall 25
= high
Hope
Ladder 10
= high
Hope 5=
High
Engagem
ent
5 = high
WellPage | 36
being
5 = high
3.35
17.03
7.66
4.3
3.86
3.39
3.13
14.08
6.07
3.7
3.52
3.00
There was a small N in both pools; we have more confidence that ASP
students answered this fairly conscientiously, less so for some of the non-ASP
students who were asked to take this in their English class. That said, we supposed
that the scores would show more divergence; most ASP scores were around 80% of
the non-ASP scores. This is despite the fact that there were four female friends
affected by the death of one of the girls mother in early spring. We did not have
time to delve deeply into what these scores mean; we had assumed a greater
divergence in scores.
Incentives: Research indicates that the option of attending interesting field
trips, or other rewards for effort would inspire students to complete homework,
study for tests and improve scores. A trip to Silverwood theme park was developed
at the end of the year for all students getting a C or better in school. The trip had
a strong overlay of science especially physics as the Silverwood people provide a
full curriculum describing the physics of the various rides, but it is an outdoor theme
park and students look at is as fun. We worked with administration to allow ASP
students who had attended the lunch sessions a specified number of times to be

able to attend the Silverwood trip regardless of their current grade, thinking it would
be an incentive. The trip was the last day of school. Of the 19 ASP students offered
the chance to go, 13 could have attended but only two made the trip. We do not
know why these students chose not to attend, as they had been excited about it
when they were told they could attend; we thought this would boost their interest in
attending a 5th period tutorial next year, so this outcome was not expected.
CONCLUSION:
As always in a Cycle of Inquiry, we are really not through with pressing for
understanding of this issue. This remains a focus for us as our grant continues to
follow this 2-grade cohort of students into their first year of college, giving us three
more years to move their progress forward. This in-depth investigation has been
helpful and we wish we could come with more resolution, but we knew going into
this investigation that there would be no silver bullets.
In the fall, we will work with Barry to institute the 5 th period session for
struggling students that will give these students more time on task, peer
tutors/mentors as well as Robert, access to tutoring software to address
foundational learning deficits, incentives like field trips. Robert and tutors will have
a well-rehearsed way to address student attendance. We will also have access to
college and career interest software that may help to build a more exciting and
personalized vision of the future that might help these students connect to their
studies in more meaningful ways. In some ways, we are embedding solutions but
we have much more data that indicates these solutions are apt, and continue to
Page | 37

read research on struggling students and school drop-outs to see how else we might
address the needs as we identify them.
We will be much more didactic in building in an evaluation process to assess
these actions. My instinct is to partner with the tutors, both tutor and newly
trained high school tutor/mentors as well as with Barry and the staff here at Chelan
High School to understand the other resources the building has in place to augment
the services we will provide. From our learning, we are sharing with the other eight
buildings, even though our findings remain tentative. We are discouraged that only
four students of the original 20 (1 student moved away in early February) were able
to earn grades that do not require they retake a class they failed this year. There is
some research that indicates that this might be a really appropriate action, but
there is a clear feeling that we could have/should have known to do more in time to
rescue at least half of the students. The research we have initiated will be put to
good use as Robert and the project continues with these students for three more
years. We only hope to get more definitive and positive results in the coming year.
Page | 38

Page | 39
APPENDICES
Appendix A: Student scores in math and science first quarter with demographics.
#
Gende
r
Ethnicit
y
SPED
2
3
4
5
M
F
M
F
H
H
H
H
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
F
M
M
F
F
F
M
F
M
F
H
H
W
H
W
W
H
H
H
W
Migran
t
Y
LEP
Y
Y
Y
Math
1ST
D+/67
%
F/55%
F/48%
F/54%
D+/69
%
D/65%
F/48%
F/57%
D+ 67
C-/72
C 73
B+ 89
F
F
B- 81
Scienc
e 1st
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
F
D
F
D

16
17
18
19
20
F
F
F
F
F
H
H
H
H
H
C/70
A/97
F
F
D
D+
F
F
C
-
Appendix B: Final grades, attendance, associated comments.

Student
E.
Medina
Da
ys
Ab
se
nt
19
Will
retake
algebra 1.
Cristal
Ruiz
24
Will
retake
algebra 1.
Jose
Avila
43
Will
retake
algebra 1
Carlos
Cazarez
Alyssa
Tilbury
Will
retake
algebra 1
62
64
Teacher
Qtr 1
Grad
e
Qtr2
Grad
e
Qtr3
Grad
e
Qtr4
Grad
e
Math
Barnes
English
Bortome
u
Science
D+
Math
Robinso
n
English
Bortome
u
Science
Driver
Math
Robinso
n
English
Bortome
u
Science
M:
Young
Spec Ed
English
Bortome
u
Science
Driver
M:Robin
son
E:
Bortome
u
C-
C-
C+
D+
B+
C+
C+
D+
C+
D+
C-
F
B+
D+
NC
NA
NA
NA
NA
D+
A-
Comments
Intentional
nonlearner,
NeedsMath
Bootcamp. Bad
attitude most of
the year; improved
at the end because
he wanted to play
soccer.
Smart girl and
capable. Needs to
be in Barnes class
next year.
Bad attitude
toward school this
year. Last year he
was average in
school. Needs
Math Bootcamp.
Smart boy, gets in
trouble a lot,
though. Bad
attitude toward
school. Does well
in challises when
you challenge him
(ie Alg 1)
Best friends
mother died.
Missed a lot of
days, refused to do
homework. Needs
Page | 40

Alondra
Davila
Will
retake
algebra 1
Jesus
Salmero
n Will
retake
algebra 1
Itzel
Mercado
44
39
35
S: Driver
M:
Barnes
E:
Bortome
u
S: Driver
M:Robin
son
E:
Bortome
u
S: Driver
Young
Spec Ed
E:
BORTOM
EU
S: Driver
F
-
F
-
F
D
F
F
A-
B-
A-
-D
CD
F
F
D+
F
F
D
F
CD+
F
C
D+
D+
Kimberly
Barker
62
Barnes
E: Borto
S: Driver
CC
F
CC
F
C
F
F
D+
D
F
Brandon
Short
78
Robinso
n
English
Science
C-
15
Math:
Barnes
E:
Bortome
u
S: Driver
C-
A-
B-
Math:
Barnes
E:
Bortome
B+
C-
A-
B-
Will
retake
algebra 1
Jaime
Granado
s Will
retake
algebra 1
Paige
Nowland
41
Math Bootcamp.
Not sure why she
missed the 1st
semester of Math;
she excelled in
English and was in
English all year.
Jesus started
refusing to come
to ASP by midspring.
Refuses to finish
assignments in
Science. Smart
girl, does well
when she stays on
work, easily
distracted by boys.
Mother died
toward end of 3rd
quarter; missed a
number of days
and didnt catch
up. Smart girl that
only does enough
to get Cs.
Refused to
complete
assignments in
Science.
Missed a large
numbers of days.
Suspected drug
problems. Finally
did his
assignments in
science in 3rd
quarter.
English is not his
subject. Tutoring
helped him. Not
good at reading;
got behind in
Science, taken out
of class.
Drop in grades due
to a family
member death,
then a good
Page | 41

Anabeth
Morales
38
Berenice
Cristobal
Will
retake
algebra 1
35
Jaquelin
e
Rodrique
z
Will
retake
algebra 1
38
Marco
Orteaga
Will
retake
algebra 1
15
Elida
Fonseca
Heidi
Quintero
s
45
65
u
S: Driver
Math:
Barnes
E: ESL
S:
Math:Ro
binson
E:
Borome
u
S: Driver
Math:
Barnes
E:
Bortome
u
S: Driver
M:
Barnes
D:
Bortome
o
S: Driver
M:
Barnes
E:
Bertome
u
S: Driver
M:
Barnes
E:
Bertome
u
S: Driver
D
D+
F
D
C
D
F
D
D+
--
C
--
B+
--
A--
D+
A-
C+
A-
CB-
D+
B-
B
C-
CC+
C+
C-
C-
Spec
Ed
Remo
ved
In
Spec
Ed
C+
C+
C-
B-
C+
C+
D+
B-
B-
A-
B-
B-
B-
friends mother
died.
Very shy girl,
behind in math
skills, need to
convince her to
take Math
Bootcamp.
Not good at taking
tests! Does the
homework. Need
to convince her to
take Math
Bootcamp.
Started off bad in
English 1; got help.
Good math
student. Didnt
like the science
teacher so refused
to do the work
even though she
liked science last
year.
Removed from
English 1. Doesnt
take many options
quizzes in Math
and does terrible
on test, then
refuses retakes.
Gives up on math
homework once he
heard hed have to
retake Algebra.
Ellie started out 3rd
quarter in a hole in
English. Mrs. Lopez
helped to her on
track. Ellies
friends mother
died in the spring.
Misses a lot of
school but gets her
past assignments
and catches up.
Doesnt study for
tests. In the end,
studied more and
brought grades up.
Page | 42

Evelyn
Campos
95
M:
Domser
(Spec
Ed
E:
S: Driver
B+
D+
C+
NLA
F
NA
Evelyn volunteered
to be in the ASP
program at lunch
as she is friends
with Heidi. She
was in the hospital
a lot as a girl and
sent time there
this year as well.
Page | 43

Barbara Peterson l4l5 Cia June 30 2014

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Barbara Peterson l4l5 Cia June 30 2014

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A Cycle of Inquiry

Interventions for High School Students

Barbara Peterson, June 30, 2014, L4L5

A Cycle of Inquiry to Investigate Causes of Students Earning D&F Grades in Math

Superintendent Rob Manahan

Barbara Peterson, Executive Director, NLA Group

The purpose of Central Washington Universitys MOSAIC 2 GEAR UP Program is

A Cycle of Inquiry to Investigate Causes of Students Earning D&F Grades in Math

students or a significant percentage of them, to pass their math classes to become

The Issue of Student Learning:

A Cycle of Inquiry to Investigate Causes of Students Earning D&F Grades in Math

Teachers responses were: students do not turn in homework, or do not turn it in on

Motivation (struggle to find meaning in

Unsure of interests, skills and abilities

Feeling pressured, stress, anxiety, at school

Poor preparation for tests

No clear goals or plans

Lack of study skills

Home or family problems

Difficulty managing time

Balancing school with work responsibilities

Health problems/illness = poor attendance

Loneliness, lack of emotional control

Problem w/other students, affecting

Unable to understand course

A Cycle of Inquiry to Investigate Causes of Students Earning D&F Grades in Math

A Cycle of Inquiry to Investigate Causes of Students Earning D&F Grades in Math

A Cycle of Inquiry to Investigate Causes of Students Earning D&F Grades in Math

A Cycle of Inquiry to Investigate Causes of Students Earning D&F Grades in Math

A Cycle of Inquiry to Investigate Causes of Students Earning D&F Grades in Math

A Cycle of Inquiry to Investigate Causes of Students Earning D&F Grades in Math

In-class tutoring allows tutors guaranteed access to students who will

A Cycle of Inquiry to Investigate Causes of Students Earning D&F Grades in Math

A Cycle of Inquiry to Investigate Causes of Students Earning D&F Grades in Math

Within a week of our discussion about using a Cycle of Inquiry approach to

I assume a positive impact of resources

A Cycle of Inquiry to Investigate Causes of Students Earning D&F Grades in Math

A Cycle of Inquiry to Investigate Causes of Students Earning D&F Grades in Math

The three parts of a problem of student performance, which includes student

Teacher & Tutor Actions

Students have tutors in

Tutors are assigned to

Many students have high

Tutors focus their limited

A Cycle of Inquiry to Investigate Causes of Students Earning D&F Grades in Math

Past missing assignments

students in the waning

Tutors discussed students

I as a leader did not press

THEORY OF ACTION: Following is my Theory of Action (TOA):

If the high school principal uses a

After engaging in conversations in

review of student survey and course

early fall 2013 with Peterson on the

performance data to clarify which

need to help students pass core math

students need additional support

and science classes, site director

A Cycle of Inquiry to Investigate Causes of Students Earning D&F Grades in Math

DePaoli initiated an ASP Academic

interventions to address the

Support Program in October which