Principal's Message - February Edition 2010-2011

Dear JHS 13 Community,

We have done a tremendous job preparing for the Quality Review. In summary, we have done about two months worth of work in three short weeks. We expedited the process of setting up key structures earlier than we had originally planned. Everything we have put our energy into these last few weeks will be with us for at least the next three years. The next steps are figuring out how we sustain everything we put in place and how do we support the people who are struggling to adjust to the new expectations. We have a wide range of people talent in our school and a large gap of rating via the Teacher Expectation Rubric between different members of the staff. We need to use our stronger teachers to show our struggling teachers how they can improve their classrooms. This connection of different level teachers will have a great impact on everyone involved.

We need to look closely at the needs of our students and use research, inquiry work, and data to figure out a way to challenge as many students as possible. What you will see in our Quality Review results is that we are still struggling to push the higher level students. We are letting our lowest level students drive the pace of the class. Instead, we need to bring a grade level curriculum to our students, support our lower levels to reach those expectations, and extend on this work for our higher level students. The student portfolios will be your assessment tool to see if enough opportunities are being given to our students to answer higher level questions.

Another assessment tool will be the data we collect to measure progression. This measurement process will tell us if what we are currently doing is helping our students. In order to be successful at this, we need to set time aside to reflect on what we collect. This system will be completely dependent on teachers giving pre and post unit assessments and sharing the information. It will also be resting on the ownership of staff with the inquiry process. This will shift our mindset, after a poor lesson, from that of blaming others to a solution seeking frame of mind to revise and strengthen teaching practice, preparation, and developing culture in the classroom.

Here are the results of the Quality Review:

What the school does well
1. The school is pro-active in identifying additional funding sources and, along with teacher input, results in effective decision making around teaching and learning.
2. Authentic professional collaborations across grades and content areas has increased teacher ownership of decision-making, encourages teacher leadership, and is positively impacting teacher practice.
3. Teams of teachers are consistently setting goals for students and are clear in providing the steps needed to make progress.
4. Teams of teachers analyze formative and summative data to create a picture of students’ areas of need.
5. School leaders and faculty have been developing tools to organize data for making instructional decisions.

Areas for improvement
1. Refine the curriculum emphasizing rigorous habits and higher order thinking skills for a variety of learners with different needs.
2. Establish consistency of communication and ensure decision making processes across the school are transparent as a way to strengthen school culture for all constituents.
3. Monitor closely the learning progress of English language learners and special education students by reviewing interim checkpoints and making adjustments to ensure sufficient growth.
4. Develop school-wide reflection processes for the staff so that the effectiveness of assessment practices are measured regularly and adjustments made accordingly.
5. Use the observation tool to ensure individual and groups of students identified with particular needs are able to benefit from targeted support that will improve their emotional and academic growth.

We were rated “Developing.” I strongly agree with the rating. It was painful to hear after 6 years of being principal of J13, that the school has only made it to this level but it was also an eye-opening experience that there is so much more work that needs to be done. We have a very challenging population with a high number of needs, this cannot stop us from bringing great instruction and teaching practices to them. We need to focus on what is working in our school and eliminate what is not. We have had a significant drop in discipline issues, suspensions, and write-ups. Students are traveling into one classroom and causing havoc and going into another and producing good work. It’s clear the relationship is stronger with the teacher in the successful room and the teaching practices are meeting the needs of those students far better than the struggling teacher. If we do not look at this with an open mind to improve the work we are doing, we will continue to be a developing school.

We have an incredible amount of talent and commitment. This was reiterated by Ms. Cortazzo, our Quality Reviewer. We have what we need to reach a Well Developed School in the Fall of 2011. The administrative team is confident we will make this happen. We continue to work like we did these last two months (minus the late nights and weekends at the school), then it is inevitable we will be a Well Developed School again.

Continue with the great work you are doing. Incredible achievements are just ahead. Be a part of those celebrations by getting involved today. One school, one future.

Sincerely,

Jacob T. Michelman
Principal

CHECKING IN WITH THE SCHOOL GOALS

10% INCREASE OF STUDENTS MEETING PROFICIENCY IN ELA AND MATH

Our Acuity results yielded low increases in ELA and dismissal progression in Math. This is a mid-year alarm. At this point, we have invested a half of a year of instruction and have barely moved our students. According to the state tests in May of 2010, 60% of our students are 25 points or less from achieving a level 3 on the ELA exam. 35% of our student body is 25 points or less from a level 3 in math. At the rate we are going, these students could potentially slip through our fingers.

Several initiatives that we launched in preparation for our Quality Review could be instrumental.

One of the initiatives being launched by the Cabinet are the student goals. Our attempt at this last year landed in a system unable to be maintained for several reasons. Our vision was to simplify the process and align our efforts across all subject areas. By using the two areas of focus this year, writing and critical thinking, we were able to generate a rubric for the purpose of identifying goals in critical thinking for our students. We were able to develop four areas for teachers to work with students. Each department will be responsible for identifying a level or rating for each child in two of the four areas of the rubric along with targets we want the students to reach by June of 2011. The initiative will be the vehicle for driving instruction to offer more opportunities for students to do higher level thinking. It will assist in encouraging collaboration among teachers where the student goals will have a large amount of overlap among departments. In addition, teacher ratings next year will be based on a similar goal setting process for our students. Finally, it will be essential in looking at how the students are learning and what we can do to improve student learning. By improving the critical thinking skills of our students, it is inevitable they will perform better on both their state exams. By using the student goals to unite our efforts, we are solidifying substantial progression for a large population of our students.

92% ATTENDANCE

Our average attendance continues to fluctuate between 89 and 91 percent. We are still struggling with days before breaks along with Mondays and Fridays. We put several initiatives together for the 23rd of December. We managed to just break 80% but have a need for more research to produce higher numbers. Sometime in the next two weeks, we will be distributing a survey to students to find out what we can do in the future to promote higher attendance. In the meantime, we encourage staff to take accurate attendance so students’ records can be kept accurately. We also need staff to set up a welcoming environment in their classrooms. Our numbers indicate a large portion of our students are taking a day here or there and most frequently on a Monday or Friday. We need to stress the importance of coming to school and how missing one day will affect their growth and learning but simultaneously give them assistance to catch up when they do miss. Finally, maintain a welcoming environment. Make them feel that they are important by posting their work and celebrating their achievements in your room.

CITY-WIDE SURVEY ACHIEVING “ABOVE AVERAGE OR HIGHER” ON ALL 12 CATEGORIES

The School Improvement Team has finalized the strategy plan. We have also identified Positive Behavior Intervention Services (PBIS) as a first step in improving the school environment. We have sent several staff to the first professional development and we are preparing for second in the first week of April. The idea is to set up a committee to meet consistency to push the work of PBIS. These meetings are essential for the growth of the program. I will be checking in with the group to make sure it continues to move forward. If you have any questions about the program please see me. In the meantime, please continue to recognize students who are making great decisions. We have had a low number of red feathers being given out. It is imperative we promote positive student behavior by using the red feather system. If you do not have red feathers, then you need to speak to a City Year member as soon as possible. Be a part of the positive movement to make smart decisions on a daily basis.

In addition to PBIS, we were awarded $10,000 from our Network to support teachers with classroom management and instituting interventions in the classroom. We will be using this funding to bring in consultants to work with specific teachers who struggle with developing relationships with their students. If you feel you need additional support, please do not hesitate to reach out to an administrator to receive more support.

EXPANDING INTERVENTIONS TO PROVIDE ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FOR 15% OF OUR POPULATION

We have expanded the Functional Behavior Assessments and Behavior Improvement Plans to the 20 students with the most reported discipline issues. The Child Study Team has gathered the names and has been working with the counseling team to complete these documents. It will be the responsibility of the teachers and Student Management Office to follow the plans developed to make sure we are approaching and working with our students in the most thought out way possible. By investigating which methods produce the best results, we are generating a plan that works for the child and increases the chance for success tremendously.

The school continues to struggle to get teachers to refer students to the Child Study Team. There are a number of teachers who have removed or disciplined the same child repeatedly and have not sought support from the Child Study Team to either get these individuals more services or to gather strategies for the teacher to progress with the student. We will begin using Teacherease to identify teachers who remove the same child repeatedly and flag these individuals for administrative meetings and mandate Child Study Referrals. We are hoping for a thorough exploration into interventions to increase class time for the student rather than a complete dependency on a discipline system resulting in dismal instructional time for the child.