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Inspire

Leading from Beside

Using data and student evidence to lead Family of Schools improvement and increase student achievement

By Melanie Greenan, D-PCDSB

Introduction and Context:

How did the Brampton Central Family of Schools increase student achievement on the Grade 3 EQAO Reading Assessment by 10% in one year and create a community of collaborative inquiry and shared leadership?

This article brings forth the lessons learned by the Brampton Central Family of Schools (DPCDSB) regarding "beating the odds" in low performing schools in the area of early literacy.

The school improvement process followed by Brampton Central resembled the Hill and Crevola model (1997) yet it required some thinking outside the conventional box. The Superintendent, Principals and teachers in this family used data collection and analysis to identify student needs and create new solutions to old problems. By responding to the data quickly and accurately rapid gains in student achievement were able to be made.

The Brampton Central Family of Schools was established in August 2004 and consisted of 15 elementary schools and 2 Secondary Schools. The Family was populated with schools from two pre-exisiting Families of Schools in Brampton.

Marianne Mazzorato was appointed to this Family of Schools as the Supervisory Officer. This was her first posting as an instructional superintendent. She was promoted from the position of Principal of the Program Department. Previous to this, she had been an elementary school Principal.

The Grade 3 EQAO Reading information (2003-2004) indicated that 8 of13 schools in the Brampton Central were performing below the provincial average. By the time of the 2004-3005 EQAO assessment 11 of 13 schools had demonstrated positive growth on the same assessment and the Family of Schools had increased achievement by 10%. The substantial growth demonstrated in the Brampton Central Family of schools contributed to the Board achieving an increase of 6% in the area of Grade 3 Reading in one year.

The Brampton Central Family of Schools strategically implemented strategies that would promote rapid enhancement in teaching, learning and leading.

Step 1: Organize for Success

• Focus on Professional Development at the Family of Schools meetings
• Establish teams of administrators and teachers for collaboration and accountability
• Provide explicit support by demonstrating to teachers what successful practice looks like
• Establish Early Literacy Capacity Building Teams

An integral part of Brampton Central's Family Improvement Plan in the area of literacy was the utilization of Superintendent's meetings for the professional development of both principals and teachers. Superintendent meetings were planned and facilitated by Program Department consultants and focused on the specific learning needs of the students as identified through the EQAO data. The areas of focus identified were Reading Comprehension strategies and Reading assessment and evaluation practices.

Teachers were invited to the Superintendent's meetings along with principals. This process developed shared leadership and promoted professional development and inquiry for both teachers and principals. Instructional leadership was built at both the teacher and administrative level.

Each school was provided with comprehensive learning team modules at these meetings that were to be used by their school learning teams. The modules concentrated on research, high yield instructional practices, action research and assessment and evaluation at the classroom level.

Inviting teachers to the meetings provided the administrators with help facilitating the learning team modules. Having two teachers attend the meeting provided representation from the primary and junior/intermediate divisions. This ensured that the school had staff with the skills to lead/facilitate capacity building.

Because teachers were invited to the Superintendent's meetings, they were able to receive the information first hand. This contributed to a sense of ownership and heightened accountability as teachers were asked to return to the next Superintendent's meeting with evidence of improved instruction and student achievement. Each school through the actions of it's teachers and administrators found itself to be in a reciprocal pressure situation as both teachers and principals were informed of professional development expectations. The school was accountable for following through with professional development during the time period between meetings and returning with evidence of growth.

The Learning Teams at the school level were supported with resources: Debbie Miller's, Reading with Meaning for all Primary teachers; Harvey and Goudvis', Strategies that Work for all Junior teachers; as well as, the Expert Panel Reports and Guides to Effective Instruction in Reading and Writing (Ontario, Ministry of Education).

Additionally, the Family created Capacity Building Teams for key areas of focus as outlined by the Ministry of Education; e.g. an Early Literacy Capacity Building Team was created that included several principals, an early literacy consultant, teachers from a variety of grades, a social worker, a speech pathologist and resource staff. The goal of this team was to be a front runner for the Family and determine the supports and resources that were needed for the teachers and students to pursue:

• inquiry
• collaborative conversations
• a focus on research and successful practices

Step 2: Make School Improvement Conversations a Priority

• Providing data for administrators in a usable format
• Building principal and teacher's capacity to analyse the data
• Creating a sense of urgency to respond to the data and develop improvement goals
• Using the data to set authentic student targets

The School Improvement conversation in Brampton Central was accelerated by the creation of Data Snapshots. The snapshots compared the results from Report Card Marks, PM Benchmarks and Grade 3 EQAO data. These snapshots were created for the Family of Schools and individual schools to facilitate professional dialogue regarding where Brampton Central schools were in the areas of student achievement, and of reading assessment and evaluation practices in reading. They helped to create a sense of urgency in responding to the needs of students.

Example of a Brampton Central Family Data Snapshot 2003-2004

The Data Snapshots were presented to the teams of principals and teachers at a Superintendent's meeting by the Early Literacy Consultant. Guiding Questions focused on coherence between assessments; what the assessments were specifically measuring; and the relationship between the assessments. i.e., it became apparent that some Report Card Marks were identical to student achievement on PM Benchmarks. It seemed that teachers were not necessarily incorporating assessments to accompany the three goals of reading: Fluency, Motivation and Comprehension.

Links between the assessments and EQAO achievement were also revealed. It became apparent that students needed to be reaching PM Benchmark levels by the end of Grade One in order to have time to consolidate written reading comprehension by the Grade 3 EQAO assessment period. Interestingly, the two schools with the highest EQAO averages were the only two schools that had Third Term Grade 3 Report Card Marks lower than EQAO Reading results. These two schools became key players in identifying the instructional strategies that needed to be implemented at the classroom level.

The questions that arose from the Data Snapshot conversations were key to developing the Family of Schools goals for the upcoming year and the Family of Schools vision/mission. The data lent credibility to the areas of focus that were established by the Superintendent and Early Literacy Capacity Building Team.

The goals arising from the Data Snapshots were:

• to focus on the development of Reading Assessment and Evaluation Portfolios that relate to successful practice and research in literacy;
• to develop common assessment and evaluation practices to explicitly understand what is being measured by each assessment;
• to focus on analysing the assessments;
• to link the results of assessments to instructional strategies for students in the classroom.

As well, it was decided that EQAO in-services would be provided for all Grade 3 and Grade 6 teachers in the first year and all Grade 2 and 5 teachers the following year as well as teachers new to Grades 3&6. The intent of the in-services was to have teachers analyse the questions from the EQAO assessment in terms of instructional focus for the students and to link the questions to high yield instructional strategies in the classroom.

To help facilitate the relationship of classroom instruction to the EQAO assessment an EQAO Analysis Chart (appendix A) was developed each year for teachers that clearly aligned each question from the EQAO Reading Assessment with the instructional focus for the student. By using this chart each school was able to analyse their school's Item Information Report and develop a strategy for success on EQAO by implementing research based practices according to the needs of the specific students in each school.

The analysis of the EQAO questions led to the development of authentic target setting practices for Grade 3. This year Grade 3 teachers met to develop common assessments for reading and writing that are strategically aligned with EQAO and the Ontario Language Curriculum. A Quick Comprehension Assessment (Pearson Education: Reaching Readers) was purchased for all Grade 3 teachers and Term 2 Writing Exemplars for Persuasive and Procedural text were developed; as well as, Teacher Tool Kits to support the teaching of these text forms.

Grade 3 teachers were led through the Action Research Process by establishing a baseline of student achievement using current classroom assessments and Term One Report Card Marks. They then compared their classroom assessments with the common assessments provided to see if there was alignment.

Once teachers reflected on their learning, they were asked to set an EQAO target for each student based on their intended instructional focus for the next term. The teachers' use of moderation through the marking of the writing exemplars and Quick Comprehension Checks greatly assisted teachers with "getting on the same page" and feeling that their assessment and evaluation practices were aligned not only across the Family of Schools but also with EQAO and the provincial curriculum. The process of aligning classroom assessments with the Ontario curriculum and the EQAO assessment came from Dr. Lorna Earl's "Big Circle, Little Circle" theory.

School Data Snapshots were provided for principals each year to allow the school improvement conversation to begin and be sustained. This allowed teachers to, "connect the dots" between student results and learning needs that were presented at the Family of Schools and Board in-service sessions. The Data Snapshots also enabled schools to see growth from term to term, from year to year and to celebrate the many successes.

An Example of a School Data Snapshot

By establishing a Family of Schools Mean Score each year (for each assessment measure), it was possible to track school and Family of Schools improvement and to see if the steps taken were having an impact on student achievement. There were definite changes in the coherence of the assessments as teachers broadened and clarified their understandings of reading assessment.

An Example of Coherence Building: St. John Fisher School

Step 3 Use Different Forms of Data to Develop a "School Picture"

• Looking at Qualitative and Quantitative data
• Putting the data in context with schools' stories
• Learning from each other by painting a picture of schools using data

This year (2005) the Family of Schools has expanded each school's Data Snapshot to include the following:

1. Student achievement data
2. Community/Contextual data
3. School Culture data
4. "Students to Watch" data.

The principals in conjunction with the school improvement team are using the data sets to tell stories about the school, highlight priorities and fine tune the school improvement plan. Most importantly, schools are focusing on students, who are not included on the school Data Snapshots. They are tracking the students who are "at-risk" re., literacy acquisition.

Principals and teachers were led through the process of "The Big Picture" at a Superintendent's meeting. Participants were provided with the relevant data for their schools and guiding questions to help with the application and use of the data with their school communities. At the end of the process the principals and teachers presented the data stories to others in the community in order that all could benefit and learn from their inquiry and application of the data to school improvement plans.

One example of the power of the "Big Picture" in a "beating the odds" school comes from St. John Fisher. This school determined that the high number of students at risk of school failure due to the HRDC (Human Resources Development Canada) Social Risk Indicators and Early Developmental Index data necessitated the creation of a Summer Readiness Program and a Kindergarten Welcome/Orientation Program.

The St. John Fisher school staff diligently worked to develop the summer teaching/learning program, raise funds to pay teachers to deliver the program and create a kindergarten welcome/orientation strategy. This strategy provided parents with information and resources to prepare children for school entry and success; and to identify via a screening survey children who would benefit from the summer program.

Step 4: Students to Watch: Developing a School Monitoring System for Literacy Programs and Tracking At-Risk Students

• Developing common assessments linked to research and successful instructional practices
• Identifying and tracking at-risk students
• Establishing literacy teams
• Creating a shared and collective ownership for student achievement results

This year, the Family of Schools asked for the collection of foundational skills assessments for all Senior Kindergarten students. Benchmarks for each assessment (Phonemic Awareness, Concepts about Print, Letter/Sound Identification, High Frequency Words and Hearing and Recording Sounds in Words, PM Benchmarks) were established for each term.

Number of Students to Watch in Each School Term 1:

All SK and Resource teachers attended three in-service sessions that focused on the analysis of the assessment data, differentiated instruction for students and high yield instruction and intervention practices. Individual Student Intervention Plans that track progress and identify specific interventions for each student were implemented. Names of the "Students to Watch," the students who did not achieve the established benchmarks in any one of the assessment areas, were collated on a class summary sheet and collected by both principals and the superintendent.

Feedback from the "Students to Watch" program has been incredibly positive with one principal stating that, "It helped us to totally crystallize where the gaps in our Senior Kindergarten literacy program are." (Karen Kovacs, Principal, St. John Fisher School, DPCDSB)

As the "Students to Watch" program has continued throughout the year teachers have been encouraged and energized by the student results, their ability to target instruction for students and the positive feelings created by taking student names off the list!

Example of Student Improvement in Foundation Skills:

(CAP= Concepts about Print, PHA=Phonemic Awareness, LS ID= Letter Sound Identification, HFW= High Frequency Words, HRSW= Hearing and Recording Sounds in Words, PM= PM Benchmark Level)

Step 5: Tracking Walls

• Tracking students beyond Kindergarten
• Making the data visual
• Practicing setting targets for students' reading achievement

The monitoring of literacy programs that began with PM Benchmarking and continued with "Students to Watch" has spread to a team based approach through the use of Tracking Walls.

These walls were designed and purchased through the Early Literacy Capacity Building Team. Teachers and administrators used the walls to place students' reading achievement on a continuum, monitor student progress, set realistic targets for the next assessment round and identify intervention strategies.

The Tracking walls were integral to starting assessment conversations with school literacy teams and contributed to a sense of shared or collective ownership for all students' progress. Teachers and principals actually saw the sticky notes on the tracking wall placed against a contrasting colour indicating that students were reading below grade level. This created a sense of urgency re. moving the students forward. The walls also provided teachers with practice establishing realistic targets for students and created a sustained focus on high yield instructional strategies.

Step 6: Summer Reading Club and Summer Literacy Camp: Maintaining Reading Growth over the Summer Months

• Forming Community Partnerships
• Involving Parents
• Utilizing the resources in the public library
• Targeting Reading Growth throughout the summer months

The Early Literacy Capacity Building Team identified the need to support primary students with continued reading throughout the summer months. The team wanted to avoid regression in reading levels. A major problem identified was that many students did not have books in the home to read during the summer.

To solve the problem a partnership was established with the Brampton Public Library and a "Summer Reading Club" was created. All primary students were invited to join the reading club and upon membership received a library card, a Parent Toolkit, a Reader's Toolkit and a list of books available in the public library at his/her independent reading level.

Additionally, teachers were hired to conduct Read Aloud-Think Aloud sessions at the public library branches to explicitly model and demonstrate the Reading Comprehension Strategies for students and parents.

The Summer Reading Club was a huge success last summer with 800 students participating and is expanding to the entire Brampton region this summer. This summer a Read-Aloud/ Think-Aloud DVD will be provided to students who can not get to the library branches for the Read Aloud Sessions.

The Board's Summer Literacy Camp was also highly publicized with parents and students in the Brampton Central Family. This four week program specifically designed for the reinforcement of literacy skills was offered in three Brampton Central schools last summer.

Summer Planning Symposium:

• Professional Development for All
• Supporting Teachers with Resources
• Collaborative planning
• Working as a team on the school improvement plan
• Building Administrators instructional leadership

This August all primary teachers in Brampton Central are "invited" to attend a two day planning symposium. The two days will walk teachers through the process of design down planning in literacy, the Reading and Writing Workshop, the new Ontario Language document/achievement chart and the non-negotiables of a comprehensive literacy program. Teachers will be provided with exemplary first term literacy plans and receive the resources that are needed to implement the program.

The principals will attend the same two days to focus on instructional leadership and leading school improvement. The last afternoon will be used for teachers and principals to work collaboratively on school improvement plans as a team.

Conclusion:

The Brampton Central Family of Schools has been on a learning journey that can be characterized by the notion of "rolling up your sleeves and working beside teachers to improve student achievement." After our first year of efforts the Family of Schools increased student achievement by 10% on the Grade Three EQAO Reading Assessment. This year we are predicting and hoping for equal gains.

The lessons that we have learned and the "rocks in the road" that we have overcome in Brampton Central are not uncommon. What is uncommon about our story was the support given to the teachers to follow through on responses that were indicated through analysis of the data and to get the resources to the student level. All of this support came through our Family Superintendent who proved to be the linchpin between the Board and Ministry initiatives and the students in our classrooms.

What remained key for us in our learning journey was to always keep our eye on the student. By continually asking the question - What does this mean for instruction in the classroom?, real gains in student achievement can be made. After all, the classroom is where "The rubber hits the Road!"