1

Saint Paul Public Schools

Putting Schools AtThe Heart Of The Community

Presentation to the McNeely FoundationNovember 5, 2010

2

We MUST Make A Difference

To improve, we have to BELIEVE that we can improve

We can:• Continue to turn schools around• Improve academic performance for

all students

3

We MUST Make A Difference

We must be:• System-wide thinkers• Leaders for racial equality

– Do not let race be a predictor of student success

• Believe we will succeed

4

Our Job

• Making a difference every day

• For every student

• In every classroom

5

New Vision for Saint Paul Public Schools

• Putting Schools at the Heart of the Community

• We must:– Reinvent ourselves to better

serve our students, our families, our business partners and our communities

– Take action

6

Failure Is NOT An Option

• The underlying foundation of an effective PLC is relational trust.

• Six principles guide effective PLCs: – common mission, vision, values, and goals – ensured student achievement for all– collaborative teaching and learning– data-based decision making– gaining active engagement from family and

community– build sustainable leadership capacity

7

Putting Schools at the Heart of the Community

•SServe•PPartner•PPrioritize•SSucceed

2010-11 SPPS

Priorities

8

Putting schools at the Heart of the Community

SERVEGoal: Respond to the mission of our work. Meet the

needs of our students, families and community by delivering our services accordingly

How will we do it?• Invest on our human capital

– Teacher quality– Re-shape cultural proficiency – Expand and replicate what currently is working well– Implement with fidelity– Make yourself and others accountable for quality work

• Improve customer service every day with every person– We exist for our families

9

Putting schools at the Heart of the Community

PartnerGoal: Build stronger partnership with city, county, universities,

business, and faith communities, to maximize our resources and better support students and families

How will we do it?• Engagement is everyone’s job• Create Office of Family and Community Engagement and

Partnerships– Support schools with access to community resources and

partnerships – Partner more with families, provide parent education - Parent

University– Collaborate with government agencies to align our services to

maximize results from limited resources– Work more with Minneapolis Public Schools to share services

and use best practices

10

Putting schools at the Heart of the Community

Prioritize

Goal: Focus on a few initiatives and implement them with fidelity

How will we do it?PreK-Adult Academics• Fidelity of implementation• Creating the individualized interventions - intervene early to

prevent remediation• Continue our work on cultural proficiency• Extended time for students who are not performing at grade

level– Before and after school– Saturday school

• Continue building on PLCs and job-embedded coaching• Utilize data to re-align instruction that meets the needs of the

learner

11

Putting schools at the Heart of the Community

Succeed

Goal: Prepare our students for post-industrial, 21st century workplaces

How will we do it?• Focus on instructional practices that engage students• Create relationships• Invest in technology • Accountability for our results

– Autonomy does not equal results– Use best practices– Teaching = Learning– Positive and welcoming image– Student needs drive instruction and staffing

12

The Heart of Our Mission

• It’s all about our students• We need each other• Everything we do is with a mind

toward supporting the magic that happens when a teacher inspires a student

13

A Vision of SPPS Schools

All SPPS SchoolsAll SPPS Schools– Art, music, PE, gifted and talented, special

ed, technology in the classroom, multiple languages and cultures, nurse and library

– A goal and accountability for Level 3 + learning for ALL students by teachers, principal and employees

– Development, recognition and retention of highly effective teachers and principals

14

A Vision of Community Schools

SPPS Specialty SchoolsSPPS Specialty Schools– Sustainable over time

– Articulation beyond the individual school

– Aligned in strategy and structures to the district plan…are not justified by ability to get a grant, specialized funding or staff interests.

– Clear image, identity and theme yet under the SPPS “brand” family

15

A Vision of SPPS Schools

SPPS SchoolsSPPS Schools• Equity = Differentiation

– Staffing– Funding– Resources and Supports

• E – 12 Feeder Schools Systems– Boundary and program alignment– Principal Leadership Teams– Student Services Teams

• District Guiding Coalition

16

A Time to Change

We can, whenever and wherever we choose,

successfully teach all children whose schooling is of interest to us.

We already know more than we need to do that.

Whether or not we do it must finally depend on

how we feel about the fact that we haven’t so far.

Ronald EdmondsEducational Leadership

17

Vision 2014 Key Goals

• Achievement– Design, Delivery, Partnership,

Performance

• Alignment

• Sustainability

18

Leadership and Learning Center

A brief overview of the partnership of Saint Paul Public Schools

19

Instruction: RTIFES

WTL Strategies

Instruction: RTIFES

WTL Strategies

Assessment: RTI

DT Process for PLCSECAs

Assessment: RTI

DT Process for PLCSECAs

Prin

cipa

l’s L

eade

rshi

p

RTI: Response to Intervention

FES: Five Easy Steps to Math

WTL: Writing to Learn--Nonfiction Writing

RTI: Response to Intervention

DT: Data Teams

ECAs: Engaging Classroom Assessments

20

Engaging Classroom Assessments

Identify Power Standards• “Unwrap” the Power Standards and

determine “Big Ideas” contained within those standards

• Write thee “Big Ideas” as “Essential Questions” to guide instruction and assessment

• Create performance assessment that includes: – standards, – engaging scenarios, – 3 or 4 performance tasks that Common Formative

Assessments (CFAs) measuring incremental knowledge of priority standard,

– task-specific rubrics or scoring guides

21

Five Easy Steps to a Balanced Math Program

• Step One: Math Review and Mental Math

• Step Two: Problem Solving• Step Three: Conceptual

Understanding• Step Four: Mastery of Math Facts• Step Five: Common Formative

Assessments

22

Five Easy Steps: Successful and Popular because…

• Sharpens instructional focus• Balances computational skills,

conceptual understanding, and problem solving

• Can be utilized with any math series and supplemental materials

• Aligns with school, district, and state assessments

23

Write to Learn: Non-fiction Writing Strategies

• Used across all content areas• Short, impromptu, or otherwise

informal writing tasks that help students think through key concepts or ideas presented in a course.

• Often, these writing tasks are limited to less than five minutes of class time or are assigned as brief, out-of-class assignments.

24

Response to Intervention (RTI)

• Using Data Teams Approach to help identify strategies for all learners

• Tier I strategies are identified to ensure at least 80-85% all students are proficient

• Tier 2 and 3 strategies are provided for effective intervention based on the school resources and individual student needs

25

Data Teams Approach for PLCs

• Find the data (“Treasure Hunt”)• Analyze the data• Make inferences from data and

prioritize needs• Set, review, revise SMART goals• Determine strategies to support

goals• Establish results indicators to

measure student success based on adult (teacher) actions

26

Battle Creek Middle School

What is new at BCMS?• Co-located with Hazel Park Academy• Enrollment increase from 520 to 850• Continuation of Single Gender

Academies - Sisterhood and Brotherhood and Core Values (monthly)

• Focus on instruction and assessment within Professional Learning Communities (PLC's)

• Panther Extended Program – 4 days/week

27

Identification of Students

• MCA II Data• MAP tests (3 times annually)• Common Formative

Assessments within PLC's• Interdisciplinary Teams

identifying students with failed classes

28

Interventions• Tier I interventions (85%): Teachers meet

individual needs of all students within classroom

• Tier II Interventions (10%): Students identified as needing periodic, intensive support (Read 180, AMP Reading, 1:1 tutoring)

• Tier III Interventions (5%): Students identified as needing intensive, consistent support (Full time class with math and reading tutoring, organization, social work, study skills)

• Additional support during and outside the school day: Panther Extended Program, Saturday Tutoring, Advisory Program

29

Washington Technology Magnet School

What’s new at Washington?Everything

• New Building – the former Arlington High School building

• New grades – from 7-8 to 7-10• Enrollment increase from 750 to 1140• Interdisciplinary Teams complementing

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)

• Extended Day: Every Day Every Student

30

Identification of Students

• Interdisciplinary Teams meet weekly to identify failing students

• MAP testing 3 times annually• PLC Common formative

Assessments

31

Strategies

• Developed at the Team Level• Specific for each student• Homeroom – Intervention time

daily• Extended Day Opportunities• Attention from counselor

32

Saint Paul Public Schools

Putting Schools AtThe Heart Of The Community