HERESY!An Investigation, Determination, and Destination for Calhan High School

Regis ELDS 643

OverviewPremise: Unless your school is perfect, there are challenges that require solutions. When the current challenges are met, new ones will present. This is not unusual, unnatural, unexpected, or an aberration. We work in a fluid environment in which there is never just one solution. We must learn to embrace the chaos.

OverviewThe Problem Solving Protocol

1. Identify the problem (Investigation)2. Define possible solutions (Investigation)3. Analyze the possible solutions (Determination)4. Select the most likely solution (Determination)5. Implement the solution (Direction)

The Investigation

BudgetDiscipline

Parental InvolvementSchool Culture

Student Achievement

The Investigation

• We are facing reductions and project further reductions in funding.

• The above graphic depicts the portion of the district budget earmarked for high school instruction.

Budget Findings

The Investigation

The High School Portion of the district budget

• This is the money with which programs are funded.

• This is the money over which I have some control

• I am responsible for “dividing this pie”

The InvestigationDiscipline Statistics

• Certainly areas to improve• Trend is positive

The Investigation

• Full compliment of chartered parent groups (SIC, Steering Committee, Booster Club)

• RtI Home Liaison established ‘11-’12• Attendance data (56 HS students with 8 or

more absences in the 2nd semester alone) supports the conclusion that parents to not value classroom instruction.

Parental Involvement Findings

The InvestigationCulture Survey Student Response

• Mostly positive• Note: “What I am

learning is important to me”

The InvestigationStudent Achievement Findings

• Reading and Writing Scores are trending Positively• Math is not• ACT math 28% against a state average of 37%

The Investigation

Baseline Conclusion:

The students in my school demonstrate their lowest academic performance in math now I must identify why

The Investigation

Possible Solutions

More instructional timeMore remediation neededReduce scope of curriculum to allow slower pace

The Determination

Current Math Offerings and SequencePre Algebra Algebra I Geometry Algebra II Pre Calc/Stats Calc/College Math80%-100% 80%-100% 80%-100% 70%-100% 70%-100% 70%-100%

70%-80% 70%-80% 70%-80% 70%-80% 70%-80% 70%-80%

60%-80% 50%-70% 40%-70% 35%-65% N/A N/A

The Investigation

Possible Solutions

More instructional timeMore remediation neededReduce scope of curriculum to allow slower pace

The Determination

Reconfigured Math Offerings and SequencePre Algebra

Algebra IIntermediate Algebra

GeometryAlgebra II

Pre Calc/StatsCalc/College Math

The Determination

Problem solved! Right?

WRONG!

Class of ‘13

The Determination

Class of ‘14

The Determination

Class of ‘15

The Determination

Class of ‘16

The Determination

The Determination

The Determination

The Determination

The Determination

The DeterminationConnections

The InvestigationBudget: Not much opportunity to change

Discipline: Trending better but disrespect still an issue

Parents demonstrate a disregard for instruction

Students do not think what they are learning is important

Low math performance

Connections

The InvestigationBudget: Not much opportunity to change

Discipline: Trending better but disrespect still an issue

Parents demonstrate a disregard for instruction

Students do not think what they are learning is important

Low math performance

Relevance

Connections

The Determination

Important conclusions:• Math improvement can not come at the expense of

literacy performance• Students do not see the relevance of most academic

disciplines• In elementary school and middle school where one room

instruction and team teaching is presented, math trends are positive

• There is not one avenue of approach to improving math scores

The DeterminationMost important conclusion:

• Emphasis on skills alone will not (and has not) improve math performance. Application of skills must be incorporated into instruction. Application, or critical thinking, is hard to measure.

The DeterminationMost important conclusion:• Emphasis on skills alone will not (and has not) improve math

performance. Application of skills must be incorporated into instruction. Application, or critical thinking, is hard to measure.

• Therefore, we can anticipate that this approach will be outside the mainstream in an environment of increased pressure to quantitatively measure achievement.

My Conclusions and Hypothesis• Biggest student concern is relevance. My anecdotal

observations are consistent with this finding.• I believe student understanding of relevance is closely related

to discipline issues.• If we can approach math in relation to its application, we can

increase our math proficiency without sacrificing reading proficiency.

• By including project based learning which will include math skills, we can address the question of relevance.

• By combining the overt teaching of research skills with a restructured math sequence, we can address lack of math skills and relevance, which should impact student achievement, culture, and parental “buy-in.”

Therefore,

• Calhan High School 9th and 10th grade students will increase TCAP Math Proficient and Above Percentage from 31.5% to 40% including an increase math median growth percentile for free and reduced lunch students from 68 to 70 on the March 2013 TCAP. To provide students with the necessary instruction to meet this goal, math offerings will be restructured to accommodate differentiated levels of development, and math instruction will be reinforced with project based application of acquired skills beginning in August, 2012.

The Direction

Pieces to put in place:1. Redesign schedule to accommodate the new math

sequence and academic application module (if you can’t schedule it, you can’t do it)

2. Acquire any instructional materials needed for Intermediate Algebra

3. Design and present the training for academic application teachers

4. Inform the community of the curricular changes

The Direction

Schedule

The DirectionAction Plan

The DirectionCommunication Plan

The Direction

It’s up to us. Embrace the

chaos!