understanding your school’s unified improvement plan (uip)

Understanding Your School’s Unified Improvement Plan

(UIP)

Division of Performance Improvement

Our Speakers TonightChris DominoDAC Member EmeritaCCSD District Accountability Committee (DAC) Member for over 20 years and a former DAC chair, Chair of the Process Subcommittee, Lead Trainer for Colorado School Accountability Network (CSAN), and co-author of CDE’s parent-oriented Accountability Handbook with Senator Evie Hudak and Jhon Penn, CDE Field Services Executive Director.

Dr. Elliott AspAssistant Superintendent for Performance ImprovementThis office provides support, guidance, and leadership to the departments that make up the Performance Improvement Team: Assessment and Evaluation, Curriculum and Instruction, Professional Learning, Excellence and Equity, English Language Acquisition, Gifted and Talented Education, and the Funded Projects and Grants Office.

Dr. Connie ZumpfDirector of Assessment and EvaluationThe Office of Assessment and Evaluation is a support organization; our work serves a variety of stakeholders and decision makers in Cherry Creek Schools. We provide quality data, processes, and tools necessary to inform decisions about students, schools, and programs. We promote an assessment and data use culture that is collegial and professional, and in which data is viewed as a springboard for continuous improvement.

Purpose of This Session:• Understand the cycle of the Unified Improvement Planning (UIP)

process in Cherry Creek Schools.

• Understand the relationship between the district vision, mission, goals, and improvement strategies and the plans that a school will create.

• Be knowledgeable about the different sections of the school UIP template, and know key terms that characterize each section.

• Practice critical reading of portions of the UIP with the aid of the district UIP Quality Criteria Checklist.

• Know where to access a variety of resources to help support your School’s Accountability Committee in the UIP process.

Process for Tonight

• As a large group we will go through some sections of a sample UIP from last year in order to illustrate sections of the template.

• We will have time for structured “table talk” throughout the process.

UNIFIED DISTRICT AND SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

PLANNING(UIP)

INTRODUCTION & CONTEXT

Plan A Plan B

Why Plan?Why not just say what we will do then do it?

Plan B

Priority Challenge = Relieve Knee Pain

Root Cause = overweight, inactivity

Goal Target = lose 25 pounds by June 1Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-

Based

Major Improvement Strategy = Program of healthy diet and exercise

Research-based Action Steps & Implementation Benchmarks• Restrict calories to 1800 per day

• Track food intake with Lose It app• Increase aerobic exercise

• Attendance at exercise class• Daily weight tracking

• Use of Fitbit & smart scale

Monitor/Assess/Reflect/Course Correct = Join Weight Watchers if not on track by 3/15/13

Why Engage in the UIP Process?“If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail.”

• Create understanding of performance and growth for school leadership, staff, and community.

• Monitor progress on prior year’s school goals in order to evaluate impact of program, curriculum, instruction.

• Evaluate performance and growth trends in order to discern next steps.

• Provide context for understanding the results for classrooms and students and plan actions going forward.

• Required for accountability committees by law since 1971

How do we plan in Cherry Creek?

For years, our guiding mission and goals have been Excellence, Equity, and Post-Secondary Success:

Our Guiding Mission and Goals Reflected in

State Accountability Indicators

Our Guiding Mission & Goals in Public Accountability Documents

District Performance Plan (DPP)

• Based on our values

• DAC-sponsored Community Forums in 2009-10

• Easy to read, “Reader’s Digest” version of our district’s priority challenges, goals, improvement strategies, and action steps

Reflect & Discuss

(see pp 4-5 of the DPP)

District Vision and Your School’s Plan• In what ways do your school’s goals reflect the district goals?• Do you see the same kind of major improvement strategies?

Discuss with your table —• If you don’t know your school’s goals, what’s your next step?• How can work with your School Accountability Committee

(SAC) and with your principal to inform your community about your school’s goals?

How does CCSD do UIP work?

• Unified Improvement Planning is a process, not an event in Cherry Creek

• The Data Analysis Process has been in use in CCSD for years.

• The UIP template comes from CDE and is uniform statewide.– We have added a few adaptations in order to reflect our district

mission and process– A Quality Criteria Checklist can help to ensure that UIP sections

are completed correctly

• Quality Criteria Checklist helps to guide UIP template completion

Unified Improvement Planning is a process, not an event in CCSD

The UIP Planning Calendar

Data Analysis Process

To inspireevery student• to think• to learn• to achieve• to care

Step 1:Activate and Engage

Step 2:Explore and Observe

Step 3:Explain and Target

Step 4:Take Action and Follow Up

Gather & Organize Data

Narrative ofData Analysis

Target Setting & Action Plans

Priority Performance Challenge and Root Cause Identification

Monitor & Evaluate Significant

Trends, Data Summary

UIP Template

• The UIP template comes from CDE and is uniform statewide.– We have added a few adaptations in order to

reflect our district mission and process

Quality Criteria Checklist as a Guiding Resource

UNIFIED DISTRICT AND SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

PLANNING(UIP)

SAMPLE UIP

CDE’s UIP Sections(We will go over portions of red sections tonight)

Section I Section II Section III Section IVState

+Federal

PerformanceData

Grant Info Progress on Prior Year’s Targets Worksheet

School Target Setting Form Targets, measures, metrics Interim Measures Major Improvement Strategies

ContactImprovement Plan Info

Data Narrative School Performance

Framework Index (SPF) Excellence: CSAP

Performance & Growth Equity: CSAP Performance

and/or Growth by Race/Ethnicity and other student subgroups

College Preparedness: Explore/Plan/Colorado ACT, Graduation Rate

Action Planning Forms Major Improvement Strategies Associated root causes Action Steps Timelines Key People Resources Implementation Benchmarks Status of Action Steps

CDE’s UIP Sections(We will go over red sections tonight)


+Federal

PerformanceData




Data Narrative Introduction External Accountability

Indexes (SPF, AYP if Title 1) Excellence: CSAP

Performance & Growth Equity: CSAP Performance




• School annual performance targets for last year– What data sources will be/were used to

evaluate goal targets? • Actual data addressing the target• Observations for each target– Were goal targets met?– If yes:

• Is this a celebration? • Is this a continued priority for current year?

– If no: • Should this be a priority for the current year?

Progress Monitoring of Prior Year’s Performance Targets Worksheet

Progress Monitoring of Prior Year’s Performance Targets Worksheet (sample p 1) ___)

• Create context by examining performance on prior year’s goal targets.• (1) State the target. (2) State the results. (3) Provide an observation.

Reflect & Discuss

• Use the Quality Criteria Checklist• Read and comment on the

Progress Monitoring of Prior Year’s Performance Targets Worksheet

• Discuss with your table —– Does the narrative in the worksheet meet the

quality criteria?– What suggestions might you have, reading this as

a community member?



+Federal

PerformanceData





Indexes (SPF, AYP if Title 1) Excellence: CSAP Performance

& Growth Equity: CSAP Performance



Summary: PPC’s & Root Causes


Data Narrative for the School:

• This is the story about your school as suggested by your data analysis. 1. Introduction to the School and the Data Inquiry Process2. Descriptions of data from external accountability index (SPF)3. Descriptions of TCAP, and (if applicable) Explore/Plan/ACT performance and

growth, organized around our District Excellence, Equity, and Post-Secondary Readiness themes

4. Summary of Priority Performance Challenges and Root Causes

• Readers should be able to read this narrative in about 10-15 minutes and understand: 1. The most important trends for the school2. The priority needs indicated by the data, and3. A reflection about why results look as they do.

Data Narrative for the School:Introduction (sample p. 8)

• Principal’s Message/Background about the School

• Information about the Data Inquiry Process– The following team participated in the data inquiry

process in order to identify priority needs, goal focus areas, and root causes:

– We examined the following results reports in our analysis:

Reflect & Discuss

• Use the Quality Criteria Checklist• Read and comment on the

Introduction portion of the Data Narrative

• Discuss with your table —– Does the narrative in the sample give the reader

a good overview description of the school , the UIP process, and the people involved?



+Federal

PerformanceData











Data Narrative for the School:Data Inquiry (sample p. 3)

SCHOOL PERFORMANCE FRAMEWORK (SPF) PLAN ASSIGNMENT AND STATE EXPECTATIONS ON SPF INDICATORS

School Performance Frameworks(SPF) from CDEOverall percent of SPF points earned was 75%, resulting in the following plan assignment from CDE (Check one): __X__ Performance Plan_____ Improvement Plan_____ Priority Improvement Plan _____ Turnaround Plan

ABC Elementary met all SPF Indicators.

Trends

• It’s best to include at least three years of data, TCAP, TCAP Growth, ACT, Plan, Explore, Early Literacy,…

• Include positive and negative performance trends

• Identify where the school did not at least meet state expectations on the School Performance Framework (SPF)

Trends Could be:Stable

Increasing

Decreasing

Increasing then decreasing

Decreasing then increasing

Stable then increasing

Stable then decreasing

Increasing then stable

Decreasing then stable

Examples of Trend Statements

• The percent of 4th grade students who scored proficient or advanced on math TCAP/CSAP declined from 70% to 55% to 48% between 2010 and 2012.

• The median growth percentile of English Language learners in writing increased from 28 to 35 to 45 between 2010 and 2012.

• Our dropout rate has been stable (15, 14, 16) but much higher than the state average between 2010 and 2012.

Data Narrative for the School:Data Inquiry and Analysis (sample p. 3-7)

Trend Statements and DataEXCELLENCE: CSAP PerformanceMedian growth percentiles (MGPs) have increased from 2008 to 2011 in all areas, and dropped somewhat from 2009-10 to 2010-11, as shown in the table below.

In Reading and Writing, MGPs increased from 41 to 48 and 35 to 54 between 2007-08 and 2010-11 school years. Reading decreased notably from 61 to 48 in the past two school years.

In Math, MGPs increased from 35 to 54 between 2007-08 and 2010-11 school years and dropped three percentile ranks from 56 to 53 in the past two years.

Median Growth Percentiles on CSAP/TCAP Historical Grades 3-4 and 4-5 Collapsed

School year 2007-2008 2008-2009 2009-2010 2010-1011

MGP Math 43 58 56 53

MGP Reading 41 39 61 48

MGP Writing 35 44 58 54

Reflect & Discuss

• Use the Quality Criteria Checklist• Read and comment on the Data

Inquiry portion of the sample UIP (school performance on SPF indicators and Excellence, Equity, and Post-Secondary Readiness Data Trends)

• Discuss with your table —– Does the narrative and data present an easy to

understand picture of performance trends in this building?

– What suggestions might you have, reading this as a community member?

CDE’s UIP Sections (We will go over portions of red sections tonight)


+Federal

PerformanceData











Prioritize Performance Challenges

• The most strategic and important Performance Challenges that will form the basis for your school goal targets

• School communities must do a Root Cause Analysis for each selected Priority Performance Challenge

Performance Challenges

Performance challenges are. . .• Specific statements about performance • Strategic focus for the improvement efforts• About the students’ needs

Performance challenges are NOT• What caused the performance challenge• Action steps that need to be taken• Concerns about budget, staffing, curriculum, or instruction• About what the adults need to do

What is a Root Cause?• Statements describing the deepest underlying cause or causes

of performance challenges.• Causes that, if dissolved, would result in elimination or

substantial reduction of the performance challenge(s).

Root Causes ARE. . .About adult actions or behaviors, or orientations that caused the performance challenge (e.g., staffing, master schedule, curriculum, instruction)Strategic focus/foci for improvement efforts

Root Causes are NOTAbout student actions, behaviors, or orientationsSpecific statements about student performanceGoalsAction steps that need to be taken

Summary of Priority Performance Challenges & Root Causes (sample p. 8-9)

Verification of Root Cause:Data driven dialogue and analysis of data with teaching staff in staff meetings. In staff meetings and grade level team meetings, we identified several areas of priority need based on an exploration of our achievement data. We then used Thinking Map activities to arrive at related root causes.

Reflect & Discuss

• Use the Quality Criteria Checklist• Read and comment on the Priority

Performance Challenges and Root Cause portion of the sample UIP

• Discuss with your table —– Do the PPCs seem reasonable given the school

data?– What suggestions might you have, reading this as

a community member?

Data Analysis Process

To inspireevery student• to think• to learn• to achieve• to care

Step 1:Activate and Engage

Step 2:Explore and Observe

Step 3:Explain and Target

Step 4:Take Action and Follow Up

Gather & Organize Data

Narrative ofData Analysis

Target Setting & Action Plans

Priority Performance Challenge and Root Cause Identification

Monitor & Evaluate Significant

Trends, Data Summary

How Do We Support This Process?

• What can you do in your building to support your principal and staff in data inquiry and school improvement efforts?

• What could you do better or different?• Debrief.

Reflect & Discuss

Take Away

• Share this information.

• Share the best practices we’ve discussed.

• Make sure that you communicate your improvement efforts with your public.

understanding your school’s unified improvement plan (uip)

Documents

improvement strategies

continuous improvement

performance improvement

school uip template

sample uip

process subcommittee

unified district

plan aplan bwhy plan