West High School Professional Development: Colorado Growth Model and Response to Intervention

1. West High School Professional Development:Colorado Growth Model and Response to Intervention The Future of Teacher Evaluation and the Steps We Can Take to Ensure Student Growth By: Kevin Purfurst

2. Agenda • Introduction • Objectives • Rationale • Colorado Growth Model • Old Model • New Model • Example • How West Stacks Up • Response to Intervention

3. Content Objectives • TWBAT explain the Colorado Growth Model and apply it to examples. • TWBAT explain Response to Intervention and apply it to examples. • TWBAT evaluate West’s current progress in the Response to Intervention program.

4. Language Objectives • TWBAT read about the Colorado Growth Model and Response to Intervention. • TWBAT discuss in whole group, small group and partner settings the Colorado Growth Model and Response to Intervention. • TWBAT write evaluations for West’s current Response to Intervention program.

5. Rationale • Colorado Growth Model is the way the state evaluate the effectiveness of teachers and schools. • The district will be rolling this into the teacher evaluation framework under LEAP evaluations. • Understanding how it works will help us to better serve our students. • RtI is a good step towards helping student – and thus ourselves reach the goals of the CGM.

6. Introduction to CGM • Old Model • Implications for Students • Implications for Teachers, Schools and Districts • New Model

7. Old Model and Students • Student data prior to CGM: • Students measured based on their performance on state standards. • Students were given a rating of unsatisfactory, partially proficient, proficient or advanced. • The goal was for all students to be proficient or advanced, or they were considered poor performing students. With the person sitting next to you, discuss the potential implications for students under this model.

8. Implications for Students • Only gives a snapshot to students about their work for one year, on one text. • Can be demoralizing if scores are low year after year. • Created labels for student based on their performance. Others?

9. Old Model and Teachers, Schools and Districts • Teacher, School and Districts prior to CGM: • Teachers only given the snapshot of the prior year. • Teachers, Schools and Districts labeled based on student performance on that snapshot test. • Effective teaching/schools only seen as increasing the total number of students proficient or advanced relative to other teachers, schools and districts. With the person sitting next to you discuss the implications for teachers, schools and districts based on this old model?

10. Implication for Teachers, Schools and Districts • Teachers evaluated on only one test. • Expectation for students to be proficient or advanced without accounting for where they were entering at. • Schools and districts were compared to each other based on this snapshot of the number of students proficient or advanced. Others?

11. Better Systems • This caused DPS, CDE and the State of Colorado to look for better systems to evaluate students, teachers, schools and districts. • Work with a partner to determine what might be a system that is more fair to evaluate these groups by.

12. New Model - Colorado Growth Model • Growth seen as the answer. • It is better to measure a student based on how far they have grown, rather than evaluate them on how they right now. • Effective teachers and schools are those that work to get students to grow compared to where they were last year! What do you think?

13. How does it work? • Key number to evaluate a student, teacher, school or district is the growth percentile. • This is the comparison of a student’s growth from one year to the next, relative to other students who performed at the same level the year before. • Let’s look at an example!

14. Example • Jose and Juan both took the CSAP this year. • Jose scores 450 – partially proficient. • Juan scores 700 – proficient. • Who looks good under the old system? • What does a school full of Juans look like to the state?

15. Example • Under CMG – each is compared to their previous year’s scores. • Jose scored 200 – unsatisfactory. • Juan scored 600 – proficient. • How did they look last year?

16. Example • Both students grew! • Jose grew by 250! • Juan grew by 100! • The raw growth number is not what is most important.

17. Example • We now compare each students growth to that of other students in the whole state who scored the same as them the prior year. • Other students scoring 200 (Jose) averaged a score of 350 the following year. • Other students scoring 600 (Juan) averaged a score of 750 the following year.

18. Example • So here’s where we are.

19. Example • When we compare Jose and Juan to all students in the state with the same test scores from the previous year, we see: • Jose made higher than average growth • Juan made lower than average growth • Each student is then assigned a percentile (rank compared to all the other students in their category). • 50 or higher is good because that shows they are growing at or above what their peers are.

20. Example • Jose is growing faster than his peers at the 75th percentile. • Juan is growing slower than his peers at the 40th percentile.

21. Example – Implications • What conclusions can be drawn about the teacher, school and district that Jose has? • Juan has? • How do these implications compare to how they would have been judged before?

22. Evaluate • Is this system better? • Is it perfect? • How can or should this data be used?

23. Senate Bill 191 • Requires that half of all teacher evaluations come from student outcomes. • DPS does not want to use only CGM for evaluations. • This should help to balance the effect of this data being based on only one test.

24. Using This Data • Can be used to see what particular teachers and schools are doing to be effective. • Other ideas?

25. How West Stacks Up • All of this data is aggregated at the school level – remember that higher than 50 means the school is showing higher than average growth. • Reading = 51st percentile • Writing = 47th percentile • Math = 41st percentile

26. What does this mean?

27. What does this mean? We Have Room to Grow!

28. Things We’ve Been Doing, and Doing Well • Backwards planning • Aligning curriculum to standards • Analyzing data

29. What Could Help Us More? Response to Intervention!

30. Response to Intervention (RtI) • A system to evaluate students performance in class and provide targeted supports that work to increase student growth. • Effectively this is a differentiation system which helps us to target students both struggling and succeeding to provide remediation and extensions to help the grow at a high level.

31. Components • Leadership • Curriculum and Instruction • School Climate and Culture • Problem Solving Process • Assessment • Family and Community Engagement

32. Leadership • There must be a commitment to this process at all levels. • District, school and department commitments must be made. • This is a process that takes time getting used to and everyone must commit.

33. Leadership – At West • Erin Mack – assigned administrator for RtI in the school. • Allocated district resources for necessary staff (school psychologist) necessary for RtI. • Teacher leaders – there will need to be a commitment by teachers to help lead this initiative to increase student growth! (Potential for extra planning periods to be facilitators!)

34. Curriculum and Instruction • Three tiered system

36. Tier 1 • High quality curricula and instruction strategies • Research based techniques • Regular state and district wide assessment of skills

37. Tier 1 - At West Professional Development • Understanding by Design • Teach Like a Champion • 50 Strategies • Leap Aligned PD • ELA Strategies • School Wide Writing Rubric Assessment • CSAP • District Benchmarks • Course aligned formative assessments

38. Tier 2 • Provide supplemental instruction for those students not progressing well in Tier 1 • Systematically aligned with Tier 1 • Designed to provide remediation for skills in Tier 1 • ALSO to enhance and extend the learning of advanced students who might be “bored” with the base instruction in Tier 1

39. Tier 2 – At West *New This Year* • Weekly tutorials • Designed to identify students who are advanced or not meeting proficiency in skills at Tier 1 instruction • These students are assigned to Graduation Station (during 8th period, regular school hours) for remediation or enrichment • These are identified using weekly administered course alike assessments

40. Tier 2 – At West • Remediation • During graduation station – once a week by department – those students from all course alike teachers who are not proficient will meet with one of those teachers to receive remediation on those skills • Enrichment • During graduation station – once a week by department – those students from all course alike teachers who are advances will meet with a different one of those teachers to receive enrichment on those skills

41. Tier 3 • Designated for students who are not successful after Tier 2 interventions • Designed to provide very specific skill remediation • Done in small or individual settings • Referred to and determined need by problem solving team

42. Tier 3 – At West • Student Intervention Team • Made up of Erin Mack, school psychologist, language specialist, teacher effectiveness coaches and a department representative to be chosen later? • Students who are not responding to Tier 2 interventions should be referred to this group. • They will review data about the student and determine if intervention at a Tier 3 is necessary.

43. Tier 3 – At West • Intervention Courses • Those students deemed to need intervention at the lower levels will be placed into Reading and Math intervention course • It is our belief that those who are struggling at Tier 2 are typically struggling with basic language and math skills and remedial courses for them are the best solution • These students are to be evaluated regularly and exited from these courses as soon as they demonstrate grade level performance in reading and math

45. School Climate and Culture • Behavior is essential for academic success • Teachers and schools should explicitly teach and model proper academic behavior • BPS systems are effective

46. School Climate and Culture – At West • PBS professional development • Explicit discussion and examples of how to us PBS in the building to support student success and build school climate and culture

47. School Climate and Culture – At West • Explicit instruction and modeling of classroom and academic expectations • Expectation is that all teachers spend at least one day explicitly teaching and modeling (using examples and non-examples0 classroom expectations and academic expectations • Consistent use of school wide behavior ladder

48. School Climate and Culture – At West • ABC interventions • Designed to prevent students from slipping “through the cracks” • Works to provide what students need to be successful while ensuring they are in school

49. School Climate and Culture – At West • ABC interventions • Attendance • Any student with 4 or more unexcused absences or tardies will be place on an attendance contract that requires a parent or guardian to be present to discuss the terms and sign • Violation of the attendance contract will result in further consequences up removal from the school

50. School Climate and Culture – At West • ABC interventions • Behavior • Any student with 4 or more behavior incidences (defined as the teacher giving more than two verbal warnings – according to the behavior ladder – in one class period) will be placed on a behavior contract requiring a parent or guarding to be present to discuss terms and sign • Violation of the behavior contract will result in further consequences up removal from the school