Working on the Work

1. Working on the Work How the Olmsted Falls City School District has assimilated the work of the Ohio Leadership Advisory Council with the Ohio Improvement Process in order to continue the excellence.

2. Presenters • Dr. Todd Hoadley—Superintendent • Dr. Jim Lloyd—Assistant Superintendent • Merritt Waters—Student Services Coordinator • Dr. Bob Hill—Principal, OFHS • Don Svec—Principal, Fitch Intermediate School • Janet Venecek—Teacher, Fitch Intermediate School • Sally Schuler—Teacher, Fitch Intermediate School • Neil Roseberry—Principal, Falls-Lenox Primary • Michelle LaGruth—Teacher, Falls-Lenox Primary

3. Going from Good to Great Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness, it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice, and discipline. Collins, J. (2005). Why business thinking is not the answer: Good to great and the social sectors. A monograph to accompany good to great.

4. Today we will: • Connect OLAC to OIP • Demonstrate how we’ve put the above connection into practice • Discuss the focused, continuous improvement of our organization • Provide you with an overview as to how the different parts of the system are working on the work in Olmsted Falls:

5. Dr. Todd Hoadley Superintendent & DLT Member

6. Student Learning Assessment Instruction Academic Content Standards/Learning Targets Professional Learning Community J_Lloyd_2008

7. Eliminate competing initiatives— • attract and move resources towards our hedgehog concepts and repel those that go against it • Know what you are good at and do good only at those things that you have defined is the work • “to do the most good requires saying no to pressures to stray, and the discipline to stop doing what does not fit.” --Jim Collins, 2005

8. The benefits of OIP helping us change district behavior and practice on a system-wide basis • DLT • BLT

9. Dr. Jim Lloyd Assistant Superintendent Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment

10. Assumptions for our CIP creation • Things we know: • As educators we try to do too much • As educators we know the right things to do • The right things to do in order to increase student achievement are not easy • As a field, we have relied on programs and quick fixes that rarely produce success • The solutions to problems that have plagued our profession exist within our buildings • The question becomes: Do we have the courage to focus and endure in order to experience real change.

11. The OIP is the implementation of the OLAC’s work OLAC Concepts • Leadership is shared • Area 1: Data & Decision Making • Area 2: Focused Goal Setting • Area 3: Instruction and Learning OFCS’ OIP Actions • DLTs and BLTs • Starts with the use of the Decision Framework • Revised CIP is more focused • Clear Targets & High Quality Feedback

13. Implementing OLAC through OIP • Create DLT • Learn about focused continuous improvement • Learn about the Ohio Improvement Process • Use Decision Framework to analyze data…consider other data sources as well • OIP plan development • Use data • Create focused goal(s) • Strategy development • Action step creation • Task creation

14. The OFCS’ Hedgehog What are you deeply passionate about? What drives your engine? What can you be the best in the world at?

15. OFCS CIP General Focus • Identify, acknowledge and build upon previous excellence • Build on what happens within the classroom by working to improve upon current teacher quality • Focus on those things that we can “control” • Making learning targets clearer for learners • Providing learners with feedback • The only thing that directly impacts student achievement is teacher practice so we must focus on changing/improving/growing what teachers do in the classroom and provide them with time and support

16. How effective do we deliver our mission and make an impact relative to our resources? • While quantification of results is good, what matters more is our ability to assemble evidence (quantitative & qualitative data) to track our progress

17. Alignment of things within the “black box” Clear Standards-Based Learning Targets Assessment (formative & summative) High Quality Instruction

18. Theory Into Practice We’ve operationalized our CIP strategies and assimilated many concepts into a deliverable professional development sequence across the entire school district

24. Discussion of the OFCS CIP • Goal • Strategies • Action Steps (4 of them) • Tasks under the action steps J_Lloyd_2008

25. Merritt WatersStudent Services Coordinator & DLT Member How does special education and student services fit into the improvement process?

26. Olmsted Falls Quick Facts • 2007-08 ODE Report Card • Students with Disabilities made adequate yearly progress • Still far lower than all other subgroups in reading and math achievement • Students with Disabilities comprise 11.8% of our student population

27. OIP & Special Education • OLAC Focus Area 1 – Data and the Decision Making Process • Shared discovery • Shared responsibility • Still need to gather data about at-risk kids

28. OIP & Special Education • OLAC Focus Area 2 - Focused Goal Setting Process • Inclusive, aggressive district goal • Familiar territory for special educators • Still need to align individual student growth expectations with district goal

29. OIP & Special Education • OLAC Focus Area 3 - • Instruction and the Learning Process • Sharing ideas/materials faster help for students • Strong instruction, not commercial programs Effective Feedback Clear Targets Higher Cognitive Demand

30. OIP & At-Risk Students • The problem-solving model vs.OIP • We don’t call it RTI, but… • Need more universal screening-academic and behavioral • Need more Tier 2 & 3 interventions-all grades • Need increased progress monitoring AIMSweb ??? DIBELS

31. Dr. Bob HillPrincipal of Olmsted Falls High School & DLT Member How does a building leadership team operate?

32. Excellence In EducationRanked “Excellent” 9-Years Running

33. SPDG and Change “A competitive world has two possibilities for you. You can lose. Or, if you want to win, you can change.” --Lester C. Thurow (1938- )American economist and educator

34. Building Organizational Structure • Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) • Team composed of department heads • Art • Business • Foreign Language • Health/PE • Language Arts • Library • Math • Music • Social Studies • Special Education • Science

35. SPDG and Change • Cultural Divide • The Healing Process • Choosing a BLT “Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted—for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things—some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.” President Barack Obama

36. Where Are We Now? • BLT Formed • Decision Framework Near Completion • Data and the Decision Making Process; Focused Goal Setting; Instruction & • The Learning Process The Heart of Our CIP

37. Neil Roseberry &Michelle LaGruthFalls-Lenox Primary Schools What is the role of a DLT member from the principal & teacher perspectives and how does the DLT work with the BLT?

38. Benefits of DLT Membership • Get to have a voice • The district’s first attempt at real whole group collaboration between all groups. • Collaboration with others across grade levels • Provides opportunities to visit classrooms from different buildings and grade levels • Teachers sharing effective practices

39. DLT Liaison • Working as a DLT & BLT member provides me with a unique opportunity to intertwine DLT learning and connect that to help our building make improvements. • Work across grade level and within my building • I’ve been able to explain the data that the DLT analyzed to building to develop understanding • Current BLT focus has been on analyzing data from subgroups (ESL & Spec Ed) JLloyd_2009

40. Learning Communities • In first year • Re-structured building layout from grade level hallways to clusters of 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade teachers on a team • Collaboration • Meet 1 time per month for community meetings • Talk about instruction; observe each other in classrooms; discuss new ideas and how to help kids academically • Everyone has lunch at the same time • More opportunities for class buddies and multi-level class get together • Kids more comfortable with teachers from other grades

41. FLIP – Falls Lenox Improvement Plan Once LA is complete, continue to work through the process with math then science and social studies. Assessment (formative and summative) – Ongoing during mapping mtgs.

42. Don Svec, Sally Schuler &Janet Venecek Don—Principal and DLT Member Sally—5th Grade Teacher and BLT Member Janet—4th Grade Teacher and Learning Team Participant How does a building incorporate the use of learning teams into its BLT Process? JLloyd_2009

43. Assessment For Learning “Quality assessment is indistinguishable from effective classroom instruction.” -Rick Stiggins: Portland Oregon

44. Assessment for Learning Where am I going? (Alignment with District CIP Action Step 1) • Provide a clear and understandable vision of the learning target. • Use examples and models of strong and weak work. Where am I now? (Alignment with District CIP Action Step 2) • Offer regular descriptive feedback. • Teach students to self assess and set goals. How can I close the gap? • Design lessons to focus on one aspect of quality at a time. • Teach students focused revision. • Engage students in self-reflection, and let them keep track of and share their learning.

45. The Learning Team Process • Reading and reflecting on new classroom assessment strategies • Shaping the strategies into applications • Trying out applications, observing, and drawing inferences about what does and doesn’t work. • Reflecting on and summarizing learning and conclusions from the experience • Sharing and problem solving with team members

46. Assessment for Learning Where am I going? • Provide a clear and understandable vision of the learning target. • Use examples and models of strong and weak work. Where am I now? • Offer regular descriptive feedback. • Teach students to self assess and set goals. How can I close the gap? • Design lessons to focus on one aspect of quality at a time. • Teach students focused revision. • Engage students in self-reflection, and let them keep track of and share their learning.

47. “What is happening differently in our classrooms as a result of what we are doing and learning in our study teams?”

48. Recipe for Student Learning • Make Learning Targets Clear for Kids • Involve kids in the assessment process.

49. What does this recipe look like when implemented ? • Identify the Powerful Indicators • Put into Kid Friendly Language • Communicate goals to kids and self-assess. • Teach with creativity ( Hands on activities, smart board, partnering, games, United Streaming, projects, spiral approach, Good/Ugly , practice, rubrics ,etc.) • On going student self-assessment to gain immediate feedback using rubric (“formative assessment”) • Teacher assess – (SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT) • Shared results with Learning Teams (Collaboration)

50. Baby and the Bath Water?