Creating A Culture of Continuous Improvement Getting Started Handbook

1. Creating A Culture of Continuous Improvement Getting Started Handbook FCIM FOCUS Training is suggested as a Prerequisite for Successful Implementation of the Continuous Improvement Model Plan Act Do Check

2. Change and improvement are not the same. Change can be just that, a different way of doing something that results in no noticeable improvement. Improvement requires change, but change in and of itself does not necessarily result in improvement. Resistance to change is due in part to leadership’s inability to link it with improvement. If people can be shown that targeted, focused change can lead to improving student achievement, then people will be much more likely to embrace it. The role of the instructional leader is critical to implementing a change model. Without supportive leadership from district and school leadership, school faculties will not work collaboratively to implement a change model. Paraphrased from The Learning Cooperative Improving Organizations Through Better Knowledge

3. Contents • Initiating the Process • Lessons Learned • Needs Assessment and Faculty Presentation • Faculty Discussions: Talking Points • FCIM Lead Team • Lead Team Characteristics • Identifying School Resources • Personnel • Materials and Supplies • Scheduling • Grade-Level Planning • Data Analysis • Instructional Calendars and Samples • Remediation and Enrichment • Focus Lessons • Characteristics of an FCIM Instructional Focus • Communicating Standards as Essential Questions • Focus Lesson Links and Resources • Progress Monitoring • Formal and Informal Assessments • Data Collection Procedures • Ongoing Analysis of Results

4. Section 1 • LESSONS LEARNED • A top down implementation approach rarely yields lasting change over time. All stakeholders need to be involved in a plan for implementation. • Each school is unique. A plan for implementation must be designed based on the needs of the school and students. In other words, a “one size fits all”plan does not work but fidelity to the model must be assured. • School-based FCIM leaders must be prepared to support faculty through all stages of implementation and be willing to evaluate and possibly re-distribute school resources. • The 20/80 model yields lasting results in increased student achievement. • When you align the curriculum to state standards and monitor curriculum delivery, and results… students achieve.

5. Section 1 • FIRST STEPS: • Conduct a needs assessment. This discussion should be with faculty to determine their readiness for change. It should a discussion of current student achievement goals and past school improvement activities related to student achievement, and an analysis of the school-wide vision for how FCIM can transform your school. • Designate a FCIM contact for the school and communicate to district level administration the desire to begin implementation of this model. If there are other schools in the district implementing FCIM, discuss possible district-led meetings with other implementers. • Plan a faculty presentation on the steps in the FCIM Cycle. Faculty will be surveyed following the faculty presentation. • The principal should designate a school FCIM leadership team. This team will gain specialized training, assist conducting faculty training, and provide additional support during implementation. • 5. Contact DOE Office of School Improvement about current FCIM training opportunities.

6. Section 2 • FCIM LEAD TEAM: • Use the next page to help plan your FCIM Lead Team membership. • List an alternate choice for grade-level representation. • Who should be included on the FCIM Lead Team: • Principal and other instructional leaders of the school • One representative from each grade level (K-5) • One representative from each department (6-12) • Special-area teacher representative • Media Specialist • Guidance Counselor • Support staff representative (preferably a teaching assistant working directly with students) • Things to consider: • Look for Teacher leaders • Not an Early Career teacher (0-3 years experience) • Respected by majority of faculty • Not overloaded with other responsibilities • Not just a “yes” person • Problem solver / positive attitude

7. FCIM Lead Team Members K-5

8. FCIM Lead Team Members 6-12

9. Section 2 IDENTIFYING SCHOOL RESOURCES: • The first year of FCIM implementation is the most difficult for many school faculties. Implementation roadblocks can be avoided through careful planning. • One of the first tasks of a CLT (FCIM Lead Team) is to identify current resources and discuss possible reallocation of schedules, people, supplies, and money to assist in the early years of implementation. • Common reallocation issues that have a profound affect on implementation are: • Increasing classroom supply budgets for the first year. • Providing a grade-level fund for FCIM focus-lesson materials. • Aligning master schedules to provide weekly common planning and weekly Plan-Do-Check-Act meetings for data analysis for teams (a must). • Reassigning school support staff to assist with remediation and enrichment. • Reassigning one support staff member for FCIM clerical support: • Data collection • Assessment copying • Compiling school progress reports

10. Section 2 DEMING’S RESEARCH: Edward Deming claimed that management is responsible for 94% of all quality problems, and pointed out that it is management’s task to help people work smarter, not harder.

11. GRADE-LEVEL PLANNING: Data Analysis Section 3 • Data analysis is the key to effective curriculum mapping and to ongoing progress monitoring. • However there are several roadblocks to anticipate: • Finding agreement on WHAT KIND of data to include in the review of student achievement. FCAT data is the first and most important piece of the data pool; but other data can also be considered, especially for primary grades that do not take FCAT, or for students at secondary levels who are achieving in the top percentile ranks. • Playing the “BLAME GAME.” Make sure that the parameters, purpose, and expected outcomes of the review process are clearly communicated to all stakeholders. • How to focus not on what students already know, but on what they need to know to be successful at their current grade level AND beyond. • Learn that this process won’t appeal to everyone right away. Communicate clearly your expectations for teacher involvement and explain that active monitoring of implementation will occur.

12. Section 3 GRADE-LEVEL PLANNING: Data Analysis Data analysis can be time consuming and tedious if there is not a clear plan in place that answers the following questions: What data? FCAT - AYP - DIBEL - OTHER? Who is looking at it? Decide how the work will be divided among the members of the FCIM Lead Team or other interested faculty members. What do you want to know? Why? Define all the areas that need information sources (% of student scoring level 1, AYP areas of deficiency, % of students in intervention classes showing gains, etc.). What is the process for reporting information? Communicate areas needing improvement without placing blame on individuals. It is the responsibility of the instructional leader to work one on one with individuals showing little student gains/growth, as evident from reviewing the data.

13. Section 3 GRADE-LEVEL PLANNING: Data Analysis: 20/80 Critical Skills List • After reviewing data: • List all the skills that indicate student achievement gains are not being made. Make a list for each grade level and each content area. • Take time to look at this list in relation to your Sunshine State Standards. Identify those skills as Essential, Expected, or Extended. Focus on the essential and expected skills of the Sunshine State Standards. Those that are extended should be used as the basis for your enrichment program. • List them by order of most critical deficiency first (lowest scores go to the top). • Find the top 20% of the list. These are the skills that will come first and be re-emphasized. These skills will be your primary FCIM skills for the year. These skills will be reinforced in special areas and other content area classrooms also. Lack of proficiency in the top 20% of these critical skills are most likely causing non-proficiency in the remaining 80%.

14. Section 3 GRADE-LEVEL PLANNING: The Bottom Line on Grade-Level Success: We need to spend 80% of our instructional time on the 20% of the information students need to acquire most. Over time, as the process is in place, the top 20% continues to decrease. Eventually, a majority of students enter the next grade level with the background knowledge they need to successfully acquire NEW knowledge and skills. Example of the 20/80 Theory Focusing on this ONE skill for mastery. 20% Place Value through Hundreds Place Value through Thousands and Millions Decimals through Thousands and Millionths Rounding Large Numbers Rounding Decimals Impacts mastery of all of these skills. 80%

15. Section 3 GRADE-LEVEL PLANNING: Instructional Calendars What will be taught, when will it be taught, who will teach it, and how many days will be given to it on the instructional calendar? Using data, identify critical skills in reading and math by grade level. Create a calendar template and add all non-student contact days, holidays, district professional development days, etc. Add all testing dates & school activities that may interfere with the regular instructional day (open house, homecoming week, etc.). Review your content-area texts to match needs with developmentally appropriate sequence of instruction . Decide how many days will be spent focusing on each skill and plug each benchmark skill into your ten-month instructional calendar. Plan for maintenance / spiral review days and assessment days. One/two spiral review days each month is appropriate.

16. Sample Instructional Focus Calendar On the following pages is a sample of a calendar model. Your school team should review this model to determine if this calendar would work “as is” for your teachers. If not, decide what modifications need to be made to meet your needs or design your own calendar, but be sure to include some of the following important elements. • Opportunity for individual pacing based on needs of students. • Monthly “snapshot” of instruction. • Benchmarks communicated as Essential Questions for students, teachers, and parents. • Assessment and Spiral Review days

17. Instructional Focus Template Sample of a Grade-Level Overview Map The overview is the result of grade-level planning meetings. All teachers contribute and write essential questions. It is a broad snapshot of a grade level’s instructional focus and long-range planning.

18. Teacher ________________________ Grade ______________________ Mrs. Jones Second Tiffany _X_ Guidance __ Administration _X_ Parent __ Other _________________ Instructional Focus Template Sample of an Individual Classroom Map Each teacher takes the overview for their grade level and creates a monthly pacing calendar. The pacing calendars may be slightly different for each teacher but all pacing calendars will address the benchmarks designated for that month for their grade level. It is a narrow snapshot of a teacher’s instructional focus and response to student performance, since it requires her/him to track on the calendar those students needing remediation. AUGUST Students Who Need Remediation NOTES: I think Tiffany needs her vision checked. She does well on reviews from the board but I’ve noticed that she is squinting when looking at papers up close. This may be affecting her performance on her assessments. Her oral reviews are much better. I’m going to talk to guidance about the date of her last vision check and contact her mom to see if she should be wearing glasses.

19. Section 3 GRADE LEVEL PLANNING: Re-teach and Enrich Re-teach and Enrichment • Based on the assessment results, students are identified for a re-teaching or enrichment program. • Re-teaching provides students tutorial time targeted to non-mastery objectives. • Enrichment provides students an opportunity for exploration beyond that benchmark to stretch higher-order application of knowledge related to the targeted benchmark. Re-Teaching Enrichment • Provide intensive remediation based on non-mastery of FCIM assessments. • Should not occur in place of other instructional content. • Individual tutoring or small group. • Teacher to student interaction not computer based. • Designed for all kinds of learners. • Provides enrichment opportunities for students who have shown mastery on FCIM assessments. • Related to the Instructional Calendar / Timeline. • Can be combination of computer-based enrichment and teacher / student interaction.

20. Section 4 Characteristics of FCIM Instructional Focus Flow of Instruction: 15 minutes – Explicit review of skill, reinforcing language, definition, example/non-example, models of application. Review of essential question for this benchmark skill. This explicit introduction to the lesson is followed by guided practice, then independent practice/application of the skill. Other skills that reinforce or compliment the instructional focus can also be included after guided and independent practice. For example, if MAIN IDEA is the instructional focus, then after explicit review and practice, DETAILS that support the main idea can be integrated into the lesson. INFERENCE or IMPLIED MAIN IDEA may also be an appropriate skill to integrate into the remainder of the instructional focus. Skill: Covers 1 benchmark – Skill for the day is clearly posted in room in the form of an essential question which is explicitly introduced or reviewed at the beginning of each reading/math lesson. (Other classrooms and other content areas should have the essential questions posted and should be reviewing the skills that can be easily integrated other content areas.) Delivery: NOT lecture style Interactive Engages students Relates to other learning (solicit background knowledge of students) Not paper-and-pencil driven Check for Understanding: Make sure you’re aware of any student(s) who did not “get it.” Make a plan / provision for extra assistance to that student before giving the benchmark assessment.

21. Characteristics of a FCIM Focus Lesson • A Closer Look at the 15-Minute Explicit Skill Lesson. • Time: • 15 – 20 minutes • Skill: • Covers 1 benchmark - Skill for the day is clearly posted in room and referenced at the beginning of the focus lesson. Get into a routine of beginning the lesson the same way each day. • Announce the FCIM skill. • Define the skill/review essential question. • Provide an example. • Model the skill. • Provide Guided Practice. • Check for Understanding. • Provide Independent Practice. • (If you teach a skill for more than one day, then you would move to more independent practice as the instructional calendar progresses.) • Delivery: • NOT lecture style • Interactive • Engages students • Relates to other learning (solicit background knowledge of students) • Not paper-and-pencil driven • Check for Understanding: • Make sure you’re aware of any student(s) who did not “get it.” Make a plan / provision for extra assistance to that student before giving the benchmark assessment. • Materials: • Use what you have on hand. • Don’t re-invent the wheel. • Think beyond the PENCIL and PAPER.

22. Sample Focus Lesson on Inferences Announce the FCIM Focus skill: “Today’s FCIM Focus Lesson is on (Inference.) Define the skill: An inference is a noun; when we making inferences, we use the word…’infer’. To infer is to try to make a good guess without knowing for sure, using clues. This is a skill that good readers learn and practice each time they read. We may not have all the information to know for sure, but we can use what we already have in our heads to make an inference about what might happen next in a story, or what may have already happened. Provide an example: For example: If I made a list of things to buy at the grocery store and candles, cake, ice cream, wrapping paper, and balloons were on my list, what can you INFER those things are for? Model the skill: When we read Because of Winn Dixie yesterday, we read about the produce guy yelling at the dog. We can infer that he was angry because the dog was in the store. Our clues for this inference are the fact that he was yelling and he was red in the face (we yell when we’re angry and this makes us red in the face). He also asked, “Whose dog is this!?” When we saw that there was an exclamation point used in the text, that told us that he was doing more than just asking a question quietly. Provide guided practice: Now, look at the inference sentences I have on the board/overhead (students were put into mixed-ability groups prior to beginning the lesson). Each sentence is an inference from our story. Working together, skim over the suggested pages in parentheses, see if you can find the clues that support this inference statement. Use a sticky note to put in the book an arrow pointing to the part(s) of the text that you think has important clues for this inference. Discuss those clues with all the people in your group. Be prepared to have your group reporter (selected prior to beginning) share them with the class. You’ll have five minutes to work and each group will have one minute to share out. Check for understanding: Great job working in groups! Now, let’s check our understanding. On the count of three, put up your hands to show how comfortable you felt with that activity. Remember…five fingers means you really need my help doing it again. Two fingers means you could do it again with help in the group. A big “thumbs up” shows me you feel good about using this skill and could probably do it again by yourself, and could probably be a mentor to someone else. Close your eyes while I count. On “three” put up your fingers. “One…Two…Three!” Not too bad! I see those of you that need some more help and when we do this later in class, I’ll make sure to give you some help from a mentor. Provide independent practice: That’s the end of our CIM Focus Lesson, but, as you know, we’ll keep practicing this skill for the rest of the day and for the next three days that it’s on our CIM Instructional Calendar. Now, as we go on with our reading block, remember this skill. I’ll be asking you to use it later in this class to make some inferences about what you think the main character will do next with Winn Dixie. So keep your sticky notes out and, if you think you see some clues, put your sticky notes in your book with an arrow to the part of the text you want to re-read. I’ll be asking you also to practice making inference sentences with supporting clues from the text for homework. We’ll use your homework in tomorrow’s Focus Lesson as our classroom models.

23. Section 4 Essential Questions-Students and teachers are able to clearly understand the intent of a benchmark standard if it is presented as an essential question. • Essential questions are maps used to guide students and teachers in the pursuit of knowledge. • Essential questions reside at the top of Bloom's Taxonomy • They require students to: • EVALUATE • SYNTHESIZE • ANALYZE • Essential questions spark our curiosity and sense of wonder. • Essential questions engage students in real-life, applied problem-solving. • Essential questions usually lend themselves well to multidisciplinary investigations, requiring that students apply the skills and perspectives of math and language arts while wrestling with content from social studies or science. • Academic Standard: • “All students should develop an understanding of the molecular basis of heredity.” • Essential Question: • How can a DNA sample tell you if two people are related?

24. Kinder-gartenLanguage Arts Grade 1Language ArtsMathematicsTechnology Grade 2Language ArtsMathematicsTechnology Grade 3Language ArtsMathematicsTechnology Grade 4Language ArtsMathematicsTechnology Grade 5Language ArtsMathematicsTechnology Highlands County Mini-Lessons Directory LANGUAGE ARTS MATHEMATICS • 3rd Grade • 4th Grade • 5th Grade • 6th-8th Grades • 9th-10th Grades • 3rd Grade • 4th Grade • 5th Grade • 6th-8th Grades • 9th-10th Grades • c Section 4 FOCUS LESSONS Links and Resources http://www.highlands.k12.fl.us/directory1.html Grade 6Language ArtsMathematics Grade 7Language ArtsMathematics Grade 8Language ArtsMathematics Grade 9Language ArtsMathematics Grade 10Language ArtsMathematics Grade 11Language ArtsMathematics Grade 12Language ArtsMathematics Tucson Unified School District Mini-Lessons Directory http://instech.tusd.k12.az.us/focus/focus.htm

25. PROGRESS MONITORING What Instructional Leaders Need to Know: Informal and Formal Assessments Students who do not master FCIM assessments at 80% or higher need more direct and explicit instruction. As teachers work with students who are in remediation or when introducing a new skills, don’t forget that informal assessments are a good way to know if students are ready for their FORMAL FCIM ASSESSMENT. You may observe, through informal assessments, that students are not ready to move onto a formal mastery check. At this point, teachers may need to discuss adjusting their instructional calendar with their grade level or content-area team to provide more time for instruction. You can also suggest discussing how others are presenting this skill to see if teachers need to model for one another different ways of delivering instruction. Section 5 Informal Assessment Can Include: • Teacher Observation • Oral Responses • Performance Assessment Formal Assessment Must Be: • FCIM Benchmark Assessment

26. PROGRESS MONITORING • Data Collection Procedures • Data collection method needs to: • Be a mandatory process for all. • Be simple and concise. • Provide data in a manageable format. • Be available to all faculty members who are implementing regular reviews. • Be reviewed frequently by the instructional leader and FCIM Lead Team. • Show individual student progress as well as grade-level patterns. • Be set up with time specific deadlines. • DATA COLLECTION TIMELINE: • Record student scores – After each FCIM test or retest. • Turn in data collection sheets – Monthly to principal. • Grade level/content areas meet to review data sheets – Bi-monthly meeting. Section 5

27. PROGRESS MONITORING • Ongoing Analysis of Results • WHERE – WHO – WHY – WHAT – HOW • Questions to ask during data review meetings: • Where are patterns emerging about student performance? • Who are the consistently low-performing students and how are they being served during remediation? • Why are some students excelling and others are not? • What strategies are being used with students who are consistently bringing up their performance? • What do the data say is the weakest areas of instruction across grade levels/content areas? • What are some possible solutions? • How can teachers share resources, strategies, and work collaboratively to create a consistent picture of increased student achievement? • How can we adjust our focused instructional calendar to better meet the needs of low performing students? Section 5

28. PDCA The Role of the Principal as the Instructional Leader • The principal makes time to be continuously involved in Florida’s Continuous Improvement process. • Serves as the model for embracing continuous improvement. • Communicates clear expectations for teacher and student performance. • Provides support to instructional staff and monitors implementation. • Identifies resources and makes smart fiscal choices to support Florida’s Continuous Improvement Model. • Reviews data with teachers individually and in groups. Knows what is being taught Knows how it is being taught Knows how the students are doing