Toyota Pimser Grant

1. Toyota Pimser Grant Diocese of Lexington 2012

2. Authors Meghan Bottom, teaches junior high science at Mary Queen of the Holy Rosary School Kathy Leonard, Science chair at Christ the King School Wendy Berryman, teaches middle school math at St. Agatha School Timothy J. Weaver, Superintendent of Schools, Diocese of Lexington Michele Ulrich, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Diocese of Lexington

3. Presenters Presenting the Common Core Standards for Math and Science and providing interactive session to equip teachers to devise and implement standards based lessons and assessments: Dr. Margaret Mohr-Schroeder Dr. Mary Mohr-Schroder Assistance Professor of Mathematics Education in STEM Education at the University of Kentucky Dr. Craig Schroeder Mathematics coach for Fayette County Public Schools Presenting hands –on activities for participants: Ursula Thielen Education Specialist, Alltect Corporation

4. Why this project ? 1. The Catholic Diocese has as its goal teacher training in the national core standards, yet has few resources by which to access this needed training. This funding of the grant will ensure that students in Catholic schools have an opportunity to have highly-trained teachers in their core mathematics and science areas. 2. At the secondary education level, our data indicates that there are low-performing students, who did not meet the benchmarks, and furthermore performed below average on the EXPLORE, PLAN, and ACT tests, as well as the Terra Nova achievement tests. Our goal at the Diocese of Lexington is to have all of our students performing at high levels, at ninety percent or above on national achievement and MAP tests.

5. Qualitative Data All district math and science teachers were sent a survey to complete, which was aimed at uncovering areas of need for teacher training and professional growth. What we found from this survey was: 1) 47.6% of math and science teachers considered having PD to help them “design and implement standards-based assessment strategies” was a “high priority” need. 2) 44.3% of these teachers also indicated a high-priority need for learning how to design and implement standards-based assessment strategies. 3) 81.5% of teachers polled indicated that the need to acquire materials and training to learn to differentiate instruction was a problem that needed to be addressed. This number was expected, as our teachers have few resources to support them in their efforts to address the individual needs of students. However, many of our teachers have an earnest desire to learn how to do this better, as the percentage indicates. 4)70.9% of math and science teachers believe that they need more opportunities to share ideas, and have identified this as a problem area for the Diocese. 5) 63.8% of math teachers see the need for more “mathematics in-service education opportunities”. 6) 66.7% of science teachers see the need for more “science in-service education opportunities”.

6. Quantitative Data While our students often perform well overall, there are many students in the Diocese who are not performing as high-achievers, which we define on a norm-referenced achievement test, those who score at the 90% and above as a national percentile. Furthermore, in many cases across the Diocese, our students are performing below benchmarks for college readiness. Ensuring that our students are best prepared for college is a top priority for our school system. The following data reveals our need to continue improving the achievement of students in math and science areas.

7. Qualitative Data Terra Nova Scores – Grades 5 – 8 as National Percentiles for 2010

8. Qualitative - continued Grade 9: EXPLORE In this grade at Lexington Catholic High School, 210 students took this test. 44% did not reach College Readiness Benchmarks in Mathematics 51% did not reach College Readiness Benchmarks in Science Grade 10: PLAN In grade 10 at Lexington Catholic High School, 179 students were tested. Out of these students the following data was discovered: 46% of students fell below 75th percentile, which means they scored at or below the 17-19 range in Mathematics. 34% of students fell below 75th percentile, which means they performed at or below the 17-19 point range with a possible 32pts score. Grade 11: ACT In grade 11 at Lexington Catholic High School, 207 students took the ACT in 2010. Of those students, a large percentage did not meet the benchmark score. 40% of students tested fell below the benchmark of 22 in Mathematics 51% of students tested fell below the benchmark of 24 in Science.

9. Project Goals • To improve teacher training and efficacy in core content areas of math and science for grades 5-12 • To better learn how to differentiate in our math and science methods • To ultimately increase student performance in math and science • To develop and sustain a district wide Professional Learning Community among colleagues in the field of math and science with teachers, administrators and partners from higher education

10. Professional Developmentfor Science Day1

11. Professional Development for Math Day 2

12. Incentives and Accommodationsfor Teachers in Attendance • Every teacher who attends the professional development will receive $25 an hour for the 6 hours • A teacher traveling more than 60 miles will receive 30 cents per mile and will be provided lodging for each day attending • Lunch and snacks will be provided each day • All participants will receive a published copy of the new NCTM or NSTA standards • Paid substitutes for the proposal writers

13. Continued Partnership with UK and Alltech As an extension of our relationship, we will meet with the faculty in regular follow-up sessions scheduled to occur in follow-up to the conference. Through our partnership, we will help them disaggregate data and draw conclusions that will uncover areas of need in the areas of math and science. We will also communicate through a wiki/blog page which will be set up as a platform to assist teachers in the field who are trying to devise strategies to improve the knowledge and skills of students in their classrooms. Once per month, 1 – 2 new research articles will be posted which can help the teachers as they design an instructional improvement plan. Finally, we will be part of the conversations held in the Skype discussions online. During these, we will act as facilitators and guides, using our experience in the field, and research knowledge to add raise concerns, offer solutions, etc.

14. Follow-up for Professional Learning Communities 1) September 12, 2012, 3-4pm – Teachers should bring baseline data from previous years’ math and science assessments, and come prepared to talk about what core strands are showing a low student performance. Our higher education faculty will assist in this conversation, helping teachers understand how to use this data to build a picture of the school. Teachers will be asked to prepare homework for the next session, this will be a plan of action to address the areas of weakness within their own school 2) November 14, 2012, 3-4pm – Presentation of what each teacher group plans on changing to address areas of deficiency. The higher education faculty will weigh in on whether research will support these methods and strategies. They will be ask to provide a couple articles on best practices for this session. 3) February 13, 2013, 3-4pm – At this session, the teachers will bring data, unit test scores, student feedback, etc. to discuss evidence on what worked well, and what parts of the improvement plan need to be revised or approached differently. Higher education faculty will offer insights about whether these strategies have worked well other places, or whether this may be niche to our own schools and student bodies. 4) April 24, 2013, 3-4pm – Teaches will share best practices that produced the greatest gap reduction in the one year period that the strategy was implemented. All math and science teachers will be provided with a copy of the lesson, which will key a common core standard, and include corresponding assessments. A bonus of $100 will be paid to each teacher that engages in all four sessions.

15. How Will We Know if the Project is Effective Since our school district is in the process of phasing out the Terra Nova norm-referenced achievement tests, and is replacing them with MAP test modules, we must use percentiles on the Terra Nova and compare them to the MAP test modules in Math and Science. Currently, some of our schools are only taking the Language, Reading, and Math modules of the MAP test. Therefore, to establish a baseline for Science achievement for grades 5-8, we had to use the Terra Nova tests. However, the three schools that are not using this module will be provided with the module as part of the materials (on a one time basis) in order to gather the post-intervention data. Fortunately, both the Terra Nova and the MAP test modules translate any students’ scores into National Percentiles. As a result, we will be able to compare the percentiles from the Terra Nova Tests with the percentages from the MAP test modules and still be able to determine if some growth in student achievement has occurred following teacher training in the Core Common Standards and differentiated instruction. For grades 9-11, we will be comparing the performances of next year’s spring test session, Spring of 2013, of the EXPLORE, PLAN, and ACT modules in order to see what, if any, growth in the areas of math and science have occurred. We hope to see all students arriving at the benchmarks, and plan to continue having teachers mentor each other with best lessons and best practices through established professional communities that will meet regularly not only during this special year, but for many years to come. We are hoping that this opportunity will be a full-blown overhaul of the way we have done business. We want our best teachers who are helping move all students forward to share their ideas and practices so that we as a Catholic Diocese can provide an excellent academic education to the families who entrust their children to our care and leadership.

16. Developing the Project We had a great experience developing and writing our project. Our new partners from the University of Kentucky and Alltech are excited about our venture and are willing to stay with us on the journey. We feel so lucky to have them on board to help us grow in math and science. We were pleasantly surprised that we did not receive one negative comment about the project from the principals or the teachers. They are all eager to be involved in this new learning experience. We also valued having Dr. Barbara Shoemaker’s support and guidance. And last but not least- thank you Toyota Corporation for giving us an opportunity to learn the new standards in math and science and to how to incorporate the standards in to our daily lessons. We look forward to using these new methods to reach every student with hopes of producing future engineers, scientists, or perhaps many enlighten teachers.