Demographics, Data, Decisions: Addressing Student Needs Today

1. Demographics, Data, Decisions: Addressing Student Needs Today Stephan Knobloch, Ed.D. Research Supervisor Loudoun County Public Schools Making the Message Matter Institute July 2007

2. Make the Message Matter • Situational awareness: • Accountability shifts • Global and technological shift • Information growth • Local, state, and federal policy shifts • Each voice needs to be heard! • Collaboration, cooperation, and communication matter!

3. What’s happening in the intersection at your school/division? Whose Message Matters? • Accreditation (State) – Annual Cycle • Southern Association of Colleges (SACS) • – 5 Year Cycle School Board Goals (Regional) - 4 Year Cycle Student needs, Parent desires, Staff goals (Local) - 2 to 6 Year Cycle • AYP (NCLB) • High-stakes tests • (Federal) (SOL-Virginia) • - 1 Year Cycle

4. School Improvement Planning Model Direct Facilitation of Learning (Instructional Component) Addressing Barriers to Learning (Enabling or Learning Supports Component) (Source: UCLA, 2005) Governance and Resource Management (Management Component)

5. What does each role associate with the concept of “improvement”? Improvement Matters? Teacher - - - - - Administrator - - - - - Student - - - - - Parent - - - - -

6. A reflection of school improvement? I followed the instructions. Something isn’t quite right…

7. Quotable Quotes "Without continualgrowth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.“ ~Benjamin Franklin "Without change there is no innovation, creativity or incentive for improvement. Those who initiate change will have a better opportunity to manage the change that is inevitable." ~William Pollard “Improvement requires vision from multipleperspectives. The most important perspective isn’t yours.” ~Stephan Knobloch “Create your own quote?” ~Your Name

8. Which Change(s) Are We Addressing? • Accountability • Administration • Assessment • Co-curricular Program • Curriculum • Information • Instruction • Resources • School Structure • Student Demographics • Teacher Demographics • Technology

10. Competing Pressures for Change • Loudoun County Public Schools • 34 new schools of 70 since 1997 • Student Population • 79.3% growth (1997-2007) • (23,616 to 53,396) • Leadership • School Board Shift • Appointment to Election in 1995 • Senior Staff • 3 of 9 new Asst. Supt. In 2 Years • School Principals • 37 of 70 (52.8%) New Leadership • VA DoE Standards and Assessment • SOL adopted in 1995 • SOL tests administered in 1998 • NCLB • 2003-04 shifted from 10% increase every 3 years to 4% every year • Others • What pressures of change exist in your school/division? Which way is the wind blowin’ in your school/division?

11. 5 Necessary Conditions for Improving School Systems • Effective leadership of systems for desired results • Policies and practices to sustain improvement • Resource and support systems to sustain improvement • Quality teacher for desired results • Quality information for desired results (NSSE, 2006)

12. Three Core Tasks to Improve Student Learning • Ensured Desired Results • Expect desired results • Monitor performance • Improve Teaching and Learning • Support students in their learning • Maximize teachers’ effectiveness • Foster a culture for improvement • Develop a learning community • Lead for improvement (NSSE, 2006)

13. Words of Wisdom Information is a source of learning. But unless it is organized, processed, and available to the right people in a format for decision making, it is a burden, not a benefit. ~ William Pollard It is not always what we know or analyzed before we make a decision that makes it a great decision. It is what we do after we make the decision to implement and execute it that makes it a good decision. ~ William Pollard

14. One High School’s Story

15. Our Mission Our Vision To educate students by providing them with thinking strategies, career choices, examples of respect, tolerance for others, and opportunities to learn. To give them a sense of responsibility to self, society, and the environment and to enable them to relate to and interact with the community. To instill in each student an appreciation for integrity, knowledge, and intellectual curiosity. To meet state and local requirements, in cooperation with parents and community organizations. To emphasize the importance and satisfaction of lifelong learning. To educate our students by providing instruction to meet their different learning styles and abilities. To encourage students to develop skills in the areas of acquisition of knowledge, comprehension and application, analysis and synthesis, and evaluation. To prepare students for our ever-changing society by presenting diverse opportunities for continued development in academic, technological, and vocational competencies. To monitor students’ progress through a variety of methods. [Name] High School seeks to create an environment which promotes learning and growth for each student.

16. Data Analysis and Decision-Making Protocol

17. School Data at a Glance – Meeting LCPS Goals

18. School Data at a Glance – Meeting LCPS Goals

19. School Data at a Glance – Meeting LCPS Goals

20. School Data at a Glance – Meeting LCPS Goals

21. School-Level Collaboration • Communication Systems • School Community • Teacher Administrator • Student Teacher • Parent Teacher • Administration Parent • Decision-Making Teams • School Improvement Team • Professional Learning Communities • Communities of Practice • PTSA • SCA How does each group communicate? What are preferred methods of communication? What processes are used to make and monitor decisions? What organizational structures support decision making?

22. Monitor actions: - Who - When - How What data pop out at you? What targets can be set to address the concerns from the data? What are some possible actions that can be taken to address the data implications? LCHS Parent Survey Data Are there other data regarding this topic?

23. Improvement Is a Collaborative Effort! The purpose of collaborating is to achieve collectiveresults that participants would be unable to accomplish working alone. Outcomes include: • Shared objectives • A sense of urgency and commitment • A sense of belonging • Open communication • Mutual trust and respect • Realizing complementary diverse skills and knowledge • Intellectual agility • Interdependence in framing goals and approaches • Individual latitude in carrying out a design the group arrived at jointly (Garmston, 2007)

24. Rethink How We School • The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. ~ Alvin Toffler • It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry. ~ Albert Einstein

25. Citations • ThinkExist.com Quotations. “improvementquotes”. ThinkExist.com Quotations Online 1 Jun. 2007. 19 Jul. 2007. http://einstein/quotes/with/keyword/improvement/2.html. • Wisdomquotes.com Quotations. “educationquotes”. WisdomQuotes.com Quotations Online 1 Jul. 2007. 19 Jul. 2007. http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_education.html. • Garmston, R., Center for Adaptive Schools: Building Capacities for School Improvement. 1 20 Jul. 2007. http://www.adaptiveschools.com. • Technical Guide to School and District Factors Impacting Student Learning. National Study of School Evaluation, 2004. 1 15 Jun. 2007. www.nasse.org. Revised August, 2006. • School Improvement Planning: What’s Missing? Spring, 2005. Center for Mental Health in Schools, UCLA. http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu. • Barnes, F. (2004). Making School Improvement Part of Daily Practice. Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University

26. Thank You! For more information, contact: Stephan Knobloch, Ed.D. Research Supervisor Loudoun County Public Schools 21000 Education Court Ashburn, VA 20148 Email: Stephan.Knobloch@loudoun.k12.va.us Voice: 571-252-1484 Fax: 571-252-1633