2014-15 Actions

Data in Action

Many teachers, especially at the secondary level, are overwhelmed with data and are unsure how to evaluate, identify, and analyze the critical information. As Dr. Victoria Bernhardt (2013) notes in Data Analysis for Continuous School Improvement, “It seems many schools do not have ‘working structures’ in place to systematically and honestly review and then to use all their data to impact student learning results” (p. 2). In order to address the concern, we will build a system to help teachers analyze and utilize data to make instructional decisions. We will guide teachers to ask the right questions to improve student achievement. Bernhardt (2013) further notes, “Without a system structure, or vision in place to guide the use of all data, there is no new learning to change teacher attitudes, behaviors, or instruction - and ultimately improve student learning” (p. 2).

Our Narrative Describing How We Achieved Our Required Actions

During the 2014-2015 school year, Beatrice Public Schools began the process of implementing a school improvement planning process. District leaders identified teacher leaders to lead the process. The teacher leaders were trained in the school improvement process utilizing Victoria Bernhardt’s book, Data Analysis for Continuous School Improvement. They also attended a session by Lee Jenkins, From Systems Thinking to Systemic Action, on how creating systems which are systemic and purposeful. They utilized both trainings to help develop the process.

During the October professional development, staff members began by understanding the difference between a compliant school and a committed to continuous school improvement school. We also discussed Bernhardt’s Continuous School Improvement Framework and the process we will be taking to determine our focus for the year. The high school teachers then worked together to identify where they were on Bernhardt’s Continuous Improvement Continuum in the areas of approach, implementation, and outcome. This was an interesting process because it really helped us determine areas where we were not necessarily communicating as effectively as others. For example, we have many strong pieces with partnership development where we are providing great resources to our students; however, not all staff members were informed of the many things we were doing or the process we were taking. We realized we needed more communication with our staff members on this topic so we can truly move to the next level.

After completing the continuum, the teachers began to look at their demographic, perceptual, student achievement, and process data and information. We had already evaluated this information throughout our weekly Professional Learning Community meetings at the subject-specific level, but we were now changing the focus to a bigger picture – the Building Level data. This provided teachers another glimpse at how the school operates and the data to support our actions. After evaluating the data to identify the strengths, challenges, and implications, the staff members then started to identify trends from the data. Staff members noted many implications within the school processes section. Two implications that spread across many areas were that teachers felt rushed to fulfill all responsibilities and as a result may not fully address all of the students’ needs and small class sizes allow for more individual feedback to help push students further. This evaluation helped the building determine the current state of the school. They were able to evaluate the data in the realm of demographic, perceptual, student achievement, and process data and information to really focus on gaps and the created identity.

The next step our staff took was to really answer the question “Where do we want to be?”. They took time determining the purpose of the school, evaluating the current mission of the school, and developing the vision and goals. By discussing the key pieces of how we were going to define our identity, we began to see commonalities among all staff members. We were able to determine how we needed to move forward if we were going to change our identity.

After determining these critical areas, we began working on how we were going to move to our redefined identity. The staff worked together to build our school improvement plan to address gaps which were present in the data. As the staff evaluated each component, they began to understand how each gap could be addressed and tied to the District Strategic Plan. For the first year, the goal for the school improvement plan was "Increase academic success by improving student engagement and building student/staff relationships in a safe and respectful environment." Based on our discipline referral data, our NeSA academic data, and our Gallup data, we determined the area which we must continue to focus is on improving engagement and relationships. We must provide our students with ownership in the process to help promote success.

After implementation of the strategies throughout the year, the school improvement team met as a group after school was released for the summer. The team spent time moving through the following steps to evaluate their progress and begin to determine next step

• Purpose -
  • Reevaluate the mission of the school to ensure the SIP goal and the mission correlate.
  • List all of the desired outcomes of the SIP. What were the intentions and purpose in creating the goal(s)?
  • Participants –
    • For whom was the goal created? Who did the SIP intend to serve?
  • Implementation -
    • Describe the steps being taken with the SIP goal.
    • Describe the degree of implementation.
      • No Implementation - 0% were on board with the goals and strategies developed and implemented.
      • Little Implementation - 25% were on board with the goals and strategies developed and implemented.
      • Medium Implementation - 50% were on board with the goals and strategies developed and implemented.
      • Good Implementation - 75% were on board with the goals and strategies developed and implemented.
      • Excellent Implementation - 100% of staff bought into the plan and tried numerous strategies to really help our target audience move to the next level.
  • Results
    • Using data and artifacts, how do you know your plan was a success? How do you know the strategies worked? Which strategy(ies) worked the best?
  • Implications from the Data - What does the data say? Is progress being made? If so, why? If not, why not? Note any other observations.
  • Next Steps - Identify the next steps for the goal and/or the next steps for the SIP team. What needs to happen in August with the SIP process?

The cycle started again at the beginning of the year when the staff met during the August professional development sessions. The school improvement team led the staff in beginning to focus on the improvements of the team during the 2014-15 school year. They also focused on evaluating the Continuous Improvement Continuum to identify areas of improvement. There were many notable areas of improvement and a growth of understanding among the staff. This year, the staff seemed to be more focused in one direction rather than in many different directions. The staff also revisited the school’s purpose, mission, vision, and goals to ensure we began the year with a common focus and a common direction. When everyone was focused on the mission, purpose and vision, we began to evaluate our school improvement plan from 2014-15 and develop our current school improvement plan for 2015-16 based on our current academic, perceptual, demographic, and process data.

One additional piece we have put in place this year is the addition of monthly school improvement meetings. These meetings have allowed us to continue to focus on our school improvement plan and evaluate our progress as we are moving throughout the year.