Tennessee Successful Schools

1
Tennessee Successful Schools

• A Project of the State Improvement Grant
• Susan M. Benner, Ed. D.
• Sherry Mee Bell, Ph. D.
• Anne McGill-Franzen, Ph. D.
• Kandy Smith, Doctoral Candidate
• University of Tennessee
• Tennessee Special Education Conference
• February 26, 2009

2
Tennessee Successful Schools Project

• Context of State Improvement Grant and Higher
  Education Task Force
• High Need Elementary Schools
• Literacy Focus

3
State Improvement Grant

• Serving identified schools preschool through high
  school, SIG helps sustain important services to
  schools, administrators, teachers, and students
  and their families so that children and youth
  will achieve strong literacy and pre-literacy
  skills
• Literacy and SPED
• State Improvement Grant
• Faculty Involvement in SIG

4
(No Transcript)
5
Selection of Schools
6
Characteristics Participating Schools21
identified 14 participated

• 12 schools in towns
• 2 schools in cities
• Enrollment of schools between 300 and 750
• Grades Served
• 5 K-4 schools
• 3 K-5 schools
• 3 K-6 schools
• 3 K-8 schools

• Economically Disadvantaged (State Average 54.7)
• Below the state average 3 schools
• Above the state average 11 schools
• Lowest percentage in these schools 42
• Highest percentage in these schools 94 

7
School Characteristics

• Percent MinorityState Average 32 minority
• Below the state average 12 schools
• At or above the state average 2 schools
• Lowest percentage in these schools 1
• Highest percentage in these schools 35

• Percent Special EducationState Average 15.4
• These schools (for 2007 only)
• Below the state average 9 schools
• At or above the state average 4 schools
• Lowest percentage in these schools 1
• Highest percentage in these schools 25

8
Perspectives from the Field
9
Focus Groups

• Administrators
• Classroom Teachers
• Special Education Teachers
• Parents

10
General Question

• To what do you attribute your schools success
  in literacy ?

11
Probes

• How does your school overcome the challenges
  presented by the at-risk student population?
• Reflect on the use of student assessment data in
  the schools instructional planning?
• How do teachers collaborate in supporting
  students with special needs or struggling readers
  in your school?

12
Probes Contd

• How does the leadership in your school support
  its success?
• Reflect on parent involvement in your school.
• Reflect on the importance of professional
  development in your schools success.
• What instructional practices in your school do
  you think contribute to your success?

13
Elvis Presley Elementary School

• K-5 and K-4
• Demographics
• Enrollment averaged 727 2003-2007
• Rural
• 55 Economically Disadvantaged
• Racial Composition
• 70 White
• 21 African American
• 8 Hispanic
• Less than 2 Asian

14
AYP Data Below Proficient
15
Elvis Presley Elementary Prevailing Themes
Theme 1

• Protecting Instructional Time
• we look at our minutes of instruction and see
  how few we really have when you break it down,
  and we just cant waste it, so we start looking
  at what we can eliminate and then we take it
  back

16
Prevailing Themes Theme 2

• Collaborating on Lesson Plans on grade level and
  across grade levels
• pulled together as a school, collaborated,
  approached the problem as a school problem, lots
  of crossover meetings to get communication
  flowing, a lot of hard work, a lot of meetings
  after school, a lot of dedication on the part of
  teachers to understand and accept we were going
  to have to work early and stay late to accomplish
  our goals

17
Prevailing Themes Theme 3

• Monitoring student achievement closely in
  disaggregated data sets with fluid small groups
  receiving intervention as needed
• making sure every child has a significant
  relationship in the building
• Setting academic goals with students and
  communicating them to parents
• Sharing responsibility for student achievement
  throughout the building

18
Henry Foote Elementary

• Grades K-8
• Demographics
• Approximately 500 Students
• Rural
• Economically Disadvantaged
• Fluctuated 72.4 to 86.2 2003-2007
• Racial Composition
• 99 White

19
Henry Foote AYP

• 2003
• D in Academic Achievement C in Value-Added
• 2004
• C in Academic Achievement, C in Value-Added
• 2005, 2006, 2007
• C in Academic Achievement, A in Value-Added

20
Percent of Students Proficient or Advanced in
Reading

• Henry Foote
• All Students
• 2003 61
• 2007 83
• Students with Disabilities
• 2003
• 2007 54

• State
• All Students
• 2003 80
• 2007 90
• Students with Disabilities
• 2003
• 2007 70

21
Henry Foote ElementaryPrevailing Themes

• Increased emphasis on literacy
• Adoption of the Reading First model
• Literacy Coach
• 90 minutes of literacy instruction in grades K-4
  Where are we going to get 30 extra minutes a
  day?
• 2 reading classes per day in grades 5-8
• Collaboration grade level, across grade level
  and general/special education
• No longer theyre your kids

22
Henry Foote ElementaryPrevailing Themes

• Professional development
• 5 areas of reading
• Differentiated instruction
• learning how to present old things in a new way
  is a shot in the arm
• Materials and programs
• Core program and accompanying intervention used
  in tiered instruction
• When a student doesnt perform well, new
  materials and programs are used

23
Henry Foote ElementaryPrevailing Themes

• Use of assessment data to plan instruction
• DIBELS
• Think Link
• Parental involvement
• Literacy nights and open library
• Teachers call parents with good news

24
Perry Wallace Elementary

• K-6
• Demographics
• 233
• Rural
• Economically Disadvantaged As high as 97.2, as
  low as 73.9
• 35 African American, 65 Caucasian
• .4 Hispanic

25
Perry Wallace AYP Data

• 2003
• F in Academic Achievement F in Value-Added
• 2004
• F in Academic Achievement B in Value-Added
• 2005
• F in Academic Achievement B in Value-Added
• 2006
• D in Academic Achievement B in Value-Added
• 2007
• C in Academic Achievement A in Value-Added

26
Perry Wallace Elementary

• In 2003, did not meet Federal Benchmark (X)
• With the only two subgroups in which there were
  more than 45 students
• All students
• Economically disadvantaged
• In two main categories
• Reading, Language Arts, Writing
• Math

27
Perry Wallace Elementary

• 1 of 74 Reading First schools in Tennessee
• Became a Reading First school in spring of 2004

28
Initial Response

• Principal
• shared vision
• Gen Ed Teacher
• It starts at the top good leadership
• Special Ed Teacher
• Leadership, hard-working staff

29
Special Education Teacher

• Our staff is hard working, and they work
  together and anything that we go to, they try the
  new approaches, they dont just go and then not
  try to do what they went they attended. The
  attitude is positive. They expect the best from
  the students. They show respect to all. The
  teachers keep students focused and engaged.

30
Final Response

• Principal
• agreement of whats going on (confirmation from
  other TN successful schools)
• Gen Ed Teacher
• having a good leader
• Special Ed Teacher
• collaboration

31
Prevailing Theme Rigor/Fidelity

• What gets checked on gets done.
• Required Reading First Fidelity Checks
• Administrator, Literacy Leader, Cadre Trainer
• Tiers 1, 2, (Voyager) and 3
• Rigor logs
• MORT Missed Opportunities for Rigorous Teaching
• Student data/assessments for interventions

32
Prevailing Theme Collaboration

• Leadership Team Collaboration
• Principal, Literacy Leaders, Interventionists
• Grade Level and Cross-Grade Level Collaboration
• Professional Development
• Shared Vision
• Full inclusion school
• School-wide behavior management (COMP)

33
Seven Common Traits Observed in Successful
Schools

• Strong Leadership
• Positive Belief and Teacher Dedication
• Data Utilization and Analysis
• Effective Scheduling
• Professional Development
• Scientifically Based Intervention Programs
• Parent Involvement

(Crawford Torgesen, 2007)
34
Flourishing literacy gains in impoverished
elementary school

• Detailed case studies of four exceptional schools
• Themes common to all four school
• Administration and teacher knowledge and training
• Strong internal and external community
• Commanding leadership and thorough proper
  monitoring
• What gets checked on gets done

(Booker, Invernizzi, McCormick, 2007)
35
Dolly Parton Elementary

• Grades PreK-6
• Demographics (2007)
• 480 Students
• Rural
• 78 Economically Disadvantaged
• 95 White 3.8 African-American 1 Hispanic

36
Dolly Parton Reading Grades

• 2003, 2004
• B in Academic Achievement F in Value-Added
• 2005
• B in Academic Achievement, A in Value-Added
• 2006, 2007
• A in Academic Achievement, A in Value-Added

37
Percent of Students Proficient or Advanced in
Reading

• Dolly Parton

• State

• All Students
• 2003
• 2007 95
• Students with Disabilities
• 2003
• 2007 86

• All Students
• 2003 80
• 2007 90
• Students with Disabilities
• 2003
• 2007 70

38
Dolly Parton Theme 1

• Access to grade level curriculum with support
  enabled lowest achieving students to improve
• The school moved to total inclusion for grades
  3-6
• The school became school-wide Title 1 thereby
  gaining two teachers, assistants, and
  instructional coach
• Title 1 teachers, assistants, and special
  education teachers push into classroom to support
  instruction during reading block

39
Dolly Parton Theme 2

• Collaborative planning enabled adjustments to
  curriculum
• The school initiated daily common planning and
  weekly grade level meetings
• The instructional coach identified students for
  intervention based on mastery of SPIs
• The special education and Title 1 teachers and
  assistants consulted classroom teachers posted
  plans
• The special education teacher and classroom
  teachers monitored students progress on reading
  curriculum assessments

40
Dolly Parton Theme 3

• Technology programs increased the time students
  spent reading
• Two computer labs and classroom mini-labs with
  Study Island and River Deep software supported 40
  minutes extra reading daily
• AR libraries are located in every classroom

41
Most Important Element of School Success

• Were looking all the way down and we are
  beginning to see what we can do for all levels of
  students. And I think that comes through the
  collaboration that we now have with our
  teachers.They want to do the best job they can
  do and so they are looking for that
  communication.I think thats whats important.

42
Inclusion Issues

• Im planning probably an hour and a half or two
  hours a day after school and at home just making
  sure I am prepared for the next day. And I am a
  veteran teacher.I love my intervention teachers,
  but I just dont understand why they dont have
  their own curriculum and why once kids are
  targeted they dont pull them out and do a
  program. Regular Education Teacher

43
Dolly Parton Lingering Questions

• How are planning and teaching responsibilities
  distributed across classroom teachers, special
  education and Title 1 teachers, instructional
  coaches, and assistants?
• How is complex push-in scheduling managed?
• How is classroom instruction differentiated?
• Is there an opportunity cost with increased use
  of technology software?

44
Themes Related to Research

• Students are spending more time engaged in
  reading and related literacy experiences.
• Increased engagement time leads to higher student
  achievement (Carroll, 1965 Fisher Berliner,
  1985).
• Collaboration (within and across grade levels
  between classroom teachers, specialists, and
  special education teachers) has increased.
• Effective collaboration improves achievement
  outcomes for at-risk students (Snow, Burns
  Griffin, 1998).

45
Themes Related to Research

• There is an increased emphasis on using
  assessment data to plan instruction.
• Effective instruction requires matching
  curriculum to learners level of readiness
  (Vygotsky, 1978 Walpole McKenna, 2006).
• In some schools, inclusion of most special
  education students is on the increase.
• Some studies indicate that inclusion results in
  higher student achievement, more positive student
  outcomes and higher teacher expectations (Idol,
  2006 Ritter, Michel Irby, 1999)

46
Implications for Practice

• Inclusion Practices
• Coordination of curricular materials across
  regular and special education
• Professionals share responsibility for planning
  and instruction
• .
• .

47
References

• Booker, K. C., Invernizzi, M. A., McCormick, M.
  (2007). Kiss your brain A closer look at
  flourishing literacy gains in impoverished
  elementary school. Reading Research and
  Instruction, 46(4), 315-339.
• Caroll, J. B. (1963). A model for school
  learning. Teachers College Record, 64, 723-733.
• Crawford, E., Torgesen, J. (2007, November).
  Teaching all students to read practices from
  schools with strong reading intervention
  outcomes. Retrieved February 15, 2009, from
  http//www.fcrr.org
• Fisher, C. W., Berliner, D. C. (1985).
  Perspectives on instructional time. New York
  Longman.

48
References

• Idol, L. (2006). Toward inclusion of special
  education students in general education A
  program evaluation of eight schools. Remedial and
  Special Education, 27, 77-94.
• Ritter, C.L., Michel, C.S., Irby, B. (1999).
• Concerning inclusion Perceptions of middle
  school students, their parents, and teachers.
  Rural Special Education Quarterly, 18(2), 10-16.
• Snow, C. E., Burns, M. S., Griffin, P. (Eds.).
  (1998). Preventing reading difficulties in young
  children. Washington, DC National Academy Press.
• .

49

• Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind and society The
  development of higher order mental processes.
  Cambridge, MA Harvard University Press.
• Walpole, S., McKenna, M. C. (2006). The role of
  informal reading inventories in assessing word
  recognition. The Reading Teacher, 592-594.