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Redefining Evidence of Success Best Practices in
New York Know Your Schools For NY Kids (Just
for the Kids-New York) DATAG Summer
Conference July 16, 2009 Janet Angelis Kristen
Wilcox
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Redefining Evidence of Success Best Practices in
New York

• Background
• Overall findings
• Exemplars of evidence-based best practice
• Resources
• Questions

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What makes elementary schools work

• 4 studies
• completed
• Elementary schools (2005)
• Middle schools (2007)
• High schools (2008)
• Middle school science (2009-report coming soon)

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Our Samples

• 8-10 consistently HP schools 3-6 similar but
  consistently AP schools, based on 3 years of
  NYS Assessment data
• Favor poverty (F/RL)
• Urban, rural, suburban
• Open admissions
• PPE cluster near NYS average
• In consultation with our Advisory Board

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The Business Council of New York State,
Inc. Conference of Big 5 School
Districts Foundation for Education Reform
Accountability IBM McGraw-Hill Companies NY
Association of Colleges for Teacher Education
(NYACTE) NY Charter School Association NY City
Department of Education NYS Association of School
Business Officials (NYSASBO) NYS Association of
Small City School Districts (NYSASCSD) NYS
Association of Teacher Educators (NYSATE) NYS
Congress of Parents and Teachers, Inc. (NYSPTA)
NYS Council of School Superintendents
(NYSCOSS) NYS Education Department (NYSED) NYS
Governor's Office NYS School Boards Association
(NYSSBA) NYS United Teachers (NYSUT) School
Administrators Association of New York State
(SAANYS) State Farm Insurance State University of
New York (SUNY) University at Albany 
Advisory Board Representatives of
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Just for the KidsNew York Best Practices
Studies 2005-9
Higher-performing Elementary Schools
Higher-performing Middle Schools
Higher-performing High Schools
Higher-performing Middle Schools-Science
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Methods Data Collection and Analysis

• Make 2-day site visits
• Interview teachers and administrators
• Collect documents
• Classroom observations (MS science)
• Analyze, write a case study for each site
• Conduct and write cross-site analysis
• Write summary report
• Cases, reports, and school comparisons available
  at http//www.albany.edu/aire/kids/
• www.knowyourschools.org

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Some differences between AP and HP
AP
HP

• Less dissatisfaction with the status quo
• Remediate when trouble
• Collaborate as can
• More individualistic vision of success,
  responsibility
• Less rich sources of data
• Belief that some students wont succeed in school
• Curriculum more static, handed down from above
• Teaching to the test

• Culture of continuous improvement
• Prevention gt remediation
• Collaboration supported
• Shared responsibility and vision
• Embrace variety of data
• High expectations for all no blame on student
  background
• Differentiated instruction relevant curriculum
  
• Standards gt assessments

Differences between HP and AP of extent and degree
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Key Findings Asking Essential Qs
What do the data tell us about our allocation of
resources?
What do the data tell us about areas calling for
attention?
What do the data tell us about where we are
heading?
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Key Findings Creating Ethos of EBDM
What do the data tell us about our allocation of
resources?
What do the data tell us about areas calling for
attention?
What do the data tell us about where we are
heading?
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Key Findings Connecting Data to Action
What do the data tell us about our allocation of
resources?
What do the data tell us about areas calling for
attention?
What do the data tell us about where we are
heading?
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What do the data tell us about our allocation of
resources?
What do the data tell us about areas calling for
attention?
What do the data tell us about where we are
heading?
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Q1 What areas call for attention?

• They look for trouble
• They try to identify gaps
• They look closely at student groups
• They teachers, administrators, teams,
  departments

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Q1 What areas call for attention?

• They look for trouble
• Prevention gt remediation
• They pay close attention to every student every
  day
• High schools report every 5 weeks

Tuesdays Child is the key meeting of the
week. Cambridge HS Guidance
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Q1 What areas call for attention?

• They try to identify gaps
• They look for whats missing

Westbury Middle School 2005-6 849 students, grades 6-8 NYS
Meeting/Exceeding Standards, Gr. 8 ELA 58 49
Meeting/Exceeding Standards, Gr. 8 Math 52 54
Eligible for Free/Reduced Lunch 74 45
Limited English Proficient 14 NA
African-American 46 20
Hispanic/Latino 51 20
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Q1 What areas call for attention?

• They try to identify gaps
• They compare themselves to the best

This year weve started to compare ourselves to
Nassau County, which is a higher standard and
our focus is on mastery rather than
proficiency. Levittown administrator
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Q1 What areas call for attention?

• They look closely at performance of student
  groups

• Black
• Hispanic
• White

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Q1 What areas call for attention?

• Middle School ELA Department
• Agenda (11/3/06)
• EQ How can we use test data to inform inst?
• 815-845 General Overview
• How are the tests developed? reported?
• How do we compare to the region and state?
• 845-1000 Grade level specific work
• Item analysis
• Look at actual test and questions
• Summarize and share findings
• 1015-1115 Individual teacher/class data
• Review Lucky Charms report
• Determine next steps
• 1115-1130 Regroup, debrief

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Q2 What do the data tell us about allocation of
our resources?

• Human, instructional, physical resources are
  deployed where most needed
• Flexibility and focus are key

What goes on in the classroom is by design.
Everything we do is deliberate . . . nothing is
left to happenstance. Smallwood (ES) building
administrator
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Q2 What do the data tell us about allocation of
our resources?

• Human, instructional, physical resources are
  deployed where most needed
• Teachers
• Reassignments
• New hires in high need areas
• Different class sizes

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Q2 What do the data tell us about allocation of
our resources?

• Human, instructional, physical resources are
  deployed where most needed
• Time
• Block schedules, hybrid block schedules (HS)
• Flexible grouping (ES)
• Coordinate with BOCES, breakfast
• In and out of AIS as needed
• Before, after school, summer help/tutoring
• Enrichment

Flexibility and focus based on a broad range of
evidence
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Q2 What do the data tell us about allocation of
our resources?

• STRATEGIC DELIMITERS
• We will not
• Adopt any new program or service unless it is
• Consistent with and contributes to our mission
• Accompanied by an analysis of the resources and
  the staff development needed for its
  effectiveness
• Accompanied by a plan to asses its ongoing
  effectiveness.
• White Plains Strategic Plan, adopted 12/3/07

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Q3 What do the data tell us about where were
heading?

• Shared vision of success means
• never good enough
• never being done
• every student succeeding
• we are collectively and individually responsible

Strive for 5 5 improvement every year remains
a goal without a goal line. Holland MS teacher
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Q3 What do the data tell us about where were
heading?

• Communication and Planning
• Strategic planning process
• Reports to board and community beyond state
  report card
• Looking ahead

My job is to be thinking 3-5 years up. VVS
Superintendent
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Q3 What do the data tell us about where were
heading?

• Performance/growth targets-
• For students
• For teachers and groups of teachers
• For administrators

We have one thing in mind what can we do in our
school to enhance student achievement? Webster ES
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Overall in higher-performing schools

• State assessments (a given, but one genre)
• Guided by state standards
• Benchmark tests
• Collaboratively developed quarterlies, mid-terms
• Student and parent interviews, surveys
• Graduates
• Formal and informal classroom
• Student self-reflection, assessment
• Self-generated (action research)
• Comparisons to other high(er) performers

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Overall Higher-performing schools

• share a belief that using a variety of evidence
  to inform strategic action is worthwhile and
  effective.
• AP schools . . .
• - primarily state assessments (and simulations)
• - collect and analyze data only periodically
• - rely on outside vendors for analysis

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What do the data tell us about our allocation of
resources?
What do the data tell us about areas calling for
attention?
What do the data tell us about where we are
heading?
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What do the data tell us about our allocation of
resources?
What do the data tell us about areas calling for
attention?
What do the data tell us about where we are
heading?
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What do the data tell us about our allocation of
resources?
What do the data tell us about areas calling for
attention?
What do the data tell us about where we are
heading?
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Key Findings Connecting data to action
What do the data tell us about our allocation of
resources?
What do the data tell us about areas calling for
attention?
What do the data tell us about where we are
heading?
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• Low income

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High School Best Practice Framework
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http//www.albany.edu/aire/kids/www.knowyourschoo
ls.org
Resources
Resources

• Best Practices Reports and Summaries
• Best Practices Frameworks, with documentary
  evidence
• Case Studies of higher-performing schools
• Key word searches (e.g., ELL, sped)
• To come Self-assessments tools, book
• School look-up and comparison

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Redefining Evidence of Success Best Practices in
New York Questions? Janet Angelis
jangelis_at_uamail.albany.edu Kristen Wilcox
kwilcox1_at_uamail.albany.edu