Item+7+Narrative

= Narrative =

Datawise High School is a county secondary school located in the fictional Practice County, Maryland. The community is a suburb of Washington, DC and Datawise shares many characteristics with Bowie HS in Prince Georges County, Maryland. According to City-Data.com, the county population in 2009 was 53,417 composed of 45.1% white only, 43.4 % black only, 5.5% Hispanic, 3.5 % Asian only, and 2.1 % two or more races ([|www.city-data.com/city/Bowie-Maryland.html]). The U.S. Bureau of the Census indicates that the population in the year 2000 was educated, with 94.7% being high school graduates and 43.0% having a bachelor’s or higher degree. This compares to the national average of 87.5% high school graduates and 35.2% bachelor degree holders ([]). Seven percent of the population is foreign born. The median income is $98,745.

Datawise HS has 2,942 students: 819 9th graders, 752 10th graders, 669 11th graders, and 702 12th graders. The student body is composed of 65.8% African American, 25.2% European American, 3.4% Asian/Pacific Islander, 4.96% Hispanic, and 0.54% Native American. Eleven percent of students qualify for special education services. According to county records, up to 11% of the students qualify for special education services and 17.85% of the school population receives free or reduced meals.

Like its companion school in Bowie, the professional staff at Datawise “consists of one principal, six assistant principals, eight counselors, one hundred and forty-seven teachers, nine instructional aides, and one media specialist. In the 2009-2010 school year, approximately one fourth of the teachers held a Standard Professional Certificate, over sixty percent of the teachers held an Advanced Professional Certificate, and the remainder held Conditional Certificates. Approximately 20% of the teachers have taught from 1-5 years, 15% have from 5-15 years experience in teaching, 15% have taught between 15-20 years, and 50% of the teachers at Bowie High School have taught more than 20 years.” (Prince Georges County Public Schools, 2010)

Datawise has met Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) goals and is has not been identified for improvements under No Child Left Behind Act standards. There is a two-year school-wide improvement plan being implemented. A recent School Climate survey found positive trends in the favorable perceptions by students, teachers and parents of the school’s leadership, mission, safety, assessment frequency, parent and community involvement and teacher professional development. This is a school community that believes it’s heading in the right direction.

====Determined to be a part of that positive momentum, the 10th grade teachers, with the support of the school administration and following the Burdett, City and Murnane (2010) model, formed a data team to review the school data inventory and instructional initiatives. They wanted to use state, district, school, and classroom data as the catalyst to seize opportunities and compound their success, not just “out” problems or apportion blame. They looked for anomalies, trends and gaps specific to Datawise sophomores that could be addressed with specific programs and interventions implemented as a part of, or independent of, ongoing school-wide initiatives to improve their students' learning. ====

Using the selected data set described in **Item 2** as the basis for their discussions, the10th grade team identified the five instructional needs listed in **Item 1** and worked with the school administration who agreed to implement instructional initiatives for each data-supported need. (**Item 3**)

The first instructional need, or goal - to close the assessment gap on the English MSA test between students receiving special education services (presently 33.3%), student receiving free and reduced meals (69.1%), and the school average (78.7%) – was based primarily on the team’s analysis of state assessment data showing SPED and FARMS students underperforming in comparison to their peers on the High School Assessment. **(Graph 1).**

**Graph 1** ====Specifically, the team wanted to address the gap between the general student population and SPED and FARM students who achieved a Proficient or Advanced rating in English. (**Graphs 2 and 3**) ==== ====﻿The school-wide improvement plan already calls for enrollment of students who are close to passing the English HSA in courses designed to provide additional support in passing the test. The team decided to supplement that test-specific approach with both basic skills and enrichment activities that “build upon student strengths to improve learning and close the gap among all segments of the population.” (Beecher, p. 189, 2010) ====

====A READ 180 class will be added to the schedule as the first initiative to meet this instructional need. READ180 provides both software and workbooks designed for grade-based reading and writing interventions. There are six types of assistant media to aid students in the development of reading, writing, spelling, and vocabulary building skills: ====


 * 1) ====InstructionalSoftware - address specific individual needs ====
 * 2) ====TopicSoftware - videos that help build background knowledge ====
 * 3) ====rBooks - workbooks containing daily exercises ====
 * 4) ====eReads - non-fiction text with quizzes and writing assignments ====
 * 5) ====AudioBooks - provides students with a narrator and a reading coach ====
 * 6) ====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">LeveledPaperbacks - tiered for independent reading ====

====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">Based on their research, the team concluded that students who receive daily opportunities to write have greater success in reading, vocabulary acquisition, grammar skills, and writing. As a second initiative to meet this instructional need and involve students in their learning, a Journalism class specifically for targeted students will be added to the schedule. Students will produce a monthly newsletter containing articles pertaining to student achievement, //e.g.,// scholarships, test scores, academic team contest results, and volunteer opportunities. Not only will students be writing daily, but each student will also learn editing for self- and peer-assessment. The produced newsletter will also help meet Goal 2 because it will be distributed in hard copy and on-line. This class also provides students with opportunities to explore career options through field trips to area newspapers. ====

====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">Communication between school, parents,and the community is an important aspect of the team’s improvement plan. At Datawise, it seems the bulk of communications with parents was about bad news. (See **Item 2**) Parents often feel left out of the educational process and are unsure of how their student fits into the big picture. As an initiative to address this issue, every English teacher, including Special Education English teachers, will create a WIKI page. This page will inform students and parents of assignments, upcoming assessments, practice tests, and other pertinent information regarding activities within the class. Teachers will receive support from the Tech Department and can monitor student activity on the site. Students and parents will be able to post on the site. ====

====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">After reviewing data for the past several years (**Graph 4**), the team decided it was important to address the attendance rate of students receiving special education services. Presently those students have an attendance rate of 78.7% compared to the school average of 92.1%. Through monitoring of daily attendance and evaluation of parent/doctor notes, the administration and faculty can better address the absences and reasons why they are occurring. The school administrative assistant in charge of student attendance will inform administrators, guidance counselors, and homeroom teachers when student attendance drops. ====

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%; text-align: center;">**Graph 4** ====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">To implement these initiatives in the midst of many other school requirements and activities, the team realized the importance of creating another explicit initiative to formalize an organic process of sustaining a professional learning community where everyone shares and contributes to building an ongoing process of collaboration and inquiry. In choosing this array of initiatives, the team relied on work by Anthony S. Bryk (2010) who studied the benefits of certain organizational features and described the essential elements of a continuing school improvement process. (**Figure 1**) By increasing the opportunities for professional development, team building, and information sharing, the learning community can grow and develop into a healthy entity that facilitates the growth of not only our students, but our community. ==== ====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">The last initiative involves teaching Datawise faculty how to successfully evaluate data to implement strategies for student academic growth. In her article //Schools as Effective Data Users,// Nancy Protheroe (2010) concluded, “The need for teacher development has been addressed head-on by schools that have incorporated the effective use of data in their improvement efforts.” (p.26) Toward that end, all faculty will attend an in-service that will (i) instruct them how to analyze and assess data and (ii) how to utilize data to inform their teaching to better serve the needs of their students. Student achievement tests, benchmark scores, and classroom assessments will all be evaluated. The faculty will then implement differentiated teaching strategies that will be beneficial in improving student learning and assessment outcomes. ====

====<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">The primary group that will be in charge of implementing these initiatives consists of a Vice Principal, English Department Chair (who also teaches 10th grade English), the Special Education Coordinator, and a senior Guidance Counselor. As seen in **Item 3** and **Item 4**, separate teams will guide the implementation of each initiative and will determine the metrics for determining their success ( **Item 5** ) and any additional evidence that could improve the process and the outcomes. (**Item 6**) Each specific initiative has a team (**Item 4**) that will be responsible for implementing, monitoring, and acquiring data on impacts: ====


 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">Goal 1 Initiative: READ 180 || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">Special Educ. Teachers, Reading specialist, Guidance counselor, Media specialist (Librarian), Special Ed. Coordinator, Asst. Administrator ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">GOAL 1 Initiative: JOURNALISM CLASS, NEWSLETTER || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">Journalism teacher, English Dept Chair, Special Ed teacher, Special Ed Coordinator, Tech Specialist, Media Specialist, Asst. Administrator ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">GOAL 2 Initiative: WIKI page || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">All English Dept teachers, Asst. Administrator, Tech. specialist ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">GOAL 3 Initiative: SPECIAL ED. ATTENDANCE RATES || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">Asst. Administrator, Administrative Asst. in charge of absences, Guidance Counselor, Special Ed Coordinator Teaching Staff, Tech Specialist ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">GOAL 4 Initiative: PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">Datawise HS faculty Administration team ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">GOAL 5 Initiative: DATA INTERPRETATION AND USE || <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">All teaching staff Administrative staff﻿ ||

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 140%;">Evidence of implementation (**Item 5**) will be gathered and analyzed by the team responsible for each initiative and accountability will be tracked according to agreed-upon metrics which will be reviewed and adjusted periodically.