|
Post elementary
40 Cliff Street
Battle Creek, MI
49014
Phone: 616/965-9686
Prin:
Carol Disler
District:
Battle Creek
Public Schools
|
Download PDF version
…in
Battle Creek, Michigan
The Learning Network has been providing
professional development services to the Battle Creek School District
since the 1999-2000 school year. Our work with the district, which is in
a medium sized city and serves more than 8,000 students, started with
two schools and has now expanded to every elementary school in the
district, including Title I schools.
Among the schools
joining The Learning Network was Post Elementary School. This K-5 school
has close to 250 students, and in recent years more than 80% of the
school’s students have received free or reduced-price lunches. The
school has a high-mobility, multi-ethnic student population, of which
about half the students are white, one-third Afro-American, and
one-tenth Hispanic.
Geri Williams, The
Learning Network staff developer who has been working with Post since
2000, began implementing The Learning Network model by reviewing the
school’s assessment data with a school leadership team consisting of the
principal and two teacher leaders, as well as other staff. Key elements
of action plan they developed and implemented have included:
- Development of
teacher leaders who coach other staff members within the school
- Consistent data
collection, as well as analysis and planning at quarterly data
conferences
- Intensive support
from The Learning Network in 2003-04, including biweekly visits.
- Attendance at The
Learning Network’s annual conference and Summer Institutes.
As shown in the
attached graph, one result of this work has been significant and
consistent improvement in the school’s 4th grade reading
scores on the Michigan Education Assessment Program (MEAP) test.
Highlights include:
- The number of
students at level 2 (met expectations) increased from 29% to 79%
- The number of
students at level 1 (exceeded expectations) increased to 7%
- The number of
students at level 4 (not endorsed) decreased rapidly to 0%.
Scores on the writing
portion of the MEAP test also improved significantly, and by 2004 the 4th
grade students at Post scored well above both the state
and district averages. The number of students at Post who achieved level
2 scores (met expectations) was 69%, compared to 44% of the students in
the district and 48% of the students in the state. And as with the
reading scores, 0% of the Post students were at level 4 (not endorsed). |
|
MAPLE
ELEMENTARY 429
DIVISION STREET
JEFFERSONVILLE, IN 47130
PHONE: 812/288-4860
Prin: LAURAETTE STANKS
DISTRICT: GREATER CLARK
COUNTY S.D.
|
Download PDF version
…
in Jeffersonville, Indiana
The Learning Network
has been providing professional development services to Maple Elementary
School for more than five years. Located just across the state line from
Louisville, KY, this school faces many of the same challenges as
inner-city urban schools. Close to two-thirds of the students receive
free or reduced price lunches, and there is a high incidence of mobility
and special needs. About two-thirds of the students are white, and
one-third are African-American.
To increase student
achievement and meet state and district expectations, Maple Elementary
has established clear goals for reading, writing, and mathematics.
Dottie Kirby, The Learning Network staff developer who has been working
with the Maple Elementary staff for several years, provides on-going
support for the development of school-based leadership and quality
classroom instruction. Key elements of her work at Maple include
- supporting the
principal’s development as an instructional leader
- helping to
collect, analyze, and use formative and summative data
- training teacher
leaders to coach and support their colleagues effectively
- monitoring the
implementation and impact of professional development.
The accompanying
chart shows how this work has affected the performance of Maple
Elementary’s third graders on the Indiana state (ISTEP) tests. From the
2000-01 school year, when 55% of Maple’s grade 3 students passed the
English Language Arts portion of the ISTEP, the percentage of students
passing that portion has grown to 80% in the 2004-05 school year.
In addition to this
25% increase in the overall number of passing students, there has also
been significant progress among key subgroups. In 2000-01, only 48% of
the male third graders and 27% of the African-American third graders
passed, but 2004-05 both of these subgroups were at or above the 80%
achievement level.
These test results
demonstrate the type of real and dramatic improvement that can occur
when teaching, curriculum, assessment, and professional development
support are aligned with the assistance of The Learning Network. |
KINGSPORT CITY SD 1701
EAST CENTER ST KINGSPORT
TN 37664
KINGSPORT CITY
SCHOOL DISTRICT
Supt: RICHARD KITZMILLER,
ABRAHAM LINCOLN ELEM
1000 SUMMER ST
KINGSPORT TN 37664
Prin: TAMMIE L DAVIS
ANDREW JACKSON ELEM
600 JACKSON ST KINGSPORT
TN 37660
Prin: DR GARY MARTIN
ANDREW JOHNSON ELEM
1001 ORMOND DR
KINGSPORT TN 37664
Prin: LENORE KILGORE
GEORGE WASHINGTON ELEM
1100 BELLINGHAM DR
KINGSPORT TN 37660
Prin: MARTHA GREER
JOHN F KENNEDY ELEM
1500 WOODLAND AVE
KINGSPORT TN 37665
Prin: JANET FAULK
THEODORE ROOSEVELT ELEM
1051 LAKE ST
KINGSPORT TN 37660
Prin: DR DWAIN ARNOLD
THOMAS JEFFERSON ELEM
SCHOOL 2216
WESTMORELAND AVE
KINGSPORT TN
37664
Prin: DALTON BLOOMER
|
Download PDF version
…in
Kingsport, Tennessee
The Learning Network
began providing professional development services to the Kingsport City
Schools in 2002. Our work started with one school and has now expanded
to include six of the seven elementary schools in the district.
Kingsport is a medium
sized city in the mountains of eastern Tennessee. The Kingsport City
School District serves more than 6,000 students, about one-third of whom
receive free/reduced lunches. Five of the district’s seven elementary
schools receive Title I funding.
Katie Moeller, The
Learning Network staff developer who has been working with the schools
since 2002, began implementing The Learning Network model by reviewing
the school’s assessment data with the staff and developing an action
plan. This included the training of teacher-leaders within each school,
as well as the design and implementation of systematic changes in the
school’s curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional
development. Karen Reed-Wright, the district’s literacy specialist, has
also played a vital role in supporting and guiding the development of
the schools.
A particularly
important aspect of The Learning Network model in Kingsport has been the
use of on-going data gathering as an assessment and evaluation tool to:
- guide professional
development and instructional efforts
- inspire teachers
by graphically illustrating successes and achievements
- achieve higher
levels of accountability for student learning.
In the spring of
2004, Dr. Nancy Wagner, assistant superintendent for the Kingsport City
Schools, examined Terra Nova data to ascertain the effect The Learning
Network’s
site-based staff development was having upon student performance. Her
results are illustrated in the accompanying graph, which shows 87% of
students in TLN third grade classrooms reading at grade level, compared
to 73% of the students in classrooms that do not use The Learning
Network model. Based upon the growth seen in the students, the Kingsport
City School District envisions the job-embedded staff development
approach reaching down to preschool and up to middle school and beyond.
Looking back on her
experiences in Kingsport, Katie Moeller feels some of the keys to the
schools’ success have been:
- a long-range plan
of job-embedded professional development that turns teachers into
teacher-leaders
- working within
schools to create, manage and use data that drives instructional
processes
- having a
district-level partner who supports the process consistently and
enthusiastically
- promoting the
development of administrators and helping them focus on student
learning and achievement.
|
®