Commitment 1 | Commitment 2 | Our Team’s Process | Next Steps
District |
School Name |
Grades Served |
|
Cohoes City School District |
Abram Lansing Elementary School |
K-5 |
Collaboratively Developed By:
The Abram-Lansing Elementary School SCEP Development Team, including Cliff Bird, Carole Blide, Jennifer Crucetti, Christina Kellar, Karissa Lennox, Melissa Lowden, Bridget Quinlan, Jackie Skidmore in partnership with the staff, students, and families of Abram Lansing Elementary School.
Commitment 1
Our Commitment
We commit to strengthening our ability to provide cohesive, relevant, standards driven instruction to meet the needs of all students.
The school’s vision speaks to personal growth and academic achievement. Through thoughtful standards-driven instruction, teachers will be able to plan for instruction that meets the needs of all learners while maintaining the rigor of grade level standards. Ensuring that instruction is relevant will help to promote development of future ready creative thinkers, lifelong learners, and communicators.
During the student interviews, students expressed a desire to be engaged and make learning fun. Additionally, they suggested that teachers be aware of what students find interesting and notice when kids already know the lesson. They expressed a desire for choice and a voice in what and how they learn.
The SCEP committee linked these findings to student engagement and connectedness, understanding that well planned instruction takes into account the needs of the whole child.
Teachers expressed that conversations around grade level standards in the 2021-22 school year helped to align instruction and created an environment of teacher efficacy. Furthermore, they felt that the work enabled teachers to have collaborative conversations about effective instruction and evidence of student learning. This year, teachers plan to add data into these conversations to align benchmark data to the progressions of skills identified in standards, identifying multiple entry points for students.
The building’s long term plans include a system of MTSS that allows for identifying student needs and effective tiered interventions to meet those needs. This plan shows the first steps in establishing that robust system.
Why are we making this commitment?
Things to potentially take into consideration when crafting this response:
-
How does this commitment fit into the school’s vision?
-
Why did this emerge as something to commit to?
-
In what ways is this commitment influenced by the “How Learning Happens” document? The Equity Self-Reflection? Student Interviews?
-
What makes this the right commitment to pursue?
-
How does this fit into other commitments and the school’s long-term plans?
Key Strategies and Resources
Structured Grade Level Collaboration after school 1x/month
METHODS
Principal will identify grade level PLC leaders to participate in turn key training for data analysis and facilitation protocols.
Grade level teams will utilize established template to focus and capture conversations about upcoming standards of instruction to identify progressions of skills in standards and aligned learning targets.
Data analysis and instructional implications will be added to the template to ensure that grade levels are reviewing student performance and adjusting instruction to target the identified needs of students.
Teachers in grade level teams will use state test data to identify priority standards by grade level. This will become a focal point for identifying what students have to know and be able to do to show proficiency and mastery on state level assessments.
GAUGING SUCCESS
Grade level teams will submit templates 1x/month when meeting.
Teachers will review formative and summative assessments to determine growth and achievement impacts.
Student performance on those assessments will show growth toward mastery of identified standards.
RESOURCES
BOCES turn-key trainer in data analysis, cost of substitutes.
Training in Critical Friends protocols for team facilitation (cost of training, and substitutes).
Instructional Coaching Support – Professional Learning Coaching Cycles for Math instruction using iReady Math
METHODS
All teachers will participate in professional learning coaching cycles with an instructional coach where teachers will use iReady data to identify Math instructional needs.
All teachers will participate in Professional Learning coaching cycles utilizing district wide, grade level PLCs
The building will implement a new math resource, iReady Math, to support standards aligned instruction. The instructional coach will support teachers weekly with implementing the resource and engaging in professional learning around the resource components and effective application.
Teachers will utilize the exit tickets embedded in the iReady Math resource. Instructional Coach will support teachers with analyzing the exit data to determine instructional implications.
GAUGING SUCCESS
Results Based Coaching tool will archive grade level progress with respect to application of iReady Math in standards aligned math instruction.
Exit tickets will show student progress toward attaining grade level math standards.
iReady data will show individual student progress toward personal learning needs; including remediation and review of essential standards, areas of identified gaps, and progress monitoring.
60% of students will meet one year’s typical growth.
RESOURCES
Professional development in iReady Math is already scheduled by the district, and we will provide follow-up support for Abram Lansing staff.
Instructional Coach fees
Substitutes
Create WIN “What I Need” grade level instructional groups to target and meet the academic needs of students using evidence
METHODS
A chairperson will be identified to chair this initiative and plan for implementation and ongoing support.
Teachers will analyze iReady data from Spring 2022 collaboratively in grade level teams to identify WIN groupings.
Additionally, they will identify instructional goals for each group, as well as a data collection tool to organize and analyze student growth toward the goal.
The WIN group chair and BLT team will create a system for tracking WIN group goals to include electronic or digital tracking forms.
The BLT team, along with the support from the instructional coach, will identify which data reports will be used for instructional groupings. (iReady, Fundations)
The team will create “cheat sheets’ or user friendly guides for teachers to navigate the iReady platform to access instructional reports.
BLT team will identify and communicate the frequency of grade level meetings necessary for the WIN groups to be effective and purposeful.
After each iReady assessment session, grade level teams will require a 2 hour release time to unpack data and reorganize fluid groups for WIN time based on the data collection system.
GAUGING SUCCESS
WIN group data will be used to support conversations for students brought to the IST team.
WIN group data collection will show student growth toward group goals and grade level standards.
WIN group goals will reflect skills necessary to reach proficiency with grade level standards.
RESOURCES
The district has already provided funding for a school level
interventionist, who will chair this process.
Cost of substitutes will need to be covered through the SIG grant funding.
Cost of BOCES expert in iReady (three times during the school year) and substitutes
iReady will show an
increase of students at or above grade for the winter and spring benchmarks.
Implement targeted phonics instruction and phonemic awareness in grades K-2.
METHODS
Implement Foundations resources in grades k-2.
Teachers will utilize Foundations resources to ensure an explicit and systematic approach to skill development through phonemic awareness and phonics with all students.
Training will be planned and required for K-2 general education, reading, AIS, and special education teachers.
Students will be evaluated for growth at the end of each unit.
GAUGING SUCCESS
Improved phonics scores on iReady.
Student reading proficiency will increase. At least 60% of students in grades K-2 will meet one year’s typical growth.
RESOURCES
Materials were purchased F/Y 21/22.
This year will require Foundations training for teachers in grades K-2.
Schedule time for training will need to be established.
End-of-the-Year Desired Outcomes
Schools teams are invited to consider if the belief statements shared below connect to this commitment. Since each commitment is unique, school teams should decide how progress about this commitment might be noted. If the team’s answer to a “we believe” prompt is no, that section should be left blank.
We believe these survey responses will give us good feedback about our progress with this commitment:
|
Survey Question(s) or Statement(s) |
Desired response |
|
|
Student Survey |
My teachers expect me to do my best all the time. My teachers give me individual attention when I need it. |
90% Agree (was 75%) 95% Agree (was 93%) |
|
Staff Survey |
The programs and resources at this school are adequate to support students’ learning. |
90% Agree (was 57%) |
|
Family Survey |
This school has high expectations for students. |
90% Agree (was 81%) |
We believe having the following occur will give us good feedback about our progress with this commitment:
Quantitative data and/or qualitative descriptions of where we strive to be at the end of the 2022-23 school year.
- 100% of the teachers will have participated in professional learning cycles with the instructional coach.
- Collaborative conversations at each grade level will produce explicit learning targets for students and horizontally consistent standards aligned instruction archived on templates and submitted to the principal 1x/month if meeting.
- At least 60% of students in grades K-2 will meet one year’s typical growth in iReady reading.
- At least 60% of students will meet the target of one year’s typical growth on the iReady Math benchmark. Proficiency on the NYS assessment for Math will improve from the 2021-22 school year.
COMMITMENT 2
Our Commitment
We are committed to ensure that every child feels they belong and has intentional opportunities to practice and build social, emotional, and cognitive skills and strategies.
The school vision promotes a belief in a positive school climate and culture and is committed to promoting caring relationships.
In addition, teachers and the principal will support each student to become effective communicators and collaborators.
The pandemic has had a profound effect on many students and families. Although the school has a visible strength in creating a culture of care, it remains essential to put explicit plans in place to support students in the school and classroom environments.
Students expressed that they feel a sense of belonging and that it can be improved by “helping students learn how to be kind and be respectful.” This shows that there is still work to be done.
The school plans to build on the strong culture of care by enhancing the programs that have helped to support students.
Why are we making this commitment?
Things to potentially take into consideration when crafting this response:
-
How does this commitment fit into the school’s vision?
-
Why did this emerge as something to commit to?
-
In what ways is this commitment influenced by the “How Learning Happens” document? The Equity Self-Reflection? Student Interviews?
-
What makes this the right commitment to pursue?
-
How does this fit into other commitments and the school’s long-term plans?
Key Strategies and Resources
Implement Second Step with a comprehensive approach
METHODS
All teachers will deliver weekly Second Step instruction following the lesson progression in the SEL resource.
This will include instruction around empathy, inclusion, and multiple modes of instruction.
Monthly school wide assemblies will be planned to honor Second Step learning and successes.
GAUGING SUCCESS
Visual evidence of the language in Second Step is posted and referenced in the classroom.
Behavior referrals will be tracked via School Tools to provide data to determine needs and interventions with the goal of less than 50
% of behavior referrals submitted requiring principal action
Average daily attendance will increase by 2%.
RESOURCES
BLT time to plan start date and school assembly topics.
Training for new teachers to implement Second Step.
Create two way communication with parents using the Parent Square platform.
METHODS
Teachers will contact the parent/family of each student at a minimum 1 time per trimester with a positive note of communication.
Reminders and demonstrations of Parent Square usage will occur at three faculty meetings throughout the year.
Training will occur with new teachers to demonstrate how to utilize the platform.
GAUGING SUCCESS
Teachers will track the number of positive contacts.
Principal will track Parent Square communication.
Parent Square use will increase by 10%.
Average daily attendance will increase by 2%.
RESOURCES
Time allotted to train new teachers in the use of Parent Square.
Scheduled updates on data/usage quarterly.
Time allotted at faculty meetings to share best practices.
Enhance PBIS implementation to create consistency in school wide expectations and language.
METHODS
Students and staff will create school-wide expectations posters.
Communicate and display expectations in hallways and classrooms
Student leaders will be tapped to model behaviors during the building training, with expectations that Students Council members will become role models during the school year.
All classroom teachers will post expectations (Be Safe, Be Respectful, Be Responsible) in the classroom.
During the first week of school, all students will be trained in the common expectations during the station rotation around the school.
Photos will be captured during training and posted to provide ongoing examples of students modeling safe, respectful, responsible behaviors.
There will be a celebration at the end of training to show student incentives for following expected behaviors.
Aides will be trained/coached to be able to facilitate the training of students in unstructured locations such as bathrooms, hallways, recess and lunch.
Create a system of tracking students who do not meet expectations so that interventions and support can be planned.
District Data Coordinator will provide training on SchoolTool as a mechanism to gather and track behavior incidents effectively.
Teachers will be identified and compensated for being in the cafeteria during lunch to continue to model and teach the expectations on a consistent basis.
GAUGING SUCCESS
Behavioral suspensions will decrease by 60%.
Behavior referrals will be tracked via School Tools to provide data to determine needs and interventions with the goal of less than 50% of behavior referrals submitted requiring principal action.
Students will respond in surveys that they feel they are safe in the school environment.
During student focus groups, students will have less or no concern about safety in unstructured areas of the school such as the front part of the campus.
RESOURCES
Funding for aide training if needed.
District Data Coordinator to provide training on SchoolTool.
Establish an attendance committee to target interventions for chronically absent students.
METHODS
The building will create a committee to monitor attendance, seek best-practices (e.g.https://www.attendanceworks.org/), identify interventions, and implement those practices.
The committee will present best practices and interventions at faculty meetings, and work with classroom teachers on a case-by-case basis.
The attendance committee will meet weekly to analyze attendance data.
Positive postcards will be sent home monthly to communicate appreciation to families and students for perfect or improved attendance.
The class with the most improved or perfect attendance each month will be awarded with a celebration and recognized at a school assembly.
GAUGING SUCCESS
Average daily attendance will increase by 2%.
RESOURCES
Time for meetings (before- and after- school) and perhaps substitutes funds for during school meetings.
End-of-the-Year Desired Outcomes
Schools teams are invited to consider if the belief statements shared below connect to this commitment. Since each commitment is unique, school teams should decide how progress about this commitment might be noted. If the team’s answer to a “we believe” prompt is no, that section should be left blank.
We believe these survey responses will give us good feedback about our progress with this commitment:
|
Survey Question(s) or Statement(s) |
Desired response |
|
|
Student Survey |
I feel like I belong. I feel safe at this school. I am happy to be at this school. Adults working at this school help students develop strategies to understand and control their feelings and actions. At this school, students talk about the importance of understanding their own feelings and the feelings of others. |
90% Agree (was 75%) 90% Agree (was 81%) 90% Agree (was 69%) 90% Agree (was 88%) 90% Agree (was 44%) |
|
Staff Survey |
If a student has done something well or makes improvement, staff contact his/her parents. This school provides the materials, resources, and training necessary for me to support students’ social or emotional needs. This school places a priority on helping students with their social, emotional, and behavioral problems. |
90% Agree (was 86%) 90% Agree (was 57%) 90% Agree (was 57%) |
|
Family Survey |
My child is safe at this school. At this school, my child feels he/she belongs. When my child does something good at school, I usually hear about it from the school. This school has enough programs that develop students’ social and emotional skills (e.g., self-control, problem solving, or getting along with others). |
90% Agree (was 79%) 90% Agree (was 87%) 90% Agree (was 69%) 90% Agree (was 71%) |
We believe having the following occur will give us good feedback about our progress with this commitment:
Quantitative data and/or qualitative descriptions of where we strive to be at the end of the 2022-23 school year.
Behavioral suspensions will decrease by 60%.
Less than 50% of behavioral referrals submitted will require principal action Average daily attendance will increase by 2%.
Evidence-Based Intervention Strategy Identified
We envision that this Evidence-Based Intervention will support the following commitment(s) as follows
Instructional Coaching
We commit to strengthening our ability to provide cohesive, relevant, standards-driven instruction to meet the needs of all students.
Our Team’s Process
Background
NYSED requires that the SCEP is developed in consultation with parents and school staff, and in accordance with §100.11 of Commissioner’s Regulations. All schools are expected to follow the guidelines outlined in the document “Requirements for Meaningful Stakeholder Participation” found on the NYSED website. This section outlines how we worked together to develop our plan.
Team Members
Use the space below to identify the members of the SCEP team and their role (e.g. teacher, assistant principal, parent).
|
Name |
Role |
|
Cliff Bird |
principal |
|
Carole Blide |
CSEA |
|
Jennifer Crucetti |
grade 1 (gen ed) teacher |
|
Christina Kellar |
interventionist, CTA rep |
|
Karissa Lennox |
parent |
|
Melissa Lowden |
SpEd teacher |
|
Bridget Quinlan |
grade 3 (gen ed) teacher |
|
Jackie Skidmore |
grade 2 (gen ed) teacher, CTA rep |
Our Team’s Steps
Our plan is the result of collaborating to complete several distinct steps:
- Interviewing Students
- Completing the Equity Self-Reflection for Identified Schools
- Reviewing Multiple Sources of Data and Feedback
- Clarifying Priorities and Considering How They Connect to School Values
- Writing the Plan
- Completing the “Leveraging Resources” document (OPTIONAL)
Meeting Dates
We completed the steps above across multiple meetings. Below is a list of dates we met as a team and what occurred during those meetings.
|
Meeting Date |
Interviewing Students |
Completing the Equity Self-Reflection for Identified Schools |
Reviewing Multiple Sources of Data and Feedback |
Clarifying Priorities and Considering How They Connect to School Values |
Writing the Plan |
OPTIONAL: Completing the “Leveraging Resources” document |
|
6/8/22 |
X |
|||||
|
6/15/22 |
X |
X |
||||
|
7/12/22 |
X |
X |
||||
|
7/18/22 |
X |
X |
||||
|
7/25/22 |
X |
|||||
|
7/28/22 |
X (meeting with parent group) |
Student Interviews
Describe how the Student Interview process informed the team’s plan
Students requested movement activities, incentive parties, being with friends, meeting new teachers ahead of school starting. They were very positive about the increased opportunities to collaborate when learning and work with partners or groups.
They requested support in creating a respectful environment where students engage in a positive manner. Additionally, they spoke of a willingness to participate in creating the expectations of the school. By leveling up the use of PBIS in the school, teachers and students will be able to work together to articulate and model the expectations school wide. Extra adults in the cafeteria and other unstructured areas will ensure that these expectations are revisited and modeled on an ongoing basis. Additionally, continuing to enhance the Second Step resource will ensure that students have the opportunity to learn and practice strategies that will support social and emotional learning throughout the year.
Lastly, the student focus group spoke of the importance of being recognized for the good work that they do. This will be met with the push to increase the use of Parent Square to recognize students on a regular basis for positive contribution to the school community.
Equity Self-Reflection
Describe how the Equity Self-Reflection informed the team’s plan
We realized that after our last-year’s work on understanding the need for equity, we now need to focus on application of the learning. In an effort to ensure that all means all, data analysis and targeted instructional planning were made a focus on the SCEP for 2022-23. The plan will be balanced to ensure that the whole child is considered when planning for instruction throughout the course of a day/week. Students will have opportunities to engage in social emotional learning, academic learning targeted at each student’s level of need, and skill building based on data analysis in WIN groups. Additionally, teachers will have opportunities to grow as practitioners in the area of teacher leadership, data analysis, collaborative teaming and fluency in a new math resource.