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Drury High School Improvement Plan
2015-2016
Amy Meehan, Principal
Tim Callahan, Assistant Principal
Chris Barbarotta, Dean of Students
William Bryce, Dean of Students/Support Services
Drury High School Instructional Leadership Team
2
Introduction/Purpose Our vision at Drury High School is to educate all students with high academic standards and
cultivate a teaching and learning community that believes all students can learn at high levels in
the 21st Century. This overarching vision is critical for the realization of authentic college and
career readiness for all Drury High School students.
Now more than ever, 21st Century Skills are essential for all students as they progress from the
halls of Drury High School to realize their potential as young adults facing both the challenges
and wonders of the “real world.” To this end, Drury programs, initiatives and approaches to
teaching and learning must not only convey the importance of core academics, but also work
towards melding the emerging content areas of global awareness, financial literacy, civic
literacy, health, the arts and wellness awareness into daily instructional practice. Coupled with
core academics, these emerging content areas are vital to success of our students in the work
force and the communities in which they live.
Our primary goal at Drury is to facilitate the learning and thinking skills of all students,
regardless of their age and/or academic abilities. As much as our students need to learn
academic content, they also need to be given the necessary skills to be life-long learners, all the
while making effective and innovative use of what they know and are able to do. Skill
development in the areas of work place readiness, critical thinking, problem solving,
communication, innovation, collaboration, information and media literacy MUST walk hand in
hand with our standards-based philosophy here at Drury in an effort to provide real-life,
contextual learning for our students in the 21st Century.
The 2015-2016 School Improvement Plan (SIP) outlines the short term and long-term
goals/initiatives to improve teaching and learning at Drury, amidst a safe, orderly learning
environment for students and staff alike. While our short-term focus is rooted in our three
primary improvement objectives, several ongoing and long-term initiatives are integral to Drury
High School’s continual improvement process.
To this end, the purposes of Drury’s annual school improvement planning process are twofold:
To review student progress and achievement data from 2014-2015 and reflect on actions
that contributed to our areas improvement that the reasons why our improvement efforts
fell short when we did not reach out goals
To develop specific objectives and action plans for 2015-2016 to advance student
learning in the core academic subjects
3
2014-2015 Progress and Student Learning
Student Achievement
In 2014-15 the state set new MCAS achievement progress targets for 2017, based on a waiver
from the federal government to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requirements. Under the new
targets each school and district is expected to cut in half the gap between their current level of
achievement (as measured by the consolidated performance index (CPI)) and a CPI of 100 which
would represent 100% of student attaining proficiency or higher on the MCAS exams in English,
math and science.
Drury’s made no statistically significant progress in any of these areas between 2014 and 2015,
and did not meet the annual performance targets that would keep us on track to achieve our 2017
goal.1
MCAS Consolidated Performance Index by Year and Subject Area
2014 2015 2016 2017
ELA Actual 84.8 85.4
ELA Target 89.8 90.9 92.1 93.2
Math Actual 69.6 68.6
Math Target 75.4 78.1 80.9 83.6
Science Actual 68.8 69.1
Science Target 77.6 80.1 82.6 85.1
The gap between actual performance and target performance is highest in science, followed
closely by math. The gap in ELA is about half as large.
Despite the flat performance in overall CPI, Drury did make some notable gains in student
achievement in 2015. The proportion of students who attained proficiency, especially in math
and science, increased substantially.
1 Annual targets are based on equal annual progress from 2011 baseline data towards the 2017
goal.
4
In addition, Drury significantly increased the proportion of students who scored “advanced” in
the MCAS in ELA and Math between 2014 and 2015. The gains in science, while considerably
smaller, still were greater than 10% -- surpassing the state’s threshold for significant
improvement.
Examining proficiency rates in the table below, it is clear that while grade 10 is closing the
proficiency gap with the state, 8th
grade performance remains an area of significant concern.
66% 73%
77% 70%
71%
41% 48%
51% 43% 48%
37% 41% 38% 35%
41%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Pe
rce
nt
Pro
fici
en
t
MCAS Percent Proficient Drury High School
ELA
Math
Science
13.8
19.6
8.3
22.9
30.1
10.2
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
ELA Math Science
Pe
rce
nt
of
Stu
de
nts
Percent of Students Scoring Advanced on MCAS
2014
2015
5
Gaps in MCAS Proficiency or Higher Rates by Year and Subject Area
Drury Average vs. State Average
Subject
2012
Gap
2013
Gap
2014
Gap
2015
Gap
ELA 8 -12% -10% -21% -21%
ELA 10 -11% -5% -8% -6%
Math 8 -30% -23% -32% -31%
Math 10 -10% -11% -13% -7%
Science 8 -23% -19% -31% -24%
Science 10 +1% -15% -9% -3%
An essential question to explore is “How do we understand the lack of progress in grade 8?”
This trend continues to suggest alignment concerns related to curriculum, instruction and
assessment in the 6th
through 8th
grade span. To address these concerns this academic year,
Drury will shift from a pilot to full implementation of the Engage NY Math Curriculum in grades
8 and 9; as well as aggressively target tiered vocabulary instructional strategies in High School
Prep classes for 8th
graders. The math department will also use the Engage NY Math Curriculum
in grades 10 and 11 effective this academic year.
The Social Studies content learning, in contrast, improved significantly for grade 8 in 2015. The
department continues to teach and assess students’ higher order thinking skills, adding the skills
based concepts and questions for their district assessments. The dip in scores for grades 9 and 11
are most likely attributed to the department’s shift from quarterly assessments in 2013-2014 back
to semester assessments in 2014-2015, and the resulting redesign of the assessments.
Social Studies Content Assessments (June Assessments)
Percent Proficient
Grade 2012 2013
2014
2015 8 3% 3% 31% 45% 9 31% 26% 63% 51%
10 57% 14% N/A 68%* 11 53% 20% 69% 47%
ALL Grades 34% 14% 53% 55%
*Q3 result in April/ May – no data available for Q4
6
Academic Support Services
To further support academic growth, Drury High School added several new courses and
programs. In addition to the Writer’s Workshop course, which we have run for several years
now, we added Reading Boost and Real World Math to provide extra instruction in reading and
math above and beyond students’ regular math and English classes. We also established a
Learning Center to provide both specialized instruction and support to students with disabilities
and additional academic support to all students at Drury as needed. Students in need of
academic support based their IEP or 504 Plan were pre-scheduled* into the Learning Center.
Students in study hall could “drop-in” to the Learning Center to access academic support and
teachers could refer students to the Learning Center for accommodations as needed.
In the 2014-15 school year, the number of students being served by these various programs is as
follows:
Writer’s Workshop 20 students
Reading Boost 28 students
Real World Math 49 students
Learning Center* 134 students
Graduation Rates
As reported in our last School Improvement Plan, our overall graduation rate in 2014 was 80%.
Graduation rate data for the class of 2015 will be available in January.
15%
39% 40%
64%
29%
46%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Fall 2012 Spring 2013 Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Fall 2014 Spring 2015
Social Studies Skills Assessment ( Grades 8 to 11)
7
Our three-pronged approach of using graduation coaches (adult advocates), online learning
(credit-recovery) and our redesigned program at E3 (alternative pathway) has yielded several
measurable gains. The gains towards improved graduation rates and decreased drop-out rates
relates to Drury’s continued refinement of each of our programs to improve their effectiveness,
and further movements toward sustainability. The three programs begun with external grant
funding in 2010 are now funded within the 2015 regular district budget. Due to budgetary
constraints, one graduation coaching position was eliminated during the May 2015 budgetary
process. With an increasing at-risk population, the reinstatement of this position would assist
Drury in keeping off-track students in school and within reach of their on-time graduation.
Thirteen students were served at E3 during the 2014-2015 academic year. Nine students
graduated on time from Drury. Two students returned to Drury’s regular programs this fall and
are still enrolled. Two students dropped out of the program.
Upon the conclusion of the 2014-15 academic year, the cumulative services offered/students
served in respect to the high school pathways for on-time graduation were:
Drury Online Learning Lab: 90 students
High School Internships: 68 students
E3 Academy: 13 students
Graduation Coaching: 67 students
Student Support Center Graduation
Monitoring/Check Ins: 15 students
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Pe
rce
nt
Gra
du
ate
d
4-year Cohort Graduation Rates Drury High School
Students with disabilities Low income students All students
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Among the 67 students who received graduation coach services at Drury, eight transferred out to
other schools, ten dropped out, and four did not earn enough credits to advance to the next grade
level. The student promotion rate for this cohort was 76%% in 2014-15, as compared to 98% in
2013-2014, and 46% for students who received graduation coach services in 2012-2013.
These supports are even more crucial given that 21 students transferred into Drury at or after the
start of the school year in September 2014 (not including the 17 students who entered grade 9
from our surrounding sending towns). Thirteen transferred in from other schools in
Massachusetts; six students were out of state transfers in; two students re-entered after dropping
out from Drury in prior years. Of these transfers into Drury for the start of the school year,
48.3% were off-track for on-time graduation.
College and Career Readiness
College and Career Readiness remains the overarching focus of Drury High School. The
creation of the College and Career Center, coupled by the redesign of Special Education and
Guidance Counseling services will support the school’s endeavors to increase college and career
readiness.
The proportion of juniors taking the SAT’s who attain a score of 1550 or higher, meeting the
SAT “college ready benchmark” continued to improve in 2015, resulting in a 27% gain from
2012.
MassCore completion rates also improved in 2015. Barriers for completion of the MassCore
include the number of IEP students in substantially separate programming during and/or after
high school, transfer students in off-track to meet MassCore requirements and students off-track
for graduation in need of alternative scheduling (online or E3).
25%
20% 16%
33% 37%
43%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Percent of Junior SAT Takers Scoring 1550 of Higher
9
The number of students we enroll in Advance Placement (AP) classes continued to grow in 2015.
While the number of students receiving scores that will qualify them for college credit declined
in 2015, our performance in the past three years remains significant better than the performance
prior to our involvement in the Massachusetts Math and Science Initiative with Mass Insight.
Initial anecdotal data in August 2015 indicated that last year’s juniors (current seniors)
outperformed the graduating class of 2016 in qualifying scores.
58% 60% 59%
69% 72%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Perc
en
t
Graduation Year
Percent of Students Who Completed MassCore
48 70
84
224 222 241
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Nu
mb
er
of
Stu
dn
ets
AP Enrollment
10
In 2015, Drury moved up in the Washington Post Challenge Index to enter the Top 2.5% from
4% in 2014 of the most challenging schools in the country. On the state level, we are only four
slots behind the top Berkshire County high school and well of other prominent local high schools
in the proportion of students taking AP courses.
2014-2017 District Goal and Drury Action Plan
Our 2014-2017 district goal is to improve college and career readiness. This overarching goal
aims ultimately to decrease the gap in student performance between 2012 performance and
100% proficiency in ELA, math and science by half. To this end, Drury’s three primary goals
listed below will guide our school improvement work.
Goal 1: Improve instructional quality in the classroom.
Goal 2: Develop and strengthen community partnerships impacting student learning.
Goal 3: Improve College and Career Readiness skills, opportunities and awareness.
The corresponding tables each objective is followed by an action plan that indicates the
particular actions, persons responsible, timelines and progress benchmarks/updates.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Nu
mb
er
of
Stu
de
nts
AP Qualifying Scores
11
Drury Objective 1a.1 100 % of instructors will implement the NAPS focus on Best Practice Instructional Strategies (student language and
content learning objectives, lesson agendas, activities that require higher order thinking, differentiation to meet the
needs of all students, assessment of learning with appropriate feedback to all students) to improve instructional quality
by June 2016.
2015-2016 ACTION STEPS PERSON
RESPONSIBLE TARGET
DATE/
COMPLETION
STATUS
PROGRESS BENCHMARKS
Assemble Drury Data PLC
Team to review
student/school data to plan
and use in FY16 Professional
Development
Meehan/
Callahan August 18
September 31
January 30
Attend August Berkshire DSAC/DESE training
Plan/implement Opening PD and meetings
Create and implement a plan promoting the use of data
(student assessment, language development/student
discourse, student indicators) at faculty meetings,
professional learning communities, collaborative times,
learning teams, etc. to support student achievement and
school improvement
Monitor teacher use of the
five Best Practice
Instructional Learning
Strategies
Building
Administrators,
ILT, Teachers
and Evaluators
December 30
January 30
March 30
May 30
December 10
Student Language and Content Learning Objectives
Data Collection by Team Leaders, Report out
December ILT & April ILT Meeting; Weekly Lesson
Plan submission to Team Leaders
Learning Walk Data/PLC review
Academic Language strategies implementation
(homework and staff reflection)
12
Drury Objective 1.a.2 100% of instructors will implement best practice strategies for small group instruction, student academic conversations
and student discourse in the classroom to improve instructional quality, student engagement and critical thinking by
June 2016.
2015-2016 ACTION STEPS PERSON
RESPONSIBLE TARGET
DATE/
COMPLETION
STATUS
PROGRESS BENCHMARKS
Develop building-based PD
plan to continue focus on
Best Practice Instructional
Strategies, using the theme of
Literacy and Language
Development
Meehan/
Callahan
October 30
Coordinate with ILT to determine best use of
departmental meetings and collaborative time to
provide PD on Best Practices by October 30th.
Present building-based PD plan to Central Admin Team
Assemble and train
Academic Language
Development PLC Team
Meehan October 16 Attend Unlocking Academic Language 3 Day Institute
August 11 & 12; October 14
Members assist with PD & Module Planning August 19
Plan and implement
Academic Conversations/
Student Discourse & Small
Group Instruction
Professional Development
Callahan October 29
December 10
January 28
March 3
Plan and conduct Professional Development Modules 2,
3, 4, 5
Coordinate embedded
professional development via
Learning Teams and
Callahan November 30
December 7
Baseline data collection – classroom visits Fall 2016
Create and implement school-wide student talk
13
Learning Walks focused on
improving instruction via
student discourse/academic
language strategies
December 22
March 31
May 31
collection observation tool
Hold Learning Teams and Learning Walks in
December, March, May
Drury Objective 1.a.3 Develop shared leadership and ownership of academic issues within the school at large amongst the ILT and
“Turnaround” PLC Teams by June 2016.
2015-2016 ACTION STEPS PERSON
RESPONSIBLE TARGET
DATE/
COMPLETION
STATUS
PROGRESS BENCHMARKS
Develop building-based PD
plan to introduce
Professional Learning
Communities (PLC’s)
Meehan/
Callahan
December 30
Coordinate with ILT to determine best use of
departmental meetings and collaborative time to
provide PD on Best Practices
Present building-based PD plan to Central Admin Team
Introduce PLC turnaround
work, potential topics and
form Turnaround PLC
Teams
Meehan
Callahan
September 3
November 10
November 30
Introduce, investigate and analyze school level data
trends to identify and generate questions about
academic issues and barriers to student success
Create data collection tool for staff to select their top 3
themes for Turnaround PLC work
Assemble/train PLC Meehan December 2 Attend DSAC training for building and expanding
14
Consultancy Team & Plan
Turnaround PLC launch
January 26 ILT/PLC to promote team building, strengthen the
operation, collegiality and effectiveness of
collaborative teams.
Plan and implement
Turnaround PLC work Kopala,
Bergeron
Meczwyor,
French
PLC Consultants
PLC Facilitators
December 15
December 16
January 12
February 2
March to
June 2016
Host Faculty Meeting: Futures Protocol of the Ideal
School and Crosswalk with PLC Topics previously
identified by faculty
Train Turnaround PLC facilitators Host Faculty Meeting: PLC Norms, Protocols, Agenda
Setting
First PLC Meeting, Norm Setting, Knowledge
Inventory, Knowledge/Data Needed Protocol
PLC meetings held monthly using structures and
protocols that cultivate shared ownership/leadership
Establish Turnaround
PLC/ILT Steering
Committee
Meehan November 30
April 4
Assign members of ILT to PLC’s; name Facilitators
and Process Consultants
Steering Committee presents PLC work in progress to
ILT
Establish and use Norms,
Protocols and Structures
based for effective,
collaborative ILT meetings
and Departmental meetings
Meehan
ILT
December 7
January to
June
Implement new protocols, agenda template, rotation of
ILT roles and responsibilities and shared agenda setting
15
Turnaround PLC & ILT
Showcase
Team Leaders,
PLC Facilitators
June 20 PLC teams and ILT team presents research, key
findings and proposals for potential solutions regarding
academic issues and reducing barriers to student
success.
Drury Objective 2: Develop and strengthen community partnerships impacting student learning.
2015-2016 ACTION STEPS PERSON
RESPONSIBLE TARGET DATE/
COMPLETION
STATUS
PROGRESS BENCHMARKS
Develop sustainability plan
for the Advanced Placement
Program involving
Community Partners
Callahan February 29
March 31
May 31
Suggest budget costs/line items for AP Program by
February 15
Meet with Superintendent and Business Manager to
explore community partners
Schedule Spring meetings with Community Partners
Connect with Community
Partners to explore
programming options to
support student achievement
and career readiness skills
Meczwyor,
Meehan,
Callahan
ILT/Teachers as
related to
respective
departments
Ongoing
Plan/Attend College & Career Retreat June 2015
Meet with Goodwill Partners monthly
Facilitate activities in College & Career Center
Facilitate partnership/programming with community
partners (i.e. NBCC, MCLA, BCC, Mass MoCA, local
entrepreneurs)
Work-Based Learning, Service-Learning at Drury/E3
16
Cultivate Community
Partnerships/Internships to
support the College & Career
Center
Meczwyor Ongoing Mini-Guest Lectures, Career Fairs & Exploration
Workshops, Goodwill Soft skills & Introduction to
Business training, Ground Hog Shadow
Day/Internships
Drury Objective 3.1: Review and refine Student Support Services (Health, Special Education, Counseling Services,
Guidance Services, etc.) to enhance College and Career Pathways for students in alignment with the Massachusetts
Tiered System of Support (MTSS).
2015-2016 ACTION STEPS PERSON
RESPONSIBLE
TARGET DATE/
COMPLETION
STATUS
PROGRESS BENCHMARKS
Create a
Therapeutic/Behavioral
Program at Drury
Meehan/Bryce June 30
August 30
January 30
Identify student cohort/programming
Create new classroom and schedule students
Assign Special Education Teachers, Behavioral
Specialists, Assistants to Steeples II
Create My Achievement/Success Plans for student
cohort
Refine Student Support
Services to deploy, manage,
monitor student achievement
and support resources
Meehan September 30 Clarify roles and responsibilities of Dean, College &
Career Facilitator, Graduation Coach and SPED
Coordinator
Review and refine services
by school Health/Nurses’
Office department to ensure
June 1 Review, revise, develop and implement protocols to
ensure the delivery of mental health and social support
services (i.e. case management/mandated reporting)
17
appropriate delivery of health
services to all students
involving School Adjustment Counselor, Nurses,
Administration, etc.
Explore preventative health services for students
Introduce new screenings
and services
Meehan/Brassard/
French
Meczwyor/
French
December 30
June 30
Substance Abuse Educator, SBIRT (Screening, Brief
Intervention, Referral for Treatment) for at risk
behavior in Grade 8
Implement Patriots Anti-Violence Partnership/Violence
Prevention Education
Enhance already existing
Career Pathways with 3-
Tiered Approach
Meehan/Callahan
Bryce/Meczwyor
June 2016
June 2016
June 2017
Shift 119 program to be competency-based
Improve Outreach to grade 8 students and families by
hosting 2 events
Introduce Restorative Practices & training to
staff/students
Drury Objective 3.2: Redesign College & Career outreach services, events and activities for students and families.
2015-2016 ACTION STEPS PERSON
RESPONSIBLE TARGET DATE/
COMPLETION
STATUS
PROGRESS BENCHMARKS
Assign full-time College and
Career Position and common
planning time to
promote/design College and
Career activities/awareness
Meehan August 1 Appoint College and Career Facilitator by August 1
18
Create Student Ambassador
Team to promote outreach
with upper level elementary
grades and feeder schools
College & Career
Team October 30
November 30
December 9
Train Student Ambassador Team
Visit elementary schools to assist with 6th
& 7th
Grade
Naviance accounts
Execute site visit of elementary schools for Drama
Teaser; Distribute folders about Drury High School;
Show College & Career Readiness videos
Finalize scope and sequence
of comprehensive school
counseling, with lesson
exemplars
French/College &
Career Team June 1 Create calendar of events for FY16 and FY17 preview
Refine curricular documents articulating the scope and
sequence for comprehensive school counseling and
College & Career Activities
Create 3 exemplar lesson plans targeting grades 6/7
Create a “school within a
school” approach to target
8th
grade activities
Meczwyor/College
& Career Team
High School Prep
Teachers
January 30
May 30
Launch My Achievement Plans “MAPS” (Drury
Individual Learning Plans)
Complete MAPS with 8th
grade class and plan
contextual learning projects with 8th
grade
Redesign Move Up Days for
rising 9th
grade students from
Feeder Schools and rising 8th
grade students from NAPS
Elementary Schools
Meczwyor/College
& Career Team February 28
May 1
June 15
Assign College & Career Team to design events
Organize Move Up Day Team; Run Destination Drury
Coordinate with Elementary Schools for Spring 2016
College & Career Activities
Propose FY17 Opening of School & Move Up Day
19
Drury Objective 3.3: Increase MassCore completion percentage by 25%.
2015-2016 ACTION
STEPS PERSON
RESPONSIBLE TARGET DATE/
COMPLETION
STATUS
PROGRESS BENCHMARKS
Generate list of off track
students grades 8-12 Meehan August 30 Share Google Doc/EWIS data with appropriate school
and support staff
Generate list of transfer
students into Drury for
monitoring purposes
Meehan September 15 Share with BEST/CORE Teams and Graduation Coach to
add to database; assign to monitoring or active coaching
Review and adjust
schedules/programming
placements of off-track
Drury students
(MassCore/On-time
Graduation
Meehan/Callahan Hamilton/Morgan
Freeman-
Labonte/Bryce
September 30
Quarterly
Individuals will report out on finalized plans for off-track
students and problem-solve any remaining issues
Review Quarterly at CORE/BEST
20
APPENDIX
This narrative overview provides details regarding Drury High School’s ongoing improvement
and restructuring endeavors to improve instructional quality, support at-risk learners and
integrate and embed college and career readiness in a structured, aligned and strategic fashion for
students in grades 8-12.
Pathways to High School Graduation
Two significant grants (MassGrad and Massachusetts Math/Science Institute Advanced
Placement Initiative) aimed at providing multiple pathways to high school graduation and
improve college and career readiness skills of students came to an end in June 2015 for Drury
High School. In its fifth and final year, the MassGrad Grant supported Drury’s online learning
lab, graduation coaching and the competency-based E3 Academy to support on-time graduation
for all students.
The Learning Lab completed its final year of using the PLATO online platform for credit
recovery and “full run” content courses and electives for students in grades 9-12. Many students
served via in the Learning Lab completed more than one online course. Students were scheduled
into online courses for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to: credit recovery,
scheduling conflicts, credit acceleration and/or to accommodate students dually enrolled in
college courses that met during the regular school day. Drury’s online credit recovery program
was featured as a rural school in the April 2015 Blended Credit Recovery policy brief.
Developed by the Northeast Comprehensive Center (NCC) in collaboration with the
Massachusetts Department of Education, the NCC evaluated our Learning Lab program in four
areas: Policy, Program Design, Curriculum & Instruction and Capacity, citing that Drury’s
program was strong in several domains. Drury will migrate to the Edgenuity platform for the
delivery of online courses, with training occurring this past spring for staff. Edgenuity was
piloted during the July 2015 summer program for credit recovery and enrichment, and will be
ready for full operational launch for grades 8-12 in September 2015.
Two graduation coaches worked to support at-risk youth during the school year. These adult
advocates served a variety of roles, depending upon the needs of their at-risk student caseloads.
Approximately twenty percent (20%) of the 2015 graduates received some type of graduation
coaching during their tenure at Drury High School. Drury will modify the graduation-coaching
program as part of their ongoing College and Career/Student Support Services redesign, as
funding for the 2015-2016 school year can only maintain one coach.
21
The E3 competency-based program supported nineteen students in the areas of essential skills
and knowledge, effort and employability. Sixty seven percent (67%) of the students served at
E3 graduated in June of 2015. Of the nineteen students who were enrolled at one point in time
during the 2014-2015 year, ten completed their graduation competencies from the E3 Academy,
two students returned to Drury in the spring of 2015 to complete their graduation requirements,
three students will return to E3, one student will return to Drury and three students dropped out
from E3. While supporting high school graduation for at-risk students, E3 also engaged in
several community and service-learning activities in North Adams in an effort to break down
barriers and support the community, while learning and demonstrating academic skills and
knowledge. As a result of E3’s service learning and collaboration with community partners, the
students and staff were recognized by the Massachusetts Service Alliance and honored with the
Outstanding Service Partnership award at a state ceremony in Framingham in June.
Drury High School’s work to create flexible pathways to graduation has often been highlighted.
The Massachusetts Department of Education selected Drury as a case study site due to school
improvement in its dropout and graduation rates during the first two years of the MassGrad
award. Twenty-eight of the MassGrad high schools, including Drury High School, received
“Implementation Awards” through a competitive application process. Drury High School
received an award of $237,500 to be used during the 2010–11 through 2014–15 school years.
According to the UMASS Donahue Institute, improvement was sustained through the third year
of the award. Specifically, from the 2010–11 school year through the 2013–14 school year, the
school’s annual dropout rate decreased from 6.2% to 3.8%, and it’s 4-year graduation rate
increased from 73.3% to 79.6%.
Drury’s promising practices and evolution of programming over the past five years led to the
North Adams Public Schools as being one of three district awardees featured at the MassGrad
Showcase in May. Principal Amy Meehan was a speaker on the Leadership Panel, offering
reflections on the last five years of progress, why the work is important, and where the work
needs to go next. Assistant Principal Tim Callahan presented a break out session for model
practices with online learning.
College and Career Readiness
Opened in September 2014, the College and Career Center (CCC) worked to increase
coordination between guidance, college planning, and career services. Guidance counselors,
graduation coaches, a CC Facilitator and Career Specialist staffed the CCC. The Naviance
College and Career Readiness Online Platform served as the “spine” of our newly created
physical, with accounts for Drury students and staff to explore college and career activities using
technology. The overarching goal of the CCC is to educate, promote and facilitate the various
“on ramps” for students during their high school graduation pathway towards post-secondary
education and career opportunities.
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The College and Career Team (CCT) worked to map out comprehensive program relevant to
college and career readiness for students in grades 8-12. The CCT collaborated with
administration and teachers to promote rigor, improve graduation rates, and plan college and
career readiness activities. A guest speaker series was introduced, where local entrepreneurs and
community members spoke to small groups of students exploring particular professions, such as
social work, landscaping, business and architecture. The team also help organize a career fair
during lunch with several Academic Success students and introduced the school’s first
Destination Drury showcase where students, parents, community members celebrated the success
of the school year and discovered more about the learning and extra-curricular opportunities at
Drury. The April event featured concert performances, artwork on display, student
demonstrations, science experiments and the world premiere of the 2015 Lip Dub.
Members of the senior class utilized the Naviance online platform to complete college
applications, write resumes and manage letters of recommendations, whereas incoming grade
eight students completed career interest surveys with their High School Prep teachers and the
CCT. Survey results were then used as a tool to craft My Achievement Plans (MAP). The
MAP’s will serve as a roadmap to guide their success, graduation and post-secondary planning at
Drury High School. All students were set up with Naviance accounts during the year and will
continue to use them starting in September 2015. Last, the CCT facilitated a retreat at MCLA at
the end of the school year in June with a group of key NAPS stakeholders to expand objectives
and activities for students in grades six through twelve in the academic, social/personal and
workplace readiness domains to support college and career readiness district-wide for the coming
school year.
Focus on Instruction and Higher Order Thinking
The Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) at Drury has focused on increasing the depth of
knowledge and the implementation of higher order thinking lessons and assessments over the
past two years, with an increased focus in 2014-2015. The visiting committee and our own
internal learning walks indicated that lower levels of Bloom’s taxonomy were still the primary
points of emphasis for teachers and assignments, even as recently as the fall of 2014. Our
approach to improve the level of expected thinking was twofold: (1) to develop and implement a
series of performance-based assessments in each course, and (2) to target depth of knowledge
and the upper levels of Bloom’s taxonomy in our professional development focusing on
formative assessment and instructional practices. Team Leaders in every department have led
their teams in the development of the performance assessments, and they have all used a
validation tool that specifically directs the developers to emphasize the measurement of higher
order thinking on the assessment.
Each academic course at Drury now has four performance assessments developed, and the
piloting of those assessments -- and the collection of student work -- began in the spring of 2015.
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During our professional development cycle for 2014-2015, we supported this work and
supplemented it with a variety of workshops and meetings covering a variety of topics that
would help to increase the focus on higher order thinking. For example, we directed teachers at
one meeting to self-assess the depth of knowledge indicated by the student learning objectives in
their lesson plans, and in another we reinforced the use of the assessment validation protocol on
teacher-created assessments. Meanwhile, in monthly or bi-monthly learning team sessions
(which everyone in the faculty participated in, in lieu of a duty for that day), we continued to
gather data on depth of knowledge and higher order thinking in the classroom and explore best
practices to improve the level of questioning and student written responses.
The growth in depth of knowledge from Quarter 1 of 2013-2014 to Quarter 3 of last year shows
our progress during that time (this data was gathered via classroom observations):
In 2015-2016 we are continuing to focus on increasing depth of knowledge and higher order
thinking with a school-wide focus on academic discourse: increasing the quantity and quality of
student talk.
Equal Access to Curriculum
Drury High School has worked for the past three years to ensure that students with disabilities
have access to grade level standards/course curriculum. In addition to more consistently
embedding special education teachers (of basic classes) within the departmental structures of the
high school -- for example, the teacher of basic science collaborates and co-teaches with another
science teacher, just as the teacher of basic math collaborates and co-teaches with another math
teacher -- two major structural shifts have allowed us to make significant gains to raise the level
of rigor and academic expectations for the students who were once in those basic classes. First of
all, “basic” classes are nearly phased out. Unless a student has a significant disability that would
place him or her on an alternative assessment pathway, students with disabilities are now
scheduled directly into college prep level classes (sometime co-taught with a special education
teacher), honors, or above. This provides many more students with access to the appropriate
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grade-level curriculum in a way that they had not been provided before. In addition, when
appropriate, the students with disabilities who are now in more rigorous courses are also
scheduled into intervention classes (like “Real World Math” or “Reading Boost”) in addition to
their college prep or honors classes, providing them with more targeted instruction to help them
improve as they work toward grade level standards.
The second major structural shift began in 2014-2015 with the reassignment of one of the Deans
of Students to become the Dean of Student Support Services, and with his background as a
former Special Education Coordinator he was tasked with reviewing IEP goals and transition
plans to ensure that students were being held to appropriate grade level standards. By examining
IEPs from previous years, we noted that many used obsolete academic standards or set the goals
too low for students who were expected to be able to pass the MCAS test and be able to leave
high school with the academic skills needed to reach their stated levels of aspiration. Working
with the Principal and Assistant Principal, the Dean of Student Support Services was better able
to calibrate more appropriate academic goals for students, and that work has continued in the
2015-2016 with the addition of a professional development day dedicated to IEP goal-setting and
the partnership of the College and Career Facilitator who has developed a more meaningful
process through which to gather teacher feedback on special education student progress and use
that to better inform the development of the transition plan.
Standards-Based Formative and Summative Assessments
In 2014-2015 the Drury administration, in conjunction with our newly-appointed Instructional
Support Facilitator developed and implemented a systemic professional development plan which
addressed specific assessment topics on the following schedule:
● September 5, 2014: Formative Assessment Overview (The How and Why)
● October 2, 2014: Consultancy Protocol for Assessment Validation
● December 11, 2014: Digging into Data and Assessments
● February 5, 2015: Cross-Department Validation of Performance Assessments
● April 9, 2015: Continued Departmental Work on Performance Assessments
In addition to this plan, which was developed prior to the school year and implemented with
fidelity, other supports and professional development opportunities were provided to teachers in
the form of faculty meeting time (in which we reviewed various assessment strategies and
practiced the validation protocol), learning team time (in which all teachers participated in
learning walks to gather school-wide data on assessment use), and departmental collaborative
time (which provided additional time for performance assessment creation and validation as
guided by the team leader).
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These assessment topics linked directly to the school-wide learning expectations about reading
and writing, along with an emphasis on higher-order thinking like analysis, evaluation, and
problem solving.
Though we have completed the specific planned implementation of assessment PD, we are
continuing our systemic professional development cycle in 2015-2016 around the topic of
Academic Language, specifically the increase in collaboration among students toward an
appropriate task and methods to measure student talk and collaboration, another aspect of our
school-wide learning expectations.
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