Professional Learning Communities

andResponse to Intervention

Yorktown High School Action Plan

Focused thinking…

Coming together is a beginning; keeping

together is progress; working together is success.

---Henry Ford

The beginning…• High School history• Leadership roles• Faculty and staff roles• Student roles• Parent roles• Community roles

How do we inspire students, parents and staff to strive together for excellence?

• and

Joining Yorktown High School

• Summer of 2009• Personal and professional history with

YCSD• Development of entry plan focusing on

culture, faculty, staff, and students• Goal setting• Elementary educator leading a high

school• Development of trust• Relationship building

YHS Goals and Objectives

• Build a professional learning community which focuses on collaboration, use of data, and progress monitoring

• Educate faculty and staff about Response to Intervention

• Increase student achievement under the RTI lens

• Create a positive teaching and learning environment for all under the PBIS lens

Creation of RTI Team• Surveying of faculty and staff --- seed

dropping 2009- 2010• Creation of RTI team• Immersion into latest research• What is RTI• Why RTI• How RTI can benefit YHS• Training with Jim Wright• Solidify the team

RTI Consultant

Erin Ax—district funded• Guidance Department• Teacher Coordinators• Learning Center Staff• Administrators• RTI team

Focusing on:• What is RTI• Role and impact at the secondary level

Team Decision

Formally present Response toIntervention to the faculty and staff• What is RTI• RTI common terms• Tiered model• Why RTI• What can RTI do for YHS• Future Steps• Introduction of RTI team

Motivation

• Discussion buzz about how RTI will impact our work at YHS

• How do we help students to succeed when so many aren’t motivated

• Creation of a schoolwide definition of motivation

MOTIVATIONWhat it means at YHS

Motivation is a self-driven pursuit of an intrinsic or extrinsic

goal.

Year One ReflectionReflections and Next

Steps

• Goal setting for 2010- 2011 school year

• Targeting grade 9• Restructuring of

Learning Center• Restructuring of Study

Hall• Curriculum

Development• Summer work• YHS Goals

Professional Learning Communities

• Creation of YHS’s first Study Group for 2010 – 2011 school year focusing on teaching of literacy

• Teacher Coordinator Study Group—PLC’s

Summer Work • Collaboration with middle school to review incoming

ninth grade data• Creation of an English Skills and Special Education

English Skills classes for grade 9• Meeting with Teacher Coordinators• Meeting with Guidance Department• Restructuring of Learning Center• Restructuring of Study Hall along with curriculum

development focusing on topics such as study skills and organization and progress monitoring targeting students

• Progress monitoring document• Creation of English 11 collaborative class

YHS Plan Sharing

Presentation of RTI goals to:• Building and district

administrators• Faculty and staff• Parents• Targeted students• Presentation

Professional Learning Communities Study

Group• Introduction of Professional Learning

Communities to Teacher Coordinators• Bi-weekly meetings with Teacher Coordinators

to discuss curriculum updates focusing on RTI and PBIS

• DuFour’s book distributed and monthly discussions of text

• Still a work in progress• Newest text purchased and will be distributed

this month

Buildingwide Study Group

• We’re all teachers of literacy• Teacher volunteers• Meet twice monthly • Do I Really Have To Teach

Reading? • I Read It, But I Don’t Get It• Sample chapter summary

Maintaining Momentum…

Erin Ax visiting YHS consistently…• Meeting with Teacher Coordinators• Meeting with Guidance

Department• Meeting with RTI team• Meeting with Learning Center staff• Meeting with Study Hall Staff• Meeting with Administrators

RTI Team Recommendation

Erin Ax formally addresses entire YHS Learning Community

RTI Team Reflections

Team debriefs focusing on…• Next steps• Continually meeting RTI goals

Essential question:How do we ensure, work collaboratively to meet the

individual needs of each learner?

RTI Team Next Steps…

Run progress report and/or report data of grade 9

students receiving a “D” or “F”

RTI Team Data Review

• Collaboratively review data

• Discuss data• What do we do with data

RTI Team Recommendation

• Creation of “Student Review Data” document

• Document purpose:Before we can make recommendations to

support students, we must engage in intimate conversations with classroom

teachers.

Student Data Review Document

• Student Data Review Document

What do we do with this information?

• We need to dig deeper!

• Creation of Student Intervention Plan Document

Student Intervention Plan Document

Building Trends

• Closer and deeper look at building trends

• What are we collectively recognizing

Students are struggling in specific areas:

• Homework• Motivation• Extra help

RTI Team Framework

• Continued immersion into latest research

• Development of YHS RTI Framework

Tiered Interventions at YHS

Framework Presentation

• Present to RTI team• Present to Erin Ax• Reflect and revise with RTI team

RTI Team Decisions

Review of building trends focusing on:

• Extra help• Motivation• HomeworkTeam collectively decides to target

EXTRA HELP as an intervention.

Next steps

• Survey entire YHS Community…

“How do you motivate students to come for extra

help?”

Extra Help Intervention

• Continue present practice of making students aware of extra help sessions by posting within classroom, department offices, website and/or verbally discussing

• Creation of “Extra Help” bulletin board

• Extra Help sign in sheet• Provide Teacher Coordinators and

Guidance Counselors with list of targeted studentsFree Template from www.brainybetty.com 29

Simultaneously Happening…

PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention Supports)

• Team was formed consisting of teachers, social worker, guidance counselor, and an administrator

• Attending training and meeting buildingwide to process new learning

How do we ensure YHS Community support?

• RTI changes happening• PBIS changes happening• Brief overview of PBIS to faculty

and staff• Share that we will survey entire

YHS learning community

What are your schoolwide expectations

for positive behavior?

RESPECT

RTI Team Next Steps

Extra help focus• How do we begin to collect data on

the effectiveness of extra help?• How do we share our new

learnings with our YHS community?

• Team decides to present at next faculty meeting

Faculty Meeting Update

RTI and PBIS update presentation

Next Steps…

• Continued work with Erin Ax• Data analysis• RTI and PBIS teams joint goal

setting• Reflection and review of work• Sharing of best practices at faculty

meetings• Communication and collaboration

with YHS community

Action Plan Document

Action Plan

Reflection

Be the change you wish to see in the world.

---Gandhi