Rich Township Coalition for Better Schools: OUR NEXT EVALUATION/ACCOUNTABILITY PLANNING COMMITTEE MEETS ON WED., AUG. 14, 2013 AT 6:00 P.M.

Quick Link

OUR NEXT EVALUATION/ACCOUNTABILITY PLANNING

COMMITTEE MEETING IS WED., AUGUST 14, 2013

Our Evaluation/Accountability Planning Committee's future meeting dates and times are as follows: (1) Wednesday, August 14, 2013 from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. (2) Wednesday, August 28, from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at 20550 S. Cicero Avenue in Matteson, Illinois (District 227 Administrative Office) across from the Matteson, Il. Police Department. In creating the future and in our strategic planning for school district 227, we thank you again for attending our school improvement sessions. We look forward to your continued participation and feedback in our community's continued school improvement initiative toward completing addressing these five essentials of school improvement with community participation and feedback.

School improvement is challenging work. In the situation we are in today, it also requires a continuous formative/evaluation/accountability/monthly-board-superintendent-planning-meeting process with such essentials and administration-action steps involved in board-superintendent-principals-administrative-staff-involvement in MANAGEMENT BY WALKING AROUND. Without observation and real management by walking around time to observe strengths and challenges in multiple areas or with lack of an effective framework in continuous evaluation measures, continuous improvement and data-driven accountability, District 227 has struggled to improve. Researchers at the University of Chicago Consortium

on School Research have defined the five essential district 227 areas of organization and climate related to school improvement. The University of Chicago researchers maintained, with compelling evidence, that schools strong on these 5 Essentials are more likely to:

(1) Improve student learning and attendance year after year

(2) Graduate students from high school better prepared for college or
careers

(3) Improved student ACT and PSAE scores

(4) Get students into college; and

(5) Keep their teachers

Schools in Rich Township High Schools completed the five essentials and the surveys indicate that District 227 is not yet organized showing weak to neutral in the following essential areas:

(1) Ambitious Instruction: Classes are challenging and engaging. (Neutral).

(2) Effective Leaders: Principals and teachers implement a shared vision for success (Neutral)

3) Collaborative Teachers: Teachers collaborate to promote professional growth (Weak).

(4) Involved Families: The entire staff builds strong external relationships

(Weak).

(5) Supportive Environment: The school is safe, demanding, and supportive. (Weak)

Every school board and school district must recognize the importance of supportive and involved parents and community. School boards that involve the broader citizenry through effective community engagement activities have had the greatest success in garnering broad support for the five school improvement essentials. School-community-collaboration-engagement can generate and bring into schools additional social, emotional, and experiential resources that can raise student achievement performance to new heights unattainable by superintendent, principals, and teachers working alone.

VISION WITHOUT ACTION IS MERELY A DREAM. ACTION WITHOUT VISION JUST PASSES THE TIME. VISION WITH ACTION CAN CHANGE THE WORLD. VISION IS NOT ABOUT WHAT WE ARE, BUT WHAT WE WANT TO BECOME.

RICH THSD 2013 SURVEY OF LEARNING CONDITIONS: RESULTS FROM 5 ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS

	AMBITIOUS INSTRUCTION		EFFECTIVE LEADERS	COLLABORATIVE TEACHERS	INVOLVED FAMILIES	SUPPORTIVE ENVIRONMENT
PERFORMANCE SCORE	NEUTRAL 42		NEUTRAL 44	WEAK 27	WEAL 38	WEAK 33

RECOMMENDED ACTIONS: GROUP I	Ms. Lightfoot: 8/14/13 Meeting Focus: Supportive environment Indicator: School-Wide Future Orientation

GROUP II	Ms. Falkner: Meeting Focus Supportive Environment Indicator: School-Wide Future Orientation

SUPPORTIVE ENVIRONMENT	HOW CAN WE SUPPORT TEACHERS IN helping THEM SUPPORT STUDENTS' ACHIEVING ACADEMIC GOAL?
WEAK	1. Staff Development 2. Determined by Teacher needs and cultural diversity. 3. Peer to Peer Interaction. 4. Teacher Questionnaires for feedback
1	Determine what is and what is not working (PLC). Teachers share best practices techniques/methods in attempting to help students succeed . Assess, determine, and discuss whether they were successful based upon the data and student success.
2	Frequent celebrations of excellence and academic improvement.
3	District website addresses students' planning for life after-graduation-careers, professional development for counselors, classroom computer technology for 21st century instruction.
4	Life goal planning sessions.
WEAK	HOW CAN WE ENHANCE STUDENT SAFETY IN SCHOOL?
1	Crisis Plans/Drills
2	Increase armed security at main entrance of schools
3	Hall Monitors, All stakeholders wear ID's at all times. Specific and enforced consequences for not wearing ID's, Situational issues In-School Consequences
4	Volunteer Hall Monitors, Follow Daily Schedule of Expectations, Follow Daily Schedule of Expectations, Tinley Background checks, Safety Meeting with all students
WEAK	SUPPORTIVE ENNVIRONMENT: AROUND SCHOOL
	Closed school campus, Students remain in building with no external lunch periods.
1	Increased adult visibility, Safe school zone enforcement, Intergovernmental Crisis Plans/Drill,
WEAK	TRAVELING TO/FROM SCHOOL
1	Door to Door Safety, Intergovernmental Agreements regards Student incidents, Community safe Page,
2	Around School: How can we increase the level of mutual trust and respect between students and teachers?
3	Respect and trust must be reciprocal. All leaders must practice "MANAGEMENT BY WALKING AROUND" and monitor staff accountability and responsibility.
	INVOLVED FAMILIES AND GROUPS
1	Identify Key Strategies, Identify Key Strategies, initiatives, Pilot Programs to increase our weak (38) Involved Families performance rating.
RICH THSD 2013 SURVEY OF LEARNING CONDITIONS: RESULTS 5 ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS (CONT)
CHANGE THE CLIMATE		Communicate to the community that we welcome, value parent involvement, use a common language, express how we value their time and input
COMMUNICATE COLLEGE GOALS WITH PARENTS		Increase parent-teacher interaction time, Embrace parents and the community, Address ways to remove barriers, Communicate not only when there are behavior problems, Partner parents with staff/teachers/ school-community, Tap parents' talents, Volunteer programs, invite parents to Special Programs, Invite family to Special Programs.
CHANGE THE CLIMATE		Invite families to Special Programs, Be visible in the community, Survey kids regarding what they want, change language around, ID's, Assign a teacher to one or 2 parents, Plan coffee meetings.