5 Step of Learning

5 Steps of Learning

Our journey to higher student achievement has taken us through a system which supports effective teaching, higher student growth, professional development, instructional feedback and continuous collaboration. As we contemplate the increased rigor of the Indiana State Content Standards the benefits of our instructional system allows us to be ahead of the curve.  Excellent teaching practices are our foundation and increasing the rigor of our content is supported through this system.

As a member of the Indiana Principal Leadership Institute through, Indiana State University, we have studied Marzano's High Reliability Schools model.  This model consists of 5 surveys to determine where the school rates in becoming a High Reliability School.  Although, Scott currently implements a system to develop an effective school, I (along with the TAP Leadership Team) evaluated the data to determine where we stand in effective instruction.  Below you will find the results of the Marzano High Reliability Schools level 2 survey which focuses on Effective Instructional Practices.  Below find a summary of the purpose of the evaluation and the overall mean for each Leading Indicator.  The survey was completed by the Scott staff in November and December.

Administrators, teachers, and other personnel at Scott Middle School were asked to respond to an online survey designed to gauge their school’s initial status on the second level of the High Reliability Schools (HRS) framework. Level 2 has six leading indicators which address factors considered to be foundational to any substantive change within a school:

	Administrator			Teachers & Staff
Leading Indicator	M	SD		M	SD
2.1: The school leader communicates a clear vision as to how instruction should be addressed in the school.	4.97	0.09		3.93	0.35
2.2 Teachers are provided support to continually enhance their pedagogical skills through reflection and professional growth plans.	4.65	0.20		3.94	0.35
2.3: Predominant instructional practices throughout the school are known and monitored.	4.40	0.28		4.12	0.14
2.4: Teachers are provided with clear, ongoing evaluations of their pedagogical strengths and weaknesses that are based on multiple sources of data and are consistent with student achievement data.	4.58	0.20		3.98	0.25
2.5: Teachers are provided with job-embedded professional development that is directly related to their instructional growth goals.	4.92	0.18		3.94	0.17
2.6: Our teachers have opportunities to observe and discuss effective teaching.	4.97	0.09		3.60	0.32

After evaluating the survey results as a team, we were excited to see our current school system led us to score high in all Leading Indicators.  In addition, we determined the means were consistently on target and where there was a disconnect it is possible the language used in the survey was misinterpreted by some staff members.  With this knowledge, we are excited to continue with our current instructional/professional development system to build a successful school.

As the instructional leader of Scott, this data tells me our staff understands what the expectations are for teaching and learning.  This blog post began with a visual of the 5 Steps of Learning which is the foundation of instructional practices.  It is impossible to begin a lesson without a clear, measurable objective based on the needs of your students.  The 5 Steps of Learning are not only used during student learning, but when we are developing professional development lessons.  With now only 17 instructional days until the Applied Skills portion of the ISTEP test we must provide rigorous lessons with specific instructional goals!

Continued Success in 2015

In our profession, the "New Year" begins in August and the imminent countdown to ISTEP+ begins with the calendar year transition.  Thankfully, we recently re-evaluated our personal and professional goals and created inspiration boards to remind ourselves of why we work so hard!  When you return to work spend some time focusing on your inspiration board to ensure you keep those goals at the forefront! You may even want to have the students review their personal boards, too!

We have 36 school days from January 5, 2015 to the beginning of the Applied Skills ISTEP+!  The new state standards scare many of us, BUT by focusing on the process of completing a problem or writing an essay our students will be successful.  Ms. Burrows spent time at a recent faculty meeting discussing the theory of Mindset by Carol Dweck and the powerful impact educators have on developing successful students.  Below you will find a 10 minute Ted Talks video of Ms. Dweck and how to motivate all students in turn increasing their ability.  Relationships, praise and proper motivation are equally as important to teaching the standards!  Don't underestimate the power of the relationships with your students.  Success will continue for SMS in 2015 if we remember all of the pieces to the puzzle!  

Mindset - Carol Dweck

I want to wish all staff members a Happy New Year and hope you and your families have a happy and healthy 2015.  Please remember my door is always open for anything you may need!  Our job is difficult and demanding and sometimes we just need to process our thoughts with someone else to get through the day. 

Calendar

Acuity Readiness #2 Begins - 1/6/15

Team Leader Meeting - 1/7/15

Grading Period Ends - 1/9/15

*Reminders*

We have begun to offer after-school tutoring after-school Monday through Friday.  Please encourage your students to attend!  I will meet with those teachers interested in supervising after school on Tuesday 1/6/15.  A calendar invite will be sent out to those who have already contacted me.  

Also, advisory will begin to focus on remediation again as we did last year.  This proved to effective! We will discuss the specifics during team leader on Wednesday.  Please discuss this process as a team prior to the meeting.

One more thing...Mr. Hicks and Mr. Friend will begin attending team meetings to offer support with student behavior and academics.  Please don't hesitate to invite them in to your meeting at any time you need anything!