January 26, 2009

Racine Unified School Board recognizes Dr. Ewald and Project CAPE with a certificate of excellence for their commitment to students and schools and the  strengthening of learning communities.

January 30, 2009

Thanks to Project CAPE and the hard work of teachers, North Cape School says it has increased student achievement with family involvement programming for reading and math and with a community garden.  Families attending language and math nights have also checked out the new games and other materials from the reading specialist.  For the garden, teachers have rewritten curriculum to make cross-disciplinary connections.  They have provided and increased hands-on learning opportunities to include measurement, manipulation, planning, and nurturing nature related to nutrition, math, science, and environmental concepts. 

March 10, 2009

The Burlington Area School District thanks Project CAPE for support in implementing a coaching model. “we have set up true learning communities that have fostered professional conversations leading to a paradigm shift in the practices of   teaching mathematics.”

March 31, 2009

The principal of Jefferson Lighthouse School in Racine Unified School District thanks Project CAPE for support in becoming an IB School.  “Working with Dr. Ewald has been a pleasure and I am very pleased with the progress we have made thus far.  We believe that implementing the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme…will enhance the quality of education of our students, making them more likely to choose rigorous and challenging coursework in high school and college.  It is our intention to instill the qualities and skills in our students that will help them adapt to the ever changing, ever flattening world.”

June 2, 2009

McKinley Middle School makes AYP!  Principals, Lori Sue Pelk and Richard Larson say that their school had not made AYP for several years.  Before, we were a school that did not have a common vision. “Little of the good things going on in our classrooms were being shared.  The administration was expected to lead all activities and collaboration was almost nonexistent.  The word walk-through was viewed with fear.  Staff morale was an issue and McKinley was seen as an average middle school in Racine.”  This has all changed.  Shared leadership as a professional learning community has high performing teachers discussing student achievement and best practices with positive results.  “Through the assistance of Project CAPE and Dr. Ewald, we have made AYP and our staff morale is at an all time high.”

Fox River Middle School, Waterford, WI

Fox River Middle School in Waterford, Wisconsin, is a collaborative learning community.  When Principal, Darlene Markle and staff leaders, Tasha Baker, Erin Dietz, Kim Rivera, Sara Siegesmund, Mike Rosandich, and Katie DeBoer talked with Project CAPE about their ideas, the enthusiasm was contagious.  A “coffee shop”, “after-school connection program”, “summer reading program”, and “home-visit” program were key components in addressing relationships with middle school students.  This project was developed after 2 years of research and evaluation of “what works and what doesn’t” in connecting at-risk students to school.  Some of the work outlined in this project is as follows:
 
A district goal of differentiation in the classroom requires teachers to use data to inform instruction and meet a variety of student needs.  This project would include Fox River teachers meeting weekly to discuss student data, monitor progress and look at the evidence of learning.  Individual Learning Plans will be piloted for “at-risk” 8th grade students with the goal to have plans for all 8th graders in 2009-10.   In addition to career counseling, 8th grade students will write a career research paper.  Teachers in this project would assess students in community career trips using a “work-order” rubric listing specific tasks and skills related to the experience.

This team, in their letter to Project CAPE, summarized our partnership:  “Collaboration is defined as working together in a joint intellectual effort.  We are eager to collaborate with Project CAPE and are looking forward to improving student learning and achievement together.”       

North Cape School District, Franksville, WI

North Cape School District in Franksville, Wisconsin, is a small K-8 district of 220 students.  They are partnering with Project CAPE in two projects this year:
 
* Teachers Cheryl Rybka and Donan Johnson presented the development of a school wide garden to address a need to improve measurement skills in math, the need to increase students’ ability to analyze and solve problems, and to get students out of the classroom into real-life experiences.  A secondary goal is to build community connections.  The project’s success will be measured in several ways including MAP testing scores, 3 times a year; teacher pre and post tests of concepts taught using the garden; surveys of students regarding understanding and appreciation of the environment; and data regarding parent and community participation in the garden project.  
The “Outdoor Learning Center” project is off to a good start.  Community members have donated time and equipment in clearing land and preparing the soil.  Cheryl and Donan presented a binder of prepared lessons aligned with state standards and collaborated with staff to answer CAPE’s questions about student achievement data and measurements of success.  The innovativeness, relevance, environmental focus, and cross grade-level & cross discipline curricular activities in this project convinced Project CAPE of its merit.

* Teachers Jessica Harris and Lori Lund presented the proposal for “Family Involvement Programming for Reading and Math.”  Twice a month math and reading programs for families will be hosted at school along with kits that are developed for check-out.  AIMS Web and MAP assessments along with surveys and day-to-day monitoring of students’ work will be used to compare the progress of students involved in both programs and those not involved.  This project requires five teachers to collaborate and focus on key targets for improving student achievement, while increasing student motivation and generating parent involvement and interaction. 

Both of these projects at North CAPE require professional dialogue and engagement with Project CAPE in monitoring the indicators of success.  Conversations so far with superintendent Walker and teachers indicate a desire for better instructional practices supported by a positive school environment.  This is a first step for North Cape district in becoming a system that involves external stakeholders in accountability for student learning.

Jefferson Lighthouse Elementary, Racine, WI

Jefferson Lighthouse Elementary enrolls 570 students and is part of the Racine Unified School District.  In meetings with Soren Gajewski, Directing Principal, and the Jefferson Team, Project CAPE leadership learned about their plans to launch an International Baccalaureate Program, an effort to change their school from a traditional philosophy to a global, creative, student-driven philosophy.  The IB Primary Years Programme of Inquiry is appropriate for all academic ability levels and is built around six interdisciplinary themes. 

In their words, “ We are looking for improvement in the development of new and creative ways to focus on Bloom’s higher level thinking skills.  We want students to be able to use their knowledge and create new knowledge…and we want them to do this within an international, 21st century framework.”  Project CAPE is pleased to partner with Jefferson.  Their commitment as an entire faculty to this endeavor is a demonstration of their strength as a professional learning community.  We will be interested in the metrics that will measure the depth of student learning and look forward to sharing in the study of available data as the year progresses.

McKinley Middle Charter School, Racine, WI

McKinley Middle Charter School is part of the Racine Unified School District and enrolls nearly 900 students, 55% of whom receive free or reduced lunch.  48% of the students represent minority populations.  In many meetings with Directing Principal, Lori Sue Pelk, Associate Principal, Richard Larson, and with teacher leaders, Project CAPE leadership learned about their vision to create and sustain a Professional Learning Community with a laser-like focus on student achievement. 

Their proposal requested support for home-school connections, targeted, collaborative teacher team planning meetings, and classroom visits to share best practices.  Beginning with the end in mind, the desired results are closing the achievement gaps between the at-risk and general school populations and increasing overall student achievement.  The McKinley Curricular Leadership Team will be the catalyst for change, for facilitating data analysis and communication regarding progress, a kind of “accountability task force.”  As stated in their proposal, “This is action on a school wide, systemic scale” … “a very innovative program for our school and our district.”  Change is most effective when launched from inside an organization. 

Project CAPE believes that good schools practice shared inquiry to improve the learning of all students, and have a focused strategy for improving instruction.  They use data from multiple assessments to constantly and carefully evaluate what instructional strategies work, adjusting the school’s program in response.  We believe McKinley is laying the foundation for transformation from inside with such actions.  In this project, teachers are active learners in providing challenging and productive classrooms.

Their plan embraces the principles of a true professional learning community and Project CAPE looks forward to our partnership.  Along with parents and community members we view our organization as an important resource for understanding, supporting, and teaching students.  We will be active in joining McKinley faculty as they regularly collect, reflect on, and share data about the effectiveness of their school improvement strategies.

Can a coaching model help to improve math achievement?

Burlington Area School District understands continuous improvement as a professional learning community.  When they came to Project CAPE early in 2007 to discuss a potential partnership, they were engaged in ongoing study of teaching and learning.  Even though math scores were higher than the state average, there were concerns about the achievement gap between regular education and special education students, consistency of instruction, and of the curriculum materials being utilized.

They asked themselves questions like, “Is the math curriculum aligned with state and national standards?”, “Are we addressing both content and process standards in our curriculum and instruction?”, “To what extent are writing and other interdisciplinary skills being integrated into mathematics instruction?”  “Are instructional approaches and materials consistent within and between grade levels?”  “Are we accurately assessing what we expect students to know and be able to do?” “Do teachers demonstrate a range of instructional skills and strategies that enable them to adjust instruction to meet the needs of all learners?”  The answers indicated a range of teaching strategies and materials were being used. 

From this year-long review of teachers’, students’, and community’s responses, they were optimistic that the use of math coaches along with new curriculum materials would lead to greater student achievement in math.  Project CAPE supported this new strategy for collaboration to increase math achievement and encourage best teaching practices.  During the 2007-08 school year, math coaching positions were established at each grade level in the elementary schools.  A district math coach and principal, Christine Anderson, and the Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Connie Zinnen, along with Project CAPE director, Dr. Ewald, met monthly with the coaches to discuss their growth in the new roles and assess the implementation of new math materials related to best teaching practices.  Several forms of data were used to monitor student achievement, teaching practices and parent involvement and satisfaction with the new program. 

During the school district’s partnership with Project CAPE, questions emerged regarding the transition in focus from what teachers were teaching to what the students were learning, to what extent assessment data actually informed instruction, and what targets or levels of performance would be acceptable evidence of progress.

Strategic Actions
At the end of year one, those questions persist amid the positive results.  Parent feedback indicates they will continue to need help learning the new strategies in the “Expressions” materials so they are comfortable helping their students.

They also feel their students are learning at a higher level than they did at the same age.  The district used 2006-2007 WKCE scores as baseline data with 44% of fourth graders scoring proficient or advanced.  In 2007-2008 the scores remained the same.  Scores for special education fourth graders went from 70% to 77% and in fifth grade from 35% to 52%.  (In WI the WKCE is given in November and because new strategies and the coaching model did not begin until September, it is difficult to attribute results based on these changes.)  92% of teachers felt the implementation of the new program went well.  94% used coaches in some capacity, an exciting first step in developing a culture of collaboration.  63% indicated their own teaching practices have changed as a result of the new program and implementation of math coaches.  62% of students indicated they understood math better that the previous year.

Students are using multiple strategies when solving problems and are able to articulate what is happening and why.  This is a change from the past.  Developing instructional coaches is new territory for Burlington School District, but to become smarter as an organization, identifying, honoring, and sharing the intellectual capital is key to improving student achievement.

As a K-12 continuous improvement system with 3,555 students, they are advancing this plan for improvement into the middle school with an internal and external network of support.  The district math coordinator will continue to model best practice for the coaches; special education teachers and middle school teachers are included in this role.  Together, analyzing student data, modeling lessons, and encouraging peer observations will be their focus.  Principals will take a more active role in the process by collaborating with coaches to facilitate site meetings focusing on math teaching and learning.  Each building will conduct an analysis of their math scores on state, local and classroom assessments to determine specific actions necessary to meet their math goal.  The district coach, site coach and principal will provide collaborative leadership in monitoring this goal progress.

2008-2009 School Year
Growing the coaching and leadership roles as new coaches are added, aligning K-8 math curriculum and instruction as new middle school resources are implemented, setting specific achievement targets based on WKCE scores and internal assessments, and continuously monitoring progress are strategic actions for 2008-2009.  Project CAPE is partnering again in year two with the Burlington School District, because as a system they have focused their work on student learning, capacity development, community connectedness, and data-driven decision-making.

Our investment of time and money, ($79,636.80), is based on the expectation that the results of their efforts will be measured in students’ improved math performance. 

How can a preschool teacher affect the adult lives of her students?

At Drought School, a K-8, also known as the Norway-Raymond J7 School District, 4K teacher, Carrie Reid, thought about that question.  In graduate school, the realization that strong reading skills at an early age are needed in order to compete in the 21st century  global community made Carrie think differently about her classroom.  She decided that her students in this small school district of less than 200 students needed a richer and stronger foundation in reading.

Her students had access to few good books, and as the only preschool teacher in a faculty of seventeen, she had no preschool staff to collaborate with.  With few measures of improvement and only a gut feeling that her students needed more, Carrie contacted Project CAPE with an idea for a cooperative reading program to offer supportive reading partners.  As we dialoged about this new effort to model and develop early reading skills, measures to assess phonemic awareness, elements of a story, and reading comprehension were also created.

The training of parents as reading partners, development of portfolios for each child, the creation of book report formats and observation checklists, and the purchase of quality books launched the process of improvement.  The first part of the year involved parents at home learning, listening, and reporting on growth of their own and their students’ reading skills.  With the start of second semester, parent readers were scheduled to come into the classroom weekly.  As the year progressed, parent surveys reported positive experiences. 

Accomplishments
Student assessments showed an improvement in each student in phonological awareness, letter knowledge, comprehension, oral language, vocabulary, print awareness, written expression, motivation to read, and fluency.  Carrie believes she is a better educator because of this experience and continues to raise the bar in her classroom and in the system.  Using what she has learned, next school year Carrie will include a wider variety of book report questions, more leveling of classroom library and books sent home, and more differentiation in individual education plans.  As a teacher leader she is now working with a team of teachers for systemic, continuous improvement.  As she states, “I am truly a better educator because of this experience, and my students this year and in years to come will benefit from all I have learned throughout this project.”

How can high schools help students with weak reading skills?

Special education teacher, Kelley Cox, knows one way is revamping instruction to assist “ex-ed” and regular education freshmen and sophomores.  She implements the Read 180 program at Union Grove Union High School District. She came to Project CAPE with a belief that students struggling with novel comprehension in the required Freshman English class could be helped with this intervention.  While the School Board had supported the program, which was innovative for this high school, the students were not allowed to write in the student workbooks and had to transfer their work onto paper.  Also there was a limited selection of reading materials.

Kelley’s partnership with Project CAPE enabled her to change her classroom teaching strategies, differentiate, and focus on assessing and improving each student’s comprehension level.  For students who achieved at basic and below in reading comprehension on the SRI quizzes, becoming interested in books they selected independently led to increased reading skills and improved attitudes toward school.  Kelley used the Scholastic Reading Inventory, classroom observations, completed assignments, student questionnaires, and feedback forms from other curricular area teachers to determine her own and students’ progress.

In Kelley’s classroom students are engaged and don’t waste a minute.  They participate in small group discussions sitting in comfortable chairs around a circle, share in large group Q & A sessions, and work independently at computers.  One student evaluated the year saying, “In my opinion, I did improve my reading skills, and I also learned how to talk in front of people and open up.”  A parent exclaimed, “It was the first time my son came home and was telling me about something he had read in a book in class!

Kelley reflected on significant achievements and her plan to move forward.  “I created an environment that encouraged students to read. Providing a variety of books and a variety of levels ensured that there was something for everyone.  I was pleased to see the increased lexile levels and improvements in all areas of the program…I will continue to refine and develop strategies which encourage students to want to improve…I did not have complete/accurate feedback from other curricular area teachers…I need to revise my teacher feedback form to make it more useful next year.” 

Even though it was more difficult to measure how students’ reading improvements transferred to other classes, Kelley will continue to work on creating a stronger PLC at Union Grove High School.  “I plan to initiate discussion on the implementation of a more active professional learning community at UGHS…one of several areas I believe would be most beneficial for our school to start to focus on…shared responsibility of every student’s success, even those with disabilities and those that struggle with reading comprehension.”

Can technology really change instruction in a high school?

The librarian at Union Grove Union High School District, (780 students), Gayle Kerznar, came to Project CAPE in April, 2007, with a challenge to increase students’ math and science learning through the use of “interactives” from Explore Learning.  The state WKCE reported scores at or below the state average in critical math and science areas.

Too many students failed courses in math when they attempted taking the “next” course because they didn’t have a firm understanding or foundation from previous courses.  Teachers rarely signed up for computer labs.  Goals to improve WKCE scores, develop deeper understanding of science and math concepts, increase student interest in science and math courses, and increase days in computer labs were set.  To achieve these objectives teachers would have to learn new strategies that engaged students in higher level thinking skills, using new technology.  Assessments would need to developed that measured learning with the new tools.  Students would use these manipulatives to explore new knowledge and practice applying it by generating and testing hypotheses. 

Teacher professional development consisted of summer inservice followed by increased collaborative discussions at regular science and math teacher meetings during the school year.  As the year progressed student scores on pre and post assessments using the “interactives” did improve after working with each one.  A mid-year example on cell energy showed improvement of 27% in 1st hour, 40% in 3rd hour, and 44% in 4th hour.

Teacher/student use of computer labs increased significantly.  On the average, math teachers went from 0 days to 5 each term.  Science teachers went, on average, from 4 days per term to about 10.  WKCE results will be monitored, but trends will not be credible until the 2009-2010 school year.  Enrollment in the AP classes of Biology, Calculus I & II, and Statistics remains the same percentage for 2007-08 as for 2008-09.

Student comments from a mid-year survey were mostly positive- “I like more interactive teaching.  I tend to zone out when we’re just taking notes and hearing what the teacher says.”  “I find it much easier because you can see the problem and how it can change.”
“It’s easier to get what the teacher is trying to explain if you can actually work it out, but it’s better than a lab because there is no clean up.”  “Trial and error helps better than black and white textbook learning.”  Students commented about building confidence because they could figure things out independently, but they some felt that some teachers still treated the interactives like worksheets.  Students thought they should “do the Gizmos and get taught at the same time.”

2008-2009 School Year
Taking in the formative and summative assessments of this project challenges the leadership of Union Grove High school to increase collaboration and agreement on some common best practices.  In the blog created to encourage teachers’ shared practices and in mid and end-of-year surveys during 08-09, there will be more focus on highlighting interactive practices.

Part of Project CAPE’s decision to partner with UGHS for a second year is a stated willingness to build a collaborative, continuously improving organization, “bringing staff together to optimize the entire system.”  As in all high schools, where teachers work in departments and tend to be separated, this will be a challenge.  To answer “where are we now, and where do we need to be headed” staff will look at data on student demographics, engagement, and achievement aligned with information about district governance functions and support services.

This project has been a catalyst for bringing coherence to the various district functions and operations and defining a desired future.  We at Project CAPE look forward to joining in this “journey of discovery.”

The Burlington Area School District

The Burlington Area School District received $55,052 to focus on improving math instruction and increase student learning at the elementary level.  As part of a continuous improvement model, the district analyzed data from local math benchmarks and state examinations, conducted interviews with parents, teachers, administrators, and School Board members, and reviewed current instructional materials to ascertain strengths and weaknesses of their existing program in 2005 and 2006. 

In their proposal to Project CAPE, they asked for financial support to use a coaching model to 1) maximize educators’ skills in mathematics through research based training and support in content knowledge; 2) increase student proficiency and excellence in math performance by building a foundation of understanding connected to the delight of exploration and discovery in mathematics; and 3) to expand administrators’ knowledge of effective mathematics instructional strategies, assessments and interpretation of assessment data.

CAPE funding will support training and professional development that is job embedded and ongoing, for seven K-8 math lead teachers and a district coach, during the 2007-08 school year.

Accountability will include formative student assessments of math learning, monthly communications with CAPE Director, a mid-year progress report, end of year assessment, and other measures of progress.  (Proposal writers: Connie Zinnen, Director of Curriculum/Instruction & Christine Anderson, Elementary Principal)

The Drought School-Norway J7 School District

The Drought School-Norway J7 School District has received funding from Project CAPE to improve early literacy.  The project titled “The More We Read Together” will offer supportive reading partners to 4 year-olds.  The volunteer partners will be equipped with leveled books and examples of simple activities to encourage phonemic awareness, increase understanding of the elements of a story, and improve reading comprehension.

Accountability will include a checklist assessment benchmarking student progress, completed three times during the year, regular communications with the CAPE Director,  a mid-year progress report, and end of year assessment.  (Proposal writer: Carrie Reid, 4K Teacher)

The Union Grove High School District

The Union Grove High School District received funding for two projects. Special education teacher, Kelley Cox, submitted a proposal to improve reading comprehension through the Read 180 program by Scholastic. Freshmen and sophomores completed an inventory, the SRI and of the 385 students assessed, 34% were basic or below. Kelley will work with regular education and special education students in 2007-2008 to improve their reading comprehension. With improved lexiles comes improved confidence. Hopefully their improved abilities will empower them to be more successful in school overall.

Consumable workbooks and supplementary paperback books will be purchased with the funds. Accountability will include ongoing student assessments through the Read 180 program, a mid-year progress report highlighting students’ progress, regular communication with the CAPE Director, and an end of year assessment.

Gayle Kerznar, Librarian, submitted a proposal to improve student learning in the areas of math and science. The use of computer “interactive simulations” and “manipulatives” was proposed as a new instructional strategy to aid students in learning how to learn, think critically, analyze data, solve problems, and use information. Analysis of WKCE data indicated performance of students in math and science areas at or below the state average over a three year period. Math and science teachers at Union Grove High School committed to use Gizmos simulations to present new knowledge and help students develop deeper understanding of challenging concepts. Students are enabled to work independently or in teams, to explore abstract concepts, make predictions, and conduct experiments to test their hypotheses. Teachers will participate in summer professional development and receive ongoing support throughout the year as they collaborate bi-weekly to discuss progress and brainstorm solutions to problems that arise as they implement these new strategies.

Measures of success will include math and science item analysis in the WKCEs, tracking interest in Biology and Calculus AP classes, internal comparison of pre and post Explorlearning class test scores, and a student survey given to each student in each math and science class. Students will be asked about their grasp of concepts and performance on assessments related to their use of the interactives. Communications with Project CAPE will include this data on mid-year and end of year reports along with regular meetings with the Project CAPE Director.