School Improvement Grant

School Application

Section 1003(g) of the

Elementary and Secondary Education Act

U.S. Department of Education

Washington, D.C. 20202

OMB Number: 1810-0682

South Dakota Department of Education

MacKay Office Building, Title I Office

800 Governors Drive

Pierre, SD 57501

School Improvement Grant (SIG)

Cover page

ORIGINAL SENT BY USPS

School Name:
North Middle School / School Mailing Address:
North Middle School
1501 N Maple Ave
Rapid City, SD 57701
Priority School / X Focus School
School Principal: Jackie Talley
Grade Span: Grades 6-8
.
Telephone: 605-394-4042
Fax: 605-394-6120
Email Address:
I assure that the information in this application is accurate and feasible. The school will use the School Improvement Grant (SIG) to fully and effectively implement the selected intervention model requirements and described activities. This application is in accordance with the submitted LEA SIG application.
X______
Signature of the School Principal / Date:

School Improvement Grants

School Level Section

Intervention Chosen: / Turnaround / Restart / Closure / Transformation / Evidence-based/Whole School Reform / Early Learning
North Middle School, RCAS
DESCRIPTIVE INFORMATION

(1)  The school has conducted a needs analysis which has revealed the need for a school improvement grant.

The Rapid City Area School District contracted with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Educational Services to conduct a Comprehensive Needs Assessment (CNA) during Spring Semester of 2016. A team of two evaluators conducted a district wide analysis which included North Middle School. Their findings suggested the need for more focused instruction; additional family supports; an increased emphasis on performance expectations; well-developed and functional data teams; Tier One instruction based on rigor, relevance and engagement; and an increased emphasis on writing across all content areas.

During the CNA, the assessment team consisting of HMH staff Karen Branscombe Power, Bill Serritella, and Brett Gies interviewed teachers, parents, and students. In addition, they conducted walkthroughs of 65 classrooms.

In addition, each year a Technology and Innovation (TIE) data teams works through a data analysis process with district administrators. The principals and assistant principals return to their respective buildings where they then facilitate a data analysis process with their staffs.

(2)  Describe actions it has taken, or will take, to design and implement interventions consistent with the final requirements.

Specific actions, strategies and interventions are described in detail in section (D), The Transformation Model.

Check the intervention model below and answer the questions that follow pertaining to the intervention model chosen for this priority/focus school.

(D)

X The Transformation Model

Section I.A.2(d)

Developing and increasing teacher and school leader effectiveness. [Section I.A.2(d)(1)]

a.  Describe the process the district will use to replace the principal. [Section I.A.2(d)(1)(i)(A)]

North Middle School has faced school improvement challenges since the beginning of the No Child Left Behind era. After considering North Middle School’s lack of movement towards proficiency goals, the Rapid City Area School’s Executive Board made the decision in the spring of 2016 to reassign Principal Jackie Talley from Southwest Middle School, a high-achieving school, to North Middle School, a low-achieving school. The Executive Board consisted of Board of Education members, the Superintendent, the Assistant Superintendent of Administrative Services, and the Assistant Superintendent of Fiscal and Support Services.

The Executive Board based its decision on the continued evidence of student learning growth and progression at Southwest Middle School during Talley’s seven-year tenure as the school’s administrative leader. During that period, student growth remained consistent despite significant changes in the school’s demographics that resulted from the 2010 redistricting of school boundaries in the district. Since the 2010 redistricting, Southwest demographics have shifted toward a more transient population, an increased number of students from low-income families, and an increased level of diversity among the student population. Despite the changes in demographics, Southwest students and staff continued to find ways for students to demonstrate learning growth and proficiency. The district’s administrative team attributed this success, in large part, to the leadership skills evidenced during Talley’s tenure at Southwest Middle School.

Since evidence of North Middle School’s student learning growth, both before and after the boundary changes, stagnated or even declined—depending upon the school year—the Executive Board concluded that Talley would be in the best position with the strongest experience and background to provide North Middle School with the leadership skills needed to work with staff, students, and the existing school-level administrative team to increase student achievement as well as instructional strategies. They determined that Talley, who had served as an administrator in the district for 10 years, would provide the leadership needed to move North Middle School students and staff toward a transformation where student learning could begin an upwards trajectory. Furthermore, the team concluded that Talley demonstrated effective leadership skills for working with and adapting to shifting demographics and their accompanying challenges.

In keeping with the school’s mission and philosophy, Talley says the school’s goal is “to provide students with the unifying force to empower and support…their unique abilities to achieve academic growth in a safe and engaging environment.” She explains that success will be dependent upon a caring and committed staff, involved parents, personalized educational opportunities and extraordinary facilities. Teachers are expected to demonstrate “high-quality and engaging instruction.”

In order to make the reassignment smooth and successful for Talley, the staff, and North Middle School students, the school district has provided Talley with a Comprehensive Needs Assessment support mentor as she works through her first year as the administrative leader at North Middle School. Since Brett Gies, International Center for Leadership in Education, a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), was the lead evaluator/investigator for the CNA, and since Talley was not at North Middle School when the assessment was conducted, it has been invaluable for her to work with Gies. However, extended support is needed to ensure that fidelity to the CNA, the School Improvement Plan and Professional Development Plan are maintained as the SIG is implemented. Therefore, if funding is approved, Gies will serve as the CNA consultant for the implementation years of the grant. As such, he will meet with Talley onsite four times during each of the three implementation years ($3,850 per day).

b.  Describe how the school will use rigorous, transparent, and equitable evaluation systems for teachers and principals, including factors such as student growth and observation-based assessments. [Section I.A.2(d)(1)(i)(B)]

North Middle School and all of RCAS utilize the South Dakota Framework for Teaching model. Within that model’s evaluation system, teachers are required to develop Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) which are measured through formative and summative assessments. The evaluation process is based on the minimum professional performance standards established by the South Dakota Department of Education and which:

●  Evaluates teachers using multiple measures;

●  Serves as the basis for programs to increase professional growth and development of teachers; and

●  Includes a plan of assistance for any teacher in or beyond his or her fourth year of teaching whose performance does not meet the district’s performance standards.

Written formal evaluations are followed by discussion between the evaluator and the teacher. Copies of the written document are signed and dated by both parties and incorporated into the personnel files of the teacher. The signature of the teacher neither indicates approval or disapproval of the evaluation, but only that the evaluation has been read and discussed.

Additionally, Talley and the two assistant principals conduct continuous walkthroughs and provide feedback to all instructors, regardless of whether or not the instructors are designated for formal evaluation. If feedback from the continuous walkthroughs demonstrates a need, a teacher will be moved to the Plan of Assistance, with guidelines applied in accordance with the school district’s evaluation policy. (See Appendix C, Professional Teaching Staff Evaluation.) Teachers are expected to utilize feedback from the Danielson Framework to adjust instruction in order to meet learning goals.

Talley will hold instructors accountable for high-quality instruction. If continuous walkthroughs demonstrate a need, a teacher will be moved to the Plan of Assistance, even if that teacher is not currently marked for a formal evaluation. If the employee doesn’t meet the objectives stated in the district’s plan of assistance, then the administrator follows the criteria as outlined by the district’s Progressive Discipline Matrix. (See Appendix D.)

Student growth is monitored by instructors via classroom formative and summative assessments, many of which are teacher created. However, district wide benchmarks, interim assessments, and Scholastic reading and math inventories are conducted four to five times a year. Data gleaned from the benchmark assessments is used as a basis for teacher/administrator discussions as well as for reflections of student growth. In addition, the BLT Team, consisting of six teachers, the school counselor, one special education teacher, two instructional coaches, and the three school administrators, monitors progress through biweekly meetings with the support of the school’s School Support Team (SST) person, Dr. Susie Roth.

Student growth is defined through the Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) process whereby the MTSS team considers raw data and determines interventions as well as accelerations based on the model. The team consists of the principal, instructional coaches and teachers. The MTSS team meets to complete “data chats” after each benchmark assessment and uses the data to make intervention adjustments for students whose scores can range from struggling to excelling. In addition, student growth is also identified via Smarter Balanced assessment scores and the D-Step for Science.

Lesson plans are checked by the BLT Team to ensure that they reflect differentiation based on student needs and utilize effective teaching practice as is evidenced by the integration of the Workshop Model Design (Appendix E), and evidence of formative assessments that are aligned with the Learning Target.

The Principal and Assistant Principals are evaluated by the district’s Assistant Superintendent of Administrative Services through the application of the six domains in the South Dakota Framework for Principals (Danielson model). Continuing contract administrators are evaluated every other year. As the principal at Southwest Middle School, Talley was evaluated last year and earned the Distinguished designation indicating that her work exceeded performance requirements in all six domains. She will be re-evaluated in Years 2 and 4 of the SIG.

Throughout North Middle School and the RCAS, evaluation systems have been integrated with the cooperation and communication of administrators and staff.

c.  Describe how the school will reward school leaders, teachers, and other staff who have increased student achievement and high school graduation rates and identify and remove those who have not done so. [Section I.A.2(d)(1)(i)(C)]

As regards “rewards” for school staff, North Middle School is bound to the district’s teacher negotiated agreement which precludes additional monetary rewards not designated in the agreement.

As noted in section b above, Principal Talley and the two assistant principals provide continuous walkthroughs to guarantee instructors integrate engaging and best practice models of student instruction. If instructors are identified (based on the SD Framework for Teaching [Danielson Model]) as being in need of additional support, they are placed on a Plan of Assistant, with guidelines applied in accordance with the school district’s evaluation policy.

d.  Describe how the district will provide staff ongoing, high-quality, job-embedded professional development. [Section I.A.2(d)(1)(i)(D)]

In accordance with the North Middle School 2016-2017 School Improvement/Professional Development Plan, staff will be provided with professional development in the areas listed below. Additionally, professional development will reflect the targeted needs identified in the Comprehensive Assessment conducted by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) during January of 2016. (See Appendix A for complete CNA.) Depending upon staff needs, training will be provided via the PLC Professional Development materials, from contracted consultants, such as HMH, and by staff experts, such as instructional coaches.

●  RCAS provides a one-year teacher-mentoring program to all new staff. Funding provided through the district.

●  In addition, the administrators match new teachers with an experienced (at least three years) staff member who provides support for the first year of the teacher’s employment. If a staff member is identified (based on classroom observations) as needing additional support, he or she may also be assigned a mentor. The mentoring support receives Title 1 funding.

●  Two instructional coaches, funded through the General Fund and Title 1 funds, provide support to classroom instructors in the areas of math and reading. This support is provided regardless of content area.

●  During early release times on Wednesday afternoons, targeted PD addresses identified needs as clarified by the HMH Comprehensive Assessment, School Improvement Plan, data analysis of classroom, and interim and summative assessments.

●  The HMH Education Services team recommended in their CNA that North Middle School develop a shared understanding and integration of strategies. The CNA recommendations emphasized the need for clear, consistent,

●  relevant data analysis. As a result, if SIG funding is awarded, North Middle School will implement full staff training in the areas of Data Teams for Learning and Power Strategies for Effective Teaching. Talley, Supt. Dr. Lori J. Simon, and the HMH team concur that in order to demonstrate wide-range and long-term effectiveness, all staff need to be trained. Therefore, two days of instructional strategy training and support will be scheduled for all staff in August of 2017. (For a complete description of the training, including strategies, see Appendix G.)

●  Additional training, based on school identified needs and goals determined by continuous data analysis, will be provided in August of 2017, 2018, and 2019

●  The school will continue to focus on the integration of the Public Education and Business Coalition (PEBC) Workshop Model. According to the Workshop Model Improvement Plan, this model provides educators with “a way to structure class time that gives students the bulk of time to do the work of learning.” The 2016 CNA “recommended that the staff facilitate meaningful lessons that employ rigor, relevance, and promote learner engagement and ownership…In contrast to a traditional transmission-model classroom, the teacher takes on the role of a model, coach, and collaborator (Zemelman, Daniels, & Hyde, 2012). Beginning with Year 2, the Workshop Model focus with two, two-day training sessions for all staff provided by PEBC and designed to promote improved instructional support as staff implement and integrate the Workshop Model. As a result of these trainings, teachers will be able to design and implement well-structured lessons that include the following: