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According to the WASC Visiting Committee Report for SY2008, the following areas of growthsupport the rationale behind Learning Communities and Student Engagement.
Organization for
Student Learning / Curriculum and Instruction / School Wide Areas of Follow Up
The administration and faculty continue to work with Hatsa and Dr. Joseph Pascarelli to in-service the staff to disaggregate the data and to use data to drive instruction. / Continued examination and collective agreement about what “good enough” looks like would strengthen student engagement. / That the UMS staff, using a variety of resources, including Hatsa and Dr. Joseph Pascarelli, become more adept with the use of disaggregated data in order to improve instruction that leads to higher levels of achievement with all students.
Teacher training should include the use of data to drive instruction, the use of instructional strategies that engage students and the integration of technology with student learning and student assessment for learning whereby students will self-assess learning, set academic goals, develop student-friendly rubrics, and submit work to demonstrate learning.
Teachers require support and continuous dialogue regarding research based instruction and programs based on student needs. / As recommended by the previous WASC report, the UMS staff implement professional development that will train teachers in use of instructional strategies that produce greater student engagement in all classes.
Strengthen learning communities to link peer observation, student work and instructional practices to improve student learning.
In addition to the WASC recommendation, and OngoingSchool Improvement Plan aligns itself with the recommendations in the self study including:
1) UMS teachers will participate and be held accountable during the team preparatory periods and team activities; and
2) UMS teachers and support staff will receive “high quality” professional development and apply learned principles and skills in class instruction and duties.

UMS GOALS AS SET FORTH BY THE CONTENT AREASPROFESSIONAL LEARNING TEAMS……

Science Goals: The Science Department set two goals for the school year 2008-2009. They are creating an exit test for each grade level and conducting grade level science fairs to represent our school at the island wide science fairs in May 2009.

Social Studies Goals: The Social Studies Department will develop engaging lessons and activities that will help our students become more civic-minded individuals. Students will then apply these best practices into real life situations. In addition, we increase their scores by 5% on the post test every quarter. The department will also develop grade level specific exit exams.

Math Goals: Given the WRAT at the beginning of the school year, students will increase one grade level but not limited to, by the end of the school year.

Reading Goals: The Reading Department will raise students reading levels by 5% this year through outside activities such as: Increase student reading for environment; increase access to different reading materials; Battle of the Books; Book Swap; Reading is Fundamental (RIF); Play; and Cross-Age Reading.

Elective Goals: The elective teachers will integrate with the Core Teams in skill areas applicable to elective subjects and raise skills by 5% on a quarterly basis.

Support Services Goals: Show evidence of student engagement and perception through monthly pre and post surveys.

NINE CATEGORIES OF INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES based on Classroom Instruction that works.

Instructional Strategy / Definition and Percentile Gain / What the teacher might be doing / What the student might be doing
Identifying similarities and differences / The ability to break a concept into its similar and dissimilar characteristics allows students to understand complex problems by analyzing them in a more simple way.
Percentile Gain: 45 / Modeling the use of: T-charts, Venn diagrams, graphic organizers that classify, using analogies, compare and contrast organizers, comparison matrices, etc… / Using any of the strategies mentioned in the teacher column,. independently or in groups
Summarizing and note taking / Summarizing and note taking skills promote greater comprehension by asking student to analyze a subject to expose what’s essential and then put it in their own words. According to research, this requires substituting, deleting, keeping some ideas, and having an awareness of the basic structure of the informed presented. Research shows that taking more notes is better than fewer notes, though verbatim note taking is ineffective because it does not allow time to process information. Teachers should encourage and give time for review
Percentile Gain: 34 / Modeling summarization techniques, such as sub/delete/keep, identifying key concepts, reciprocal teaching, highlighting/identifying key concepts, creating outlines, clusters, webbing, utilizing narrative organizers, journal summaries, combination note-taking, etc. / Independently or cooperatively using any of the strategies mention in the teacher column
Reinforcing Effort and providing Recognition / Effort and recognition speak to the attitudes and beliefs of students, and teachers must show the connection between effort and achievement. Research shows students can learn to change their beliefs to emphasize effort even though not all students realize the importance of effort. According to research, recognition is most effective when it is contingent on the achievement of a standard. Also, symbolic recognition works better than rewards
Percentile Gain: 29 /
  • Rewarding students for the attainment of achievement (not effort). Using symbolic reward is best but tangible rewards are acceptable
  • Using the Pause, Prompt, and Praise strategy
  • Providing praise for achievement
  • Teaching students about connection between effort and achievement
/ Keeping track of effort and its relationship to achievement, i.e. using the rubric on p. 52 Classroom Instruction that Works.
Homework and Practice / Homework provides student with the opportunity to extend their learning outside the classroom. However, research shows that the amount of homework assigned should vary by grade level and that parent involvement should be minimal. Teachers explain the purpose of homework to both the student and parent or guardian, and teachers try to give feedback on all homework assigned.. Research shows that should adapt skills while they are learning them. Speed and accuracy are key indicators of the effectiveness of practice.
Percentile Gain: 28 / Designs and provides a homework policy and communicates it to the students and parents, models the desired skills before allowing practice, reviews learning goals of homework, assigns practice/homework that takes into account that students need to practice a skill at least 24 times to achieve mastery, provides opportunities for students to shape the practice skill to make it their own, comments or provides feedback on homework. / Charting accuracy and speed of their practice.
Nonlinguistic Representation / Research shows knowledge is stored in two forms: linguistic and nonlinguistic (representing knowledge in a form other than words-visually, kinesthetically, smells, tastes, etc.) The more students use both forms in the classroom, the more opportunity they have to achieve. Recently, use of nonlinguistic representations has proven not only to stimulate but also to increase brain activity.
Percentile Gain: 27 / Modeling:
  • Use of graphic organizers
  • Creation of physical models
  • Creation of mental pictures
  • Pictures and pictographs
  • Kinesthetic activities
/ Creating their own:
  • Graphic organizers
  • Physical models
  • Mental pictures
  • Pictures and pictographs
  • Kinesthetic activities
that illustrate their understanding of the concepts.
Cooperative Learning / Research shows organizing students into cooperative groups yield a positive effect on overall learning. When applying cooperative learning strategies, keep groups small and do not overuse this strategy. Be systematic and consistent in your approach.
Percentile Gain: 27 / Determines the clear purpose for working in groups and designs the groups (4 or less) in a variety of ways, keeping in mind that ability grouping is least effective and should be used sparingly. / Working in informal, formal, or base groups no larger than four. If asked, the group members should be able to articulate a clear purpose for working cooperatively
Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback / Setting objectives can provide students with a direction for their learning. Goals should not be too specific; they should be easily adaptable to students own objectives. Research shows that feedback generally produces positive results. Teachers can never give too much feedback.
Percentile Gain: 23 / Encouraging students to personalize lesson objectives and providing rubrics with assignments to help students measure their own growth as well as get feedback from the teacher and/or peers. Providing learning contracts. / Personalizing learning goals with “I” statements. Using rubrics/criteria to self-evaluate his/her or other students work.
Generating and Testing hypothesis / Research shows that a deductive approach (using a general rule to make a prediction) for this strategy works best. Whether a hypothesis is induced or deduced, students should clearly explain their hypothesis and conclusions.
Percentile Gain: 23 / Modeling the process of generating a hypothesis with either inductive or deductive thinking. Use a variety of structured tasks (problem solving, historical investigation, experimental inquiry, and/or decision making) to help students test a hypothesis. Note: This strategy is not just for science teachers!!! / Responding to information to determine a hypothesis (a tentative explanation for a phenomenom, used as a basis for further investigation) and clearly explaining their hypothesis and conclusions.
Advance Cues, Questions, and Organizers / Cues, questions, and advance organizers help students use what they already know about a topic to enhance further learning. Research shows that these tools should be highly analytical, should focus on what is important, and are most effective when presented before a learning experience.
Percentile Gain: 22 / Capitalizing on prior knowledge to help students make connections in the forms of cues, higher level questions, and organizers. Allow think time, model use of advance organizers, skimming while reading, and any other strategies that retrieve prior knowledge. / Using advance organizers, answering questions or responding to cues provided before new learning (possibly during bell-work, an anticipatory set, etc.)