Carlisle Community School District (2024)

  1. PLC Story
  2. PLC Practices
  3. Achievement Data
  4. Awards
  5. Resources

The vision of Carlisle Community School District is “Character, Service and Excellence in Everything We Do”.  This has been the vision of our district for decades and is the measurement for all we do.  CCSD is the central hub for a community that blends rural and urban cultures which is connected through a historically generational small town in Central Iowa. Carlisle is regularly known a progressive district with a high percentage of students who attend the schools within the district over the course of their Pk-12 experience. As the community has changed, however, there are more students who come to Carlisle that do not fit within the historical demographic.  Because Carlisle has an established culture of continuous improvement, which began in 2013, connected to a vision of excellence, and a focus on the PLC critical questions, teachers and staff are able to serve all students at high levels regardless of their background.   

The district’s guiding coalition has established an intricate and all-encompassing professional development calendar to ensure that teachers have non-negotiable collaborative team time during the school day, on a regular basis.  Every teacher is on a collaborative team which meets on a weekly basis. Teachers meet for a variety of purposes including developing units, creating assessments based on commonly established learning targets, discussing best practice based on research, evaluating data, and establishing intervention and extension groups as a cycle of continuous inquiry.  

To best leverage our PK-12 expertise, the district offers a flexible approach related to content area focus.  Time is built into the professional development schedule for grade level and content area teachers to meet vertically to study content, curriculum, and instructional strategies.  

Early dismissal time every Wednesday afternoon is utilized for professional development.  This has created a structure and time for teams to experience firsthand the power of learning by doing. 

The focus for the 2013-14 school year was building staff capacity and coherence on the core principles of a professional learning community and establishing ‘systemness’ around the critical questions of a PLC. During the first year, the district conducted a PLC Practices survey to establish a baseline and guide professional learning. Recognizing that the fundamental work of collaborative teams is learning, teachers and administrators worked together, establishing a value and belief system in the power of “learning by doing.”

A team priority in year one was unwrapping the Iowa Core Curriculum to develop a guaranteed viable curriculum for all grade levels and courses. Carlisle teams created Essential Learning Targets (ELTs) that have since evolved as teams deepen their understanding of rigor and the needs of students. A key factor in the development of impactful teams is clarity of expectations leading to improved teaching and learning. Carlisle created norms and protocols bringing ‘systemness’ to the work of collaborative teams. The district’s Hierarchy of Collaboration (HOC), developed by stakeholders, moved teams beyond basic professional actions to a higher level of dialogue and actions focused on teaching and learning. Collaborative teams, from district leadership to building level teams follow the HOC and data analysis protocols. Team dialogue is focused on not just “what worked” but “what works best” when analyzing student performance data. The level of collaboration in teams has progressed each year resulting in increased collective efficacy.

Because the critical questions are interdependent, the district provides professional learning, structures, and expectations for a balanced assessment system to address critical question #2, “How do we know if they learned it?” Teams develop unit plans and align assessments (formative/summative) to inform practices and provide support for all students.

Continuing to develop our teams and culture within the PK-12 system, the focus expanded to critical questions three and four “How will we respond when they don’t” and “How will we extend and enrich the learning for students?”. Collaborative teams analyze student-learning data, instructional practices, and monitor team culture. The district provides support by developing protocols to assist teams in the process. Protocols ensure a structure and dialogue focused on teaching and learning throughout the system. Student performance continues to increase, team culture and collective efficacy has also increased. 

Building upon the district’s foundation of continuous improvement and commitment to PK-12 systems is a culture of reflection and responsiveness at all levels. All staff understand how individual actions and systems affect teaching and learning. This understanding enables collaborative teams to become the driving force of Carlisle’s PLC and RTI systems in each building. RTI systems are responsive and are constantly evolving to meet the needs of our students. The culture of “my kids” has transformed into a culture of “our kids”.

Carlisle’s culture of learning by doing and collaboration is evidenced by the commitment all stakeholders have made to professional learning. The district has dedicated professional development funds to build the capacity of our teachers and collaborative teams. 90% of Carlisle’s instructional staff has attended at least one PLC Institute resulting in a collective understanding of this work. All school and district leadership have attended PLC Institutes. In the fall of 2021, CCSD hosted a PLC at Work Live Institute where CCSD teachers and school board members were able to attend. 

As the district continues our journey of being a professional learning community, the mindsets of continuous improvement and ‘systemness’ are at the heart of our culture. We celebrate our successes and then we raise the bar a little higher. Collaborative teams are the foundation of our district. Learning for all students and adults in our system are at high levels.

 

1. Monitoring student learning on a timely basis.

Developing a guaranteed and viable curriculum was the first step in creating a balanced assessment system.  Once collaborative teams unwrapped the Iowa Core Curriculum, and other national curriculum standards, we started the learning around formative assessment.  Team-developed formative and summative assessments are the cornerstone of the collaborative team dialogue and for each building's RTI system. Assessment development is vertically aligned and time is given throughout the year to ensure alignment is still intact and viable. Designated vertical collaboration days in PK-5 and 6-12 have led to improved essential learning targets and assessment alignment to core rigor.  Data from formative assessments drive the development of SMART goals at all levels in the district. For 11 years, our collaborative teams have monitored student learning of the essential skills both vertically and in grade/course alike teams using this cycle.  Our teams follow a data-team protocol on a unit-by-unit, skill-by-skill and student-by-student basis.  This data is also shared at the district level by building principals to identify strengths of our teams and areas of growth.  This gives our teams the opportunity to celebrate and scale our promising practices.

 
 

2. Creating systems of intervention to provide students with additional time and support for learning.

 

 

The focus on critical questions 3 and 4 has led to increased dialogue on effective instructional practices and RTI systems at the collaborative team and district level.  All collaborative teams use the district data team protocol in analyzing and discussing student formative assessments results. Teams have transparency, consistency and concrete processes in monitoring and responsiveness to student learning data. School RTI systems are responsive to student learning and have created school cultures that have moved from “my kids” to “our kids” in providing intervention and support.  RTI systems in the buildings are embedded during the school day and have options to provide support to students at both ends of the intervention spectrum to address both questions 3 and 4. Instructional staff that facilitate intervention are guided by student needs, either will or skill, and are constantly monitoring progress via formative assessments. Past practice has included district leadership conducting school improvement summits every six-weeks to monitor each school’s progress on improvement goals. Improvement goals flow from the district level goals, to building goals, to collaborative team goals.

 

3. Building teacher capacity to work as members of high performing collaborative teams that focus efforts on improved learning for all students.

One of the first priorities for the district was to establish strong collaborative teams as the foundation of our professional learning community.  The focus of teams were on the critical questions of a PLC. Leadership focused on professional learning and support for teams in their work around the four critical questions. The district’s focus year one was developing our teams. The first step was determining “current reality” and areas for professional learning.  The district developed collaborative protocols which focused dialogue on teaching and learning. The growth of our teams is evidenced by the products they create.  Products such as our pacing guides, curriculum maps, team agendas, systems for extension and intervention have all evolved and demonstrate the depth of practice within the collaborative teams.  

To ensure our staff continue to learn and grow, our district continues to invest in professional learning through Solution Tree along with providing professional development to new staff members around the principles of Professional Learning Communities. 

 

 

Achievement Data Files

Additional Achievement Data

Proficiency rates in literacy have increased at the k-5 level over the last five years in Carlisle.  The increase is attributed to a focus on Guiding Question #1 and continued collaborative conversations  leading to clarity on intended curriculum and outcomes, and a comprehensive assessment system that includes frequent formative monitoring (guiding question 2) with interventions and support in place (guiding question 3 and 4). A similar trend is noted in literacy in grades 6, 7 and 8. The results can be tied directly to the work of the collaborative team and their unwavering focus on learning, collective inquiry, action orientation and a commitment to improving teaching and learning.

Data analysis shows the impact that Covid had on student learning in the areas of math and secondary literacy. Students in the middle grades in 20-21 are just now beginning to demonstrate increased proficiency after three years of catch-up growth that included curriculum compacting, increased RTI programming and school-wide support related to a safe and welcoming learning environment. Remote learning and low attendance impacted student learning for all students. To counter the learning loss, and support increased student growth, collaborative teams have centered their work to ensure conversations are based on learning and results while not only maintaining, but improving the collaborative culture. Formative math scores in grade 6-12 reflect significant growth and student achievement and the district looks forward to celebrating increased math scores in May of 2024. 

Carlisle CSD provides all students in 11th grade the opportunity to take the ACT at no cost to the student and has encouraged all students to participate since 2016. Students who don’t take the ACT take the ASVAB assessment. These assessments provide both the students and the district feedback related to high school students’ educational development and potential success at the post-secondary level. 

The district remains committed to providing Advanced Placement courses for students. Due to an increased enrollment at the high school level without increased staffing, the district has had to limit AP course offerings. All students who participate in AP courses sit for the AP exam. Additionally, the district partners with Des Moines Area Community College to offer college level courses for students. During the 22-23 school year, 295 Carlisle High School students attained 2,670 college credits with 23 students obtaining a junior college diploma. 

In addition to monitoring cohort data, Carlisle evaluates grade level data over time to monitor the effectiveness of curriculum, instruction and assessment. The district uses a continuous improvement/action research cycle that is closely aligned to the six essential ideas of a PLC. The steady improvements in elementary literacy, elementary math and middle school literacy are directly related to the curriculum cycle work. At the heart of the curriculum work is a collective focus on learning, collaboration and results. Over the last two years, a team of 14 educators (math and special education teachers along with leadership) have used this process to improve student learning in 6-12 math. A vision was created along with collective commitments. Professional learning was the underpinning of the process and the result is clarity on the intended curriculum, formative and summative assessments aligned with the Core, effective teaching in each and every classroom and a responsive RTI system. Teachers report higher job satisfaction and student learning data shows improvement in the first semester. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Carlisle High School received the  Breaking Barriers Award from Iowa Department of Education- Hispanic student proficiency rates of 98% on state math and reading assessments for three consecutive years

  • Carlisle Elementary received an Exceptional Rating on Iowa School Report Card

  • AP Index ranking improved from  42nd to 20th in state of Iowa over the past three years in ranking

  • Awarded state STEM Scale Up Grants to support the implementation of districts K-12 STEM course pathway for students.  

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