In 2013 Henry had a state rating of Priority Improvement for the second year in a row. Together, the principal and staff examined assessment data comparing Henry with other schools of similar demographics, particularly those with records of better student academic performance.  We agreed that we would focus our work on PLC dispositions and practices in order to improve the learning of all our students.

We then planned and adopted a whole school reading intervention program in which we used data to collaboratively track the reading growth of all students, and to provide targeted reading intervention to all students depending on their needs. 

We next involved all stakeholders in creating a new vision outlining what we wanted Henry to be known for in the future, followed by the collaborative development of a new mission and schoolwide performance goals to guide our work.

Though we maintained a Priority Improvement rating in 2014, we eliminated most ratings of “Does Not Meet” on our Colorado School Performance Framework.

We have taken three teams of five Henry leaders to summer PLC Institutes, thus providing key professional development in the culture and products that sustain effective PLC work.  We created a PLC Leadership Team which provides ongoing oversight for our work and ensures fidelity.  We created a new schedule which provides a 100-minute collaborative planning block once a week during the school day, in addition to the daily collaborative plan time all teachers share. To ensure this extended collaborative time, we created "Special Specials" classes in which our library staff provides additional instruction on keyboarding and computer-based math instruction, and our counselor and Teaching and Learning Coach hold "Crew Meetings" at each grade level.  Crew lessons focus on student culture with activities around such topics as kindness, teamwork and goal setting.  Specials Specials classes run back to back with our regular Specials classes.Our PLC teams, made up of grade level teachers, the interventionist(s) assigned to those grades and SPED and ESL teachers (they join the grade level at which large groups of students with SPED and ESL needs are clustered), maintain a notebook containing shared norms, meeting agendas/minutes,  team goals, essential standards charts, common formative assessments and CFA calendars (pacing guides), data analysis protocols and intervention plans.

No state test was administered in Colorado in 2015.  By that time we were in year 4 as a Priority Improvement school on the state’s 5-year “watch clock.”  In 2016, our SPF rating moved to Performance, with a score more than 20 points above the cutoff for the Improvement category.  In 2017 that SPF score grew an additional 8 points, maintaining the rating of Performance and achieving the second highest SPF score in the district.

prepared by Brian Casebeer, principal

1. Monitoring student learning on a timely basis.

For our school-wide reading intervention groups: Oral reading fluency and comprehension are checked weekly, biweekly and monthly depending on students' needs using the Dibels progress monitoring system.  Teachers also assess student progress weekly in each of the reading intervention classes according to the skills being taught.

Grade level ELA and math standards: Each grade level creates common formative assessments for the priortized standards being taught in ELA and math.  In math, these common formative assessments are given about every four days.  These assessments are quick checks given throughout the unit with a broader, multi-standard CFA given at the end of the unit.  If students do not perform at 80% mastery or better, interventions are created according to the data analyzed by the teaching teams.  Interventions are administered for the next two or three days as needed, and then students are retested.

In ELA, common formative assessments are given about every two weeks.  As in math, interventions are created according to the data analysis from each CFA and occur during no-new-instruction days following the test.  Whole group instruction is also guided by the data on these CFAs.  Quick checks are given by the teachers during small group reading rotations and whole group work.

prepared by Michele DuBois, fifth grade teacher

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

Initially, the Henry staff created a school wide reading intervention program in which each grade level had a separate time with all available staff (classroom teachers, SPED teachers and aides, Library Technology Educator, Library Technology Technician, ESL teacher) pushed in to support during each grade level reading intervention time.   Groups were fluid and aligned by student need.  A schedule was developed so each “Reading Academy” was uninterrupted for that grade level.  After the first two years we became Title 1 and used those resources to add more tutors and interventionists.   A school-wide reading intervention block was developed in which all Reading Academies occurred at the same time, groups still being fluid and aligned by need.  Groups were established based on Dibels scores and were developed to move students through all five components of reading with targeted, skill based intervention.  A Reading Academy menu delineated which research based programs (Orton Gillingham, SIPPs, Hill Rap, Six-Syllables, Read Naturally, etc.) and strategies would be used for each group. 

To better utilize our human resources, the staff then decided to develop a Reading Academy schedule that allowed all Academies to occur during the same time block. This allowed a certified interventionist to be assigned to each grade level, in effect adding an additional teacher to each team.  Outside the Reading Academy block, those interventionists are able to provide interventions based on CFA results for reading, writing, and math. They also attend that team’s weekly PLC meeting. 

Prepared by Jeanette Applin, second grade teacher and Amanda Madrid, first grade teacher

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

Our work began in earnest in the summer of 2015 at the National PLC Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.  It was from this conference that our school used PLC as the backbone for student learning.  Our teams were able to establish important norms and protocols that created the necessary environment for collaborative work.  This work included developing common formative assessments, unpacking and prioritizing standards, monthly data assessment meetings, and flexible intervention groups.  In addition, our teams are asked to keep a grade level PLC notebook that includes our agendas for each meeting, an essential standards chart, data anlalaysis protocols, and an assessment calendar.  Our results have been so positive that this year our "next step" PLC work involves increasing rigor in both instruction and assessments at all grade levels.

prepared by Matt McIntyre, PE teacher and Amanda Madrid, first grade teacher

Additional Achievement Data

Comparison of grade level and state performance on the PARCC test in ELA and Math over the last three years (Henry/Colorado)

ELA             2015     2016     2017

3rd grade   29/38    29/37    27/40

4th grade   30/42    40/43    45/44

5th grade   17/41    46/41    60/46

Math            2015      2016     2017

3rd grade    39/37    22/38    25/40

4th grade    24/30    34/33    36/34

5th grade   12/30     33/34    31/33

 

Percentage of total possible points earned for Achievement on Colorado School Performance Framework by year

2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
50	41.7		57.8	61.8

 

Percentage of total possible points earned for Growth on Colorado School Performance Framework by year

2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
28.6	42.9		88.5	98.8

PARCC assessment comparisons, Henry Elementary
to Colorado, 2015-2017
2015 ELA		2016 ELA		2017 ELA
Henry	Colorado	Henry	Colorado	Henry	Colorado
25	40	38	41	44	43
2015 Math		2016 Math		2017 Math
Henry	Colorado	Henry	Colorado	Henry	Colorado
25	32	30	35	31	36

Colorado State Board of Education Center of Excellence Award, 2015-2016

Colorado State Board of Education Center of Excellence Award, 2016-2017

Colorado Springs School District 11 Leadership in the Spotlight recognition for receiving the Center of Excellence Award, 2017