Bosque Farms Elementary (2019)

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

Los Lunas Schools began the PLC journey in 2008, and started what would become a major paradigm shift in our way of doing business. This movement caused resistance and angst among the teachers.

In an effort to support this process, the district employeed Academic Coaches at the elementary school sites to lead the charge of getting staff on board. This way of thinking was a complete departure from what we had always done, and it was a very slow progression until recent years.

As the district began to send teachers to the PLC Summit over the course of several years, more and more people became convinced that we were onto something postive, especially since districts across the country were seeing a rise in student achievement due to the implementation of the PLC process.

This past August, we were fortunate that our district was able to provide an in-district PLC Summit in Los Lunas so that all of our certified staff could have the training in the PLC process. This answered many questions, validated the direction in which our district is moving, and gave many opportunities to converse with the experts for guidance. 

Within the past 3-5 years, we have followed the PLC model and have established a school Guiding Coalition, that is made up of grade level representatives, our Professional Learning Coach, our Inclusion Support Coach, and administrative team.

Throughout this journey, we have re-created our school mission and vision.
Mission:
Bosque Farms Elementary ensures success for all children, every day.
Vision:
Bosque Farms Elementary... Simply the Best!

As a staff, we have established Collective Commitments for the support staff, certified staff, and administrative team.

Our Grade Level Collaborative teams, have established their purpose, norms, roles, and SMART goals.

The teams have identified essential standards for their grade level, and have created pacing guides and assessment maps to follow throughout the year.

Teams create Common Formative Assessments (CFA's) based on the essential standards, looking at depth of knowledge for each question. The grade level teams administer the assessments on the same day, and bring their student work and data to the next weekly team meeting to analyze and discuss.

Effective teaching strategies that worked or didn't work for their students are also a topic at those discussions.  The teams are engaging in rich dialogue about student learning.

Once the Common Formative Assessments (CFA's) have been discussed and analyzed, the grade level teams then decide how to provide intervention for students who need enrichment, the students who need reteaching, and for the students who need more intensive practice with the skills assessed.

We are in the process of moving our Grade Level Collaborative teams through the 7 stages from One Step at a Time  (Graham & Ferriter, 2008) of collaboration, with teams ranging from Stage 2 to Stage 5.

We have found that the most difficult hurdle to jump is when we have new members join exisiting teams each year, and keeping up our momentum without losing the work we have already done.

We have had our share of roadblocks, in the form of resistance, but have been able to effectively address them with the help of Dr. Cruz, Sarah Schuhl, Joe Cuddemi, and others, who have been working with our district. 

We have seen a positive shift from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset. Even though the work is difficult at times, and is constantly evolving, we are on the right path for ensuring that students succeed, every day.

 

 

 

 

1. Monitoring student learning on a timely basis.

All grade level teams have identified essential standards, and have created pacing guides and assessment maps to follow throughout the year.

Teams create Common Formative Assessments (CFA's) based on the essential standards, looking at depth of knowledge for each question. The grade level teams administer the assessments on the same day, and bring their student work and data to the next weekly team meeting to analyze and discuss.

Effective teaching strategies that worked or didn't work for their students are also a topic at those discussions. The teams engage in rich dialogue about student learning.

Once the Common Formative Assessments (CFA's) have been discussed and analyzed, the grade level teams then decide how to best provide intervention for students who need enrichment, the students who need reteaching, and for the students who need more intensive practice with the skills assessed.

During first instruction, students are assessed and intervened upon immediately by teachers (through the use of exit tickets, anecdotal notes taken by the teacher throughout the lesson, and paper assignments completed by students.)

If students are not understanding taught concepts, teachers pull small groups for reteaching through mini-lessons (using differentiated strategies) until students can exhibit understanding.

Tier I interventions are done and students are grouped according to their need. Students are switched between the grade level teachers to ensure that students have the opportunity to learn from another staff member with expertise to deliver instruction for that particular skill.

 

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

The RTI process at BFE is centered around student data and DuFour's four guiding questions. Intervention time is provided for Tier I, II, and III throughout the school day.

Tier I (first instruction) is delivered by the classroom teacher, with assistance from the special education teachers based on the identified essential standards.


Tier II targets specific skill deficits identified through the Student Assistance Team (SAT) process. Students who, over a period of time, do not exhibit success on Tier I (first instruction), are referred to our Student Assistance Team (SAT). The team convenes the homeroom teacher, the parents, and administration to discuss academic performance. A team decision is made on whether or not further,  more intense intervention is needed. This Tier II intervention is provided by support staff, who deliver lessons that are aligned with essential standards and are targeted to the skills in which the student demonstrates non-understanding.

Tier I and II intervention is provide by all staff members and is exclusive of none. This will include classroom, special education teachers, PE, art, library assistant, computer lab assistant, Inclusion Support Coach, Professional Learning Coach, counselor, educational assistants, principal and/or assistant principal.

The support staff assisting with the delivery of Tier I and II interventions are assigned to a grade level, are familiar with the essential standards for that particular grade, and are involved in unpacking those standards, so they are clearly understood. The support staff are involved in dicussions at weekly collaborative meetings and are able to contribute based on what they observe in working with those students in small groups. The interventions are directly tied to the standards and performance on Common Formative Assessments (CFA's). This provides consistency among all parties involved in interventions, as common language is utilized for all teams.

Students in Tier III receive instructional supports through intensive interventions based on skill performance on Common Formative Assessments (CFA's). Students are intervened upon multiple times throughout the day, including during structured, school-wide intervention time, in grade level intervention time, and in small group settings within the classsroom. The focus for Tier III intervention is on foundational skills, such as reading, writing, and basic number sense. Intervention is done with intensity and is done often.

Intervention is the priority, and the most qualified individual will provide it.
Interventions are based on the current essential standard. During our school-wide intervention block, students either receive intervention or extension.

Students NEVER miss new instruction on essential standards to
receive intervention.

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

Bosque Farms Elementary has 8 Grade Level Collaborative teams (GLC's).

The teams are: Special Education, Kindergarten, first grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade, and sixth grade.

Our support staff (P.E., Art, computer, library and counselor) are included on the team for which they provide Tier II intervention, so that they are valuable contributors to the group in the weekly Grade Level Collaborative team meetings, and can answer the four Critical Questions of Learning based on what they see with students in intervention.

The teams utilize a modified version of the DuFour agenda for their meetings.The school's grade level Guiding Coalition representative facilitates the meetings. Norms, team purposes, SMART Goals, and role assignements are addressed at each meeting.

Meetings are centered around the essential standards identified by each grade level, and standards are unpacked for both ELA and Math. Common Formative Assessments (CFA's) are created with depth of knowledge being the guide for effective questions.

Conversations are about student learning and based on data from evidence collected from students on skills being taught in the classroom. Conversations are also centered around the effectiveness of interventions being delivered. Common Formative Assessments (CFA's) are created that are aligned with the essential standards, are given and scored as a team. Results are discussed and proficiency rates are looked at as well as an intervention plan to address students who need reteaching.

Achievement Data Files

Additional Achievement Data

Students in Grades 3-6 in New Mexico take the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC).  Schools earn  grades based on student performance on this assessment.  

For the past three years, Bosque Farms Elementary earned a report card  rating of "A," "B," and "A," respectively. School district report cards provide a summary of student demographics, accountability, achievement, school board member training, actual expenditures, and teacher credentials. This rating is given by the New Mexico Public Education Department.

Students in Grades K-3 in New Mexico take the iStation Assessment. This assessment has only been given for the past 2 years. 

Third grade has had up and down movement in scores in ELA for the past three years. At the end of the 2016-2017 school year, we had movemet in staff, in addition to the distict adopting a new reading curriculum. In 2017-2018, we saw a decline to 11% proficiency. We realized at this time that we needed to restructure our grade level collaborative team expectations to change the focus from teaching to learning. The third grade is currently working with our Professional Learning Coach as well as the district Reading Specialists to ensure effective teaching strategies are aligned with the essential standards and state assessments. We also realized that our interventions were not successful, so we made adjustments this year to more effectively target our subgroups who are struggling in reading. 

Third grade math saw similar drops and the need to restructure our grade level collaborative team expectations was needed as well. The third grade is currently working with our Professional Learning Coach to ensure effective teaching strategies are aligned with the essential standards and state assessments. Our interventions are targeting first instruction with all students.

Fourth grade has had staff movement for the past three years. A new math program was adopted by the district in 2017-2018 to strengthen the rigor of instuction to more align with the New Mexico state assessments. At the end of the Spring semester in 2018, we began to look at how the math program aligns with the essential standards and make modifications as needed to ensure that students are getting the instruction needed in order to master the standards. Our interventions are targeting students who are struggling in math. 

2010 Blue Ribbon School- The National Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a United States government program created in 1982 to honor schools that have achieved high levels of student achievement or made significant improvements in closing the achievement gap among student subgroups.
Bosque Farms Elementary earned this distinguished honor in 2010.

2016 High Reliability School Level 1- A framework, created by Dr. Marzano, based on 40 years of educational research, defines five progressive levels of performance that a school must master to become a high reliability school—where all students learn the content and skills they need for success in college, careers, and beyond.
The five levels are:
Level 1: Safe and Collaborative Culture
Level 2: Effective Teaching in Every Classroom
Level 3: Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum
Level 4: Standards-Referenced Reporting
Level 5: Competency-Based Education.
Bosque Farms Elementary earned Level 1 status in 2016.

2017 High Reliability School Level 2- A framework, created by Dr. Marzano, based on 40 years of educational research, defines five progressive levels of performance that a school must master to become a high reliability school—where all students learn the content and skills they need for success in college, careers, and beyond.
The five levels are:
Level 1: Safe and Collaborative Culture
Level 2: Effective Teaching in Every Classroom
Level 3: Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum
Level 4: Standards-Referenced Reporting
Level 5: Competency-Based Education.
Bosque Farms Elementary earned Level 2 status in 2017.

2016 School Grade "A" as identified by the New Mexico Public Education Department- School district report cards provide a summary of student demographics, accountability, achievement, school board member training, actual expenditures, and teacher credentials.  

2018 School Grade "A" as identified by the New Mexico Public Education Department- School district report cards provide a summary of student demographics, accountability, achievement, school board member training, actual expenditures, and teacher credentials.

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