Parmley Elementary (2023)

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

Our journey with the PLC process began in 2017. The leadership team and principal had every intention of creating a culture centered around the 3 big beliefs of a professional learning community. In hindsight, we realized we were actually running a version of the PLC Lite. While meetings were held, they were not always consistent, nor were they focused on the 4 guiding questions. We were still struggling to effectively analyze the right data. We struggled with consistently meeting and staying focused on the agenda. 

The next year, in 2018, our new principal, Dr. Kelley Moore came on board. She continued the implementation of the PLC  process before the school year started by taking a team of 8 staff members to the PLC conference in Fort Worth, Texas. Together, we listened, learned, and collaborated on new plans for our Parmley PLC journey! In depth, we discussed our core values and what we wanted to see happen for Parmley. We established a new vision for Parmley while maintaining the current mission. We developed core values and beliefs for all students and staff to drive our ambitions. We began a more intentional focus on the 4 guiding questions of PLC. We held each other accountable for maintaining the conversations focused on student growth by establishing set norms for every collaborative meeting. Teachers began having consistent, deeper conversations about student growth. Interventions were established, however, the collaborative trust was not yet present, and evaluations of the PLC process by district administration determined there was still quite a bit of growth needed for our campus. 

In the summer of 2019, we attended the Assessment & Grading Conference.  With a fresh understanding assessments, we focused on a backwards design to ensure that assessments were aligned with their instructional rigor. Teams collaborated on student progress using district data protocols and our campus essential standard mastery data document.  Data analysis provided the opportunity to pinpoint the specific learning paths for each student. This change in mindset allowed teachers to focus on the process of ensuring mastery of essentials. 

Also during that summer, we rewrote our Mission, Vision, and Collective Commitments. We realized while our mission was good, it did not have the focus on learning that needed to drive us all. We changed our mission, shared it with the staff, and got consensus from everyone on what we knew would be our driving force: We believe that EVERY student will learn at high levels!   Together, with the Why and How of the PLC process, we developed a shared vision for staff and students. Our commitments included an intentional and unwavering focus on our 4 guiding PLC questions, creating assessments and analyzing data, and  maintaining progress monitoring of all data. 

As a district, we developed our SIG. Parmley immediately introduced the why and the how of the district SIG and began using it as the driving tool to keep us aiming towards being a Gold Standard campus! District personnel, campus leadership, and collaborative teams began assessing proficiency of our collaborative teams using the SIG. Teams began having deeper conversations on how we could move towards interdependence to improve student learning. They built a collective trust, making it possible to share students within the grade level. Within a few short weeks of the start of school, students could be seen efficiently shuffling from class to class during intervention time working with teachers on specific skills. While we are not all at a Gold standard, our teams continue to push each other, collaborate, and grow. They do this with students at the forefront of every decision!

In January 2020, we took another group of dedicated team members to the RtI at Work conference in The Woodlands, TX. Together, we recreated our schedule with a focus on student learning. We talked, collaborated, and committed to improve our work on the PLC process at Parmley. We were dedicated to making sure every student would learn at high levels and that every teacher would have the same collective efficacy. We came back to campus energized and ready to share our learning with everyone. As April drew nearer and the COVID 19 Pandemic grew, we realized we could not stop growing and learning. We continued to have virtual in-depth collaborative conversations focused on student learning. We continued to discuss how we could assess students digitally to ensure essential standard mastery. We also committed to our continual growth in the PLC process. Our team remains vigilant in their determination to be better for our students.

Our journey has continued. As of now, our campus functions like a well-oiled machine. Teachers collaborate with effectiveness and efficiency with a kids first frame of mind. Every teacher collectively believes in every student. Our culture of high levels of learning is evident throughout our data. 

 

1. Monitoring student learning on a timely basis.

Prior to the start of the school year, we reviewed our district pacing guide and our TEKS. From those resources, we prioritized standards as essential standards. Teams worked collaboratively to unwrap those standards in order to fully understand them and the rigor to which they need to teach them. 

 

By using our district pacing guide, we created common assessments for our essential standards prior to teaching the unit. Within 2 days of taking the assessment, teachers input their data into our Student Collaborative Meeting Data tracker also called our IDM (Insufficient, Developing, Masters). This chart allows teachers to determine the value of what the team will consider Insufficient, Developing, and Masters. Once teachers grade the assessment, they input the students’ level of mastery. 

 

The following collaborative meeting, teams utilize our assessment data protocol to review the assessment validity. This instrument ensures the team takes the time to review the actual assessment (Buffum & Mattos, 2014). The protocol allows for teacher self-reflection as they review the questions where students struggled. It allows for them to make notes and discuss how to make the assessment better for their students. It also enables teachers to share successful strategies they used that others can use for reteach. This part of the review is so invaluable because it provides our teacher learning time. Teachers begin to build trust through vulnerability and listening to the strengths of each member. 

 

As teachers work through this process, they make plans for interventions and extensions. They develop their new groups for the following 2 weeks until review of the next common assessment. As students master the skills in interventions, they are moved back into Tier 1 groups. 

 

For this upcoming school year, we will be taking this process even further. Teams will still prioritize and unwrap standards, but now they will begin creating their own essential standard unit plans. 




 

Sample IDM Chart

 

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Date:

       

Learning Target

       

Essential

       

Value Of I, D, M

       

SMART Goal

       

Student Name:

I/D/M or Absent

     

John Moore

M

 

M

 

 

Parmley Data Protocol (Buffum & Mattos, 2014)

Parmley Data-Analysis Protocol

Standard: ________   Date Given: _________

Questions

Responses

What worked well?

 

Where do our students struggle the most?

 

Item analysis: Which problems did students most frequently miss? Why?

 

How can we improve the assessment?

 

What teaching strategies can we share for interventions and extensions?

 

Who are our at-risk students? How will we group for interventions?

 

References:

Buffum, A. & Mattos, M. (2014). It’s about time: Planning interventions and extensions in elementary school. Solution Tree. 

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

Interventions at Parmley began as independent teachers choosing their own intervention time based on their personal schedule. During discussions and deeper learning, we realized we needed to modify this idea. We asked ourselves, “how can teachers share students without a shared intervention time?”.

The following year, we continued doing interventions during our allotted instructional time; however, each team chose a shared intervention time during their core subjects. This system seemed to work except our special education resource teachers were not always pushing in during the most beneficial time for their students. Pull-out resource schedules were difficult to schedule, which caused conflict with scheduling and the need to readjust frequently. 

After reflection and careful review of our first schedule, we made adjustments for the following school year, and we created a new schedule for intervention. This time was a sacred, untouchable time. Each grade level had a different time which was aligned with our special education team. Students who received Tier 3 remediation during this intervention time were given Tier 2 intervention time during guided reading or guided math time frames. With this method, teachers had the ability to share students based on their needed skills for intervention. During our collaborative meetings, we discussed which students needed Tier 2 interventions or Tier 3 remediation and how they would receive those services. We also realized the need for enrichment. Our 5th grade team jumped on board quickly and implemented an enrichment room where the students who needed extension went during the 30 minute intervention period. 

In addition to sharing our kids during our allotted intervention time, we also shared our students for guided reading intervention. We shared our students horizontally and also vertically across levels to better meet student needs and abilities.   

Each year we try to be better than the previous. So as we continue to grow, we are implementing a 45 minute PROUD time in the morning for all students. Teams will analyze data and create their skill based groups. Students will be shared for interventions and enrichment during this time period. Additional intervention or remediation will be done during their small group time in their allotted instructional time.

 

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

At Parmley Elementary, our collaborative teams are composed of various stakeholders, including the RLA/Social Studies teachers, Math/Science teachers, math and literacy instructional coaches, an administrator, and when necessary , a special education teacher. Our teams meet twice a week. One of the weekly meetings is approximately 80 minutes. The second meeting is during their regular conference time for 45 minutes. 

When our teachers meet, their focus is on students and the 4 guiding questions. Prior to the meeting, our grade level teams work together to determine what will be on our shared agenda. The teams come prepared to discuss the items from the agenda. Each member of the team has an assigned role in order to hold each other accountable. A meeting facilitator is determined prior to the meeting to share the agenda and begin the meeting by stating the team norms. A timekeeper is also selected in order to keep the meeting on track and ensure that the meeting begins and ends on time. During each meeting, the recorder takes detailed notes and shares them with the team.We begin the meeting by stating the norms to remind everyone of our commitments for the meeting. We use the entire time to focus on how we will best help students. Depending on the desired outcomes, we may create assessments, analyze data, and/or create intervention and enrichment groups. This year, our district created a data protocol that we use to help focus and guide our conversations on assessments. Each team member comes to the meeting with their student proficiency data already documented in our IDM (Insufficient, Developing, and Masters) document. Using this data, we then focus on what we need to do to group students based on their mastery of essential standards. Meetings are always concluded with celebrations from team members. This is a time for each teacher to share positive achievements by students or within their instruction that they feel proud of. This encourages positive camaraderie amongst the team and promotes teachers to strive for future greatness.

Following each meeting, the team uses the data results and team discussion to drive future tier 1 instruction, prepare for tier 2 intervention groups, and assist in creating formative assessments. This collaboration also allows teachers to have a cohesive understanding of assessment expectations and students outcomes. Each collaborative meeting is considered a sacred and crucial time for team members when they are not to be scheduled for any other meetings. 

Teachers at Parmley do not solely collaborate during their weekly meetings. We understand that this is an everyday process; it is not simply a weekly meeting. SMART goals are set by teachers prior to administering assessments in order to maintain the overall expectation that students will learn at high levels in a realistic timeframe. Teachers utilize MAP data, assessment data, and other informal/formal data to implement goal setting with students in multiple ways to help increase student accountability. Teachers continually evaluate student performance on a daily basis and reflect on their instructional techniques. Then, during those sacred meetings, teams come together to discuss all of the positive results they are seeing as well as the areas that they need growth in in order to help enhance instruction and meet the needs of our students. We find success in our ability to be vulnerable and share what isn’t working so that we can grow as educators and, in turn, help our students grow as learners. In addition to collaborating during the school year, our teachers will be dedicating their time this summer to working together and creating additional units that will help enrich the education of our students next year. At Parmley, we ensure all students will learn at high levels and our collaborative teams work together, tirelessly, to help mold that belief into a reality.

 

Achievement Data Files

Additional Achievement Data

Based on our STAAR (State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness) results, Parmley students demonstrate consistent improvement over the last 3 years. We believe that the 2020 school year would have been a year of great growth based on our MAP (Measure of Academic Progress) testing and our team collaboration with a focus on essential standards. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we were unable to take our STAAR assessment for the 3rd year since starting our PLC journey. Additionally, we were unable to give our yearly benchmarks which were scheduled for after Spring Break. These assessments would have provided data on essential skills students may have needed for additional intervention to ensure mastery prior to STAAR. For the purpose of demonstrating our growth and progress towards high levels of learning for all students, we have incorporated our MAP data for the last two years in grades K-5 as well as benchmark data for the last 3 years for 5th grade. 

In Willis ISD, we began using MAP across the district in 2018. Our teachers and leadership have used the data to help set goals for classes and students. The data provides an in-depth analysis of student abilities. With the data, we are able to group students and provide personalized instruction at high levels. One piece of data that we have included demonstrates our projected proficiency from spring 2019 to winter 2020. Had we been given the entire year, we believe our data would have shown significant growth in spring 2020, especially in our Meets and Masters.

 
Our most recent data demonstrates the continued growth Parmley has made because of the PLC work being done throughout the building. We anticipate great outcomes on the 2023 STAAR with the growth being shown across the campus in our current MAP data. 

2019 Academic Distinction for Science

2020 Model PLC School 

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