Magnolia Intermediate School (2023)

School Information

School District: Magnolia Independent School District
School Address: 31164 Nichols Sawmill Rd , Magnolia, TX 77355, US
School Phone: 2812522033
Principal: Lisa Bertrand
Contact E-Mail: lbertrand@magnoliaisd.org

Demographics

Number of Students: 992
Percent Eligible for Free and Reduced Lunch: 61%
Percent of Limited English Proficient: 25%
Percent of Special Education: 18%

Racial/Ethnic Percentages:

White: 48.57%
Black: 2.04%
Hispanic: 45.72%
Asian: 1.02%
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander: 0%
American Indian or Alaska Native: 0.31%
Multiracial: 2.24%
Other: 0.1%

Magnolia Intermediate opened in 2018 with five different schools and five different cultures coming together as one. It was a rocky start and our state standardized tests reflected that. Our culture was focused on teaching and not our students learning. We knew a mind shift had to happen, but what did that mean and how did that look?

Our principal brought to the table Professional Learning Communities, which her previous campus had embarked upon. This would require a shift in culture with the creation of collaborative teams whose priority was focused on learning, not teaching. Change is difficult, but with a solid foundation of support from the administration, we were able to create a shared vision.

At MIS, we facilitate a culture of continuous learning by collaborating to build a shared understanding and commitment to the PLC at Work process. Our teachers meet on a daily basis to collaborate and continuously learn from one another while simultaneously working towards common goals. We have also dedicated an hour after school once a week to the collaborative processes. These collaborative times allow teachers to explore data, plan intentional lessons adhering to the 4 questions of the PLC process, and align lessons and units to the TEKS accordingly. This process of planning and collaboration has proven to lead to exceptional growth for all students. The campus letter grade we earned on last year's state report card is evidence of a successful PLC process. Magnolia Intermediate improved from a D campus to a B campus because we ensure high levels of learning for all. Shared understanding is built on a culture of continuous reflections, and adjustments to our process based on campus, district, and state data. We continue to nurture a culture of continuous improvement on our campus. A step leading us in a good direction is ensuring administrators sit in with teams through their collaboration time and provide feedback as needed. We ensure that our teams are planning with fidelity and are being supported during all points of the PLC process. We believe our process has been successful because every decision made is solely based on the best interest of student learning, for all students.

1. Monitoring student learning on a timely basis.

At Magnolia Intermediate, we work to ensure our teams are focused on our students' learning. To do this, our school sets clear, definable learning goals based on student data. We use a backward-by-design approach. We begin with the end goal when planning, then follow the district scope and sequence, and our “love notes” from last year’s agenda.

The first step starts with each team planning and developing common formative assessments (CFA) based on the readiness standard, or boulder, for their current unit. CFAs are given at certain checkpoints throughout the unit. Teams have data meetings within one to two days of the CFA to discuss what misconceptions or pitfalls students exhibited on the assessment. The teams will then plan how to extend the learning of highly proficient students and reteach and intervene for struggling students. This planning of extensions and reteaching lessons cover questions 3 and 4 of The Four Critical Questions of Learning in a PLC.

During lessons, teachers ask guiding questions so that students have the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the current TEKS. Teachers adjust their lessons and intervene or extend them accordingly.

At the administrative level, administrators take it a step further by meeting monthly with district-level directors to review the data collected from each content area. With this information, directors and administrators create action steps. Then, these steps are shared with teachers who create plans for student learning. This cycle continues on a monthly basis, ensuring that we stay focused on collaboration that impacts both student and adult learning.

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

Creating and implementing systems of intervention and extensions to provide students with additional time and support for high levels of learning is a focus at Magnolia Intermediate. We conduct daily collaborative meetings for 45 minutes. This time is built into the master schedule and is dedicated to the four critical questions of learning. During Collaborative Team Time, teams discuss purposeful flexible grouping by mastery of TEKS and student needs in regard to questions 3 & 4 of the PLC process. Flex time, as we refer to it, is a time when students move according to data and teacher input. Flex time ensures a shared understanding that all students' learning is everyone's responsibility on the team. We base groups on data from common formative assessments, formative assessments, state assessments, achievement and growth measures, and district assessments. Teams collaborate on essential standards that need to be retaught and extended through flexible grouping. Teams analyze student data and have collaborative conversations over instructional decisions that will ensure student mastery through flexible grouping. The goal is for students to master the essential standard selected for the unit. Students who need refinement on a standard work in small groups with a teacher who, with data, is able to pinpoint misconceptions and focus on “MASTERING” the targeted standard. Students who have demonstrated mastery levels work in different classrooms with different teachers to apply and extend their learning in cross-curricular projects and real-life scenarios. In addition to flexible grouping, teachers collaborate with each other by crafting lessons and sharing pedagogical practices that will allow students to flourish in teacher-facilitated small groups within their own classrooms. This process ensures that all students receive quality extension and intervention support at all levels.

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

Magnolia Intermediate strives to build high-performing, collaborative teams by never losing focus on our school-wide goals. Our main focus as a campus is directed toward student learning and achievement. Five years ago, our campus was one of the few schools piloting the PLC process in our district. After repeated practice of this process and witnessing the success of all stakeholders on campus, we cannot imagine having to implement a different planning process in the future for our campus. Our journey began by building our guiding coalition team and creating a master schedule where every core content team on campus had a conference and a Collaborative Team Time to ensure that all teachers had an opportunity to collaborate, learn, and grow together toward a common team goal. Our PLC journey has been a pathway built on long hours of commitment, determination, and fidelity, with a focus on high levels of student learning for all populations on campus. PLCs have changed the lens through which we look at curriculum in our district, specifically on our campus. We are a data-driven campus that has shown growth at the district, regional, and state levels over the past three years. Scores serve as evidence that a school can change direction in a positive way with the right protocols and a growth mindset in place. Building teacher capacity has not come easy. However, the dedication to implementing specific actions and modeling a collaborative mindset across campus has led to the ultimate collaboration between our campus educators. These intentional actions consist of ensuring all collaborative time is purposeful; following an agenda, breaking down the standards, planning with a purpose, educators taking and creating summative and formative assessments uniformly and together, and planning backward-by-design. As our campus educators have continued to practice these actions, it has become second nature to plan using the PLC process. All educators at Magnolia Intermediate firmly believe in the process of Planning Learning Communities, which we support with the systems we follow. We all have reached a shared understanding of what student mastery of standards should look like for our campus population. Conversations regarding not only student mastery, but student success (growth) are at the heart of our Collaborative Team Time conversations. Our Collaborative Team Time centers on question one of the PLC process and data-driven instruction, through this, we pave the way to addressing all four critical questions in the PLC process. Our teams collaborate with fidelity in an effort to constantly improve learning for all students on campus, not just “my students” in the classroom. We have focused on ensuring that our campus expectation is learning for all. A non-negotiable on our campus encompasses using Common Formative Assessments and Summative Assessment Data to intentionally create FLEX groups by State Standards and proficiency levels to simultaneously address questions three and four of the PLC process. Our teams thrive on their collaboration not only towards our campus goals, but their common team goals, individual student goals, and personal goals, while simultaneously growing each other's teacher capacity through consistent encouragement, team building, and sharing of effective learning strategies for all stakeholders. Such laser focus makes certain both students and teachers flourish and reach their highest potential on campus.

Achievement Data Files

Additional Achievement Data

Student and teacher growth and achievement are now the common language at Magnolia Intermediate. The initial implementation of the PLC process encompassed fostering collaborative teams that would segway opportunities for self-reflection along with intentional decision-making and adjustments to our daily instructional practices. This has been a process that has paved the way for growth and success throughout our years. We continue to work towards better and higher success rates. Honoring our district’s vision statement, we strive to be the best district in the state of Texas. But, as a campus with four feeder schools, one of our biggest challenges has been closing reading gaps that only seem to widen each year.

As with all other schools in the United States, Magnolia Intermediate faced many new challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we continue to analyze data such as common assessments, Curriculum Based Assessments, District Benchmarks, Interim testing and released STAAR (state testing) tests and TELPAS (state testing for English Language Learners). Based on TELPAS scores, Magnolia Intermediate continues to close the achievement gap for emerging bilingual students; in 2022 we met 100% of our growth expectations. Students receiving special education services and economically disadvantaged students are still learning and achieving success at high levels of learning. District data shows that we are up to par or exceeding performance levels despite the fact we serve 7% more EB students than any other school in our district.

Based on the accountability indicators set by the Texas Department of Education, Magnolia Intermediate showed sustained achievement over the past years receiving distinctions in the area of Academic Achievement in Science, Post Secondary Readiness, and Comparative Closing the Gaps. Magnolia Intermediate placed in the top 10% of accountability in the 2022 Campus Comparison Groups. Our most recent Interim data shows gains in Math with 5th Grade growing by 27 points, 6th Grade by 14 points, and a growth of 12 points for 5th Grade science. We will be facilitating Reading Interim in the days to come, but anticipate growth there as well. Our commitment at Magnolia Intermediate is never done and continues to evolve, adapt, and show improvement.

2023

District PLC Team of the Month
Director Highlight Recognition for 5th & 6th Grade Math Intervention & Extension Flex Groups
UIL Calculator Applications- 6th grade: 1st, and 2nd
UIL Chess- 5th grade:1st,2nd,3rd, and 4th place 6th grade: 2nd,3rd,4th, and 5th place
UIL Dictionary Skills- 5th grade: 1st, 2nd and 3rd place, 6th grade: 1st place
UIL ART- 5th grade: 1st and 3rd place, 6th grade: 3rd and 4th place
UIL Listening Skills-5th grade: 1st,2nd,3rd and 4th place, 6th grade 6th grade: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place
UIL Music Memory- 5th grade: 4th, 5th and 6th
UIL Number Sense- 5th grade: 1st,2nd,3rd and 4th, 6th grade: 1st, 2nd, and 4th place
UIL Ready Writing- 5th grade: 1st, 3rd, & 4th place, 6th grade: 4th,5th, and 6th place
UIL Social Studies- 5th grade:1st place, 6th grade: 4th place

2022:

TEA Distinction-TEA Distinction- Academic Achievement in Science
TEA Distinction - Postsecondary Readiness
TEA Distinction - Comparative Closing the Gaps
Magnolia Education Foundation Grant Winner- Math Department
Magnolia Education Foundation Grant Winner- Special ED Department
Magnolia Education Foundation Grant Winner- PASS Program
Magnolia Education Foundation Grant Winner- Tech APPS Department
Magnolia Education Foundation Grant Winner- Science Department
Magnolia Education Foundation Grant Winner - Library Department
UIL Prose- 5th grade: 1st,2nd, 3rd grade: 1st, and 2nd place
UIL Poetry - 5th grade:3rd and 5th place, 6th grade: 1st,5th,and 6th
UIL Chess- 5th grade:1st,2nd and 3rd, 6th grade: 1st place
UIL Dictionary Skills- 5th grade: 1st, 2nd and 3rd place, 6th grade: 1st, 2nd, 3rd place
UIL Maps, Graphs, & Charts- 5th grade: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place
UIL Listening Skills-5th grade: 1st,2nd,3rd place, 6th grade 6th grade: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place
UIL Music Memory- 5th grade: 4th, 5th and 6th, 6th grade:1st and 3rd place
UIL Number Sense- 5th grade: 2nd,4th, and 5th, 6th grade: 1st, and 2nd
UIL Ready Writing- 5th grade: 2nd and 5th place, 6th grade: 3rd and 4th place
UIL ART- 5th grade:2nd and 3rd place, 6th grade: 2nd place