Henderson Elementary has been implementing the Professional Learning Community philosophy since 2003.

 

The Beginning: The school’s initial success using the PLC process can be attributed to a few things. First, administrators insisted on having a high percentage of buy-in before committing to implementing the process. Second, through shared leadership, every grade level and department had at least one PLC Leader who was given extensive training and in turn used faculty meetings and professional development time to guide the faculty in terms of defining PLC’s and what they will look like. These facilitations took place over an entire school year. By the time we were ready to actually begin the process; we were all well versed on the philosophy. Faculty meetings, professional development, and grade level PLC meetings have shifted from being focused on teachers and events, to being focused on student achievement and all around academic success. Finally, teachers in leadership roles were encouraged to give feedback to administration regarding the change process. This allowed leaders to meet teachers ‘where they are’ and guide overall growth.

 

The Here and Now: Fast Forward to 2017!  PLCs are alive and well at Henderson.  Teacher leadership roles are ever evolving and all areas of our school improvement plan are constantly being monitored by the four PLC questions.   We monitor our school improvement  goals (academic, behavior, attendance and climate) and use the collaborative processes of Professional Learning Communities to do so.  

 

We use the same shared leadership philosophy and collaborative efforts from PLCs in all that we take on. Most recently our teachers have had focused professional development on research based instructional strategies to be implemented in all classrooms and curricular areas.  Our elementary department chairpersons have had an active role in walk-throughs fro two years and over 30 teachers have participated in collegial walk-throughs in the last 12 months!  All teachers were able to go on virtual walk-throughs when kindergarten and fifth grade classroom teachers volunteered to be recorded when using the instructional strategies.

 

Our students who have reading intervention needs are receiving them during the day by our existing support staff and teachers.  As the needs of students change we use the PLC collaborative process to find solutions.

 

1. Monitoring student learning on a timely basis.

Students are assessed using formative and summative assessments on a regular basis in all curricular areas.  The Francis Howell School District has multiple measures to monitor students’ growth regularly in math and English Language Arts (ELA =reading and writing).  The accompanying data from these assessments allow teachers to get a picture of the whole student. Each PLC team sets a quarterly SMART goal in math and ELA.  They use backwards design to set action steps to achieve their end of the quarter goal. PLC teams use these quarterly goals as a 9 week summative mark.  There are common formative assessments along the way which data is used to determine growth and student understanding.  Looking at individual pieces of the data gives teachers an adequate look at student performance. However, looking at all the all pieces gives teachers a ‘big picture’ view of students’ needs.

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

Henderson Elementary has developed a plan that allows interventions to take place on a daily basis.

Our Intervention Time:

For thirty minutes daily, all classes have intervention time built into the master schedule.  Teachers meet in PLC teams to review data from common assessments, and based on the needs of the children, develop intervention groups to answer questions 3 and 4.   When the need arises, the students may travel to a different classroom and receive an intervention, as it meets their needs.

Research Based Interventions:

For three years, Henderson has been on a quest to deliver research based reading interventions.   There is now a data team which reviews reading data triggers to place students in research based intervention groups.  Teachers volunteered their summer break to go to training to learn about the research based intervention program they implement.  Each interventionist (i.e. classroom teacher, special education teacher, reading teacher, instructional para) progress monitors each student receiving an intervention.  The data team meets systematically (every six weeks) to monitor reading progress.  Common assessment data points are used and we are beginning to better use a Response to Intervention model in order to make sure the kids’ reading needs are met.

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

There are Elementary Department Chairpersons (EDC) who meet regularly with the administrative team at Henderson Elementary.  A frequent agenda item during these meetings are PLC Updates as it relates to school improvement and shared leadership. The EDC meetings serve as a model for successful PLC meeting.

The Francis Howell School District has established a set of criteria to for PLC self-evaluation.  All teachers are invited to provide their evaluation of each success indicator and then the District provides those results to the building principals, who then share with EDCs.   A common data protocol is used to celebrate successes and identify action steps for improvement.  The PLC disaggregates the data and makes action steps to make sure their collaborative time together is as productive as possible.

While these meetings are the backbone of the PLC process at Henderson, there are also other opportunities for teachers to collaborate. Many grade levels meet more than once a week in order to plan lessons together. Professional development time is used to support student achievement strategies and programs. Faculty meetings allow time for teachers to meet in vertical teams to look at student work, analyze assessments, create scoring guides and discuss various expectations of grade levels. During these meetings, teachers are able to reflect on their own students as well as former students and students who will be in their grade level in the future. Teachers often have ‘Ah-Ha” moments when writing samples or other work from various grade levels is shared. These faculty meetings have has a huge impact on student expectations and the flow of learning that is taking place at Henderson.

Additional Achievement Data

Percentage of students passing with proficient and advanced marks: school scores/state scores. Data from the Missouri Assessment Program.

Grade 3	Math	Communication Arts
2008	57/44	46/41
2009	59/45	43/41
2010	62/48	52/44

Grade 4	Math	Communication Arts
2008	55/45	45/46
2009	54/45	54/47
2010	68/49	73/52

Grade 5	Math	Communication Arts	Science
2008	66/46	60/49	N/A
2009	60/48	62/49	46/45
2010	65/52	66/52	59/48

2010 vs 2009 Building MAP Data Results - Communication Arts

• 9.3% gain in proficiency
• Free and Reduced Lunch student gain of 7.3%, highest total % proficient FRL (40.6%)

2010 vs 2009 Building MAP Data Results - Math

• 6.3% gain in Mathematics
• 7.4 % Mathematics gains in Free and Reduced Lunch students
• 6.7% gain IEP (Special Education ) students
• 5th year in a row, exceeding AYP

The fifth version of the Missouri School Improvement Program (MSIP 5), the state’s accountability system for reviewing and accrediting public school districts, outlines the expectations for student achievement with the ultimate goal of each student graduating ready for success in college and careers.

 

MSIP 5 is also used to distinguish the performance of schools and districts in valid, accurate and meaningful ways so that districts in need of improvement can receive appropriate support and interventions, and high-performing districts can be recognized as models of excellence. Annual Performance Reports (APRs) are based on the performance standards and are reviewed for accreditation purposes at the district level. The State also produces APRs for schools and charter LEAs to support its goal of empowering all stakeholders in manners appropriate to their roles through regular communication and transparent reporting of results. (https://dese.mo.gov/sites/default/files/MSIP_5_2016_Comprehensive_Guide.pdf)

 

Henderson Data includes:

 

	Year	Standard 1 Academic Achievement	Standard 2 Subgroup Achievement	Standard 4 Attendance	Points Earned	Points Possible	2016 APR Percent Earned
Henderson	2016	48/48	12/12	10/10	70	70	100.0%
	2015	48/48	11/12	10/10	69	70	98.60%
	2014	48/48	10/12	10/10	68	70	97.10%
	2013	48/48	11/12	10/10	69	70	98.60%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Specific Grade Level Data to Henderson is below

	FHSD Historical MAP/EOC Scores (Proficiency - All Students)
	Content Area	Grade Level	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
HENDERSON ELEM.	Communication Arts	3	58.8%	71.3%	50.5%	70.4%	65.5%
		4	75.6%	79.1%	59.6%	78.2%	77.4%
		5	69.1%	81.7%	70.8%	81.0%	79.6%
	Mathematics	3	70.1%	68.1%	63.9%	53.7%	56.4%
		4	69.8%	71.4%	55.5%	80.0%	75.5%
		5	68.8%	85.4%	78.1%	73.0%	67.3%
	Science	5	62.8%	70.7%	60.4%	62.1%	51.3%

 

 

Below

SSG = SuperSub

Super subgroup The new high needs group is an unduplicated count of all students in a school or LEA belonging to at least one of the following individual subgroups: black, Hispanic, students with disabilities, English language learners, or low income students (eligible for free/reduced price school lunch (FRL)). The subgroups were selected based upon a review of the state’s student achievement data. https://dese.mo.gov/sites/default/files/msip5-glossary-of-terms.pdf

 

 

	FHSD Historical MAP/EOC Scores (Proficiency - SSG Students)
	Content Area	Grade Level	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
HENDERSON ELEM.	Communication Arts	3	41.7%	64.3%	33.3%	45.9%	54.2%
		4	62.5%	52.4%	46.3%	68.6%	56.4%
		5	46.9%	68.0%	53.6%	57.5%	63.2%
	Mathematics	3	45.8%	53.6%	46.7%	32.4%	43.8%
		4	56.3%	33.3%	33.3%	68.6%	59.0%
		5	43.8%	72.0%	60.7%	50.0%	55.3%
	Science	5	40.6%	60.0%	46.4%	41.5%	36.8%

 

 

 

2016 Data proves Henderson Elementary is making better than expected progress toward improvement in our Super Sub Group category!

 

• 2015-16 - Top 10 Jump Rope for American Heart Association (Missouri)
• 2014- 2016 – 3 years - State Recognition for Silver Level Implementation of School-Wide Positive Behavior Support program (MO- DESE)
• 2015 – Make-a-Wish Foundation – wish granter to a District student
• 2012-2013 – 2 years- State Recognition for Silver Level Implementation of School-Wide Positive Behavior Support program (MO- DESE
• 2010 National Network of Partnership Schools, Johns Hopkins University-  published best practice “Let’s Read for our Heroes”
• 2006 Top Ten in State Proficiency Scores for 3rd grade math results
• 2004 – Elementary Exemplary Physical Education Program (MO- DESE )