Enders Salk School (2017)

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

  • The building of an effective Professional Learning Community is not easy. The first thing we did was develop a master schedule that allowed for common plan time for every grade level multiple days a week. We no longer allowed our fine arts schedule to drive the manner in which we were going to deliver instruction and then do what was right for students.  

    We are fortunate in District 54 to have staff development every Wednesday, 2:30 – 4:00. We used many of the first staff development days researching and discussing the characteristics of high achieving PLCs. After we learned together, we used the next set of staff development days to establish building expectations for our teams. Grade levels met and established norms, used our essential outcomes in each content area to drive instruction, developed common assessments (with time to review the results) and created a systematic intervention system.

    Even though ourteams have been successful with the PLC process for many years, we still find it important to revisit the fundamental principles that should drive our work as teachers . Each year the staff revisits their purpose and recommits to being collaborative and student focused. The teachers in our school work in collaborative teams to build shared knowledge regarding our essential outcomes, student skill expectations and common assessment information on a weekly basis. The real power at Enders is that these weekly PLC meetings involve classroom teachers, EL teachers, literacy coaches and special education staff. Everyone is on the same page at all times. Teachers use their collaborative time to engage in collective inquiry regarding issues directly related to student learning. Teams regard ongoing analysis of results as a critical element in the teaching and learning process. They gather evidence of student learning from a variety of sources to inform and improve their individual and collective practice as part of a process of continuous improvement. 

1. Monitoring student learning on a timely basis.

  • Daily/Weekly collaboration among grade level teams (PLC) to plan curriculum and discuss individual student achievement. During these meetings, grade level teams create common assessments in literacy and math every two/three weeks to administer to the students. The teams use the data from the common assessments to determine areas of strengths for students and areas for extra practice. Acceleration/Intervention groups are adapted to meet the specific needs of students. Additionally, our teams analyze which staff member taught the skill/concept most successfully (based on student achievement). These teachers model and teach the strategies/activities used to the rest of the team.
  • Student problem-solving process (within grade level teams)
  • Current interventions and practices: Common assessments, before and after school programs, choice lunch, extended school day, week and year
  • Document parent contact
  • Use the problem solving process to:
    • Record and Analyze significant academic data
    • Identify student strengths and challenges
    • Identify strategies implemented
    • Create and monitor action plan
  • Each grade level uses running records to track student reading progress
  • K-6: Fountas/Pinnell Benchmark Assessment Kit
  • Aligning district “Essential Outcomes” with GoMath curriculum and administering common formative assessments
  • K-6 MAP testing (fall, winter, spring)

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

  • Daily 30-minute intervention/acceleration block for each grade level
  • MAP data, common assessment results, and informal data are used to group students with certified staff who provide specific, targeted, and curricular aligned instruction.
  • Intervention support schedule which has 10 certified and staff members work with small, flexible groups of students during daily intervention time
  • Extended day, week and year opportunities for grades K-6
  • Grade levels have access to support staff daily (Special Service Teachers, Literacy Coaches, Bilingual Resource Teachers)
  • Master schedules are created by the principal and assistant principal in order to maximize support for each grade level and ensure consistent common plan time.

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

  • Grade level release time to work on common assessments

  • Multiple members of our resource team join each grade level team. During our acceleration/intervention periods, we use Bilingual Resource Staff, Special Services Staff, Title l Teachers and the Literacy Coach to flood support to each grade level. Our goal is to maintain a student/teacher ratio of at least 8:1, and smaller ratios for the groups with students that are below grade level.

  • Funds allocated to each grade level team, based on student enrollment to purchase student instructional materials, professional development or training, or to provide extended day programs for students in the area of literacy and or math

  • Master Schedule created during contractual day to provide common planning time for grade level teams at least 3/4 days a week (PE, Music, Art and Media Center). Our specials teachers are not a part of the academic side of each PLC, but they collaborate with each grade level on the social/emotional side. If students are struggling with behavior, our specials teachers are part of the problem solving process (when appropriate).

  • Each Wednesday, our students are released at 2:30. Our teachers are involved in professional development activities or team time 2:30 - 4:00. This has been a District 54 practice for more than 15 years.

Additional Achievement Data

 

Grade 3   MATH     ELA  
  SCHOOL DISTRICT STATE SCHOOL DISTRICT STATE
2016-2017 43% 62% 39% 52% 63% 36%
PARCC
2015-2016 55% 61% 40% 48% 62% 36%
PARCC
2014-2015 60% 59% 34% 55% 59% 35%
PARCC
             
Grade 4   MATH     ELA  
  SCHOOL DISTRICT STATE SCHOOL DISTRICT STATE
2016-2017 45% 55% 30% 45% 63% 37%
PARCC
2015-2016 50% 63% 31% 46% 61% 37%
PARCC
2014-2015 41% 55% 28% 47% 65% 40%
PARCC
             
Grade 5   MATH     ELA  
  SCHOOL DISTRICT STATE SCHOOL DISTRICT STATE
2016-2017 51% 53% 29% 45% 63% 36%
PARCC
2015-2016 50% 55% 32% 55% 62% 35%
PARCC
2014-2015 34% 55% 27% 46% 65% 39%
PARCC
             
Grade 6   MATH     ELA  
  SCHOOL DISTRICT STATE SCHOOL DISTRICT STATE
2016-2017 67% 59% 28% 69% 67% 37%
PARCC
2015-2016 48% 59% 34% 57% 71% 28%
PARCC
2014-2015 61% 61% 35% 63% 67% 27%
PARCC

 

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS RESULTS
  
MEETING/EXCEEDING   
YEAR Enders-Salk District State
2015 58% 63% 38%
2016 61% 64% 36%
2017 63%  67% 37%
       
MATH RESULTS    
MEETING/EXCEEDING  
YEAR Enders-Salk District State
2015 50% 58% 28%
2016 51% 57% 31%
2017 51% 57% 37%

Continued recognition for being an International Spanish Academy.

Ranked #5 in Chicago Magazine for Best Elementary School in Cook County - 2016

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