We started our journey of improvement because our data showed that our students were not preforming on high stakes assessments as they had in the past.  Our school was put into a school improvement status.  The demographics of our school changed drastically after redistricting leaving us with a diverse group of students.  The range of student ability had widened and we were struggling meeting all the student needs.  We began our quest to learn what we needed to do to prepare our students better.  Our first trip to Lincolnshire to attend a PLC confernce was in 2009.  We have sent a group almost every year since.  The first team realized that we needed a "sense of urgency", collaboration time needed to be built into our school day, and we needed to focus on four guiding questions.  Our teachers were individuals teaching in isolation with very little commonality.  We started by adding collaboration time to our master schedule for each grade level.  We established a new vision and mission to guide our journey.  Teams created norms, and began with the four guiding questions. Each year we attend Lincolnshire for professional development so that we can learn the next step in the process.  Mike Mattoes gave us great ideas on RTI and we carved out a 30 minute time block so that we could begin intervening on essential skills. We began using common formative assessments and we monitored student learning.  Teachers grouped students for Tier 2 based upon formative data.  The grade level teachers, along with Title teachers, MLL teachers, and Special Education teachers intervened while support staff flooded to the grade level to take the students who had mastered the skill to provide an enrichment activity.  Teachers were learning what the misunderstandings were and grew from their work in small groups.  Over time, our high stake assessment scores rose and we were not in school improvement any longer.  We continue to send a new group to a PLC conference thirteen years later because we have seen the impact being a Professional Learning Community has had on student growth and teacher moral.  Working together built a culture of unity.  We have improved all Tiers of instruction through this process.  Our school was an "A" school in 2015-16 and 2016-17.  We have had some of the highest scores in our county, and have the most growth with our poverty students.   2018 - present, our poverty and EL population has grown but we are still able to maintain state averages or higher on high stakes assessments and our growth on NWEA is high.  The collaboration time allows for data analysis, professional development, discussion of instructional strategies, and analysis of state instructional standards. We implement a School Wide Plan where we create SMART goals that guide our instruction.  Teachers learn from each other improving Tier 1 through data analysis, breaking down standards, and having focusing on what we want our students to learn, creating assessments that give us evidence that they have learned, and we are enriching students who have not learned.  We have created data walls, use data spreadsheets to monitor growth, and according to NWEA assessments our school has a higher percentage of growth per student than typical.  When compared to state averages, our school is meeting or exceeding the averages.  We attribute all of our success to the implementaton of collaboration and operating as a Professional Learning Community with a RTI structure.  We know we have more to learn and will continue to be reflective in all we do so that we can give our students the best opportunity for success.        

1. Monitoring student learning on a timely basis.

To guarantee a viable curriculum we have an RTI system in place that runs through a cycle using the four guiding questions of a PLC.  We determine what we want our students to learn by agreeing on the priority standards.  Quarterly common assessments are created so that teachers know the target.  Students also know the target with grade level "I can" statements.  Formative assessments are used to monitor the priority standards.  Students who fall below receive interventions to ensure they reach mastery at the mastery checkpoint.  If it is a priority standard there isn't a summative assessment but a mastery expectation.  If students fall below at the mastery checkpoint they continue to recieve Tier 3 interventions until they have mastered the standard.  

Our Tier 2 intervention time block is a grade level intervention.  Pre-assessments, post Tier 1, post Tier 2, and Tier 3 formative assessments are used throughout the quarter as benchmarks towards growth.  We use the Tier triangle percentages to determine how well we did in Tier 1.  We ask the question, did we reach 80%?  If not, we find out why and discuss how can we improve our Tier 1 instruction.  Our goal is for Tier 1 instruction to improve through discussions in our collaborations.  We look for teacher strengths to help us determine what instruction is best impacting our students.

Students who do not master the skill in Tier 1 are grouped by the grade level teachers and we begin Tier 2.  Staff members flood to the grade level while the teachers work with Tier 2 students.  Staff involved are Special Education teachers, English Language teachers, Title teachers, and para-professionals.  The instructional coach and principal fill in when needed.  Another assessment is given after Tier 2.  Any students not mastering the skill enter Tier 3 with one on one/one on two support until the skill is mastered.  

A priority standard is started with a pre-assessment, after 3 to 4 weeks of instruction another formative assessment is given.  If we have 80% of our students mastering the skill then we group for Tier 2.  If not, we make instructional changes and then assess again.  Tier 2 begins after teachers have analyzed the data and determined individual student needs.  Tier 2 usually runs 2-3 weeks.  Students are assessed again, and regrouped to enter Tier 3.  Students stay in Tier 3 until the skill is mastered.  Each quarter at least 4 essential skills run through all 3 Tiers, two language arts skills and two math.  We do assess other areas to monitor student progress also, and teachers are responsible for differentiating for skills not entering interventions.

Teams use Exel to sort data, discuss strengths, and determine weaknesses.  Formulas determine class percentages but we look at each students work to group students by specific needs.  Data discussions allow us to share our strengths as teachers and we comparison to determine weaknesses.  Instructional changes are then made. 

NWEA Growth Assessment was added 2014-15 to give us more information on our student needs.  We use this assessment to determine the overall growth of our grade levels and make adjustments where needed on our school wide goals.  Each year we grow and will continue to grow in the PLC/Intervention process.  Our school has become very reflective in our practices and we get better and better at using data to drive our instruction ensuring all students have the opportunity to learn.  

All grade break down the standards, make instructional guides, I can statements, and create SMART goals for the essential standards.  This data is monitored throughout the year.  

Here is a link with samples of how we gather data, the templates we use, how we organize our collaborations, data questions, and etc.  Much of this is what we have gained when attending all the PLC professional developments and it is our way of putting it into action at Jefferson Elementary.  

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xfK5Kbooi_4-FQQrztFE0Ubd_6fEU3-y?usp=sharing

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

An intervention time block is built into our schedule so that we can give students more time to learn, while students who have mastered the skill do enrichment activities.  Each grade level has a 30 minute intervention time block everyday that has staff flooding to support it.  Tier 2 intervention groups have less than 6 students, and Tier 3 is one to one.  Our goal is 100% of the students master the essential skill.  Tier 2 support for each grade level consists of Title teachers para-professionals, special educaton teachers, the librarian, PE teacher, art teacher, music teacher, and back up support from the Instructional Coach and the principal if needed to ensure small groups. Students who have mastered the skill are in enrichment groups. Through interventions teachers learn a lot about student misunderstandings and can use this information to improve Tier 1 instruction.  Using this process has improved Tier 1 throughout the years.  Interventions have become a part of what we do at Jefferson Elementary.  Our PLT's are becoming more efficient and effective in improving Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 instruction along with meeting all student's needs.  We have become more diverse in our interventions and are able to ensure all students grow through targeting what students need.  We are intentional, our decisions are based upon data, and we have evidence of growth.  Grade level interventions have increased student growth at each grade level.  We have become a reflective school with a culture of unity leading to a staff of lifelong learners that continue to improve each year.  

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

Each grade level at Jefferson has two collaboration times a week built into the school day.  The Instructional Coach, Special Education teacher, EL teacher, and Title teachers that work with that grade level attend the collaborations.  Every year our collaboration teams become more efficient.  We consider all of the students our students.  We set yearly goals for each team and the teams work together to accomplish those goals.  Each teacher has a role.  (agenda facilitator, someone takes the minutes, data facilitator, communicator, and tier 3 facilitator) We are able to use NWEA data to identify learning gaps by using common formative assessments and we compare other sources of data to determine student needs.  Teams discuss ways to improve our Tier 1 growth by anyalyzing our data to ensure our sub-groups are growing.  Discussing individual student needs to group them in areas of weakness builds teacher capacity and clarifies for teachers what is expected for each student to reach mastery of our priority standards. Teachers become aligned by monitoring the essential skills.  Agendas are set to keep us on task and our goals are created to ensure we know our targets.  This process gives each student the opportunity to go to college by filling learning gaps that lead to mastery of the standards leading to student success.  

Achievement Data Files

• k-3-data-templateupdated-2023-9006.xlsx
• plc-link-to-resources-5419.docx

Additional Achievement Data

According to NWEA Growth Assessment Jefferson meets or exceeds the projected growth for English and Math.  Jefferson also exceeds or meets the state average on IREAD and ILEARN state assessments.

A folder is attached (Plc-link -to- resources) above that gives templates on how we gather data to guide our instruction.  We have priority standards that we monitor, have common formative assessments (created by the grade level) in each grade to ensure our students have mastered the priority standards.  All essential standards have completed all three tiers of instruction.  You will see a data template that shows the achievement of our students after the three tiers have been completed.   

  

Being a model PLC school has been one of our biggest accomplishments.  Student growth is the reward and our focus.  We have had visits from State leaders who have invited us to present at the state level on several occassions.  Schools have visited to see our process which has been rewarding to us to broaden our collaborative networks.  

  

    

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Files

• plc-link-to-resources.docx
• schedule.xlsx