Journal of Progress
Year One Reflection:
I learned that through multiple experiences (planning the parent night and preparing for the Certification meeting), I need to create more opportunities for my team to meet and collaborate. It is so important to collaborate and share data and information with the team; meeting once a month is not enough. I need to make sure I am communicating with my team in a more collaborative manner. In December, the team was really excited by this idea, but they were not able to get parents there in April. I was excited because I organized it and attended, I think I had more buy in at that point than my team.
I learned that if you see a problem and ask for help, as long as it is good for kids, there is a way to make it work. Also, I learned to take risks and do something different to achieve desired results when it is needed.
The teachers are thankful when you encourage the heart, and really appreciate the gratitude. I want to continue to make this a regular practice. I also want to expand on this practice and thank teachers as the opportunity arises.
And finally, I learned that it is best to go to the sources directly and get all of the facts as well as the teachers points of view. I heard great feedback on the vision and direction of the program through this process this year, and I will continue to work on this in the future.
Capstone Initial Proposal
AVID Saturday School Intervention- The purpose of the project is to decrease the D and F rate of AVID students at Santiago High School. We will implement a Saturday School Intervention program where students can attend school on Saturdays from 8-12 and receive tutoring and support to assist them in the core academic classes.
The purpose of this project is to improve the D and F rate of AVID students which is a program goal for 2013-2015. My ultimate plan is to become a National Demonstration school, and one of the requirements is to have 75% AVID students passing core academic classes with a C or better. We are currently not meeting this statistic in all grade levels.
I hope to have 75% (or better) of AVID students passing core academic classes with a C or better after semester 1 next year.
This will be a collaborative effort on behalf of the site team to plan and implement this intervention. Particularly Domains 5.4 and 7.3.
1. First we need to identify a way to structure the intervention and find the funding and support.
2. We need to use data to organize and identify students in need of intervention.
3. Organize the intervention and work together as a team to facilitate and structure.
4. Evaluate as the intervention progresses. Ongoing.
5. Run data on the D and F rate at the quarter and semester to measure effectiveness.
We will use Quarter 1 and Semester 1 D and F student data to determine the pass rate in core academic classes.
As we progress through semester 1, I will evaluate my leadership skills, focusing on areas of particular need (Encouraging the Heart and Enabling others to Act). I want to ensure I am a true teacher leader through this process, and not just doing the work on my own.
I want to see growth in my ability to enable my team to act and praise them for a job well done. By focusing on the areas that I am not as strong in, I will be a better teacher leader.
I learned that through multiple experiences (planning the parent night and preparing for the Certification meeting), I need to create more opportunities for my team to meet and collaborate. It is so important to collaborate and share data and information with the team; meeting once a month is not enough. I need to make sure I am communicating with my team in a more collaborative manner. In December, the team was really excited by this idea, but they were not able to get parents there in April. I was excited because I organized it and attended, I think I had more buy in at that point than my team.
I learned that if you see a problem and ask for help, as long as it is good for kids, there is a way to make it work. Also, I learned to take risks and do something different to achieve desired results when it is needed.
The teachers are thankful when you encourage the heart, and really appreciate the gratitude. I want to continue to make this a regular practice. I also want to expand on this practice and thank teachers as the opportunity arises.
And finally, I learned that it is best to go to the sources directly and get all of the facts as well as the teachers points of view. I heard great feedback on the vision and direction of the program through this process this year, and I will continue to work on this in the future.
Capstone Initial Proposal
AVID Saturday School Intervention- The purpose of the project is to decrease the D and F rate of AVID students at Santiago High School. We will implement a Saturday School Intervention program where students can attend school on Saturdays from 8-12 and receive tutoring and support to assist them in the core academic classes.
The purpose of this project is to improve the D and F rate of AVID students which is a program goal for 2013-2015. My ultimate plan is to become a National Demonstration school, and one of the requirements is to have 75% AVID students passing core academic classes with a C or better. We are currently not meeting this statistic in all grade levels.
I hope to have 75% (or better) of AVID students passing core academic classes with a C or better after semester 1 next year.
This will be a collaborative effort on behalf of the site team to plan and implement this intervention. Particularly Domains 5.4 and 7.3.
1. First we need to identify a way to structure the intervention and find the funding and support.
2. We need to use data to organize and identify students in need of intervention.
3. Organize the intervention and work together as a team to facilitate and structure.
4. Evaluate as the intervention progresses. Ongoing.
5. Run data on the D and F rate at the quarter and semester to measure effectiveness.
We will use Quarter 1 and Semester 1 D and F student data to determine the pass rate in core academic classes.
As we progress through semester 1, I will evaluate my leadership skills, focusing on areas of particular need (Encouraging the Heart and Enabling others to Act). I want to ensure I am a true teacher leader through this process, and not just doing the work on my own.
I want to see growth in my ability to enable my team to act and praise them for a job well done. By focusing on the areas that I am not as strong in, I will be a better teacher leader.
September 2014
I am still working toward challenging the process. Especially: 13. Searches outside the formal boundaries of his/her organization for innovative ways to improve what we do. That is the whole purpose and intent of the AVID Saturday Intervention. The AVID Saturday Intervention has truly become an out of the box thinking model that truly improves what we do.
One barrier I have faced is funding the program. Last year I was able to utilize ADA to pay teachers to work the Saturday Intervention. It was a lot of paperwork to accomplish, but it was worth it. We had terrific quantitative data that indicated that after just two Saturday interventions, the program D and F rate was down 33%. Because we just completed Quarter 1, we have few absences to leverage the 15 absences we need to pay one teacher to work.
I had to get creative and create a proposal to the extra duty fund committee to fund this intervention through Semester 1. I am still awaiting word to see if we are funded. If we are, we will start on October 18 or more likely November 1.
If we are not funded by the extra duty fund, I will be pulling ADA for AVID to see if we can leverage enough absences to run two Saturday Interventions before the end of the semester.
It will be interesting to perform a comparison once data is obtained.
October 2014
This month, I feel that the true focus here for me will be on challenging the process.
3. Seeks out challenging opportunities that test his/her own skills and abilities.
13. Searches outside the formal boundaries of his/her organization for innovative ways to improve what we do.
18. Asks “What can we learn?” when things don’t go as expected.
23. Makes certain that we set achievable goals, make concrete plans and establish measurable milestones for the projects and programs that we work on.
28. Experiments and takes risks, even when there is a chance of failure.
Saturday School intervention is something that is not done traditionally. Lowering the D and F rate is something we really need to focus on, and this is a creative intervention that will provide support to struggling students. The research I have conducted identified targeted intervention as a need for the underrepresented population that we serve in AVID. Tutoring outside of the school day is needed and encouraged.
As we returned to school, I began the process of putting this into place. I met with my AVID team and we set up the first date for the Saturday School Intervention to follow Quarter 1 grades.
I contacted a few teachers to put them on the Saturday School teacher list.
I sent over 20 students to be trained as tutors so we can utilize them for Saturday School Interventions.
I still need to:
Work with my team on process and review what we did last year that worked and what did not. For example, we had a great turn out for this intervention, but we did not have a back up intervention plan for students. Basically, if they could not attend, there was no systematic option for support.
We need to pull data for semester 2 to see if we were able to see an increase in the pass rate after implementation of Saturday School Interventions last year.
We need to work on the structure of the Saturday School, reflecting on the effectiveness of last years Intervention.
I am still working toward challenging the process. Especially: 13. Searches outside the formal boundaries of his/her organization for innovative ways to improve what we do. That is the whole purpose and intent of the AVID Saturday Intervention. The AVID Saturday Intervention has truly become an out of the box thinking model that truly improves what we do.
One barrier I have faced is funding the program. Last year I was able to utilize ADA to pay teachers to work the Saturday Intervention. It was a lot of paperwork to accomplish, but it was worth it. We had terrific quantitative data that indicated that after just two Saturday interventions, the program D and F rate was down 33%. Because we just completed Quarter 1, we have few absences to leverage the 15 absences we need to pay one teacher to work.
I had to get creative and create a proposal to the extra duty fund committee to fund this intervention through Semester 1. I am still awaiting word to see if we are funded. If we are, we will start on October 18 or more likely November 1.
If we are not funded by the extra duty fund, I will be pulling ADA for AVID to see if we can leverage enough absences to run two Saturday Interventions before the end of the semester.
It will be interesting to perform a comparison once data is obtained.
October 2014
This month, I feel that the true focus here for me will be on challenging the process.
3. Seeks out challenging opportunities that test his/her own skills and abilities.
13. Searches outside the formal boundaries of his/her organization for innovative ways to improve what we do.
18. Asks “What can we learn?” when things don’t go as expected.
23. Makes certain that we set achievable goals, make concrete plans and establish measurable milestones for the projects and programs that we work on.
28. Experiments and takes risks, even when there is a chance of failure.
Saturday School intervention is something that is not done traditionally. Lowering the D and F rate is something we really need to focus on, and this is a creative intervention that will provide support to struggling students. The research I have conducted identified targeted intervention as a need for the underrepresented population that we serve in AVID. Tutoring outside of the school day is needed and encouraged.
As we returned to school, I began the process of putting this into place. I met with my AVID team and we set up the first date for the Saturday School Intervention to follow Quarter 1 grades.
I contacted a few teachers to put them on the Saturday School teacher list.
I sent over 20 students to be trained as tutors so we can utilize them for Saturday School Interventions.
I still need to:
Work with my team on process and review what we did last year that worked and what did not. For example, we had a great turn out for this intervention, but we did not have a back up intervention plan for students. Basically, if they could not attend, there was no systematic option for support.
We need to pull data for semester 2 to see if we were able to see an increase in the pass rate after implementation of Saturday School Interventions last year.
We need to work on the structure of the Saturday School, reflecting on the effectiveness of last years Intervention.
November 2014
December 2014
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This month, on November 15, we ran out first Saturday Intervention of the year. 135 students attended, and we were able to fund five teacher through the Extra Duty Fund proposal.
The most exciting revelation this month was when we ran data from Semester 2 to compare with Semester 1. The results demonstrated what we had hoped, an improvement in the core content pass rate, from 68.93% to 76.9%. |
We have two scheduled Saturday Interventions this month, on December 6 and 13. There will be five teachers and multiple tutors available to assist. Last month, we tried something new in the structure. Typically, we utilize multiple classrooms and a computer lab for students. The rooms are separated by subjects (ie. advanced mathematics, science, history, Language Arts), and teachers and tutors that are masters of that subject remain in that room to help students with those subjects. This seemed to work well in the past; however, because students switch rooms as they change subjects they are focusing on, accountability became a concern. Students were signing in and out of rooms, and leaving early in a few rare cases. In November, we attempted to change the location to one large facility that would house all students- the Shark Tank at Santiago High School. Although this seemed to solve the wandering issues, it was difficult for students to focus with a large population and noisy acoustics of the location. So, lesson learned. In December, we will go back to the original locations we used.
Concerns for me at this point include an internal hope and concern that the three Saturday Interventions for this semester show the results that we had last semester. In working with my AVID team at the RIMS Site Team Conference December 1 and 2, it is a concern that our list of monitored students with D's and F's does not appear to be diminishing. The same students identified at the quarter, are in large part, still on the list. My hope is that these final Saturday Interventions provide the needed support to pull those students out of the realm of failure.
Concerns for me at this point include an internal hope and concern that the three Saturday Interventions for this semester show the results that we had last semester. In working with my AVID team at the RIMS Site Team Conference December 1 and 2, it is a concern that our list of monitored students with D's and F's does not appear to be diminishing. The same students identified at the quarter, are in large part, still on the list. My hope is that these final Saturday Interventions provide the needed support to pull those students out of the realm of failure.
January 2015
I am anxious to run the Semester 1 data for comparison. I want to see if the numbers are improved from last year. Were 3 Saturday Interventions enough? Last year, our Saturday School identification list would dwindle with each week, and this year, it seemed that the same students were on the list week after week.
Another concern of mine was that I did not work any of the Saturday Interventions this year. I wanted to empower others and encourage others to act on my team; therefore, I did not work any of the Saturdays. I wanted the rest of the AVID site team to facilitate and go through the process on their own. I still did all of the back work of facilitation, but was not present for the actual events. With a limited amount of spaces for the staffing this year, I wanted to have teachers there that were experts in their subject areas before we had someone centered on facilitation. The downfall to this is some of the things I heard when I would return the Monday after a Saturday Intervention such as, "there were students wandering the halls" and "students were leaving". It leads me to believe that the facilitation piece is a necessary component. I also did not get the positive feedback from teachers and parents like I did during year one. This can be attributed to the fact that it was a novel idea last year and now it is just a standard component of our program.
This month, I am planning to focus on the re-birth of the Saturday Intervention. I want to work with my team to focus on a follow through option for students that do not attend. A systematic consequence program-wide. Also a focus on structure of the program. Not just providing time for students to work, but making sure they are working on things that will impact their academic achievement. Maybe students will be required to bring a list of things to work on with them. We will work on this during our department and PLC time this month.
Another concern of mine was that I did not work any of the Saturday Interventions this year. I wanted to empower others and encourage others to act on my team; therefore, I did not work any of the Saturdays. I wanted the rest of the AVID site team to facilitate and go through the process on their own. I still did all of the back work of facilitation, but was not present for the actual events. With a limited amount of spaces for the staffing this year, I wanted to have teachers there that were experts in their subject areas before we had someone centered on facilitation. The downfall to this is some of the things I heard when I would return the Monday after a Saturday Intervention such as, "there were students wandering the halls" and "students were leaving". It leads me to believe that the facilitation piece is a necessary component. I also did not get the positive feedback from teachers and parents like I did during year one. This can be attributed to the fact that it was a novel idea last year and now it is just a standard component of our program.
This month, I am planning to focus on the re-birth of the Saturday Intervention. I want to work with my team to focus on a follow through option for students that do not attend. A systematic consequence program-wide. Also a focus on structure of the program. Not just providing time for students to work, but making sure they are working on things that will impact their academic achievement. Maybe students will be required to bring a list of things to work on with them. We will work on this during our department and PLC time this month.
February 2015
I was pleased at the results when I ran the data for Semester 1. We met our goal of 75% or higher students passing all of their core content classes. (See the evidence of success page for data).
This month I addressed the issue of norming the consequences for missing Saturday Intervention. At a January PLC meeting, the AVID team collaborated (Enabling Others to Act) and created a structure to follow for Semester 2. We selected 4 dates: March 7, March 21, April 25, and May 9. We also created a normed document for all students, and a grading structure to ensure a normed consequence program-wide. We discussed the success of the program, and how we want to improve this practice. It was a positive conversation, and I am thrilled that we were able to collaborate and agree upon normed consequences.
My next steps are to include other schools in this process.
This month I addressed the issue of norming the consequences for missing Saturday Intervention. At a January PLC meeting, the AVID team collaborated (Enabling Others to Act) and created a structure to follow for Semester 2. We selected 4 dates: March 7, March 21, April 25, and May 9. We also created a normed document for all students, and a grading structure to ensure a normed consequence program-wide. We discussed the success of the program, and how we want to improve this practice. It was a positive conversation, and I am thrilled that we were able to collaborate and agree upon normed consequences.
My next steps are to include other schools in this process.
March and April 2015
This month we ran two Saturday Interventions on March 7 and March 21. Both were highly successful. We not only had a great turn out with attendance, but we are noticing that the numbers for students identified are drastically dropping. What this means, it that the Saturday Intervention is working!
We have two final Saturday Interventions scheduled, and I am focused on Enabling Others to Act. I think that we have truly Challenged the Process, and now need to focus on Enabling my team to Act and facilitate this intervention. We streamlined the organization process, so that it now operates seamlessly with reporting identified students to attendance and organizing teachers and facilities.
We have two final Saturday Interventions scheduled, and I am focused on Enabling Others to Act. I think that we have truly Challenged the Process, and now need to focus on Enabling my team to Act and facilitate this intervention. We streamlined the organization process, so that it now operates seamlessly with reporting identified students to attendance and organizing teachers and facilities.