JANUARY School Improvement Activities
For a list of all the Winter activities - see the Practical School Improvement Timeline site. Information comes from that site, and all originals can be found there.
- Compile formative assessment data as it relates to both fidelity of implementation of SI strategies and student progress toward proficiency; analyze data and make refinements to instruction
- If applicable, complete all progress monitoring tasks specific to current Instructional Learning Cycle ; detailed data will be necessary for reporting conversation
- Compile summative assessment and/or Informed Interim Assessment data as appropriate to measure student proficiency on targeted standards and ultimate success of implementation
- Celebrate with students the growth that has occurred!
- Gather any additional data expected by School Improvement Team for all regular meetings
- Administer Winter Benchmarking assessments (Delta Math, DIBELS, Writing prompts, etc.)
- Continue School Process Profile: (SPR 40 or SPR 90 or Interim SA or SA)
- Gather information: Teacher perspective on process re: building system
- Small groups to address segments of rubrics and report out
- Online survey tools available on the Practical School Improvement Timeline site as a Google Form
- Study and Discuss: Celebrate a few and narrow focus to 3-5 to improve, thus 8-10 total.
- Provide input on:
- Student Survey (Early Elementary)
- Student Survey (Elementary)
- Student Survey (Middle & High)
- Hold Monthly School Improvement Meeting (5th for the school year) Printable Sign in sheet; Sample January Agenda
- As you gather the four types of data (process data from SPR or SA, demographic & achievement data in SDP/A, and perception data from parent, student, staff surveys), remember to engage in conversations around “what” stood out and “why ” we believe this is happening; create or review action steps for collecting the rest of the data to compile the Comprehensive Needs Assessment and assist in “Defining the Problem”. NOTE: you most likely will not gather all this information in just this one month … this is a process not a single event.
- Utilize the Data Dialogue Protocol which helps to filter key aspects from the sea of data and begins asking stakeholders to identify the causality. (OR facilitate this conversation in your own way by focusing on “what” and “why ” Data dialogue process
- MEAP data is most likely released so it is a good time to celebrate some successes and identify key needs (these can be found in the SDP/A, the raw data file from OEAA, and/or a data warehouse).
- Identify February SIT meeting objectives; build meeting agenda
- Mid-January is final submission date for amendments for all budgets (including carryover funds and final allocations) addressing final semester and summer programs. Remember ONE amendment allowed prior to January 31, 2014.
- Hold District Improvement Team (DIT) meeting to analyze building-level summaries of both adult monitoring and student impact data. Make adjustments to District Improvement Plan based on analysis of building-level summaries Sign in sheet
- Depending on the timing of the meeting, buildings should report out on the progress of initiatives regarding evidence of adult implementation and student impact from benchmarking, end of the semester reports and/or MEAP data if released from embargo.
- Continue formal evaluation of existing supplementary programs and SI Plan (Dec – March)
- Address the DPR 19 with the District Improvement Team if planning to model effective practices for gathering information at the building level (i.e. divide/conquer or electronic survey), highlight a smaller subset of indicators and discuss causality. (Alternative would be to use the SPR results to drive the DPR in March)
- Review plan for Title I services for the following year in preparation for meeting with Private/Non-Public schools in your region in February or March.
- Support school buildings in the collection of data: surveys, School Process Rubrics, School Data Profile and local data.
- Begin district budget planning process.
- AdvancEd: ASSIST platform for school improvement plan reporting
- MI School Data Michigan Data portal
- Michigan Dept of Education
Online Tool Kits
- Wayne RESA
- Practical MI School Improvement Timeline
- School Improvement in Maryland - has many useful school improvement resources and ideas
More Help Documents:
Assist: School Data Analysis diagnostic- Kathy Stewart of Gratiot Isabella RESD has created a step-by-step guide with screenshots of how to access the data needed to complete this diagnostic.
Find Top 30/Bottom 30 in the BAA secure site Kathy Stewart of Gratiot Isabella RESD has created a step-by-step guide with screenshots of how to access the data since the system has changed.
Cite the Research:
Best Evidence Encyclopedia - from Johns Hopkins University
Instructional Changes and School Improvement related to the Common Core ELA Shifts PowerPoint - by CharEm ISD
Adolescent Literacy Research and Standards At a Glance - Wayne RESA and CharEm ISD have created a useful chart of the most impactful research based literacy strategies
K-12 Mathematics Numeracy Research and Standards at a Glance - Wayne RESA and CharEm ISD have created a useful chart of the most impactful research based math strategies
Language for Funding
FAME program - This is some language you can include in your SIP to tie to your consolidated app to request funding for implementing FAME