National Partnerships School’s Forum
March 7, 2011
HUME CENTRAL
SECONDARY
COLLEGE
Overview
•
•
•
•
Our context
Our school improvement framework
The importance of leadership
Key elements of our school improvement
journey
Our context –
Hume Central S.C.
• Multi-campus setting:
– Blair St (7-9)
– Dimboola (7-9)
– Town Park (10-12)
• Total 1145 students
• 110 Teaching staff and 40 non-teaching staff
• High levels of disadvantage – 85% of students
receive E.M.A.
2008…
– Broadmeadows area: chronic disadvantage, high
levels of poverty and unemployment
– Ongoing decline in enrolments
– Run-down facilities
– Low retention
– Low attendance
– Poor VCE All Study score averages and AIM results
February 2009 - ON DEMAND
ADAPTIVE TEST OF READING
% OF STUDENTS
30%
25%
20%
15%
Blair St Year 7
Dimboola Year 7
Town Park Year 10
10%
5%
0%
READING ABILITY LEVEL
• In line with school effectiveness research, we know
that literacy achievement is central to achievement
in all subject areas and one of the main
determinants of how well a student will achieve in
their senior years of schooling.
• We recognize that many of our students come to us
in Year 7 with huge gaps in their learning, and that if
we don’t “catch them up”, they will continue to
enter VCE, VET & VCAL (and later still, the Tertiary
sector and/or the job market) at a major
disadvantage compared to other students.
6
• Even if we move our students ahead at the
normal, expected RATE of development, they
will always remain behind. Our core challenge
is to “catch these students up”. That is, to give
them a fair chance of success, we need to
move them “2 years in 1” in terms of their
literacy.
Our school improvement FRAMEWORK:
The 4 PRECONDITIONS:
•
•
•
•
A focus on what matters most
Strong leadership that is shared
An orderly learning environment
High expectations
(Zbar, Kimber and Marshall, “Schools that punch above their weight”)
HCSC’S ROADMAP FOR 2 in 1 - 2011
PRECONDITIONS FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT
A focus on what matters most – High Expectations – An Orderly Learning Environment - Strong
Leadership that is shared
COACHING
FOR
SUCCESS
COACHING
FOR
SUCCESS
LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOURS
Empathic – Create clarity around vision and roles – Engage staff – Peer feedback
– Focus on development and improvement – Ensure responsibility and
accountability
THE LEADERSHIP LINE
Leadership
Behaviours
College
‘Climate’
Staff
Motivation
College
Effectiveness
Leadership
Behaviours
College
‘Climate’
Core Business
Change Management
Development
People
Empathy
Clarity
Engagement
Learning
Staff
Motivation
Energy
Enthusiasm
Pride
Passion
College
Effectiveness
EMPATHY
• Leadership Team:
Is Approachable
Can be relied upon
Knows the problems faced by staff
Staff feel ‘understood’
CLARITY
• Staff know what to do
• Staff understand the school vision
• Staff know the direction in which the school is moving
• There is clear and good communication
•
Staff know what their role is
ENGAGEMENT
• There is professional interaction
•Decision making is participative
•There is consultation
•Processes are agreed upon
Staff working in highly effective teams
LEARNING
•There is recognition of the work done
•There is responsibility and accountability
•There is peer feedback
•The focus is on development and improvement
Staff “grow” both personally and
professionally
HCSC “Coaching for success” model
• A system that supports and empowers teachers and
support staff to achieve success as they perform their
many and varied roles.
• Involves all Principal Class members and Leading
Teachers being “assigned” a number of teachers who
hold positions of responsibility (PORs) within the
college.
• Sometimes involves formal, planned discussions,
whereas other times, involves providing less formal
day-to-day or as-needed feedback to support people as
they set goals, reflect on their performance and strive
to become as effective as they can be.
As part of these “Coaching for Success” partnerships between
Leading Teachers and PORs:
• Leading Teachers support their PORs to develop and articulate their
goals and action plans for 2010. This is directly linked to the college
performance review process.
• Leading Teachers “keep in touch” with their PORs to assess
progress, identify additional needs and opportunities, and provide
specific feedback.
• Leading Teachers conduct a number of planned “Coaching for
Success” discussions with their PORs throughout the year, using the
Coaching for Success Interaction Process (opening, clarifying,
developing, agreement and closing) and the Coaching for Success
Key Principles (maintain and enhance self-esteem; listen and
respond with empathy; ask for help and encourage involvement;
share thoughts, feelings and rationale, and provide support without
removing responsibility).
Key elements of our school
improvement journey
A GUARANTEED AND VIABLE
CURRICULUM
“… is the MOST IMPORTANT school level
factor impacting on student achievement”
(Robert Marzano: What Works in Schools)
Effective schools….
• Have a coherent school-level plan which sets out the
sequence of content and skills which must be
addressed in specific courses and at specific year
levels, and which individual teachers do not have the
option of disregarding or replacing with other
content of their own choosing.
CURRICULUM DESIGN TEAMS (CDTs)
• All staff allocated to ONE Discipline-Based CDT,
led by Discipline Leaders
• Weekly meetings
• P.D for Discipline Leaders – focused on
building their capacity to lead high performing
collaborative teams
• Dual emphasis on CDT TASKS and PROCESSES
CDT TASKS
– Explicit focus on specifying the DECLARATIVE AND PROCEDURAL
KNOWLEDGE objectives
– Explicit focus on identifying the ACADEMIC VOCABULARY which
is critical to student understanding of subject content
– Development of COMMON ASSESSMENT TASKS (including
rubrics) for each unit which enable teachers to judge the extent
to which students have acquired the targeted knowledge and
skills
– Analysis of student literacy data to identify low, middle and high
achieving students within each class.
– Plan differentiated LEARNING TASKS to scaffold/extend each
group within the class to achieve the intended learning goals
– Bring evidence of student learning (completed and assessed
CATS and rubrics) and participate in MODERATION
What are the LEARNING
GOALS for students in this
subject? What knowledge
and skills do students
need to learn?
Plan differentiated
purposeful teaching
strategies to target the
needs of each group
within the class
Establish DATA
PROFILES: Low, Middle
and High groups within
each class
CURRICULUM
DESIGN TEAMS:
REFLECTIVE
PRACTICE CYCLE
Analyse student work:
EVIDENCE of what students
can SAY, MAKE, WRITE or DO.
Moderate a LOW, MEDIUM
and HIGH sample from each
class to ensure consistent
judgments.
What COMMON
ASSESSMENT TASKS will
students complete so we
can measure whether they
have learned the intended
knowledge and skills?
What RUBRIC will we use
to analyse and make
judgments about student
performance?
PROCESS LEADS TO COLLABORATIVE UNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT GOOD PRACTICE
HCSC “Explicit Instruction Model”
• Based on research of Hattie and Rowe which
shows that students from disadvantaged
backgrounds with low levels of literacy and
numeracy experience greater gains in
achievement when provided with explicit
instruction, as opposed to more
constructivist/inquiry based approaches
EXPLICIT INSTRUCTION MODEL Overview
• Beginning of lesson: Hook the students in, make the goals clear, and
activate/review prior knowledge and learning
• Presentation phase: This is where you as the teacher explicitly teach
the concept or skill, and check all students get it
• Guided practice phase: This is where you as the teacher create very
structured, scaffolded tasks or activities to allow the students to
practice the skill or develop their understanding of the concept, and
where you move around the room giving feedback and support to
make sure all students are on the right track
• Application phase: This is where you provide students with an
opportunity to apply the skill or knowledge more independently
• Review phase: This is where you sum up the lesson, tie it all
together into a coherent whole, and get students to reflect on what
they’ve learned.
Peer Coaching
• All Leading Teachers and Discipline Leaders part
of a “Peer Coaching Team” (groups of 3) which
works through 2 cycles per term of pre-briefs,
classroom observations and de-briefs
• All Peer Coaches trained in core coaching skills,
including:
– Listening
– Questioning (clarifying, elaborating, probing,
reflective)
– Providing purposeful feedback.
Analyse classroom data
What skills/knowledge do I need to better
develop in my students? What areas of my
pedagogy do I need to focus on?
Observe/give
feedback/
reflect
COACHING:
REFLECTIVE
PRACTICE
CYCLE
Act/
implement
Set
goals
Plan strategies
PROCESS LEADS TO COLLABORATIVE UNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT GOOD PRACTICE
Teaching and Learning Coaches
• 4 Teaching and Learning Coaches (3 x Literacy
focused, 1 x Numeracy focused) employed
during 2010
• Leading and supporting teachers in using the
Explicit Instruction Model to plan
differentiated, purposeful instruction which
targets the needs of, and scaffolds/extends,
the range of students in our classes
DAILY READING BLOCK
• The purpose of the Daily Reading Block is to improve literacy.
• For students to learn to use a range of strategies before, during
and after reading and eventually automatise these strategies.
• To provide a time for students to read daily to ensure these
skills can be developed and reinforced with teacher guidance.
• To place students in liquid ability groups, track progress
regularly through use of ‘On demand’ testing, move students on
wherever necessary and continue to challenge students at their
reading levels.
• To build teacher capacity in supporting staff from all disciplines
to explicitly teach within this framework in our daily reading
block.
GOAL
• Our goal is to equip all students with these
strategies and provide enough modelling and
support and regular opportunities for practice
that they will get to the point where they
apply the strategies independently and
automatically in a range of contexts.
TARGETS
 We want to achieve two years of learning in one (students increase by
one progression point in one year according to their OnDemand
Adaptive testing) in order to reach or exceed year level expectation.
 To have all Year 7-9 students engaging in reading on a daily basis
 For students to develop and automatise the reading strategies for each
stage of reading (before, during and after) in order to improve their
comprehension skills.
 To develop teacher knowledge and understanding of the High
Reliability Literacy Teaching Procedures. The skills of the GRRT process
to be transferred across disciplines.
Overview of program
• Students are grouped according to their On
Demand Adaptive reading scores and teacher
judgement.
• There are two models used in the Daily Reading
Block. They are “Guided Reading Reciprocal
Teaching” (GRRT) (three 35min sessions) and
Independent Reading (two 35min sessions)
• Students have a workbook and an Independent
reading log.
PLANNING AND ASSESSMENT
• Students reading levels are assessed using the
OnDemand Adaptive reading test in June and
November and teacher judgements are also
taken into consideration.
• The GRRT is reported on every three weeks in
our progress reports.
Action Improvement Zones(AIZ)
NMR Initiative
Using data for decision making:
Each campus has an AIZ Literacy Leader responsible for:
◦ Running Professional Learning teams at each campus (PLTs) every two weeks with English
teachers across 7-10.
◦ At each PLT meeting AIZ leaders:
 lead teachers through a cycle of examination of student assessment results
 Setting objectives for student learning
 Plan a learning program targeted to the student’s current level of learning
 Implement and review the learning program and use of resources.
◦ Each PLT must work collaboratively to analyse data, focus on zone of proximity, plan
around focussed teaching and learning
◦ Use the HRLTPs and other literacy tools to target areas/skills that need explicit teaching
◦ Manage on demand testing cycles at beginning, middle and end of year and data to be
made available on ultranet for all teachers to access
◦ Run workshops across disciplines during CDT meetings, to support teachers with lesson
planning using the HRLTPs.
Year 7 HCSC READING Mean compared to State
Reading Mean: 2008-2010
700
650
600
State
Blair St
Dimboola
550
500
450
400
2008
2009
2010
Year 7 HCSC WRITING Mean Compared
to State Writing Mean: 2008-2010
700
650
600
State
Blair St
Dimboola
550
500
450
400
2008
2009
2010
Year 9 HCSC READING Mean compared
to State Reading Mean: 2008-2010
700
650
600
State
Blair St
Dimboola
550
500
450
400
2008
2009
2010
Year 9 HSCS WRITING Mean compared
to State Writing Mean: 2001-2010
700
650
600
State
Blair St
Dimboola
550
500
450
400
2008
2009
2010