School overview
We will be a reward school by
2015 and say we did it together!
Federally funded school
improvement grant
-Building Operations Manager
-Family & Community Liaison
-Special Education Instructor
-Continuous Improvement Specialist
-Mental Health Practitioner
-Math Interventionist
-Science Specialist
-Stipends for curriculum development and
Professional Development
Focus Rating 2010 (15.08%)
Focus Rating 2011 (18.34%)
Focus Rating 2012 (7.03%)
Focus Rating 2013 (96.52%)
Approaches to closing the
achievement gap.
-Increased learning time
-High expectations for all
-Quickly meeting student need to resource
-Alignment of the adults in the building in
language and behaviors (standards and norms)
-There are 7 days in a week, and SOMEDAY isn’t
one of them. (Creating a sense of urgency).
MMR 2010 (4.78%)
MMR 2011(8.78%)
MMR 2012 (3.49%)
MMR 2013 (64.9%)
Change is the end result of
all true learning--Leo
Buscaglia
Intentionality
-Expectations, expectations, expectations
-Empowering the adults w/in the school
- Teaming and collaboration
-Developing people (Take fear out of the system)
-Laser focus on results
-Professional development
-Listening (people side of change)
-Can do spirit and empowering students, families
and staff
-We will not settle for the status quo.
What does the staff have to say?
12Q Gallop Poll
Do you know what is expected of you at
work?
At work, do you have the opportunity to
do what you do best every day?
Practice Profiles: Job embedded
professional
development
Act
Plan
Adjust practice to
align with feedback
Present instructional strategy at a
staff meeting
Model instructional strategy
Plan a lesson together as a
Professional Learning Community
Study
Do
Observe and reflect
upon chosen
instructional strategy
Apply instructional
strategy during lesson
Do you have the materials and equipment
to do your work right?
In the last seven days, have you received
recognition for doing good work?
Does your supervisor, or someone
at work, seem to care about you as
a person?
Is there someone at work who
encourages your development?
Does the mission/purpose of your
company make you feel your job is
important?
At work, do your opinions seems to
count?
Why opinions matter...
Staff survey results informed decision making and
became the foundation for our school
improvement plan (SIP)
The goal of school turnaround should be this:
“move educators beyond and through complexity
to find not simplistic solutions, but elegant
simplicity.”--Ann Conzemious More Than A Smart
Goal
What does elegant simplicity look
like?
A. Time to collaborate
B. Use data to inform instruction
C. Professional development
D. Get student/adult behavior
under control so A, B, and C get
done
Are your associates (fellow
employees) committed to doing
quality work?
Do you have a best friend at work?
In the last year, have you had
opportunities to learn and grow?
In the last six months, has
someone at work talked to
you about your progress?
Developing our Team
Evaluation
Coaching
Unconscious
competence
Unconscious incompetence
Conscious
incompetence
Conscious competence
Facilitation of employee thinking
and learning through questioning
Identify
behavior
Label
behavior
Cognitive
Planning of
dissonance future
creates
behaviors
ownership
of behavior
Questioning Leads to Change
Accountability with
evaluation
and
coaching to
close the
loop
Laura MacArthur Organization Chart
MDE (NE COE)
ISD 709
Principal
DATA COACH
BOM
Continuous
Improvement
Specialist
(CIS)
Leadership Team
Family and
Community
Liaison
Paraprofessional
PLC
Reports to
Behavior
Team
Certified Staff / Support Staff
PLC
PLC
PLC
Collaborate
PLC
Intervention
Team
PLC
Coordinate / Support
Challenges
-Time
-Turning around a school is difficult work
-Scheduling to be within contract language
-Communicating information to all staff to
ensure fidelity of implementation
-Keeping employee engagement high while
managing so much change
Family Engagement
-Meeting families where they are at
-Monthly Peacemaker assemblies
-Family nights with a focus on building-wide goals
-Student goal setting
-School communication daily, weekly monthly
-If positive changes are happening at home,
families will see the benefit to what we are doing
at school and partner with us
Community Partnerships
will do what others won’t; so tomorrow, I can
Americorp, Reading Corp, Math Corp
Valley Youth Center
Community Action Duluth
United Way
Men as Peacemakers
YWCA
Local universities
Children’s Dental Services
Harbor Town Rotary
West Duluth Business Club
Northwood Children’s Home
A healthy West Duluth starts with Laura
MacArthur Elementary School!
Thoughtful, strategic, and efficient use of
funding can greatly impact student
achievement.