Instructional Core
Building Action Plan
Licking Valley High School
Version 3.0
“The primary work of schooling occurs inside the classrooms, not in
the organizations and institutions that surround the classrooms.”
--Richard Elmore
Area 1: Rigorous, guaranteed curriculum
“If you raise the level of teachers’ knowledge and skill without anchoring it in content, you
get high-level practice disconnected from a clear understanding of what students are actually
learning…”
“Description before analysis, analysis before prediction, prediction before evaluation.”
--Richard Elmore
GOAL: Licking Valley High School teachers and administrators will improve our delivery
of a uniform, guaranteed curriculum aligned with state standards, college readiness
standards and district courses of study in all classes by focusing on the academic tasks that
students are being asked to perform.
ACTION PLAN
Action step
1. Licking Valley High
School teachers will
make learning targets
clear to students by
writing them on
handouts or on the
board daily.
Responsible personnel
Teachers
Timeline
Starting the first
day of class,
throughout the
year.
Documentation of
completion
Performance in this area
will be documented in
formal and informal
observations and
reported quarterly in
department meetings.
Progress will be
reported in Principal’s
meetings after the end
of each quarter and to
the board at the end of
the school year.
2. LVHS teachers and
administrators will
participate in ‘learning
walks’ that focus on
curriculum – lesson –
academic task
alignment.
Teachers,administrators Teachers: once
per month,
during planning
time.
Administrators:
at least twice per
week.
Reported quarterly to
the staff, district
administration and the
public as a percentage
of teacher learning
walks actually done.
Administrators compile
and publish ‘learning
walk’ notes for
observed teachers.
Area 2: Student engagement
“Here (in the U.S.) we spend a great deal of time worrying about what we’re teaching and
how it is being taught. In other places, I notice that people also spend a great deal of time
worrying about whether students are actually interested in, actively engaged in, and able to
explain how they think about what adults are trying to teach them.”
“Description before analysis, analysis before prediction, prediction before evaluation.”
--Richard Elmore
GOAL: Licking Valley High School teachers and administrators will improve the level of
academic engagement among our students by making what we do in the classroom – and
the work the students do outside the classroom – more engaging to students.
ACTION PLAN
Action step
1. LVHS
administrators will
find and/or develop
sample student interest
surveys to be reviewed
by teachers on
Inclusion Day.
Responsible
personnel
Administrators
Timeline
Done by Inclusion
Day
Documentation of
Completion
Sample surveys and
activities given to teachers
on Inclusion Day.
2. Teachers will
choose a student
interest survey or
‘getting to know you’
activity to use and use
it.
1. LVHS
administrators will
present data from the
student engagement
surveys to teachers by
Inclusion Day.
1. LVHS teachers and
administrators will
participate in ‘learning
walks’ that focus on
student engagement
and developing a
common vocabulary to
describe engagement.
All teachers
Survey or activity
Teachers will e-mail
used within the
survey or activity to
first week of school administrators by the end
of the second week of
school.
Administrators
Done by Inclusion
Day
Viewable web
presentation or copy of
handout.
Teachers,
administrators
Teachers: once per
month, during
planning time.
Administrators: at
least twice per
week.
Reported quarterly to the
staff, district
administration and the
public as a percentage of
teacher learning walks
actually done.
Administrators compile
and publish ‘learning
walk’ notes for observed
teachers.
Area 3: Teacher knowledge and skill
“If you raise the level of content without changing the level of knowledge and skill that
teachers bring to the content, you get what we see with considerable frequency in American
classrooms: low-level teaching of high-level content.”
“Description before analysis, analysis before prediction, prediction before evaluation.”
--Richard Elmore
GOAL: Licking Valley High School teachers and administrators will work to build the
knowledge and skill of every teacher by spreading best practices among teachers in the
building.
ACTION PLAN
Action step
1. LVHS teachers
and administrators
will participate in
‘learning walks’
that focus on
instructional
strategies.
1. LVHS
administrators will
identify ‘best
practices’ among
LVHS staff and
plan professional
development time
that focuses on
spreading those best
practices.
Responsible
personnel
Teachers,
administrators.
Administrators.
Timeline
Teachers: once per
month, during
planning time.
Administrators: at
least twice per week.
Monthly focus of one
or two best practices
that will be shared in
staff meetings.
Documentation of
Completion
Reported quarterly to the
staff, district
administration and the
public as a percentage of
teacher learning walks
actually done.
Administrators compile
and publish ‘learning
walk’ notes for observed
teachers.
Staff meeting handouts
and agendas.
Reported quarterly to
parents as newsletter / email summaries.
Progress will be reported
in Principal’s meetings
after the end of each
quarter and to the board
at the end of the school
year.