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September 7, 2015
-DraftCOMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT TEAM
RECOMMENDATIONS, COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS FOR
HMS 2015-16 CONTINUATION PLAN
Listing of all recommendations, comments/questions, and technical and wording edits
Originally provided by CET members for Meeting of 9/2/15
Categorized by Design Elements in 2015-16 Continuation Plan
Note: (1) Questions/Comments sections in this document are questions asking for clarification and/or
comments which refer to recommendations already contained in the plan. Many of the comments are
substantive and should be reviewed by the Receiver; and (2) Numbers in parentheses after some of the
recommendations in this document, refer to number of people who had indicated the same suggestion
in the original list of recommendations sent for the 9/2/15 meeting.
OVERALL PLAN
Comments/Questions:
 Receivership calls for dramatic change. Turnaround. The current plan does not call on all Hackett
employees to dramatically work in a very different way. A number of recommendations made by
NYSED in its 2011 JITT report should be revisited and implemented.
Technical or Wording Edits:
 Note the Plan contains the word “continue” at least 39 times.
 In several places in the document, we are expressing cut-backs (e.g., "Partnership will be
limited...") . Although that may be true, it should be presented as "refocusing", "concentrating", or
somehow positive.
DISTRICT ACCOUNTABILITY AND SUPPORT
i. Identify specific senior leadership that will direct and coordinate district turnaround efforts, and identify individuals at the
district‐level who are responsible for providing oversight and support to the LEA’s lowest achieving schools.
Comments/Questions:
 Continuity and consistency from the top are vital. The District must provide support/incentives to
retain and attract top administrators, staff, and faculty.
 Building and District Administrators for special education are disconnected. Inconsistent and
confused leadership in areas such as curriculum, instruction, PD, conducting progress monitoring of
IEP goals, charting data, and IEP implementation (NYSED 2011 JITT)
Technical or Wording Edits:
 Changes should be made to reflect recent changes in HMS staffing. Include the two Assistant
Principals: Ms. Collins and Mr. Moultrie (new hire) (Note: Mr. Moultrie hire is now reflected in Plan.
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ii. Describe in detail how the structures identified above function in a coordinated manner to provide high quality
accountability and support. Describe and discuss the timeframe, specific cycle of planning, action, evaluation, feedback, and
adaptation between the district and the school leadership. This response should be very specific about the type, nature, and
frequency of interaction between district personnel, school leadership and identified external partner organizations.
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Need to add a meeting schedule between CET, school leadership, and Receiver as there is a CET
monitoring role under receivership. (3)
PARTNERSHIPS
i. Identify by name, the partner organizations that will be utilized to provide services critical to the implementation of the
school design. Additionally, provide the rationale for the selection of each. Explain specifically, the services to be provided
and the role they will play in the implementation of the new school design.*
Recommendations
1. Partner with UAlbany, School of Education to provide training to TA and Substitutes in literacy
and math.
 Establish a program through Robert Banger-Drowns, Dean, UAlbany School of Education to provide
training to Certified TA’s and Sub lists in literacy and math (Note: Recommendation now reflected
in Plan.)
2. CASDA:
 CASDA provides professional development to administrators during the school day
 CASDA provides professional development to teachers outside the school day and during the
summer in differentiated learning, use technology to enhance instruction. (Note: Recommendation
now reflected in Plan.)
3. Consider other Partners
 Consider using Trinity Alliance as a partner. They seem to have a deeper reach into the community
as a whole than PAL does, which could help with some of the other goals.
 Consider James Shultis, expert from The Pride Center of the Capital District
 Consider Anne Obrien Carelli, expert on refugee students to provide professional development
 Consider District Attorney's Office or other Mediation/conflict resolution groups that are in the
area.
 Consider partnering with the Capital Region BOCES to bring service dogs to the school to help
students in their reading.
Technical or Wording Edits:
 Several people/organizations are mentioned elsewhere in this document but not here. Should they
be referenced here as “partner organizations”: Parsons, Roger Runy (St. Rose), Catholic Youth
Charities, Cornell Cooperative Extension (doing the “Strengthening Families Workshop”)?
ii. For the key external partners funded through this plan, provide a clear and concise description of how the LEA/school will
hold the partner accountable for its performance.
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Recommendations
1. Regularly report out partners’ performance to CET and others
 Report out partners' performance to the CET, PTA, etc. on a regular basis to provide accountability
and transparency.
Comments/Questions:
 Need to better address the SED question: “How will the LEA/school hold the partner accountable
for its performance?” What standards/indicators will you use to judge each partner’s performance?
(Is payment based only on providing deliverables? Is payment based on a particular quality of
deliverable?) What will be the repercussions for poor performance?
EDUCATIONAL PLAN
i. Describe the curriculum to be used, including the process to be used to ensure that the curriculum aligns with the New York
State Learning Standards, inclusive of the Common Core State Standards and the New York State Testing Program.
Recommendations
1. Ensure full curricula in all core subjects are completed and adopted ASAP.
 The Middle School curriculum is not a fully-developed curriculum. A comprehensive curriculum is
needed in ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies. (2)
 Curricular Plans: I understand that many Hackett courses have been taught without a fully
developed curriculum, and this past summer an attempt was made to plug some of the District and
school’s curricular gaps. What is the current status of curricula for all of the subjects taught at
Hackett – all levels of math, ELA, social studies, science, foreign languages (separate ones for the
Dual Language feeder students and the regular population students), health, art, music, FACS,
technology, phys ed, etc.? Hackett should use Receivership funds to purchase curricula from other
Districts for any subject areas that still lack them.
 Classes without sound curricular plans breed poor behavior, and a lack of direction in one class
spills out and affects the school climate as a whole. A sound curricular plan for each subject areas is
essential for Hackett to build the culture/school climate of academic success it needs in the
building to make yearly progress.
2. Investigate what other school districts are using, and purchase curricula, as needed.
 Hackett should contact Bethlehem, Guilderland, Voorheeseville, North Colonie and find out what
others are using and use Receivership money to purchase curricula from other Districts.
 Use Receivership funds to purchase curricula for any courses that still have incomplete plans. (2)
3. Provide teachers with immediate access to all curricula. Ensure they have time to examine and
understand new curriculum component.
 District will ensure that appropriate curriculum is adopted in all core subject areas ASAP (by
October 1?) and distributed to teachers, with support and explanation as needed.
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Ensure that all resources needed to teach courses are on hand as needed. Provide teachers
immediate access to newly developed/acquired curricular plans and resources so that they have
time to review them and plan how to implement them
Also, how well do teachers understand the curricula they are teaching? Especially for new curricula
developed this summer, teachers must get a chance, as a team, to examine and digest all
components of the curricula. They should get access to these documents and resources
immediately and time should be scheduled for them to discuss their implementation plan.
4. Ensure all necessary resources to teach the curriculum are available in a timely fashion.
 Buy textbooks and online access to all textbooks. ASAP. Provide supplies and materials to
implement a curriculum; and provide a systematic approach to differentiate instruction for
students. (NYSED JITT 2011).
 Acquire Resources Needed to Teach Units: Last year students in the honors level 7th grade English
classes sat through weeks of full-class-period teacher read-alouds of the novel the class was
covering, since insufficient effort was made to acquire enough copies of the book to send it home
with students to read as homework. Shockingly little higher order thinking happened in that class
during those weeks. The school district is not short on funds for curricular resources, but if it ever
happens that funds are exhausted, the District should reach out to external funding sources, of
which there are many in the Capital District and beyond. The breakdown in planning or priorities
last year should be analyzed to ensure a similar breakdown doesn’t happen again.
Technical or Wording Edits:
 Add specifics concerning curriculum.
 What is the status for all curricula in all grades and all subjects?
 Cite Rubicon as applicable.
 Address Science (omitted core subject).
ii. Describe the instructional strategies used in core courses and common‐branch subjects in the context of the 6 instructional
shifts for Mathematics and 6 instructional shifts for ELA. Describe the plan to accelerate learning in academic subjects by
making meaningful improvements to the quality and quantity of instruction (Connect with iii below.).
Recommendations
1. Ensure that the building principal has the tools needed to oversee academics and ensure a wellfunctioning school (e.g. review of lesson plans a week before class, unannounced class visits)
 Ensure building principal has all necessary tools including lesson plans delivered for review a week
before class, unannounced class visits, attendance at key school events, etc
 Create/Provide Lesson Plans: Lesson plans emailed to principal every Friday by 5pm for the
upcoming week (or Thursday, if no school on Friday).
2. Use a variety of instructional strategies in the classroom that raise the academic bar, including:
 Less reliance on worksheets, especially short-answer and multiple choice
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 Use of variety of instructional strategies focusing on higher order thinking, writing clearly and
cogently, communicating and discussing effectively and respectfully, recognizing and
responding to a variety of different viewpoint
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Heavy reliance on worksheets (NYSED JITT 2011).
Instructional Strategies: There’s no mention of instructional strategies here as requested in the
directions. Special attention is needed to how content is taught at Hackett since some issues have
lingered for years. The 2011 JITT report mentioned an over-reliance on worksheets and lack of
teaching strategies that engage higher order thinking. Judging from my daughter’s experience over
the past two years, this remains a problem at Hackett, since short-answer and multiple choice
worksheets remain the regular fare at Hackett.
Teachers should make use of a variety of instructional strategies, including whole class discussion
and small group work, to engage higher order thinking and develop students’ abilities to recognize
and respond appropriately to a variety of different viewpoints. The emphasis should be on using
class time and homework to guide students to build the skills they’ll need to do well in high school
and beyond – reading for content, interpreting the veracity and viewpoints of information,
outlining, conducting research, writing clearly and cogently, communicating and discussing
effectively and respectfully, managing their time, and organizing their thoughts and belongings.
Raise the academic bar: Hackett needs to ask more, academically, of its students. Students emerge
from Albany’s elementary schools primed for increased rigor at middle school, and instead find a
much lower academic bar and much less homework at Hackett. This surprising turn of events sets
loose an academically blasé school climate that breeds disruptive behavior. Hackett classes must
guide students to stretch their brains – via engaging classroom discussions and challenging
assignments. Educational practices from prior years haven’t been adequate, so they should not just
be continued as is.
Parents have complained that the modules are too scripted, one-size-fits-all, too drawn out, etc.
The books and general activities chosen in the modules seem appropriate, but ELA teachers should
be given direction in how to modify the modules to make them work for our students.
Signal change early and build momentum for change. Stay consistent. High expectations yield
High Results
3. Devote the full class period to instructor-facilitated instruction, rather than setting aside class
time for students to complete their independent homework-styled work on class.
 Use of classroom instruction time: Increase “in class” instruction time and give students homework
to be completed during extended day or at home. This will result in an increase in learning time
within the traditional school day. (2)
 Change the allocation of time within class periods to increase time available for instructorfacilitated instruction, and incorporate instructional strategies that engage higher-order thinking.
 Currently a typical well-behaved class at Hackett includes a short 5 minute bell activity assignment
to start the class session, followed by roughly 10-15 minutes of teacher facilitated instruction,
followed by the handing out of an assignment (usually worksheet) for students to finish in class.
Most students finish it there, so they have no homework. In a typical poorly behaved classroom at
Hackett, instructors take 10-15 minutes at the start of the period to get the class focused on
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learning and then try to cram in a bit of instruction and time to complete an assignment in the
remaining 20 or so minutes of the class.
This practice allows for entirely too little instructor-facilitated instruction at Hackett, and is a key
reason students fail to meet AYP at the school. Hackett needs to use the entire class period for
teacher facilitated instruction and cease this practice of having students use class time to do what
elsewhere would be sent home as homework.
Need to Assign Homework: To date there has been a policy of assigning no homework, and instead
of having students complete their independent assignments during class time. This policy:
 deprives students of a full component of in-class teacher-facilitated instruction,
 deprives students of an opportunity to develop the sort of independent study skills they will
need to do well in high school and beyond, and
 deprives parents of the window into what their child is doing at school that homework
provides.
4. Expand use of technology for learning including purchasing electronic tablets (i-Pads) for
students, providing professional development to teachers on how to help students use
technology, and providing electronic access to textbooks and other resources.
 NYSED JITT 2011 cited limited to no opportunity to develop technological literacy skills. Providing
embedded and regular access to instructional technology in the classroom should be a priority.
 An “ipad” for every student: Apply for a grant, or use some of the additional funds to purchase Ipads or similar tablet devices for every student. (2)
 Apple provides educators to conduct PD in schools. Apple provides buying/trade in programs for
iPads and other equipment. Use technology to support lessons. Provide 21 st century teaching
tools, move away from worksheets, provide engaged hands on learning and online textbooks.
Teachers hand out iPads at start of class and turn them in at the end of class. Assign a username
and password to every student.
 Include accessibility of expanded online textbooks as a home curriculum support.
 Set up student accounts with math website (eg: Khan Academy)
 Students provided access to electronic versions of core class textbooks that can read text aloud to
assist ELL and struggling readers.
5. Include more reading into the FACS classes.
 Don’t just redesign FACS curriculum. Push more reading into all specials. Maybe have reading
tutors available in classrooms of specials.
6. Establish intense daily small group (2-5) instruction in math and ELA for students currently at
Level 1, taking care to group students with similar abilities together.
 Establish intense small group (2-5) teaching/tutoring in math and ELA for students well below grade
level (e.g. scored 1 on state test in previous year), taking care to group students with similar
abilities together. (e.g. kids reading on a 2nd grade level could be in same group even if in different
grades. Students reading on a 1st grade level should not be in groups with students reading on a 4th
grade level.)
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Intense, daily, small group instruction: Frequency of remedial math and reading for any student
below grade level must be in a group max 5:1, daily, intense focused instruction that includes
reliable progress monitoring and charting of data. There must be timely Response to Intervention.
Class size: Tailored to the level of the classroom students. Remedial classes targeting Math and ELA
will be provided. Groups no bigger than 5 students to one teacher (5:1).
School day remains the same. District utilizes flexibility provided by SED regarding noncore class
requirements. Students not at grade level in reading and math receive daily, intensive max 5:1
math and/or reading instruction.
7. Provide a smaller and more intensively supported learning environment for students whose
behavior regularly disrupts class sessions
 Establish small classroom groups at Hackett that enable disruptive students to find an academic
environment within the school that provides adequate emotional/social support to enable them to
progress academically. Consider using these model classrooms as a small scale way to test out an
intensive community school model and instructional approaches that incorporate sensory
integration strategies for these students. The goal of this approach should be to improve the
learning environment both for students who don’t misbehave but can’t focus on teachers because
of these disruptions, and for disruptive students whose behavior represents a cry for a different
instructional environment. I understand there may be two rooms in the Hackett “tower” that could
be repurposed to provide a home for this new initiative.
 Remove students with consistent disruptive behavior from regular classes and move them into 1-2
newly developed alternative classes, housed at Hackett, where students can learn in a smaller class
size environment supported by intensive “community school” style services.
8. Provide focused instructional sessions by grade level on “how to learn” (e.g. how to study; time
management), general academic and test-taking skills.
 Learning-to-Learn sessions: Routinely (monthly or biweekly?), and by grade level, provide focused
instructional sessions on strategies for how to learn (e.g. how to study; time management; how to
summarize etc.)
 Middle school academic skills should be explicitly taught...How to organize and write a paragraph,
how to write in complete sentences, grammar and punctuation...and so many more skills.
 Practice Test Taking: Beginning in January, begin afterschool and weekend instruction for the
statewide math and ELA tests. Practice tests. (Leah Evans at AHS does this. She sends parents
monthly emails).
9. Expand AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination Program), from 20-25 students to all
Hackett students.
 Why will AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination Program) be limited to 20-25 students?
I’d like to see all students learn the organizational and study skills, critical thinking skills, and the
ability to ask probing questions that this program is meant to teach.
10. Establish a School-wide policy related to the kinds of homework to be assigned (e.g. more writing
and other creative projects and less work-sheet completion); and the process for how to respond
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when students do not complete homework assignments, including providing support to parents
of students who routinely fail to complete homework assignments.
Assign homework and work assertively with students and families to ensure it is completed.
Type of Homework Needed: The independent assignments students complete at Hackett are
almost entirely work-sheet based, even multiple-choice based. Students need to do more writing
and other creative projects. Writing challenges students to think more deeply than do short answer
and multiple choice questions. Creative projects can be grippingly memorable since they engage
multiple senses. Students also should be assigned work – essays and other projects – that take
several days to complete so that they can develop time management skills and skills in drafting,
editing, and producing final products.
Process for Responding to Lack of Homework Completion: Hackett should institute a stepped
response to students who don’t return homework: For the first one or two late assignments,
teachers should communicate directly with students the importance of homework, develop a plan
to get overdue assignments completed, and record notes on this discussion in the online
PowerSchool application. After three missed assignments, teachers should contact parents directly
to discuss what’s getting in the way of homework completion and set up a plan for getting back on
top of overdue assignments. If there is lack of progress with this plan, home school coordinators or
other administrative staff should contact parents and work with them to identify and resolve
barriers to their student’s inability to complete homework.
Just like truancy, repeated failure to complete homework represents a breakdown in the
school-home partnership. With the proper level of commitment and help from school staff,
many families in this situation will be able to develop a home environment and habits
conducive to completing homework. For those who aren’t able to do so, the school should
provide a time and place at school – outside of the regular class time – for students to complete
homework.
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How well students do in school depends on the degree to which their time out of school supports
academics. Hackett should use failure to return homework as an indicator of which families to
target with stepped up support meant to build a home environment conducive to academic
success.
11. Establish a School-wide policy for make-up work due dates, including providing support to
parents of students who routinely fail to complete make-up assignments.
 In order to keep students focused on course content at the time the teacher is teaching it, Hackett
should set a reasonable policy for how long a student can take to complete make-up assignments.
Students failing to complete assignments within that window need intensive school outreach to
their parents and home, and intensive in-school tutoring, not lax deadlines.
 Academic policies related to incomplete work due dates should be applied uniformly across the
school, and communicated to students and parents, to build a sense of respect for the academic
rigor needed to meet AYP.
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12. Establish a School-wide grading policy that accurately reflects students’ progress in learning.
(Current policy does not assign failing grades, (despite failing work) in the first part of the school
year.)
 Failing Grade Policy: I’d like to see an end to the policy of not assigning a failing grade, despite
failing work, during the first semester of school. The current policy keeps students and their
parents from getting an accurate picture of where the student stands academically, which delays
them in making necessary changes in study habits.
 Establish Transparent Grading Policies that Support Student Learning: Hackett should cease its
current practice of assigning a grade no lower than 50 (out of 100) for assignments and exams in
the first two or three quarters of the year. (If a student earns a 20 during that period, the grade is
arbitrarily changed to 50, with the intent of ensuring a student can mathematically reach a passing
grade despite poor performance earlier in the year.)
This policy needs to end because it keeps students and their parents from understanding the
true nature of their performance – lulls them into a false sense of security – and thereby delays
the start of the serious attention needed to remediate poor performance.
Hackett, instead, should implement a policy whereby students are assigned the grades they
earn, but are required to correct errors on an assignment or repeat an exam, and are given the
opportunity to earn back points through better performance the second time around.
Assignments and exams in the second half of the year can also be given more weight in the final
grading system, at least for students who approach the midpoint of the year in a failing
position. The opportunity to turn things around can work to keep students motivated until the
end of the school year.
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Academic policies related to grading should be applied uniformly across the school, and
communicated to students and parents, to build a sense of respect for the academic rigor needed
to meet AYP. (2)
13. The HMS RTI Committee will continue to monitor student performance. . . . Add an element that
describes how recommendations will be monitored to see if they are followed.
14. Eliminate inconsistencies and barriers to acquiring interventions and special education services
for our lowest performing students as the current RTI/referral model is slow moving and must
often be restarted as students move on in their academic careers (identified as a great need.)
15. Change Common Planning Time from five days to two days a week. Use remaining three days for
additional small group intensive instruction.
 Common Planning Time – Not 5 days a week as stated in plan. Only 2 times a week. The other 3
days push in on all small group intense instruction. Conduct progress monitoring.
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16. Hold faculty team meetings after school rather than during the school day. (Facilitator’s
Question: Not sure whether this is the same as Common Planning Time)
 Team meetings in each core department (English, Mathematics, Social Studies and Science) held
after school not during the school day taking teachers out of their classrooms. (NYSED JITT 2011)
17. Address issues around teacher absenteeism
 High use of substitute teachers, lowered instructional quality, inconsistency of content delivery,
issues with managing student behavior. (NYSED JITT 2011)
18. Adopt a program to better train, place and monitor substitute teachers, especially long term
substitutes.
 Adopt a program to better train, place and monitor substitute teachers, especially long term
substitutes. If teacher has unexpected long absence, assign a teacher or curriculum person to
develop appropriate and well-developed lesson plans. Administrative team visit rooms with
substitutes for more than 3 consecutive days at least 2 times per week and provide supports as
needed. Assign additional TA or other support staff to rooms with substitutes. (Currently, rooms
with subs tend to watch movies or TV shows that are only tangentially related to the subject too
often.)
 Establish a program through Robert Banger-Drowns, Dean, UAlbany School of Education to provide
training to Certified TA’s and Sub lists in literacy and math. (Note: This recommendation is also
reflected in Partnership section of the Continuation Plan.)
19. Hold Studio Classroom training outside of the regular class sessions (e.g. Friday PD; summer).
 Move Studio Classroom training out of the regular class period time to avoid the need to rely on
substitutes for all of these training days.
 Studio classroom training should not be held during regular class sessions because to do so leaves
classes with substitutes who cannot engage students as well as their regular teacher. Hackett
should instead look into offering this training during the required Friday PD time, or during the new
10th period and include students who need extra support in the subject covered in that training
session. Summer school is another optional time to schedule this training at a time when it doesn’t
disrupt learning at Hackett.
 Job-embedded PD with Studio Classrooms feeds into the problem of teacher absenteeism..
Provisional SIG lists 10 days for social studies and 10 days for math. This is unacceptable. Provide
financial incentives for coming to work.
20. Ensure that the building principal has the authority needed to oversee academics and ensure a
well-functioning school (e.g. require professional development; relieve underperforming staff of
their positions.)
 Ensure building principal has the authority to act in response to poor performance, like require
professional development and relieve underperforming staff of their positions.
Comments/Questions:
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Advancement Via Individual Determination Program (AVID) – Is there data from Albany High School
that provides information on the outcomes for students after doing AVID? Anecdotally, talking to
parents, parents are happy about their children recovering credits, but don’t feel the children
learned that much content from AVID. Will Hackett be incorporating AVID into student learning in a
way that is different from AHS?
"College and Career Readiness" sounds good, but depends heavily on the details.
You mention that teachers will continue use and modify the NYS modules to increase students’ use
of academic language and vocabulary acquisition. How specifically? What strategies will they
incorporate into their instruction to accomplish this?
What are the expected results from Studio Classroom training? How will these be recognized and
evaluated?
I would appreciate an explanation of the "Common Planning Time".
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Technical or Wording Edits:
 Edit entry to reflect understanding of the six instructional shifts in both ELA and Math as stated by
the Element description (currently incomplete)1
iii. Describe the logical and meaningful set of strategies for the use of instructional time leading to a pedagogically sound
structuring of the daily/weekly/monthly schedule to increase learning time by extending the school day and/or year. The
structure for learning time described here should be aligned with the Board of Regents standards for Expanded Learning
Time.
Recommendations
1. Provide literacy and math tutors (either through local colleges or hired professionals) for afterschool or during the enrichment periods. Ensure they are trained and supervised by District
literacy and math coaches. Focus on teaching students currently at Level 1.
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Suggest participation in after-school tutoring to student scoring Level 1 in NYS ELA and Math and
provide a structured intervention program to assist those students (i.e. Wilson reading).
Robert Bangert-Drowns, Dean, UAlbany School of Education. Provide pool of Education students
that can be hired to work with students on literacy and math 4 to 5 times a week either during
school day or during the last period of school. (Note: This recommendation is also reflected in
Partnership section of the Continuation Plan.)
Massive recruitment and training of tutors and mentors for Hackett students currently at Level 1:
 Partner with local colleges and universities to recruit college students as volunteer tutors. Train
tutors to use best educational practices. Provide a rich tutor-to-student ratio (i.e. optimum
would be one-on-one tutoring)
 Conduct a major recruitment effort in the community for both tutors and mentors for current
Level 1 students. Train tutors and mentors on best educational and mentoring practices.
Literacy tutors hired by local teaching colleges or SUNY Albany, supervised by effective District
literacy coaches (eg: dyslexia).
Math tutors hired by local teaching colleges or SUNY Albany, supervised by effective District math
coaches (eg: dyscalculia).
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See Appendix I for a listing of the “six shifts” in ELA and Math
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Tutors hired from local teaching colleges to provide research-based reading instruction under
District literacy and math coaches.
Maximize learning in the extended day period by using Receiver funds to hire tutors to work with
students one on one or in small groups.
Hackett should bring in extra tutors to help provide intensive coverage during this period – either
from the ranks of student teachers from local area colleges, or professionals hired with receivership
funds.
Oversee tutors and provide curriculum support
Comments/Questions
 The 10th period seems nebulous and will need to be well structured to be effective.
 Ensure the added academic advisement and enrichment in the new 10th period operates smoothly
and effectively from day one of the school year with a slate of well thought out enrichment
activities immediately available for sign-up and academic coaches ready to work one on one with
students.
 Not mentioned is that the remaining 9 periods (presumably) will be shortened; the impact of that
change should be addressed.
 Maintain the current dynamic responsive format. (i.e. HW help) for students performing close to,
at, or above grade level.
 Smart Math/Differentiated Instruction: Is the additional 44 minutes of Smart Math differentiated to
fit the needs and provide an appropriate challenge for each student?
 Extension of the School Day: Whether this proves to be a good plan for Hackett depends on how
well the academic advisement time and enrichment activities are planned and implemented. How
will Hackett make adequate use of the extended school day to meet the needs of both those
students who need academic help to meet grade-level abilities and those students who already
meet or exceed standards?
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Which teachers will be available for additional academic advisement? Please describe how
Hackett will orchestrate student assistance in this period. Will students be assigned to a
particular teacher or study group, and if so, what data will be used to make this determination?
How will you ensure that teachers are neither underutilized nor inundated, and that students
get help with the specific challenges they face in the most efficient and effective way possible?
Since small group size is essential for remediation. Consider assigning students problem sets
and tutorials on the free online Khan Academy to give them an excellent, fun, and free tool to
develop math competency.
Will teachers/staff also head up after-school enrichment opportunities, and if so, will
teachers/staff have a professional expertise in the content area of the enrichment activity they
are leading? How will students enroll in these activities? What policies will ensure activities are
successful and engaging? How will these activities be evaluated, and what process will be in
place for changing them if necessary based on evaluative data? Which enrichment activities are
planned? I’d like to see ones that build academic potential in a fun way: a Hackett theater
troupe, an e-zine/journal writing club, a Math Counts club, Science club, and Arts and Technical
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building club, are all ideas that would support the goal of building an academic climate at
Hackett.
What accommodations will be made to enable student athletes to get to their 3:30 modified
sports practices on time, given the new late dismissal time at Hackett?
Will there be two policies – one for students in good academic standing and another for
students who need academic support?
Technical or Wording Edits:
 Edit item to reflect newly proposed schedule.
 Extended School Day: Don’t think the school hours are correct in this column. Hours will be 7:553:20, Monday –Thursday.
iv. Describe the school’s functional cycle of Data‐Driven Instruction/Inquiry (DDI). Describe the type, nature and frequency of
events (e.g., through common planning time, teacher‐administrator one‐on‐one meetings, group professional development,
etc.) provided to the teachers for the examination of interim assessment data and test‐in-hand analysis. Describe the types
of supports and resources that will be provided to teachers, as the result of analysis.
Recommendations
1. Monitor students progress every two weeks and modify instruction as necessary
 NWEA evaluations occur with every student and placed by level into small groups. Progress
monitoring and data charted every two weeks. Document results and modify as necessary until
progress noted and keep up the intensity until students are at grade level, students rejoin noncore
classes. Continue in summer.
2. Differentiate instruction based on NWEA or other assessments
 Data-responsive Instruction: Effort should be made to differentiate instruction in response to pretest results and mid-module assessments. Students who show prior knowledge of something
through a pre-assessment need to have instruction modified for them so that they remain
challenged. Students who show excessive difficulty with something need extra support. Will
principals reviewing lesson plans see student pre-assessment results along with their
corresponding lesson plans in order to ensure this happens?
 To the extent possible, students should be grouped in similar ability groupings to facilitate this
differentiation while also providing opportunities for students to work in a group.
Comments/Questions:
 Are NWEA and Aimsweb assessments different? Are both administered to the same students?
Currently, lots of assessments are going on, which means loss of learning time, closing of the library
for extended periods of time, etc. Can the school just do one or the other?
v. Describe the school‐wide framework for providing academic, social‐emotional, and student support to the whole school
population. Describe the school’s operational structures and how they function to ensure that these systems of support
operate in a timely and effective manner.
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Recommendations
1. Contract with Albany Peace Project’s Mindful Moments to institute regular moments of quiet
time throughout the school day for all students.
 The Albany Peace Project’s Mindful Moments (APPMM) will create a culture-changing atmosphere,
by decompressing students 3-4 times throughout the day (using quick quiet-time-strategies, stress
management techniques and mindfulness guides). 2 (Note: Recommendation now reflected in
Plan.)
2. Establish small divisions (houses?) within the school, with support services for each student
group (e.g. youth advocates, tutors, mentors etc.)
 Small divisions (houses?) within the school to focus attention on transition to middle school and
transition skills needed to thrive. Each team should have at least the following…Youth advocates,
guidance personnel, tutors, mentors and a home-school connection.
3. Work towards a full-service Community School model including wrap-around services (in health;
mental health etc) to families as well as students; paid positions for parents to assist both
students and their families.
 Transform HMS into a full-service community school. In addition to full wrap-around services and a
Family Resources Center, develop robust strategies for parent engagement within the school
including the opportunity for paid positions for parents who assist the school with student support
and outreach to other parents.
 Add staff, especially social workers, to Full Service. That staff provides important services, and ones
we need more of. Try to address the needs not just of the students but the entire family.
 Hackett should set aside a “parent home” at the school – a place for parents to access information
and build a connection to the school community: Look into using part of the space allocated to
guidance counselor offices for this parent room. Stock the room with a master course catalog,
course syllabi, a computer for parents to access the Internet and PowerSchool, information on
enrichment opportunities, registration deadlines, and upcoming assessments, etc., for students,
lunch menus, and other information of interest to parents. A pot of coffee always available will
make the space a welcoming one.
 Establish a parent center at Hackett stocked with resources of value to parents.
Technical or Wording Edits:
 Include PBIS Committee in listing of framework to align with developing and sustaining a safe and
orderly school climate (see vi below).
 PBIS Committee responsible for roll out and continued expansion of PBIS school-wide behavior
expectations, support, and recognition.
vi. Describe the strategies to develop/sustain a safe and orderly school climate. Explain the school’s approach to student
behavior management and discipline for both the general student population and those students with special needs.
2
See Appendix II for a detailed description of the purpose and value of the Mindful Moments model.
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Recommendations
1. Get input from students on school climate and culture.
 Implement a survey and get feedback from students about what opportunities they would like to
see developed to engage them more in school. An action plan should be developed to address the
strengths/weaknesses identified in the survey (NYSED JITT 2011)
2. Expand School-wide strategies to increase cultural understanding among students, including:
continuing the cultural bridging work started by NCBI (National Coalition Building Institute); and
employing resources/strategies suggested by the Teaching Tolerance curriculum (e.g. “Mix It Up
at Lunch Day).
 (add to NCBI recommendation on page 10) Work with NCBI, to develop other school-wide
strategies to increase cultural understanding among students from various cultures (e.g.
Videos/sharing sessions about students from various cultures; directional/location signs in hallways
in various languages).
 Mix It Up at Lunch Day: The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance curriculum
provides resources on how to help students “move out of their comfort zones and connect with
someone new over lunch.” See link: http://www.tolerance.org/mix-it-up/what-is-mix
3. Select and train older students (8th graders and/or high school students) to mentor younger
and/or struggling students.
 In-School Big Brother/Big Sister: Link up older students with younger ones. Train students to be
mentors of younger students. Start this year with 8th graders being mentors to the incoming 6th
graders.
 High School Mentors: (starting in 2016-17 school year). Select and train Albany high school
students to become mentors of Hackett Middle School students.
4. Provide an age-appropriate, simple language summary of the Code of Conduct to all students at a
school assembly at the beginning of each school year; use SNN to inform families.
5. Provide consistent police presence after school at dismissal at both the back as well as the front
of the building.
6. Enforce Albany School District dress code
 Enforce pre-existing City School District of Albany Dress Code policy that is already “on the books”:
“Ensure that underwear is completely covered with outer clothing” and “Recognize that extremely
brief garments such as tube tops, halter tops, spaghetti straps, plunging necklines (front and/or
back) and see-through garments are not acceptable.”
 The school must enforce the dress code, with zero tolerance for visible underwear and other
inappropriate clothing choices. (2)
7. Ask (require?) school staff to role model appropriate dress code.
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Dress Code – Teachers/Staff: Shirt and tie for men. Skirt or pants for women. No t- shirts. No
jeans unless designated by Principal on Fridays.
Hall monitors wear blue Hackett T-shirts or polo shirts and khaki pants; Dress for the job you want,
not the job you have.
8. Ask (require?) Hall Monitors to role model appropriate behavior (e.g. Speak calmly and with
correct grammar. No yelling. When sitting at their hallway desks during class – Model academic
behavior and read a book. No texting and surfing on web during the school day.)
9. Do not tolerate foul language from the students.
 Foul language is rampant at Hackett, and this foul language is troubling and distracting to students
not previously exposed to it. The school must no longer tolerate it. Students should be expected to
speak more thoughtfully and respectfully while on school grounds
 Improve the academic climate of the building by responding aggressively to the preponderance of
foul language in the building.
10. Improve the look of the school entry hallway.
 Improve the look of the entry hallway in the building to support the sense that this is the beginning
of a new era at Hackett.
 Improve the look of the entry hallway – rather than tape artwork and posters willy nilly in this
elegant space, affix glass covered display cases to the walls and use them for changeable displays
from teachers to give a museum-style feel to the entrance of the school. Post information about
the Parthenon friezes that line the hallway.
Comments/Questions:
 PBIS: Has Hackett reviewed the impact of the first year of PBIS? Has time devoted to PBIS training,
teacher and staff reporting of student behavior, and the monthly student assemblies been
worthwhile? What approach will you take with students who aren’t responsive to PBIS?
 Monthly PBIS Town Hall meetings. . . recognize students for demonstrating appropriate daily
behaviors.” Is doing this in a big group setting effective? I have read of high schools that do not give
these awards in public because those getting the awards are teased. Don’t know if this is true at
Hackett.
vii. Describe the formal mechanisms and informal strategies for how the school encourages parent/family involvement and
communicates to support student learning, and how it will gauge parent and community satisfaction.
Recommendations
1. Develop and implement a comprehensive Parent/Family Engagement Plan which will focus on
going to the parents and families of the students. This initiative should first focus on
parents/families of students who are currently at Level 1 or are otherwise struggling, as well as
traditionally “hard-to-reach” parents and guardians. Work in partnership with all entities in
Albany (Mayor’s Office; community-based organizations; higher education institutions, faith-
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based organizations, libraries etc.) to provide community outreach and other assistance to
implement the Parent/Family Engagement Plan. Use Receivership funds to: (1) provide
consultation advice for planning and implementation; and (2) train and employ Hackett parents
to act as Family Outreach workers working with families within their neighborhoods; (3) establish
paid positions for teacher outreach work into the community.
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Current parent/family engagement practices at Hackett are very weak. Building stronger policies of
engagement has the power to transform the school and narrow the achievement gap. Continued
reliance only on PTA meetings and programs like the Parent University gatherings held at school
last year will involve only those parents who already support education and feel connected to the
school. The school needs to connect with a much larger and broader cross-section of the
parent/guardian community and empower all parents to provide academic oversight for their
students.
A team to go out to where the families ARE…and reconnect to them.
Recruit, train and pay Community Outreach workers to go door-to-door to engage with families of
HMS students, starting with students who are currently at Level 1. Preference should be given to
Community Outreach workers who are themselves family members of HMS students. This Model
will require funding.
Revamp parent engagement piece to emphasize pushing out to homes and the community, rather
than the current opt- in approach. Use failure to return homework as an indicator of which families
to target with intensive outreach. Use receiver funds to hire additional staff to do this outreach and
conduct home visits.
Teachers need to visit some homes and make that personal connection.
Establish paid positions for teacher outreach opportunities sending staff to community
events (both faith-based and secular) and support personnel with printed (and
translated) literature and follow through of efforts.
Hard-to-reach parents: Hackett should assign someone the responsibility of tracking which parents
remain inactive, and brainstorm ideas for how to reach them.
Hackett should push into the community to reach parents unaccustomed to coming to school:
Parents unable to get to the school or uncomfortable on school grounds might be willing to attend
a meeting closer to or at home.
Establish partnerships with local faith and secular organizations to promote participation more
reflective of HMS demographics on school committees charged with student/staff engagement and
academic support. Outreach in addition to more on-site events.
Ask EVERY organization/ business in the City of Albany to invest in the School district...Employees
from State Ed and other NYS agencies, Mayor Sheehnan's office and other local government
employees ( Fire/police) , Price chopper, Hannaford, Albany Medical Center, Saint Peter's hospital,
SEFCU and Key Banks, local organizations like Black Lives Matter and A Village, and ALL local
colleges if they would allow their employees/students (EVERYONE WHO LIVES/PLAYS/ WORKS IN
THE CITY OF ALBANY), I don't know, perhaps 5- 10 hours a month leave to come into our schools
and mentor students? Perhaps (with permission) they could take their students back to their place
of employment and begin making connections with between the community and the schools. This
could also include parents and family members. This needs to be a village effort...
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Libraries: Work with local libraries to find additional creative ways of engaging families and
students in learning (e.g. identify small satellite “libraries” in storefronts, housing projects, etc.,
where students and families can gather to hear a story; read to each other; learn something new.
2. Modify the responsibilities of the Home School Coordinator position so that the focus is on
parent and school connections and that significant portion of his time is in contacting and visiting
homes of families of struggling students. Incorporate the role of Home School Coordinator into
the Comprehensive Parent/Family Engagement Plan noted above.
 Role of home school coordinator should be reviewed and modified to focus on parent and school
connections. A collaborative communication plan should be developed between the school and
community to engage parents. (NYSED JITT 2011)
 Devote a significant portion of the Home School Coordinator’s time to contacting and visiting the
homes of families of struggling students, and use receiver funds to hire additional staff to conduct
this intensive outreach to families of struggling students. The home school coordinator and other
staff can use home visits to:
 show interest in the parent and thereby build a positive connection between the school and
the parent,
 help build up parent’s abilities to support their student, and
 assess barriers in the home environment to providing adequate academic support, and
determine to what extent the home can be counted upon to provide an effective
environment for students to complete homework. (Hackett will need to set aside in-school
time for students to do homework, for the duration of time that staff determine their home
environment cannot support that work.)
Building the potential for home environments to support the academic needs of their students
has the power to transform a student’s academic potential. Respectful and helpful home visits
can go a long way to building that potential and should be an integral part of Hackett’s plan for
this upcoming year.
3. Identify and include in Comprehensive Parent/Family Engagement Plan strategies for helping
parents to: (1) understand what their children are learning; and (2) develop strategies to support
their students at home. Strategies include: parent survey asking them what they need for school
to help their children; information sent to parents on first day of school on what their children
will learn; a required home pledge for parents to sign saying they have read the syllabus for the
year and will support it; weekly/biweekly updates by teacher on-line or otherwise; AIS letter sent
home more often; on-line versions of textbooks; a parent space at the school which provides
resources for parents to help their students; parent classes in ELA and Math so that they can help
their children with homework.
 Develop and disseminate important academic information to parents to give them the tools
needed to oversee their student’s academic progress.
 Parent Survey: Hackett should administer a survey to parents each year to gauge parents’ sense of
empowerment around supporting their child’s academic achievement.
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Parents need to know what students are learning: Hackett does a poor job of keeping parents
abreast of what their students are learning in school, and since students have little to no
homework to do, parents can’t even review that to see what their student is learning. Hackett
should make plans to provide parents:
 a course catalog that describes the courses offered at the school, their entrance requirements,
and what course they lead to in the following year;
 syllabi for the courses their student is taking;
 links to the online versions of the textbooks their student is using for each class (as an added
benefit, these online textbooks are usually accessible in Spanish and include an audio format,
which is helpful for ELL and Special Ed populations);
 weekly/biweekly communication from the school/teachers (SNN is a good method)that
describes what’s happened in class or at school, and what’s coming up that parents should
prepare for;
 automatic sign-up for SNN notices; and
 Power School push-out information so that parents can see what’s on their child’s power school
account without taking the initiative to log-in themselves.
Home Pledge: Teachers provide families with a syllabus with name, contact information, class
expectations, and home expectations, identify textbook to be used, identify how student grades
will be determined, and provide an overview of topics to be covered during the year. This is
provided on the first day of school. A separate sheet requests parents and students to sign a
pledge stating that they read the syllabus and will support it at home.. Return the signed sheet to
school. Follow up provided by Home School Coordinator until 100-percent registered students
have turned in signed pledges. Announce names of students who still haven’t turned in the pledge
sheets each day.
AIS Letters sent home: Not quarterly as stated. Consider sending AIS reports home when interim
report cards go home for a total of 8 AIS letters during the school year.
Offer classes in ELA and Math to parents who need an assist doing HW with their children if they do
not yet have those skills.
Establish a parent space at the school stocked with information that supports parents in their
efforts to support their child’s academic achievement.
4. Use electronic media more effectively to communicate with parents (e.g. Home School
Coordinator signs up families for the School News Notifier (SNN) and Powerschool; provide
electronic and telephone updates on school news; provide electronically teacher contact
information and syllabus
 School News Notifier: The Home School Coordinator shall sign up families of every registered
student to the School News Notifier (SNN).
 Powerschool: The Home School Coordinator works jointly with the Guidance Department to sign up
families onto PowerSchool to receive weekly electronic access to their child’s grades including
teacher contact information.
 A phone system (robo-calling) is established in the District and it provides updates in multiple
languages (eg: Press 1 for English, Press 2 for Spanish, Press 3 for Burmese etc.).
 Hackett provides electronic and telephone updates from guidance, PTA, and the Principal.
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Online - Provide teacher list/contact information and each teacher’s syllabus. Consider highlighting
one teacher weekly to tell families about an interesting project or topic covered in class that week.
5. Revamp the Parent-Teacher Conference (PTC) to make it more convenient and less intimidating
for parents to participate (e.g. establish evening PTC hours; have multiple sessions; find alternate
location closer to students’ homes; organize conference days so there is less wait time for
parents; provide information on how parents can meet teachers outside of Conference Days).
 Establish a uniform Parent-Teacher Conference (PTC) format to increase the number of parent
meetings across teams and lower the intimidation factor [individual teacher meetings allow up to
six family guardians to be met at once over a single family per team]
 Establish evening PTC hours for parents unable to attend daytime meeting hours.
 Have multiple PTC sessions, at least one during the day and one in the evening. Maybe some
sessions in alternate locations closer to students’ homes, such as public libraries and community
centers. Better organize conference days so there is less wait time (one grade rotates the teachers
in and out of the room while the parent remains there. This works well and allows multiple parents
to be in conference at once.) and notify all relevant staff (secretaries, guidance, Home-School
coordinators) on how the day will work and how to set up appointments so they can correctly
answer parent questions.
 Advertise other avenues for parents to meet with teachers outside of conference days. These
avenues can be utilized at any time, not just when students are in deep trouble. (I have heard other
parents say that teachers won’t meet with them, but I have never found this to be the case, but the
school does not clearly indicate their preferred procedure for parents to use for setting up
meetings with teachers.)
6. Have PTSA/community meeting at various times throughout the day and in various places in the
city so that EVERYONE can come. Have light snacks and child care available. Perhaps offer bus
tokens for parents who utilize the public transportation system.
7. Find creative ways of getting parents and guardians to participate in the school (e.g. open school
weeks for parents to “shadow” their students during part of the day; periodic family breakfasts”
and family field trips; hold Parent University at other times and in various locations).
 Establish open school weeks allowing parents/guardians to "shadow" their student during part of
the day - contain to one grade per week and a parent choice of morning or afternoon visitation to
control movement into and throughout the building;
 Hold periodic "family breakfast" on designated school days to establish school as community and in
turn service our neediest families thus utilizing Community School strategies.
 Hold family field trips to education/cultural events outside of school and on weekends or school
breaks.
 Hold Parent University, family engagement nights etc. in these in various locations. Invite families
from other district middle schools to attend events when the content is not Hackett-specific.
8. Assist parents of ENL students by translating all important school documents, notifications, etc.
and establishing a robo-calling style contact system with translation options.
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Translate all correspondence including but not limited to written correspondence, ACSD alerts, and
websites, into languages most utilized by our growing ENL population. Establish robo-calling style
contact with translated options for household adults which may be illiterate and/or struggling in
their native language.
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT DATA
Under separate attachment, the LEA/school must provide summary data demonstrating the degree to which academic
achievement targets (Attachment B of the school’s original application) have been met, or are on a trajectory for being met.
This may include charts, tables, and/or graphs that summarize the current academic performance data for grade-levels
and/or content area. This should be based on available data and include those data that can systematically measure school
progress and/or are predictive of academic performance on annual targets.
Comments/Questions:
 The Required “Academic Achievement Data” attachment is missing from our version of this
document. Has it been completed? If so, please distribute it to members of the CET.
TRAINING, SUPPORT AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
i. Identify and describe the training, support, and professional development events during the current implementation period
and for the upcoming implementation period. For each planned event, identify the specific agent/organization responsible
for delivery, the desired measurable outcomes, and the method by which providers were/will be evaluated. Provide a
rationale for each event and why it is critical to the successful implementation of the SIG plan.
Recommendations
1. Survey teachers to help identify PD topics.
2. Provide all school staff with on-going, intensive training on cultural competency, which goes
beyond the one-shot PD workshops (e.g. continuing and open discussions on such sensitive
topics as institutional racism in the education system and implicit bias, etc.).
 Suggested local consultant and trainer, Gregory G. Owens. Mr. Owens is currently working with the
City of Albany and the Albany Police Department on these kinds of issues.)
3. Use Teaching As Leadership: The Highly Effective Teacher’s Guide to Closing the Achievement Gap
(published by Teach for America) as a basis for faculty and staff discussions on driving dramatic
student gains.
 Book read by all employees and discussed: Teach for America (TFA) recently published its first
book, Teaching As Leadership: The Highly Effective Teacher’s Guide to Closing the Achievement
Gap, which presents the organization’s findings on what distinguishes the teachers who are most
effective at driving dramatic student gains. The book and accompanying Web site,
www.teachingasleadership.org serve as a great resource for teacher and staff-driven change.
Discuss on a PD day when students not in school.
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4. Conduct mandatory Professional Development at times that are outside of the instructional day.
 Mandatory professional development: Teachers receive PD OUTSIDE of the 185(?) instruction days
of District students. Studio classroom PD implemented during summer school or after school with
extended day students until 4pm. Teachers required to participate for 2, 5-day sessions over the
summer. To date, no reliable District data indicates this PD works. Daily compensation is equal to
the per diem given to substitute teachers. Professional development aimed at breaking established
routines and low expectations, and instead provide new instructional approaches. Create and
enforce a school culture of high expectations for all students. (NYSED JITT 2011)
 The Friday "professional development" on its face is ridiculous -- literally, it will be
ridiculed. Training on a Friday afternoon is unlikely to be productive and releasing students early
seems counter-productive on many levels. Move the PD to any other time, preferably outside of
classroom hours.
 The studio workshops seem excessive. Understanding how they directly impact the classroom
would be helpful. A truly dramatic change would be to hold all, or at least some, of the sessions
outside of classroom hours.
Comments/Questions:
 Friday’s professional development. This is an excellent idea as long as PD is relevant, meaningful,
and teachers actively participate. How can we make sure this is the case?
 What are the desired/measurable outcomes for CASDA work? How will they be/have they been
evaluated?
 Reporting out exactly how the training is "immediately transferred to the classroom" would
improve confidence and transparency.
 The CASDA day-long team building exercise description is weak. Will you be having teachers
brainstorm and come up with expectations and goals at that event? Will they be given any prior
reading material? Won’t the CET and you come up with expectations and goals? Can the day-long
PD be used to translate these ideas to practice? What will be the desired/measurable outcomes of
this day-long session?
 How will the PD curricula be developed? Who will conduct this training? How will you increase its
chance of being valuable, and how will it be evaluated?
ii. Describe the schedule and plan for regularly evaluating the effects of training, support, and professional development,
including any modifications to the plan as the result of evaluation. The training, support, and professional development plan
described in this section should be job‐embedded, school‐specific, and/or linked to student instructional and support data, as
well as teacher observation and interim benchmark data. The skills and knowledge gained from such learning can be
immediately transferred to classroom instructional practices.
Comments/Questions:
 How will district deal with teacher absences due to PD? Absent teachers and ill-equipped
substitutes have been a problem in general in the District.
 Is there an expectation that there ought to be a linkage between PD and NWEA scores? If so, what
linkage do you expect? What will you do with the results, good or bad?
 Why is this section marked yellow, indicating difficulty in ensuring that it happens?
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PROJECT PLAN AND TIMELINE
i. Present and describe the timeline of key strategies for the current implementation period and for the upcoming
implementation period that are aligned to the goals identified in the “School Overview” section of the original SIG
application.
Comments/Questions:
 No timeline provided as requested: When will each activity happen over the course of the year?
With what goals are these activities aligned? Are there any goals not addressed here (ie, those
related to parent engagement)? Are these Hackett’s full set of key strategies? Add changes
recommended above re: homework being pulled out of class sessions, increase in information
provided to parents, a stepped approach to engaging parents directly if needed, etc.
ii. Identify the early/significant wins for the current period of implementation and significant wins for the upcoming period
of implementation that will serve as indicators of successful SIG plan implementation and foster increased/sustained buy‐in
and support for the plan.
Comments/Questions:
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Flexible block schedule: What is meant by this?
Collective bargaining changes: Were all these changes accomplished in union negotiations? Was
anything else? What does weekly submission of lesson plans mean? When will they be due?
What about the principal’s authority to make unannounced classroom visits? What about the
principal’s authority to require PD and expect improvement in job performance as a
requirement for continued employment, if appropriate?
Quick wins: This section describes changes recognizable to teachers, and a lengthened school
day, but no changes desired by parents and students. I’d like to see quick wins that make a
difference for these two important constituencies at the school. (Use recommendations stated
from those sections of the Plan.)
Technical or Wording Edits:
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It is unclear what is meant by the weekly pd workshops being "focused around the needs of
identified students".
iii. Identify the leading indicators of success that are examined on no less than a bi-monthly monthly basis. Describe how
these data indicators have been and/or will be collected; how and who will analyze them; and how and to whom they will be
reported.
Comments/Questions:
 The 10% increase in NWEA reading scores doesn’t match the 1% increase identified in the Hackett
Indicator document. Why the discrepancy? Also, isn’t an increase in NWEA scores an expected part
of the process? Are we aiming too low here?
 Parent and Family Engagement: Rewrite in terms of active steps that can be monitored for success
– x% of families of struggling students contacted, % of families who check Power School, % of
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parents who attend PT conferences, numbers of parents/guardians who attend events at Hackett,
etc.
How will this data on parent and family engagement be collected? How and who will analyze it?
How and to whom will it be reported? This needs to be added to the report.
Also, no information on how the data on the “creation and implementation of Tier III math
interventions” and “extension of the school day at Hackett” will be collected, who will analyze it,
and to whom it will be reported. This needs to be added to the report.
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BUDGET ANALYSIS/NARRATIVE AND BUDGET DOCUMENTS
Provide an analysis of the current implementation period expenditures in terms of desired outcomes, alignment to project
plan/timeline, and impact on instructional practices/key strategies/student engagement.
Comments/Questions:
 What impact did 2014-15 CASDA training have on instructional practices, key strategies/student
engagement?
 Extended day program analysis: This report states that “no significant improvement can be
observed in student academic performance due to the extended day program.” Why? Any ideas?
What will you do differently in this upcoming year to ensure the extended day concept has a
greater impact on student learning?
 The section on training, support and professional development indicates there was an overall
increase in student performance on NWEA ELA and Math scores last year, but the graphs we got in
May of this year show that the longer students remain at Hackett, the worse they do on NWEA
compared to their national cohort. Why the jubilation over NWEA scores at Hackett? Also, at the
meeting you indicated that Hackett had scored 20 out of 20 on its NWEA performance. What does
that mean? Again, it suggests a level of success that I don’t see reflected in the actual NWEA
scores.3
LEADING INDICATORS
Recommendations
1. New indicator/metric: Increase academic achievement:
 Pulling homework out of class time and thereby increasing time devoted to teacher-facilitated
instruction, and the extended day initiative, should together result in increases in academic
achievement measured through NWEA and NYS assessment scores. (2)
2. New indicator/metric: Increase in parent/guardian ability to support academic achievement.
 This will be stimulated by an increase in information made available to parents, and increased
outreach to parents. It should be measured through responses to a parent survey tool. (2)
Comments/Questions:
3
See Appendix III for NWEA Reading and Math Scores
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



Student Attendance: Did we replace a FT attendance clerk? Can we have him/her also keep records
of homework completion data and coordinate appropriate family outreach?
Teacher Attendance: Why N/A in per 4? Any repercussions for poor attendance? Nothing indicated
here.
Office Discipline Referrals: How much time does PBIS take? How much time do monthly town hall
meetings take? Is this time well spent?
Extended Learning Time – embed this in the new #5 below:
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Teacher Contract Issues
Note: Contract Issues and merit pay are included as a separate page, because it was unclear where it
fit into the body of the Continuation Plan



Teacher Contracts Concessions: This plan came out in June before talks were fully conducted
between the union and the receiver. The CET must know what teachers will and will not do ASAP.
Receivership provides opportunity to remove barriers to labor contracts. As CET members, we
cannot allow contracts to be the reason why Hackett does not adhere to dramatic Turnaroud
measures. Good educational practices are not optional. They are requirements. A major tenet of
Turnaround involves layoffs. It is currently an action the receiver says she does not wish to do.
However, the CET has an obligation to publicly inform the District, its constituents, and NYSED if it
sees that teacher contracts are a major impediment to dramatic change. If our school fails to
improve in one year, it is a strong possibility that all Principals and teachers will be fired. If you
recall, the NYSED JITT report made that recommendation four years ago. My recommendations are
designed to avoid this scenario.
Change collective bargaining agreement – Add stipulation of a certain number of hours/days (10
instances?) of attendance at events outside of regular contract hours – e.g. evening parent-teacher
conferences, community events, attendance at student-family evening events. This will provide
more opportunity for parent-faculty interaction (and student-faculty interaction in a less formal
environment).
Merit Pay: Provide financial incentives to all Hackett employees on a monthly basis when they
go above and beyond without complaint: participating in more than 4 Parent University’s; No
absenteeism in one month (Eg: $250.00 bonus for perfect attendance every 25 working days).
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APPENDIX I
Six Instructional Shifts in ELA and Math
Six Shifts in ELA/Literacy
Balancing Informational and Literary Text
Building Knowledge in the Disciplines
Staircase of Complexity
Text-Based Answers
Writing From Sources
Academic Vocabulary
Six Shifts in Math
Focus
Coherence
Fluency
Deep Understanding
Applications
Dual Intensity
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APPENDIX II
Albany Peace Project – Mindful Moments
The Albany Peace Project’s Mindful Moments (APPMM) will create a culture-changing atmosphere, by
decompressing students 3-4 times throughout the day (using quick quiet-time-strategies, stress
management techniques and mindfulness guides).
An APPMM customized plan will ease transition times, lower violent incidents, lower
absenteeism, and enhance academic performance. These techniques have resulted in
significant increases between 10% and 25% of student GPA's, and substantial decreases in detentions
and suspensions (45-90% reduction in code of conduct violations). Similar research reports increased
attendance as well.
APPMM tools are highly effective because they work with the students' nervous systems to achieve
two powerful goals: 1) Significantly reduce internal stress and 2) Cultivate the required mental focus
critical for learning, which combined contributes to swift positive change.
APPMM utilizes the core skills established in the evidence-based Calm Classroom© social emotional
learning program performed in urban Chicago Public Schools.
See Benson, H., Wilcher, M. (2000). “Academic performance among middle school students after
exposure to a relaxation response curriculum.” Journal of Research and Development in Education
33(3), 156-165.
Although we are recommending that this solution be inserted in Design Element v of the Educational
Plan section, APP-MM has a broad positive influence across the whole of the Continuation Plan,
including increased social emotional learning, safety, and academics, even community engagement.
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APPENDIX III
NWEA Reading and Math Scores for Last Year
On NWEA reading:
6th graders at Hackett far below their national cohort: 38.79%,
7th graders at Hackett far below their national cohort: 44.36%,
8th graders at Hackett far below their national cohort: 50.59%;
6th graders at Hackett above their national cohort: 40.52%,
7th graders at Hackett above their national cohort: 36.58%,
8th graders at Hackett above their national cohort: 32.02%.
On NWEA math:
6th graders at Hackett far below their national cohort: 43.75%,
7th graders at Hackett far below their national cohort: 51.19%,
8th graders at Hackett far below their national cohort: 57.98%;
6th graders at Hackett above their national cohort: 25.89%,
7th graders at Hackett above their national cohort: 21.83%,
8th graders at Hackett above their national cohort: 17.90%