State of the DistrictFlemington-Raritan Schools

April 2017

2015-2016 PARCC SCORES FLEMINGTON-RARITAN SCHOOL DISTRICT

PERCENT OF STUDENTS WHO MET OR EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS PER SCHOOL

School Academic

Achievement

Schoolwide

Performance

District

Percentile

Statewide

Percentile

Barley Sheaf English Language Arts

Literacy

75% 100 85*

Mathematics 80% 100 96*

Copper Hill English Language Arts

Literacy

64% 50 66

Mathematics 78% 83 92

FAD English Language Arts

Literacy

51% 17 43

Mathematics 58% 17 64

JP Case English Language Arts

Literacy

73% 83 83

Mathematics 65% 50 does not include Algebra

and Geometry

79

RFIS English Language Arts

Literacy

68% 67 75

Mathematics 71% 67 87

Robert Hunter English Language Arts

Literacy

58% 33 57

Mathematics 63% 33 76

The blue area of the Standard Normal Curve represents the largest percentage of children who SHOULD BE regularly performing students.

20% This 20% of students at JPC includes the 10% of Sp. Ed. IN ADDITION TO 10% of students who can no longer remain in the regularly performing range. (does not include support students)

10 %Sp.Ed.

50%

10 %G&T.

Actual Student Population 2010-2017Decreased Enrollment of 551 Students

3,650-----

3,600

3,550-----

3,500

3,450-----

3,400

3,350-----

3,300

2,950-----

2,900

2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-170----

How Does This Data Impact the District?

• Student enrollment numbers are declining, while the number of at-risk students is increasing.

• Overall student academic performance requires improvement as indicated by our PARCC scores.

• These critical issues require a complex series of analyses and interventions.

• We need to solve these problems now.

Formula for Success

We need to reduce the 20% and increase the 80% through a two-pronged approach:

1: Revamping Special Education, and

2: Analyzing and Elevating District-Wide Instruction

Prong 1: Revamping Special Education

• Launched full inclusion classrooms in all four elementary schools at no additional cost to the taxpayer to support students being maintained in the regular, mainstream classroom instead of being pulled out as the only available option in all K-4 schools.

• Additional inclusion classrooms will be added at Robert Hunter next year.

• Professional development for the new inclusion pairs of teachers; Teacherto Teacher will continue coaching our current teachers as well.

• The Special Education and Response to Intervention (RtI) website will berevised and developed to provide information and resources to thecommunity including revised manuals.

Special Education (cont.)

• Reading assessments for grades 5 through 8 are being explored to increaseprogress monitoring and intervention for our students. This will empowerteachers to more effectively guide instruction. A committee has vieweddemonstrations of Read 180, MaxScholar and Front Row.

• As a result of the Rutgers Autism audit, assessment will be developed and aligned to NJSLS. This enables all teachers to use these standards to helpaddress the individual needs of every student.

• Efforts are under way to enable the IEP Frontline Progress Notes ParentPortal to be viewable through Genesis.

• Special Education Strategic Planning Committee - with meetings in April, May and June.

Special Education (cont.)

• The Supervisor and Director of Special Education will provide on-site, building-level support to CST, teachers, administrators, OT, PT, Speech Teachers, etc. increasing Special Services’ accessibility in the schools.

• Increasing special education teacher access to curriculum, professionaldevelopment and instructional resources in addition to alignment of specialeducation curriculum, instruction and materials with general education resourcesto the greatest extent possible.

• The Supervisor of Special Education will receive training in the next generation of Intervention & Referral Services (I&RS) to strengthen our current process and provide more consistency across all schools.

• Redeploying resources directly to the schools such as housing Child Study Teams in the schools where they can be more seamlessly part of the process instead of off-site and outside of school buildings.

Special Education (cont.)

• Integrated preschool expanding to full day allowing IEP students to participate in a more complete learning experience.

• All preschool teachers will begin professional development in the new pre-school curriculum, Tools of the Mind, with an emphasis on earlier acquisition of self-regulation, executive functioning skills and purposefulplay.

• Addition of two behaviorists and a clinical social worker established to support special education and general education interventions at the earliest possible opportunity to maintain students in the least restrictiveenvironment at no additional cost to the taxpayer. This enables thesespecialists to work with at-risk students exhibiting behavior issues which previously were left for the local school to handle on their own.

Prong 2: Curriculum & Instruction Initiatives Implemented

since 2015-2016

• Research-based, proven phonics program to immediately replace the existing, district-created phonics program.

• Reader’s Workshop followed by Writer’s Workshop to replace the district’s long-standing English Language Arts program which has required supplementation and augmentation.

• 1:1 Chromebooks for grades 3 through 8 instead of only grades 6 through 8 as was originally planned – particularly in light of the new math program in grades 3 through 5 which requires computer access for each child.

Curriculum & Instruction (cont.)

• Conducting Administrative Hospital Rounds in each building.

• Coaching model for teacher evaluation where the same administrator works with the same teacher to facilitate growth.

• Aligning special education and general education curricula and 1:1 Chromebooks. This supports the latest research in neurodiversity and effective learning approaches, both of which urge that special education no longer be viewed as an island, separate and apart from general education. There needs to be a focus shift from the idea of disability to the broader notion of diversity.

Curriculum & Instruction (cont.)

• Addition of a Technology Integration Specialist at no additional cost to the taxpayer to support the integration of technology into the curriculum.

• Examined the district’s current universal screener and unified data assessment system to identify and remediate the needs of students at the earliest possible level.

• Much work has been shared by 21 administrators with assistance from the Superintendent.Assistant Principals now oversee specific areas of curriculum, along with 3 content areasupervisors and 2 special education administrators. This has resulted in a more granular processof providing professional development and support for all content areas.

• Curriculum showcases for parents.

• New student information system, Genesis, to expand the availability and access to data and information at the building level so teachers may access a data profile of their students.

Related Organizational Needs

Organizational Need Benefit

Zero-Based Budgeting instead of rolling over funding from year to year.

Efficient, cost effective & resources go where they are needed.

Analysis of district needs annually to deploy resources strategically. Resources reach the students who need them most.

Restructure of the Human Resources/Personnel Department. Ensure accuracy of personnel information and procedures.

Updating of Human Resources/Personnel Process to a Data Management System.

Create ease of access to information and records for staff.

Creation of both Staff and Sports Handbooks. Provide ease of access to information for staff, students and parents.

Creation of both a District Safety Committee and a District Safety Manual.

Empower all staff members to be fully prepared in the event of an emergency and ensure collaboration with local law enforcement, municipal resources, etc.

Introduction of a safety handbook app for instant staff access. Seamless access of critical information to staff for safety and security.

Accessibility to regulations for staff and parents. Increased transparency.

Review and addition of missing and outdated policies and regulations. Insure full alignment with NJ statutes and regulations to protect staff, students and parents.

Reduction by 70% of legal costs in the current school year. Move resources to the students who need them.

Administrative Hospital Rounds

A Problem Solving Model for Academic Excellence

• The process of evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of new curricula, instruction and initiatives in the district has been moved to the school-based level. (district goal)

• Administrative Hospital Rounds have been implemented by the entire administrative team to observe and collect data at the classroom level in response to questions raised about student performance.

• Administrative conversations regarding this data have identified instructional areas requiring remediation through focused professional development and coaching.

What are Instructional Rounds?

1. A practice adapted to education from the field of medicine.

2. A specific set of ideas about how practitioners work together to solve common problems and improve their practice.

3. A process designed to help schools and districts support high-quality teaching and learning for all students.

4. Instructional Rounds aim to bridge the knowledge gap between educators and their practice and between teachers, school leaders, central-office staff and superintendents who are working to improve teaching and learning both within their own classrooms and across the district. (Elmore)

Diagnosing Classroom Practice – Why This Works

• Because the people doing it and who commit to working at it, are finding success. (Elmore)

• This is not the type of temporary success that shows up in test scores two months later or the achievements that look good when presented at a board meeting.

• "It helped us unleash our resources on the right problems," says Robert Villanova, the former Superintendent of Farmington (Connecticut) Public Schools. He and his district were in the original group participating in the work.

• "The outcome is to improve performance," he adds. "This connects the work of Superintendents and Principals to classroom work."

Who Is Promoting/Adopting This Practice?

• The New Jersey Department of Education, The Hunterdon County Department of Education and the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association are some of the organizations who have begun introducing and providing professional development for the implementation of instructional rounds.

• The Hunterdon County Department of Education’s Curriculum Specialist attended one of our Instructional Rounds to see this process in practice.

Why Are Some Embracing Change and Others Hesitant?

• Is change hard? Yes

• Do people resent the change agent? Yes

• Does it take people out of their comfort zone? Yes

• When teams adopt new processes or more methodologies, we often encounter initial resistance.

• When people learn a new tool or process, productivity and enthusiasm consistently dip, which is known as the "implementation dip."

• In his book Leading in a Culture of Change, Michael Fullan defines the implementation dip as "a dip in performance and confidence as one encounters an innovation that requires new skills and new understandings”.

Managing the Change: Michael Fullan’s Implementation Dip

Why Risk Change?

• If our most at-risk students are not making it, then all students arenot reaching their fullest potential either.

• When the process moves the most vulnerable population forward, all students move forward as well.

Essential Questions for FRSD:

1. Do we work to reduce the 20% and increase the 80%?

or

2. Keeping in mind that these are children not numbers, does the district allow the 20% to grow even larger?

State of the DistrictFlemington-Raritan Schools

April 2017