December Board of Ed: receivership schools

bit of a backup here: note that this is their regular check-in; there's no decision or recommendations here

Johnston: "What you need to know about these schools right now"
UP Academy Holland
UP Education is in six schools across Massachusetts: 3200 students in this state
"an increase in student growth percentiles since 2014"
met 95% of state targets
decreasing suspensions by 46% "really by increasing social emotional elements in the school"
school uses common curriculum; teachers "do intellectural preparation daily"
what does that mean?
"open circle" social emotional curriculum
"really increasing the instructional capacity of the staff"
last 30 minutes are dedicated to preparation every day
students and teachers "have worked really hard"
"proud of the progress that has been made"

Dever: see my role as implementing with fidelity the commitments that have been made
impressed by the dedication of the staff, faculty, and "particularly the students"
"to build capacity and sustainability"
focused "on increasing rigor across the entire curriculum"
building leaders in the school, focus on data available to us, building connections with community
principal does call and response to gain attention, says students are marginalized, depend on oral learning
creating a safe learning environment
students do the announcements in the morning and identify what their hopes and dreams are
"being on or above grade level to achieve their hopes and dreams"
61% not first language English speakers; 14 languages spoken by families
upward trends: sixth principal in less than three years
classroom organization and structure, instruction and rigor
and we have a chart here that I don't know what it's measuring...seven point scale on climate, behavior management, analysis, and instructional dialogue
building instructional capacity and leadership capacity
learning walks, teacher specific supports, coaching, leadership skills, trust, defining high quality instruction
what teachers need additional support and coaches; getting it
"building capacity by defining rigor"
"we're not using MCAS now, we're using MSV"
"what does high quality teaching and learning look like...have a laser like focus"
working to align resources
access points for families to get what they need
are an arts integration school; two hours of piano each week in addition to another hour of music each week
building capacity by building scientists, working with Amplify Science, Science specialist, UMass Boston
projecting a gain of a hundred kids for next year

Parker (in New Bedford): School&Main is the receiver
MCAS data on growing math, science, ELA
climate and culture data: student perceptions on sense of belonging, supportive relationships, clasroom environment
relationship piece is important; without it, hard to engage students in learning
relationship with familes; teachers are first in line and teaching is a science and a craft
community is a source of strength
raising levels of academic rigor; creating an emotionally safe community; supporing socially and emotionally fragile students
using Contexts for Learning for math; academic discourse level raised; teachers to design well-planned instructional lessons
students did not feel a sense of belonging or connection to the classroom; responsive classroom, culturally learning, building relationships in the classrooms, relationships key: "we need to earn that right to push them"
wraparound model of student support: targeted students support plans
student assistance data: office referrals, and number of students with office referrals
increasing level of academic discourse; supporting teachers to become "Warm Demanders"
building community partnerships

Moriarty: (to the Dever) "I loved hearing that you weren't even focusing on the MCAS scores; I think that's right"
"I think that approach appears to be working"
"can't just focus on one thing; I can, so I do"
that right there is a problem, actually
chronic absenteeism at the Dever
A: I don't think it's a school culture issue
map "where does your population come from...the Dever's is spread throughout the city"
students who get on the bus at 6 am and don't get home til 5:30
43% of students don't do the whole year with us
working to get to the heart of why students don't come to school

Sagan: biggest surprise for each of these schools?
A from UP Holland: intense need, and the need to think about programming that we currently don't have
"something we are constantly thinking about"
"what do you do with your highest need, highest risk students, that is actually going to be most impactful"
A from the Dever: "a school that has moved from one in which the focus was strictly on taking back the reins of control, dealing with a myriad of behavior problems...and trying to address not only the academic needs but build a solid surround care kind of environment"
A from Parker: "opioid crisis has hit"
majority of struggling students "don't have moms"
"we were used to absent dads, but we're not used to absent moms"