Linda Schlosser, Ph.D. lschlosser@sjfc.edu St. John Fisher College - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Linda Schlosser, Ph.D. lschlosser@sjfc.edu

• St. John Fisher College

Rochester, NY Presentation for the National Middle School Association’s Annual Conference, Baltimore, MD

A Vertical Team. . .

. . . is middle school and high school educators who teach in the same academic area. It may include administrators, department chairs, or curriculum specialists. . . .designs curricular change, decides on instructional strategies, and creates support structures that make high achievement by all students a reality.

Warm Up: A Critical Question

Imagine that it is the last day of 8th grade.

What are your greatest academic concerns about the students you are sending on? Take 3 minutes and idenitfy 3 concerns.

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National Perspectives: Middle and High School Teachers’ Top 10 Concerns about Students Exiting 8th Grade

Willingness to solve

problems‐independence

Reading comprehension Attitude toward reading Essay writing Vocabulary development Ability/desire to ask

questions

Organization Study skills Persistence Motivation/Understanding

what it takes to achieve

Can Vertical Teams help?

“A student’s middle

school experience strongly impacts the odds

• f graduating from high

school.”

What differentiates high performing schools from low performing schools is a shared district culture and instructional programs designed to prepare all students for rigorous high school education

(2009) Balfanz, R. Putting

Middle Grade Students on the Graduation Path : A policy and Practice Brief (2010, Kirst, M.) Gaining Ground in the Middle grades: Why Some Schools Do Better than Others

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What do students think? Voices from the Middle

PDK and NASSP surveyed 1,814 seventh and eighth graders in March of 2007.

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Access

YES: 93 % of 7th and 8th graders surveyed said there is “no chance” they will drop out of high school and not graduate. BUT: 83 % of 7th and 8th graders surveyed know little or nothing about the classes they need to take to graduate from high school

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Reality

Nearly 500,000 students do drop out

• annually. (Bureau of Labor Statistics )

High school graduation rate has remained flat over the last decade at about 72%. (Manhattan Institute for Policy

Research)

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Aspirations

YES: 92 % of 7th and 8th graders surveyed said it is likely they will attend college. BUT: 68 % of those who say they will attend college, also say they have little or no information about what they need to do in high school to prepare themselves for college.

What do middle school students know about courses required to graduate from high school? To prepare for college?

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Reality

Nationally, the percentage of students who left high school with the skills and qualifications necessary to attend college rose from 25% in 1991 to 34% in 2002.

(Manhattan Institute for Policy Research)

Approximately 40% of recent high school graduates reported key gaps in their preparation for college or work.

(Levine, 2007)

9th Graders Chance for College by Age 19

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The National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, 2009.

The Long and Short of it . . .

Middle School students have high goals and aspirations, but limited or unrealistic ideas about what they need to do to succeed in high school and prepare for college. Can Vertical Teams help students experience more success?

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What are Vertical Teams?

Teachers from multiple grade levels, including a high school and its feeder middle schools, work together to develop a continuum of knowledge and skills that build from one grade to the next.

Are subject‐ specific Develop and implement vertically aligned programs Focus on embedding skills and dispositions that lead to

academic success for all students

Are not vehicles used to promote tracking.

VT Goals

Increase achievement for all

students

Improve communication between

grade levels and schools

Foster inclusion

Typical VT Activities

Discuss state standards, benchmarks, and curriculum

frameworks as they pertain to practice

Share teacher expectations at each grade level Identify successful teaching strategies Identify student misconceptions Design assessments Plan for all learners—the strugglers, the successful,

and all those in‐between

Vertical Teams

Organizational Strategies Content- specific Classroom strategies Leadership strategies

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Leadership and Organization

• 1. Ask questions about student performance….

Course enrollment patterns Standardized testing results District-based/school-based testing results Student motivation and disposition

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Leadership and Organization

• 2. Plan and implement strategies for

improvement…

Target specific areas and set grade-level goals Establish short- and long-term plans of action Gather data Report back

Case Study: Global History and English Vertical Teams focus on grade 9

Students are experiencing various transition problems as they enter high school, especially in Global Studies and English.

Poor attendance or academic performance High rates of discipline infractions Failure on state tests At the end of 9th grade many not on track to graduate Low sense of belongingness

Upstate, NY

Action Plan

1.

Build in transition from MS to HS by creating Small Learning Communities in 9th Grade

2.

Hold weekly team meetings to focus on ELA/Global progress

3.

Develop and train student mentors

Data

3rd year of the plan implemented for 9th grade

Teachers believe students more connected Increase in numbers of 2013 Cohort (current 10th

grade) on track to graduate with 5.5+ Credits 241/266 or 90.6% Collecting data on Global Exam ARHS GOAL – 98% passing 10th grade Global 2012 Cohort‐ 226 ON TRACK – 83.4%

Mentors for Freshman

Content‐Specific Classroom Strategies

Case Study: Using Vertical Teams to Enhance Vocabulary and Achievement in Urban Schools

Missouri

District Snapshot

7500 students K‐12 72% African American, 22% Caucasian, 3%

Hispanic, 3% Other

69% Free and Reduced Lunch High dropout rate/low attendance rate Poor achievement on standardized tests Nearly 50% of incoming 9th graders read below

grade level.

9th Graders’ Perceptions of High School

98% of our incoming freshmen were not going to go to

college or “didn’t need it”

Careers included Professional basketball player, rap star,

movie star, singer, and “entrepreneur”

Disconnect between perception of high school (parties,

easy classes) and reality.

None of our incoming freshmen expect to drop out before

their senior year. (At this point we have 67 members of the sophomore class who are not on track to graduate and 32 whose whereabouts we cannot ascertain.

Our Goal

Improve our students’ chances of performing well on

high stakes tests such as state assessments, ACT, SAT, and AP exams in all core subject areas.

By doing the above, make our district more

competitive in keeping our best and brightest students.

Timeline For Change

Organized vertical teams in core subjects and trained over

60 teachers from grades 5‐12.

Vertical Teams began critical examination curriculum. Focus became use of subject area terminology. Met monthly to begin instituting changes in vocabulary

taught and how it was introduced.

Piloted new vocabulary lists among select English and

Math teachers.

Revision of math and English curriculum began.

Where We Stand

Since we are in our 3rd year of VTs, and we don’t have all elements in place, HOWEVER—

Positive student response on exit interviews about

college preparedness has increased by 17%.

A record number of students took the AP exam

last year—over 100 of our juniors and seniors

• pted to take at least one exam.

Pacing guides utilizing state and national

standards have been introduced in all core curriculum areas.

Reading Program leading from middle to high

school has been adopted.

Other Ideas

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Classroom Strategies

Working with a Dialectical Notebook: Note Taking Frame

Text In this column, record important information

• r ideas as they appear in

the text.

Vertical Team Strategy: Various forms of this strategy are used by AP Vertical Teams, The College Board, and by Transitional Vertical Teams

Response In this column, record your thoughts about or reactions to any of the material in the Text column.

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SOAPSTone

Who Is the Speaker? What Is the Occasion? Who Is the Audience? What Is the Purpose? What Is the Subject? What Is the Tone?

AP Vertical Team Strategy, The College Board

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From An English VT in Texas….

Connecting books and skills

• 6th grade ‐ The Cay ‐ Skills: vocabulary, close

reading, making inferences

• 7th grade ‐ Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry ‐ Skills:

imagery, personification, close reading and symbolism

• 8th grade ‐ The Diary of Anne Frank ‐ Skills: close

reading, pt. of view, characterization

• 9th grade ‐ A Tale of Two Cities ‐ Skills: close

reading, allusion and tone

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From VTs in California

“We’re working on writing skills, trying to build them

into grade level curriculum in a planned way so that we use the same terms to teach students to write. What we say in 7th grade is the same term or strategy we build on in 9th grade.”

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Vertical Teams in Progress. . .

“We’ve been working on delineating skills at each grade level and we are starting to see progress with the students entering 9th and 10th grades this year.” (Middle School Social Studies

teacher)

“We started by asking: ‘What do we teach that our kids can’t

do?’ We actually backed into vertical teams.”

(High School English teacher)

“The biggest plus for us is the regular meetings with middle school teachers. We are taking concepts and mapping out how they are developed, the strategies we use to teach

them.”

(High School Science Teacher)

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Vertical Teams: Perceived Impact in English

Area Teachers Department Heads Principals Changes in rigor of English college-level curriculum More rigorous Slightly more More rigorous Changes in rigor in English curriculum as a whole No change Slightly more More rigorous Changes in access of students to AP courses More access More access More access Changes in student preparation for AP More prepared More prepared More prepared Changes in performance

• f students on AP exams

Slightly better Slightly better Slightly better

Excerpted from The College Board (Sept., 2002). Research Notes.

NASSP: Breaking Ranks in the Middle Strategies for Leading Middle Level Reform (2006)

• Establish the essential learnings that

students must master to successfully make the transition to high school, and align curriculum and teaching strategies to realize that goal.

Cornerstone Strategy#1

• Provide planning time for teachers to

align curriculum across grades and schools and to map efforts that address the academic, developmental, social, and personal needs of students, especially at critical transition periods.

Cornerstone Strategy #3

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If vertical teams were in place, how would they improve student outcomes in your district?

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Find out More about Vertical Teams

Email me at Lschlosser@sjfc.edu http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/preap/publications/ind

ex.html

http://www.acpta.org/verticalteams.htm

Texas

http://title3.sde.state.ok.us/ap/VTinfo.htm

Oklahoma

http://www.bsu.edu/web/academy/aspire/vteams.htm

Indiana

http://www.pvusd.net/Departments/EPC_College_Prep/Vertical_Team

s/index.html

http://www.palomar.edu/gearup/gear/VT/vt1.htm

California

http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/arh/library/highschoolclasses/Links/O'ke

efe/Website/Vertical%20Teams/Vertical_Teams_Home.htm

New York