Emmett to Pilot Kindergarten Readiness Program

In an effort to help next year’s Emmett kindergarten students be better prepared for school BEFORE they enter school, the Emmett School District is piloting a Kindergarten Readiness Program this spring. Developed by a committee led by elementary principal Greg Alexander (Kenneth J Carberry Elementary), the pilot involves screening next year’s kindergartners when they register for school this spring. The screener will assess the child’s age appropriate early learning skill level.

Every child who participates in the screening will receive a backpack that will include a toolkit of materials, activities, and lessons that parents can use with their children 15-20 minutes a day over the spring/summer that will reinforce skills such as identifying shapes, colors, numbers, and counting to 10. They’ll receive an early learning reading and language arts program adapted from the Lee Pesky Learning Center that was developed in part by Cindy Roberts, the Emmett Director of Curriculum. These materials will help with letter recognition and related reading skills. The backpacks will include crayons and scissors with activities to help children develop their tactile skills.  Besides the backpack, every child who participates in the early screening, will have their name entered in a drawing that will be conducted next fall. The grand prize in the drawing will be a bicycle for a kindergarten student at both Carberry and Shadow Butte.

In addition to Principal Alexander, the committee that developed the backpack program included Todd Adams (Principal, Shadow Butte Elementary), members of the district’s preschool and kindergarten staff, as well as community members from WICAP Headstart, several private preschool and day care providers, and Senator Steven Thayn (District 8). Senator Thayn who has opposed state funding for preschool and kindergarten, acknowledges that “parents don’t always know what to do in order to help their children be prepared for school.” Senator Thayn was instrumental in bringing the committee's school and community stakeholder groups together to discuss how to create a local strategy. 

The state currently provides funding for ½ time kindergarten. There are no state funds allocated for preschool. The toolkits and activities provided to parents will provide them resources to work with their children at home. This, according to Thayn, falls well within his philosophy that the primary educators of children are their parents who should be supported in their efforts by their community schools. 

Greg Alexander, Principal

Kenneth J Carberry Elementary

Senator Steven Thayn

Legislative District 8

The rationale behind the kindergarten readiness program comes from the experiences the district staff has had working with kindergarten children that come from poverty and the data the district receives each fall after the first administration of the Idaho Reading Indicator (IRI) assessment. 

For example, this past fall, less than 41% of the kindergartners at Carberry performed at grade level on the IRI (composite scores) and less than 35% at Shadow Butte. Additionally, only 19.1% of the Carberry kindergartners scored at grade level on the Letter Recognition subtest and fewer than 11% at Shadow Butte.

Elementary School	Enrollment	% of students eligible for Free or Reduced Lunch	% of Kindergartners at grade level Composite Score  Fall (2019)  IRI	% of Kindergartners at grade level Letter Knowledge Fall (2019)  IRI
Kenneth J Carberry	531	56%	40.4%	19.1%
Shadow Butte	516	53%	<35%	<11%

In response to the data and their experiences working with the children in school, the Emmett teaching staff and administrators found themselves attempting to conduct intensive intervention and remediation strategies to help close the gap for students. Some of those strategies, including full day kindergarten for identified low performing students, stretched the district’s thin resources. This prompted a discussion surrounding how to help parents help their students come to school ready to learn.

The Kindergarten Readiness Program’s distribution of backpacks and educational toolkits is an attempt to provide resources and encouragement to the families of next year’s kindergarten students to engage their children in age appropriate early learning activities that can increase the likelihood that the children experience early success as they start their k-12 journey in school. It’s a strategy with few downsides and potentially significant rewards.

Marsing Embraces the Community School Strategy

Superintendent Norm Stewart had a vision. It had been brewing for a few years. He’s led the Marsing School District for the last seven years as superintendent. Prior to that he served as the secondary principal in the district for a year. He moved to Marsing in 2012 from a small school district in Eastern Oregon where he had been the K-12 principal for twelve years. While working in the Echo Oregon School District, a small rural school district south of Hermiston, Stewart experienced what it was like to have local non-profit organizations, law enforcement, and social workers volunteer to work with the disadvantaged students and families in his school. Stewart brought those experiences with him to Marsing, a small rural district in Idaho that lies along the banks of the Snake River. He has always believed that, “schools are the centers of their communities” and that they can and should be at the center of student achievement as well as a resource for students and families in need. 

Marsing has embraced the Community Schools Strategy, a concept based on the idea that students learn best when their physical and emotional needs are met. Many students and their families find it hard to access services that provide for their most basic needs. Students in these situations find it hard to attend school regularly, complete homework, and otherwise participate fully in the educational experiences schools provide that most people believe are essential to economic prosperity and security in a free society.

Marsing, Idaho has a population of just over 1,200 residents. The school district has an enrollment of 853 students, 41% of whom are Hispanic, and 16% who are English Language Learners, student groups that historically perform below their peers. Marsing also has a significant level of poverty. Sixty three percent (63%) of Marsing students are eligible for the federally subsidized Free and Reduced Lunch program. There is a labor camp in Marsing, so many of their families are transient and leave to work in other parts of the country for parts of the school year. The median family income in Marsing is $29,670. That compares to the median income of $56,798 in Boise, just 32 miles away.

Schools who adopt the Community Schools Strategy seek to establish partnerships with local entities that can provide support and services for students and their parents on school grounds, an easily accessible location for families. Superintendent Stewart, the Marsing Board of Trustees, and the staff of the district have done just this, establishing important partnerships to provide vital services with many local agencies such as The United Way of the Treasure Valley, Idaho Association for the Education of Young Children (IAEYC), Idaho Food Bank, St. Alphonsus Medical Group, St. Luke’s Medical Center, Terry Reilly Health Services, WICAP Project Launch, WICAP Head Start, Owyhee County Sheriff’s Office, Koenig Vineyard and Distillery, Lizard Butte Public Library, Marsing Lion’s Club, Logan’s Market, City of Marsing, and many more.

The Marsing School District has worked with its partners to provide extended day kindergarten, preschool (available on a sliding scale for parents), a food pantry, health and dental screening, mental health services, housing and utilities support, an afterschool and summer program that provides meals and tutor support and enrichment activities for its elementary and middle school students, and more.

With the passage of a $13.5 million bond to build a new middle school in Marsing, the district was able to convert the old middle school building into a community center that houses the district office, the district’s preschool program, the Head Start preschool, a food and clothing pantry, a substation for the county Sheriff, and space to provide community and parent education courses.

Superintendent Stewart, Board Chair Brad McIntyre and the other Marsing trustees were able to finance the new school without raising property taxes by retiring an existing bond and ending an annual supplemental levy. Those moves, supported by their patrons, allowed the district to further develop their Community School Strategy and locate it in a facility managed by the school district. They convened a meeting of potential partners this last November. Led by Jackie Yarbrough with the Idaho Food Bank, Christa Rowland with the United Way and Erika Lewis with IAEYC, the district was able to identify the community and school district needs and identify partners that could help bring the needed resources to Marsing.

So, a vision that began with the desire to serve students and their families in ways that will allow students to come to school “ready to learn”, strengthen connections for students and their families with their school and community, provide access to basic services for those in need, has blossomed in Marsing at a new community center known as The HUB. 

BISHOP KELLY: A COMMUNITY OF SERVICE

Bishop Kelly High School, located on Franklin Road in Boise, is the one non-public school member of the Southern Idaho Conference. With 818 students, BK is a 4A school in the SIC, and is a powerhouse academically and athletically.  However, when asked to visit with us about a program of high importance at the school, the administration chose the school's Service Learning Program.

"The mission of Bishop Kelly is to educate and develop the whole student in the Catholic tradition - spirit, mind, and body. Service learning is the key to developing the whole person", said President Rich Raimondi.  At BK, Service Learning is just the start of a lifetime gift of self to others.

Service Learning hours are required for graduation at Bishop Kelly. The grade level requirements are as follows:

• Grades 9-11
• 10 hours per semester through Theology classes
•  Each grade level performs a specific type of service
•  Freshmen: Families of Neighbors
•  Sophomore: Religious Communities
•  Juniors: Bishop Kelly and Community Services
•  Seniors
• 30 hours of service or a Service Trip
•  Summer (recommended) during school year
•  1 credit pass/fail - required for graduation
•  April Service Fair - 30-40 local agencies come to BK and recruit students  as volunteers in their organizations
•  Service Learning Day
• All School service day in the community
• 25 projects throughout the valley
•  Examples: Special Olympics. Wassmuth Center for Human Rights, Interfaith Sanctuary, Corpus Christi, Boise Rescue Mission

We had a chance to visit with four stellar BK seniors who shared their Service Learning projects and trips.

L to R: Nate Johnson, Kate Ryan, Nicholas Anewalt, Daisy O'Sullivan

• Kate Ryan went on a trip to New Orleans, where students worked with Habitat for Humanity in the city's 9th Ward, part of the community that remains devastated. The New Orleans trip is an annual event organized by Joan Colleran, the Service Learning Coordinator for BK, and chaperoned by BK teachers.

•  Nate Johnson traveled to Haiti to teach in an rural orphanage. He taught non-English speaking students with the aid of a translator. 

•  Nicholas Anewalt worked at Fort Boise through Boise City Parks and Recreation, running camps and playing basketball and other sports with kids in Adaptive Physical Education programs. 
• Daisy O'Sullivan volunteered at the Bown Library branch, where she worked with young children during the Library's Summer Reading Program.

All seniors are required to write a relflective essay about their experiences, what they did, what they learned, and how they were impacted.

Each of these students reported being moved by their experiences, and humbled at the joy and gratitude of the people with whom they worked. Nicholas said he was surprised at how the little things they did for others made a big difference.

As indicated, Joan Colleran (jcolleran@bk.org) is the Service Learning Program Coordinator for BK. Stephany Herrera (sherrera@bk.com), the Assistant Principal for Academic Affairs at BK, also plays a huge role in the success of the program.

BK students with Stephany Herrera (Asst. Principal) 

and Joan Colleran (Service Learning Coordinator)

Great things are happening in the schools of the Southern Idaho Conference! Next month we will feature the Emmett School District.

HIGH RELIABILITY SCHOOLS

CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT IN WEST ADA

"What are you really proud of, and what's making you crazy?"

West Ada Superintendent Mary Ann Ranells asks her team a lot of questions. She listens and gathers information. The question above was her way of ascertaining some of the things that were frustrating her team, and some things they thought were going well.

What she found was frustration around the Professional Learning Community process in the District. As a large, fast-growing district, PLC members were increasingly feeling isolated and collaboration was suffering. Even though Richard DuFour's popular model had been implemented in the District for some time, there was a need to "revive PLC", in Superintendent Ranells' words.

So, at a  [PLC] conference in Arizona, Ranells expressed her team's frustration to old friend Robert Marzano, who recommended that West Ada look at High Reliability Schools.  Ranells asked a team of West Ada principals and district administrators to visit with Marzano.  The team left the visit with a vision for systemic school improvement across 55 schools focused on research-based indicators,  stakeholder transparency, and targeted professional development. 

Superintendent Ranells and her team credit district-wide implementation of the High-Reliability Schools framework with the revitalization of the PLC strategy in the district, and with improving collaboration and communication in West Ada. The framework has provided a common language of effective school improvement practice and strengthen school cultures where high levels of learning are valued above all else. 

The HRS framework is based on evidence-based practices where schools demonstrate successful completion of improvement indicators in the five areas outlined in the model above, beginning with "Safe, Supportive, and Collaborative Culture" and proceeding to "Competency-Based Education". In 2018-19, after certifying all schools in the first level Safe, Supportive, and Collaborative Culture, West Ada's Continuous Improvement Plan now includes a goal focused on High-Reliability Schools and states By May 1, 2021, 100% of West Ada schools will qualify for Effective Teaching in Every Classroom certification as measured by the District Certification Team review process and anchored to the academic measures of the West Ada Continuous Improvement Plan.  District-wide progress toward their CIP goal is well underway.  

School leadership teams are already celebrating evidence that convicts them of successful progress in level 2 Effective Teaching in Every Classroom.  Meridian Elementary, initially the pilot school for HRS in West Ada, led by Principal Debbie Aholt is anticipating certification in Level 4 Standards-Referenced Reporting this Spring. Susan McInerney, Principal at Heritage Middle School and her leadership team are certifying in Level 2 Effective Teaching in Every Classroom, this spring as well.  Schools such as Meridan High School, led by Principal Jill Lilienkamp, are excited for the results of their HRS journey and note the value of clarity through a district-wide language of school improvement and laser-focus on learning above all else.   

With a renewed focus on learning through effective PLCs, West Ada administrators feel that, as their communication and collaboration have improved, they can model those skills for teachers in every school. They now have a common language that is used to describe progress and to delineate goals, so that folks are comfortably "speaking the same language" of improvement across the District.

In Level 1, the goal is not just physical safety, but safety in terms of feeling comfortable and vulnerable, a difficult achievement. Superintendent Ranells shared a story of a teacher who was "on board" with the direction of West Ada HRS goals until the school decided to do "peer visitation" to help improve instruction. A conversation ensued about the purpose of the visits so that the teacher felt safe in having the observations, and understood that there was a shared purpose.

The team that spoke to us indicated that they wanted to go beyond the ISAT and IRI in order to illustrate success in other areas. So West Ada is now using HRS surveys to gather valued input from staff, students, and parents to show status in many other areas of school improvement areas that impact student achievement, such as prioritizing standards.  Priority Standards are in effect District-wide, but teachers have the wherewithal to establish how they instruct for those standards, staying within the "banks of the river" established by the District. The locally developed assessment provides assurance that students are on track for achievement on state-mandated tests.

Back Row L to R: East Regional Director Marcus Myers, Central Regional Director David Moser, North Regional Director Geoff Stands, South Regional Director Mandy White, Curriculum Director Bret Heller; Front Row L to R: Meridian High School Principal Jill Lilienkamp, Heritage Middle School Principal Susan McInerney, Superintendent Mary Ann Ranells, Meridian Elementary Principal Debbie Aholt

Superintendent Ranells calls her administrative team "our wonderful learning leaders", and that was certainly evident in our conversations with this dynamic group. They are believers in the HRS system and have the evidence to feel confident it is helping West Ada reach its goals of continuous improvement.

A DIFFERENT WAY TO COMPARE LITERACY PROFICIENCY


In his recent series of articles in IdahoEdNews (Idaho’s Reading Challenge) Kevin Richert did an excellent job of looking at the issues surrounding literacy in Idaho’s schools. His articles were in depth and highlighted the many different and significant aspects to be considered in evaluating student reading performance and reading instruction in Idaho’s schools. It was a worthy read and should be reread to really appreciate the value of his coverage. The series was timely as the Idaho Legislature, now in session, considers continuing the effort championed by Governor Little to ensure that children can read proficiently by grade three, a direction and goal that we certainly support. 

There are a lot of positive things to take from Kevin’s articles and plenty to reflect on in considering how to keep moving the needle to improve student outcomes in reading proficiency. 

But there was one particular statement at the end of one of the articles that we found troubling. 

In his article, Reading Realities: Idaho Is Far From Its Lofty Literacy Goals, Kevin correctly noted that the 100% proficiency target is a tough objective to reach. He also correctly reports that no school district or charter school hit the 100% target this (last) spring, or this fall. Then, after reporting that no school district hit 90% proficiency, he wrote, “Five charter schools reached the 90% plateau this spring…These are the realities.” 

What struck us as misleading was the comparison of charter “schools” to school “districts”. It seems inappropriate, or at least unfair, to compare a charter school’s outcomes with a school district’s outcome. For example, is it valid to compare the overall performance of a charter school with an enrollment of 407 students that achieved the 90% proficiency target with a nearby school district with an enrollment of 5,200 students that did not make the target, even though the district had a neighborhood school with 459 students that reached 87% proficiency? 

That type of comparison ignores the serious differences in the size and demographics of the educational institutions being compared. One of the larger brick and mortar charter schools in Idaho has an enrollment of 1,095 (about 85 students per grade level).  86% of the school's students were proficient on the IRI. A nearby district has more than 3,000 students per grade level. As a district they did not make the 90% target (they achieved a remarkable 81%). They did have two neighborhood schools that made 90% proficiency and nine more neighborhood schools that made 85% or higher. 

It makes more sense (to us) that comparisons should be made between “schools” with similar sizes and demographics. When Kevin writes that there were five charter schools that reached 90% proficiency on the IRI this (last) spring, he could have also noted that there were nine public neighborhood schools throughout Idaho that also met that threshold. If you lower the target to 85% proficiency, another 24 public neighborhood schools would be highlighted along with an additional 3 charter schools. 


There are other socio-economic factors that should also be taken into consideration in making comparisons between schools; such as the number of students who live in poverty (reflected in Free and Reduced Lunch counts), the number of English Language learners, and the number of students with disabilities.  

Despite our criticism of comparing charter schools to school districts, Richert’s series, The Idaho Reading Challenge, is a must read. It is thorough, thoughtful, and full of insights that can help reinforce existing successful literacy programs and drive new initiatives to improve reading achievement for Idaho’s youth.

DEMOGRAPHICALLY SIMILAR SCHOOLS:

VALLIVUE STANDS OUT

Recently, Governor Little's Task Force approved five recommendations, including one that proposed comparing results for schools with similar demographics. Idaho Ed News reported this task force statement: “Using similar cohorts of students, for comparison purposes, allows parents, education stakeholders, and state policymakers to compare the success of our schools and measure continuous improvement in a fair and unbiased manner.”

So, then, how can we develop a statewide strategy that would allow us to recognize the efforts of high achieving schools across the demographic spectrum, and find out just what those schools are doing?

Well, we can use demographic "slices" to look at academic performance and identify practices used by top performing schools in those "slices". And, of course, using Idaho's School Report Cards, we at RISE have done that for almost all of the elementary schools in the state of Idaho.

In our analysis we have used status percentages in lieu of growth, because of the lack of cohort information and other issues with growth data, such as scaling issues on the IRI. And we have focused on more than one assessment to paint a picture of school performance, because that has been a sticking point for Idaho educators in the past.

We broke down free/reduced lunch "slices" for various percentages of free/reduced lunch schools (0-20%, 20-25%, 25-30%, 30-35%, etc.), created a special category for CEP schools, (those that qualify under federal guidelines to feed all kids), and looked at performance on SBAC ELA and SBAC Math, and on the IRI. All free/redcued lunch eligibility percentages came from the 2018-19 Lunch Eligibility Report from the State Department of Education. The results were fascinating.

THE CHARTS

For example, we analyzed the data for schools that had 50-55% free/reduced lunch, and then used the percentage of students at grade level/proficient as the y-variable and the percentage of Limited English students as the x-variable in a scattergram, and identified the "high flying" schools. This was the result.

This chart was for SBAC ELA, but the results were similar for SBAC Math and for the IRI. For schools with fewer than 10% ELA, Rulon Ellis Elementary in Pocatello. Riverview In Shelley (grades 3-4), Orofino, and Southside in Lake Pend O'reille,  were high performers for this demographic. For schools with more than 10% Limited English students, here of Vallivue District's schools were top achievers: Lakevue, West Canyon, and Desert Springs. Now granted, the difference between these schools and some others in a "slice" may have only been a few percentage points, but it gave us an idea of some schools that are making a difference for kids.

When we looked at 60-65% FRL, here's what we found:

These are results for the Spring IRI, but, again, the top schools tended to perform well across assessments.  For fewer than 10% LEP, Winton Elementary in Coeur d'Alene, Silver Hills in Wallace, Priest River in West Bonner, Cambridge, and Dietrich were top achievers. For schools with more than 10% LEP, Maxine Johnson Elementary in Parma, Henry's Fork in Fremont County, and three Vallivue schools, Central Canyon, Skyway, and East Canyon showed excellent achievement.

For the record, Vallivue's other elementary school, Birch, was also a high performer in the 40-45%  free/reduced lunch category.

SO WHAT'S VALLIVUE DOING?

We were curious to find out just what Vallivue's elementary schools are doing that produces top results compared with demographically similar schools. So we asked Vallivue Deputy Superintendent Lisa Boyd to set up a meeting with some principals who could provide us with a view of their successful strategies. Superintendent Pat Charlton attended, as did Curriculum Director Cindy Johnstone and four district principals.

L to R - Sara Ward. Desert Springs, Lynn Munoz. Central Canyon

Cindy Dodd.  West Canyon, Katrina McGee  East Canyon

At first, the administrators were reluctant to talk - educators are not often asked about the basis for their successes. But after a few minutes, they opened up and we learned a lot about Vallivue. Here were some of the successful strategies they identified:

• AVID - Vallivue has fully implemented this proven strategy, and is the only Idaho district making extensive use of the program in the elementary grades.

College pennants in the hallway of Central Canyon Elementary

• Consistent, Regular Tracking of Results - The District has developed strategies for checking on student progress regularly, and sharing progress.

Tracking student IRI results, Red to Yellow to Green.

• Use of Instructional Coaches - Vallivue uses these coaches to provide curricular assistance, instructional help, and assessment interpretation.
• High Expectations  - Vallivue is known for establishing high expectations for administrators, teachers, and kids. It's a culture that promotes high achievement, respect, and dignity from the Superintendent to the classroom.
• Excellent Professional Development tailored to the needs of teachers and principals.
• Consistent, timely  support for instructional needs in the classroom.
• Outstanding teachers and administrators.
• Buy-in to District standards for learning.
• Use of meaningful assessments, not of superfluous testing (whenever possible).

Wow, that's lot, and probably not enough detail for someone to adequately describe what's working. However, Vallivue's staff and administration is always willing to help. They are true professionals, and dedicated to excellence.