PART 4: FINDINGS - SUMMARY EXPLANATION OF RUBRIC RATINGS Focus Standard 1.1

Focus Standard Meaningful and Challenging Curriculum

Rubric Rating Beginning

1.2

Safe and Nurturing Learning Experiences

Developing

1.4

Active & Different Types of Learning

Beginning

1.7

Students Know What They are Learning, Why, and How it can be Applied

Beginning

1.8

Academic Intervention & Enrichment Support

Developing

Dewey Academy School Quality Review 2013-2014

Summary Explanation of Ratings • Students applied learning to questions or problems connected to their interest, goals experiences, and communities about 56% percent of the time. In these classes and lessons, the observations showed students’ work loosely connected to an interest or experience. • Curriculum and instruction reflected an academic push, from the teacher, to have all students progress far and attain high levels of mastery in 38% of class observations. • There was an overall positive climate in the classrooms, with a tone of respect and appreciation set by the teachers and maintained by students. Teachers welcomed students as they entered classes and addressed them by name, including those who were late, without disrupting the flow of the lesson. • In most of the classrooms, there were inspirational posters depicting representing various like student cultures as in the classroom, student work was displayed, and academic support and scaffolds present. • Students “worked” together in the discipline, and their collaboration facilitated deep learning in 20% of class observations. In those classrooms, there were tight and habitual structures for students to think and talk together about a question or problem before writing individual responses. • In many classrooms, there was a generally slow pace, lots of time when students weren’t actively working, and a lack of clarity about what mastery would actually look like if it were achieved. • In 63% of the observations, teachers posted and/or explicitly described a learning objective. However, about 33% of the written learning objectives described activities that students would engage in, rather than explicit content knowledge or academic skills students would be expected to know or use. • Half of the students interviewed during classroom observation knew how the day’s lesson either connected to some prior learning or was preparing them for a future lesson or project. • In almost all of the after-school programs, and just over half the academic classrooms, students were involved in activities that connected to real-world experiences. • There was an impressive array of academic supports and broader enrichment before, during, and after school for Dewey students. The school itself is organized as an 45

•

1.10

Equitable Access to Curriculum

Beginning

•

•

1.11

College-going Culture & Resources

Beginning

•

2.2

Coordinated & Integrated System of Academic Learning Support Services

Sustaining

•

• •

2.6

Inclusive, Welcoming & Caring Community

Dewey Academy School Quality Review 2013-2014

Sustaining

•

intervention for students who are behind on credits and academic skills and knowledge. Aligned to its mission of getting students in danger of dropping out to graduation, Dewey’s programs are focused on three goals: students earning the credits they need, passing the CAHSEE, and having the social emotional support they need to do so. The school program has been set up to support students individually, from the orientation system, to the counselor and counseling supports, to the Advisory period, and finally the after-school program offerings. There were a number of missed opportunities to maximize best practices, particularly around engaging instruction and applied knowledge, since there was no structure for academic core teachers and after school teachers to share strategies, observe one another, and collaborate to create consistency for students. Dewey’s explicit mission is to support students who would otherwise drop out of school, to graduate. With that focus, the curriculum at the school does not push students to achieve at levels that would prepare them to enter college without remediation. Dewey has a well-established system for tracking students’ credits. The counselor monitors each student’s transcript, meets with students periodically, and schedules students into the academic courses they need and the electives they want. As part of their required Senior Project, each student writes a personal statement, applies for financial aid, looks at career choices, creates a resume, and searches for colleges that are aligned to their career interests. Thus, the Senior Project is a personal and professional development for the students that direct them to consider college as a continuation of their learning experience. Dewey’s strategies and structures provide some social supports to all students, primarily through the small size of the school and of most classes, and the overall school culture where adults build supportive relationships with students, and use those to organize support to respond to their individual needs. The adults on Dewey’s campus hold a basic orientation towards their students that is deeply respectful and encouraging, and which serves as a safety net of academic and social emotional support to all students. The Coordination of Services Team, facilitated by the Community School Manager, includes mental and physical health professionals, case managers, after school staff and the principal, and monitors and tracks all student support needs. Students reported that Dewey is a safe space for them academically, socially, and emotionally, and that the adults at the school help them reach their goal of graduating 46

• •

3.1

Collaboration

Beginning

• •

•

3.4

Professional Learning Activities

Beginning

• •

4.2

Working Together in Partnership

Beginning

•

•

4.5

Student/Family

Dewey Academy School Quality Review 2013-2014

Beginning

•

from high school. The tone of adult-student interactions was primarily positive, supportive, and encouraging. From being welcomed each day, by name, at the front gate and in each class, to being provided with a variety of support groups, enrichment classes, and leadership development opportunities, Dewey students are known and cared for. Students, faculty, staff, and administrators described the powerful positive impact the Restorative Circles have had on individual students and on the school as a whole. The restorative circle processes were implemented effectively when there is a significant issue, but were not taught to or practiced by all students and all adults. Several adults pointed out that these practices would be more valuable to students if they were held, owned, taught and practiced by all adults rather than by one or two specialists. Teachers presented lessons to one another monthly in an informal sharing protocol. Staff professional learning at the school did not focus on inquiry about student learning, and teachers did not regularly look together at evidence of student learning to understand students’ levels of mastery of learning objectives and to help one another plan for future teaching activities. While there were individual teacher efforts to track and assess learning, this was not a whole professional learning community activity, and was inconsistent across teacher practice. The school administration, with the instructional leadership team (ILT) fosters a common vision for school instruction and plans professional learning meetings. Professional Learning meetings and individual coaching had not been structured and differentiated adequately to ensure that each teacher was evaluating and improving their classroom practices. There are significant contextual factors that render this standard difficult within the continuation school context in OUSD. Given the priority enrollment agreement within the District, most continuation students transfer when they are within a year of being able to earn a continuation school diploma. This means that the majority of Dewey students are enrolled for a year or less, and they enter, leave, and graduate at multiple points throughout the year. This dramatically limits the ability of the school to create working groups that include students and/or parents to share leadership in decisionmaking. The school’s partner organizations create clear and measurable goals and collect data to monitor progress towards them, and the school leaders collaborate with those partners in planning and monitoring goals for student support. Dewey staff provides an updated transcript to students and families each grading period. 47

Engagement on Student Progress

4.6

Family Engagement on Academic Expectations and Opportunities

5.4

Vision Driven

Developing

5.5

Focused on Equity

Sustaining

5.6

Supports the Development of Quality Instruction

Beginning

5.9

Culture of Accountability

Beginning

Dewey Academy School Quality Review 2013-2014

Undeveloped

• Transcripts are updated continually, and the counselor and teachers follow up often with students to ensure that they are enrolled and earning credit in the courses they need to graduate. • Often times, the parents or families are not directly engaged with the students’ progress and achievement, as many students are adult-aged and on their own. Yet, there are efforts on the part of the various staff, particularly the teachers, to make contact with parents or families of their students, but the school-to-home conversation may be more about student behavior, either positive or negative, or regarding student attendance. • Dewey’s mandatory orientation event for students and families before a student starts at Dewey provides a broad overview of the workings of a continuation school (the variable credits, the graduation requirements, the attendance policies, etc.) without stating much about the content of the instructional program. • The Dewey school staff appeared to be aligned in their efforts to support students completing a high school diploma, although they also spoke of the need for students to gain specific skills and habits to be able to successfully navigate adult life after graduation. • The staff did not have a shared definition of what skills and habits their graduates need, and had not yet embedded those throughout the program. • The school’s leaders and many staff articulated the goals of their work as providing young people who haven’t had positive school experiences with the opportunity to earn a high school diploma, and connected that to increased opportunities for financial security and positive, productive lives as adult members of the community. • The school leadership guided the development and quality of services that support all students to have equal access to learning, and had implemented programs to address specific subgroup needs. • Classroom practice, student engagement, and student achievement are inconsistent, and there was not a structure to methodically look at which adult practices were most and least effective at supporting different groups of students. • It was clear that there was an expectation that all teachers are moving towards instructional strategies that support students’ Common Core learning, and there was evidence that teachers were creating structures to utilize student academic discussion to support students’ content knowledge. Those efforts were in beginning stages, and were not evidenced strongly across classrooms. • Teachers did not follow clear processes to hold themselves accountable to each other. • Staff members do not have productive difficult conversations to continually improve 48

their collaboration and work with students. 5.10

Organizational Management

Sustaining

• • •

Dewey Academy School Quality Review 2013-2014

The school leadership effectively leverages district and community resources, grants and partnerships in service of the school’s vision. Several critical partnerships exist to enhance the students’ learning and promote realworld learning experiences. The principal had leveraged District professional learning opportunities as they relate to and support the school’s vision and related student, staff, and parent needs.

49

PART 5: FINDINGS - FOCUS STANDARDS RATINGS CHART Quality Indicator

Focus Standard

Focus Standard

1 1 1 1

1.1 1.2 1.4 1.7

1

1.8

1 1 2

1.10 1.11 2.2

2 3 3 4 4

2.6 3.1 3.4 4.2 4.5

4

4.6

5 5 5

5.4 5.5 5.6

5

5.9

Meaningful and Challenging Curriculum Safe and Nurturing Learning Experiences Active & Different Types of Learning Students Know What They are Learning, Why, and How it can be Applied Academic Intervention & Enrichment Support Equitable Access to Curriculum College-going Culture & Resources Coordinated & Integrated System of Academic Learning Support Services Inclusive, Welcoming & Caring Community Collaboration Professional Learning Activities Working Together in Partnership Student/Family Engagement on Student Progress Family Engagement on Academic Expectations and Opportunities Vision Driven Focused on Equity Supports the Development of Quality Instruction Culture of Accountability

5

5.10

Organizational Management

Dewey Academy School Quality Review 2013-2014

Rubric Rating

Undeveloped

Beginning

Developing

Sustaining

X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

X X X X X

50

Refining