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CONTACTS:
Mark Burrows, Superintendent
PO Box 368, Lexington 97839
541-989-8202 burrowm@morrow.k12.or.us
John Renfro, Board Chair
541-989-8117 johnpamlex@centurytel.net
Web site: http://www.morrow.k12.or.us/
BACKGROUND
The Morrow School Board two years ago decided to face its challenges of poverty and language barriers head-on. The goal? Increase student achievement in two large elementary schools with high poverty and non-English speaking students: A.C. Houghton and Sam Boardman.
“We set goals that require improvement in test scores, development of new and innovative programs and appointment of qualified staff with specialties in certain areas,” said Board Chair John Renfro, noting the district evaluated the needs of English language learners under No Child Left Behind two years ago. “We were very specific in what we wanted – but we gave staff the latitude to get there. We threw them every resource we had for ELL and in turn expected high results. We got them. And now, some of our other schools using some of the methods, finding they work to help all students learn better, not just the non-English speaking students.”
Renfro noted staff and board find it very challenging to reach out to the Hispanic community because often they aren’t accustomed to attending school events. “We realized we needed to be flexible in creating opportunities on Saturdays, and create more family or home-centered opportunities, rather than expect them to come to school,” Renfro said.
THE SCHOOLS
The district chose its two large elementary schools in north Morrow County to change programs and staff because most of the students are from Spanish-speaking families who have flocked to the area to work in agriculture and industrial jobs near Irrigon. Most students at A.C. Houghton Elementary qualify for free and reduced lunch, with English language learners making up 35 percent. At Sam Boardman Elementary, 57 percent of students are English language learners and 65 percent qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.
IMPROVEMENT EFFORTS
Staff use direct instruction reading programs and incentive programs that reward children for independent reading. The district discovered that SIOP (sheltered instruction observation protocol) is effective with all students, not just English language learners. It also assigned a teacher as a new ELL coordinator to work with staff and families – partly as a translator.
From a school board report given by Houghton Principal John Sebastian:
“Using Reading Mastery has produced tremendously more effective teaching that only for the classroom teacher but it also has allowed well-trained educational assistants to providing the same scripted direct instruction, thus allowing us to be teaching in small groups to mastery learning levels. We did a similar process in math as a schoolwide project and are now involved in writing improvement.”
Improvement of Math and Reading at
ACH
Through much hard work and District support, it is clear that over time the staff of ACH has gained increasingly effective focus on student achievement and effective instructional practices.
Starting with our initiation of Reading Mastery in our Title I, special reading, and special education 5-6 years ago, we began to use research-based, effective curriculum practices. Beginning five years ago the school became a Title I, school-wide adopted program. This allowed us to expand our effective practices to all students. The school-wide part initiated specific math skills practices in grades 2-4 and two years ago it allowed us to begin our after-school, extended day program.
In both instances of improvement, reading and math, extensive specific training in the use of programming was carried out. Through the Goals 2000 grant we received, we were able to purchase the lion share of our Reading Mastery curriculum materials. We also devoted extensive training to the step-by-step expansion and sophistication of Accelerated Reader, a program which takes off from the reading fluency that Reading Mastery starts and strengthens the comprehension piece that builds successful readers.
We currently are in year two of a writing improvement program which included adoption and two-day training of the Write Group writing curriculum materials, kindergarten-grade four, and also instruction in the Foursquare writing process by Judy Gould, the originator of the program. We have high hopes for this to bring third grade off grade writing assessment up and for our state fourth-grade assessment to improve also. This writing need focus came from analysis of our achievement data by our Site Council which indicated writing as our lowest functioning curriculum area. This was followed by extra building resources allocated toward this improvement effort in the last two year's budget.
An example of memo outlining expectations for teachers:
To: Probationary and Contract teachers
From: John
Subject: Professional Portfolios and Action Research Reports
Due Date: 2/18/05
The annual teaching portfolios for probationary teachers are due 02/18/05. Please be sure to check the years of experience expectations for this year's portfolio. If you have any questions, please ask. If you need any replacement copies of any explanation materials regarding the portfolios please ask immediately. Please pay especially close attention to your three goals which relate to writing program improvement. These goals are very close to the processes and expected outcomes section of the Action Research proposals. If you are reporting your writing improvement efforts as a grade level along with action research teachers, you still must reflect on your individual adjustments made based on student progress in writing both with our new Writing Curriculum from last year (Write Source/Group) and with the Foursquare writing materials from this year's class.
This is an in-progress report because our Action Research efforts really come to a close at the end of May/first of June. This means you can describe efforts to date this year and planned for efforts for the balance of the school year.
Action Research Reports
These can be done as a grade level. If so, the narrative answers to each part of the Action Research Process and Action Research Expected Outcomes must reflect combined efforts of planning. They can also be different for an individual classroom effort because the performance levels of your class would be likely individual and different from the other classrooms. I am especially looking closely for detailed reporting on how individual teachers or grade levels have used student writing performance scores to create a focus for instructional efforts. This means you have used results to address weaknesses where necessary.
Almost every other Monday has been set aside for grade level planning. Teachers can use a narrative log of activities for this meeting time to report on outcomes or process.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
At Houghton, skate nights are community events that include parents and former students. At Sam Boardman the lunch count nearly doubles as family and friends join students for the holiday feast. Each spring Principal B.J. Wilson fires up the BBQ and cooks for 800 students, family and friends that come to celebrate the students’ achievement. Getting parent and community involvement were also keys to success, along with making good communication with the community part of staff responsibilities. Superintendent Mark Burrows and ELL Coordinator Joel Chavez meet Saturday mornings with Spanish-speaking parents who can’t make it during the week for conferences.
RESULTS
State test scores have risen impressively. At Houghton, reading scores climbed from 73 percent in 2001 to 86 percent last year. Math scores during the same period rose from 55 percent to 78 percent. Thirteen miles away at Boardman the results are even more impressive. In 2001-02, reading stores rose from 65 percent to 93 percent last year. In math, 61 percent reached benchmark three years ago, last school year 95 percent did.
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