Dart's+PII

 **Seeing the “Ability” in Students with Disabilitie**s  **Woods Lake Elementary**

**Problem Summary**  Woods Lake is an elementary school in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Woods Lake had not made AYP for the past four years. As described from the organization’s point view, Woods Lake did not make AYP because of low test scores among students with disabilities.

**Background of Organization**  Woods Lake Elementary: A Magnet Center for the Arts was founded in 1988 and is located in Kalamazoo, Michigan. This school’s clientele is 44% Black, 32% White, and 23% Asian/Pacific Islander. In addition, 85% of the students are eligible for free or reduced lunch. Sadly, the school itself does not seem to have a website. However, the main districts website is [|__http://www.kalamazoopublicschools.com/schools/elementary-schools/woods-lake-elementary__]. Public relations materials and annual reports are available from [|__www.greatschools.org__], [|__http://www.city-data.com/school/woods-lake-elementary-a-magnet-center-for-the-arts-school-mi.html,__] and  [|__http://www.schooldigger.com/go/MI/schools/1995005669/school.aspx__]. An annual report and school improvement plan for Woods Lake can be obtained from [|__http://www.kalamazoopublicschools.com/schools/elementary-schools/woods-lake-elementary.__]

**Stakeholders and Decision-Makers.**  The people that will be affected by this plan, is first the administration and teachers, and then finally the students.  The people in the organization that will be in charge of making the decision to implement this plan is the administrators and the teachers. They are going to have to be the unified front that fixes the problem their organization is creating. The administrators and teachers will have to be ready to implement the plan strategically and consistently.  Teachers and administrators will be key personnel who will be able to provide this study with insights into the performance problem. Their names are Amy Eastman, 1st grade teacher; William Hawkins, Principal; and Charmane Echols, Assistant Principal. Future interviews will be completed with 4th and 5th grade teachers who have students with disabilities in their classrooms.

**Performance Gap: Cause Analysis** **Performance Gap (Current Performance vs. Desired Performance)** Adequate Yearly Progress is calculated by analyzing test scores for 10 different student groups in each of two subjects, Math and English, and on two factors, test scores and whether 95 percent of that group was tested. Failure to meet the benchmark in one area can put a school out of compliance. For the 2009-2010 school year, at least 56.8 percent of elementary and middle school students were expected to be proficient in English and at least 58 percent in Math. In Woods Lake Elementary’s case they did not make AYP because of low test scores among students with disabilities. In Language Arts, 3rd grade students with disabilities scored a 53%, compared to the overall 77.9% score and 4th grade students averaged a 15% compared to the overall 71%, while students with disabilities in 5th grade averaged a 30% compared to the overall 60% score. Since this subgroup, students with disabilities, are what caused Woods Lake not to make AYP, they are going to be the focus of this analysis.

**Cause Analysis** Woods Lake has not made AYP because of the students with disabilities subgroup. T he three main factors why these students have not made AYP are as follows: ineffective classroom management by teachers which can lead to unfocused and unmanageable students resulting in low test scores, lack of test taking strategy instruction, and low attendance. Through interviews with three teachers who presently work there, it was discussed that the reason their school is not making AYP stems from ineffective measures being implemented in the school. Teachers have not received adequate training in working with these students, the students have not received adequate instruction in test taking strategies, and attendance for these students is low. Ineffective classroom management can lead to many problems in the classroom. As stated in the articles, “What Works In Schools” (2003) and “The Keys to Classroom Management” (2003), “ Research indicates that teachers' actions in their classrooms have twice as much impact on student achievement as assessment policies, community involvement, or staff collegiality. In addition, a large part of teachers' actions involves the management of the classroom (Marzano, 2003; Marzano & Marzano, 2003). However, when you have students with disabilities in your classroom, like many of the teachers at this school do, classroom management becomes even more challenging, and also more important. While interviewing 1st grade teacher Mrs. Eastman who is currently working at Woods Lake, she states that one necessity is an effective leadership program at the school to help improve behavior. Also, teachers need to be professionally trained in learning how to “reach” their students with disabilities. Eastman states, “Instead of blaming poor test scores on the students’ behavior, teachers need to be able to look at themselves and ask, “Why am **I** not being able to reach these students?” “What can **I do better** to help these students with disabilities reach their academic and behavior goals?”” Teachers need to be trained to work more effectively with these students with disabilities to help them their highest potential. Lack of instruction concerning test taking strategies is another issue. From interviewing the teachers, apparently when the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) testing time came around teachers barely even knew it. In other schools around the country, schools have test prep books for their students, and also have quarterly benchmark assessments to get them ready for the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT), Georgia’s state-mandated standardized test. Woods Lake is lacking this “prep” and test taking strategy instruction. Students with disabilities need to be taught how to take a test, and learn strategies to help them while taking the test. These strategies will help the students with disabilities manipulate the test more effectively.  Finally, lack of attendance is also hindering the students with disabilities performance on their standardized tests states first grade teacher Eastman. These three factors are the main reasons why the performance gap exists.

**Organizational History and Background**  According to the data gained from Woods Lake’s Annual Report and their school improvement plan, their organization would like to see in increase in performance from the students with disabilities subgroup. The people in the organization who will be responsible for making these decisions, are the administrative team (principal and vice principal) and also the teachers of these students with disabilities. However, it will take the school as a whole working productively together to ensure that these students with disabilities are getting the support they need.

 **History.** Woods Lake Elementary has been open since 1988 and while the number of students has always been consistently around the 500 range, their ethnic makeup has changed over the years. While the school used to be predominantly white, it is now predominantly African American and Asian. The amount of students on free or reduced lunches have also increased significantly from the year 1988 until now. In 1988 only about 53% of students were on free or reduced lunch while now 85% of students qualify. There will be more added to this historical section after Principal William Hawkins is interviewed next week.

**Mission and Vision.** The organization’s mission statement is as follows: Woods Lake Elementary: A Magnet Center for the Arts - where academics and the arts create opportunities for learning. Their vision is to reach every child, and capitalize on every opportunity, every time.

**Three Intervention Strategies** <span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 18px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-indent: -18px;">As stated in the article, “Strategies for K-8 Students with Disabilities in the General Education Curriculum,” (2009), “ An effective intervention system must include instructional <span style="color: #141414; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 18px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-indent: -18px;">support that supplements — but does not replace — classroom instruction.” What will be i llustrated in the following paragraphs is the importance of increasing professional development for all staff members at Woods Lake, along with, interventions for the students with disabilities. An intervention that will be included in all three cost strategies will be the creation of an “Attendance Club.” This club will be directed by the counselors and will target the students who have poor attendance. The counselors will meet with these students in small groups of about five, review how their attendance is currently going, why it is important to come to school, and also set attendance goals with each child. Monthly attendance awards will be presented to these students to help increase their motivation to come to school, and celebrate their commitment to their attendance. <span style="color: #141414; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 18px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-indent: -18px;"> The low-cost strategy will begin, as all the other interventions will, with an entire staff survey called the “Five Key Elements Checklist,” created by the International Center for Leadership in Education (2009). As included in the article, “Strategies for K-8 Students with Disabilities in the General Education Curriculum,” (2009), “The Five Key Elements Checklist helps a school pinpoint structures and practices that need to be in place to support improved results for all of its struggling subgroup, particularly students with disabilities.” Besides the school-wide checklist completion, grade K-5 teachers will attend a training titled, “Response to Intervention: Implementing Powerful and Practical Strategies to Identify and Serve Students with Learning Challenges (Grades K-6)” through the Bureau of Education & Research Center (BER). This training will help provide teachers with the training and tools they need to help their students with disabilities be more successful in school. Finally, students in this intervention strategy, will be introduced to an online learning program called, Links to Learning, at __[|www.linkstolearning.com]__. Teachers who have students with disabilities i n their classrooms will be able to take their students for at least two hours a week to the computer lab to complete this program. Links to Learning is a website “designed to assist students and teachers in reaching educational goals.” The website includes state-by-state standardized test preparation, interactive quizzes, along with state released test questions. Once online tests are scored, students are provided with explanations for each answer. Parents and teachers are also emailed results. This program will help increase motivation and grow confidence in students with disabilities. Total cost of this low-end strategy is $199.00/teacher and since there are 20 teachers for the BER training it will equal $4,000. The medium-cost strategy consists of four parts. The first being the Five Key Elements checklist as previously described. The second-part will be the “Links To Learning” program discussed in the last paragraph but also the creation of a YMCA After-School Tutoring Program, targeting at-risk students and students with disabilities. The YMCA program directorswill work with Western Michigan University to obtain Elementary Education program students to serve as tutors. This after school program will offer mostly homework support and engaging test-taking strategy activities, but will also include leadership building activities. The program will be free to all grade K-5 students. Finally, this strategy will include the same training as included in the low-income strategy, “Response to Intervention: Implementing Powerful and Practical Strategies to Identify and Serve Students with Learning Challenges (Grades K-6)” through the Bureau of Education & Research Center. Total cost of this medium cost strategy is $4,000/BER training for K-5 staff, and $20,000 for the YMCA After School program. The $20,000 will cover paying the 12 tutors (2 per grade) at $15/hr. Since the program will be Monday-Thursday, the total for covering the cost of the tutors will be $720 a week. The remainder of money be described in detail at a later date after a meeting with a YMCA program director. The high-cost strategy include everything that low and medium cost strategies discussed but also will include “Leader In Me” training by the company Franklin Covey. As Stephen Covey states in the article, “Leadership helps test scores” (2010), “teaching children about their character, integrity, team building, and problem solving in addition to leadership skillswill increase test scores” (Reeger, 2010). Therefore, while increasing test scores is the main issue Woods Lake has, with the “Leader in Me” program, teachers will be able to increasetest scores while fostering leadership traits in their students. In 1999, A.B. Combs Elementary School in North Carolina was the lowest performing school in their district, however as a result of the program, “A.B. Combs Elementary has increased the percentage of students who perform at or above grade level from 67% to 97% in six years,” states Principal Summers.Total cost of this strategy will include $30,000 for the Leader In Me program training for every K-6 staff member; $4,000 for the BER training; and $16,000 for the YMCA After School program. The program in this high-end strategy will run for two days a week with 12 tutors (2 per grade) at <span style="font-family: Times; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0px;">$15/hr equaling $360/week.

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Considering the feedback received from the learning community, the medium-cost strategy plan has been selected. The components of this plan include: a weekly attendance club, asa recommendation from my learning community; the “Five Key Elements Checklist” meeting for the entire staff; a YMCA After-School program which will include “Links to Learning”test prep time for these selected students with disabilities and also other at-risk students; and BER training for the all classroom teachers. This strategy will help increase attendance,support students with disabilities in school and after school with the YMCA program and “Links to Learning” program, while also supporting and increasing teachers’ abilities inworking with their students with disabilities by offering the BER training.======

__Justification__

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While there were strengths and limitations to all three strategies, based on feedback from interviews with the principal, assistant principal and three teachers, the middle-cost strategy was chosen. Strengths of all three strategies according to the Principal of Woods Lake, is the fact that each strategy addresses both the needs of the teachers and students. All three strategies include professional learning from the Bureau of Education, which 5th grade teacher *Mrs. Jaime Rodriguez, states is extremely necessary. Mrs. Rodriguez continues by stating, “It would be nice for all of the teachers to attend the same training, ‘Response to Intervention: Implementing Powerful and Practical Strategies to Identify and Serve Students with Learning Challenges (Grades K-6),’ so we can discuss how to effectively implement strategies learned throughout all the grade levels.” “It would be nice for the teachers all to be on the same page on how we are going to address the needs of our students’ with disabilities,” she states. All three strategies also include an “Attendance Club” program which is inexpensive but can very effectively address the attendance problem of these students with disabilities. As 1st grade teacher Amy Eastman stated in her interview, “The attendance club would be a fun motivational tool that these students with disabilities need to help encourage them to come to school.”======

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A limitation of the low-cost strategy is the lack of student centered activities. While the “Links to Learning” computer time will be helpful, because of the importance most of the money in this strategy goes towards teacher training through the Bureau of Education. A limitation of the high-end strategy is the cost of the Leader In Me program. The “Leader In Me” program does have its strengths. As stated in the article, “Leadership helps test scores” (2010), “teaching children about their character, integrity, team building, and problem solving in addition to leadership skill will increase test scores” (Reeger, 2010). Sadly, the cost of the program $33,000 is quite significant and therefore is a weakness of the high-end strategy.======

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A strength of the middle and high end strategies is the after school component of them. According to an article published by the University of Michigan, "Children involved in ASPs appear to spend more time in academic, enrichment learning, and adult-supervised play," (Mahoney, Lord, & Carryl, 2005, p.820).” However, as all school faculty knows, a limitation of after school programs can be getting the students with disabilities to attend the program. Although, if the program makes learning fun, the students are more inclined to attend.======

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The high-end strategy was rejected due to the cost of the Leader In Me program. As teachers Amy Eastman and *Jaime Rodriguez share, “it is a costly program and we’re unsure of what teacher buy-in would be.” While the program has been proven to increase test scores in schools throughout the world, such as Joseph Welsh Elementary School in Alberta, Canada, the teachers and school as a whole have to be prepared for the intensive $33,000 training program (Frankin-Covey, 2010).======

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The role of the project manager in this intervention is to serve as the motivator and organizer of this medium-cost strategy. The project manager will organize the Attendance Club with the counselors to promote and reward attendance for these students with disabilities. The project manager will need to provide these counselors with a list of the students with disabilities that have low attendance. The counselors can then build a motivating “Attendance Club” to help get these students to school.======

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Every Monday after school, during collaborative planning time, the project manager will meet and check in with the after-school instructors. Each after school program instructor will have a data notebook to help track their students performance at the beginning of the program (pretest scores) and throughout the program. Each team of instructors will meet with the program manager, and develop a “curriculum map” together to help address the needs of their students with disabilities. Throughout the after school program, the collaborative team including the project manager and after-school instructors, will review and analyze the student data gathered throughout the week in the “Links to Learning” computer program, post assessments and quizzes, and during teaching.This collected data will be used to guide future instruction. The instructors will have access to technology schools already purchased by the school such as Mimios, computer labs, educational programs such as EducationCity and SuccessMaker, to help supplement their instruction.======

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 18px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center; text-indent: -18px;"> **References** <span style="color: #060647; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0px;">Annual Report and School Improvement Plan retrieved from [|__http://__] [|__www.kalamazoopublicschools.com/schools/elementary-schools/woods-lake-elementary.__]

<span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">Bureau of Education and Research Center. As retrieved from [|__www.ber.org__][|.]

Carryl, E., Lord, H., & Mahoney, J.L. (2005). An Ecological Analysis of After-School Programs Participation and the Development of Academic Performance and Motivational Attributes for Disadvantages Children. Child Development, 76, 811-825.

Center for Advanced Research. (2010, August). Joseph Welsh School: Leaders for Life. Franklin-Covey.

<span style="color: #060958; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0px;">Historical Information retrieved from [|__http://www.schooldigger.com/go/MI/schools/__] [|__1995005669/school.aspx?entity=19__]

<span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">Links to Learning. As retrieved from [|__www.linkstolearning.com__]

<span style="color: #202020; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 11px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Marzano, R. J. (2003). What works in schools. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and <span style="color: #202020; display: inline !important; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 11px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Curriculum Development.

<span style="color: #202020; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 11px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Marzano, R. J., & Marzano, J. S. (2003). The key to classroom management. Educational <span style="color: #202020; display: inline !important; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 11px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Leadership//,// 61(1), 6–13.

Public Relations Material and Statistics retrieved [|__www.greatschools.org__] and [|__http://__] [|__www.city-data.com/school/woods-lake-elementary-a-magnet-center-for-the-arts-school-__] [|__mi.html,__]

<span style="font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">Reeger, J. (2010, August). Author: Leadership helps test scores. Tribune-Review.

<span style="color: #060647; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0px;">School’s website. __[|http://www.kalamazoopublicschools.com/schools/elementary-schools/woods-]__ <span style="color: #060647; display: inline !important; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">__lake-elementary.__

<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">Strategies for K-8 Students with Disabilities in General Education. (2009). Rexford, NY: International Center for Leadership in Education.

<span style="color: #1a1a1a; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; letter-spacing: 0px; margin: 0px;">Success Story: A.B. Combs Leadership Magnet Elementary School. (2006). As retrieved from

<span style="color: #001899; display: inline !important; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal 'Times New Roman'; margin: 0px;">[|__http://franklincoveyresearch.org/catalog/A.B._20Combs_20Leadership.pdf__]