Drew Turnaround Plan

8/7/2019 Drew Turnaround Plan

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·AppendixB

Restart Model .

Dr. Charles R. Drew Science

Magnet #59 .:

Buffalo City School District



.~

New York State Education Department

LEA School Improvement Grant Application, FY 2010

Under 1003 (g) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

APPENDIX B: RESTART MODEL

Directions: Please complete the following form for each persistently

implement a Restart Model. When completing this plan, please

responses.

~"r,.~.L6Tier I or Tier II school within the LEA that will

Implementation Plan Rubric to ensure quality

LEA: Buffalo City School District

School: Charles R.Drew School, School #59

Grades Served: 3 - 8

Number of students: 470

In the chart below, describe the needs assessment ......v>" ' . . "

data gathered during any Joint

from local assessment tools.

~U.lnw~.".IUJ)· drawn for the school listed above. Include

visit, with any additional information

• Student interviews

Joint Intervention Team

Report

February 2011

•••

Charles R. Drew School #59



, '_.-'NewYork State EDucation Department

LEA School Improvement Grant Application, FY 2010Under 1003(g) ofthe Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

Community Partner interviews

• .Administrator interviews

Curriculum Documents &,-u.au.lCUDocuments

block is structured around the District

03,-",~~!Iit:f!.? -based curriculum, the scope and sequence, and

Reading program, but there is little

how well teachers use these resources

grades. We also observed that

~,>\.~.~u.. ; ,£".~u mostly of readers used for

and we did not observe

uu•....,u.1..:> reading independently or for extended periods in~~~l.ass:rO(Jlm.Students indicated that they like to read for

p£ ....~,,}-, and some of them use the library t o take books to

, few of them could name an author, and they

~;au:~ that they did not keep a reading log.

• Student work displays around the classroom and in the

hallways reflected a skill oriented approach to writing,

with essays organized around prompts. Students apply a

small number of writing strategies that are used

repeatedly and in all grades, thus limiting the rigor andof students' written work.

ll. Teaching and Learning

• Teachers are not using the explicit instruction

methodology recommended by the District, and their

lessons are not' with the needs of the




NewYork State Eitucation DepartmentLEA School Improvement Grant Application, FY 2010



English/Language Arts - In 2009 -

2010, 18% of students met the learningstandards with a score of level 3 or 4. In

2008 - 2009, 47% of students scored,

level 3 or 4.

regardless of whether they are advanced or struggling

As a result there is a disconnect between whatteach, what they think that they teach, and what-

actually learn as evidenced by our classroom

and teacher interviews.

Mathematics - In2009 - 2010, 1students met the learning "t"<I·nrl<.r.,

a score of level 3 or 4. In2008 -

students appear to be grouped

hOlmoge]l~l§!.Yfor core subjects. Though student/teacher

~.w~o;;.UIL1\_~ J.LLU4ta,~ ... a discrete differentiated instruction

...iteracy block for these grades and

District group instruction during the

~~,,·a.UJLllE, Block, lesson plans did not account for

does not offer a continuum of special

iLYl"aLJLUU services and all the students that "move up"

from the feeder school, PS 90, are placed in inclusion

classes. Inaddition, in inclusion classrooms the general

education and.the special education teacher worked side

by side, but there was no co-teaching. Inone of the

classrooms, the special education teacher was using

.Voyager Passport while the other ten students worked in

various learning centers under the supervision of thegeneral education teacher. .

• District guidelines require that lesson objectives have a

specific format and be displayed in every room, and all

teachers work hard to meet these demands. However,

more concerned about .



" > . __

New York State :t'lfucation Department




the lesson objective and covering the curriculwn than the

impact of the lesson on students learning as~iJpel[lce:dby the short response time to questions,

"uu.uu" ... follow-up questions, absence of meaningful

__,,~""_._ on student work and/or students' journals, and

.amount of time,teachers spend talking with

nOllVI(lqilli,,§lrua.enltsuring class. Moreover, students

not familiar with the lesson objectives,

could not articulate the objective or

learned in class that day. Rather,

sorrlifllex"unI>lesf tasks and themes and

U~"_b4Lengagement in the classroom is inconsistent. In

the teacher ignored student noise and

""W!W15"l:~"'U behavior; in other cases, i t was the cause of

admonitions and interruptions to the flow of the

lesson. Consequently, transitions could be noisy, lengthier

than they should be and disruptive to other students due

to loss of instructional time. The new administration

established a school wide discipline policy last year, and

there is an Academic Support Room (ASR) for students

who display undisciplined behavior, but the school hasnot been consistent in implementing these policies. Thus,

there are not always consequences to unruly behavior. In

addition, the Academic Support Room (ASR) isserved by

a teacher aide rather than a teacher.

those



NewYork State Ei(ucation Department

LEA School Improvement Grant Application, FY 2010Under 1003 (g) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

ill.

provided by the district, but they did not appear to

...~!,tH'~· ," them according to the lesson objectives,learning goals, and performance task. Students

not familiar with the use of rubrics, although a few

acknowledged that the teacher at t imes would use

one to four rubric to correct assignments.

'U".l.L"'" of a uniform grading policy,

grade-specific guidelines. These

to percentages applied to

'03... "03.LL1 ...... ' , p;artl.ot1JlaUOn,lass work, and homework.

Leadership

administration has made some progress in

. . .. . .. , . . . .. . . , ' F . a more rigorous and stimulating learning

environment with high expectations for all students, and

there is some evidence of new initiatives that focus on

teachers, such as teacher of the week, teacher web pages,

and a professional study group facilitated by the principal

as well as new school-wide and after-school programs.

However, teacher and student observations, however,indicate that there might be too many new initiatives

and/or that these efforts are too dispersed to make areal

impact .

• Teachers receive training on the use of summative and

benchmark data at level . but




'. . . . . . . . . . .

.New York State Education DepartmentLEA School Improvement Grant Application, FY 2010


IV. InfrastructureSuccess


teachers appear rather reluctant to make changes to their.

priJ~n(:ebased on data, as evidenced by their observationsteacher forums and the lack of differentiated

in the core subjects.

"Uli<HVV£ facilitates teacher participation in PD

0plpOIJtlljlnll~S outside the school and encourages teacher

leadelrshi'P'1ibIf)U~~mail notes and personal

uralgeme~t~\,tJuthere is not a systemic approach to

and

identifiedas low performing and students with

~i3'''iJ'''.~~i3ppear entrapped in a cycle of low~1~(~tatI0IlS and consequently low level academic work.

In some instances, these students are inhomogeneous

groups for most of the day and are not allowed to

participate in field trips, informal learning at the Science

Museum, or leadership programs, among others. This is

'Oneof the root causes of the continued low performance

of the school.

• The school was designed as an open classroom, or

classrooms without walls. Students find this layout noisy

and distracting and would welcome the addition of walls.

Onthe other hand, teachers who have been in the school

over a number of years and are used to this structure

to favor this model. These teachers see the



NewYork State }:r(ucationDepartment

LEA School Improvement Grant Application, FY 2010 .'


open classrooms as creating a "family" environment

adults can communicate with each other at all-:. ... . They also indicated that students sometimes hear

same lesson two or three times, from overhearing it

.another class, but they see it as reinforcement and

regularl y in grade level meetings,

~.u","~ by either the coaches or the

. lead conversation around data.

nfortunatel y, of the teachers do not use

data when planning their lessons, and only two or

teachers appear to collaborate informally in lesson

IJ~a~'!"'b' Evidence also indicates that the guidance

.UU.illIIIiiilU~, social worker, and specialists such as the

psychologist, are not a regular part of these

• The school has a phone system to inform parents of

school activities and meetings, and the new

administration is encouraging teachers to call parents to

give them updates of good behavior and progress.

Despite these efforts, students report that only someteachers meet with them periodically to discuss their

progress. A few students shared their personal goals, but

ingeneral individual student performance is only shared

with them and families at mandated times the

v, and v. and Utilization of Data




New York State Eaucation Department



.~~f~"'U;U, teachers and the new administration complyand school mandates regarding summative

;;"''''.u~'''u..., and meet deadlines, but most teachers do not

U~'1- .Qfl 'La when planning their lessons, as evidenced by the

teachers do not modify their lessons to meet the

groups of students and instead rely on

lID.pleme:ll1Ill}g,theessons provided in the reading

M"'t-'t:>~.-~ <lUl.'~·· by the District.

Comprehensi Plan is populated with

LIOJID~lt10Innd data from the District , but it appears that

has paid limited attention to incorporating the

making theCEP a working document that drives

goals, PD, and parent outreach and

Professional Development

• The school supports PD and facilitates the participation of

teachers in opportunities offered by the District. The

principal.is currently facilitating a professional study

group attended by a small group of teachers, but muchmore needs to be done in this area to make an impact on

student learning.

• .There is limited evidence regarding how the school

administration evaluates whether teachers implement

what learn at off-site . and how well are




New YorkState EirUcationDepartment .



VII. District Support

infrastructure of the school is at times

lacks adequate bandwidth,

Description of Actions

for Model

Implementation Magnet was founded in the 1980s as a magnet school for students

P"'U»'''' at the Buffalo Museum of Science, the school shares somehas access to the Museum itself. The science instruction was inquiry based

at both the Buffalo Zoo, Buffalo Museum of Science and the Tifft

refuge dedicated to conservation and environmental education. Over the

the school's overall focus shifted away from science.

PS 59 enrolls 470 students. in until June the school also enrolled


2



New York State ImUcation Department



students. The grade reorganization in the 2009-10 school year resulted in the addition of grade 2 to Dr.

Charles R. Drew Science Magnet #90, the Early Childhood Center that is a partner and feeder to the

school. The reconfiguration also allowed students in f' es 7 and 8 who were housed at the Buffalo Zoo

site to be relocated to the Musewn site. In Septem 2009, the Musewn site reopened as a Grade 3-8

building with a new principal and assistant prin . ermore, since September of 2009, an advanced

Grade 8 Regen~ Biology and ~q-rade8 Regen ~i1 Algebra courses h~ve bee? added, th~ musewnclasses were re-mstated,a Jumor Docent p was r 1I"tated, and a part-tune SCIence Coordinator has

been assigned. The Junior Docent pro: ords grade,,, 8 students the opportunity to volunteer at

the Musewn, under the guidance of .enced docents. ',;··'\'.;.~cienceCoordinator serves as a liaison'~:. . .

between the school faculty and st d the usewn's> nter for Learning and Education,

The new administration has

two years with the support

LearninglEducation at thewith the teachers at PS 59 to

Musewnare

PS 59 also ........... I4JLV _~~ •.~ ...... ~_. Gardens despite moving off site. Staff

'"V+.Il"V"~ to the science magnet schools (BCSD #59 and #90). The

. .. .. ~ . .. L L L. _L L "L L .6 educational programs including student workshops

Student visits to the Buffalo Zoo were scheduled to

~~e~ during liaison visits to the school. In addition, the Zoo

and the first phase implementation of a 5thgrade student residency

impacted student learning of science concepts related to biomes,'UUlj.l .."U\.JJ.U> and environmental issues. The program allows students to gain

with making observations and inferences, as well as using laboratory

The curriculum is cross-curricular allowing students to enhance their

math, ELA, social studies and even art.

More recently, the school has formed a new partnership with Western New York Women's Fund and the

Universit of Buffalo. The Women's Fund has funded a "Structures in Science" summer institute for .the




NewYork State i£Qucation Department

. LEA School Improvement Grant Application, FY 2010Under 1003(g) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

last two years.and has committed to fund the program again this year. In addition to funding the "Structures

in Science" programs for middle school girls at PS 59, the WNY Women's Fund will be piloting and

providing joint funding for the Out of School Time initiative that will increase PS 59's access to an

out-of-school time program focused on '.' high quality enrichment and learning

opportunities offered by OST providers.. pilot OST initiative will include: mentoring

opportunities, career and technical activity, transportation, academic support,' and

cultural enrichment, all of which will program standards. Data such as student

attendance, academic achievement, rates will be collected to determine

OST program effectiveness. PS 59 .site with students in grades 5-7

eligible to participate year one (2011 eligible to participate during year

two (2012-2013).

Furthermore, the new UUJlUUu.

summer program to risingcomplement the .

around the

students.

with the University of Buffalo to offer a

. This four week summer program, designed topV'~M:U'~". Program, will be organized thematically

inquiry-based learning opportunities for the

oecome a Restart model school contracted to be rim by an

The selected EPO will work with school administration and

i!l~]ltatlon of the Restart model, making decisions regarding staffing,

direct or sub-contracted academic and student services. Theresponsituhties will be spelled out in a performance contract between the

include, but will not be limited to, providing PLO to prepare staff to properly

implement establishing a focus on scientific literacy, reading and writing in different

genres and in areas, meeting specified performance benchmarks, addressing elementary to

middle and middle school transitions, creating specific work plans and outcomes for school-based

teams, and providing data and relevant information through regular reports to BCSD. BCSD will develop

a set of non-ne otiable erformance benchmarks such as ~aisin attendance rates, decreasin disci lin




NewYork State EuUcation DepartmentLEA School Improvement Grant Application, FY 2010


incidents, and raising student ELA and mathematics test scores, to use as the foundation for EPa

accountability. BCSD' will also establish clear consequences for failure to meet these benchmarks.

BCSD's Department of Elementary Turnaround "effectively monitor the EPa and manage the

performance contracts. The EPO will make ' to the Board of Education, which will have the

ultimate say in the EPa's tenure.

BCSD believes that the Restart model

PS 59 because the EPa will:

• Run a whole-school operation;

• afford the school a chance to create

• have the authority ,student achievement;

• provide technical PVnPT-T

• leverage its,related '

• build"

structure in order to improve

03"UVv~"Wiil*l<....ate data and make changes based on those data;

.......t!f.f,l,¥uvu, and professional development, especially

sustainability;

teacher attendance and performance;

u.w~U'UUl;'" in the decision making structure;

effective in the case of PS 59 because of the school's need for

"'"'~"u._..program at the schooL While the new principal has revitalized

it will take much more to overcome the obstacles impeding the school's

progress as such as disciplinary issues, low expectations, and low literacy and

mathematics comprehension in the content areas. Most importantly, the Restart model

gives BCSD the set clear, consistent, rigorous expectations from the outset of the partnership,

effectively raising the at one of BCSD's lowest performing schools. The EPa will be empowered to

make dramatic, ra id chan e to the school culture b overseein all relevant as ects of the school's





'll"!"'(New York State Education Department


Under lOO3,(g) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965

program, and in exchange for this autonomy will be held highly accountable for improvement in student

data.

. : : : ~ ; d : , ~ .

Following consultation with the teachers' union, < ;"has chosen the Restart model for this particular

school as the best alternative. Please note that e of Nine prohibits the District from applying for

Transformation models at all of, i ts Cohort II," Q9,!s;likewise, the school shares facilities with the

Museum of Science and closure would viable ~p.. The t~g for R~start is good be~~use tl_le

school will be located at a swing site next two'" " physical separation from the facility WIll

further reinforce the feeling of a new

e capacity to address the findings

of the Joint Intervention

I.

• reading strategies to add rigor and vertical

Jor a setperiodoJ time a homework requirement. Consider

. the literacy block to incorporate time for structured,

areas to practice the skills, strategies, and vocabulary

practice oj proficient readers. Extend independent reading E O

accountability for student independent reading with the use oj

• tprlTml curriculum to include a genre-based and developmental writing component

the scope and sequence to add rigor and depth to the writing process. Add

rubrics around the craft of writing. This component could easily be

current literacy block and centers.



NewYork State Eirucation DepartmentLEA School Improvement Grant Application, FY 2010 .


n, Teaching and LearningJIT Recommendations:

• Enhance teacher pedagogy to ensure

curriculum and pacing calendar

engagement, academic rigor, ext

higher order thinking skills to

Have teachers participate in

quality and effectiveness of

-centered instructional practice. The District

tools that lead to high levels of student

daily reading and writing, and the use of

rirrnarure and increase quality student work.

~Uj~UU~ nd be held accountable for the


• Maintain flexible

students are in

based on student

mathematics, but ensure that

Ensure that lesson plans are

.summanveaata and include a variety of student-centered strategies

pair/share, accountable talk, and small groupduring the lesson driven by. a specific criterion

• with offers a continuum of special education services

szuaeJ,,-~...eview Individual Education Plan (IEP) goals and objectives

yet challenging.' Provide the necessary professional

work in a coordinated and cooperative manner: to enrich

through their interaction and collaboration with

npiemeruuiura of a research-based approach is critical to this school

the years for the significantly low performance of students in this

• current schedule to include a 'lab site' day that is organized around

toa lab classroom to build a focus of excellence and develop best practices



New York StateEducation DepartmentLEA School Improvement Grant Application, FY 2010



• Review current discipline policies and Positive Behavioral Intervention Supports (PBIS) action

plan with the participation of student representation to ensure that all students participate in their

implementation at the classroom level. schedule. to ensure that the ASR is served by a

teacher; in many schools teachers time on a rotating basis. Hold teachers and

students accountable for effective . of the PBIS initiative.

• Offer PD on the development of

aligned with particular tasks.

to develop formative assessments

• Develop a coherent schoolwide

formative assessments. the

of the grading policy"

plans, homework, and

and parents in the definition

and ensure the development of a clear and shared vision

and together take action to meet them.

xuctumat scneaute to develop a school wide approach to teacher meetings.

data analysis to inform instruction and observations in classrooms

collaboration, reflection, and evaluation o] teacher practice aslearning community committed to high student achievement. Make these

thefeeder school to establish continuity and develop a stronger literacy and

in all children.

• approach to PD to foster strategic teacher collaborations and shared

rove instructional ractices and rofessional rowth.



NewYork State E'ffucation DepartmentLEA School Improvement Grant Application, FY 2010

Under 1003(g) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965


IV. Infrastructure for Student SuccesslIT Recommendations:

• The school should group

teachers should set high expecta

together including those L L ' . " Y Y U .

rubrics and differentiated cotr/.tLhl ••',

produce standard-level work.

including at the middle school level. .All

all students working in small groups

Teachers should use exemplars,

and enable struggling students to

• Ensure that the imed at building standard classrooms with walls is

1-12).

• e., small cross-grade, cross-discipline, and

r/)~"/)IP shared leadership and to increase teacher

.. expectations to students and parents and further their

that lesson and unit objectives become learning objectives

••""~.u, '~to their parents.

• use of data from formaiive and summative assessments into the culture of the

leaders and teachers should. become familiar with the value of data and

comfortable in making use of them for instructional ur oses. In addition to rade level meetin is,



- -ewYork State Education DepartmentLEA School Improvement Grant Application, FY 2010



organize collaborative teacher teams across grades and subjects to provide faculty the opportunity

to work on specific targeted groups and specific academic targets."

• Review the CEP to include a short list of

work offaculty, students, and

Based Management Team (SBMT) ~U1JjI'Y

meeting annual goals.

goals with measurable objectives to guide the

that the action plan is reviewed at the School

to make adjustments as necessary towards

VI. Professional DevelopmentlIT Recommendations:

• Review the currentprofessional COJ!l{JI.,)OT·a

differentiated

teachers in structured

• strategically uses classroom observations

feedback to teachers so that lessons j

• "LIUUL technology infrastructure, and provide teachers with corresponding

Drew Turnaround Plan

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