Continuous Improvement is the Goal of WFSGs
January 01, 2009
Whole Faculty Study Groups at Holdrege Public Schools meet weekly on Friday from 1:45 -2:30 p.m. Groups focus on student achievement and use data to measure student progress. WFSGs are part of Holdrege Public School continuous school improvement plan. Each group has written a summary of second quarter progress. If you have questions or would like to comment, please email the first person listed for each group.
Preschool/Kindergarten- Heather Florell, Becky Williams, Nancy Nelson, Liz Mattson, Cheryl Cox, Betty Amen
The Preschool/Kindergarten WFSG group began the 2nd quarter working on Letter Naming Fluency. Students who needed interventions continued to receive help from the classroom teacher who provided individualized activities. Teachers continue to monitor each student to determine if goals are met and if progress is being made. We moved on to assessing initial sound fluency, the next student need on our action plan. Teachers in the group also began discussing strategy ideas for initial sound fluency. We have found it helpful to utilize strategies from the book, I’ve DIBEL'd, Now What? Upon completion of 2nd quarter report cards, we will update our data on the action plan regarding both letter naming fluency and initial sound fluency.
1st Grade- Shirley Messersmith, Wendy Breinig, Julie Bergman, Hulda Peterson, Karen Kreutzer, Lindsey Robison
First grade WFSG teachers have continued working on improving decoding skills. To help us with this, we have been using the manual “I’ve DIBEL'd Now What”, along with many LiPS activities and RTI services. We have Dibel results and LAC testing results to help us monitor improvements our students have made along with our reading tests. We have also created our own informal assessment and have administered it twice in an effort to monitor decoding skills.
2nd Grade- Beth Larson, Lynn Sundquist, Kristi Brand, Joyce Zachery, Michelle Williams
The second grade team has continued teaching context clues using a variety of resources such as Compass programs, internet sites and worksheets, deciding which we will all use and reporting our results at the next meeting.
We also incorporate the study of context clues by interjecting higher level vocabulary words across the curriculum, pausing to have students decipher the meaning of the word. Since DIBELS provides an assessment we can use to determine student progress in the area of context clues, we have been reading and discussing the book, “I've DIBEL’d Now What?”. We are also learning which lessons can be enhanced by using the Smart Board.
3rd Grade- Val Dicke, Mary Oman, Lori Engler, Steph Dannehl, Stacia Milius, Marianne Pierce, Kylie Fox – SPED
The second quarter our WFSG focused on following oral directions
that were written. We began by researching various listening skill
practices and activities. Each member submitted articles and shared
them with the group. We each thought of listening activities we
could use in which we implemented them in our classroom. We
reported the results back to the group. We found this to be
productive and helpful. We administered our post tests and recorded
the results. Our group score improved approximately 10%‐‐from 76.7% to
85.8% we exceeded our goal of 80%.
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4th Grade- Kerry Waller, Calena Ohlson, Kara Taylor, Carrie Veal, Marilyn Ide – SPED
Our focus during second quarter has been to diagnose students’ current levels of performance. We have found that when students know they are being assessed in listening, they are able to perform above expectations. A more accurate measure of listening seems to be random oral directions to students when they do not know they are being assessed. The collection of listening data has been difficult to measure and record progress. We have decided as a group to continue working on listening, but to add the goal of vocabulary, since we have Nebraska Standards for reading that deal with vocabulary.
Elementary SPED- Marilyn Ide, Deb Komenda, Kylie Fox
This quarter, our WSFG group’s discussion revolved around choosing a research-based rubric, collecting data, and establishing interventions. We also discussed the use of rubrics for grading. The rubrics that we have chosen to score our writing samples was the STARS rubric. Through the use of this rubric, our baseline data was established. Further, we discussion involved expanding our students’ writing into paragraph form. We want the students to be able to write a paragraph with at least 3 to 4 complete sentences using correct capitalization and punctuation.
We collected our student writing samples and graded them based on our STAR rubric. After entering the data, we discussed interventions that would be beneficial to improve the students’ writing. Interventions will be put in place next quarter. Data will be collected to establish if the interventions were significantly successful.
ELL/Title I- Kathy Gustafson, Julie Harms, Robin Shield, Candy Wells
- Identified research based strategy for use with 3rd and 4th graders to improve reading fluency.
- Selected students for intervention and administered assessments to collect baseline data.
- Began intervention with students in 3rd and 4th grade groups.
- Monitored progress at regular intervals
- Collected and recorded data on each student monthly.
As a group we have collected and organized materials and began an intervention strategy that seems to be improving reading fluency with 3rd and 4th grade students.
District Speech/Language - Kylee Dutcher, Nicole Mattson, Rita Kreutzer
During second quarter we collected baseline data for graphic organizers and scored these. We attended an inservice at ESU#11 to review the new Rule 51 guidelines for speech/language qualification.
We also shared some seasonal writing activities to do with our writing groups.
MS Math- Sandra Grimm, Steph Fuehrer, Anna Anderson, Mary Schneider
The Holdrege Middle School math team worked on creating a comprehensive math vocabulary pretest and posttest for grades 5-8 to assess understanding of math vocabulary. The vocabulary is divided into the areas of: computation, algebra, properties, geometry, measurement, numbers, statistics, fractions, and graphing. Words were selected from each grade level to be included on the tests.
We also worked collaboratively on the Phelps County Foundation Grant of $2500 in order to purchase more ELMO projectors and possibly calculators.
We have received the grant and are working on ordering the new materials. We will have a total of three ELMO projectors and a set of graphing calculators for the Algebra classroom.
We gave 24 math vocabulary pre-tests organized by topic. We then figured overall averages for scores on each pre-tests as well as percentage of words the students identified correctly. We will use the data to compare the progress of the students in the area of math vocabulary and determine appropriate terms to be taught and assessed at each grade level. We will give post-tests at the end of the year to check for student growth for each grade level and each test.
- 5 Tests given at 5th grade:
- Measurement Part 1, Computation Part 1 and 2, Numbers Part 2, Statistics Part 1
- 6 Tests given at 6th grade:
- Measurement Part 2 and 3, Fractions, Geometry Part 4, Numbers Part 1 and 3
- 6 Tests given at 7th grade:
- Properties , Graphing Part 1, Stats Part 2, Geometry Part 1, 5, and 7
- 7 Tests given at 8th grade:
- Graphing Part 2, Algebra Part 1 and 2, Geometry Part 2, 3, 6, and 8
MS English- Mike Hudson, Kathy Uribe, Linda Lum, Renelle Hartzog
We have been creating assessments for drawing conclusions and making inferences. At this point, we have given two different assessments. The first we felt was too easy since the students did very well. The second was just administered and we are currently discussing the results. At this point, it seems that the second assessment was much more difficult. We will continue to collect data and assess whether or not this is an area of need.
MS Social Studies-Brian Komenda, Sandra Brewer, Heidi Wells, Brook Bult
Since the last Instructional Council we have been working on summing up the love and logic modules to create a quick reference guide to hand out to the middle school staff. The idea is to have a "cheat sheet" that we can reference quickly when the need arises, and to look over frequently to familiarize ourselves with the basic concepts and one liners. We have also coordinated the National Geography Bee for the middle school, school finals are on Thursday, December 18th.
MS Science- Ron Evans, Tim Mattson, Jerry Ott, Jack Hild
The Holdrege Middle School science teachers have been collecting data on vocabulary of the topics being taught by each. We have set baseline data independently emphasizing the use of the vocabulary in writing explanations for science lessons. We have also been analyzing the STARS tests we have been giving; also comparing the scores and data of the tests we have given. We are trying to make sure that the old test scores will comply with the new online tests as far as the progress is recorded and percentages taken for the eighth graders this year. We have also learning about the advantages and disadvantages of using Smart Boards. We are planning to learn to use the Clicker System student assessment showing instant results. We are also discussing the topics we are teaching matching curriculum to standards.
MS SPED- Caron Sunblade, Tasha Kruse, Amber Kellen, Lorraine Ebke
This semester, the Middle School Special Education Whole Faculty Study Group has focused on identifying our Action Plan to be “All Middle School Special Education students will improve multiplication facts”. Various interventions have been discussed and implemented such as multiplication fact mad minutes, multiplication RAP CD, Bingo game. We also will be sending a letter to parents explaining home strategies to help student improvement. We have received test scores from the 6, 7th and 8th grade classroom teachers. Currently we are taking that data to put it into our Action Plan.
HS Science- Tom Brestel, Jeff VanEperen, Dawn Clayton
The High School Science WFSG spent the 11/14 meeting filling out the Instructional Council Forms. The next meeting 11/21 was spent as a collaboration between the High School Science and the High School Math WFSG. The 12/12 meeting was spent comparing our State Standard Scores with other scores in the area. The 12/19 meeting was spent discussing the report made by Carlene Murphy about our goal. We are to simplify our goal, so that is how we will begin the next semester.
HS Social Studies- Rick Jeffery, Chad Bailey, Todd Veal
The second quarter of the 2008-09 school year we spent time evaluating our process of using map skills as it relates to geography of Europe. Throughout the school year we have seen an increase in improvement overall of our students comprehension but we still noted some inadequacies in some students. Our goal is to continue to make improvements over the course of the remaining 2008-09 school year.
The second semester teaching will concentrate on Asia and Africa. We will be measuring the students map skills over these two continents and compare their performance with the results of the first semester.
HS Math- Diane Titus, Sheri Karr, Polly Pearson
The Holdrege High School Math WFSG spent a good deal of time in the second quarter developing a curriculum that would enhance students learning in the area of isolating a variable. After talking with the science department, we identified a clear need for students to be able to solve for a specific variable in any given equation. This process is needed in many areas of math and science and students tend to struggle with the concept. We, therefore, developed a pretest to give us an indication of the level of ability that the students were starting at. We analyzed those results and looked at curriculum and instruction methods that would be most beneficial to students learning this concept. After each of the math teachers taught the subject for several class periods and gave the students opportunity to learn the material, the students were then retested. The post test showed significant improvement in this area and indicated that the majority of the students had mastered the concept with at least a proficient level of skill.
We also looked at coordinating the curriculum among the math team so that teachers who were teaching the same subject would be covering the same material. Several students switch teachers at semester and we discovered the need for the teachers to be at relatively the same place in the text book so that students transitioning into a different class would be able to make a smooth transition.
Finally, we have gone back and looked at previous WFSG logs, goals and documentation to make sure that we are meeting our target and on track with the goals that we set for ourselves for this year. We will begin this next semester by setting a new target goal, collecting data and developing a plan that meets the WFSG criteria, targets one specific student need and ultimately increases student learning.
HS English- Jerry Buck, Kris Olson, Pat Peterson, Tammie Runions, Sue Christensen
We spent second quarter developing a vocabulary assessment tool for all high school levels. Our focus for vocabulary is for the students to be able to determine definitions from context clues. We are currently evaluating the results of the pretest given at the beginning of January. We also re-evaluated the high school English curriculum and rewrote some objectives for Basic English 9-12.
HS SPED- Kelly Buck, Teresa Moore, Todd Veal
The High School Special Education department worked on many things throughout the 2nd quarter. We spent several sessions developing and fine tuning our accommodation/modification template. This is useful to not only the sped teachers, but the regular ed. teachers, as they are able to access this to see what accommodations the students in their classes should be receiving. We helped Mr. Bailey, 504 coordinator, develop his template for use with 504 students. The Sped. department met with the English department regarding the curriculum in Basic English classes. We helped them combine objectives and formulated ideas for what should be offered in the Basic classes. We began to work on the Caseload spreadsheets that are required by NDE. These list each student we serve and the percentage of time they are in various Sped programs. Finally, we revised our 2008-2009 action plan and discussed the feedback given to us by Carlene Murphy.
K-12 PE- Pat Hellriegel, Diane Balcom, Bruce Bricker, Judy Borden, Brian Borden
The second quarter we looked at several different things that could
be done differently in the PE Department.
1. Have strength training just two or three days a week so more
kids could get involved. Problems with that would be finding
something for the kids to do the other days when they aren’t in
strength training.
2. Getting a strength training award system in place. 440 club,
etc. and give shirts for weight groups and then have boards on the
wall recognizing the students.
What we will really focus hard on this semester is setting up a
rewards program for strength training and how to spend the left
over money from safe routes to school program.
K-12 Art- Pat Studnicka, Christy Kosmicki, Mona Peterson , Brandy Edgren
The second quarter focus was on the first National Art Standard: The student will understand and apply media, technique and processes. Each teacher, Brandy Edgren, Christy Kosmicki, Kasey Moon, Mona Peterson, and Pat Studnicka have presented student work from each grade level addressing this national standard. Each teacher brings work that has been assessed as exemplary, average, and needs improvement. We then discuss strategies that members have used to increase the level of student understanding and brainstorm best practice to insure retention and purposeful use of media, technique and art processes. We plan to focus on two more national standards next semester.
District Guidance- Dan Atchison, Jean Berreckman, Julie Freburg, Jamie Christensen, Deb Komenda – SPED , Rachel Wells
Guidance accomplishments for the second quarter included updating of the 504 and SAT paperwork. The group explored various options regarding access of the files on the servers. Utilization of the forms will begin on a limited basis this year. The group also began to focus some time on crisis team issues by identifying resources that can assist students and families who are grieving. That task will continue through third quarter as the group works with the media specialists to obtain age-appropriate grief materials for the school libraries.
HS/MS World Languages- Pat Peterson, Suzanne Stratton, Thomas Young
In our World Languages WFSG group we explored some aspects of the TPRS approach to teaching language. TPRS stands for Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling. TPRS is of great interest to us because we have seen data that supports it as very successful in helping students to reach fluency in the acquisition of the second language, in this case, Spanish. Blaine Ray is one of the leading proponents of this style of teaching, and we spent some time studying his methods and viewing some dvds showing him using this method in the classroom. Ben Slavic is a French teacher in Colorado who has also developed TPRS, and we viewed some of his dvds illustrating his methods. We also have come to the conclusion that it is more important than ever to help students become fluent in speaking and writing, with the study of grammar as a natural by-product of reading and writing stories and interacting in the classroom. It is communicative based teaching, and it is not built around a textbook or a lesson plan.
We also chose an assessment we could both use in our 2nd year Spanish classes, consisting of knowing and recognizing the 20 countries which are officially Spanish speaking. We each gave a pretest over those countries, and then after going over the material in class, we tested them again. There was improvement in the knowledge the students demonstrated, although not as much as we had assumed there would be. Because of the requirement of using data and demonstrating our work with data, we had tried to find something measureable in this way, although we were not really satisfied that our choice really served the needs of our students as much as other activities not so readily measured.
As we worked on our different ideas, we came to realize that we need more training with TPRS, and we will continue to study it and go to workshops when we can. It is the “wave of the future” in teaching world languages, and we need to dive in and experience the success that is being seen in schools where TPRS is used.
District Music- Alissa Bislow, Judy Butler, Mark Butler, Dan Wiese
- We spent several sessions reviewing elementary curricula and have chosen McGraw-Hill’s Spotlight On Music. This was based on its’ digital textbook, audio recordings, and student editions.
- We each attended the Nebraska Educator’s Convention in Lincoln and shared information we gathered at seminars including teaching strategies.
a. Judy and Alissa shared
information from a session on note-reading based on a story titled
Mr. Everbody.
b. Mark talked about a Dave Schechevsky seminar on swing choir
staging which included stage blocking for performing ensembles.
c. Dan shared information from a seminar on how conducting and
rehearsal teachniques.
d. Judy attended sessions on Orff instruments and shared handouts
with Alissa.
HS/MS Vocational- Terry Shield, Mike Williams, Deb Erickson, Jeff Moore, Jason Hale, Don Kosmicki
During the second quarter of the 2008-09 school year the Vocational WFSG continued looking at ways to improve student skills in the area of measurement. We also looked at the data gathered from the first semester and will be comparing it to the second semester data. The results from 1st semester are as follows:
| 5th Grade 1st semester results | 6th Grade measurement results 10 questions |
6th Grade measurement results 20 questions |
| 73% proficient - 90 or above | 90 or above -- 87% | 90 or above - 75% |
| 17% OK - 80 or above | 80"s - 3% | 80's -- 12% |
| 10% failed | 70"s - 8% | 70's - 5% |
| 69 or below - 2% |
We are also moving forward with the idea of implementing rubrics for assessing the student change/growth as a result of the teaching process. The group has continued to share lessons, handouts and activities that target the teaching and understanding of measurement as it applies to the various vocational areas.
Our goal is to continue to make improvements in this area over the course of the remainder of the current school year. We will continue the process of making sure all middle school students are exposed to measurement in the technology classes each and every school year. We will also continue collecting more data that will allow us to compare results over time that will determine our next course of action.
District Media - Trent Benjamin, Betty Bricker, Steph Dannehl
During the second quarter we finalized the encyclopedia pre- and post-test and located and scanned different lessons that we could use to teach the different parts of the encyclopedia. These have been posted in our WFSG folder inside an encyclopedia folder. We are finishing up creating a lesson using the atlas and almanac. These will also be posted in the folder in the WFSG media folder. For second semester we will look at creating a new action plan, and addressing another need.
