Adams Upper Elementary School

School Information

School Name:  Adams Upper Elementary School, Wayne-Westland Community Schools
School Address:  33475 Palmer Road, Westland, Michigan 48186                              
School Phone:  734.419.2375
School Fax:  734.595.2374
Principal:  John Besek
Principal E-Mail:  BesekJ@wwcs.k12.mi.us
Web Address : http://adams.wwcsd.net/

Demographics

Number of Students:  730
Number eligible for Free and Reduced Lunch:  61.0%
Percent of Limited English Proficient:  0.8%
Percent of Special Education:  20.0%
Racial/Ethnic Percentages:

White:  69.8%
Black:  23.2%
Hispanic:  4.7%
Asian/Pacific Island:  1.1%
Other:  1.3% 

Results of State Tests

Name of the Test:  Michigan Education Assessment Program (MEAP)
 
Grades Tested:  6, 7 and 8

Years Listed:  2002–2005

Adams PLC focus on learning has resulted in sizable improvements in student achievement in all subject areas on the state assessment. The charts below show a 6 to 27% gain in student achievement since 2002. Adams now leads their district in student achievement with all four areas at or above state averages.

ADAMS MIDDLE SCHOOL MEAP SCORES

Adams has received significant recognition for their students’ yearly progress gains. Incoming students from seven different elementary schools have student achievement scores considerably below district and state averages. See feeder school performance charts below. Each year at Adams students make sizable academic gains. When the students leave Adams, they are above district and state averages.

 

ADAMS FEEDER ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS MEAP SCORES

When these incoming feeder school student achievement scores are compared to the Adams outgoing student achievement scores, the students show significant and steady increases in all areas. This continuous increase from 6th to 8th grade breaks the norm of the state and national decline of student achievement in middle schools.

Located in Westland, Michigan, Adams Middle School serves 725 students in grades six through eight. Approximately 60% of the students are eligible for free and reduced lunch. Over the past several years, the school has successfully made a fundamental change in the school culture. It has gone from a traditional school, with teachers working in isolation focused on teaching, to a Professional Learning Community with teachers working in effective, high-performing collaborative teams focused on improving student learning and performance in English Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies. Their focus on learning has resulted in sizable improvements in student achievement in all subject areas. It is worth noting that the average scores of students from the schools that feed into Adams Middle School are all below the district and state average. When the students leave Adams, they are above the state and district average.

 

Focus on Learning
The school attributes its gains to a school-wide focus on learning. Barb Anderson, eighth grade teacher noted, “Here at Adams our philosophy is that every child can learn. We expect them to learn. Failure is not an option.” The school operationalizes this philosophy by asking and answering the three basic questions of Professional Learning Communities:

1. What is it we expect students to learn?
2. How will we know when they have learned it?
3. How will we respond and what will we do when they don’t learn?

Through the NCA improvement process, the school adopted four results-oriented goals focused on raising student achievement in English Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies. They then used the collaborative teams of the school professional learning community to bring their goals to life. Don Harris, eighth grade teacher shared, “Professional Learning Communities provided the organizing framework for what was already happening in our school. It gave us the vehicle to help us get started with our improvement efforts.”  

 

Time and Structure for Collaboration
“Collaboration by invitation and volunteering does not work,” noted Principal David Ingham, who re-worked the schedule to find an hour/week of contract time for teams to meet. Every member of the staff participates in one of the following content area teams: English Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, Physical Education, Fine Arts, Practical Arts and Counseling. The teams have the benefit of time, focus, parameters, access to information, and ongoing support as they engage in collective inquiry and action research. They work together in an ongoing effort to discover best practices and to expand their professional expertise. To help ease their transition into this teamwork, each team developed its own norms to facilitate their work as a team. Another tool used in the team process is the team feedback sheet. Each week following the content team meeting, the team submits this sheet to the principal. This provides a means for the principal to respond with direct feedback to each team on a timely basis. 

Being required to meet on a weekly basis was new for staff members. Sandy Hanson noted, “We used to hear staff say, ‘We have to meet.’ Now they say, ‘We get to meet.’” The collaborative time has fostered a desire to share and learn from one another. Susanna Smelcer, eighth grade teacher added, “This gives us a set time when we can share what’s working and explore what’s not working with each other.”
 

Shared Expectations for Learning: What is it we expect students to learn?
Once the staff agreed on their four goals, they used student performance data to identify the following skills/areas to focus on across the content areas: similarities and differences, homework and practices, non linguistic representations, and vocabulary. As the content teams collaborated on strategies to improve performance in these areas, they began to recognize the wide variation in curriculum and pacing across grades and between teachers. Each team used the “Curriculum on the Wall” tool to post what they had taught so that they could begin to capture who taught what when. After developing the Curriculum on the Wall, the teams had a visual representation of all that was taught. They could then use that as the basis for discussing what was most important to teach and when it was most important to teach it. Each team then developed Pacing Guides to ensure that every teacher was teaching the same content at the same pace. This greatly enhanced teachers’ ability to share successful ideas and strategies. 

 

Common Assessments: How will we know when they have learned it?
With everyone focused on the same content at the same time, staff could then focus on developing common assessments to see if students were learning. Each team developed a minimum of four common assessments by grade level for each content area. These common assessments provide every teacher with timely, relevant feedback on the achievement of his or her students in comparison to other comparable students attempting to meet the same standard. The teachers then use the data to identify strengths and weaknesses in student learning and identify areas that need additional attention. 

Pyramid of Interventions: How will we respond and what will we do when they don’t learn?
Collaborative teams review data from the common assessments and identify students who need additional time and support. Adams has created a school-wide systematic approach to address the needs of struggling students. Known as the “Pyramid of Interventions,” the approach incorporates teacher, counselor, and building level interventions that are implemented to ensure student success. Before and after school programs, homework clubs, buddy assignments, parent involvement/communication, conflict mediation, and Plan for Success meetings are a sample of the many interventions that comprise the pyramid. Tara Cooper, seventh and eighth grade teacher noted, “We also focus on increasing student accountability for their performance. We post grades for students so they can see how they are progressing. Student then use the data during student-led conferences with their parents.”

Advice
When asked to share advice with other schools, Sandy Hanson stated, “Expect resistance, but be patient. Keep moving forward. It’s worth the trouble.” David Ingham added, “There will be bumps but stay the course. Keep the passion and the persistence.”

 

Adams Awards and Recognition

State Recognition:

• Leads district middle schools in student achievement for ELA, Math, Science and Social Studies.
• At or above state average in ELA, Math, Science and Social studies in the past two years.
• Won the 2005 Michigan Middle Cites Muth Award for excellence in leadership and student achievement.
• Presented the Adams success story at the 2006 Michigan NCA Fall Conference.

National Recognition:

• Listed in Standard and Poors as a Benchmark school.
• Listed in Just4Kids as a High Performing School.
• Published by NCA as “Adams Success Story,” January 2006.
• Published “Adams PLC Success” in PLCs at Work Plan Book, DuFour 2006.
• Presented the Adams Success Story at the DuFour PLC Institute in June 2006.
• Invited to present the Adams Success Story at the national NCA Annual Meeting on April 2007.