Robert Frost Junior High School

 

School Information

School Name: Robert Frost Junior High School
District Name: Schaumburg School District 54
School Address: 320 West Wise Road,  Schaumburg IL 60193
School Phone: 847.357.6800
School Fax: 847.357.6801
Principal: Dr. Paul Goldberg
Principal email: PaulGoldberg@sd54.org
Web Address: http://web54.sd54.k12.il.us/schools/frost/default.htm

Demographics

Number of Students: 574
Percent Eligible for Free and Reduced Lunch: 10%
Percent of Limited English Proficient: 6%
Percent of Special Education: 13.6%
Racial/Ethnic Percentages:

• White: 65%
• Black: 5%
• Hispanic: 13%
• Asian/Pacific Island: 13%
• Other: 4%

Percentage of students passing: School Scores/Comparison Scores

Grade: 7	Math- Meets	Math- Exceeds	Math Combined M/ E	Reading- Meets	Reading- Exceeds	Reading Combined M/E
Year 03-04	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Year 04-05	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Year 05-06	60 / 55	34 / 21	94	63 / 60	16 / 12	78
Year 06-07	49 / 54	45 / 25	94	64 / 58	23 / 15	87
Year 07-08	52 / 55	40 / 26	92	60 / 59	26 / 19	87
Year 08-09	47 / 55	46 / 28	93	56 / 57	29 / 21	85
Year 09-10	42 / 56	55 / 28	98	59 / 58	37 / 20	96

 

Grade: 8	Math- Meets	Math- Exceeds	Math Combined M/ E	Reading- Meets	Reading- Exceeds	Reading Combined M/E
Year  03-04	45 / 38	28 / 17	73	62 / 57	13 / 10	75
Year  04-05	50 / 37	29 / 17	79	69 / 61	15 / 12	83
Year  05-06	52 / 53	39 / 26	91	78 / 70	12 / 9	90
Year  06-07	45 / 52	51 / 29	95	73 / 70	18 / 12	91
Year  07-08	48 / 53	43 / 27	91	78 / 73	16 / 8	93
Year  08-09	53 / 55	39 / 27	92	76 / 75	13 / 9	90
Year  09-10	43 / 84	55 / 31	97	71 / 72	26 / 12	96

 

Grade: 7 Students with IEPs	Math- Meets	Math- Exceeds	Math Combined M/ E	Reading- Meets	Reading- Exceeds	Reading Combined M/E
Year 03-04	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Year 04-05	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Year 05-06	68 / 33	6 / 3	74	32 /28	3 / 2	35
Year 06-07	62 / 37	10 / 5	72	41 / 30	5 / 2	45
Year 07-08	66 / 40	6 / 5	72	44 / 35	6 / 3	50
Year 08-09	56 / 42	15 / 6	71	34 / 35	13 / 4	47
Year 09-10	37 / TBD	59 / TBD	95	76 / TBD	17 / TBD	93

 

Grade: 8 Students with IEPs	Math- Meets	Math- Exceeds	Math Combined M/ E	Reading- Meets	Reading- Exceeds	Reading Combined M/E
Year 03-04	20 / 12	8 / 2	28	25 / 23	4 / 1	29
Year 04-05	31 / 13	0 / 2	31	33 / 30	0 / 1	33
Year 05-06	51 / 34	9 / 4	60	55 / 37	2 / 1	57
Year 06-07	52 / 37	16 / 5	68	53 / 39	0 / 1	53
Year 07-08	47 / 39	14 / 5	61	77 / 41	0 / 1	77
Year 08-09	72 / 40	7 / 5	79	56 / 45	2 / 1	68
Year 09-10	63 / TBD	29 / TBD	92	74 / TBD	5 / TBD	79

*State testing did not occur in math/reading 2003-04 and 2004-05.

MAP Proficiencies Percentages:

Grade: 7	Math	Reading
Year 09-10 Fall	89.2	80.6
Year 09-10 Winter	92.1	85.5
Year 09-10 Spring	95.0	93.5

Grade: 8	Math	Reading
Year 09-10 Fall	92.3	91.9
Year 09-10 Winter	94.6	94.5
Year 09-10 Spring	96.2	97.6

Behavioral Data (SWIS):

Referrals Per Year

Suspension Days Per Year

Please comment on any aspect of the data that you feel is particularly significant.

Robert Frost Junior High School, since the implementation of Professional Learning Communities, has made significant growth.  Overall student achievement has increased steadily for students in the areas of reading and math.  Robert Frost Junior High is now a 95-95-95 school. 96% of our students met/exceeded state standards in reading, 97% of our students met/exceeded state standards in math, and 96% of our students met/exceeded state standards in science.  We are the first and only school in our district to be a 95-95-95 school.

Reading ISAT Results – Percentage Meet/Exceed:

Math ISAT Results – Percentage Meet/Exceed:

Students with IEP's have also made significant gains in both reading and math.  Since the 2005-2006 school year, Frost has gone from academic warning status to achieving adequate yearly progress in all subgroups.  For example, in the 2002-2003 school year,only 34.8% of students with IEP's met in math and 42.6% met in reading.  Last year’s results demonstrated 95% mastery in math and 87% in reading. Recently, Frost was awarded the Illinois State Board of Education Academic Excellence Award, the only junior high school in District #54 to do so.  This award was only won by 92 other middle schools in the State of Illinois.

Reading ISAT Students with IEPs – Percentage Meet/Exceed:

Math ISAT Students with IEPs – Percentage Meet/Exceed:

Frost began implementation of PBIS in August of 2008, with universal systems of support.  We were identified as a replication site because of the significant results from our PBIS efforts.  In the 2009-10 school year, we implemented Tier Two supports, and have continued to experience an increase in appropriate student behavior.  The amount of office referrals has been reduced by half since the 2007-2008 school year (a reduction from 900 to 780 to 510) and our suspensions have been the lowest in Frost history, with only two students receiving that consequence in 2009-10.  This is an 88% decrease from previous years in regards to events leading to suspensions.  Less than 30 junior high schools in Illinois were recognized with 2009 PBIS Implementing Award and Frost was fortunate to be honored with this distinction.

Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) testing has been instrumental in assisting our staff in monitoring student learning. Students conference with their teachers regularly in regards to academic goals related to MAP and look forward to demonstrating their growth during the tests.  The staff set a goal for 70% of our students to make their target growth.  Looking at the national percentile rankings, this goal would place us in the top schools nationwide.  This was a stretch goal considering our already high proficiency levels.  We did achieve our goal in all areas including seventh grade reading/math and eighth grade reading/math.  In seventh grade reading 78.6% (99th percentile nationally)of our students met their target goal and in seventh grade math 75.4% (96th percentile nationally) met their target goal.  In eighth grade reading 70.4% (97th percentile nationally) and in eighth grade math 75.3% (98th percentile nationally) met their goal.  We also achieved our proficiency goals which are strongly correlated to ISAT performance. In seventh grade reading 93.5% (12.9%gain) of our students are now proficient whereas 80.6% were proficient at the beginning of the year.  In seventh grade math 95% (4.8% gain) of our students are now proficient whereas 90.2% were proficient at the beginning of the year.  In eighth grade reading 97.6% (5.7% gain) of our students are now proficient whereas 91.9% were proficient at the beginning of the year.  In eighth trade math 96.2% (4.3% gain) of our students are now proficient whereas 92.3% were proficient at the beginning of the year.  This data is indicative of the hard work we do as a PLC.  We are pleased to see that our MAP goals have been achieved, and we look forward to raising the bar again next school year. 

(See graph below)

Please present additional information that indicates your efforts to build a professional learning community have had a positive impact on students and/or teachers.

Robert Frost Junior High School began its journey as a Professional Learning Community during the 2006-2007 school year, as part of a district initiative.  School leaders attended training with the DuFours, staff read Whatever It Takes, and discussions commenced in regards to how Frost would implement new structures to support the PLC model.  In four years, Frost has evolved into a high performing PLC that is responsive to students’ academic, behavioral, and social emotional learning needs.  Below is an explanation of how Frost works within the Professional Learning Community model:

PLC Overview:  Robert Frost Junior High School is structured by content area departments.  All core departments (math, language arts, science, social studies) are led by department chair.  These core departments are further broken down into grade level PLC teams.  Special services teachers and bilingual teachers are also part of math and language arts PLC teams in order to provide support for both students and teachers. 

Each PLC team member chooses a role at the beginning of each trimester.  These roles include team leader, agenda setter, note taker, time keeper, and norm enforcer.  It is crucial that the note taker not only sends notes out to the PLC team members but also to any special services or bilingual teacher that works with the students discussed in the meeting.  This helps keep these teachers informed about instructional decisions and activities that will impact the students.

At the beginning of the year, each PLC team spends time identifying Power Standards, or the most essential outcomes necessary for all students to learn in their content area. Teams take the time to analyze past ISAT (Illinois State Achievement Test) results in order to find where each subject area can improve in order to have better results for the current year. For example, based on last year’s ISAT, the language arts team found making inferences was a skill that needed more attention school wide.  This information and data is then discussed and analyzed throughout the respective departments

As a PLC, teams work together to ensure mastery of Power Standards.  This is done through sharing ideas, locating materials, and creating lessons that will support student learning.  The PLC's continually communicate about what did and did not work and make adjustments to the lessons that are delivered.  It is also the responsibility of the PLC to discuss assessment results and decide which students need more support and how that support will be provided.  Each teacher is responsible for coming to PLC meetings with data from common assessments. Based on these results, teachers share strategies to ensure students become proficient on each identified Power Standard. 

Through those timely conversations and reviewing the data we can often draw conclusions as to which teaching strategies were most effective.  These conversations allow us to share useful strategies.  It is important for PLC members to realize that it is best to be transparent and focus on student success.  These conversations are recorded through common assessment synopses where we analyze and discuss the aforementioned results.

PLC Expectations:
Our PLC teams develop a PLC calendar each trimester and identify the following targets to ensure proper pacing and so all goals can be met. 

• Teams determine when all Power Standards will be taught
• Teams determine when they will review SMART Goal progress
• Teams determine when they will analyze “Critical Questions for Team Consideration” to ensure the team is consistently improving
• Teams identify times to review norms
• Teams determine when common assessments should be written
• Teams determine when common assessments will be given to students
• Teams determine when common assessment data will be analyzed and when strategy sharing will occur
• Teams determine when re teaching and reassessment will occur
• Teams determine when the common assessment synopsis will be completed

All of the above tasks are completed during PLC team time which is built into teachers’ schedules about three times a week for up to forty minutes each time.  In addition,often there is time during staff development for PLC's to continue their discussions.
 
SMART Goals:  Each department is responsible for writing three SMART goals at the beginning of the year which focuses upon Common assessments, MAP and ISAT data.  These goals are created by looking at past data from the above mentioned assessments.  The team of teachers will then use this data to decide upon a goal for the year.  After this goal is decided, the teachers discuss the strategies and action steps, responsibilities, timelines, and evidence of effectiveness needed for this goal to be accomplished.  These SMART goals are revisited after each of the three rounds of MAP, every common assessment, and ISAT testing. 

Common assessments:  Common assessments are the primary way teachers at Frost monitor students’ ongoing learning.  The Common assessment process begins within the PLC in each subject area.  The teachers, including those from general education, ELL, and special education, identify the most important standards to be tested throughout the year.  This turns out to be 10-12 standards per trimester which are referred to as “Power Standards”.  Common assessments are developed from these Power Standards.  The goal at Frost is for each subject area to complete three Common assessment cycles per trimester.  The cycle begins with teacher creation of the Common assessment.  Each Common assessment has one to three Power Standards tested usually with five to seven questions per skill.  This ensures the students truly know the Power Standard at hand. Teachers then implement lesson plans closely aligned with these standards which are later tested with the newly created Common assessment.  After the Common assessment has been given,teachers analyze the results noting which students were proficient and which fell below mastery for each standard. Mastery level is decided within the PLC, but generally 80% is the norm.  Re-teaching and enrichment days follow each Common assessment to ensure students who fell below mastery level receive timely intervention. Teams consider which skills need to be reinforced and plan for how to re teach the skills. They continually think of the following questions during conversations about common assessments: What teacher will be most effective in teaching the skill?  What teaching strategy is most effective?  How will it be taught?  What materials will be used?  How will students be reassessed?  Following timely intervention, a reassessment of the Power Standards is given.  This cycle repeats until all students have reached mastery level.  Data is collected through Mastery Manager reports.  The required reports for team members to bring include the Item Analysis, Learning Objectives Mastery Roster Report, and the Learning Objectives Exceptions Report.  Teachers also analyze common assessments as well as MAP and ISAT assessment scores. 

Vertical Articulation:  In addition to efforts within Frost, teams participate in vertical articulation to ensure students are learning what they will need to be successful at the next level of their education. The math department chair from Frost collaborates with teachers at the District 211.  The 8thgrade math curriculum is designed for all students to learn Algebra.  Thus, Frost and District 211 work together to create a placement exam for these Algebra students. The purpose behind this test is to see which students are proficient in Algebra and can move on to Geometry upon entering high school. Language Arts teachers also participate in conversations so that Power Standards identified at Frost align with key elements needed for students in their high school coursework.

Guided Groups:  Each day, math and language arts teachers meet with students in small groups designed to target individual learning needs.  Within these groups, students are guided through the content with differentiated material at the appropriate level for student success.  Additionally, guided groups are used to reach students who are not proficient in a particular skill as evident from MAP and Common assessment data, or to allow enrichment activities for students needing a challenge.  Teachers also use this time to conference about their progress and help them set learning goals aligned with concepts measured on MAP tests.

Please elaborate upon strategies you have found to be effective in any of the following areas:

1. Monitoring student learning on a timely basis.

The common assessment cycle is key in monitoring student learning at Frost.  PLC teams work strategically to identify essential outcomes and Power Standards.  From there, they work collaboratively to develop common assessments to measure student learning of these outcomes.  Highly engaging and dynamic lessons are then developed to ensure students learn these concepts and common assessments are administered.  Results of these assessments are analyzed by the PLC team and most effective teaching strategies are identified.  Teachers then plan re teaching activities to give additional opportunities for learning.  During this same time, enrichment activities are provided for those students who already learned the essential outcomes.  This cycle is continuous throughout the school year. 

2. Creating systems of intervention to provide students with additional time and support for learning.

At Frost, we have a systematic process built into the day for 2010-11 to provide students with timely additional support and enrichment.  A shortened schedule occurs on Tuesdays and Thursdays that allows us thirty minutes at the end of the day to provide directive support in the areas of reading, writing, math, science, and social studies.  Each core area has the priority at least twice per month as some students may need extra support in more than one subject.  Teachers identify their students needing additional support based on the need for pre-teaching(proactively) and through common assessments. In addition to meeting the academic needs of our students, the guidance department uses this time to hold social/academic learning groups to meet the social-emotional needs of our students; groups focus on pro-social skills,problem solving skills, and academic behavior skills.  This extra time that is built into our school day allows us to deliver supplementary support that is timely, flexible, and directive in addition to their core instruction.  A coordinated procedure lets students know where to go and when. 

Students who are responding to universal supports are assigned to a base location where they can use this time as a study hall.  In the near future, we plan on building in peer tutoring and enrichment activities for students who are not identified as needing extra support.

Frost class periods range from 37-40 minutes each day, with9 or 10 periods depending on the day of the week.  Below are the schedules for Frost, with Monday and Friday having 9 periods, Wednesday having a shortened schedule due to early student release for professional development, and Tuesday and Thursday containing 10 periods to include the enrichment block:

Monday/Friday schedule
Period	Time
1	7:40	-			8:27
2	8:30	-			9:10
3	9:13	-			9:53
4	9:56	-	10:16	-	10:36
5	10:39	-	10:59	-	11:19
6	11:22	-	11:42	-	12:02
7	12:05	-	12:25	-	12:45
8	12:48	-	1:08	-	1:28
9	1:31	-			2:15

Tuesday/Thursday schedule
Period	Time
1	7:40		-		8:20
2	8:23		-		9:00
3	9:03		-		9:40
4	9:43	-	10:00	-	10:20
5	10:23	-	10:40	-	11:00
6	11:03	-	11:20	-	11:40
7	11:43	-	12:00	-	12:20
8	12:23	-	12:40	-	1:00
9	1:03		-		1:42
Enrichment			1:45	-	2:15

Wednesday Schedule
Period	Time
1	7:40		-		8:20
2	8:23		-		9:00
3	9:03		-		9:40
4	9:43	-	10:00	-	10:20
5	10:23	-	10:40	-	11:00
6	11:03	-	11:20	-	11:40
7	11:43	-	12:00	-	12:20
8	12:23	-	12:40	-	1:00
9	1:03		-		1:45

Within the language arts and mathematics classes,instruction is differentiated through guided reading and guided math groups.  For twenty minutes during language arts and math class, students are flexibly divided into varying levels to work in small groups with a teacher. Math classes are leveled to meet the differing abilities of our students.  Frost also offers “discovery”classes in language arts, social studies, and science for students who qualify.  Reading intervention classes are available for students who need support in mastering essential outcomes, such as reading comprehension, vocabulary, and reading fluency. During school, we have homework lunch for students who have trouble turning in their homework.  After school, we provide a guided time for students to complete homework and also offer additional time for students to learn the essential outcomes in math and reading.  Below you can see the successful results we have had with student performance as reflected by the reduction in “D” and “F” grades at Frost since the implementation of our homework supports.

"D" and "F" Final Grades Per Year

3. Building teacher capacity to work as members of high performing collaborative teams that focus efforts on improved learning for all students.

When making decisions as a PLC it is important to ensure we are following best practice.  Over the past couple of years, as a building, we have researched effective homework policies in order to ensure that homework is valuable for students, parents,and staff.  We are currently investigating best practices in assessment and have designed teams of teachers to research each specific areas of our school vision. We have also read professional literature written by Marzano and DuFour, attended district wide professional development, and participated in staff presentations on effective teaching strategies.  Furthermore, Frost has participated in site visits and PLC Audits to other schools in order to learn more about best practices.  These learning opportunities have allowed us to learn more about successful teaching methods and adapt them to meet the needs of Frost students.

Recently Frost staff began Vision Teams, which allows for collective inquiry about student learning, collaboration, building a positive culture and building a strong school community. Each team spends time reading research related to these areas and engages in discussions to ensure that all staff members are part of making the vision a reality.  It is the goal of these Vision Teams to build a common knowledge base of current best practices in order to improve systems for greater student learning. 

Awards and Recognition

• 2010-11 Selected to present at the 2010-11 Dr. Rick DuFour PLC workshops in Rolling Meadows, IL
• 2010-11 Recommended to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan as one of three schools to visit
• 2010-11 Selected to present at the Winter PBIS Conference
• 2010-11 Selected to present at the 2010-11 Illinois PBIS Conference
• 2010 Recognized as a PBIS model school for United States and Illinois legislators to visit
• 2009 Illinois State Honor Roll Academic Excellence Award (Three consecutive years of 90% meet/exceed in math/reading and making AYP in all subgroups)
• 2009 Presented to Schaumburg School District 54 (An All Things PLC District) about the Frost PLC Common Assessment Cycle
• 2009-2010 PBIS Implementing Award
• 2008-2009 PBIS Emerging Award
• 2008 90/90 School Recognition
• 2007 Academic Improvement Award