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Temperance-Kutner Elementary School

School Information

School Name: Temperance-Kutner Elementary School
School District: Clovis Unified School District
School Address: 1448 N. Armstrong Avenue, Fresno, CA 93727
School Phone: (559) 327-8100
School Phone: (559) 327-8190
Principal: Mrs. Randy Hein
Principal Email: randyhein@cusd.com
Web Address: Link to school page

Demographics

Number of Students: 601
Percent eligible for Free and Reduced Lunch: 74.4%
Percent of Limited English Proficient: 34.3%
Percent of Special Education: 7.0%
Racial/Ethnic Percentages:

  • White: 17.5%
  • Black: 3.5%
  • Hispanic: 39.4%
  • Asian: 36.4%
  • Other: 3.2%

Student Achievement Data

Scale: % at or above proficient on CA State Assessment (STAR)  

Grade 2
Math
(School/State)
Language Arts
(School/State)
2008
66/59
54/48
2009
70/63
65/53
2010
83/61
66/53

 

Grade 4
Math
(School/State)
Language Arts (School/State)
Writing (School/CUSD)
2008
74/51
63/48
63.9/63.7
2009
88/57
77/54
85.9/80.9
2010
85/60
77/58
NA

 

Grade 6
Math
(School/State)
Language Arts
(School/State)
2008
48/42
43/45
2009
56/44
70/48
2010
49/39
71/54

Temperance-Kutner Elementary Academic Performance Index (API) (State Goal: 800)

Grade 2
TK API
CA API
2006
783
720
2007
809
728
2008
811
742
2009
N/A
755
2010
861
767

Within the first year of implementing PLC practices (2008-2009) student achievement in every grade level (K-6) as measured by local, district, state and national indicators began to rise. The practices and procedures that we are now commonly using have helped us to better focus on student learning.  Our school’s API growth over the years, from a beginning 2002 score of 664 to 2010’s 861, is an outcome of the staff’s heartfelt persistence to collaborate and set higher expectancies. It also illustrates our collective and common belief that our students can learn. Our  focus on the essential standards, our work to align our practices, our dedication to professional collaboration and recognizing that we are all accountable for the results, has positively and dramatically changed student learning at TK.

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

>Staff members have worked together to create and utilize site developed PLC forms for agendas, reporting data and identifying student intervention programs as a school team. The consistency across the grade levels is advantageous and powerful especially when we come together to report out and analyze our practices, results or issues and discuss them as a whole school professional team. We don’t have to interpret each other’s data, we clearly understand it and collectively grow from our analysis and professional reflections to improve each day.

>At the beginning of the year after all of our kindergarten students had been given the pre-kindergarten assessments 45 out of 88 of our students were evaluated at the “0” level for readiness (including: language, no number recognition, no letter recognition, able to write their name). Due to the kindergarten PLC work, shared practices, extension of the school day, and the intervention work 44 of 45 kindergarten  students finished the school year on or above grade level standards. The kindergarten teachers reported the year’s results to the first grade teachers at an across grade level end of the year meeting and the first grade team cheered and gave the kindergarten teachers a standing ovation! The K staff was so proud.   The first grade team was so excited about the tremendous student growth and the readiness of their new students.

>Teachers have worked together to scrapbook the essential standards as a grade level team . Throughout our area all staffs have  collectively  pulled  their resources and now support each other. The teachers are thriving and learning from each other in a motivational manner. Grade met collectively at a designated site to analyze/discuss the district test data and discovered that most of our students, at our respective sites, were having the same problems with the same concepts. This shared knowledge and the teacher discussions have led to an all area grade level collaboration event.  No longer are best practice kept a secret. Everyone is sharing so every child is successful.
>We set independent reading and homework goals for each child at each grade level as a school PLC team. At the end of this year 100% of our students had  met or exceeded the goals. Teachers worked together to ensure that no students failed to meet the goals. Our students were so proud of themselves and we had a celebratory assembly for teachers, students and their families.

>Our students clearly understand what the learning goals are and are motivated to perform and do their best. They all are striving to receive the advanced/advanced STAR medallion which is the highest honor a TK student can earn. They recite their school pledge and school motto every morning to focus on believing in themselves and readying themselves for a rigorous day of learning. “We believe we can…and we will!” Student attitudes, school attendance and student achievement has never been higher at TK.

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

1. Monitoring student learning on a timely basis.

>Effective monitoring of student learning is a common  thread throughout our program.

>At the end of the school year (May) all students K-6 are formally assessed to summarize and evaluate their year’s growth in their current grade level in all core areas according to the state standards. The site has also developed or selected specific assessments in addition to the state mandated tests to further evaluate our instructional effectiveness and critically define the needs of our students. The results of these assessments are used by teams and support staff to construct equitable new classes, to organize and define the team’s RTI program, and identify instructional strategies and systems needed for staff development.

>When the new year begins all students are again assessed but on the new grade level standards. This grade level entry data is used by the PLC teams to review the grade level curriculum map, discuss skill areas of concern, plan out the RTI action plan and SMART goals for the team. These universal tests given and used to update student growth charts and inform teachers three times a year at all grade levels.

>The assessment results for each child at our school in math, ELA and behavior are posted by grade level in the school’s PLC assessment classroom. The walls of the assessment room are divided into grade levels (K-6) and by RTI levels (1, 2 and 3). Before school opens, each grade level team thoroughly sorts the standardized grade level data. Teachers discuss and determine the RTI level for each student to ready the student’s achievement card (one card for each of the 3 RTI categories). When this is determined the teacher will place the card on the grade level wall. Before placing the student ‘s assessment documentation card in a RTI level, the teacher reads over the previous teacher(s) info regarding special intervention and site assistance programs the students has participated in and completes the card for the beginning of the year. .The new state assessment scores must be written on each student’s card. Using this system, at one glance, we can all survey the walls and know who, how many and what needs our grade level students have in the three targeted areas (ELA, math and behavior). If we have not yet met a child’s need and the child is failing to achieve in all three areas, we indicate this by writing a blue line is written across the student’s pocket card.  This is a sign of major importance and it requires that the school’s team work together to plan a program to better support and ensure the student’s school success. The placement of a student’s card in a different RTI level quickly determines in which area the student  needs critical support and also indicates how many of our students at the grade level are in the same situation. (This visual shows across all grade levels  how  we are doing instructionally for our students. The snapshot shows where we are solid and where we have instructional weakness.)

>Monitoring each student’s mastery of the skills taught is done by the teacher during and at the conclusion of a lesson. Skills recently taught as well as those previously taught are assessed formally once a week and summatively at the end of a unit of study. Quarterly, all skills which have been taught will also be assessed in a cumulative assessment.

>All students in grades 2-6 have a student achievement name tag on their desk which shows their achievement in band levels. Focus areas: math, ELA, writing, science, P.E. and vocabulary. The students are taught how to monitor their growth and improvement throughout the year by adding assessment data scores to their student name card. This becomes a quick visual reference point for the student, teacher, site administrators, support staff and specialist visual info when observing the student while engaged in classroom work.   

>All students (1-6) maintain a student data portfolio which is used by the student to document predetermined and ongoing class and grade level assessments in graph form. Using this info and based on their work in class, the student is required to write learning goals and explain how they plan to achieve their goals. The portfolio is also used by the student at grading periods to explain and evaluate his/her classroom work with a parent, teacher or other site staff member.

>All classroom and intervention teachers maintain wall charts/graphs which indicate each student’s achievement on a daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis. At all times we have a visual of each child’s progress or not and are alerted to fact that a child’s support system must be readdressed.

>All classes and grade levels analyze test data and post the results of the assessments by % of proficient and advanced. Teachers at each grade level share out their data with each other and also inform the students of the results so that everyone is aware how the grade level as a whole team is doing as well as  individually inform those not yet proficient what learning needs to be targeted. Key site and district assessments are broken down (with a % indicating proficient or advanced) by each question and this info is posted in the PLC assessment classroom. All teachers can tell use the charts to view what key skills our students have or have not mastered by grade level and discuss how to improve any initial grade level skills work.

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

  • Teachers utilize the EDI method of instruction to monitor student learning during a lesson. Teachers have been taught how to use visual instructional posters to outline in written form on the poster what standard/objective they will teach in a step by step process. The posters are then posted as learning charts in the classrooms. In some cases students are grouped immediately after the lesson for teacher guided assistance.
  • Each school day and at each grade level a minimum of 30 minutes is planned to provide intervention/enrichment for all students.
  • Grade level teams give common assessments and then study the data to determine which students need additional instructional support and determine how the team will provide the support. The team then utilizes a variety of support staff and site specialists in addition to their own efforts for intervention purposes. All teams use a deployment schedule, scheduled into their day as an additional instructional period, to reteach and reinforce the essential skills.
  • The majority of our students speak English as a second language and their parents do not speak English so additional language and instructional interventions have been structured and implemented. ACES, an intensive afterschool intervention program, taught by bi-lingual teachers, using lessons and materials provided by the grade level classroom teachers to reteach skill lessons and work in small groups with identified students. Students attend this program for an additional 16 hours every week. Classroom teachers provide the assessment data for the ACES teacher and the students continue to monitor their progress in the student assessment portfolios so that all data remains fluid between both teachers. The staff, through the PLC process,  has determined specific procedures and defined instructional methods all teachers agree to employ when giving instruction and monitoring students learning during instruction for skill lessons. 
  • We have a 100% homework policy and our students know that homework is strategic. Any student in grades 1-6 may elect to attend Homework Club for homework and language support at the lunch hour (30 minutes) and/or after school (60 minutes) four days a week. Students receive 1:1 assistance with bi-lingual staff; work in small groups with support staff or with peers to complete their homework assignments.
  • Each grade level team has established a late afternoon intervention program for students not succeeding with the skill lessons. Each week the grade level team meets to determine (based on data) which students this week need the extra afternoon instruction. Two teachers will then conduct the lessons while the other grade level teachers extend or expand on lessons successfully mastered by the other students.
  • Teachers work together to write common pacing guides, common formative assessments, determine the common times for additional intervention/enrichment programs and list the essential skills that all students are to learn.

 

3. Building the capacity of teachers to work as members of high performing collaborative teams who focus the efforts of their team on improved learning for students.

  • The staff has carefully analyzed our whole instructional program to better plan and outlines our student intervention programs. Students that need “double and triple” learning time support in first grade (ELA-RTI levels 2- 3) are additionally served by Reading Recovery teachers, instructional aides and site specialist. Students in grades 2-3 are scheduled to receive the support of reading push-in teachers for 30 minutes- four times a week. Students in grades 3-6 needing “double or triple” ELA support are served additionally by a Read 180 and Systems 44 specialist. Students needing additionally vocabulary and language assistance receive a half hour of additional language assistance from bi-lingual staff who are scheduled to work with individual and small groups of students for an additional 45 minutes in a computer based language arts program. Students needing basic facts support are prescribed two timed basic math sessions on a computer based Scholastic program. Our school goal is that each child master the basic facts and become a proficient mathematician. Our students are highly motivated and engaged in the computer basic facts program and data indicates they are at highest level of basic math fact achievement ever. Weekly data reports for independent reading and math facts are posted for all students.
  • Grade level teams have scheduled PLC common times during the instructional day. All support staff  are scheduled for teacher classroom support during the times the grade level teams are meeting. For example: the sixth grade teachers meet for one and a half hours on Wednesday mornings. Three classes of sixth grade students rotate through three 30 minute periods while the teachers meet as a PLC. The three student periods are: library, music appreciation and a grade level assessment period.
  • All members of the TK faculty are members of the grade level teams. Each team meets at least one hour per week. In addition to the weekly meetings, the teachers have a common planning time and a duty free lunch every day. The district has scheduled an early release day (90 minutes) for staff collaboration on Wednesdays and teachers use this time to meet more often and as needed. Each grade level team:
  • established norms,
  • works together interpedently to achieve SMART goals,
  • engages in a year-long action research project linked to one of their teams’ SMART goals,
  • collectively monitors and responds to the learning needs of each students assigned to the grade level.
  • The staff has read On Common Ground, meets bi-weekly to read and discuss research articles on learning and PLC practices, and have all been trained at a PLC Du Four conference. Staff development meetings are based on the finding of the staff PLC audit and survey materials. The Learning By Doing book is the reference and resource tool used for the last two years for continued PLC staff growth.

List any Awards and Recognition Garnered by Your School

*Clovis Unified Exemplary School Award: 1999-2000, 2001-2002, 2003-2004, 2005-2006, 2008-2009, and 2009-2010.

*California Distinguished School Award:  2008

*California Title One School Achievement Award: 2008
            >One of 47 elementary schools acknowledged as a Double Winner for 2008

*National Tobacco and Drug Free School Award: 1997

*Play It Safe 2003 Outstanding School Award