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White Pine Middle School

School Information

School Name: White Pine Middle School
School Address: 844 Aultmane Ely, NV  89301                            
School Phone: 775.289.4841
School Fax: 775.289.1565
Principal:  Aaron Hansen
Principal E-Mail:  aarhanse@whitepine.k12.nv.us
Web Address: http://whitepine.wpms.schoolfusion.us/?sessionid=fb6f9dffcd15f51aabf3fbb27db829b1&t

Demographics

Number of Students: 304
Number eligible for Free and Reduced Lunch: 44%
Percent of Limited English Proficient: 2%
Percent of Special Education: 12%
Racial/Ethnic Percentages:

  • White: 82%
  • Black: 1%
  • Hispanic: 10%
  • Native American: 5%
  • Asian/Pacific Island: 2%
  • Other: 1%

Present Student Achievement Data in at least three points to demonstrate trends – for example, three consecutive years or the first, third, and fifth years. The data report should always include the most recent school year and should always offer a basis of comparison (for example, state scores, national scores, similar SES schools).

Percentage of WPMS 6th grade students meeting or exceeding standard on state criterion reference test. (In Nevada 6th grade students are tested in Language Arts and Math.  Prior to 2005 6th grade students were not tested.)

  ELA Math
  WPHS Nevada WPHS Nevada
2005–2006 48%   42%  
2006–2007 63% 56% 64% 60%
2007-2008 58% 60% 56% 62%
2008-2009 70% 62% 60% 67%
2009-2010 63%   66%  
Gains over 4 years 15% 24%

Percentage of WPMS 7th grade students meeting or exceeding standard on state criterion reference test. (In Nevada 7th grade students are tested in Language Arts and Math.  Prior to 2005 7th grade students were not tested.)

  ELA Math
  WPHS Nevada WPHS Nevada
2005–2006 46% NA 41% NA
2006–2007 67% 64.5% 44% 58%
2007–2008 73% 64% 66% 59%
2008-2009 77% 70% 58% 63%
2009-2010 73%   62%  
Gains over 3 years 27% 21%

 

Percentage of WPMS 8th grade students meeting or exceeding standard on state criterion reference test. (In Nevada 8th grade students are tested in, Science, Math, Writing and Reading.  Writing and Reading are combined to create a single ELA score.)

  Math Reading Writing
  WPHS Nevada WPHS Nevada WPHS Nevada
2005–2006 42% 51% 46% 51.5% 47.5% 53%
2006–2007 60% 57% 55% 53% 64% 56%
2007–2008 55% 54% 45% 62% 69% 61%
2008-2009 59% 61% 46% 55% 66% 61%
2009-2010 53%   65%   67%  
Gains over 4 years 11% 21% 15%

 

 Additional Evidence of WPMS’s effectiveness:  WPMS continues to meet the challenge of making AYP when both of its feeder schools have not.  WPMS continues to have steady academic growth despite the challenge of having the majority of its in-coming students not proficiency in either Reading or Math or both.      

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

After some difficult conversations about where the school was headed, White Pine Middle School committed to become a Professional Learning Community in the summer of 2006.  WPMS saw rapid improvement within the next year.  Over the course of four years, WPMS has been able to help more than 20% more students meet or exceed the standards on the state assessments.  Many schools struggle to become Professional Learning Communities in a way that truly impacts student learning.  In many cases it takes many years.  WPMS has proven that significant growth can take place in a short period of time by becoming a PLC!  

After having tremendous growth in one year, the school was not satisfied.  We recognized to have long term growth we had to ensure that true collaboration takes place in our small school.  The change was made so that each teacher of a core subject teaches at least one section of every grade level.  No longer would we have one teacher teaching all of 6th grade Math, while another teacher taught all 7th grade.  This way each class taught is also taught by a colleague and common assessment results can be published and used for collaboration.   We knew this was going to be a difficult transition and we expected a dip in performance as every teacher had more classes to prepare for and were teaching new grade levels.  In the short run we did see dips in the 07-08 scores.  However, we felt it was imperative to stick with this change in order to have sustained improvement through the collaboration process.  Achievement continues to improve as a result of creating true collaboration.   Even with a history of heavy staff turnover due to budget reductions, our scores continue to climb because the PLC process is embedded in our culture.   

School Year Comparisons (Current and “Prior to Implementation”)


Suspensions

05 – 06

161 Suspensions

09 – 10   

72 Suspensions

 

Number of Failed Classes

05 – 06

313     

09 – 10 

85

 

Average Daily Attendance

05–06 

86.5%  

09 – 10

93%

 

 

 

 

Average Number of Students
Making Honor Roll Each Quarter 

05–06 

114 

09 - 10

138

 

White Pine County Juvenile Police Contact/Referrals Outside of School (Middle School Age Group)

2003 

116

2007 

81

2004 

120   

2008 

56

2005 

109   

2009

58

 

 

2010

55

Local juvenile probation officials attribute this change in the community to the school teaching the Cougar Traits, our school values. (We are most proud of this stat.  It shows us that what we are teaching students in school is translating for them out of school. We are truly making a difference in our students’ lives!) 
The story:

The Story of White Pine Middle School

“Kids don’t listen.”  “They don’t care.”    “More kids have been suspended this year for fighting than any other year that I’ve been here.”  “Kids aren’t happy.”  “I am afraid to be in the halls during class change.”  “I’m leaving at the end of this year.”  “It’s us vs. them.”  “Teachers backstab each other.”  “I don’t care!  I just do my thing and go home.”  “The contract says that I don’t have to.” “Administration doesn’t listen to us.”  “You better watch your back with that group of teachers.”

When a new principal was appointed to WPMS in the spring of 2006 he interviewed each staff member.  He asked two basic questions: “Tell me what is good about White Pine Middle School and tell me what needs to change.”  Above are some statements that were said to him.  However, not everything was bad.  Many great things were taking place in WPMS, but they were generally taking place behind what Schmoker calls the “buffer of in isolation”- by individuals.  That said, the number one problem was clear.  Student culture needed to change.  It was also clear that to change student culture, staff needed to change their outlook and make some of their own changes. 
Even though the staff had a mission statement hanging on their walls, it didn’t mean anything and they didn’t have a sense of an overall vision of what the school was really about.  The adults in the building needed to be united in an overarching purpose.  The staff needed to be able to communicate and trust one another and quite isolating. 
The Discipline Committee was reformed and renamed the “Positive Behavior Team” or PBT, comprised of teachers, parents and administration.  The team realized that changes needed to occur and they needed to occur quickly; our kids were suffering!  The team also realized, through difficult conversations, and accepted that the adults in the school control the system.  We accepted that if we did not take control of the variables within our control we would continue to be victims, reacting to a culture none of us liked.  We accepted responsibility that students were just mirroring our beliefs and attitudes about them.  The team decided that we needed to get everyone to see the vision that we had begun to see.  We needed them to “buy-in”.  More than that, we needed to heal!  
It started with a retreat.  “Let’s get them off of the campus where the problems exist.”

The PBT (Positive Behavior Team) planned a voluntary retreat at the Boy Scout lodge in the mountains 30 miles from town and made personal invitations to all staff members.  All but three came.  A humming generator, new shirts, amazing food, bug spray, competitions, fun, and structured dialogue circles, all led to a point where authentic conversations began to take place.  Through structured conversation we came to consensus that we control the system.  We make the rules of the game, and we control enough of the variables to make a difference.  People were excited!  Teachers were re-inspired.  By leading them through activities and empowering them to solve some of the problems that had beaten them down, they were reconnecting to their idealistic goals that most teachers start teaching with.  They were ready to change the world, or at least White Pine!  A vision was formed and collective commitments, or value statements, were made later.  Following the Harry Wong Model, common procedures and expectations were not only established but practiced on each other.  We had begun to heal! 

We had begun our journey to creating a culture of relationships and becoming a PLC by defining where we stood and by taking the first step.  And since then, a new journey begins everyday - from where we currently stand and by taking the next step. 

The Current Culture of WPMS

We believe that students should feel safe, accepted, listened to and have a meaningful relationship with an adult.  We believe that schools can’t be valueless anymore.  We believe because of the diverse backgrounds that students come from that we must teach them the values that we expect them to abide by while at our school.  We believe that if students’ social needs are not first met, we will not be able to adequately address their academic needs.  Many of our students come to us with many different backgrounds and problems.  Instead of reacting to things like lack of basic manners or respect, bullying, irresponsibility, lack of motivation, the poverty cycle, and all of the other social challenges that schools now deal with, we have made the conscious choice of acting proactively and creating a culture where those obstacles don’t become the dominating factors for student success.  We control the system!  As a result of this choice WPMS has created a culture where students feel good about school, are safe, have a voice in the school and have a meaningful relationship with an adult.  We use the PLC model as a vehicle to continue to improve learning, by assessing frequently, publishing results and using the data to drive our instruction.  By stepping out of the traditional box, we have been able to create a way of doing business that is different than other schools.  WPMS believes that we control enough of the variables in students’ lives to make a difference.

 

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

1. Monitoring student learning on a timely basis.

  • Each student’s Advisor does a grade and social conference with the student weekly as part of the advisory program.  The advisor stays in contact with parents and teachers ensuring that students do not fall through the cracks.   

  • Three years ago we experienced that it is difficult in a small school to have meaningful common assessments when for example, only one teacher teaches 8th grade Language Arts.  We recognized the need to change.  Through much discussion and a few tears, we agreed that it would be best if each of the core subject area teachers taught each grade level, thus allowing for true common assessments.  Teachers now meet on a weekly basis in curriculum teams to discuss student performance data gathered from common assessments and are able to gauge the performance of their students with other teachers’ students.
  • Our Advisory Coordinator, and Department Teams work together to ensure that any student who is not learning what they need to is assigned to a fluid “re-teach” intervention during the day.  Through much discussion we have been able to create flexible time within our schedule to allow this intervention.     

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

WPMS used Adlai Stevenson’s Pyramid of Interventions as a model to create its own.  Our system of interventions is multi-dimensional, meaning that many of the interventions we have may be employed at the same time.  Many of the interventions are also fluid, allowing students to become part of them and be released from them depending on their current levels. 

The first and most important intervention is our Advisory Program.  This program has evolved as our philosophy about proactively creating a positive culture has continued to develop.  By being proactive before interventions are needed, we have a greater impact on students than reacting to them after they have already begun to struggle.  In short, a proactive culture eliminates some of the need for intervening.  However, despite our best efforts, students still struggle for various reasons. 

  1. The first and most important intervention is our Advisory Program.  All students meet with an Advisor every day to make sure that the student’s basic needs are being met.  As part of our current culture, we believe that students need to feel safe, accepted, listened to and have a meaningful relationship with an adult before we focus on academics.  As Maslow explains, we have to meet those basic needs first.  The next step after making sure students are “okay” and creating a relationship with those few students each Advisor is in charge of, the Advisor is to ensure that those students’ academic needs are being met.  We have created a flexible time within each day where the Advisor, in consult with the student, assigns the student to either tutoring or enrichment.  The tutoring is assigned when the student needs extra time and support in the area in which they are struggling.  The enrichment is assigned when students are doing well and either need a special challenge in an area, or are given a chance to participate in an exploration enrichment activity such as, “CSI- Who Done It?  Come solve the crime using actual Forensic Science.”  Students are not only given the help that they need at their level, but have an incentive to earn the right to participate in the enrichments. 

    Mandatory Tutoring Program.  This program is designed to ensure that students who need the extra time and support are given it.  Students are assigned by the teacher when the students are failing, struggling with a concept, or missing an essential assignment.  Students have to go.  We call their parents and provide them with a ride home.  This is not a punishment.  It is explained to students and parents that we care about the students too much to allow them to fail.  This has been a highly effective intervention as shown below:

    Total Number of failed classes
    2005-2006 313
    2009-2010 85

  2. Counselor Watch.  The counselor sets up a meeting with the advisor, parent, teacher and student to discuss the problems that are apparent.  The purpose of the meeting is to design an action plan with all stakeholders taking part to remedy the problem.  The counselor is in charge of making sure that all parties are accountable to the group for carrying out their assignments.  The student may also receive RTI services at this point if the group feels services are needed. 

  3. SOS and RTI.  At this point the student is referred to the SOS or Save One Student program.  The SOS program is an intervention designed to ensure that the student has someone extra in the school besides his/her advisor that makes a special effort to create a relationship with the student and make sure that the student knows someone cares about him or her.  The student is also assigned to receive RTI services on a Tier II level, meaning that they receive one on one time during the instructional day with an instructor to ensure learning in the deficient area.

  4. Academic Probation.  The student’s progress becomes the Assistant Principal’s responsibility.  She continues to check the progress of the student, keep in contact with the parents, and teachers and helps mobilize the school resources in order to individually help the struggling student.

  5. School within a School.  SWS is a computer based educational program with one instructor.  The instructor works closely with the student at a self paced program.   

Beyond the academic interventions, we believe that first we must provide students with a positive culture of which they desire to be a part.  We have experienced that if students feel good about being in the school they perform better academically.  To that end, students are taught our school values by the Leadership Class and 8th grade students on the first day of school.  Students spend the day discussing, writing, creating skits, and other activities to help them understand our values like “Taking Responsibility”, “Respect”, and “Owning Our Learning”.  Numerous initiatives have become part of how we do business to ensure that we meet the social needs of every child that comes through our doors.  “Rewards Assemblies” are a particular favorite of students and staff.  Each Advisory Class is assigned to one of four teams within the school.  Every other Friday those students who have earned the privilege by getting good grades, and following the Cougar Traits, get to go to Rewards for the last hour of the day.  Everything from Karaoke to Fear Factor competitions are planned by a Leadership Class.  The teams, including the staff, compete against each other for points that go toward naming the year’s championship team. 

We realize that as teachers we have tremendous power to help, heal, uplift and inspire.  We also have the power to do the opposite.  Following are a few more initiatives implemented at WPMS to ensure that we create a positive culture for students. 

    • Social Support Initiatives                    
    • Cougar Traits
    • The Bully List
    • Defenders
    • Principal’s 200 Club
    • Rewards Assemblies/Competition
    • Off Campus Lunch
    • Student of the Day
    • Elks’ students
    • Honor Passes
    • School Within a School
    • RAK (Random Acts of Kindness)
    • Advisory
    • S.O.S. (Save One Student)
    • Peer Mediation
    • Full Inclusion
    • Think Time

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

Forty Five minutes is set aside three days per week for mandatory collaboration.  Monday is designated for professional development.  These meetings are used for a number of professional development activities, including vision building, values or collective commitment building, school wide common procedures, relationship building, calibrating the use of a school wide writing rubric, introduction of writing strategies, book clubs, and classroom management. 

Tuesday is designated for curriculum teams to follow the PLC process.  SMART goals are set after careful disaggregation of multiple sets of assessment data, including state assessments, review of current curriculum, essential outcomes and state standards.  Teams set their own norms and follow protocols provided to them by the Leadership Team or they follow a tool we have developed called the “Cycle for Assessment and Learning.”  The cycle is a process that clarifies expectations and helps them stay focused on using the results of assessment data to drive instruction.  Each week teachers turn in to administration a “Team Expectations Sheet” which guides them through reviewing or revising their SMART goals.  Although the expectations of following the Cycle of Assessment and Learning are “tight” the methods for reaching the desired learning are “loose”.  A culture of trust and collaboration has been established so that teachers are encouraged by each other to experiment and try new strategies to improve learning.  Teachers observe each other trying new strategies throughout the year.  Common unit assessments have been created by each department for every unit that is taught.  Those assessments are administered on the same date as decided upon by the team.  The data from the assessments is disaggregated and published to the group and principal.  Strategies for re-teaching those students who did not master the outcomes are decided upon.  Students who need enrichment or tutoring are identified and assigned. 

Wednesday is used for common planning time.  Teachers use the data and decisions made on Tuesday, while engaged in the PLC process, to commonly plan the upcoming week.  They adjust their pacing guides and lessons according to the needs of the students based on what they have learned through the common assessments and PLC process. 

The school has also arranged our schedule in cooperation with our local Association of Classroom Teachers to have a common preparation period before school starts.  This allows us to have an additional sixty six minute common prep each day, which gives teachers the opportunity to also collaborate then if they wish.

 

List any Awards and Recognition Garnered by Your School

  • Chosen as the 2009 middle level “National Distinguished School” by the International Center for Leadership in Education for “commitment to rigor, relevance and relationships for all students and rapid improvement.”  (The only middle school in the nation to receive the award.)
  • Selected in 2009, 2010, and 2011 as a National Model School and asked to present its philosophy and strategies used for rapid improvement at the Annual Model Schools conference hosted by the International Center for Leadership in Education (ICLE). 
  • The school was featured in Ray McNulty’s (Former Head of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and now Executive Consultant at the ICLE) book called “It’s Not Us Against. Them”. (2009)
  • Invited to present WPM’s cultural changes that have led to significant academic growth at the 2009 Annual National Staff Development Council Conference.  (Approximately 2,500 people in attendance.)
  • Principal invited to present cultural changes at the Nevada Association of School Board Trustees.
  • Featured on ABC World News with Charles Gibson, Fox and Friends, CNN radio, Associated Press and many newspapers throughout the West for its innovative approach to bullying and changing school culture. (2009) 
  • Lincy Foundation grant winner. (2009)
  • In 2008 WPM was chosen as one of six Nevada Model Schools to present at the state’s annual Nevada Mega Conference. 
  • Selected as a 2008 High Achieving School in Nevada because of rapid improvement.
  • In 2008 WPM was chosen as one of Nevada’s Empowerment Schools.
  • Most importantly…  Our kids are happy!!!