Case Study 2011 Jenkins

8/6/2019 Case Study 2011 Jenkins

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CASE 42st

Annual Convention

DATE - TBA

Expecting and Delivering Excellence in the

Middle Grades

School Name:

• Jenkins Middle School

School Location and Contact Information:

• 6410 Austin Bluffs ParkwayColorado Springs, CO 80923

(719) 328-5300

School Demographics:

• SubgroupsAm. Indian = 1%Asian = 3.4%Black = 5.4%Hispanic = 16.7%White = 66.8%

ELL = 2.2%FRL = 25%

Enrollment is 961

School Achievements:

• 2007 – Middle School Science Bowl 1st place in RegionalCompetition

• 2007 – Jenkins Jazz Band – Official Performer for the MidwestClinic, An International Band and Orchestra Conference

• 2008 – Rock Band Club – Jenkins Teacher submitted and wasawarded grant to support low performing students.

• 2009 – 8th Grade student chosen to attend and attended aStudent Leadership conference

• 2009 and 2010 – Janus Student Art Buying Program at CherryCreek Arts Festival - $500 grant

• 2010 – Developing Power Library School for 2010-2011

• 2010 – 8th Grade Student 1st place – directed research projectthrough Colorado Springs Mineralogical Society Junior Program



and 3rd in National Competition.

• 7 Art Students published in Arts and Activities magazines.

• Place annually in the Science Olympiad, Regional MathCompetitions, BOB, Science Bowl, Young Problem Solvers andother academic competitions.

Please Share 2-3 concrete strategies that can be used by other middleschools to replicate your school’s success.

Our school has become a model of success because we have focusedon strengthening our Tier 1 instruction in every classroom, every day.We believe that student achievement is directly related to the qualityof instruction and therefore we have focused all our site-basedprofessional development over the last two years on a laser-focusedvision of highly engaging instruction. An ongoing cohort has keptprofessional development going all year long. We have dedicatedtraining and time to improving our PLC work, improving instructionalleadership and increasing the effectiveness of highly engaging, well-planned instruction.

Strategy #1: Improving Tier 1 Instruction with Highly Engaging, Well-Planned Instruciton

Jenkins Middle School has created a unified school vision of instructionthrough collaboration with all staff. Our research into supportinggrowth in our subgroup areas revealed what we term the 80/20dilemma. Research demonstrates that 80% of the work being done inmost classrooms is being done by only 20% of the students. Workingcollaboratively, the staff developed a unified standard of what highlyengaging instruction would look like. Out of this work, we establisheda 15 point “look for” form used during classroom walkthroughs todocument the occurrence of our selected strategies.

The vehicle for our change has been the model called “Teaching ForExcellence,” which is a training offered through Peak Learning. Theschool site has been trained over the span of three years on examplesof High Engagement during all phases of instruction in the classroom. This training culminated in a week long institute this summer.

Strategy #2

Another strategy this year has been ongoing staff development. Wehave endeavored this year to have five characteristics that define ourstaff development. It is focused, immersive, intensive, long-term andprovides support to all along the way. We established a cohort afterschool that met twice a month for an hour each time. During thismeeting, we share/model a new strategy and then use this strategythroughout the ensuing two weeks. When we return for the next



meeting, we begin with a plus/delta on how the strategy went. Thestaff shares successes, possible pitfalls and insights aroundimplementation.

The next improvement in this realm was staff-directed ProfessionalDevelopment. We have had multiple opportunities for teachers to lead

professional development around high engagement strategies for oneanother. Mid-way through the year we provided a mini “Schools toWatch” conference for ourselves. We identified three main strandsand sent out a call to presenters on the staff in these areas. Staff designed and prepared hour-long session to present on ourprofessional development day. As a result, we had five differentsessions to choose from during each hour. We were modelingdifferentiation and affording teachers the opportunity to learn from oneanother.

Strategy #3

The administrative team at Jenkins also wanted to lead by example.We listed as a goal for the year the improvement of Tier 1 instructionthrough instructional leadership. We spent three full days with a brandnew Building Leadership team planning, analyzing our decision-makingmodel and determining our influence matrix for the building. As agroup, the leaders then served as facilitators for the individual contentgroups. We aligned our School Improvement Plan, Professional GrowthPlans and PLC agendas to one unified, laser-focused vision. Thecontent leads were then responsible for making certain that eachindividual on their team shared out at least three high engagement

strategies at their Vertical PLC meeting throughout the year. We alsotaped these strategies and made them available for others to view tolearn how to do them in a visual way.

The administrative team utilized these high engagement strategiesthroughout the year in every meeting at the school, inclusive of thestaff meeting times. By modeling what is we wanted to see in theclassroom in our meetings, we were able to demonstrate both theimportance and our commitment to this school-wide effort. This led tovery rich discussions and collaborative work on a school-widehomework policy, a unified mission, vision and goals and a cursorylook, to be continued, on defining rigor in the classroom for the entirebuilding.





11. Creative use of time that breaks up tasks and

activities into chunks of instruction and activity.

• Long periods of time of all the same thing to the point where the lesson has to be finished the next dayand students may forget the original objective.

12. Purposeful “Real World” problem solving, and

end product….high-stakes feel to the work. Realworld problems are a focus for knowledge

application, etc…

• To the students, the work isn’t connected to anythingin the real world and not purposeful.

13. Productive noise….from discussion, debate,

cooperative learning, collaboration, demonstration,etc..

• Quiet! No opportunity to discuss, debate,

cooperatively problem solve, demonstrate, etc….

14. Applying technology creatively and effectively —

communicating, collaborating, interacting withothers, etc….

• High tech tools used for passive reasons only—e.g.,

as an overhead projector, showing video.

• Or, no use of updated technology at all.

15. Reflection/feedback opportunity for students on

their work process, how they learn, group/teamneeds, ideas, and next steps.

• No reflection, feedback, or concern about studentneeds and insights.

Documents

Case Study 2011 Jenkins