Denny Middle School

Putting It All Together

By Jeff Clark, Denny Principal
Draft 7/9/08

We’re Climbing the Mountain Together

Countless outstanding things are happening for students at Denny Middle School every day—yet, there is still so much to be done. Our substantial progress thus far is attributed to a phenomenal team effort at all levels. With so many things happening at once and so many efforts underway simultaneously, it is important to pause and to articulate how it all fits with the mission of our school and the core values we share. It is with this common understanding of where we are and where we are headed that we will continue with the relentless pursuit of our goals for the benefit our students.

Mission and Core Values

Mission: Academic Excellence in Our Global Village. We believe this applies to every student, every day—without exception.

Core Values:

• Ensuring the achievement of learning excellence by ALL students through actions based on the principles of equity and efficacy.
• Achievement of social justice through exemplary urban public education, especially at the middle school level.
• Belief that the achievement gap can—and will—be eliminated.
• High expectations for every student based on strong relationships.
• Decision-making that reflects what is best for kids.
• Celebration of diversity and infusion of multiculturalism into school culture/student learning.
• Incorporation of collaboration, inquiry, and shared decision-making into school systems.
• Promotion of personal integrity in every aspect of the school.

So, how does it all fit? After we know what we believe, we articulate a focus and set goals. At Denny, our focus is on reading and math and the disproportionality in student achievement data disaggregated by race. The goals we have set for both our focus areas are:

Reading: To increase the percentage of 6 th, 7 th, and 8 th grade students, in all subgroups, who are meeting standard in reading on the ‘08 reading WASL to equal or exceed 62% (‘08 State Adequate Yearly Progress Target).

Math: To increase the percentage of 6 th, 7 th, and 8 th grade students, in all subgroups, who are meeting standard in math on the ‘08 Math WASL to equal or exceed 59% (’08 State Adequate Yearly Progress Target).

Reading and math and the disproportionality seen within those subjects have been selected as the focus areas because they are both foundational skills and key indicators to academic success in all other subjects.

This is not to say that other subject areas or areas of focus are not important—they are, however, narrowing the focus simply allows us to make more progress in the identified areas. The other areas also need to be addressed, but not by everyone. In order to articulate who is doing what, when, and how we know if it is successful, we write school Action Plans.

Action Plans

In order to create Action Plans, we need to start by reviewing our student achievement data every August and continue to do so throughout the year. How are the students doing? What do they need to achieve the goals? Once we know where we are starting from, we make goals and create action steps to get there. Action Plans need to be specific with identified point people, defined timelines, and a means to measure progress. Additionally, these plans need to be real and living. At DMS, the IC (Instructional Council, consisting of the subject-matter specialists or “department heads”) needs to routinely monitor and adjust these plans as they are implemented.

Outstanding Teachers

Let’s start at the individual student level. In order to make it work for each individual student, we need to ensure that we have outstanding learning and teaching happening in every room. The role of the classroom teacher is the most important in the school, and in our society for that matter. We must do everything we can to support outstanding teaching. When we have a teaching position open, we will recruit and hire the best person, someone who has our shared beliefs and the needed skills to contribute to our goals. Furthermore, we will consistently do everything we can to support the outstanding teachers already on staff. Our kids deserve nothing but the best and nothing is more important than the person with them in the classroom.

Outstanding Learning and Teaching in Every Classroom

Teaching requires incredible dedication and skill. It is also an evolving art, one where the ongoing development of our skills will never end. All of us need to continue to refine our skills in many areas, including:

Strong Relationships/Cultural Competency

Key to our progress is our ability to connect with our students—they need to know we really care. Our professional development in this area includes our ongoing work on cultural competency, the continuation of what we called “Courageous Conversations” a few years ago. Truly courageous conversations need to lead to systemic change. Our efforts towards enhancing cultural relevance in our relationships and in our curriculum need to be an ongoing priority. This conversation can’t be limited to one professional development day in August—it needs to be central to everything we do, in the classrooms and as a school. For this coming year, we will be continuing our professional development with cultural cue offerings through the Flight Schools Initiative, as well as hosting Dr. Martha Bireda, author of Cultures in Conflict, as a keynote speaker. We will be using Dr. Bireda’s book as a book study throughout the upcoming year.

Also essential is the relationships between the students. The goal is to have classrooms and a school that are safe—physically and emotionally. A climate that is supportive and welcoming, and squarely focused on learning. We adopted the nationally researched Olweus anti-bullying program a few years ago. The best practices from Olweus need to be integral in all parts of our school—our motto “We All Belong” needs to continue to be real. As always, our beautiful diversity needs to be celebrated, honored, and interwoven into the education we provide.

We have created and implemented systems based on our five most important expectations for students, the BIG 5. Additionally, we have defined what it means for students to give their “Best Performance” on a school-wide rubric. All of these pieces together are helping us to continually improve our school climate for the benefit of our students and their learning. The correlation between outstanding teaching coupled with clear school-wide expectations and the level of student learning and student behavior is clearly evident.

High Expectations for Every Student

Achieving academic excellence for every student hinges on our ability to set high expectations for our students and consistently communicate those expectations to them.

They need to believe what we say about our belief in their limitless potential, about making college a reality for everyone. One specific programmatic way to support our high expectations is AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination). This three-year program supports students throughout middle school on the pathway to college.

Excellent Teaching/Professional Development

As we continue to hone our skills as educators, our techniques need to evolve. We have many acronyms used at Denny for various professional development (PD) programs, either currently underway or used in the recent past. A few of them include:

NUA – the National Urban Alliance

TFU – Teaching for Understanding

GLAD – Guided Language Acquisition Design

Some people ask what ever happened to NUA? Are we doing TFU next year? How can we squeeze in GLAD? How do they fit?

The answer is simple. Each of these acronyms represents outstanding teaching practice—with each approach offering many commonalities. Rather than thinking about the acronym, think about our commitment to constantly expand and refine our teaching repertoire. For example, as we increase the visibility of thinking (TFU) in our classrooms and lessons, the double-bubble maps (NUA) are a perfect fit.

Lesson Planning and Implementation

What we plan and how we do it is paramount. Outstanding learning occurs when the experience is…

• Directly linked to what needs to be taught—the GLEs (Grade Level Expectations)
• Relevant to the students
• Differentiated and student-centered, with multiple learning styles being addressed
• Clearly defined in terms of purpose and connection to other things learned
• Based on formative (ongoing and classroom-based) and summative (testing) achievement results
• Rigorous and linked to deeper understanding

Many other elements of outstanding teaching and learning are articulated in the Seattle Public Schools’ Professional Practice Standards, in both rubric and “indicators” form.

Collaboration/Professional Development

For some teachers, simply reading the above list causes blood pressure to rise. Thoughts like “How can I meet such a high expectation?” or “How can I do it all when I am already working so hard?” start to emerge. The answer is two-fold:

One: We can’t do it individually—but we can do it collaboratively.

Two: Professional development is ongoing; we all need to know where to start. Through ongoing collaboration with subject-matter specialists, administrators, and coaches individual teachers should know what to focus on.

If we need to do it collaboratively, then we need to have systems set up to support that.

At DMS we have the following systems in place to support collaboration:

• Teaming groups of students and teachers together, with a goal of maximizing common prep time for teaching teams.

• Departmental meeting time and paid collaborative extra time.

• Starting in 07-08 a new collaboration plan was launched at Denny. The plan is based on the simple premise that if ongoing collaborative planning is going to occur, complete with achievement data analysis and the review of student work, then it needs to be built into the weekly schedule. Collaboration groups have been formed that include all teachers of math, language arts/social studies, and science. The groups meet with their grade-level and subject matter colleagues and either me for math and science or Mia Williams, Assistant Principal, for language arts/social studies. The groups meet during the school day—while students receive high-quality learning experiences provided by other staff, without teachers needing to create substitute lesson plans. Note: a more thorough definition is provided in the Collaborative Plan document (see Appendix 1).

A history of collaboration and acronyms: Our collaboration groups are the main component of our Professional Learning Community (PLC). Another term for structured collaboration is study groups.

• Study groups are focused on adult learning by collaboratively engaging in inquiry as we work on our action steps. Reviewing student work as a measure of progress towards meeting a shared learning goal is an integral part of our study group structure.

Four years ago, Denny was awarded a CSR grant (Comprehensive School Reform Grant) by OSPI (The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction for the State of Washington). The grant was intended to provide funding to help schools achieve the reform they are seeking. ATLAS is the name of a national school reform organization that we selected to partner with. Two of the main benefits of using the grant money to join ATLAS were the opportunity to work with a school facilitator, Vicki Foreman, to set up study groups and sending teachers to the Teaching for Understanding Institutes. Today, the lessons we learned during our ATLAS years are embedded into our practices in our collaboration groups.

• The transition between schools as children get older is extremely important. Denny is proud to participate in the collaboration provided by the Flight Schools program in southern West Seattle and South Park. Through this program, we collaborate with our feeder elementary schools and Chief Sealth High School as we seek to build connections with families and develop Kindergarten through 12 th grade academic curriculum and programmatic alignment. Specific accomplishments during the 07 – 08 school year in the area of K-12 curriculum alignment have included: learning walks hosted at Denny with teachers from Roxhill, Arbor Heights, Sanislo, Gatewood, and Highland Park Elementary Schools participating, in addition to staff from Chief Sealth High School. During these visitations elementary teachers used the Four R’s Protocol while visiting our classes, in addition to participating in cross-school discussions on curriculum alignment in the areas of Language Arts and math. Additionally, elementary teachers discussed each individual student attending Denny for middle school and ideas for maximizing the learning experience of that child. Denny staff members were able to visit Concord, Highland Park, and Gatewood Elementary Schools and Chief Sealth High School using a similar format.

• In addition to systems and structure to support collaboration, we have people to help lead this effort. On our Action Plans, each of the following people have specific collaboration-focused responsibilities designed to enhance student achievement: subject-matter specialists, team leaders, our literacy coach (Sue Butler), a math coach (Keisha Scarlett), an assistant principal focusing on learning and teaching, rather than behavior management (Mia Williams), central office support with our science OEL (Observing Evidence in Learning) grant (Kathryn Kelsey).

• Denny University: We believe that professional development should be ongoing and differentiated to meet the needs of all staff. As a result, we created the concept of Denny University as a chance for our staff to teach one another with multiple options occurring simultaneously. Starting in 07-08 the focus of Denny University has been the Look-For document described below.

• Commonalities in all Denny classrooms: The Look-For Document (see appendix 2). As a result of our ongoing collaboration and PD efforts, we have defined the commonalities that should be occurring in every classroom at Denny. For example, when we write on our Reading Action Plan that we need a clear emphasis on teaching reading in every classroom—with before, during, and after reading strategies being used consistently—what does that mean? What are those strategies? All of these common expectations should be listed on a one-page “Look-For” document. Now that this document has been created and differentiated professional development has been offered, it can provide a focus for peer observations and short classroom visits, called “Walkthroughs.” The goal will be to increase everyone’s level of comfort and expertise with each of the look-for items.

Personalizing Education for Students

In addition to continuing to enhance the learning and teaching in every classroom, we must continue to personalize education for our students.

Course Offerings/Hand-Scheduling

In January of 2006, we changed our master schedule of course offerings as a way to move in the direction of personalization. We created additional reading-focused classes (called “Book Club”) and math-focused classes (partnered with the University of Washington’s MESA program, an acronym for Math Engineering Science Achievement). Next, we started to “hand-schedule” students into the classes they need. Instead of forming the class schedule and assigning students to what we offer, we now analyze what the students need and then provide classes to match.

ELL, Spectrum, and IEP Services

At Denny, some classes are offered as a part of several services intended to further individualize the educational program for students. English Language Learners or ELL is offered for students learning the English language. Spectrum is a district-sponsored advanced learning opportunity program at Denny. IEP (Individual Education Plan) services, also known as Special Education, offers support for students in reaching their IEP goals.

Infusing the Arts, Culture and Language into Learning

Providing students with academic choice furthers progress towards personalization. Beginning and advanced band and orchestra; jazz, marching, steel drums and Mariachi bands; world music choir; art; World Cultures/Family Consumer Science; Spanish; and Mandarin Chinese are offered to Denny students. We believe music and art are integral to a well-rounded educational experience.

Proyecto Saber

At Denny we are very pleased to offer Proyecto Saber, a Latino-focused academic support class, to our students. The program works closely with students and their families in pursuit of the goal of getting all students ready for high school, college, and life. In addition to academic skill enhancement, Proyecto Saber brings in community partners as guest speakers and helps to coordinate parent education offerings.

Writer’s Workshop

In partnership with Columbia Teachers College in New York, Denny has launched a school-wide adoption of an approach to writing called Writer’s Workshop. The model gives students opportunities to tell their own stories with simultaneously enhancing their writing skills through mini-lessons.

MESA

For the last three years Denny has had a major partnership with the University of Washington MESA (Math Engineering Science Achievement) program. The goal of MESA is to increase the numbers of children of color and girls who will be entering careers in the math and/or science related professions. MESA provides hands-on opportunities to explore the skills learned in math class. At Denny, MESA classes are offered during the school day, in addition to the CMP2 math class, and as a part of our extended learning time opportunities.

Middle School Support Program

Funded by the Families and Education Levy (FEL), approved by the voters of Seattle, the Middle School Support Program (MSSP) provides mentoring and academic programming for Denny students. The program specifically focuses on eliminating the disproportionality seen in student achievement data when disaggregated by race. The MSSP coordinates efforts with another FEL-funded program, the Community Learning Center (CLC) as a part of the Student Success Team at Denny.

Student Learning Plans

In order to further personalize learning, Student Learning Plans (SLPs) are being created for every student who is currently performing below the level of standard at Denny Middle School. These plans include input from students and families and include interventions such as enrollment in a MESA math class or participation in a Winter Break Writing Camp. The coordination of these plans is handled by the Middle School Support Program.

Physical Education

Our physical education program emphasizes physical fitness and personal skill enhancement—we will be a pilot school for the new K-12 PE curriculum.

Extending Learning Time and Opportunities

Thanks to levy-supported funding, free extended school year programs are available to students at Denny. Our Middle School Support Program and Community Learning Center work together to offer academic programs during Winter, Mid-Winter, and Spring Breaks, and our own summer school programs. The instructors during all of these opportunities are highly trained Denny teachers. In addition to extending the school year, at Denny we are extending the school day. Seventh-period math is offered to every sixth- and seventh-grade student who is currently performing below standard in math on Mondays and Tuesdays. Wednesday through Friday we offer a plethora of enrichment, sports, and culturally affirming options to provide our students with opportunities to engage in activities of their choice.

Removing Barriers to Learning

On-Site Services for Students

With the goal of helping to remove any barriers to student learning, Denny offers many on-site services. School counselors offer support to students and families in a variety of ways. The Denny Wellness Center (DWC), including the Denny Nurse, provides counseling and nursing to students on site. Our Mental Health Coordinator helps link students and families to appropriate community agencies. The Seattle Team for Youth (STFY) offers case management here at school. Students are provided with truancy and drug and alcohol prevention services. The BIG 5 Academy was successfully created this year as an alternative to suspension in an academic setting.

Safety

In order to be focused on learning, students need to be—and feel—safe. We are continuing to enhance our plans for both emotional and physical safety, on many levels, throughout the school day—and in the event of an emergency situation.

Efficiently Coordinating Interventions

All of our interventions relating to removing barriers to learning for students are coordinated by our Student Academic Success Team (SAST), which meets weekly. A system of ongoing monitoring and communication has been developed and is used routinely. Please see our Pyramids of Intervention for academic and emotional barriers (Appendix 3).

Enhancing Our Partnerships

Family Involvement

Our most important partners are our families. In August of 2008 we will participate for the third year in a row in our Flight Schools home visit initiative. The goal is simple:

Forge a strong relationship with each and every family. In order to do that, we will participate in home visits to learn about the families we partner with and how we can maximize the educational experience of their children. The home visits are organized so that the homeroom teacher for the student and a second staff member attend. Appropriate translation for the many languages spoken by our families is provided. Our goal is to visit every Denny family. While visiting, we ask three simple questions:

• Can you please tell us more about your child?
• What are your hopes and dreams for your child in the future?
• How can we partner with you to make those dreams a reality?

What families share is both insightful and inspiring. We have noticed that families seem to feel much more connected to the school after participating in home visits.

We are proud of our active and growing Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA). Family outreach is prioritized through many daytime and evening educational and performance-based family events. Our weekly bulletin, calling machine, the SOURCE (family communication tool) and website help with information sharing. Volunteerism is always welcome.

Community Partners

All of us in the Denny community are thankful for the support provided for students through our many community partners: The Nesholm Family Foundation, Campana Quetzal, The City of Seattle, The Denny Wetland Nursery, Seattle Repertory Theater, UW ( MESA, Dr. Valencia, Danforth Educational Leadership Program), Seattle Pacific University, the Seattle Police Department, City Year, Safe Futures, Seattle Team For Youth, the South Park, Delridge, and Southwest Community Centers, several teacher education programs, and many individual volunteers.

Looking Ahead

New Denny Middle School Building Co-Located with Chief Sealth High School

In 2006 the voters of Seattle approved the Building Excellence (BEX) Levy. As a component of this levy, a new Denny Middle School will be built adjoined to Chief Sealth High School. The new Denny will be a separate middle school—designed to meet the academic, social, and emotional needs of middle school-age children—with safety as the top priority. New rigorous academic opportunities will also be made available to both middle school and high school students, including Project Lead the Way, 8 th to 9 th grade transition programs, new mentoring and tutoring possibilities, and improved curricular alignment. The co-located campus will also meet the needs of the combined Denny and Sealth music departments, with further combined classes as a future possibility.

The new Denny will be completed in the fall of 2011. The students and staff will remain in the current Denny building until that time.

International School

During the 2007-2008 school year, Denny was officially considering the possibility of becoming an International School, as recognized by Seattle Public Schools. The three key components of International Education: Academic Excellence, Global Perspective, and World Language, including dual language offerings, are all being explored. In September of 2008, the decision will be made as to if we should move forward with International School application or not. If we as a community decide that pursuit of International School status is in the best interest of our students and their academic progress, then 2008 – 2009 will become the planning year. The first official year of International School implementation would be 2009-2010.

Looking Ahead Timeline

* = If the decision is made to move forward with International School application

Conclusion

The Denny team is an amazing group of people, all of whom share common goals and expectations for our wonderful students. As a team, we have accomplished many great things already—yet, we still have so much to do. One key to our ongoing improvement will be the shared and individual responsibility we assume for student learning. Everyone—staff and students—need to be accountable for enhancing learning at every opportunity and for implementing the plans we create. We need to “own” the results we see in the achievement of all of our students.

As our efforts continue, we should remember that there is no work more noble in our society, and nothing more rewarding then seeing ALL of our students succeed. I greatly appreciate and respect our team for the hard work we have already completed. Thank you, in advance, for embracing the hard work yet to come.

We have a solid focus—in an interconnected way—on our four areas of emphasis:

• Outstanding Learning and Teaching in Every Classroom
• Personalizing Education for Students
• Removing Barriers to Learning
• Enhancing Our Partnerships

I am confident we can reach our goal: Academic excellence in our global village—every student, every day—no exceptions. Our students deserve nothing less than the comprehensive academic excellence we stress in our stated mission.

Appendix 1  

Weekly Collaborative Meetings—A Key to Our Students’ Success

By Jeff Clark

Schools where children are achieving academic excellence at very high levels have certain common characteristics. Backwards planning based on formative data is a key component. Collaboration that is focused on data, student work samples and the corresponding lesson planning has been proven to be a successful strategy achieving success.

The study of the common characteristics of 228 schools across the nation who serve students who are 90% living in poverty, 90% children of color, and 90% meeting or exceeding state standards (90/90/90 schools) emphasizes the importance of collaboration.

“First, the schools devoted time for teacher collaboration. This is not merely an exercise in idle discussion or an attempt to get along in a friendly and collegial fashion. Rather, collaboration meetings were focused on an examination of student work and a collective determination of what the word ‘proficiency’ really means.”

At Denny our collaborative meeting sessions are designed for teachers of common grade-level and subject matter to collaborate on a weekly basis. This time is created without using the prep period or adding yet another after school obligation. The premise is simple: by collectively analyzing the following questions we will be able to learn from each other, support each other, and better prepare every child for success.

What do our students need to know?
How are we teaching that to them?
What do we use to measure their learning in a formative way?
What can we learn from each other by analyzing the formative assessment results in a way that can guide instructional planning?
How can we work together to create the materials and assessments that we need?
What to we do to support the students who have not met the intended learning outcome yet?

Analyzing formative assessments results in a timely manner will help guide our work in a way that we can support each other. Furthermore, vertical alignment will maximize the opportunity for the achievement of educational experience by our students as they transition from grade to grade. Academic excellence—for every student—in our global village can be achieved through structured, frequent, and data focused collaboration. I am confident that we can meet our goals—by working together.

Appendix 2

Reading Action Plan
Strategy Menu

Before Reading Strategies

• Previewing Text- headings, captions, pictures graphics as well as the text structure
• Connection to background knowledge
• KWL
• Anticipation Guides
• Taxonomies
• Vocabulary studies
• Frontloading activities
• Set a purpose for reading

During Reading strategies
Note taking

• T-charts

• Double Column note taking
• key word note taking
• sticky notes
• Cornell notes
• SQ3R
• Margin Notes
• Talking to the text

Questioning (QAR)
Self-Monitoring (Fix-It Strategies)
Connections ( Text to Self, Text to text, Text to World)
Visualization

After Reading
Summarizing
Retelling
Paraphrasing
Gist
Application
Analyzing

SButler 2008

Appendix 3

Denny Middle School
Student Academic Support Team
Three-Tiered System of Academic and Behavioral Support

Denny Middle School

Putting It All Together

By Jeff Clark, Denny Principal
Draft 7/9/08

We’re Climbing the Mountain Together

Countless outstanding things are happening for students at Denny Middle School every day—yet, there is still so much to be done. Our substantial progress thus far is attributed to a phenomenal team effort at all levels. With so many things happening at once and so many efforts underway simultaneously, it is important to pause and to articulate how it all fits with the mission of our school and the core values we share. It is with this common understanding of where we are and where we are headed that we will continue with the relentless pursuit of our goals for the benefit our students.

Mission and Core Values

Mission: Academic Excellence in Our Global Village. We believe this applies to every student, every day—without exception.

Core Values:

Ensuring the achievement of learning excellence by ALL students through actions based on the principles of equity and efficacy.

Achievement of social justice through exemplary urban public education, especially at the middle school level.

Belief that the achievement gap can—and will—be eliminated.

High expectations for every student based on strong relationships.

Decision-making that reflects what is best for kids.

Celebration of diversity and infusion of multiculturalism into school culture/student learning.

Incorporation of collaboration, inquiry, and shared decision-making into school systems.

Promotion of personal integrity in every aspect of the school.

So, how does it all fit? After we know what we believe, we articulate a focus and set goals. At Denny, our focus is on reading and math and the disproportionality in student achievement data disaggregated by race. The goals we have set for both our focus areas are:

Reading: To increase the percentage of 6 th, 7 th, and 8 th grade students, in all subgroups, who are meeting standard in reading on the ‘08 reading WASL to equal or exceed 62% (‘08 State Adequate Yearly Progress Target).

Math: To increase the percentage of 6 th, 7 th, and 8 th grade students, in all subgroups, who are meeting standard in math on the ‘08 Math WASL to equal or exceed 59% (’08 State Adequate Yearly Progress Target).

Reading and math and the disproportionality seen within those subjects have been selected as the focus areas because they are both foundational skills and key indicators to academic success in all other subjects.

This is not to say that other subject areas or areas of focus are not important—they are, however, narrowing the focus simply allows us to make more progress in the identified areas. The other areas also need to be addressed, but not by everyone. In order to articulate who is doing what, when, and how we know if it is successful, we write school Action Plans.

Action Plans

In order to create Action Plans, we need to start by reviewing our student achievement data every August and continue to do so throughout the year. How are the students doing? What do they need to achieve the goals? Once we know where we are starting from, we make goals and create action steps to get there. Action Plans need to be specific with identified point people, defined timelines, and a means to measure progress. Additionally, these plans need to be real and living. At DMS, the IC (Instructional Council, consisting of the subject-matter specialists or “department heads”) needs to routinely monitor and adjust these plans as they are implemented.

Outstanding Teachers

Let’s start at the individual student level. In order to make it work for each individual student, we need to ensure that we have outstanding learning and teaching happening in every room. The role of the classroom teacher is the most important in the school, and in our society for that matter. We must do everything we can to support outstanding teaching. When we have a teaching position open, we will recruit and hire the best person, someone who has our shared beliefs and the needed skills to contribute to our goals. Furthermore, we will consistently do everything we can to support the outstanding teachers already on staff. Our kids deserve nothing but the best and nothing is more important than the person with them in the classroom.

Outstanding Learning and Teaching in Every Classroom

Teaching requires incredible dedication and skill. It is also an evolving art, one where the ongoing development of our skills will never end. All of us need to continue to refine our skills in many areas, including:

Strong Relationships/Cultural Competency

Key to our progress is our ability to connect with our students—they need to know we really care. Our professional development in this area includes our ongoing work on cultural competency, the continuation of what we called “Courageous Conversations” a few years ago. Truly courageous conversations need to lead to systemic change. Our efforts towards enhancing cultural relevance in our relationships and in our curriculum need to be an ongoing priority. This conversation can’t be limited to one professional development day in August—it needs to be central to everything we do, in the classrooms and as a school. For this coming year, we will be continuing our professional development with cultural cue offerings through the Flight Schools Initiative, as well as hosting Dr. Martha Bireda, author of Cultures in Conflict, as a keynote speaker. We will be using Dr. Bireda’s book as a book study throughout the upcoming year.

Also essential is the relationships between the students. The goal is to have classrooms and a school that are safe—physically and emotionally. A climate that is supportive and welcoming, and squarely focused on learning. We adopted the nationally researched Olweus anti-bullying program a few years ago. The best practices from Olweus need to be integral in all parts of our school—our motto “We All Belong” needs to continue to be real. As always, our beautiful diversity needs to be celebrated, honored, and interwoven into the education we provide.

We have created and implemented systems based on our five most important expectations for students, the BIG 5. Additionally, we have defined what it means for students to give their “Best Performance” on a school-wide rubric. All of these pieces together are helping us to continually improve our school climate for the benefit of our students and their learning. The correlation between outstanding teaching coupled with clear school-wide expectations and the level of student learning and student behavior is clearly evident.

High Expectations for Every Student

Achieving academic excellence for every student hinges on our ability to set high expectations for our students and consistently communicate those expectations to them.

They need to believe what we say about our belief in their limitless potential, about making college a reality for everyone. One specific programmatic way to support our high expectations is AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination). This three-year program supports students throughout middle school on the pathway to college.

Excellent Teaching/Professional Development

As we continue to hone our skills as educators, our techniques need to evolve. We have many acronyms used at Denny for various professional development (PD) programs, either currently underway or used in the recent past. A few of them include:

NUA – the National Urban Alliance

TFU – Teaching for Understanding

GLAD – Guided Language Acquisition Design

Some people ask what ever happened to NUA? Are we doing TFU next year? How can we squeeze in GLAD? How do they fit?

The answer is simple. Each of these acronyms represents outstanding teaching practice—with each approach offering many commonalities. Rather than thinking about the acronym, think about our commitment to constantly expand and refine our teaching repertoire. For example, as we increase the visibility of thinking (TFU) in our classrooms and lessons, the double-bubble maps (NUA) are a perfect fit.

Lesson Planning and Implementation

What we plan and how we do it is paramount. Outstanding learning occurs when the experience is…

Directly linked to what needs to be taught—the GLEs (Grade Level Expectations)

Relevant to the students

Differentiated and student-centered, with multiple learning styles being addressed

Clearly defined in terms of purpose and connection to other things learned

Based on formative (ongoing and classroom-based) and summative (testing) achievement results

Rigorous and linked to deeper understanding

Many other elements of outstanding teaching and learning are articulated in the Seattle Public Schools’ Professional Practice Standards, in both rubric and “indicators” form.

Collaboration/Professional Development

For some teachers, simply reading the above list causes blood pressure to rise. Thoughts like “How can I meet such a high expectation?” or “How can I do it all when I am already working so hard?” start to emerge. The answer is two-fold:

One: We can’t do it individually—but we can do it collaboratively.

Two: Professional development is ongoing; we all need to know where to start. Through ongoing collaboration with subject-matter specialists, administrators, and coaches individual teachers should know what to focus on.

If we need to do it collaboratively, then we need to have systems set up to support that.

At DMS we have the following systems in place to support collaboration:

Teaming groups of students and teachers together, with a goal of maximizing common prep time for teaching teams.

Departmental meeting time and paid collaborative extra time.

Starting in 07-08 a new collaboration plan was launched at Denny. The plan is based on the simple premise that if ongoing collaborative planning is going to occur, complete with achievement data analysis and the review of student work, then it needs to be built into the weekly schedule. Collaboration groups have been formed that include all teachers of math, language arts/social studies, and science. The groups meet with their grade-level and subject matter colleagues and either me for math and science or Mia Williams, Assistant Principal, for language arts/social studies. The groups meet during the school day—while students receive high-quality learning experiences provided by other staff, without teachers needing to create substitute lesson plans. Note: a more thorough definition is provided in the Collaborative Plan document (see Appendix 1).

A history of collaboration and acronyms: Our collaboration groups are the main component of our Professional Learning Community (PLC). Another term for structured collaboration is study groups.

Study groups are focused on adult learning by collaboratively engaging in inquiry as we work on our action steps. Reviewing student work as a measure of progress towards meeting a shared learning goal is an integral part of our study group structure.

Four years ago, Denny was awarded a CSR grant (Comprehensive School Reform Grant) by OSPI (The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction for the State of Washington). The grant was intended to provide funding to help schools achieve the reform they are seeking. ATLAS is the name of a national school reform organization that we selected to partner with. Two of the main benefits of using the grant money to join ATLAS were the opportunity to work with a school facilitator, Vicki Foreman, to set up study groups and sending teachers to the Teaching for Understanding Institutes. Today, the lessons we learned during our ATLAS years are embedded into our practices in our collaboration groups.

The transition between schools as children get older is extremely important. Denny is proud to participate in the collaboration provided by the Flight Schools program in southern West Seattle and South Park. Through this program, we collaborate with our feeder elementary schools and Chief Sealth High School as we seek to build connections with families and develop Kindergarten through 12 th grade academic curriculum and programmatic alignment. Specific accomplishments during the 07 – 08 school year in the area of K-12 curriculum alignment have included: learning walks hosted at Denny with teachers from Roxhill, Arbor Heights, Sanislo, Gatewood, and Highland Park Elementary Schools participating, in addition to staff from Chief Sealth High School. During these visitations elementary teachers used the Four R’s Protocol while visiting our classes, in addition to participating in cross-school discussions on curriculum alignment in the areas of Language Arts and math. Additionally, elementary teachers discussed each individual student attending Denny for middle school and ideas for maximizing the learning experience of that child. Denny staff members were able to visit Concord, Highland Park, and Gatewood Elementary Schools and Chief Sealth High School using a similar format.

In addition to systems and structure to support collaboration, we have people to help lead this effort. On our Action Plans, each of the following people have specific collaboration-focused responsibilities designed to enhance student achievement: subject-matter specialists, team leaders, our literacy coach (Sue Butler), a math coach (Keisha Scarlett), an assistant principal focusing on learning and teaching, rather than behavior management (Mia Williams), central office support with our science OEL (Observing Evidence in Learning) grant (Kathryn Kelsey).

Denny University: We believe that professional development should be ongoing and differentiated to meet the needs of all staff. As a result, we created the concept of Denny University as a chance for our staff to teach one another with multiple options occurring simultaneously. Starting in 07-08 the focus of Denny University has been the Look-For document described below.

Commonalities in all Denny classrooms: The Look-For Document (see appendix 2). As a result of our ongoing collaboration and PD efforts, we have defined the commonalities that should be occurring in every classroom at Denny. For example, when we write on our Reading Action Plan that we need a clear emphasis on teaching reading in every classroom—with before, during, and after reading strategies being used consistently—what does that mean? What are those strategies? All of these common expectations should be listed on a one-page “Look-For” document. Now that this document has been created and differentiated professional development has been offered, it can provide a focus for peer observations and short classroom visits, called “Walkthroughs.” The goal will be to increase everyone’s level of comfort and expertise with each of the look-for items.

Personalizing Education for Students

In addition to continuing to enhance the learning and teaching in every classroom, we must continue to personalize education for our students.

Course Offerings/Hand-Scheduling

In January of 2006, we changed our master schedule of course offerings as a way to move in the direction of personalization. We created additional reading-focused classes (called “Book Club”) and math-focused classes (partnered with the University of Washington’s MESA program, an acronym for Math Engineering Science Achievement). Next, we started to “hand-schedule” students into the classes they need. Instead of forming the class schedule and assigning students to what we offer, we now analyze what the students need and then provide classes to match.

ELL, Spectrum, and IEP Services

At Denny, some classes are offered as a part of several services intended to further individualize the educational program for students. English Language Learners or ELL is offered for students learning the English language. Spectrum is a district-sponsored advanced learning opportunity program at Denny. IEP (Individual Education Plan) services, also known as Special Education, offers support for students in reaching their IEP goals.

Infusing the Arts, Culture and Language into Learning

Providing students with academic choice furthers progress towards personalization. Beginning and advanced band and orchestra; jazz, marching, steel drums and Mariachi bands; world music choir; art; World Cultures/Family Consumer Science; Spanish; and Mandarin Chinese are offered to Denny students. We believe music and art are integral to a well-rounded educational experience.

Proyecto Saber

At Denny we are very pleased to offer Proyecto Saber, a Latino-focused academic support class, to our students. The program works closely with students and their families in pursuit of the goal of getting all students ready for high school, college, and life. In addition to academic skill enhancement, Proyecto Saber brings in community partners as guest speakers and helps to coordinate parent education offerings.

Writer’s Workshop

In partnership with Columbia Teachers College in New York, Denny has launched a school-wide adoption of an approach to writing called Writer’s Workshop. The model gives students opportunities to tell their own stories with simultaneously enhancing their writing skills through mini-lessons.

MESA

For the last three years Denny has had a major partnership with the University of Washington MESA (Math Engineering Science Achievement) program. The goal of MESA is to increase the numbers of children of color and girls who will be entering careers in the math and/or science related professions. MESA provides hands-on opportunities to explore the skills learned in math class. At Denny, MESA classes are offered during the school day, in addition to the CMP2 math class, and as a part of our extended learning time opportunities.

Middle School Support Program

Funded by the Families and Education Levy (FEL), approved by the voters of Seattle, the Middle School Support Program (MSSP) provides mentoring and academic programming for Denny students. The program specifically focuses on eliminating the disproportionality seen in student achievement data when disaggregated by race. The MSSP coordinates efforts with another FEL-funded program, the Community Learning Center (CLC) as a part of the Student Success Team at Denny.

Student Learning Plans

In order to further personalize learning, Student Learning Plans (SLPs) are being created for every student who is currently performing below the level of standard at Denny Middle School. These plans include input from students and families and include interventions such as enrollment in a MESA math class or participation in a Winter Break Writing Camp. The coordination of these plans is handled by the Middle School Support Program.

Physical Education

Our physical education program emphasizes physical fitness and personal skill enhancement—we will be a pilot school for the new K-12 PE curriculum.

Extending Learning Time and Opportunities

Thanks to levy-supported funding, free extended school year programs are available to students at Denny. Our Middle School Support Program and Community Learning Center work together to offer academic programs during Winter, Mid-Winter, and Spring Breaks, and our own summer school programs. The instructors during all of these opportunities are highly trained Denny teachers. In addition to extending the school year, at Denny we are extending the school day. Seventh-period math is offered to every sixth- and seventh-grade student who is currently performing below standard in math on Mondays and Tuesdays. Wednesday through Friday we offer a plethora of enrichment, sports, and culturally affirming options to provide our students with opportunities to engage in activities of their choice.

Removing Barriers to Learning

On-Site Services for Students

With the goal of helping to remove any barriers to student learning, Denny offers many on-site services. School counselors offer support to students and families in a variety of ways. The Denny Wellness Center (DWC), including the Denny Nurse, provides counseling and nursing to students on site. Our Mental Health Coordinator helps link students and families to appropriate community agencies. The Seattle Team for Youth (STFY) offers case management here at school. Students are provided with truancy and drug and alcohol prevention services. The BIG 5 Academy was successfully created this year as an alternative to suspension in an academic setting.

Safety

In order to be focused on learning, students need to be—and feel—safe. We are continuing to enhance our plans for both emotional and physical safety, on many levels, throughout the school day—and in the event of an emergency situation.

Efficiently Coordinating Interventions

All of our interventions relating to removing barriers to learning for students are coordinated by our Student Academic Success Team (SAST), which meets weekly. A system of ongoing monitoring and communication has been developed and is used routinely. Please see our Pyramids of Intervention for academic and emotional barriers (Appendix 3).

Enhancing Our Partnerships

Family Involvement

Our most important partners are our families. In August of 2008 we will participate for the third year in a row in our Flight Schools home visit initiative. The goal is simple:

Forge a strong relationship with each and every family. In order to do that, we will participate in home visits to learn about the families we partner with and how we can maximize the educational experience of their children. The home visits are organized so that the homeroom teacher for the student and a second staff member attend. Appropriate translation for the many languages spoken by our families is provided. Our goal is to visit every Denny family. While visiting, we ask three simple questions:

Can you please tell us more about your child?

What are your hopes and dreams for your child in the future?

How can we partner with you to make those dreams a reality?

What families share is both insightful and inspiring. We have noticed that families seem to feel much more connected to the school after participating in home visits.

We are proud of our active and growing Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA). Family outreach is prioritized through many daytime and evening educational and performance-based family events. Our weekly bulletin, calling machine, the SOURCE (family communication tool) and website help with information sharing. Volunteerism is always welcome.

Community Partners

All of us in the Denny community are thankful for the support provided for students through our many community partners: The Nesholm Family Foundation, Campana Quetzal, The City of Seattle, The Denny Wetland Nursery, Seattle Repertory Theater, UW ( MESA, Dr. Valencia, Danforth Educational Leadership Program), Seattle Pacific University, the Seattle Police Department, City Year, Safe Futures, Seattle Team For Youth, the South Park, Delridge, and Southwest Community Centers, several teacher education programs, and many individual volunteers.

Looking Ahead

New Denny Middle School Building Co-Located with Chief Sealth High School

In 2006 the voters of Seattle approved the Building Excellence (BEX) Levy. As a component of this levy, a new Denny Middle School will be built adjoined to Chief Sealth High School. The new Denny will be a separate middle school—designed to meet the academic, social, and emotional needs of middle school-age children—with safety as the top priority. New rigorous academic opportunities will also be made available to both middle school and high school students, including Project Lead the Way, 8 th to 9 th grade transition programs, new mentoring and tutoring possibilities, and improved curricular alignment. The co-located campus will also meet the needs of the combined Denny and Sealth music departments, with further combined classes as a future possibility.

The new Denny will be completed in the fall of 2011. The students and staff will remain in the current Denny building until that time.

International School

During the 2007-2008 school year, Denny was officially considering the possibility of becoming an International School, as recognized by Seattle Public Schools. The three key components of International Education: Academic Excellence, Global Perspective, and World Language, including dual language offerings, are all being explored. In September of 2008, the decision will be made as to if we should move forward with International School application or not. If we as a community decide that pursuit of International School status is in the best interest of our students and their academic progress, then 2008 – 2009 will become the planning year. The first official year of International School implementation would be 2009-2010.

Looking Ahead Timeline

New DMS Planning Begins

International School – year of exploration

International School – year of planning*

International School – 1st year of implementation*

Move into the new DMS

2007-2008

2008-2009

2009-2010

2010-2011

2011-2012

* = If the decision is made to move forward with International School application

Conclusion

The Denny team is an amazing group of people, all of whom share common goals and expectations for our wonderful students. As a team, we have accomplished many great things already—yet, we still have so much to do. One key to our ongoing improvement will be the shared and individual responsibility we assume for student learning. Everyone—staff and students—need to be accountable for enhancing learning at every opportunity and for implementing the plans we create. We need to “own” the results we see in the achievement of all of our students.

As our efforts continue, we should remember that there is no work more noble in our society, and nothing more rewarding then seeing ALL of our students succeed. I greatly appreciate and respect our team for the hard work we have already completed. Thank you, in advance, for embracing the hard work yet to come.

We have a solid focus—in an interconnected way—on our four areas of emphasis:

Outstanding Learning and Teaching in Every Classroom

Personalizing Education for Students

Removing Barriers to Learning

Enhancing Our Partnerships

I am confident we can reach our goal: Academic excellence in our global village—every student, every day—no exceptions. Our students deserve nothing less than the comprehensive academic excellence we stress in our stated mission.

Appendix 1

Weekly Collaborative Meetings—A Key to Our Students’ Success

By Jeff Clark

Schools where children are achieving academic excellence at very high levels have certain common characteristics. Backwards planning based on formative data is a key component. Collaboration that is focused on data, student work samples and the corresponding lesson planning has been proven to be a successful strategy achieving success.

The study of the common characteristics of 228 schools across the nation who serve students who are 90% living in poverty, 90% children of color, and 90% meeting or exceeding state standards (90/90/90 schools) emphasizes the importance of collaboration.

“First, the schools devoted time for teacher collaboration. This is not merely an exercise in idle discussion or an attempt to get along in a friendly and collegial fashion. Rather, collaboration meetings were focused on an examination of student work and a collective determination of what the word ‘proficiency’ really means.”

At Denny our collaborative meeting sessions are designed for teachers of common grade-level and subject matter to collaborate on a weekly basis. This time is created without using the prep period or adding yet another after school obligation. The premise is simple: by collectively analyzing the following questions we will be able to learn from each other, support each other, and better prepare every child for success.

What do our students need to know?
How are we teaching that to them?
What do we use to measure their learning in a formative way?
What can we learn from each other by analyzing the formative assessment results in a way that can guide instructional planning?
How can we work together to create the materials and assessments that we need?
What to we do to support the students who have not met the intended learning outcome yet?

Analyzing formative assessments results in a timely manner will help guide our work in a way that we can support each other. Furthermore, vertical alignment will maximize the opportunity for the achievement of educational experience by our students as they transition from grade to grade. Academic excellence—for every student—in our global village can be achieved through structured, frequent, and data focused collaboration. I am confident that we can meet our goals—by working together.

Appendix 2

Denny Middle School
“Look-For” Document
1-16-07

Learning Climate

Positive and community-based

Respectful and learning-focused

Universal engagement; clarity on participation procedures

Implementation of the “Big 5”

Implementation of “My Best Performance”

Cultural Competency

Cultural relevance

Strong relationships

Universal high expectations

Multi-cultural perspectives—diversity in materials

Equity

Student Learning

Emphasis on learning, rather than work

Visibility of thinking

Deep understanding, rather than memorization

Addressing multiple intelligences—multiple entry points

Reasoning with evidence

Literacy Focus

Before, during, and after reading strategies (see list on back)

Emphasis on vocabulary instruction

Use of a Word Wall

High interest and culturally relevant materials

Encore; students in the right book; conferencing

Use of GLE Stem questions and rubrics

Lesson Planning

Purpose of the lesson is clear

Student-centered

Based on ongoing assessment information

Rigorous

Differentiated

Linked to Action Plans

Reading Action Plan
Strategy Menu

Before Reading Strategies

Previewing Text- headings, captions, pictures graphics as well as the text structure

Connection to background knowledge

KWL

Anticipation Guides

Taxonomies

Vocabulary studies

Frontloading activities

Set a purpose for reading

During Reading strategies
Note taking

T-charts

Double Column note taking

key word note taking

sticky notes

Cornell notes

SQ3R

Margin Notes

Talking to the text

Questioning (QAR)
Self-Monitoring (Fix-It Strategies)
Connections ( Text to Self, Text to text, Text to World)
Visualization

After Reading
Summarizing
Retelling
Paraphrasing
Gist
Application
Analyzing

SButler 2008

Appendix 3

Denny Middle School
Student Academic Support Team
Three-Tiered System of Academic and Behavioral Support