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“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 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students, in all subgroups, who are meeting standard in reading on the ‘07 reading WASL to equal or exceed 48% (‘07 State Adequate Yearly Progress Target).

Math: To increase the percentage of 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students, in all subgroups, who are meeting standard in math on the ‘07 Math WASL to equal or exceed 38% (’07 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 with Every Student
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.

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

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 and administrators, 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.

* Study Groups. Study groups provide group collaboration time and structure needed to accomplish the things we write on our Action Plans. 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.

Three 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 a study groups (also known as a professional learning community) and sending teachers to the Teaching for Understanding Institutes. The grant is now coming to an end. Will we continue with ATLAS? No, not formally. Will we continue with study groups and our ongoing implementation of excellent teaching practice? Yes, absolutely.

- 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. 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 12th grade academic curriculum alignment.

· 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), two math teacher leaders with a period for coaching and coordination (Trinh Pham and Shamar Botley), an assistant principal focusing on learning and teaching, rather than behavior management (Mia Williams), central office support with our science and OEL (Observing Evidence in Learning) grant (Kathryn Kelsey).

· As a next step in the promotion of collaboration we need to develop a system to define what we believe should be the commonalities in all Denny classrooms. 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. Once this is created, it can provide a focus for peer observations and short classroom visits, called “Walkthroughs.” Additionally, the supporting professional development will need to differentiated. For example, some of us have been using “word walls” for years, and for others it is a new idea. 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; Proyecto Saber, a Latino-focused academic support program; Spanish; and Mandarin Chinese are offered to Denny students.

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 200 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.

Extending Learning Time and Opportunities
Free out of school time programs, including 7th period reading and math academic programs and a wide-variety of enrichment programs, are offered by the Community Learning Center. Our CLC offerings, assemblies, exploratory classes and student performances create opportunities for students to develop and showcase their areas of personal interest. These activities help to build self-esteem and instill confidence in our students.

Thanks to levy-supported funding, school bus transportation home is provided at 4:30 pm. Summer school and academic opportunities offered during school breaks are run thanks to a coordinated effort between the CLC and MSSP.

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 now will be used routinely.

Enhancing Our Partnerships

Family Involvement
Our most important partners are our families. We are proud of our active and growing Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA). Family outreach is prioritized through our home visits and evening 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, The Denny Wetland Nursery, Seattle Repertory Theater, Paramount Theatre Group, Writers in the Schools, UW (MESA, Dr. Valencia, Danforth Educational Leadership Program), several teacher education programs, and many individual volunteers.

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.