The focus at PS 770 was to work with the principal, staff developer, and teachers to plan and implement a balanced, Common Core Learning Standards (CCLS) aligned mathematics curriculum. The school uses a variety of programs: GO Math! In Kindergarten, – Engage NY ‘A Story of Units’ in Grades 1, 2 and 5, and Ready in Grades 3-‐4 .
P.S.7 serves 733 inner city students in grades k through grade 5. After analyzing the school data, the principal decided that professional development should focus on raising the rigor of in the ELA classrooms beginning in the 2012-‐2013-‐ school year. The principal partnered with Generation ready to provide professional learning support for the teachers.
The Generation Ready consultant worked with the principal to establish literacy goals and put differentiated instruction in place in grades 3 to 5 to meet the diverse range of student learning needs. Together, the school leadership team and the Generation Ready consultant analyzed student data to formulate a strategy to raise reading levels. The consultant helped teachers implement targeted, small-‐ group guided reading sessions during the reading block. The consultant also supported teachers in planning, demonstrated guided reading and provided feedback on the teachers’ practice. In addition, she collaborated with the school coach to plan and deliver professional development around the instructional shifts required to meet the Common Core Literacy Standards.
Outcomes of the Work P.S.7 was already performing slightly better than the District average in ELA. With Generation Ready’s help, performance not only increased by over 20 percent after one year but the gap over the District average widened considerably. The principal attributes the school’s success to the consultant’s flexibility and responsiveness to the teachers’ needs.
The focus of the mathematics consultancy work in 2015 – 2016 was to work collaboratively with the administration and teachers to support the implementation of a mathematics curriculum in alignment with the Common Core Standards, to support the students and help them learn in more of a collaborative, student centered approach, and to empower teachers to use data in order to better differentiate their instruction and teach using small group math instruction.
The goals set were created by principal and the consultant. They set the goals after the first school visit. While the goals we made stayed the same throughout the work at PS 64, the method of working on them shifted many times based on the teachers’ needs, acceptance and wants.
The Lower Manhattan Community School Partnered with Generation Ready for the 2015-‐2016 academic year. The focus of the work was to determine the level of coherence among the teaching and resources available to achieve a school-‐wide improvement effort in Mathematics.
The Urban Institute of Mathematics has partnered with Generation Ready in Literacy for 10 years and last year began a math partnership for 20 days for the 2015 – 2016 academic year.
The focus of the consultancy was to strengthen teaching practice using current curriculum materials, by building a stronger understanding of math lesson design and implementing student-‐to-‐student discussions around problem solving.
The goals established for the professional learning:
Generation Ready partnered with Robert F. Wagner Jr. Secondary School, a grade 7-12 high school, to provide math professional development during the 2013-14 school year. The school wanted support in developing instructional practices that aligned with Danielson’s Framework, Common Core Learning Standards, school-wide curriculum and the new Common Core Regents Examinations. Through the partnership, teachers demonstrated an increased familiarity with the use of Common Core Learning Standards for Math and students showed growth in meeting or exceeding the State Standards in Math.
Read more about our work at Robert F. Wagner Jr. Secondary School
Magnolia Junior High School, a grade 7-9 junior high school, began its engagement with Generation Ready in 2015 to implement the Middle School Literacy Initiative (MSLI). The schools primary focus was to improve the Tier I literacy instruction across content areas through the use of this comprehensive approach to raising literacy instruction. As a result of our partnership, students reading at or above grade level grew 20%, and there was an over 20% drop in percentage of students at-risk. Magnolia also exceeded the national annual growth for the DRP score by an average of 220%.
Ann Smith Elementary, a K-2 school in Ridgeland, MS, began its engagement with Generation Ready in 2012 and the work continues to deepen today. The first year’s focus was to ensure that the structures for reading and writing workshops were in place, and while students made progress in reading, the principal wanted to see similar improvements in students’ writing that met rigorous expectations across the grades. As a result of our partnership, the volume and quality of student writing increased. Halls are filled with displays of student writing and classrooms show evidence of student work, anchor charts and writing samples. The majority of students in the grade 1 class completed the school year at or above grade level compared to the beginning of the year.
Emolior Academy joined New York City Department of Education’s (NYCDOE) Middle School Quality Initiative (MSQI) in 2012. It was one of the lowest performing middle schools in New York City at the time. As NYCDOE’s lead partner in MSQI, Generation Ready began working with Emolior to help improve students’ learning outcomes. As a result of our support, there is an increased focus on data that results in students being grouped and regrouped after reviewing DRP data. Instruction is aligned across the grades and to students’ needs. Derrick Spaulding, Principal at Emolior Academy said: “Without Generation Ready’s support in the process, I don’t think we’d have the success that we have currently with our ELA department, with our ELA scores, with our understanding of literacy and how it affects all contents across the board.”
Area of Focus: ELA Generation Ready partnered with the New York City Department of Education (DOE) to support schools in implementing a comprehensive literacy framework designed to significantly increase the number of students entering high school read at grade level. The Middle School Quality Initiative (MSQI) is the DOE’s focused effort to expand the number of lower performing middle schools that prepare students for high school, college and career success. The schools are from the bottom 25% of city schools in terms of student achievement and are persistently low-performing, serving high poverty areas. The Initiative began in January 2012 with 24 schools, and has since expanded to include upwards of 90 schools in the 2014-15 academic school year.
There are 23,000 students in the 90 schools that make up Cohorts One, Two and Three. The results below are for the 3,206 students in Cohort One from October 2012-June 2013. Student progress is tracked through the DRP, a nationally normed cloze comprehension assessment.
The greatest growth has been seen with African American boys, who were severely at risk in February 2012. They have shown an average growth of 9.9 DRP points, when the national average growth over that time was 5 DRP points. While all schools showed growth over 1.5 times the national average, the schools that worked with Generation Ready consultants made more than double the national average growth.
Area of Focus: Math Generation Ready partnered with Marta Valle High School for math professional development from December 2014 to June 2015. The school wanted support in increasing student engagement in Algebra I, Algebra II and Geometry. Through our work together, teachers demonstrated an increased familiarity with and use of Common Core Learning Standards for Mathematics and were able to discuss and customize elements of the instructional shifts required to meet the mathematics standards in the classroom. Students displayed higher levels of engagement during math practices as a result of cooperative learning activities, increased mathematical discourse and inquiry-based lessons. Students showed significant growth in Common Core-aligned assessments in scores with the support of Generation Ready during the 2014-15 school year.
Area of Focus: School Turnaround Okolona serves 291 students with 73% of the students on free and reduced lunch. Nearly 100% of the student body is African American. Students in Mississippi must past the Subject Area Testing Program, Second Edition (SATP2) to graduate. Prior to 2011, the school was at the bottom 15% of the pass rate in the state and received an F rating. They received a School Improvement Grant (SIG) in order to support their efforts to increase student achievement. Generation Ready began working with Okolona in 2011, and the results of the two-year partnership with the school is remarkable. During this time, Okolona High School moved from an F rating to a C rating. In addition to the increased results shown in the accompanying graphs, teachers developed a purposeful focus to design lessons with a rigorous instructional focus. Teachers were able to facilitate sustained engagement by students, and ensure that a comprehensive lesson strategy was taught, from introducing objectives, to teaching to the objectives, to the use of specific strategies for closure to check for understanding.
Horn Lake Middle School partnered with Generation Ready in 2015 in order to implement the Middle School Literacy Initiative. Generation Ready provided 40 days of onsite coaching support and focusing on the improvement of Tier I literacy instruction for its sixth graders. As a result of our partnership, student DRP test scores grew 7.5 DRP levels between spring and fall, over 150% higher than the national median for Grade 6 students.
