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2003-2004: AYP English Language Arts
2003-2004: AYP Math
2002-2003: AYP English Language Arts
2002-2003: AYP Math
2001-2002: AYP English Language Arts
2001-2002: AYP Math
Introduction Twelve years ago, standardized test results at Martha Baldwin School had reached a plateau and scores were declining. Today Baldwin is a California Distinguished School, a National Blue Ribbon School, and has been identified by the California Department of Education as a Title I Achieving School every year since 2002. Baldwin has far surpassed its growth target every year on California's Academic Performance Index (API) since 1999. The reasons for this impressive turnaround? Strong leadership, an intense focus on data, and increased time for professional development. Assessment & Accountability When asked about Baldwin's continuous improvement Lis Ramos Hanacek, who took over as principal twelve years ago, says "We never let our guard down. We are constantly analyzing data and tracking each student to make sure we are meeting his or her needs." The focus on accountability begins with the district Accountability Review. The district gathers all of the multiple measures - California Achievement Test, Sixth Edition (CAT6), California Standards Test (CST), Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), API, district reading assessments, district writing assessments, district math assessments, results from standards-based report cards, and the California English Language Development Test (CELDT) results - then compiles these into an Accountability Report. At the beginning of the school year, district office staff spend an entire day reviewing the results with the school staff. The entire school leadership team attends the Accountability Review, gaining a thorough understanding of the school's data. The leadership team includes Ramos Hanacek, representatives from each elementary grade level, two middle school representatives and two English Learner specialists, along with the Title I instructional specialist, David Byer. Through multiple meetings Byer helps the school manage and understand data. Byer, Ramos Hanacek, and the leadership team help the staff use the data to analyze their strengths and weaknesses and develop a plan of action. Grade level team meetings delve even further into this data. The school staff also analyze the CAT6 blueprints then concentrate their curriculum, instruction, and assessment efforts on the high-priority standards. Classroom teachers use student portfolios to document all the test results for each individual student including running records, district reading assessment results, district math assessment results, and English Learner Profiles. The English Learner Profiles include Limited English Proficient (LEP) levels and CELDT results. The student portfolios help teachers and administrators assess where students are meeting standards and where they need more support. These profiles, passed from grade to grade, become useful to the students' next teachers. Byer also prepares data sheets for each classroom listing the CST, CAT6, and CELDT scores and LEP level and home language for each student. These data sheets are also sorted by by CST math and CST language arts and ranked from high to low. This way, the teachers and administrators know which students are below and far below basic and they can target both in-class and after-school interventions appropriately. Standards-based Curriculum & Instruction Martha Baldwin School uses the district adopted Houghton Mifflin language arts program which is standards-based. All teachers have been trained thoroughly to use this program effectively. In addition Baldwin uses Scholastic's Read 180 as a Title I intervention program for lower achieving sixth, seventh, and eighth grade readers during their elective period. These classes have one teacher, one aide, and 15 students. Baldwin also has five certified Title I teachers who go to classrooms, team with teachers, help with small groups of students, and teach supplemental reading. Since Baldwin is such a large school, the principal is able to arrange the primary grade classrooms by language needs. In the seven first grade classrooms, for example, students at LEP levels 1 and 2 are in a class together, and those at LEP levels 3 and 4 are similarly combined. This way, teachers can better address the specific needs of the students and their classrooms. Baldwin also has a strong afterschool program for students who are not meeting standards. Focused primarily on literacy, with a secondary emphasis on mathematics, this program is three days a week for 1.5 hours a day, taught by Baldwin's certified classroom teachers. Students qualify for this program based on their test scores, teacher recommendations, and report cards. Professional Development Both the district and the school make professional development a priority. To begin the year, the district spends one day with teachers to make sure all are on the same page. If a new curriculum is being adopted, for example, training will begin on this day then continue throughout the year at both the district and school level. The district offers many other professional development opportunities during the year which teachers participate in frequently. The school has two full staff development days at the beginning of the year. Some of the content for these days is decided upon the previous year based on data analysis and teacher identified needs. Also, during two days at the beginning of the year, new data is analyzed to plan out the schoolwide professional development for the rest of the year. Baldwin School also "banks" time, adding instructional minutes to each day so every Thursday is an early-release day, giving the teachers common time for grade level meetings and whole staff professional development. During grade level meetings, teachers review data and use that information to plan curriculum, instruction and assessment. This way there is a real consistency within and across each grade level of what is expected of students. Leadership & Management Ramos Hanacek uses the California Distinguished School rubric as a tool for promoting teacher growth. In grade level meetings, the teams look at the highest rating on the rubric and use that to guide their continuous improvement planning. Then the leadership team integrates all the grade level information to evaluate how the school is performing as a whole. It is powerful for teachers to use this tool to honestly critique where they are and where they want to be. Each year, Ramos Hanacek prepares the "Baldwin Notebook" which includes all the information teachers need about curriculum, instruction, assessment, professional development, discipline, and so forth. Along with staff meetings, and grade level meetings, this helps to ensure consistency throughout the school. Ramos Hanacek knows the importance of generating buy-in among staff members. They work on creating school goals together. The principal also focuses on teambuilding and creating a sense of community. She celebrates teachers and makes them feel special by giving them small gifts for accomplishments and special occasions. Striking a balance between strong administration and staff autonomy, she allows the staff to do what they do best. For example, when the department of education identified Baldwin as a Title I Achieving School during the 2002 - 2003 school year, awarding the school a $125,000 grant, Ramos Hanacek allowed each grade level team to propose how they would spend a portion of the money, detailing how their plan would help students meet standards. Ramos Hanacek has found if she clearly explains new initiatives to her staff, showing the data and research to support it, and involves them early, she is able to get them on board. As a K-8 school evaluated both as an elementary and a middle school, Baldwin receives statewide achievement data for their K-5 grades and for their 6-8 grades in addition to schoolwide achievement data. While students in all grades were performing well, K-5 was outperforming 6-8 consistently. In 2001 Ramos Hanacek and her leadership team saw NCLB's challenge of the highly qualified teaching provision as an opportunity. In response to the legislation's credentialing requirements, Baldwin's leadership team looked for a new model for the upper grades. After researching many middle school models, the team decided to implement team teaching, with one teacher responsible for language arts and History, and the other for science and math. This way, teachers spend more time with a smaller group of students. These changes were clearly outlined to the staff each step of the way. Some upper grade teachers, however, did not feel comfortable switching to teaching more than one subject, so Ramos Hanacek helped them to find placement at area high schools. This enabled Ramos Hancek to bring some of her very strong primary teachers to the upper grades where scores have begun to rise. School Culture The discipline policy at Baldwin School is very clear and structured. The staff came together and agreed upon five steps of discipline that they could all support and enforce. This way administrators, teachers, and students are all on the same page. There is also a major emphasis on positive reinforcement for good behavior. Students can earn both "Cougar Cash" and "Hanacek Hearts" for positive behavior which they can use in stores purchasing pencils, racers, stickers etc. The staff at Baldwin have also instituted Positive And Winning Students (PAWS). Every month there is a theme, such as respect and responsibility or being successful, designed to build self-esteem. Each grade level has a community meeting with students, teachers, administrators where they discuss this theme in depth. Each classroom also focuses on the theme throughout the month. Parents & Community Baldwin has 3 Home/School Community Coordinators who are the first contact with parents. These coordinators are paid for with School Improvement Program, Economic Impact Aid, and Title I funds. Parent conferences are held early in the school year in order to create a friendly environment for the parent, student, and teacher to get to know each other, and to learn more about the student and the student's goals. For the rest of the year, weekly progress reports are sent home to parents. The Baldwin community strives to make parents feel comfortable and welcome at school and also tries to help meet their needs. Baldwin offers both ELD and government classes to parents to help them in pursuit of citizenship. In addition, there is an extensive resource library at Baldwin including books, both in English and Spanish, and laptop computers that can be checked out by parents. This school profile was created in 2004. Achievement and demographic data through 2004 are included. Permission to Use Resources SchoolsMovingUp, a WestEd initiative, invites you to use our resources in your work. For uses that involve reproduction of more than one copy of the resource, please submit the online permission request form. We will reply immediately once we know your intended reproduction needs. All reproductions of the resource must include a full citation of the WestEd copyright. |
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