Wittenberg-Birnamwood High
School
Growing a Culture of Excellence
through Responsive Systems
Jill Sharp, Principal
Kara Muthig, School Psychologist
Today’s Purpose and Outcomes:
Purpose: Explain how using systems to organize
structural supports within a school building can help
change culture and increase student achievement.
Outcomes:
● Take away something new that can be used to grow
student success in your school
● Understand how the use of data helps instruction
● Learn how accountability measures can be
strategically placed into a school system in response
to the students in the seat
● Learn how a culture of excellence grows intentional
planning and staff collaboration
WBHS Demographics
• Wittenberg & Birnamwood are rural communities in
central Wisconsin.
• WBHS enrollment has been declining over the past
five years. Current enrollment = 367
• 91% White, 4.9% American Indian, 2.7% Hispanic
• 37.3% Low SES
• 15.0% Students with disabilities
WBHS…our journey
• Before implementing EWS, we had a lot of data but
didn’t use it effectively
• Learned that we had to schedule collaboration and not
assume that staff knew how to do this
• Having a decision making model has helped us to focus
rather than jumping from initiative to initiative
• 6th year of PBIS. Has become part of the culture of our
school.
Present
Past
● Do your own
thing
● Create your own
curriculum
● Hold your own
ideas
● Teach content
Teachers
have
always
been here
to do
what’s
right for
kids
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● Collaboration
● Sharing of
information and
ideas
● Work as a unit
for the whole
child
● Teach students
using the
content
District Goals
•All students will improve literacy skills in reading and
writing across the K-12 curriculum in alignment with
the common core standards
•All students will improve math literacy skills through
the study of and alignment with the common core
standards
•The District will improve student learning with aligned
curriculum, assessment, and instruction.
•The District will ensure that students have a safe,
welcoming and productive learning environment.
District Decision Making Model
Keys to improving culture and use of
systems to meet student needs
Pillars of Excellence
Morning Meetings
Early Warning Systems
PBIS
Advisory Hour
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WBHS Pillars of Excellence
The WBHS Staff will model the WBHS Pillars of Excellence for ourselves, our
colleagues and our students so that a culture of trust and support is consistently
sustained within our school.
These Pillars of Excellence represent our beliefs and commitments to
each other and every student in our building:
Welcome: Everyone is valued
Believe: It’s never too late to learn
Helpful: We support each other
Succeed: Reaching out goals
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Welcoming Practices
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Student Advisory
Learning Council
Morning Meetings
Co-Teaching/Inclusive Instruction
Mentoring
Aesthetics
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Turn and Talk
What practices, policies and/or behaviors
does your school currently use that may be in
conflict with your own mission or vision?
Early Warning Systems: WBHS Goal
The high school staff will use the EWS High
School Tool and Data Wall to provide a resource
framework that identifies students who are off
track for graduation or underachieving, so that
staff-designed, evidence-based programs and
practices, based on data, can be put into place
early and systematically in order to prepare all
students for postsecondary and career readiness.
Data Data Data
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What data do we have?
How do we organize that data?
How do we prioritize data?
Who will evaluate the data?
How will we use the data to make
decisions?
• How will we share results of the
data? with whom?
What is EWS?
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Early Warning Systems
Decision rules were based on risk factors
Staff decided prioritize by reading scores
Look for patterns in groups. Meeting protocol
keeps us on track.
• Different meetings for different purposes, but
communicate between teams.
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EWS Teams
Teams were chosen with the intent to represent all departments.
• 9th Grade Team: Principal, School Counselor, Math Teachers, ELA
Teacher, Science Teacher, Health/PE Teacher, Social Studies Teacher,
Special Education Teacher, School Psychologist
• 10th Grade Team: Principal, School Counselor, PE Teacher, Math
Teacher, Social Studies Teacher, Science Teacher, ELA Teacher,
Specialist, Special Education Teacher, School Psychologist
• 11th Grade Team: Principal, School Counselor, PE Teacher, Math
Teacher, Social Studies Teacher, Science Teacher, ELA Teacher,
Specialist, Special Education Teacher, School Psychologist
• Core, special ed teacher, specialist, everyone else is invited.
Counselor, Dean of Students and Principal, School Psychologist.
EWS Meeting Structure
• Norms: Stay on task, Start and end on time, Everyone
contributes, Non-judgmental conversations, Comments are
solutions-based
• Roles: Principal facilitates meetings, but all participate.
• When: Teams meet monthly after school.
• Where: Teams meet in the data room.
• Outcomes: Increased level of knowledge about kids in the
seat and a plan of action for groups and individual students.
Using the EWS Tool
• Data is downloaded into the EWS tool prior to
every team meeting by Dean of Students
• Data sheets are handed out on confidential data
sheets at each team meeting
• Data is also visually represented on data wall in
locked data room
Student Flags
Reviewing
the Data-Protocol
Reviewing the Data—Data Wall
*Will also be using ACT data at end of year
Reviewing the Data—Data Cards
Information on student
data cards:
✓ Special Education
✓ ELL
✓ Booster/Intervention
Classes
✓ Attendance Risk
✓ Behavioral Risk
✓ Grade/Credit Risk
✓ DEWS Risk
✓ Co-curricular
Participation
Reviewing the Data
Who is at risk?
✓ Team looks for patterns.
✓ First we look at whole group and small group
concerns
✓ Next we look at individual student concerns
✓ Team focuses on MAP scores after current
benchmark dates
✓ Team focuses on grades/attendance/behavior inbetween benchmark assessments
Interpreting the Data
• Team discusses individual and/or groups of
students who are at risk. Staff share any
additional information that may help with
decision making.
• Parents are often contacted when discussing
risk of individual students.
• School counselor or school psychologist may
interview the student to problem solve.
*Use caution in assigning tasks to pupil services staff
Interpreting the Data
Examples:
• Team dug deeper into MAP scores of students near
the benchmark. The team found a pattern that almost
all of those students struggled most with the strand
“Informational Text”.
• Team hypothesized that some students might not be
trying their best on the MAP test and therefore scores
may be inaccurate of true skills.
• Team hypothesized that individual students are
struggling with mental health issues, relationships,
connections at school, AODA issues, skill deficits, etc.
Assign & Provide Interventions
Tier 1:
✓ Core curriculum
✓ District RtI Team
✓ WBHS PBIS Team
✓ Daily Morning Meetings
✓ 8th Period Advisory (IE System)
Tiers 2 & 3:
✓ CICO
✓ Individual & Small Group Counseling
✓ Mentoring
✓ Academic Booster/Intervention Classes (core plus more)
✓ Academic Call Backs
✓ Lunch to Learn (New March 2015)
✓ RtI/PBIS Tier 2&3 Meetings
Assign & Provide Interventions
Entry/Exit Decision Rules:
✓ Interventions during IE (Teacher created)
✓ CICO (SWIS Data and Attendance)
✓ Counseling (Parent, Teacher or Self Referral)
✓ Mentoring (EWS and Tier 2/3 Teams assign
based on data)
Do we have enough available interventions to meet
all student needs?
✓ Would like to do more mentoring
✓ Would like to do more small group counseling
✓ Shortage of mental health resources in the
community
Monitor Student Progress
• Data is collected throughout the year.
• We need to work on adding progress monitoring tools
for interventions (still working on creating…both for
progress of individuals as well as the intervention as a
whole)
• Academic Behavior Measures
• Decision rules/rubric for intervention classes
• Need decision rules for non-academic interventions
Turn and Talk
Discuss with a partner how your
school is using data to inform
instruction. What are your next best
steps?
All School Advisory Hour
Purpose:
● Create a culture of trust and support that is anchored in
our four pillars
○ Welcome: Everyone is Valued Here
○ Believe: It’s Never Too Late to Learn
○ Help: We Support Each Other
○ Succeed: Reaching Our Goals
● Increase student achievement for all learners
● Provide immediate and direct supports for learners who
are below benchmark or underachieving
● Increase exposure through enrichment offerings
Creating an effective Advisory (I/E) Period
Staff In-Service
Call Backs
Screenshot of IE spreadsheet
Enrichment Classes
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Use to create exposure
Decision Rules
Teacher proposals for enrichment classes
Enrichment Calendar
Clubs & Organizations
Parents have access…live on website
Enrichment Calendar Screenshot
Evaluate & Refine Process
• Team evaluated EWS process end of year
• Evaluated risk indicators & thresholds
• Evaluated decision rules & interventions &
made changes
• Evaluated impact with student outcome data
• D/F list
• MAP Scores
• Attendance
• Growth on School Report Card
• Reflected on strengths and challenges
PBIS
The WBHS Faculty and Staff will teach 21st century skills and learning
behaviors so that students are successful in school, home and community.
• We use RtI/EWS and PBIS teams to meet our
building goals.
• We must teach the behaviors associated with
responsibility for learning.
• Direct link between behaviors and academic
success.
• More intensive needs are handled by Tier2/3
teams
Evaluate & Refine
• Increase instructional time: move meetings to after school,
investigate alternative scheduling options (block, modified block,
etc.)
• Continue to work toward core plus more for ALL students below
grade level
• Refine the art and science of teaching through deeper
investigation of the GRRM
• Learn - attend institutes, conferences, read, collaborate (EE)
• Reflect - evaluate ourselves and identify weaknesses so that we
can continue to improve professionally (EE)
• Expand EWS so that all grade levels meet and review data
(Request from staff to add 11th grade meetings for 2014-15)
• Identify clear cut scores for interventions and communicate
those will all stakeholders
Lessons Learned
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Things take time
Build a culture of meeting kid’s needs
Know your staff
Give all staff a voice in making decisions and
creating the system supports
• There are things you have to give up in order to do
something different
• Communication is key
• Use what didn’t work and learn from it to change
for the better
Lessons Learned
• Staff perceptions of impact of system changes
with PBIS when connected to bigger picture
– Connect to Life Skills
– Not just about how to go through lunch line
• We have to TEACH kids what academic
behaviors look like and practice them
What are our teachers saying?
• There is still never enough time
• We need to include all staff somehow
• Would like to focus more on groups of students rather than
individuals
• We will have more data as we move forward about
effectiveness of EWS
• Staff feel more ownership
• Systems approach is more effective
• Better awareness of student needs due to data and
collaboration
• Problem solving is positive
School Learning Objective
All students in the Wittenberg-Birnamwood High
School will improve academic (learning) behaviors and
academic achievement by participating in the I/E
system so that 91% or more of all course work results
in A's, B's or C's and each grade level demonstrates
96% attendance rate or higher by the end of the 201415 school year.
Connecting goals to purposeful, meaningful work.
WBHS School Report Cards
2012-2013
2013-2014
Questions?
Thank you!
[email protected]
[email protected]
Early Warning System Resources
• National High School Center
• www.betterhighschools.org
• Early Warning Systems in Education
• www.earlywarningsystems.org
• YouTube Channel webinars: NHSCenterMedia
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