"Going from Good to Great!"

C. Standards based Student Learning: Instruction Focus Group Report

C1. To what extent are all students involved in challenging learning experiences to achieve the academic standards and the expected school-wide learning results?

Findings

Evidence

Santa Susana leadership and faculty hold firmly to the philosophy that instruction must be guided by the analysis of student work and achievement data. To ensure that all students are involved in challenging learning experiences, teachers must consistently review the strengths and weaknesses of each individual student and class in creating the focus for lessons and activities. To this end, all departments focus on data analysis in order to inform decisions regarding instructional practices. The increased emphasis on school-wide data analysis has recently led Santa Susana High School to a significant increase in student achievement scores (API, CAHSEE, CST, AYP). In alignment with the school’s informal motto, “Going From Good to Great,” the faculty this year has implemented a consistent process of data analysis through a system of “Data Teams.” Twelve faculty Data Team leaders voluntarily attended data team training during the summer of 2005. The first staff development day (August) of the 2005-2006 school year focused on this structured process of data analysis, as data team leaders partnered with the principal to educate the entire faculty about the concept. The faculty then formed data teams, mainly by department, who meet twice monthly to set goals, collect data, analyze data, and relate data to instructional practices and student learning. This practice is not a stretch from the already common tendency among all SSHS teachers to look at student work and analyze data on a regular basis. The newly structured process, however, and 100% faculty participation, allows for more consistent analysis and discussion among subject-area instructors, in addition to the dialogue that already occurs during FMMs and department meetings. Informed by the student work and achievement data, teachers design lessons to engage a wide variety of learning styles and capabilities. With the content standards at the essence of what is taught, teachers use an array of instructional strategies that allow students to demonstrate their knowledge and to explore concepts in depth: research projects, community internships, projects, portfolios that demonstrate work and progress over time, inter-departmental articulation, internet research and lessons, computer-based instruction, community service, group-work, student-student instruction, performance-based instruction, and the integration of arts and technology in all disciplines. All core subject departments proactively embrace state content standards as a guide for the design and refinement of instruction. The English department has developed a program that exceeds the state content standards. Standards are written as a continuum of skill for students in grades nine through twelve and include outcome, or performance, standards. An example of an English content standard is: “The student writes effectively for a variety of purposes and audiences, developing style and voice.” The performance standards is: “The student who meets or exceeds the content standard produces writing characterized by the following: maintains focus; develops a main idea that convey a perspective on the subject; organizes the writing in a clear, coherent style; creates an interesting beginning; develops an effective conclusion; uses effective and specific vocabulary; uses a variety of sentence lengths and structures; uses effective supporting detail; modifies writing for specific audiences.” SSHS student performance on the California Content Standards Test (CST) in English is good. The department meets at least once a month at the FMM to review instructional practices in addition to the monthly Data Team meeting where instruction is also addressed. The Troubadour English department has implemented a structured writing sequence beginning with basic proficiency in the ninth grade and continuing through the twelfth grade using more sophisticated means of expression and more detailed analytical thought. Teachers in all other areas capitalize by using written expression as part of their course-work requirements. A primary topic for the January 2006, staff development day is the infusion of writing throughout all disciplines and departments at Santa Susana High School. The English department will educate all faculty members on the ELA writing standards in order to provide universal, school-wide instruction to enhance writing skills and literacy. Four years ago, members of the mathematics department established standards-based, department-wide end-of-course exams for each of the department’s offerings. Discussions are held at least once a month during the FMMs about improving student learning (“outcomes”) in math. Though our STAR math scores continue to improve (we met our API goals), the math department is not satisfied. Math faculty members continue to refer students to the DART-Math program where they receive after-school tutorials two days a week and every third Saturday. The math department also works diligently, through the Data Team process, to identify areas of concern and modify instruction in targeted areas. Social studies and science have also adopted department-wide end-of-course exams. Standards-based instruction is prevalent in those disciplines as well. Instructional strategies are discussed within departments at FMMs. CST scores for these two areas have consistently improved recently—particularly in U.S. History and, overall, in science. Akin to math and ELA, the science and social studies faculties critically analyze student learning in their respective departments based on the CSTs and student work and, with administrative assistance, strive to re-write lesson plans based on assessments of student performances and information gathered by Data Teams. Directed and dedicated FMM time is available to accomplish these analyses and tasks. Santa Susana expects that all students will participate in a rigorous curriculum and achieve in an environment of high expectations. With the arrival of new students in their ninth grade year, emphasis is immediately placed on preparing them for the challenging learning experiences they will encounter throughout their high school career. In recognition of recent research showing the importance of middle to high school transition strategies and programs, Santa Susana High School uses a variety of methods to welcome ninth grade students in a unique and powerful way. With the extensive support provided to new students, they are equipped for the challenges of the high school’s instructional program. Incoming students must choose to attend SSHS by March 1 of each year. (Currently, there are no criteria for entrance other than an interest in one or more of our Schools/Academies.) Two weeks after being “accepted,” students are interviewed by a team of faculty and upper-class students. This interview serves as introduction to our school as well as reinforcement of our expectations and standards. Shortly thereafter, students and parents meet with members of the counseling staff and receive an extensive orientation to the academic programs of our school as part of their registration process. New students are then invited to a “socializing event” (New Student Welcome Night) sponsored by the ASB and the SSHS faculty. “Big Brothers” and “Big Sisters” assist ninth-graders in the transition from middle school throughout their first year at SSHS, while introducing them to the academic expectations of the school. The Troubadour Advisory Program (TAP) is the home base through which all ninth grade students receive information and support regarding their academic program and guidance to successfully manage the rigor of their courses. Through communication with peers sharing similar interests, and with the TAP Teacher, students receive support to assist them with the challenges experienced in all of their academic courses. The input and information gathered through the TAP classes is then shared among faculty and is used to improve instruction school-wide. Ninth grade students identified as falling behind or at-risk are referred by TAP and other teachers to the Intervention Specialists who create assistance plans to stay “on-track” throughout high school. A priority of Santa Susana High School is that all faculty members remain up-to-date on effective practices and strategies in order to facilitate achievement of the academic standards and the school-wide learning results. The August 2005, staff development day was opened with reference to Marzano’s Classroom Instruction That Works, along with a gift of the book for each teacher to put in their personal library. Effective Instructional strategies has been to focus this year and was also the foundation for the staff development day in January where the top nine instructional strategies were gone over in detail and compared to current practices. In an effort by school leadership to infuse the most recent instructional research into the classrooms of Santa Susana High School, teachers are continuously informed on best practices and are provided opportunities to expand upon their instructional knowledge through workshops and conferences. During the 2004-2005 school year, more than seventy percent (70%) of SSHS teachers attended one or more workshops to enhance classroom instruction.

SSHS Course Catalogue Master Schedule Course Syllabi Staff development on research-based strategies Research-based Instructional Strategies information Lesson Plans Choice Tours Classroom posters Four-year plans for students FMM discussions on data and current research Data teams sharing instructional strategies Looking at student work to adjust instructional strategies if need be Internships Student mastery of standards ROP courses Standardized Test Data (CAHSEE, CST, AYP, API) Big Brother/Big Sister New Student Interviews New Student Welcome Night TAP curriculum Staff Development topics Data Team Meetings English Performance Standards DART-Math Conference Registration Faculty is made aware of research-based instructional strategies Individualized “four-year” plans for students

C2. To what extent do all teachers use a variety of strategies and resources, including technology and experiences beyond the textbook and the classroom, that actively engage students, emphasize higher order thinking skills, and help them to succeed at higher levels?

Findings

Evidence

Santa Susana teachers use a wide range of instructional strategies and techniques in order to provide all students with the opportunity to learn the standards. Driven by research, our master schedule/bell schedule is clearly structured by instructional considerations. The faculty has adopted a nine-period day that allows great flexibility for students to be challenged by their personal interests (e.g., performing arts, technology) while maintaining the integrity of their academic programs. Period one begins at 6:55 a.m. and period nine concludes at 5:05 p.m. Though limited by staffing, some students may take more than the traditional six periods particularly if they are interested in the arts or if they are having academic difficulty. Our nine periods are complemented by a non-traditional daily schedule that offers two-hour block schedules two days a week, TAP two days a week, and an hour of faculty in-service time each Friday (FMM). The structure of time, we have found, is a powerful contributor to student learning; the flexibility that we have established in our bell schedule is a reflection of that conviction. We attribute our rising STAR/CAHSEE/SAT assessment scores, at least in part, to the re-structuring of student and faculty time including an Intervention Program. Extended instructional time for students and time to analyze data and modify instructional strategies has led to improved learning experiences for all students. Teachers view standards as a reason to vary instruction to address multiple student learning styles. Visitors consistently note that SSHS teachers involve students in unconventional learning situations: French Week/German Week and International Week to reinforce language and culture; “real-world” projects for art and computer animation including design of school and community brochures; the use of TCI materials in social studies to include simulations, re-enactments, debates, group and individual projects, and presentations; Electronic Bookshelf activities, and reenactments, collaborative and individual presentations and drama in English classes; collaborative science labs at all levels of science; two large musicals each year and community charitable activities in music and drama classes; real-world design and internships in computer repair/networking and web-design; team and individual film/video productions highlighted in the SSHS annual spring video festival; group and individual internships in sound/lighting “in the industry” through Stagecraft classes. Our two-day a week block schedule provides teachers with the time (and necessity) of devising innovative, yet pedagogically sound, instructional strategies using a combination of collaborative and individual activities. Different and multiple learning experiences are important to guide students to explore concepts in-depth and demonstrate their understanding. Under Board policy, up to two hours total of homework can and should be given to high school students each night. The intent of homework is generally to practice and reinforce concepts or to provide students with time for creative exploration of the subject—as in English assignments in writing. The math department is moving to further involve parents in the completion of homework, thereby reinforcing the idea of guided practice at home. Other disciplines use work at home for the completion of projects (social studies, art, science, video), recitation (foreign language), and mastering of skills (computer education). The infusion of technology in classrooms including networking, student and teacher computers in the classrooms, presentation equipment, e-mail, on-line grading and on-line and real-time attendance has dramatically increased the breadth and depth of the use of technology in the classroom for instructional and administrative purposes. Each classroom has a television connected to the computer and each academic department has a multi-media mobile cart (computer-DVD-VCR-projection TV) that can be used for both teacher and student presentations. Every classroom, the library, the College and Career Center (CCC), the computer labs, and the counseling offices and administrative offices are connected by computer to the Internet via a T-1 line. The Internet is used in classroom instruction for reference purposes. There are 315 student-use computers on campus that provide a 4.4:1 student to computer ratio—far under the state recommendation and under the district-wide ratio of 7.6:1. There are three computer labs on campus as well as computers for student use in the library and in the CCC. Software is generally current and is updated as much as budget and grant funds allow. Santa Susana High School has a school-wide Technology Plan that is updated each year by the school’s eight-member technology committee chaired by the principal. The Technology Plan, reviewed annually by the School Site Council (SSC), is comprehensive and includes sections on staff development, curriculum and instruction, hardware and software resources, funding and budget, and monitoring and evaluation of the plan. The Technology Plan is congruent with and supports the general school-wide plan. Following the Tech Plan, SSHS continues to direct local resources into technology. With funding from the SSC, the school attempts to upgrade twenty percent (20%) of the computers on campus each year—a five-year upgrade cycle. Discretionary bond funds are now available to Santa Susana High School due to the recent passage of a school bond in Simi Valley. In our commitment to maintaining a viable and up-to-date technology program for students, the SSHS community has chosen to use a portion of our discretionary money to upgrade our technology infrastructure. The use of technology at Santa Susana is embedded in both classroom (instruction and record keeping) and administrative use. Teachers are required, as part of their professional assessment, to use technology in their instruction. Observation and discussion indicate that 100% of SSHS teachers, including P.E. teachers, include technology in their lessons. Student proficiency in technology ranges from “proficient” (all students at SSHS take a computer applications course that includes word processing, spreadsheet and data-base use) to highly advanced certificate earners in ROP and Information Technology Academies. The ROP Web Design class, in conjunction with the district, is currently designing all elementary school websites for the Simi Valley Unified School District. Although limited by space and human and monetary resources, the school library provides additional resources that actively engage students in the learning process. While funds only permit the library to remain open from 7:30 a.m. through 3:30 p.m., the school, through the SSC, invests each year in the SSHS “Library Without Walls” for research and homework help. The “Library Without Walls” also provides access to five commercial databases that are available to all students and their families, at home, or anywhere that has an Internet connection. Scholarly journals, research and other academic resources are included in these subscription databases. Students conduct approximately 2,600 individual searches on the commercial databases monthly. The implications for research are tremendous, as is the possible use of the databases in classroom instruction. The library web page additionally provides complete on-line study guide pages for A.P. U.S. History, A.P. Government – and will be expanding study guide pages to other A.P. disciplines. The SSHS library houses thirteen (PC - Mac) computers for student use. The majority of the library collection is electronically accessible to students. Students receive instruction and assistance in library media use; they learn how to access, evaluate, and manage information, by using a wide range of print and electronic sources. All freshmen participate in a library orientation to learn how to use the library resources effectively and how to access and navigate the “Library Without Walls” program. Information literacy is further taught to sophomore honors English students, through instruction in skills such as how to research effectively on the Internet and how to evaluate web- sites. This lesson will be expanded to include all sophomore students when the library moves to a bigger facility (scheduled for modernization) on campus and can provide access to a larger number of computers. The library media specialist welcomes class, small group, and individual research projects in the library. Santa Susana High School was a recipient of two county “School-to-Career” initiative grants several years ago and continues to be a Carl Perkins recipient. Some of the resources from these grants were used to provide a preliminary structure for the SSHS School of Information Technology and as a resource for the then, newly formed, Stagecraft classes (School of the Arts)—following the school plan. The results have been that students in those Schools and Academies follow a program of study based on solving specific problems (computer repair and stagecraft lighting, for examples). Computation, communication and scientific/inquiry skills are demanded by the curriculum. These fields are two of our specialties and attract students to attend SSHS to participate in these strong and unique programs. Many times, coursework in these Academies offer real-world internships and community service opportunities and result in post-high school careers. The staff has submitted Stagecraft Technology as an “f” requirement to the University of California. In addition, as a recipient of the Specialized Secondary Program (SSP) and Smaller Learning Communities (SLC) Grants, Santa Susana is currently able to enhance instruction by recent purchases of specialized software, equipment and programs. The innovative and forward thinking nature of the SSHS faculty leads the school to continuously seek out new sources of funding and ways to improve instruction. In an effort to provide relevance to the curriculum, the staff at Santa Susana is continuing their efforts to add a school-to-career component to each Academy at SSHS. Currently, internships provide students with additional “extra-ordinary” challenges. Through the Academy structure and especially in the ROP capstone courses, SSHS provides students with relevant real-life experiences that challenge them to use what they have learned in school beyond the four walls of the classroom. Currently, SSHS students are designing and creating web-sites for local businesses and other schools within the district, designing logos and business cards, working as service and support technicians and working in various capacities with entertainment-related industries. Senior Projects provide students additional “extra-ordinary” challenges. At SSHS only, students must complete a formal senior project that may include either a culminating activity related to their academy and course of study, or community service. The Senior Project is organized through TAP and the Senior English classes. Senior project work, guided by an advisor, is independent and done outside of school hours to pose an additional learning stretch that prepares students for the more independent work they will experience in post-secondary life. All seniors make presentations of their projects to a panel of faculty, community members, and at least one eleventh-grade student. Seniors also have the option to develop a Senior Portfolio as well as earn a “Certificate of Achievement” in their Academies. Under district policy, seniors must enroll for a minimum of five classes during their senior year; at SSHS in 2005-06, seventy-four percent (74%) of seniors take six or more classes, twenty-five percent (25%) of seniors are focused through ROP classes and work experience education. Thirty-five percent (36%) of seniors are enrolled in an AP class.

Library Without Walls Internships Performances Senior Project Work Experience Portfolios Academy Certification Master Schedule Bell Schedule Four-Year plans Mock Trial Variety of instructional strategies Lettering in Performing Arts Standardized Test Results Student tech support of school curriculum School Website Seminars and Workshops AP Test Prep Sessions School Activity Calendar School and Academy structure SSHS Tech Plan ROP Courses Senior Project School-to-Career Grants SSP Grant SLC Grant EBS Department assignments Department MMM Carts SVUSD School Bond Student Internships Course Lesson Plans Career and Counseling Center School Site Council

Areas of Strength

Key Issues

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