National Partnerships School’s Forum March 7, 2011

1. National Partnerships School’s ForumMarch 7, 2011 HUME CENTRAL SECONDARY COLLEGE

2. Overview • Our context • Our school improvement framework • The importance of leadership • Key elements of our school improvement journey

3. Our context – Hume Central S.C. • Multi-campus setting: • Blair St (7-9) • Dimboola (7-9) • Town Park (10-12) • Total 1145 students • 110 Teaching staff and 40 non-teaching staff • High levels of disadvantage – 85% of students receive E.M.A.

4. 2008… • Broadmeadows area: chronic disadvantage, high levels of poverty and unemployment • Ongoing decline in enrolments • Run-down facilities • Low retention • Low attendance • Poor VCE All Study score averages and AIM results

6. In line with school effectiveness research, we know that literacy achievement is central to achievement in all subject areas and one of the main determinants of how well a student will achieve in their senior years of schooling. • We recognize that many of our students come to us in Year 7 with huge gaps in their learning, and that if we don’t “catch them up”, they will continue to enter VCE, VET & VCAL (and later still, the Tertiary sector and/or the job market) at a major disadvantage compared to other students.

7. Even if we move our students ahead at the normal, expected RATE of development, they will always remain behind. Our core challenge is to “catch these students up”. That is, to give them a fair chance of success, we need to move them “2 years in 1” in terms of their literacy.

8. Our school improvement FRAMEWORK: The 4 PRECONDITIONS: • A focus on what matters most • Strong leadership that is shared • An orderly learning environment • High expectations (Zbar, Kimber and Marshall, “Schools that punch above their weight”)

9. HCSC’S ROADMAP FOR 2 in 1 - 2011 PRECONDITIONS FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT A focus on what matters most – High Expectations – An Orderly Learning Environment - Strong Leadership that is shared COACHING FOR SUCCESS COACHING FOR SUCCESS LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOURS Empathic – Create clarity around vision and roles – Engage staff – Peer feedback – Focus on development and improvement – Ensure responsibility and accountability

10. THE LEADERSHIP LINE College ‘Climate’ Staff Motivation College Effectiveness Leadership Behaviours

11. Core Business Empathy Energy Change Management Clarity Enthusiasm Development Engagement Pride People Learning Passion Leadership Behaviours College ‘Climate’ Staff Motivation College Effectiveness

12. EMPATHY • Leadership Team: Is Approachable Can be relied upon Knows the problems faced by staff Staff feel ‘understood’ CLARITY • Staff know what to do • Staff understand the school vision • Staff know the direction in which the school is moving • There is clear and good communication • Staff know what their role is

13. ENGAGEMENT • There is professional interaction • Decision making is participative • There is consultation • Processes are agreed upon • Staff working in highly effective teams • LEARNING • There is recognition of the work done • There is responsibility and accountability • There is peer feedback • The focus is on development and improvement • Staff “grow” both personally and professionally

14. HCSC “Coaching for success” model • A system that supports and empowers teachers and support staff to achieve success as they perform their many and varied roles. • Involves all Principal Class members and Leading Teachers being “assigned” a number of teachers who hold positions of responsibility (PORs) within the college. • Sometimes involves formal, planned discussions, whereas other times, involves providing less formal day-to-day or as-needed feedback to support people as they set goals, reflect on their performance and strive to become as effective as they can be.

15. As part of these “Coaching for Success” partnerships between Leading Teachers and PORs: • Leading Teachers support their PORs to develop and articulate their goals and action plans for 2010. This is directly linked to the college performance review process. • Leading Teachers “keep in touch” with their PORs to assess progress, identify additional needs and opportunities, and provide specific feedback. • Leading Teachers conduct a number of planned “Coaching for Success” discussions with their PORs throughout the year, using the Coaching for Success Interaction Process (opening, clarifying, developing, agreement and closing) and the Coaching for Success Key Principles (maintain and enhance self-esteem; listen and respond with empathy; ask for help and encourage involvement; share thoughts, feelings and rationale, and provide support without removing responsibility).

16. Key elements of our school improvement journey AGUARANTEED AND VIABLE CURRICULUM “… is the MOST IMPORTANT school level factor impacting on student achievement” (Robert Marzano: What Works in Schools)

17. Effective schools…. • Have a coherent school-level plan which sets out the sequence of content and skills which must be addressed in specific courses and at specific year levels, and which individual teachers do not have the option of disregarding or replacing with other content of their own choosing.

18. CURRICULUM DESIGN TEAMS (CDTs) • All staff allocated to ONE Discipline-Based CDT, led by Discipline Leaders • Weekly meetings • P.D for Discipline Leaders – focused on building their capacity to lead high performing collaborative teams • Dual emphasis on CDT TASKS and PROCESSES

19. CDT TASKS • Explicit focus on specifying the DECLARATIVE AND PROCEDURAL KNOWLEDGE objectives • Explicit focus on identifying the ACADEMIC VOCABULARY which is critical to student understanding of subject content • Development of COMMON ASSESSMENT TASKS (including rubrics) for each unit which enable teachers to judge the extent to which students have acquired the targeted knowledge and skills • Analysis of student literacy data to identify low, middle and high achieving students within each class. • Plan differentiated LEARNING TASKS to scaffold/extend each group within the class to achieve the intended learning goals • Bring evidence of student learning (completed and assessed CATS and rubrics) and participate in MODERATION

20. What are the LEARNING GOALS for students in this subject? What knowledge and skills do students need to learn? What COMMON ASSESSMENT TASKS will students complete so we can measure whether they have learned the intended knowledge and skills? Plan differentiated purposeful teaching strategies to target the needs of each group within the class CURRICULUM DESIGN TEAMS: REFLECTIVE PRACTICE CYCLE Establish DATA PROFILES: Low, Middle and High groups within each class What RUBRIC will we use to analyse and make judgments about student performance? Analyse student work: EVIDENCE of what students can SAY, MAKE, WRITE or DO. Moderate a LOW, MEDIUM and HIGH sample from each class to ensure consistent judgments. PROCESS LEADS TO COLLABORATIVE UNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT GOOD PRACTICE

21. HCSC “Explicit Instruction Model” • Based on research of Hattie and Rowe which shows that students from disadvantaged backgrounds with low levels of literacy and numeracy experience greater gains in achievement when provided with explicit instruction, as opposed to more constructivist/inquiry based approaches

22. EXPLICIT INSTRUCTION MODEL - Overview • Beginning of lesson: Hook the students in, make the goals clear, and activate/review prior knowledge and learning • Presentation phase: This is where you as the teacher explicitly teach the concept or skill, and check all students get it • Guided practice phase: This is where you as the teacher create very structured, scaffolded tasks or activities to allow the students to practice the skill or develop their understanding of the concept, and where you move around the room giving feedback and support to make sure all students are on the right track • Application phase: This is where you provide students with an opportunity to apply the skill or knowledge more independently • Review phase: This is where you sum up the lesson, tie it all together into a coherent whole, and get students to reflect on what they’ve learned.

23. Peer Coaching • All Leading Teachers and Discipline Leaders part of a “Peer Coaching Team” (groups of 3) which works through 2 cycles per term of pre-briefs, classroom observations and de-briefs • All Peer Coaches trained in core coaching skills, including: • Listening • Questioning (clarifying, elaborating, probing, reflective) • Providing purposeful feedback.

24. Analyse classroom data What skills/knowledge do I need to better develop in my students? What areas of my pedagogy do I need to focus on? COACHING: REFLECTIVE PRACTICE CYCLE Observe/give feedback/ reflect Set goals Plan strategies Act/ implement PROCESS LEADS TO COLLABORATIVE UNDERSTANDINGS ABOUT GOOD PRACTICE

25. Teaching and Learning Coaches • 4 Teaching and Learning Coaches (3 x Literacy focused, 1 x Numeracy focused) employed during 2010 • Leading and supporting teachers in using the Explicit Instruction Model to plan differentiated, purposeful instruction which targets the needs of, and scaffolds/extends, the range of students in our classes

26. DAILY READING BLOCK • The purpose of the Daily Reading Block is to improve literacy. • For students to learn to use a range of strategies before, during and after reading and eventually automatise these strategies. • To provide a time for students to read daily to ensure these skills can be developed and reinforced with teacher guidance. • To place students in liquid ability groups, track progress regularly through use of ‘On demand’ testing, move students on wherever necessary and continue to challenge students at their reading levels. • To build teacher capacity in supporting staff from all disciplines to explicitly teach within this framework in our daily reading block.

27. GOAL • Our goal is to equip all students with these strategies and provide enough modelling and support and regular opportunities for practice that they will get to the point where they apply the strategies independently and automatically in a range of contexts.

28. TARGETS • We want to achieve two years of learning in one (students increase by one progression point in one year according to their OnDemand Adaptive testing) in order to reach or exceed year level expectation. • To have all Year 7-9 students engaging in reading on a daily basis • For students to develop and automatise the reading strategies for each stage of reading (before, during and after) in order to improve their comprehension skills. • To develop teacher knowledge and understanding of the High Reliability Literacy Teaching Procedures. The skills of the GRRT process to be transferred across disciplines.

29. Overview of program • Students are grouped according to their On Demand Adaptive reading scores and teacher judgement. • There are two models used in the Daily Reading Block. They are “Guided Reading Reciprocal Teaching” (GRRT) (three 35min sessions) and Independent Reading (two 35min sessions) • Students have a workbook and an Independent reading log.

30. PLANNING AND ASSESSMENT • Students reading levels are assessed using the OnDemand Adaptive reading test in June and November and teacher judgements are also taken into consideration. • The GRRT is reported on every three weeks in our progress reports.

31. Action Improvement Zones(AIZ)NMR Initiative Using data for decision making: Each campus has an AIZ Literacy Leader responsible for: • Running Professional Learning teams at each campus (PLTs) every two weeks with English teachers across 7-10. • At each PLT meeting AIZ leaders: • lead teachers through a cycle of examination of student assessment results • Setting objectives for student learning • Plan a learning program targeted to the student’s current level of learning • Implement and review the learning program and use of resources. • Each PLT must work collaboratively to analyse data, focus on zone of proximity, plan around focussed teaching and learning • Use the HRLTPs and other literacy tools to target areas/skills that need explicit teaching • Manage on demand testing cycles at beginning, middle and end of year and data to be made available on ultranet for all teachers to access • Run workshops across disciplines during CDT meetings, to support teachers with lesson planning using the HRLTPs.