Bernice MacNaughton High School

 

School Information

School Name:  Bernice MacNaughton High School
School Address:  999 St. George Blvd., Moncton, New Brunswick, E1E 2C9
School Phone:  506.856.3469
School Fax:  506.856.3406
Principal:  Gary Wilson
Principal email:  garywil@nbed.nb.ca
Web Address: http://www.bmhs.ca/

 

Demographics

Number of Students:  917
Number Eligible for Free and Reduced Lunch: We run "Breakfast & Lunch for Learning" programs that feed between 80-100 students daily.
Percent of Limited English Proficient:  figures not kept
Percent of Special Education:  15.4%
Racial/Ethnic Percentages: figures not kept

 

Student Achievement Data:

 

Please comment on any aspect of the data that you believe is particularly significant.

The province of New Brunswick has only one standardized test at the high school level. BMHS has consistently been 20-23% higher than the district and provincial averages. In 2006, an average of 1 out of every 100 students in New Brunswick scored at the highest level (strong achievement) in the Reading Comprehension test. In 2007, 1 out of every 4 BMHS students scored at the highest level (strong achievement). This is a result of teachers and the school developing a number of focused interventions to help these students.

During the past 3 years we have significantly reduced the failure rate in a number of subjects with traditionally high failure rates. For example, Science 10 had a failure rate that had hovered between 30-40% for many years. Teachers created SMART GOALS and a systematic plan of interventions to address this problem. The failure rate for Science 10 during the 2007-2008 school year was 3%; a result of three years of continuous planning and growth. The number of students required to attend Summer School at BMHS was down by over 50%.

We are the first school in the province to employ a teacher, who is given one hour per day, to generate data for other teachers. This has allowed our teachers to examine and change their instructional practices on a skill by skill basis, make changes to assessments and see how large groups of students achieved on common assessments, and to celebrate the successes of both students and teachers. Teachers worked collaboratively to discuss best practices to promote student learning.

*** Please see the appendices for charts that support our statements below.

 

Please present additional information that indicates your efforts to build a professional learning community have had a positive impact on students and/or teachers.

As a staff, we decided to create a Professional Learning Community by responding to the 4 critical corollary questions.

Question # 1 What do we want students to know?

- Each teacher was required to meet with ‘like subject’ colleagues to identify the skills that students were expected to learn in each of the courses that they taught. To accomplish, this teachers had to consult provincial curriculum guides/documents. The product came to be known as the ‘skills binder’.

- Each team was asked to review their skills binders and to identify the essential skills for their course.

- Each team was asked to outline strategies that would be used to ensure students learned the required skills. These strategies included both instructional and assessment best practices. Though the skills and assessments developed remained common, teachers were free to decide what instructional methods worked best for their classes.

- Each team was asked to create formative and summative assessments based on the essential skills

- Each team was required to provide evidence of collaboration (ACTION PLAN FORMS)

- Each team was given a date by which the skills binders had to be completed. Completion of the binder would include the list of essential skills, sample activities, sample assessments, and rubrics.

Question # 2 How will we know when students have learned it?

- Teachers of ‘like subjects’ were asked to follow a common shell when creating the final exam for the course. For example, we standardized the number of recall questions, short written responses, and extended written responses.

- We also standardized the number of choices students would have for each section. For example, students were given three essays to choose from.

- This standardization has now developed to the point where many of our summative assessments are 100% ‘word for word’ common. Teachers are able to use the results from these common formative and summative assessments to plan their future lessons.

- Teachers review the data from these common assessments and break them down by skills, strands, and level of questions (Blooms Taxonomy), in order to ascertain areas of student strengths and weaknesses.

- Our staff received professional development on Quality Assessment Practices from Marcia Emberger. Teachers used the information from this session to assist in the creation of their year end examinations.

- Each team was required to create a minimum of five formative assessments for every summative assessment. These teams meet with an administrator twice each year and are required to link the formative to the summative assessments.

- Grade 9 math and English teachers created a placement test for the grade 8 students in our feeder schools to complete each June.

Question # 3 How will we respond when a student experiences difficulty?

- Using the placement test, and in consultation with the grade 8 teachers, students were identified as not having the prerequisite skills for 9th grade math and English and a supplemental period of math and English was built into their schedule each day.(see chart 1)

- Teams use RED Days. (Remediation/Enrichment Days) After an evaluation, teachers will determine which students need more time to acquire the necessary skills. These students will receive additional support for a short period of time while the rest of the class will receive enrichment. The students who received remediation will then be re-evaluated until they meet the desired standard.(see chart 2)

- We created a mandatory Learning Strategies class for students who failed their English Language Provincial Assessment (ELPA). Students in the province of New Brunswick must pass this provincial assessment in order to graduate. (see chart 3)

- Our struggling 9th grade readers are paired up with a grade 12 student who is taking the Reading Tutor 120 class. Seniors receive training on how to teach reading using the Great Leaps Reading Program. Their percentile ranking improved dramatically in a short period. (see chart 4)

- BMHS was the first school in the province to employ a full-time Study Hall teacher. She is responsible to work with subject teachers to ensure that students are proactive in completing their assignments and in preparing for future assessments. Grade 12 Honors students can earn a “free” period every day, but are required to work in Study Hall once per week. (see chart 5)

- We have created a system of discipline entitled the Highlander Way. This is a document that adheres to the principles of Ron Moorish and Harry Wong. We spend the first few days of every year teaching/reviewing these principles. Freshmen students get a more in-depth coverage in their mandatory Personal Development course.

Question # 4 How will we respond when they already know it?

- We are the first school in our district to create a Grade 9 Enrichment class

- We have five AP courses and many 1 level (advanced) courses (see chart 6)

- We offer our grade 12 students a chance to earn a credit as a Reading Tutor

- We have an Artist in Residence Program where local actors, musicians, and artists meet with our fine arts students to provide enrichment

- We offer grade 12 students a chance to earn the opportunity to take one less class in their final semester. A student must have an average of 85% or higher and be on schedule in terms of accumulating all of their credits. These students spend two classes each week helping out the Study Hall teacher. They also get three study periods each week.

 

Please elaborate strategies you have found to be effective in the following areas:

1. Monitoring student learning on a timely basis. 

- Students are given 4 progress reports and two semester reports each year.

- Students who are on tier 2 or 3 on our academic pyramid are given bi-weekly academic reports

- Students who do not meet academic standards on assessments are given extra support during period 6 and the chance to re-write to show mastery

- Potential graduates meet with the principal on a regular basis to track progress towards graduation

- Teachers are required to give 5 formative assessments (common in courses taught by more than one teacher) prior to a summative assessment.

2. Creating systems of intervention to provide students with additional time and support for learning.

- We sent three members of our school team to San Diego, California to attend the Pyramid of Interventions Institute. They have developed our school-based academic and behavioral pyramid based on best practices. Click the following to see a pdf of these pyramids.

Pyramid of Intervention: Academic Achievement

Pyramid of Intervention: Behaviour

3. Building teacher capacity to work as members of high performing collaborative teams that focus efforts on improved learning for all students.

The shift towards working as a Professional Learning Community began in the spring of 2006. In order to educate the staff on the concept, breakfast meetings were held where teachers began their professional dialogue. During the first year as a PLC, teachers collaborated to create skills binders for each of the courses at Bernice MacNaughton High School. These skills binders included: identified essential skills for the course, as well as sample activities, assessments (both formative and summative) and rubrics. In the fall of 2006, the administration began to move away from administrivia during staff meetings and move towards professional development opportunities.

During the spring of 2007 the first annual Strategic Planning Weekend took place off campus and all faculty members were welcome to attend. Prior to the weekend event, staff members completed surveys about the schools progress, “What was working? And what had yet to work?” During the Strategic Planning Weekend the surveys springboarded discussions surrounding topics which warranted celebration as well as areas which needed additional focus.

During the 2007-2008 academic school year, a new faculty position was created. The PLC coordinator position was an individual to whom teachers could turn for support with respect to working in a Professional Learning Community. A “creating time to collaborate committee” was created in order to address the greatest challenge – TIME. Several options were discussed in order to allow teachers to find time to collaborate. Examples of ways that the committee found time to allow teachers to collaborate within the school day include the following:

1. Have substitute teachers use their preparation period to fill in for another teacher and allow that teacher to collaborate with a colleague.

2. Use days that substitute teachers are called for admin or guidance to provide time for teachers to collaborate. For example, if a guidance counselor is absent, the substitute teacher should be used to free up teachers for collaboration.

3. Use assemblies to give teachers of specific subjects a chance to meet rather than supervise.

4. 20-30 minutes of collaboration time is built into the start of department and staff meetings.

5. Collaboration time possible on test days. The teacher begins the class; a supervising teacher appears approximately 10 minutes into the class. The subject teacher has time to collaborate.

6. Multi-class lesson. A teacher from the department or someone from the community may present a curriculum based lesson for a specific grade level. This lesson takes place in the auditorium and would involve all students at that grade level. For example, if the lesson was to be in the area of freshman science, then all the freshman in the building would go to the auditorium for a specific period. Once the students get settled and the presentation has begun, the teachers can leave for their small group meetings.

There was also a focus on common assessments as well discussions about continuum in some subjects. The principal attended the Assessment Institute in Portland, Oregon.

In the spring of 2008, after reading several articles, the resource teachers, school psychologist, guidance counselors, and one member of the Administration team met off campus for 2 days in order to give a concentrated effort to the development of the school pyramid of intervention. Three of these individuals had previously attended the Pyramid of Intervention Institute in San Diego, CA.

To kick off the 2008-2009 school year, two vice principals, four SPR’s (Supplementary Positions of Responsibility are equivalent to Department Heads) and the PLC school coordinator attended PLC’s at Work Institute in Moncton, New Brunswick.

During the 2008-2009 academic school year, a focus on better quality formative and summative assessments will take place. Learning Teams are currently conducting a book study of Rick Stiggin’s book Classroom Assessment for Student Learning – Doing It Right-Using It Well. Another focus will include using SMART goals individually, in the teacher teams, at the department level as well as at the school level.

The synergy which has developed from the teacher collaboration has lead to several exciting new initiatives for the 2008-2009 academic school year. The addition of a 30 minute additional period, referred to as Directed Learning, allows students to get a head start on their homework under the supervision of a teacher. During this time, students can also be given extra help in the science, math or English “centers” where teachers of those subjects are either collaborating together or offering assistance to students. These “extra” 30 minutes a day, which are now part of the school day, allow teachers the time to touch base on a regular basis with colleagues.

 

List awards and recognitions your school has achieved:

- August 2007- presenting school to School District 2 Administrators

- 2007 Pascal Math Competition Zone Winners- our grade 9 students won their zone (the province of New Brunswick) in the University of Waterloo National Math Competition

- October 2007- presenting school to New Brunswick School Principal’s Conference on “How to start a Professional Learning Community at the High School Level”

- April 2008- presenting school to School District 8 Administrators on “ Our PLC Journey”

- PLC Mentor teacher has presented in 7 countries to teachers and administrators on various educational topics

 

Appendix

Tiers for Classroom Teacher, School Team and Resource, Guidance, Outside Support