Team Members:

Michelle Wallace, Jeremy Belfield, Peggy Spadafora, Tania Ramalho

Team Name:

Fulton/Lanigan

For each team member,

Place an X in the boxes that apply.

Academic Year

Summer Institute

2006-2007

Summer 06

Team Location and Focus

Lanigan

• Creating a learning community that fosters practicing, preservice teacher and student learning, and achievement, as measured in learning assessments.

Data analyzed on teacher learning and results (e.g. Faculty surveys, teachers reflective journals)

Staff surveys and feedback from Study Group implementation from 2005-2006 school year.

Data analyzed on student learning and results: (e.g. annual literacy assessments/NYS report card disaggregated data for 4^th grade ELA, analysis of rubric scores on students writing samples each quarter for students in v.s. not in the program):

NYS School Report Card for Lanigan:

• Results of the NYS Report Card revealed continued weakness in student achievement for students with learning disabilities, and students at an economic disadvantage. Besides a continued focus on increasing instructional integrity for these groups of students, we also feel that parent involvement is crucial to securing the success of each child.

Action Plan for 2005-6 (list objectives, activities, people responsible, month by month for the academic year. E.g. September Peng will recruit teachers for ESL study group to focus on analyzing various models of ESL instruction, October-teacher team members recruit/select students to participate in the College Experience and pair with Candidate writing partners pre-assess students writing samples)

Jeremy Belfield , Michelle Wallace, Tania Ramalho, and Peggy Spadafora:

Goal 1: Our goal is to increase caring adult involvement with school activities. The aim of this goal is to help secure the connection between the child's home and school. This collaboration will help insure the success of the child and lead to an overall increase in student achievement.

Goal 2: To increase student understanding of math, science, and technology through hands-on learning experiences and applying skills across content areas through the use LEGOS.

Goal 3: To increase student achievement through helping them feel connected to the school environment. This goal will be implemented through a study group, titled Kids Working it Out.

Goal 4: To increase student achievement in math through implementation of DataNotGuesswork strategies for basic computation skills for 5^th and 6^th grade math students.

Standard 3: Professional Development Activities Address School/District Professional Development Plans.

Goal 1: The School Action Plan at Lanigan states the school will increase parent support and involvement and develop liaisons with community agencies to provide wrap-around services for children with significant behavioral needs, increase positive communication with parent, increasing collaboration with parents to problem solve around children with significant behavior needs.

Our plan is to link Generating Expectations for Student Achievement (G.E.S.A.) for parents and our current Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) program along with the initiatives of our current Parents at Lanigan School (PALS) to help increase parent involvement in our school environment. One of the goals of the GESA program is to increase critical thinking skills with children through the use of higher level questioning and our goal will be to help foster this thinking both in the school environment and in the child's home environment.

Goal 2: A continued goal on our school improvement plan is to increase student achievement through the use of critical thinking skills. Using the legos manipulatives in correlation with science concepts of renewable vs. nonrenewable energy sources and math strands of measurement, students will be applying new found skills through building solar powered vehicles.

Goal 3: Our school improvement plan has as a goal that all teachers will use Cool Tools to pre-teach positive behavior expectations. The study group was encouraged by our building administrator as a forum for professional discourse in implementing the Cool Tools.

Goal 4: The use of DataNotGuesswork strategies is meant to improve student proficiency with basic and necessary computation skills. Our school district has been expressing a growing concern that students are not proficient with these necessary skills.

Standard 4: Professional Development Activities Improve the Teaching and Learning Environment.

Goal 1: One goal that we have is to share the GESA for Parents information at the Lanigan Block Party and the K parent orientation in September. The goal of this activity will be to raise awareness as to the achievement gaps present among students and the frustration felt by parents as a result of the student's frustration.

After this initial informational campaign, we plan to offer a one-hour introduction to provide parents with strategies to help improve their child's achievement in the school environment.

Goal 2: The mindstorm/LEGOS project will help improve the learning environment by showing kids the connection between the content areas of math, science and technology in an applied form.

Goal 3: The study group will help improve the teaching and learning environment by fostering a positive learning environment where all kids feel able to learn in a safe and nurturing environment.

Goal 4: Proficiency with basic skills helps improve student competence and confidence with necessary computation skills to allow students to be able to access all components of the math curriculum.

Standard 5: Professional Development Involves the Participation of All Stakeholders.

Goal 1: The planned goal of this activity is to make sure that all stakeholders concerned with the child's achievement are actively involved in the learning process. Enlisting the assistance of parents and other adults in the child's life is a proven strategy for increasing student achievement.

Goal 2: The goal of the integrating math, science, and technology with the LEGOS manipulatives is to actively involve teachers and students in authentic learning.

Goal 3: The goal of the study group will be to involve teaching and support staff in finding ways to reach students to problem-solve through challenging social behaviors.

Goal 4: The use of DataNotGuesswork strategies actively involves students and teachers in the tracking of student progress with mastery of skills and concepts through goal setting and graphing of progress moving students from  L to Bell, to J.

Standard 6: Professional Development Activities Provide Significant Opportunities for Active Learning.

Goal 1: Including parents in educational dialogue will help spread awareness as to the importance of their child as an active and engaged learner.

Goal 2: The LEGOS project is specifically designed with the intention that students will be engaged with active learning.

Goal 3: The study group will help in creating an emotionally safe school environment where active learning can occur.

Goal 4: The use of DataNotGuesswork provides for active learning by giving the kids the opportunity to set reasonable and attainable goals that they work to achieve.

Standard 7: Professional Development Content involves Scientifically based Research.

Goal 1: The Comprehensive School Reform Movement has continually sighted that parent involvement is pivotal in securing the success of all children.

Goal 2: TIMS continually sights the need for students to be able to make connections across content areas. The LEGOS/Mindstorm project provides a forum for students to explore these connections.

Goal 3: Research continually sights that students cannot learn unless they feel physically and emotionally safe. The study group will help in fostering a safe learning environment for students.

Goal 4: DataNotGuesswork involves scientifically based research strategies to help students become active stakeholders in the teaching and learning process.

Standard 8: Professional Development Content Activities Utilized the NYS Learning Standards.

Goal 1: Although parent involvement is not specifically linked to the NYS Learning Standards, the goal of parent involvement is to help students achieve the objectives set out in the NYS Learning Standards.

Goal 2: The Legos project very clearly integrates the MST standards into the designing of machines that utilize renewable energy resources.

Goal 3: This study group has at its heart, ELA Standard 4 which is that students will use language for social interaction. This study group will emphasize the teaching of positive social interaction.

Goal 4: DataNotGuesswork strategies utilize goal setting and tracking of progress to help students achieve proficiency with skills in achieving the NYS standards.

Standard 9: Professional Development Activities are Aimed at Helping ALL Students Achieve to a Level of Excellence.

Goal 1: GESA for parents is aimed at involving parents who do not feel connected to the school environment. This positive connection will help all students and parents realize that schools want to see their students are successful and that this goal is accomplished through collaboration between the home and school.

Goal 2: The legos project attempts to reach all students in that each student will have the opportunity to manipulate the materials and show what they have learned in an applied form.

Goal 3: The study group attempts to make sure that the school environment is a place where all students feel that they can learn.

Goal 4: DataNotGuesswork involves helping students to set goals that challenge and help them achieve their personal best.