Using Schoolwide Practices

See creative ideas on how to USE SCHOOLWIDE PRACTICES. Post comments, questions, and/or suggestions about how you and other educational leaders at your school are using schoolwide practices.



Using Schoolwide Practices: Jacob Hiatt Magnet School in Worcester, MA has developed schoolwide best practices. Their agreed practices are posted and implemented in every classroom every day.



Using Schoolwide Practices: Roosevelt School in Worcester, MA has a data room where they track and post student scores using their agreed upon internal measures in Reading and Math. Posting current scores and their goals is deliberate, intentional and it keeps everyone FOCUSED on the Work.





Using Schoolwide Practices: Woodland Academy in Worcester, MA has tied its FOCUS to its core values and then posted throughout so all students and teachers connect the FOCUS to existing schoolwide practices.



Using Schoolwide Practices: Chapin Street School in Ludlow, MA has worked to keep its PD connected and supportive to each school’s instructional focus. The entire year of PD is focused around the common practice they are working on and the ILT uses sticky notes to post professional development activities in the available time slots. All professional development must connect to their annual goal.



Using Schoolwide Practices: Satoo School in Edmonton, Alberta used the acronym B.U.R.P. to help students LIVE the best practices they use in the classroom with every teacher, every day.

Involving Families in FOCUS

See creative ideas on how to INVOLVE FAMILIES IN THE FOCUS. Post comments, questions, and/or suggestions about how you and other educational leaders at your school are involving families in the focus.



Involving Families in the Focus: Brown County Middle School in Illinois shares good news as well as the 'work' with both the internal and external stakeholders of their school. Their BCMS Newsletter, written by the principal, is a quarterly for families and community members.


Download the BCMS Newsletter here.

Celebrating Student Growth

See creative ideas on how to CELEBRATE STUDENT GROWTH. Post comments, questions, and/or suggestions about how you and other educational leaders at your school are celebrating student growth.



Celebrating Student Growth: Chapin Street School in Ludlow, MA, developed a data wall to display every student’s current data in ELA and MATH. They move students’ pictures as they show growth throughout the year. The magnetic data board was constucted from galvanized sheet metal glued to plywood, framed and mounted to the wall in their professional development room. They post student performance levels using student I.D.s backed with magnetic tape. Because the room is used for parent meetings, shades mounted above the board roll down to cover the confidential information displayed. Total cost - under $150.



Celebrating Student Growth: Columbus Park School, Grade 4, in Worcester, MA, creatively displays data. Students created their trains and posted their scores in the train window.



Celebrating Student Growth: Goddard School Grade 1 in Worcester, MA, shows creative ways to display student DIBELS data. Student sailboats move from RED to YELLOW to GREEN (where Green is the benchmark).



Celebrating Student Growth: Veterans Park School Grade 2 students in Ludlow, MA, celebrate growth by having a visual representation of their path to reading growth; profiling student writing about their personal goal.



Celebrating Student Growth: Goddard School Grade 5 in Worcester, MA, shows creative ways to display student MAP (Interim) Assessment data.



Celebrating Student Growth: Goddard School Grade 4 in Worcester, MA, shows creative ways to display student MAP (Interim) Assessment data.

Posting Goals and Data

See creative ideas on how to POST GOALS AND DATA. Post comments, questions, and/or suggestions about how you and other educational leaders at your school are posting goals and data.



Posting Goals and Data: The school community of Pittsburgh Beechwood Pre-K-5 School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania "R.O.A.R. (Reading Often Achieves Results) for Reading". Check out how the staff COMMUNICATE their FOCUS and SMARTe goal to all stakeholders.



Posting Goals and Data: At Elm Park Community School in Worcester, MA, staff are committed to providing solid core instruction to every student, every day. The data board displayed in their professional development room assist them in making decisions based on what the data says about each student. They know that "just in time" instruction will help them to achieve their goal of having at least 80% of all students proficient.




Posting Goals and Data: Staff members of Muir Elementary School in Glendale, CA, are committed to using data to make decisions. A schoolwide data wall along with data analysis charts are housed in the professional development room. Staff use this information to make decisions around teaching and learning.




Posting Goals and Data: Staff at Pittsburgh West Liberty in Pittsburgh, PA, share data with all school stakeholders through the use of "good news data boards". These data boards reflect schoolwide, primary, and intermediate data. Teachers and administration change these boards after each interim measure.




Posting Goals and Data: At Gates Lane Elementary School in Worcester, MA, data displays are everywhere. Grade levels post data to show progress in many different ways. Students can talk about where they are at, what progress they have made, and what their 'next step goal' is. These data displays are changed after each interim measure is administered.





Posting Goals and Data: Pittsburgh Concord Elementary School in Pittsburgh, PA, use data displays in all classrooms to show progress of students on interim measures. Students in all classrooms are able to talk about the data and their individual goals to make continued progress.




Posting Goals and Data: Brown County High School, IL, posts schoolwide data from their STI interim measure. The theme is 'Ready for College, Ready for Work'. Each student is represented by a graduation cap which is placed on the data wall based on their ranking (STI data). There are no names on the caps which makes the individual data confidential. Student conferences are held prior to the next administration of the assessment in an effort to do some goal setting around improving their score. Once the new data has been calculated, students will then re-rank themselves and place their cap in the appropriate location. They have chosen to place this data wall in a 'high rent' location where parents, students, staff, and community members can view it.




Posting Goals and Data: Veterans Park Elementary School in Ludlow, MA, posts classroom goals that involve every student. In each thought bubble the student describes what he/she wants to work on to reach their benchmark goal in reading.

Making the Focus Visible

See creative ideas on how to MAKE THE FOCUS VISIBLE. Post comments, questions, and/or suggestions about how you and other educational leaders at your school are making the focus visible.



Making the Focus Visible: Alcott Elementary School in Tulsa, OK is committed to raising the achievement of every student, every day through their FOCUS on COMPREHENSION.




Making the Focus Visible: The principal, coach and ILT at McGrath Elementary School in Worcester, MA make it easy for all staff and families to know and understand "the work". They have created a reader-friendly brochure which outlines their schoolwide focus, data, best practices, SMARTE goals, and professional development.



Making the Focus Visible: The principal and staff at Clark Magnet High School in La Cresenta, CA got creative as they think about how to MESSAGE THE WORK. This placemat serves as a strong communication tool for both internal and external stakeholders at this highly FOCUSED ON RESULTS high school!



Making the Focus Visible: The staff at Pittsburgh Carrick High School in Pittsburgh, PA make certain that everyone knows their STUDENT FRIENDLY FOCUS. They display it on banners, posters, letterhead, EVERYWHERE!



Making the Focus Visible: Boland Elementary School in Springfield, MA has developed and posted their student-friendly focus statement - to get EVERYONE involved in their focused improvement efforts. BOLAND READERS DREAM TO ACHIEVE!



Making the Focus Visible: Worcester East Middle School in Worcester, MA has created a video about their schoolwide focus. "READ to KNOW and WRITE to SHOW" creatively showcases the school's agreed-upon focus and practices to SQ2R = Scan, Question, Read, Respond.



Making the Focus Visible: Jacob Hiatt Magnet School in Worcester, MA has developed and posted their schoolwide Instructional Focus Statement and student-friendly slogans throughout the school - to get EVERYONE involved in their focused improvement efforts.



Making the Focus Visible: Morningside Community School in Pittsfield, MA has created schoolwide instructional focus communications for adults (above) and specific communications for students (below) - to get ALL involved in their focused improvement efforts.



























Making the Focus Visible: Woodland Academy in Worcester, MA has created their CUBS display to help communicate their schoolwide FOCUS to all students and staff. "Comprehension & Understanding Brings Success" - Go CUBS!



Making the Focus Visible: Brown County Middle School in Brown County, IL has posted their mascot-branded FOCUS on RESULTS "Getting Smarter Hornets in the Nest" banner to help communicate their schoolwide FOCUS to all students and staff.
























Making the Focus Visible: Roosevelt School in Worcester, MA has created this display to help communicate their schoolwide FOCUS. "We believe... If you can read, you can succeed!" is communicated to all students and staff.



Making the Focus Visible: North High School in Worcester, MA has created these displays (above and below) to help communicate their schoolwide FOCUS. "We Think, We Plan, We Write" is communicated to all students and staff. In addition, the displays showcase both GOOD NEWS and URGENT NEWS regarding student achievement results and help communicate progress preparing all student for college and careers. Polar Up!

Making the Focus Visible: At Columbus Park School in Worcester, MA each classroom posts the school's Instructional Focus; including student action statements that detail what Living the Focus looks like.



Making the Focus Visible: At Harvard Park in Springfield, IL each classroom has an exemplar board dedicated to showcasing proficient work. Each student can clearly explain why work has been posted there and what they need to do to get their work to be proficient.



Making the Focus Visible: The Cerritos Elementary School's main hallway displays the school's focus on reading.



Making the Focus Visible: Jane Addam’s School in Springfield, IL displays student friendly Focus Statements that every student knows and understands.



Making the Focus Visible: Brown County Elementary school brands their Focus on Reading with their school mascot (The Hornet) to help make student progress on an internal reading assessment visible.

Students Living the Focus

See creative ideas on how STUDENTS ARE LIVING THE FOCUS. Post comments, questions, and/or suggestions about how your students are living the focus at your school.



Students Living the Focus: Students at Brown County Elementary School in Mt. Sterling, IL, won't forget their focus anytime soon. Fourth grade students designed shirts which prominently display their student friendly focus. Profits from t-shirt sales went towards purchasing books for the school library.



Students Living the Focus: Even kindergarten students at Muir Elementary School in Glendale, CA, know what good work looks like! Walls at Muir are used as second teachers. One way walls are used to support students' learning is by posting work with rubrics and exemplars.







Students Living the Focus: Staff at Gates Lane School in Worcester, MA, are committed to helping their students know what 'good work' looks like. These bulletin boards showcase proficient and exemplar work at various grade levels. Student demonstration of LIVING THE FOCUS.



Students Living the Focus: Students from Jane Addams School in Springfield, IL, demonstrate LIVING THE FOCUS.