Progress May 2019

Inside this issue

GCED Hosts Screening of ANGST
Happy National Teacher Day!
Accelerated Growth with Lower Resource Amounts
Improvement Science
Building and Problem Solving in Shop Class
In the Spotlight: Beth Giese, CF Superintendent

Important Upcoming Events/Meetings

May 1 Instructional Coaches PLC
May 2 CTIC in Rochester
May 2 ECSE Cohort
May 3 Special Education Directors Forum @ MDE
May 6 Assistive Technology (AT) Cohort
May 7 National Teacher Day
May 10 School Psychologists Cohort
May 15 Instructional Coaches PLC
May 17 EL Cohort
May 20 CAREI Problem Solving Teams PD - Session 4 of 4
May 23 Secondary Principals Council - CAREI Secondary MTSS
May 24 Superintendents Council
May 29 ADSIS/Coaches PLC & End of Year Reports

The Progress, May 2019:
Volume 4, Issue 9

The Progress archive
Click here to view past issues from the current school year.

Comments? Suggestions for new articles?
Contact Jillynne Raymond, jraymond@gced.k12.mn.us

FAST Spring Assessment Window
is open May 1 - 24, 2019!

GCED Hosts screening of ANGST

Join us for a free screening of the documentary

ANGST
Wednesday, May 1st 2019
4:00 pm
River Bluff Education Center

Angst is a film that explores anxiety, its causes, effects and what we can do about it. Angst features candid interviews with kids and young adults who have experienced anxiety and what they've learned about it. The film includes discussions with mental health experts, along with resources and tools to help.

May 7 - Happy National Teacher Day!

TEACHERS ROCK!

Thanks for all you do to ensure that
all of our students learn and grow!

Accelerated Growth with Lower Resource Amount

by Weston Johnson

A multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) is a necessary perspective for all that is done in our schools today. One component of this system which has stuck with me over the years is a continuum of support based on more resource allocation for problems of great intensity. Across the continuum are several teams which problem-solve to support pupil success.

Now, I am planning to study this support continuum as a part of my doctoral dissertation. Broadly, I’m studying three things: a MTSS, parent partnerships to extend a MTSS, and parent involvement for learning at home. Specifically, I am focusing on the overlap of the Parent and Teacher Team with tier 2 support for at-risk readers.

The treatment in the study is a parent tutored reading intervention at home. This home-based support is supplemental to school-based support. Evaluation of effectiveness will be based on student growth compared to students not receiving the additional support and changes measured by MTSS effectiveness indicators (e.g., % of students at risk). The study will take place during the 2019-20 school year. Future studies may look at effectiveness of this lower resource cost support as an alternative, in some instances, for school-based tier 2 support.

Improvement Science

We are in the business of learning, which I happen to believe is great fun. Learning can be just as frustrating as exhilarating. In order to help all of our students succeed we need to continually examine our data and ask ourselves how we are doing. There are times when our outcomes do not match up with what we expected to happen. That is a gap that we need to address so that we can improve our outcomes. This is not a "one and one" action; it is a continual process and all about continuous improvement.

When we look to improve, we can incorporate improvement science to help guide our work. The very first step is to understand the core principles of improvement. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching describes these core principles as:

Make the work problem-specific and user-centered.
It starts with a single question: "What specifically is the problem we are trying to solve?" It enlivens a co-development orientation: engage key participants early and often.
Variation in performance is the core problem to address.
The critical issue is not what works, but rather what works, for whom and under what set of conditions. Aim to advance efficacy reliably at scale.
See the system that produces the current outcomes.
It is hard to improve what you do not fully understand. Go and see how local conditions shape work processes. Make your hypotheses for change public and clear.
We cannot improve at scale what we cannot measure.
Embed measures of key outcomes and processes to track if change is an improvement. We intervene in complex organizations. Anticipate unintended consequences and measure these, too.
Anchor practice improvement in disciplined inquiry.
Engage rapid cycles of Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) to learn fast, fail fast, and improve quickly. That failures may occur is not the problem; that we fail to learn from them is.
Accelerate improvements through networked communities.
Embrace the wisdom of crowds. We can accomplish more together than even the best of us can accomplish alone.

In the world of learning, there is room for improvement. Just as we want our students to go deeper with their learning, we will continue to strive for the same. The process of problem solving, for example, has been a focus of training for us this year. The formal problem solving teams training with CAREI may end this month, but the journey of improving our problem solving has just begun.

Building and Problem Solving in Shop Class

Mason Sharp and Maisen Howe consult with Mrs. Dunn on their projects.

Brayton Meyer paints the wooden box he constructed.

Jackson Thompson works carefully on a gift for his little brother.

Students at RBEC are busy building and problem solving in their shop class with teacher Katie Dunn. Returning from a long weekend did not throw students off on a recent morning in shop class. Middle school students walked into class and before Katie said anything, each student was getting his project and supplies for the day's work. Routines were well established including the use of safety glasses.

A specific routine worth noting is the warning of noise to fellow classmates. Before one student started the BLANK saw, it was announced that they the student and teacher were going to make noise. One student in particular said aloud, "noise, headphones." Then once he got his headphones on he announced, "clear" and the sawing commenced.

One student was ready to start painting the second color on a well-constructed wooden box he made. He's not sure what he'll do with it yet, but he was pleased with the outcome.

Another student walks in and announces his thinking, "Okay Mrs. Dunn I know what I am going to make now." She praises him as he pulls up his design on the computer. He plans to make an otamatone because "it's a cool instrument and I want one. They cost a lot of money though so I figured I would make one." As he's building he encounters some issues and quickly transitions into problem solving.

Yet another student is making his project of choice, which is a wooden cut out of a wrestling belt. During this particular class he reviewed his drawn plans, found the right size board by measuring it, cut his board, sanded his board, and began to draw his design including his little brother's initials in the center. The project is a gift for that little brother.

Students engaged in their own projects demonstrated their knowledge of safety, time management, and the engineering design process. They were able to use a scroll saw, a table saw, and band saw under the instruction of and guidance of their teacher, Katie Dunn.

Mason Sharp thinks shop class is FUN!

In the Spotlight: Beth Giese, CF Superintendent

In a few weeks, most staff members will say goodbye for the summer. For Cannon Falls Superintendent Beth Giese, her goodbye is for more than the summer. Superintendent Giese leaves her post with Cannon Falls at the end of June, completing 18 years of service to Cannon Falls.

Beth's path to public education began in her undergrad work, by accident. She thought she wanted to be a vet due to her love of animals; go ahead, ask her about her horses (Jack and Finnegan) and you'll see that love. While in a veterinarian program in Nebraska she took some education courses and loved them. She continued pursuing her degree with the goal to become an elementary and/or special education teacher. Beth was also active in the military for 12 years as a young adult, which impacted her views in education and where she landed in teaching. The military experience helped fund her education and it also opened her global views. At one point she was deployed to Norway and got to see first hand how influential their education system is and how the power is used in the classroom to positively enhance their society.

After the first baby Beth and her then husband looked for land with horses to raise their family; they landed in Cannon Falls. Beth began her career with Cannon Falls Area Schools as a 4th grade teacher, then she became the Cannon Falls Elementary School principal, and then the Cannon Falls superintendent for 8 years.

After 18 years of tenure in Cannon Falls, one has to ask why or how did Beth know her time in Cannon Falls was coming to an end. For Beth she "felt it"; she felt like "handing the torch over feels good - it's the right time." She's leaving a great staff, a balanced budget, and with stable student enrollment. Beth is extremely proud of the work Cannon Falls has done during her tenure. A major accomplishment has been getting open enrollment under control; Cannon Falls is now a destination district that people want to come to because of the learning occurring. That's due to the teachers that she is so proud to support; "we can't pay what our neighbors pay teachers but our teachers stay because we are family." She's also proud of bringing close to $900,000 in grant money to Cannon Falls Area Schools, including grants to support more CTE (Career Technical Education) programming. This is a no-brainer with "17% of our students will go into the trades" so naturally they want and need programming to support the students.

With everything going to well, why leave? Beth was ready for an intellectual change and challenge. She began looking at larger districts to find a good fit. On July 1 she begins as the Superintendent for St. Francis Area Schools. It is a larger district but also has a good hometown feel like Cannon Falls. Her first job will be to get to know them and to allow them to get to know Beth, as well as learning about their funding streams and needs. She hopes to help them with their identity as a school district, to discover what the "Fighting Saints" stand for as a school community.

Though it is a new district, Beth will take with her what she believes to be the most important thing for a superintendent to know. "You have to be compassionate; you have to be a people person. If your employees feel appreciated, they will work harder for you," which impacts the big picture, the system that superintendents lead.

Jack and Finnegan have a home in Cannon Falls for now, as do her other children Anna (junior at CFHS) and Matthew (freshman at CFHS) so all will be fine during this period of change in the Giese household. We thank Beth for her service to Cannon Falls Area Schools and wish her all the best in St. Francis.

Beth Giese, CF Superintendent

I'm ready. I'm going to miss it here though. I don't know any different. Cannon Falls has been my career as teacher, principal, and superintendent. I've driven bus, served food, ridden in a special education van.
- Beth Giese