Seattle Public Schools Creative Approach Schools Application

Declaration of Intent May 10, 2012

Application Due to Joint Committee October 4, 2012

Application Approval November 8, 2012

The Creative Approach Schools as described in Article II of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (2010 2013), states: SEA and SPS will develop and negotiate a process, approved by both parties that will allow agreed upon schools to be able to apply for broad exceptions from SPS policies and collective bargaining agreements in return for enhanced autonomy and accountability. The process designed will include how schools qualify and from which SPS policies and collective bargaining agreement sections schools may be exempted. As of February 15, 2012, negotiations have been completed and the Memorandum of Understanding has been approved by the Seattle Education Association and the Board of Directors of the Seattle Public Schools.

Name of School: Denny International Middle School

Principal:

Jeff Clark

DECLARATION OF INTENT
Please include in the Declaration of Intent the start-up date, an overview of the school design, initial characteristics of the Creative Approach School, and how parents and community will be engaged. To declare your intent to pursue a Creative Approach School proposal, please answer questions 1 4. Questions 5 10 will be part of the full application proposal.

1. Start-up Date: When will your Creative Approach School begin? November 9, 2012 2. Give an Overview of your Creative Approach School Design: Please refer to the definition, criteria, and process handout. Initiated as a grass roots effort with participation of staff, family, and community Our plan is based on continuing to develop innovative and creative school practices by combining and enhancing five school initiatives into one over-arching Creative School Design. The five areas that combine to change outcomes from our scholars and community include: 1) Conducting Home Visits for all incoming students as a dynamic strategy to build relationships and promote authentic family involvement. 2) In addition to classes we offer in our current master schedule, we will extend the school day and school year in a focused way to give our scholars more time with our great teachers. 3) Enhance our curricular theme of including a global perspective in all classes. 4) Provide our students with an opportunity to participate in a Dual Language Program as a best practice for language acquisition. 5) Shift our approach to grading to be Standards-based to give our scholars and their families a complete picture of progress towards mastering learning standards. We believe our creative, innovative, and expanding combination of efforts will accelerate student achievement, reduce the Gap, and prepare our scholars for full participation as citizens and workers in our global society. The recent history of Denny includes significant research into these areas, professional development, community outreach, and shared-decision making in support of this plan. Major milestones thus far have included becoming a FLIGHT School and voting for, and being accepted as, an International School by the School Board. As our school has evolved, our staff and community have been highly involved with our reforms and excited about the results they are yielding thus far. As an example of our collaborative reform efforts, below is the list of staff expectations for Denny International Middle School that we wrote together: Denny International Middle School This list has been developed by the Building Leadership Team with input from the entire staff. Certificated Staff Expectations: Willingness to put time, energy and enthusiasm into starting a new program.

Embracing the core values, belief statements, and mission of the schooland bringing positive, solutionfocused ideas and energy to our work with our children, communities, and each other. Eagerness to learn more about the cultures and traditions of the families we serve. Openness to changein terms of what and how we teach, as well as logistical change such as possibly adopting new master schedule/bell time ideas. Interest in working on an internationally-focused co-located campus with Chief Sealth High School and willingness to embrace related opportunities and work through related challenges. Professional preparation including planning lessons, units, and courses with a global focus.* Fully engaged participation in our Professional Learning Community meetings, currently called our Collaboration Meetings.* Participation in the week of Flight Schools work in August, including full engagement in Home Visits as a family engagement and relationship building opportunity. Commitment to curriculum alignmentwith a global perspectiveand the work needed to accomplish this across subject areas, grade-levels, and throughout a K-12 pathway.* Ongoing commitment to cultural competency and an active commitment to undoing racism and analyzing powerincluding professional development and putting new strategies into practice. Willingness to incorporate multicultural arts into curriculum.* Interest in learning additional languages, at least mastering simple sayings and correctly pronouncing names. Willingness to participate in PD on non-school days as planned by our Building Leadership Team. Note: There will be no additional required days of PDother than our week of Flight Schools workduring the summer of 2009, but there could be in the future. It is expected that staff will participate, unless prior arrangements have been approved by the principal. Implementation of all appropriate action steps written on the C-SIP (school action plan) every year. Interest in creating and participating in new global and community-based partnerships. Interest in new experiencesfor example, the school will seek out professional development opportunities for ELL training and international travel/exchange opportunities for staff.

* - Applies to certificated staff only. All others apply to classified staff as well. Now we are ready to take the next step. We are ready to unify and expand our reform efforts in a unique and successful package as a SPS Creative Approach School! Rationale, research and data provided in support of the design plan Please see the response to question #6. Articulated, defensible program/school design Our five-part approach includes efforts that are all backed by research and best practices: Home Visits, Extended Year Learning Opportunities, Global Perspective as a Unifying Curricular Theme, Dual Language, and Standards-Based Grading. Identifies how the plan is intended to raise student achievement overall and close the achievement gap

We believe that racially diverse, higher poverty middle schools are the place where we can make the quickest progress in eliminating the gap. Our scholars deserve nothing but the best. It is our privilege and obligation to prepare all of them for college graduation. This plan enables us to accelerate our progress in doing so by providing powerful family involvement, extended learning time, an engaging and culturally relevant Globally-based curriculum, Dual Language as an ELL best practice, and authentic feedback through standards-based grading. Identifies program evaluation criteria and how long it will take to demonstrate effectiveness of plan, including success benchmarks over time (e.g. student achievement, enrollment, etc.) We will routinely evaluate our plan through value-added student achievement data (inclusive of MAP, MSP, TC Quick Assessments, Classroom-based Assessments, STAMP, and OSPI bench assessments), our School Report, language-specific family focus groups, and student, family, and staff surveys. 3. Creative Approach characteristics: Please give explicit detail and elements of your design plan. Please refer to the definition, criteria, and process handout. Teaching and Learning Philosophy, Curriculum, Assessment and School Structure and Schedule (optional)

Home Visits: We will authentically engage with our families and build relationships with our new students by conducting home visits in August. The questions we will use include: Could you please tell us about your child? What are your hopes and dreams for your child in the future? How can we partner with you to make those dreams a reality? All visits will be conducted in the home language of the family.

Extended Year Learning Opportunities: In addition to our seven-period class schedule during the normal school hours, we will develop extended day opportunities, including a dynamic and culturally-relevant after school program and specific academic opportunities for selected students. We will extend the school year by offering academic programs during the breaks, including Winter and Spring Breaks, and create our own comprehensive summer school for selected current and incoming Denny scholars. New plans in this area include the creation of new Saturday learning opportunities.

Infusing a Global Perspective as a Curricular Theme: We believe that in order to prepare our scholars to participate in our global society and economy it is important to infuse a global perspective into all of our classes. This culturally-relevant curricular theme will connect our scholars to their learning and to the world.

Offering a Dual Language Program as an ELL Best Practice: Our Spanish/English Dual Language program will continue to expand in coming years. Students will be offered a Literacy/Social Studies Spanish language block as well as an English Reading/Writing block. Students in this program have the opportunity to develop mastery in two languages, while earning high school credit in the process. Professional development and K-12 collaboration with this model are new action steps with the program.

Shifting to a Standards-based Grading System: In an effort to give our scholars and their families authentic feedback towards mastery of content standards, we are reforming our grading systems to be standards-based. We are currently focusing on this change with both professional development and collaborative planning time as a top priority. This is hard and complex workand we believe it will yield significant new positive outcomes.

4. Parent and Community Involvement: (Please refer to the definition, criteria, and process handout.) How are parents and community members involved in the development of this plan? Be sure you are explicit; broad participation of family and community, how staff, families and community members will collaborate with each other in the design of the program and monitoring of its success, and how staff will collaborate with each other to identify the leadership and governance of the school. Broad participation of family and community members in developing the design

Development of this plan has been done as a result of years of family engagement and community outreach. Starting in 2009, meetings were held in multiple languages and at multiple sites as we considered becoming an International School, launching a global perspective theme and beginning our Dual Language Program. Strong support and encouragement was provided in all of these meetings. Specific elements of our extended year efforts have come out of culturally-specific community outreach, including the launch of our Weekend School after a meeting with our principal and several Somali community leaders. Next steps for family and community outreach and collaboration regarding this plan include: 1. An East African community and family outreach meeting to be held on Saturday, October 6, 2012 (Meeting held in Somali and English) 2. A Denny Family Meeting to be held on Tuesday, October 9, 2012 (Meeting held in Spanish, English, and Somali) Collaborate with staff to determine how staff, families and community members will participate in the design of the program and the monitoring of its success

Staff have been highly involved in the development of these efforts for the past seven years, beginning with BLT leadership of our Flight Schools launch. Next, staff visited schools and attended conferences prior to voting in favor of becoming an International School and launching a Dual Language Model and Global Perspective focus. Today, staff members continue to provide on-going leadership in these areas. Our BLT and several teacher leaders are guiding the professional development planning in preparation for our shift to a standards-based grading system. Our BLT is also our FEAT Team, helping to create on-going and culturally relevant family engagement on these topics and others. All five areas of emphasis are expanding and evolvingthanks to the dedication and hard work of Denny staff. Next steps for staff involvement in creating this plan and coordinating family involvement include: 1. Team Leader and SEA Meeting, Friday, October 5, 2012 2. All Staff Meeting: Discussion and Vote on Creative Approach Schools Final Plan, Wednesday, October 10, 2012. What partnerships, if any, will you anticipate developing to support your Creative Approach School? The Nesholm Family Foundation, Campana Quetzal, The City of Seattle, El Centro de la Raza, University of Washington, Southwest Youth and Family Services, Seattle Pacific University, Columbia Teachers College, the Seattle Police Department, City Year, Communities in Schools, Johns Hopkins University, Safe Futures, Consejo, the South Park, Delridge, and Southwest Community Centers, several teacher education programs, and many individual volunteers.

The following questions are for the Full Application Process

Please refer to the definition, criteria, and process handout.

5. Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment are critical elements to the success of every school as it relates to student academic growth and closing the opportunity gap: Please describe the essential elements of your instructional model and how it sets high expectations for what students should know and be able to do across grade levels and subject areas? Please include how different student learning styles will be addressed and different teacher instructional styles will be implemented?

Home Visits: We will authentically engage with our families and build relationships with our new students by conducting home visits in August. All visits will be conducted in the home language of the family. This

family engagement strategy begins the conversation about college early. Teachers and students hear the parents express college-bound desires and then use this as a launching point of college-bound preparations.

Extended Year Learning Opportunities: In addition to our seven-period class schedule during the normal school hours, we will develop extended day opportunities, including a dynamic and culturally-relevant after school program and specific academic opportunities for selected students. We will extend the school year by offering academic programs during the breaks, including Winter and Spring Breaks, and create our own comprehensive summer school for selected current and incoming Denny scholars. Denny teachers use their creative skills to create lesson plans that are student-centered and designed to engage all learners.

Infusing a Global Perspective as a Curricular Theme: We believe that in order to prepare our scholars to participate in our global society and economy it is important to infuse a global perspective into all of our classes. This culturally-relevant curricular theme will connect our scholars to their learning and to the world. Infusing this theme into teaching and learning gives teachers an opportunity to plan creative and relevant learning experiences for their classesstudents can gain insight into how we can see the world through multiple perspectives.

Offering a Dual Language Program as an ELL Best Practice: Our Spanish/English Dual Language program will continue to expand in coming years. Students will be offered a Literacy/Social Studies Spanish language block as well as an English Reading/Writing block. Students in this program have the opportunity to develop mastery in two languages, while earning high school credit in the process. Honoring the home language of our bilingual Spanish speakers and empowering them to learn in both languages is a key strategy of our college-bound plan. Teachers in the Dual Language Program use their talents and creativity to implement Spanish-language literacy and social studies lessons and units.

Shifting to a Standards-based Grading System: In an effort to give our scholars and their families authentic feedback towards mastery of content standards, we are reforming our grading systems to be standards-based. We are currently focusing on this change with both professional development and collaborative planning time as a top priority. The effort to shift to a standards-based system gives students a greater understanding of what they are doing in class and why. Our scholars will be more keenly aware of the learning targets they are mastering and how it fits into a college preparation plan. Teachers will continue to use learning activities based on their individual skills and talents, while planning lessons based on collaboration centered on progress towards meeting standards for each student.

6. Evidence, Research, or Rational: What evidence, research, or rational will be implemented that will serve as the foundation of the design of your school, to ensure you are effectively raising student achievement, and closing the achievement gap?

Research Supporting Our Home Visit Efforts From: Engaging Families to Improve Student Achievement By Tyler Whitmire, A White Paper from Stand for Children Leadership Center, June 2012 Teacher Home Visit Project and Academic Parent Teacher Teams are two of the most promising initiatives in this area. The Parent Teacher Home Visit Project is a Sacramento-based nonprofit whose goal is to use home visits to improve trust and relationships between parents and their childs teacher. The home-visit model has a history of positive impact, most notably in the health-care sector. (The pioneering nurse-family partnership, wherein registered nurses visit at-risk mothers, has proved particularly effective.) (20) The project came about at the behest of a community-organizing group in Sacramento, ACT, who heard repeated complaints from parents about a lack of trust and feelings of disrespect from their childrens teachers. ACT brought the union and the district together to brainstorm solutions to the problem, and the home-visit program was born. Home visits are inexpensive (the budget is the cost of an initial training session, plus hourly wages for teachers when they visit parents outside school hours) and easy to replicate in different settings. The program has since spread to 11 states. (21) No rigorous external evaluations have been conducted, but anecdotal evidence from principals and teachers indicate an impact on outcomes like attendance, college applications, and ultimately college attendance. At one low-income high school in Sacramento, Luther Burbank, attendance at CAHSEE-preparation classes (CAHSEE is the mandatory California state high-school exit exam) expanded from 10 students to 100 after visits began to the homes of students who hadnt initially passed the exam. The number of students applying to and attending college also increased significantly after counselors started doing home visits for all incoming seniors to talk about the application process. (22)
(20) Home visits have proved time and time again to have a positive impact on families and their children. The nurse-family partnership, invented by a doctor at the University of Colorado, is the standard model. The nurse-family partnership involves a registered nurse visiting at-risk first-time mothers, starting during pregnancy and continuing throughout the childs infancy. The results are impressive: 69 percent fewer convictions of nurse-visited children at age 15, 48 percent less incidence of child abuse and neglect through 15 years old, 83 percent increase in workforce participation by low-income, unmarried mothers by the time the child is 4. (21) Parent Teacher Home Visit Project, Evaluation, accessed October 12, 2011, http://www.pthvp.org/index.php/sacramento-region/evaluations.html. (22) Mai Xi Lee, interview, October 17, 2011, Luther Burbank High School, Sacramento, CA.

Research Supporting Extended School Year Learning Opportunities From: Investment in Summer Learning Programs Can Help Stop the 'Summer Slide' by Jennifer Sloan McCombs, Catherine H. Augustine, Heather L. Schwartz, Susan J. Bodilly, Brian McInnis, Dahlia S. Lichter, Amanda Brown Cross, June 2011 The loss of knowledge and educational skills during the summer months is cumulative over the course of a student's career and further widens the achievement gap between low- and upper-income students, according to a RAND Corporation study issued today. The study confirms that students who attend summer programs can disrupt the educational loss and do better in school than peers who do not attend the same programs. Research Supporting Having a Global Focus across All Curricula From: Successful Schools Have a Global Orientation, by Tony Jackson, Educational Leadership, October 2008 Learning world languages is a key element of what it means for students to be globally competent: to be able to frame and investigate issues of global significance, weigh perspectives, communicate across cultural and linguistic boundaries and take action on global issues, be they across the planet or in the neighborhood.

Research Supporting a Dual Language Model From: Dual Language Program Questions and Answers. www.dist50.net/Information/Documents/DualLanguageQA.pdf How do students in DUAL LANGUAGE programs compare academically to students in other types of educational programs? Several investigators have examined the reading and math achievement of students in dual language programs at late elementary or secondary levels to determine the long-term impact of DUAL LANGUAGE programs (e.g.,Cazabon, Nicoladis, & Lambert, 1998; Collier & Thomas, 2004; Howard, Sugarman & Christian, 2003; KirkSenesac, 2002; Lindholm-Leary, 2001, 2005). These studies showed that overall both English language learners and native English speakers made significant progress in both languages; both groups scored at or well above grade level in both languages by middle school; and both groups performed at comparable or superior levels compared to samelanguage peers in other educational settings. On norm-referenced standardized tests of reading and math achievement in English, native English speakers outscored their English-only peers in English-only classrooms. English language learners who had learned English in a DUAL LANGUAGE program scored significantly higher than their English language learning peers who had studies in other kinds of programs in the state and also performed on a par with native English speaking students in English-only classrooms (Lindholm-Leary, 2005; Lindholm-Leary & Borsato, in press). Research Supporting Our Shift to Standards-Based Grading From: Seven Reasons for Standards-Based Grading by Patricia L. Scriffiny One grading practice that is gaining popularity is standards-based grading, which involves measuring students' proficiency on well-defined course objectives (Tomlinson & McTighe, 2006). Although many districts adopt standards-based grading in addition to traditional grades, standards-based grading can and should replace traditional point-based grades. Additional Standards-Based Grading References: Marzano, R., Pickering, D., & Pollock, J. (2001). Classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. O'Connor, K. (2007). A repair kit for grading: 15 fixes for broken grades. Portland, OR: Educational Testing Service. Tomlinson, C., & McTighe, J. (2006). Integrating differentiated instruction and understanding by design. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. 7. Accountability and use of data: How will you measure student achievement? Please include progress monitoring as it relates to formative and summative assessments and how you will use data for collaborative inquiry around how to improve student outcomes, specifically as is it relates to student achievement and closing the achievement gap? Our staff has recently created SMART goals for each of our core subject areas as outlined in our C-SIP. For each subject, we have a blend of classroom-based, formative and summative assessments that will guide our collaboration and instructional planning. Goals for eliminating the gap and measurement of progress towards those goals are also

core elements of our C-SIP. We have also recently revised and updated our School-wide Collaboration Plan for the 2012-2013 school year. 8. Evidence of success: What benchmarks and timelines will be proposed to measure and evaluate school success within the first three years? In addition to all of the academic SMART goals outlined in our C-SIP, we will assess progress and success of this plan through the analysis of the student climate and Healthy Youth surveys, SPS family surveys, language-specific family and community focus groups, and family outreach, including our Home Visits. We will gather feedback on each of our five areas of innovation and adjust according to the data and feedback we receive. 9. Waivers: Are you requesting a waiver from district policy or the Collective Bargaining Agreement? We are not in need of any C.B.A. waivers for the implementation of this plan. 10. Budget (cost neutral or external sustainable funding) and Decision Making: Budget: The implementation of this plan can be achieved without any additional SPS funds. Primary funding sources for each element are: 1. Home visits City of Seattle Families and Education Middle School Innovation Site funding 2. Extended Year Learning Opportunities - City of Seattle Families and Education Middle School Innovation Site funding 3. Infusing a Global Perspective as a Curricular Theme Current SPS and grant funding 4. Dual Language Program Current SPS dollars and grant funding 5. Shifting to a Standards-based Grading System Current SPS and grant funding Decision Making: Denny International Middle School has a shared decision-making model. Specifics results of the following meetings will be included in an addendum to this proposal Next steps for family and community outreach and collaboration regarding this plan include: An East African community and family outreach meeting to be held on Saturday, October 6, 2012 (Meeting held in Somali and English) A Denny Family Meeting to be held on Tuesday, October 9, 2012 (Meeting held in Spanish, English, and Somali) Next steps for staff involvement in creating this plan and coordinating family involvement include: Team Leader and SEA Meeting, Friday, October 5, 2012 All Staff Meeting: Discussion and Vote on Creative Approach Schools Final Plan, Wednesday, October 10, 2012.

Please attach documentation of the 80% SEA membership Approval Upon Completion of the full Application October 4, 2012 Using the Waiver Voting Process