Assessment/Accountability
School and District Accountability and Assistance

Report of Fact Finding Review
Laurel Lake Elementary School
Fall River Public Schools

Executive Summary

A Fact Finding Team convened by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education spent three days (September 23-25, 2003) at the Laurel Lake Elementary School to determine root causes of the school's designation as underperforming, and analyze prospects for improvement. Although there are a number of sources of optimism, curriculum and instruction are still areas where intensive efforts are needed to ensure the school's future success and improve student achievement. Key findings include the following:

I Curriculum and Instruction

The team observed a wide range of teaching effectiveness including some lessons that showed evidence of planning and high quality; however, most instruction was routine and of limited scope.

• Relation to standards was generally not clearly defined or made known to students, and not reflective of high expectations.
• Potentially valuable time on learning was hindered by fragmented lessons, busy work, and worksheets.
• There was little evidence discovered that teachers' lessons are guided by the district's Curriculum Guideline (called the 'outcomes binder') which lacks teaching and assessment strategies to inform instruction.
• Teachers indicated in interviews that most instruction is textbook driven rather than standards-based.
• Although there have been improvements in MCAS scores, there are still no fourth grade students in the Advanced category in English Language Arts or mathematics.

There were few opportunities for students to demonstrate their understanding during instruction, as the team did not generally see daily assessment practices during the observations.

• This accompanies a lack of a district-provided consistent, frequent, and unified program of student assessment that teachers can use collectively to analyze data and modify instruction.
• Looking at Student Work is not a practice that has been part of the school culture.

A number of newly introduced and planned initiatives show promise for instructional improvement if appropriate training, scheduling and support accompany them for teachers.

• The new Harcourt Trophies Reading Series, which accompanies the Reading First Grant and includes a literacy coordinator for the school, has been provided by the district and is likely to impact ELA achievement.
• DMI (Developing Mathematical Ideas), the Every Day Counts Math Calendar Program are newly initiated practices in mathematics that hold promise.
• LASW (Looking at Student Work) will be a part of professional development for the year and will help teachers assess student achievement and plan for improvement.

Although school day programs and services to meet individual students' learning needs including Reading Recovery, Title I and special education are in place, there are no after school academic support services to extend student learning time.

• Funds for after school support have not been offered by the district nor requested by the principal

II School Climate

Although the school climate is generally positive, there are also factors that negatively impact the school's prospects for change.

• On the plus side, within the building and in classrooms there is a safe and orderly environment and students appear to understand the expectations for behavior as demonstrated in classrooms, upon entry to school, and at recess, lunch and dismissal.
• Due to a lack of maintenance on the part of the district, the condition of the physical plant is seriously deficient and negatively impacts the overall atmosphere for learning.
• There is also a serious problem with chronic absenteeism, which greatly reduces learning time for the absent students.

III Organizational Structures and Management

Organizational structures and management have begun to change with the school's new leader; however, this area requires further efforts both within the school and on the part of the district.

• New opportunities for teachers to work together on curriculum articulation both within and across grade levels hold out prospects for improvement.
• Increased time has been allocated to both mathematics and English Language Arts instruction.
• The half time instructional assistants in each classroom were not effectively utilized to help support student achievement in mathematics and ELA.
• The district grading policy, which requires teachers to average marks cumulatively for each quarter from the beginning of the year, may discourage students who show improvement within a given quarter.
• The Fall River teacher evaluation instrument does not provide an effective means for the principal to tie teacher performance to instructional improvement.

IV Leadership and Planning

A new principal, with a track record of school improvement, is committed to making the changes necessary to improve student achievement. Continued planning for improvement, through refinement of the PIM plan as well as other key changes will need to occur before the process is complete.

• The PIM plan developed to date addressed a number of key issues related to MCAS results. However, many timelines were too broad and monitoring attainment of benchmarks not sufficiently addressed. There are key areas that the plan has not addressed such as low teacher expectations for student achievement, provision of extended time learning opportunities, and improvement of student attendance.
• The visiting team discovered that there is no effectively functioning School Site Council and very limited parental involvement at the present time. The principal indicated to the team that she plans to address this issue in the near future.
• Overall evidence indicates that the district has an understanding of the challenges at the school but there are areas for improvement such as timely feedback on district assessments, greater
• involvement of curriculum leaders, links between the promotion policy and attendance, and support for after school programs.

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