55 Ready to learn more? Visit Solutiontree.com/Evidence now! Priority Schools in a PLC at Work concisely guided me on what we need to do, how to look at data and data pictures, and how to tuck it all in when you have so many students performing below grade level. School Improvement for All was my handbook for improving our school.” —Dr. Anisa Baker-Busby, principal, Lindsey Elementary School, Georgia X RESULTS Like other schools around the world, student achievement at Lindsey Elementary took a hit during the pandemic. The achievement scores, which were still not where teachers would like them to be, remained low or even decreased over the pandemic years. Conditional growth indicators painted an even more stark picture of how Covid affected student learning, plummeting for the most part during quarantine. When educators and students returned to the classroom, Dr. Baker-Busby insisted that their mission had not changed. Every teacher, every support staff member, and every adult in the school was there to support all students learning at or on grade level. In the spring of that same year, the growth percentiles showed what that dedication meant for student success. “The teachers would tell you,” said Dr. Baker-Busby, “this shifted the entire school culture. The work of PLC really does change the entire school mindset.” Not only that, but parent participation also improved. The entire community began to view the work being done at Lindsey with the attitude that learning is required for every student, and they supported that mission with their words and, more importantly, their actions. 3rd–5th Grade MAP Math and Reading Achievement Percentiles Year 1 Percentiles Year 2 Percentiles Year 3 Percentiles 3rd Grade Math 3rd Grade Reading 4th Grade Math 4th Grade Reading 5th Grade Math 5th Grade Reading 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 10 31 3 3 31 9 2 36 11 2 43 6 5 15 2 3 15 1 3rd Grade Math 3rd Grade Reading 4th Grade Math 4th Grade Reading 5th Grade Math 5th Grade Reading 3rd–5th Grade MAP Math and Reading School Conditional Growth Percentiles Year 1 Percentiles Year 2 Percentiles Year 3 Percentiles 100 80 60 40 20 0 10 99 4 1 99 65 99 23 81 99 11 4 73 27 83 89 1 99 X IMPLEMENTATION CONTINUED All of this was establishing a solid foundation, but Lindsey Elementary had the additional challenges of a Priority School. That’s when Baker-Busby discovered the book School Improvement for All, by Sharon V. Kramer, and dove into learning about Priority Schools in a PLC at Work. “This brought the PLC at Work concepts down to a level of detail that I needed to access,” said Baker-Busby. “It concisely guided me on what we need to do, how to look at data and data pictures, and how to tuck it all in when you have so many students performing below grade level. This was my handbook for improving our school.” Embracing Priority Schools in a PLC at Work, the staff worked from a strategic plan on how to move from one level to the next. They learned the importance of scooping up prerequisites, or teaching previous years’ essential standards to students in need and then connecting the learning back to the current grade-level standards. With so many students below grade level at Lindsey, the easy path would have been to water down standards and assessments. But they committed to the purpose of Priority Schools in a PLC at Work, which is to stay focused on grade level. Just as results were affi rming the efforts of Lindsey educators, the pandemic hit. But thanks to the collaborative culture created at Lindsey, staff were able to respond effectively. “After a year of Covid, we came back and focused on what mattered most. We hit essential standards hard. We worked on common formative assessments, and we focused heavily on providing strategic and targeted interventions for students,” said Baker-Busby.
