This morning, leaders from four area school districts
visited Dodgeville to learn more about our educational practices and how we
have linked academic and behavioral systems. We had about 20 visitors,
including principals, district improvement coordinators, teachers, counselors
and psychologists. The districts were Potosi, Lancaster, Verona, and
Adams-Friendship.
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| Amy Tranel and Julie Piper talk about our history and our future. |
Tiffany Helmke MTSS Coach and Elementary School Psychologist
kicked us off by talking about how we have begun to merge our academic and
behavioral systems this year. She emphasized new meeting formats and the
problem-solving process we use when students need help to stay on track. She
discussed data monitoring, and how we ensure students “don’t fall through the
cracks.”
Amy Tranel, External PBIS Coach for the district, then gave
an overview of the systems we are using to improve school climate and student
behaviors in all 4 buildings. Dodgeville Elementary School (DES) Principal Julie
Piper and I spoke briefly from the administrative perspective. The group had a
tour that focused on showing them the ways that students experience our
systems, and heard from DES Internal PBIS Coach and Art Teacher Monica Kmak.
One of the most interesting aspects of this meeting was the
sense of urgency held by these educators. From high school math and Spanish
teachers, to elementary teachers and bilingual support staff, to administrators
and pupil services, everyone in education these days is focused on making
changes to improve student outcomes. Dodgeville team members talked about the
ways that we’ve worked to make sure that all of our students are making
progress. There was particular interest in our data systems, schedules, and
procedures for working directly with student behaviors. Our staff talked about
“having one foot in the new and one in the old” ways of doing business. Change
takes time, and success has a lot to do with planning and support.
From the leadership perspective, Julie and I talked about
how important our MTSS coaches have been. These are the people who, in addition
to roles as school psychologists, counselors, and reading or math specialists
also serve to bring all of the pieces of the puzzle together. They receive
training, frequent feedback from staff and leadership, and support from
administration to help teachers use our new approaches to student success.
Without our coaches, who are typically found in classrooms working with
teachers to model the practices and meeting to talk about student progress, our
students would clearly not be growing at the same rate.
We closed with an overview of the critical role of those
people with the closest contact with students, our teachers. Participants were
eager to learn about our staff training, and the decision-making process that
teachers use to monitor student growth. Again, this is all about students, and
the commitment level and excitement are strong at a critical time. In the
coming weeks, we will be ready to share our end-of-year progress data and
reflect on changes for next year. We look forward to sharing that with you!
Please feel free to contact me for more information about Dodgeville Progress!
John Humphries
Director of Pupil Services
