Hull Jackson Montessori
Poverty Simulation Follow-Up Meeting
September 25, 2017

The staff at Hull Jackson Montessori participated in the MNPS Poverty Simulation on August 4, 2017.  As additional support for the simulation, schools agree to participate in follow-up meeting where the collaborative inquiry process is used to analyze multiple sources of data and develop theories of causation around supporting student success.

On September 25, 2017, the faculty participated in that follow-up meeting where Dr. Margie Johnson facilitated the collaborative inquiry process during grade level team planning.
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Activating and Engaging
AHA Moment
Thinking back to the poverty simulation a few weeks ago, what are 2-3 takeaways you have from that experience?

  • how much the children of the families are responsible for
  • how quickly a family can be homeless even though they are working as hard as they can
  • how uninvolved the parents are in school work because of circumstances
  • children taking care of house while parents work
  • resources available
  • life is hard
  • sometimes people don’t know all their options
  • language can be a barrier-use of physical language
  • stress can dictate actions for better/worse
  • frustration from lack of time to do things
  • life is hard, no matter what side you sit on
  • poverty is stressful—all about survival
  • getting resources is a difficult and complicated process
  • very stressful
  • anxiety ridden
  • felt strapped
  • mental taxes
  • money stretched
  • getting resources complex
  • may not get resources
  • can fell very desperate very easily—see no way out
  • many of the resources available to assist are not advertised and/or are not set up conveniently for people to access
  • easy to understand poor choices made under stress
  • It’s very tough and draining trying to make your money stretch
  • government agencies are not very helpful or speedy
  • scary
  • hard work—mentally taxing
  • good nutrition can affect a child’s ability to think clearly in the classroom
  • how much lack o transportation can really impact a family
  • how lack of a checking account can really make things difficult
  • services being spread out all over town can impact ability to get them
  • The process and acquisition of government assistance
  • The stress that causes
  • The time “run-around”
  • As a working parent, I was frustrated that I could not get to my children’s school, so I felt disconnected
  • I worked late and often could not get where I needed to go on time
  • Transportation was an issue
  • Schools must be aware of each child's circumstances at home
  • Be thoughtful in planning events and addressing needs
  • Transportation is a huge barrier even when people have basic needs

Exploring and Discovering
Data Warehouse Reports

 Several MNPS Data Warehouse reports were reviewed and observations made.
  • School Profile
  • Assessment-–Assessment by Subgroup (whole school and grade level) for TLA and MAP
  • Dashboard—Attendance Dashboard (past 3 years)
  • Poverty Simulation Experience

Organizing and Integrating
Theories of Causation

Grade level teams brainstormed theories of causation for supporting student success and reached a consensus around one to investigate further.
Grade Level Theories of Causation
1st/2nd Grade build teacher capacity
3rd Grade school becomes the community hub for resources (community achieves)
4th Grade build teacher capacity on using MAP for informing instruction
Kindergarten misalignment between initiatives/expectations

Exit Slip Reflection--What actions might you take as a result of our time together?

  • prioritize what really matters
  • be patient with families as they work through
  • seek resources/training
  • talk with parents about attendance beginning with PS
  • show up to work and try to get everything done on time
  • manage time better to get teaching time in for K to succeed
  • in all due respect, I’m going back to my room and balance & juggle
  • continue to seek help with juggling requirements, Montessori work
  • be more sensitive to what’s going on at home
  • scope and sequence
  • scaffolding instruction
  • small group instruction to help with lower student, student unable to focus in whole group, gifted enrichment
  • take some time to see what the needs of our students are and help guide them to resources
  • check past attendance of students performing low--notice/look for trends
  • analyzing data to find observations for causation
  • teachers knowledge of teaching/expectations of academic language and collaboration
  • make anchor charts or include framing of words for academic discussion on collaboration
  • focus on addressing needs of middle students
  • access PD opportunities to improve my skill set
  • tutoring geared toward middle
  • begin more abreast to map testing and ways to support those skills
  • making, monitoring “middle” kid achievement
  • propose/research resources that are universal, affordable, and fun
  • consistently seek methods to help families access resources
  • teacher education Montessori
  • more planning
  • improve social emotional learning capacity
  • I need to make sure that my students are equipped with the skills they need to be able to show us what they know when it’s time for assessments

Meeting Feedback--How was the Meeting?

Plus

Suggestions for Improvement
  • it was a good refresher to remind us about the impact of poverty on our kids
  • I liked that we were asked to look beyond what we initially see
  • good to compare data that I have not compared in the past
  • thinking outside the box—challenged me to look at what I can do
  • using framework for observations vs. inferences
  • this meeting was informative
  • theories of causation was a good perspective to see where we can help
  • informative
  • great insight
  • I liked looking at the data
  • calm demeanor
  • meeting is effective
  • use of time regarding data dissemination
  • love the data breakdown for literacy & attendance, the 2 most important focuses in education
  • information was good
  • a different way to interpret
  • good to revisit the poverty simulation
  • good to look at data as a team without inference
  • supportive
  • thank you for letting us vent to you
  • thank you for listening to our concerns today.  We want our classes to succeed and thrive.
  • information as to where Hull Jackson stands TLA & attendance
  • seeing data
  • well-organized, purposeful
  • help me understand attendance effects on performance
  • I would want to really come up with solutions to meeting the needs of our students and families
  • have these meetings regularly so we can really track data as a team
  • action steps
  • more time for planning with my teams
  • not having it on Monday
  • data tells just a small part of the picture
  • what does this data have to do with students in poverty? (discuss how to help them)
  • more time
  • more time to discuss ways to address theories of causation
  • will this help us?