All means All

A Critical Review of the Implementation of K-5 Instructional Support Time in Farmington Public
Schools

-Airess Stewart
Oakland University

Abstract
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This critique reviews the implementation of the Instructional Support Time block in nine

elementary schools in Farmington Public Schools. I will use the 6 principles of highly effective

schools as presented in Blankstein’s book Failure is Not an Option as a framework for this

review. Providing support for “All” students consists of every child who is part of the building

regardless of servicers they receive such as special education, English Language Learners,

homeless, etc.

I feel it is our responsibility as educators to ensure learning occurs for all students, at the

instructional level they need. In order for this to occur, teachers need to work in collaboration

with each other to build a systemic structure within their building. The Instructional Support

Time block is designed to provide a block of time in the day for educators to provide this

structure, whether intervention or extension of essential learning targets.

In attempt to analyze the implementation of the IST block within the nine elementary

schools, I will determine how it measures up to Blankstein’s six principles. Throughout this

paper I will focus on each principle and analyze how teams ensure instructional support for all

students. As I complete the review, we will be able to strengthen the program to support all

students.

Introduction

Farmington Public Schools offers a comprehensive educational program from preschool

through adult education that strives to meet the needs of all students. The District maintains a

core curriculum that meets or exceeds State and national standards and offers a full

complement of fine arts, extracurricular and athletic programs. FPS is located southern Oakland

County and serves more than 11,331 students from Farmington, Farmington Hills, and a portion

of West Bloomfield. The District is comprised of: three high schools, one alternative high school,
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three middle schools, nine elementary schools, two early childhood centers, an adult education

program, and a special education center program.

Within the last few years, Farmington Public Schools has experienced a number of

challenges, including: declining student enrollment, the need to right-size the district due to

rapidly changing economic conditions, and the ability to respond to students’ instructional and

cultural needs. As a result, elementary schools have been restructured K-5 to K-4 and 5/6

buildings then back again after a few years. National and state governments have required that

teachers and students document and improve student growth by: analyzing disaggregated data,

responding to student learning needs by providing opportunities for rigor and for intervention,

and providing curriculum and instruction relevant to students’ interests. In order to provide an

equitable and quality education to every student in the district and to improve student success,

we have identified a few critical pieces that must be in place: 1) the district should have a clear

and articulated instructional vision and plan; 2) aligned curriculum and assessments; 3) well

functioning professional learning communities; and 4) a well-designed professional learning

framework for staff.

In this paper, I will be analyzing the implementation of the elementary Instructional Support

Time (IST) block to support all learners with both intervention and extension opportunities. I will

also be referring to Professional Learning Communities (PLC), in this paper as well because it

will be the work of the collaborative teams to inform the block. I will be using the book Failure is

Not an Option: 6 Principles that Advance Student Achievement in Highly Effective Schools,

Blankstein (2013) to explore the congruence between the 6 Guiding Principles and this initiative.

Principle #1
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Common Mission, Vision, Values

The opening quote in Failure Is Not an Option, Blankstein,(2013,p.75) states it perfectly

when I think of the implementation of the Instructional Support Time (IST) block in Farmington.

“It takes more than toughness to keep going when the going gets tough. It’s vital that you find

purpose and significance in what you do.” (James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner, 2010, The

Truth About Leadership.) I will walk through the planning steps that have led us to the IST

block, implementation at the K-5 grade level and some of the challenges that we have faced

along the way. This book has been an invaluable resource as I am going through this work in

our district and it has provided guidance for challenges as we proceed.

There has been some discussion about mission within Leadership meetings recently.

Many principals feel that it is just words saying who we are but it does not seem like there are a

lot of connections with staff about committing and acting on the words in the mission. When I

was at an elementary school in the district prior to entering into this position, we began

implementing the PLC process and the instructional support block. Prior to the start of the year

there was a lot of conversation around the vision and mission. We really had to articulate how

our behavior would have to change for that block of time to be successful. These behaviors

included collaboration, honest conversations, flexibility, and data driven decision making. Our

principal had us identify one behavior in particular that each of us were personally going to

commit to doing and check back on the commitments a couple times a year.

The district as a whole has not done anything to connect a mission to the vision. There

are some teachers and principals that innately know what they need to do to shift their practice.

Some are doing it already and others do not believe in the new vision nor see where they fit into

it.

I have been paying more attention to leadership roles within buildings since I began

reading this book and implementing the IST block. In buildings in which the work is moving
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forward at a good pace are the principals that can articulate the vision themselves, live the

mission and values by modeling the behaviors they expect of others. They also have a team

which leads most of the work, with the principal as a support. The work is considered “ours” not

because “they” said we have to do it. I have also observed the culture within buildings as

impacting the work. There are some buildings where it is obvious the culture has been

collaborative for a long time; it is part of their daily routine. In others, it is a stretch to be

collaborative, there is a not a strong leadership team to support the work, the energy is negative

and the work is stalled. This has left me with the dilemma of how to support principals in

moving this work forward. So many of our principals are of the mindset that their role is a

managerial one and not as an instructional leader. When the shift occurs to “the role of creator,

convener and leader of high-performing teams… the payoffs are enormous.” (Blankstein,

2013,p. 80)

As we move into implementation for IST, everyone is approaching the change in

schedule in different ways. The one thing that has helped staff most, when I visit buildings and

discuss the block, is going back to the “why”. As I initially reflected on this, my “why” was simply

compliance a) it is the law for special education and b) our accreditation says we have to. But it

is so much more than that; a vision that a workgroup has been working on for over a year and

most importantly it is best for All of our students. As I read Principle 1, I began to reflect more

on the path Farmington has been on and how it connects to where we are in the District today.

Farmington began revising its vision in the 2015-16 school year with support of the

company, Modern Teacher, which originated a year earlier when a small group came up with

the idea of E3- Engage, Enhance and Empower. According to Blankstein (2013,p 98-99)Ch. 5,

Figure 5.3 Eight Ways for an Organization to Arrive at a Vision, I feel we created ours by

growing a vision. As described by Blankstein to bring this vision to life, a Teaching and
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Learning workgroup consisting of central office staff, school administrators, instructional leaders,

special education administration, K-12 teachers and a board member met 6 full days throughout

the school year. Tasks included reviewing district history, exploring our journey, and moving to

Farmington vision deck.

During this time together the workgroup concluded that we had gone from a culture of

collaboration in the 90’s and everyone was feeling good about being a part of Farmington and

what the District represented. At that time there were no funding issues from the state, and our

population looked different than it does today. Around 2005 we started to experience funding

concerns and a changing population. Since that time we have continued to spiral downward.

We were forced to make many cuts in programs and services, closed buildings, repurposed

buildings, and lost families due to all of these issues. We were no longer one of the top districts

in our county, and staff and community have lost a lot of hope.

Teaching and Learning Council then began exploring our values. What does Engage-

Enhance-Empower mean to everyone in the room? How will we truly define it for our staff and

community? In the end we came up with a Theory of Action:

If FPS is going to develop globally competitive students.

Then…

We as an entire community commit to providing a collaborative and flexible learning

environment where students have access to:

● Personalized learning pathways

● Opportunities to build quality relationships
● Rigorous, relevant and authentic curriculum
● Tools and resources for learning

in order to Enhance teaching and learning to Empower and Engage ALL students.
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I believe this value statement follows the guidelines as “few in number, direct and simply stated;

focused on behaviors, not beliefs and linked to the vision statement”. (Blankstein,2013,p.103)

A timeline was created with an outlined plan for rolling out the vision to the District and

community with specific activities to complete in the 2016-17 school year. Blankstein states that

goals need to be identified to hit the target. “Short term mini-targets that we aim for along the

way” (2013,p.105) When I reflect back, our timeline has dates in which we want steps

completed but they are not written as a SMART goal . The responsibility of who is going to

measure or how it will be measured has not been assigned.

At this time,we do not have goals for IST and it will be something for us to revisit. As we

create the goals for the IST block within buildings, we need to connect our vision of e3 and the

theory of action.

Principle #2

Ensuring Achievement for All Students- Systems for Prevention and Intervention

When I think of a multi tiered approach to learning, engage, enhance, and empower

come to mind. FPS has known for a few years that we are behind in providing a tiered approach

for our students. Elementary schools have had initiatives come and go from Instructional

Consultation, Literacy Intervention Teachers ,and Instructional Coaches. These models were

primarily reactionary solutions, leaving ownership outside of the classroom. From many

teachers’ perspectives, if a student was unsuccessful, there were no other options other than a

special education evaluation. When these roles were cut, schools experienced great difficulty.

There was no support for classroom teachers outside of the principals and mandated specialist

staff (English Language teachers, special education teachers, etc.). Teachers were

overwhelmed and frustrated. Throughout the year, we saw special education referrals increase.
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It was estimated that 50% of the evaluations were ineligible, costing the district thousands of

dollars in evaluations. Teachers did not know what else to do and did not have the confidence

that they could deliver instruction to meet the needs of their learners, on top of the demands on

curriculum and looming teacher evaluation amongst some of the issues that they face.

Presently school’s beliefs guide what support looks like in various buildings, leaving staff with a

very inconsistent model across the district. Blankstein indicated “changing individual beliefs

more often than not begin with changes in behavior…” (2013,p. 114 )

In Spring 2016, FPS was scheduled for AdvancEd External Review for Accreditation

which happens in a district every 5 years. The External Review Team gave the district 2 goals

to work on and report on in 2 years. The first one was a collaborative structure that uses

essential skills, common assessments and grading practices. The second one was a multi-

tiered support system that includes professional development for all staff. This goal was a

springboard for implementing the instructional block.

A workgroup was already developed to begin creating a framework for MTSS. It was

now time to create a comprehensive system for student success. Each group, representing K-

12,recommended embedded time within the day to support student learning under the premise

that “All means All”, and we would provide students with either intervention or extension

opportunities. For the purposes of this paper I will reflect on the implementation in the

elementary schools. The workgroup made a recommendation of 3 days per week, 45-60 minute

blocks with a reading focus to begin October 2016.

Principals were given a guideline for communication, and a professional development

plan for reading intervention was created for the 2016-17 school year. Funds were given for the

instructional block for elementary through a literacy grant and an assessment grant. The
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assessment grant allowed for the purchase of Easy CBM for reading. The additional part of the

grant was written for professional development, materials, and sub costs with the idea that an

additional person could help teachers in each building during this block. The challenge is the

model with the substitute is not sustainable in the following year and schools are looking at

using their substitute bank to support collaborative teams.

Elementary staff reactions have varied throughout the journey through this process, and

some teachers have gotten very defensive. Many of the behaviors outlined in the book are

present in the district. It was clear that we needed to develop the “why” more, provide support

before and during implementation, and create a professional development plan for literacy

intervention. As a result of this need a Literacy Coordinator and I have been in buildings,

helping with Easy CBM assessments, and meeting with each grade level PLC to participate in a

Data Dig to begin identifying groups of students for the block. We have explored challenges,

listened to feedback,and have adjusted the implementation to meet the needs of the teachers

and students. It was clear that there was too much on their plate and although we have a good

vision of where we want to be in 3 years, we need to take small, manageable steps to get our

teachers there. Since we have communicated our sensitivity to their stress, teachers have been

appreciative, collaborative, and ready to get to work. The Data Dig days with our teachers have

been a great way to really see the continuous improvement process at work, and it is so exciting

to see what the outcome of this block will be.

In addition to an academic instructional support block, we have added general education

social/emotional support to provide a tiered behavioral approach in the buildings. We are still

trying to outline the rest of the tier pyramid for academics and behavior outside of the

instructional block. Since we have lost so many human resources staff, teachers are having a

difficult time identifying other interventions they can do with students both academically and
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behaviorally. We lived in a culture that relied on support outside of the classroom to work with

students in need, and now it is time to focus our efforts on collaboration to address the needs of

our learners.

As I reflect on student achievement, I focused primarily on the components of the

comprehensive system for ensuring success. The primary focus for the e3 vision engage-

enhance-empower is ensuring that pedagogy for all students. The focus in this area is making

sure that principals and teacher leaders are making that connection to their work. This includes

connecting school improvement goals with grade level team goals and strategies to support

student learning.

Principle #3

Collaborative Teaming focus on Teaching for Learning

Our District sent approximately 90 staff to Professional Learning Community (PLC)

training in Lincolnshire approximately 13 years ago. The problem upon our return was that no

one gave directives on what to do next. This left many staff members frustrated and to their

own interpretation of what a PLC was. When the Review Team recommended a collaborative

structure, it made the most sense to go back and visit the Dufour PLC process. One of the

elementary schools had begun their own PLC journey by sending staff in groups of 4 to training

for the past 2 years. This last summer, the Assistant Superintendent committed to sending 30

staff members from 3 Title I Elementary Schools to move the work forward. The goal is for
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collaborative teams to work interdependently to make decisions for the IST block and support

the continuous improvement process based on data.

Right now, the biggest challenge is identifying essential skills for learning at every grade

level. There are some schools that have done this independently but it is not consistent. To

address this, we are working with Solution Tree Consultants to help identify K-12 ELA and Math

essential skills, which is expected to be completed in June 2017. We will then begin developing

and using common assessments after this work is completed.

As we rebuild the PLC process in our district, we are starting at the beginning with our

teams to develop norms and meeting times. Teams will then be asked to discuss their units and

the expected skills within them and what assessment they will use to measure student

achievement. Currently, the only common assessments amongst our teachers are NWEA and

MSTEP. Although not ideal to be looking at this measure solely in PLC, it is the beginning for

our teachers to get used to the idea of looking at data and discussing it together to inform

instruction.

Within our district we have a variety of different school cultures; the two that stand out

the most are Individualistic and Contrived Collegiality. Although there are pockets of

collaboration, I would not say any school has a culture of complete collaboration. This presents

a challenge as we move forward with the work for the IST block. Solutions that were identified

in the book that may be most helpful include changes in school culture, and clarifying outcomes

and expectations. After reviewing Chapter 7, I feel all teams also need to focus more on

SMART goals that align with the district vision and School Improvement. This already happens

in some buildings with some teams, but it is not consistent. Blankstein’s Implementation

Guideline is also a helpful resource. (2013,pp.157-160)

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One thing we learned from our training was the importance of the role of the

administrator in developing the PLC culture in a building. A PLC Steering Committee was

formed consisting of administrators representing each level, Assistant Superintendent, Human

Resource Director, MTSS Coordinator, and Literacy Coordinator. This team is responsible for

the goal setting and planning of PLC’s in the District. PLC training will be provided at monthly

Elementary Principal and MTSS Facilitator meetings. They will be responsible for providing

professional development to the MTSS Team (consisting of grade level/department PLC

leaders) at bi-weekly meetings. Those PLC leaders will then take that information back to their

collaborative teams. The leaders will also be responsible for reporting progress on their

collaborative teams to the MTSS Team to help problem solve, monitor team functioning, and

support the continuous improvement process.

Principle #4

Data Based Decision Making for Continuous Improvement

The next step includes an improvement plan that focuses on prevention and intervention

for students. Currently all schools have a school improvement plan that is written by a team of

teachers and the administrator. Unfortunately, this task has felt more like a report written for

compliance rather than a document used for continuous improvement. Many schools only look

at this document once a year, when it needs to be revised for the next year. In my school

improvement meetings, I plan on using Resource 6: Worksheet for Developing a School

Improvement Plan,(Blankstein, 2013,p. 256).

Blankstein states “Schools that are committed to success for all students systematically identify

struggling students” (p. 133). I feel that this commitment to all students and providing a
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continuum of support is the ultimate goal of the IST block. Right now we have the time

identified to do this and are having great conversations about how we will systematically identify

struggling students. I see this as a continuous process that we will be working on for the next

two years. The main focus this year is looking at data that we have (currently the only thing we

have in common is NWEA) and identifying common trends for intervention and what strategies

we can use for those interventions. This has been more difficult at the secondary level because

there are so many different courses and there seems to be less data to compare. In year two,

we will focus more on common assessments to inform us of struggling students.

The most challenging component that I see for the district will be publishing results at the

school level. According to Blankstein (2013) , this will “add focus to staff’s efforts”.(p.135)

However, I feel this is what staff fear the most. It is a stretch for many teachers to even confide

to a parent that an individual student is struggling. In addition, it has been a challenge for me to

get schools to have a parent present on their School Improvement Teams. This has been

something I have been working on for the last year. At the district level, our Superintendent has

been publishing results for the community and has been very open to feedback. However, I feel

like there will be greater impact when the schools begin doing more of this.

Finally, I feel like this year, we are really beginning to focus on data for continuous

improvement. I find it interesting that there is reference to the pyramid of intervention and

continuous improvement. When I began in this position a year ago and spoke of integrating

School Improvement with MTSS, staff thought I was crazy and could not see how the two are

related. As we have continued through the year, we are making more of a shift in connecting

the pieces but have a long way to go to build capacity.

Principle #5
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Gaining Active Engagement from School and Community

In FPS, there is a lot of difference in parent involvement from one elementary school to

the next.,Our northern end schools have parents who are more actively engaged. In speaking

with [principals there are a variety of ways staff have attempted to seek involvement including:

parent workshops in the evening with day care, and volunteer opportunities during the day and

evening. In our Title I buildings, there is a parent room that is filled with resources that include

books and games to check out, a computer with free wifi, and snacks. Parents are invited to use

this area during school hours. Within the district, there are also two homeless liaisons that

support families in need with scholarships for field trips, community resources, transportation

and food/clothing needs. Elementary schools communicate with them frequently to support the

needs of their students and families.

Principals began communicating about the block with parents in August before the

school year started. Most feedback was well received, however some parents have expressed

concern about what this may look like for their child. As we begin entering into the block it will

be important for teachers to communicate with parents about how the school is supporting their

child and how they can help at home.

As we plan for implementation of the instructional block, teachers are discussing

possibilities for parent involvement to support their learners. They are having great discussions

about parents leading Junior Great Books, Word Masters, or a Book Club to support the

additional reading time.

Many of our schools have connections within our community. Some of the organizations

they are connected with include Bosch, local churches and Hitachi. Involvement within the

school includes mentoring, special classroom lessons and monetary donations. Principals

could seek support from their community partners in supporting this block. There are also grant
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opportunities from the Farmington-Farmington Hills Education Foundation, as well as Meemic

that schools may also take advantage of.

Principle #6

Building Sustainable Leadership Capacity

Blankstein refers to the three keywords for success in schools: leadership, capacity and

sustainability. Principals need to have a highly effective leadership team to support all the work

to be done in schools. In FPS, principals are pulled for so many things that are not instructional,

as referenced in the book. They are out at least weekly for a meeting, and they have constant

managerial tasks to do on a daily basis. In addition, three elementary buildings are undergoing

construction that began in the summer and not yet completed. This has created an additional

stress on teachers at the beginning of the school year.

During this initiative, the Literacy Coordinator and I have worked on engaging and

empowering teachers in their skills to enhance reading instruction. As we have been in schools

with the data digs, many principals have joined in the conversation and engaged in instructional

conversations. This supports them becoming leaders in learning. In support of the “five key

responsibilities” (p.213), principals are building leadership capacity amongst their teachers. All

elementary schools will have PLC leaders who will continue to guide the work in their teams

after our day with them. PLC’s will guide the conversation on how to improve literacy instruction

at their grade level which will also support them in assuming responsibility in the vision for the

instructional block. The greatest challenge for some of our schools is the change in

individualism in teachers to collaboration. There are a few teachers who do not like the idea of

“sharing” students and are resistant to the block of time. As we institutionalize the process and
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continue to provide support through professional development, schools will be able to build

capacity.

Since the beginning of the initiation of this instructional block, it was clear that teachers

and students needed to be the focus of support. The district has outlined the process and

parameters, however it is the work of the teachers to determine the design of groups and

instruction within the blocks. For some, this is a challenge- they just want to be told what to do

and how to do it. While others embrace the challenge. In order for this work to be sustainable,

teacher leaders will need to share ideas, offer professional development to each other, and see

the data that shows the strategies in this block are making an impact.

Conclusion

The opportunity to critically review the implementation of the Instructional Support Time

block within the nine elementary schools in Farmington Public Schools has allowed me to

identify strengths and challenges within our system. The six principles from Failure is Not an

Option, (Blankstein 2013) have given me a framework to review with teams regarding the

important aspects of the block.

In analyzing the implementation, there are some principles that the district have been

focused on more heavily than others. The three principles that are the strongest in this

framework are ensuring student success, collaboration and data based decision making.

It is also evident that there are some schools further along in implementation than others

during this review. Across the nine elementary schools, the two principles that seem to be the

most in need of improvement are the areas of vision and parent/community involvement.

Schools have already begun to analyze ways to get more involvement and will need to continue

brainstorming ideas. Finally, most critical component moving forward will be sustainability and

the growth of teacher leadership.

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Farmington Public Schools will continue to use the six principles to guide discussion

surrounding the implementation of this support block to ensure student success for all. This will

also support each of the nine schools plan for continuous improvement and create a strategic

plan as we progress throughout this year and long term planning for the years to come.