Lindsay Unified School District
School Information
| School Name: |
Lindsay Unified School District |
| School Address: |
371 E. Hermosa St.
Lindsay, CA 93247 |
| School Phone: |
559.562.5111 |
| School Fax: |
559.562.4637 |
| Superintendent: |
Janet Kliegl |
| Superintendent Email: |
jkliegl@lindsay.k12.ca.us |
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Demographics
| Number of Students: |
4,046 |
| Percent eligible for Free and Reduced Lunch: |
100% |
| Percent of Limited English Proficient: |
67% |
| Percent of Special Education: |
3% |
| Racial/Ethnic Percentages: |
White: 7%
Black: 0.5%
Hispanic: 89%
Asian/Pacific Island: 2%
Other: |
Overview
Lindsay Unified School District is typical of many districts in the Central Valley of California. There are high numbers of English language learners and high poverty. Before working with Dr. Marzano, the district moved from one program or intervention to another, searching for ways to help students learn. These programs were fragmented; people worked independently trying to make a difference as best they could. Lindsay leaders saw incremental growth in student performance, but they knew this growth was not sustainable.
About three years ago, Lindsay began working with Dr. Marzano and his associates because it needed an aligned system where teachers, students, and parents knew what was expected of them. The goal was to develop a more focused and aligned instructional design.
"It has been inspiring to work with Dr. Robert Marzano and his associates," Superintendent Janet Kliegl said. "The work is intellectually challenging and educationally sound. The Lindsay Unified School District team has learned a great deal about learning goals, measurement topics, and effective assessments."
Progress Using Dr. Marzano's Model for School Reform
Research and theory point to at least three critical interventions that should occur in every classroom and in every school throughout a district. These three interventions might be thought of as critical "commitments" that must be made to students by district and school leaders. See the result of efforts to make these commitments from a specific school or district below. Read more about Dr. Marzano's model for school reform here.
Commitment #1: Develop a System of Individual Student Feedback at the District, School, and Classroom Levels
Phase l: Track student progress on selected learning goals using a formatively based system of assessment
Lindsay: Implementation will begin in August 2009.
Phase II: Design learning goals in all subject areas and redesign report cards
Lindsay: The learning goals for all K-12 core subject areas and high school elective courses have been determined and are placed in the Marzano Scoring Rubric. This work occurred over the past 20 months. However, the full implementation begins districtwide in August 2009.
Phase III: Implement the new report cards in a staged fashion
Lindsay: The reporting system has been redesigned and will be implemented in August 2009.
Commitment #2: Ensure Effective Teaching in Every Classroom
Phase l: Systematically explore and examine effective pedagogy and develop a model or language of instruction
Lindsay: Over the last four years, all instructional staff have been trained on content from
Dimensions of Learning,
Classroom Instruction That Works,
Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement, and
The Art and Science of Teaching. These four resources have helped us define our language of instruction.
Phase II: Have teachers systematically interact using the model or language of instruction
Lindsay: A districtwide protocol has been developed containing the language of instruction. The protocol is used during classroom site visits to provide feedback to teachers.
Phase III: Have teachers observe master teachers applying instructional strategies
Lindsay: At Jefferson Elementary and Garvey Junior High School, we have a systematic method for observing master teachers called the "Tour of Teachers." At the other three schools in the district, select teachers from each site are observed by other teachers.
Phase IV: Monitor the effectiveness of individual teaching styles
Lindsay: This occurs during walkthroughs of classrooms. More work needs to be done in this area in our district.
Commitment #3: Build Background Knowledge for All Students
Phase I: Identify academic terms in language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies to be taught at each grade level
Lindsay: The terms have been identified over the last 20 months. They are a part of the measurement topics in the guaranteed and viable curriculum.
Phase II: Implement the academic vocabulary program districtwide using a common approach to instruction
Lindsay: Teachers at Washington, Lincoln, Garvey, and Lindsay have been trained on Marzano's six-step process for teaching academic vocabulary. Jefferson teachers will be trained in August 2009. This formal approach to vocabulary instruction will be fully implemented by September 2009. Selected academic vocabulary terms in all grades and all content areas will be formally asssesed based on the district assessment calendar.