McKinley Schools School Quality Review Presentation of Visit Team Findings March 12, 2015

Overview of Process In addition to reviewing the electronic portfolio created by McKinley Portfolio Development Team and 139 staff survey responses, information was collected over the course of two school days through: January 13 th -15 th 2015 ●14 classroom observations, ●Four (4) focus groups with teachers, support staff, family and community partners, ●Two (2) meetings with portfolio development team, ●One (1) meeting with administrative leadership team, ●Three (3) service team meetings observed, and ●One (1) in-house professional development session observed. In total, we talked with 65 adult stakeholders about the school.

SQR Visiting Team Members ●Deborah Rooney, Principal, Mary Lyon K-8 School ●Jean-Dominique Herve Anoh, Chief Educational Officer, Mary Lyon Pilot High School ●Don Lucente, Teacher, Thomas A. Edison K-8 School ●Nikki Tabron, Senior Director - School and Community Partnerships, City Year - Boston ●Mary Gunn, Executive Director - Generations, Inc. ●Roxanne Hoke-Chandler, Family Engagement Specialist, Federation for Children with Special Needs (Chair)

Guiding Questions for SQR Report The McKinley Schools portfolio development team provided two guiding questions for the team’s review and recommendation, which are listed below: ●Taking into account the student population at McKinley Schools, how do teachers maintain consistent academic and behavioral expectations of students with a wide range of differences? ●How could the administrative structure and personnel be reorganized to ensure consistent messaging and support from the school leadership team across all of the program sites?

Most Important Commendations In revitalizing the Vision and Mission, Ms. Saunders and her Administrative Leadership Team also began to pursue their goal of creating “One McKinley”. There are some outstanding teachers at McKinley who are effectively addressing the needs of their students by creating a safe and structured learning environment where the focus is on making academic progress. The staff’s care and compassion for the needs of their students was abundantly evident at all three sites. It was clear that the staff is highly invested in students. To address the behavioral needs of the students, the school has developed PD on positive behavioral interventions & supports (PBIS) as a new initiative school wide. The McKinley has also developed weekly student support team meeting, weekly service team meeting, and weekly leadership meeting to support staff members. There are clear protocols in place to refer students to the planning centers and SWIS data is collected and analyzed as part of the service team meeting protocols, so that therapeutic treatment plans can be put in place for individual students.

Most Important Issues and Concerns The creation of a “One McKinley” with a consolidated vision and mission is currently hindered by the physical structure of the three sites. Branding and image: The district needs to inform all BPS staff about the positive supports that can be provided at McKinley to help students with significant emotional and behavioral disorders find success. The need for a streamlined organizational structure.

Most Important Recommendations McKinley would benefit from developing a team of teacher leaders who can dedicate their time and energy to planning and providing professional development for the staff through common planning time at each developmental level: elementary, middle and high. It is our understanding there are no other BPS schools that have 100 percent of their students on IEP’s. It may be unfair to compare the schools’ test scores (e.g., MCAS, PARCC) to schools with students who attend traditional BPS schools. We would urge the district to think more dynamically about what an alternative reporting system could look like for the McKinley Schools.

SQR Recommendation Options Three Options: ●Pass with recommendation (suggested but not required) ●Pass with required recommendations (a specified subset of the recommendations are required to be implemented) ●Probation (there are significant concerns about school progress and a required set of recommendations, as well as a recommendation to the Superintendent of the length of the probationary period)

Overall Recommendations for the McKinley Pass with required recommendations Build stakeholder buy-in for a new mission and vision: More work needs to be done in-house to further refine the vision and mission, so that all stakeholders have input and can embrace the newly articulated vision and mission statements. Improve professional practices of teachers to enable students to access grade level curriculum: Professional development needs to be focused on differentiated instruction, Universal Design for Learning framework with accompanying engagement principles, and incorporating online learning to ensure that existing achievement gaps are adequately addressed and students are being prepared for college and career readiness.

Overall Recommendations Create a case for bringing back vocational education to the school: Students in special education have the right to learn more than traditional classroom subjects at school. They have the right to learn social skills, job skills, and independent- living skills. Gather evidence that supports the development of vocational education options, coursework and job training programs to support students in developing skills to prepare for transition to life beyond high school. Review student support system for greater efficiencies: There are a lot of professionals (BPS and Wediko) who focus on the socio-emotional issues of students. Wediko is valuable service. However, there should be a review of the roles and responsibilities of BPS staff and Wediko personnel to ensure case management of counseling services is cost-effective.

Overall Recommendations Re-structure buildings: Make the Warren site a K-8 school and move high schools into their own buildings. Fix the HVAC - buildings are brutally cold at some program sites, which makes it difficult for students to learn. Rebrand the school: McKinley Schools works well for a specific student population. There is a lot of good work being done at sites that is not known in the communities the school serves, and/or publicized by BPS. The supports and services that the McKinley is able to offer help to mitigate the behavioral dysregulation that students may have presented in their previous schools, now that the students are in a safe school environment The positives of the school and the benefits to their students should be promoted to help dispel current misconceptions.