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Capitol Hill Gifted and Talented Magnet (2018)

St. Paul, MN

Closing the Gap

Our closing-the-gap activities reflect our strategic and intentional response to discrepancies in outcome data existing between students of different races and ethnicities in our school. We are committed to equity for all students, and that is why we carefully analyze quarterly outcome data to identify and respond to the needs of our students. At first glance it would be easy to assume that overall students attending Capitol Hill are high performing across the board, for example, there were only 5 failed core courses in 8th grade in Quarter 2 in a class of 219 students. However, students of color make up 56.4% of the student body, yet 4 of the 5 failed core courses were received by students of color and only one core course was failed by a white student. In 7th grade, a class of 205 students, 20 of the 22 failed core courses in Quarter 2 were received by students of color and only 2 were received by white students.  We view these gaps in achievement as an urgent call to action.



The activities and interventions we choose were a good fit for our students and the culture of our learning community. School-wide we focus on growth mindset and the five domains of Social Emotional Learning (SEL): self-awareness, self-management, relationships skills, responsible decision-making, and social-awareness.  Research supports that both growth mindset and executive function skills are proven pathways to closing the achievement gap.  Inspired by the work of Carol Dweck, in the 2015-2016 school year we implemented growth mindset small groups with students failing core courses. Reflecting on these groups we felt that we needed to add executive function skill building to our plan. Executive function refers to the brain-based skills that make it possible for people to pay attention, remember goals, control impulses, delay gratification and think flexibly. We are a Gifted and Talented (GT) magnet school, and many GT learners need growth in one or more of these areas. Research also suggests that children growing up in poverty often have poor executive function skills. We wanted to honor and build on what our teachers were already teaching through available curriculums including Mind Up, Yoga Calm, and Brain Gym. With our students and our school community in mind, we chose a resource titled The Executive Functioning Workbook for Teens by Sharon A. Hansen, MSE, NBCT. We identified the exact students who received an N in one or more core subjects, and narrowed our focus to eight 7th grade students and six 8th grade students.  



Analyzing the effectiveness of our response to inequities in the outcome data helps us to deliver future interventions more effectively, understand and collect future data with a focus on equity, target essential ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors, and make decisions about future closing the gap interventions and activities. The results from our closing the gap interventions were promising. Seven of eight targeted 7th grade students reduced the number of core classes failed, and six of eight students improved their term GPA. In the 8th grade group, half of the students reduced the number of core classes failed and improved their term GPA. These results will help us deliver interventions more effectively in the future. For example, we will continue to focus on a combination of building growth mindsets and strengthening executive function skills by diving deeper into the resources and utilizing available technology to keep sessions engaging and interactive for students. The positive gains also motivated us to seek out district level resources to help us pull specific data more efficiently. For example, we learned that every quarter principals receive data known as SCIP data that includes overall data and the breakdown by race and ethnicity. This helps us to identify gaps faster and begin interventions with the proper urgency.  By focusing on growth mindset and executive function skills, we believe a ripple effect will occur for targeted ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors with these students. For example, strengthened executive function skills will help students build self-management skills (B-SMS 1-10), which will foster positive Mindsets (M 1-6).  



Closing the achievement gap is our most important work. We feel so strongly about this work that we have a program goal in place for the 2017-2018 school year completely focused on gaps in outcome data. We are driven by a high standard of equity for all students, and we will continue to add interventions and activities to our closing the gap action plan through every mode of delivery including core curriculum, small group, and individual work with students.

Goal: By the end of third quarter, identified students of color who were failing one or more core class in Qtr 2, will decrease the number core classes failed by 10% from 22 failed core courses in Qtr 2 to 19 failed core courses or less in Qtr 3.

Target Group: 14 identified 7th & 8th grade students of color who failed 1+ core courses in Qtr 2

Data Used to Identify Students: Final grades from 2nd quarter

School Counselor(s): Regina Wehner, Johanna Skaar

ASCA Domain, Mindsets & Behaviors Standard(s): M.2, B-LS 3, B-SMS 2, 4, 5,8

Type of Activities to be Delivered in What Manner?: Grade 7 Small Group focused on Executive Functioning Skills (8 sessions) Grade 8 Small Group focused on Executive Functioning Skills (8 sessions) Teacher and Parent Consultations Staff Development sessions for teachers on Equity and Executive Functioning Skills Counselor participation in SAT (Student Assistance Team) as needed for identified students

Process Data (Number of students affected): 8 7th grade students 6 8th grade students

Perception Data (Surveys or assessments used): Pre/ Post Student Survey: I feel positive about my grades. Pre: 67% Post: 75% (3+, scale 1-5) I feel positive about my ability to stay on track with my assignments and work for class. Pre: 50% Post: 100% (3+, scale 1-5) I feel positive about myself when I am at school. Pre: 84% Post: 100% (3+, scale of 1-5) I feel positive about myself when I am outside of school. Pre: 100% Post: 100% (3+, scale of 1-5) All students surveyed were able to name at least one strategy for staying organized and at least one strategy for sticking to goals on the Post survey.

Outcome Data (Achievement, attendance, and/or behavior data): CTG Groups Overall: Qrt 2: 22 failed cores Qtr 3: 12 failed cores 54.5% Decrease in failed cores from Qtr 2 to Qtr 3 Grade 7: 7 of 8 students reduced the # of core classes failed, 1 remained the same  Grade 7: 6 of 8 term GPA improved Grade 8: 3 of 6 students reduced the # of core classes failed, 1 remained the same, 2 went up Grade 8: 3 of 6 term GPA improved

Implications: The data suggests that small group interventions focused on increasing students’ Executive Functioning Skills does positively impact the number of core classes failed and impacts overall academic performance as indicated by increases in term GPA.  Our 7th grade group was able to meet with more consistency and outcomes exceeded that of the 8th grade group. Moving forward we will model group scheduling and structuring after the 7th grade group. Perception data suggests that students felt more positive about their grades and their ability to stay on track in their classes with regular check-ins and Executive Function skill building. By focusing on growth mindset and executive function skills, we believe a ripple effect will occur for targeted ASCA Mindsets & Behaviors with these students. For example, strengthened executive function skills will help students build self-management skills (B-SMS 1-10), which will foster positive Mindsets (M 1-6).  

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