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Published August 28, 2009, 01:34 AM

Teachers take aim at SMART goals

In a scene students across Hudson might have enjoyed, the principals at all eight buildings in the Hudson School District were called before the Board of Education to share their “report cards.”

By: Meg Heaton, Hudson Star-Observer

In a scene students across Hudson might have enjoyed, the principals at all eight buildings in the Hudson School District were called before the Board of Education to share their “report cards.”

Each principal, along with staff members, had set goals for the 2008-09 school year, and they were at the School Board meeting earlier this month to report how they did. The results were impressive, for the most part, with five of the schools meeting or exceeding their goals and three schools coming within percentage points of their target. Charts that appear with this story (print version only, page 11A of the Aug. 27 edition) detail the results.

Regardless of whether they hit the target, went beyond it or fell short, principals unanimously praised the efforts made by their staffs, their students and parents for the progress they did make:

  • At Hudson High School, “D’s and F’s” were reduced by 8 percent. Principal Ed Lucas said the students getting A’s and B’s will likely continue to do well so he and his staff focused on students at the other end of the continuum, and the work paid off.

    In addition, Lucas said that using common planning time, the biology teachers have developed and are using common assessments and tests to better track student learning.

  • At Hudson Middle School, Principal Dan Koch said his faculty had worked hard to create common assessments for both math and language arts and set their sights on more students getting A’s and B’s. While they fell slightly short of their goal in math, they exceeded their goal in language arts. Koch said that 100 percent of the courses in core subject areas now have common assessments including a schoolwide rubric to measure progress in writing. He also noted that 84 percent of sixth-graders achieved an A or B in math.

  • At Rock Elementary, Principal Amy Hamborg said that while they fell short of their goal in reading by just a point, 200 new students had a successful transition to the school as a result of boundary changes including over half of the district’s 64 English language learners. She also noted that more than 90 percent of students in grades 2-5 demonstrated growth in reading. And 75 percent of all fourth-graders were reading at or above grade level as compared to 62 percent in the fall of 2008.

  • At Hudson Prairie, Principal Susie Prather’s staff met their goal, helped in part by the success of an after-school tutoring program. Students in the program had an average growth of 4 percent in their reading level. Prather also reported that 88 percent of second-graders were reading at or above grade level and 87 percent of fourth-graders were reading independently at or above grade level.

  • Houlton Elementary Principal Ann Mitchell acknowledged that they did not meet their goal but that students had made serious progress over the year. She reported that 92 percent of all first-graders and 95 percent of fifth-graders were reading at or above grade level. Mitchell noted the importance of volunteers from outside of the school who assisted in the reading program.

  • North Hudson Elementary Principal Dolf Schmidt said that while he and his staff were disappointed that they fell so short of their goal, he said they would be increasing their efforts in the coming year to not only have students improve their reading level but be able to sustain it as they advanced to the next grade. He did report that 92 percent of all second-graders were reading at or above grade level by the end of the year as opposed to 84 percent last fall. Overall, 86 percent of students in four out of six grades were reading at or above grade level.

  • At Willow River, the students came within 1 point of their goal. Principal Dave Grambow reported that 76 percent of all second-graders were reading at or above grade level as compared to 58 percent in the fall. Also, each class in grades 3-5 met their overall reading goal.

  • At River Crest, Principal Pat Hodges reported that students met the goal that 80 percent of them read at or above grade level with 85 percent of all fourth-graders reading at or above their level.

    SMART goals make sense

    It has been Peg Shoemaker’s job to help the principals and their teachers set their SMART goals and put the system in place to make them happen.

    Shoemaker is the associate director of Learning Services but she has also been a principal and a classroom teacher. She believes the district’s SMART goals initiative helps give instruction in the Hudson School District a “laser-like focus.”

    “It is inspiring to see how SMART goals have improved student learning in the district, and we are just at the beginning. Our staff is just starting the process, but they are already seeing so many gains. It is kind of like building an airplane and learning to fly it all at the same time,” said Shoemaker.

    Teachers just completed a SMART goal retreat in anticipation of the new school year. Shoemaker said teachers have embraced the process and are eager to put what they are learning into action. The key to the process appears to lay in collaboration and the establishment of common content and assessment. That means teachers work together to be sure they are teaching and testing for the same knowledge.

    “It used to be that a teacher taught in isolation, but this changes that. With common planning time, teachers can together determine what they are teaching and how they will assess their students’ learning. It’s only through these common assessments that we can really see what students are learning and learn what really works in teaching them,” said Shoemaker.

    At the elementary level, teachers now have designated common planning time at each grade level. They have already set SMART reading goals. The process will be expanded to writing and math as time goes on but Shoemaker says the reports by the principals show that the process is driving school improvement.

    “We know more now than ever before what makes kids learn, the strategies that work best for all the different kinds of learners. With the common assessments, teachers are better able to hone in on what their students are doing and intervene with strategies that will help them.”

    Shoemaker says that unlike standardized tests like the Wisconsin Knowledge Concepts Evaluation, the common assessments developed by teachers — while they are aligned with state standards — reflect what is going on in their classrooms and impact how teachers teach.

    For more information about the SMART goal process and its application in the Hudson School District, contact Shoemaker at (715) 377-3705.

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