mjordan2@sdale.org

Lakeside Junior High School has earned the Solution Tree Promising Practices designation.

"We are so proud of our designation as a Promising Practices school, because it is the culmination of a lot of hard work aligning our systems and structures to directly lead to growth in student achievement," said Michael Shepherd, Lakeside principal. "This award means that Lakeside students are learning and growing academically at higher levels than ever before, and I'm most proud of our kids for that!"

Recipients of the Promising Practices Award demonstrate a commitment to the PLC at Work process, implement the concepts for at least one or two years, present clear evidence of student learning and explain the culture, practices and structures of their school. Additionally, one-two years of consecutive data showing student improvement is submitted.

Earning the Promising Practices designation is evidence that Lakeside Junior High School's efforts are having a significant impact on both student achievement and professional growth.

"This designation is based on growth and achievement results from our students, as well as on documented evidence of high-performing systems and structures across all disciplines and electives that support the PLC process," Shepherd said.

He said these systems and structures include standards-based grading, proficiency scales, collaborative teams that work toward the Four Critical Questions, having an effective response to intervention program in place and evidence of common assessments used to collect data for student intervention and instructional improvement.

"This is the first step in the journey of being a Model PLC School," Shepherd said.

Springdale Schools strives to be a Model PLC district.

The PLC process is built on three foundational pieces: a focus on learning, a collaborative culture and collective responsibility and results orientation.

Teachers work in collaborative teams to answer the following questions:

  1. What do we want our students to learn?

  2. How will we know when students learn it?

  3. What do we do when students don’t learn it?

  4. What do we do when schools have learned it?

All 31 Springdale schools participate in the Professional Learning Community process.