CPP Model Program
Critical Thinking, Personalization, Perseverance
Description of the Model Program
Garfield High School's Model Program, “CPP,” nurtures all students to be disciplined thinkers (Critical Thinking) through opportunities for student voice and choice (Personalization), resulting in a college-going culture and sense of community (Perseverance). Our CPP model was adopted in response to past academic performance, discipline issues, and the need for a shift in school culture. Essential resources needed for initiating CPP varied. We invested in instructional coaches and changed our daily class schedule to embed Math and English Language Arts (ELA) intervention. Small Learning Communities (SLC) were created to allow for greater teacher-student personalization.
The goals and anticipated outcomes of CPP in relation to teacher and administrator professional development (PD) and support are to improve instruction, increase achievement, and boost engagement and perseverance. Teacher collaboration through Professional Learning Communities (PLC) facilitates data analysis to inform instruction, addressing the specific needs of all learners, including English Learners (EL) and Students With Disabilities (SWD). Administrators are trained in observing instruction and providing actionable feedback.
The goals and anticipated outcomes of CPP in relation to students, parents, and community include increasing parent involvement through workshops in our Parent Center and providing them with strategies to use at home to ensure student success. In support of our college-going culture, GO East LA offers all Garfield students, who meet minimum requirements for enrollment, guaranteed admittance at Cal State University at Los Angeles and East Los Angeles College.
CPP benefits all students and affects schoolwide achievement by teachers integrating listening, speaking, reading, and writing into all curricular areas. As a result, we have exceeded the District’s target goals for SBAC. We re-teach concepts, incorporate spiral review throughout the week, and reassess concepts the following week in all subjects. Academic and A-G Diploma counselors address academic progress, social-emotional development, and college and career readiness. Mental and emotional wellbeing is addressed for all students through the supports provided by on-site School Psychologists, Psychiatric Social Worker (PSW), Pupil Services and Attendance Counselor (PSA), Foster Youth Achievement Counselor, and partnerships with outside mental health agencies.
CPP benefits our unique student populations (EL, Gifted, Foster Youth, etc.) in the learning community by maintaining high expectations for all learners, while accommodating individual needs. We provide a multi-tiered approach of targeted intervention for all subgroups, including support for identified academically at-risk students, and providing credit recovery, academic enrichment, and social-emotional support.
CPP addresses student social-emotional and behavioral needs, incorporating the concepts of Growth Mindset, Self-Efficacy, Self-Management, and Social Awareness. Teachers and staff encourage a growth mindset, allowing students to persevere through difficult circumstances and challenging curriculum. Support is provided by our PSW, PSA, teachers, counselors, and administrators. Students are empathetic to the needs of others and consistently give back to their community through holiday blanket, food, clothing, and toy drives.
CPP is linked to and embedded in our District's Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) through our goals of attaining 100% Graduation; Proficiency for All; and Parent, Community and Student Engagement. This is accomplished through our CPP model in the context of SLC, PLC, Advisory class, implementation of instructional strategies, engaging parents through workshops and trainings, a volunteer program, and community partnerships.
Garfield addresses chronic absenteeism through the efforts of our PSA counselor, who conducts attendance campaigns, weekly student check-ins, home visits, and School Attendance Review Team meetings. Additionally, Garfield has maintained a zero suspensions and expulsions rate since school year 2012-2013, which stems from a progressive discipline policy, School-Wide Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (SWPBIS), and Restorative Justice Practices.
Implementation & Monitoring of the Model
Stakeholders, particularly parents, are engaged in our CPP model through parent and community workshops (such as ELA and Math skills workshops to promote literacy and numeracy at home, and monthly Coffee and Data With the Principal meetings), a District renowned parent volunteer program, and a partnership with our in-house Wellness Center. Parents play an integral role in development of school plans and programs through their active involvement in our School Site Council (SSC), English Learner Advisory Committee (ELAC), Shared Decision-Making Council (SDMC), and school Safety Committee. Parents contribute to the school community through translation, phone calls home, chaperoning field trips, supervision, and support for school spirit activities.
Effective two-way communication has gone from something we were trying to establish to something parents themselves expect and demand. We communicate CPP to stakeholders and parents of our learning community through SSC, ELAC, and SDMC meetings, Parent Portal, Schoology, the Remind App, parent workshops, the Garfield website, ConnectEd phone messages, letters, and personal telephone calls. We evaluate the effectiveness of this engagement by using needs assessments, parent surveys, and feedback from the District School Experience Survey (SES).
Capacity building activities related to Professional Learning for teachers, revolve around content area, PLC, and SLC meetings. Administrators attend monthly District PD meetings and participate in collaborative classroom observations using Google Forms to catalog evidence collected and actionable feedback given to teachers. Non-instructional staff is involved with our SWPBIS Plan, which addresses student social-emotional and behavioral needs. The monitoring and assessment methods used to evaluate the effectiveness of our instructional learning activities include reviewing weekly student assessment data, state assessments, PD feedback, the SES, reclassification rates, and college-going rates.
Results of the Model/Pupil Outcomes
The CPP Model Program monitoring and assessment results are being used to evaluate student outcomes and demonstrate positive results in the areas of Critical Thinking, Personalization, and Perseverance. The data reflects Critical Thinking in several areas. Math teachers administer weekly, standards-aligned “Diagnostic Assessments” and our Math coach uses results of these assessments to spiral in low-performing standards, while adding in new standards to subsequent assessments. Teachers develop common lessons based on data collected from these assessments to address student need and build on successes. ELA teachers administer common writing assessments aligned to the SBAC claims and examine data during PLC meetings. As a result, Garfield outperforms the District on SBAC testing. Most recent ELA scores show Garfield surpassed the District by 23% (65% Meets/Exceeds for Garfield compared to 43% for LAUSD) and by 7% in Math (39% compared to 32%). We offer 16 Advanced Placement (AP) courses and our students continue to top California and global averages. For 2018, the percentage of our AP students with a score of 3 or higher was 68%, exceeding the state average of 64% and the global average of 61%. In addition to this formative and summative assessment data, the SES shows the effects of the Critical Thinking aspect of our CPP model. As an example, on the 2018-2019 SES, the vast majority of students reported awareness of their A-G requirements (only 3% reported being unaware). Additionally, 96% of our teachers feel it is part of their job to prepare students academically to succeed in college. It is not surprising that our graduation rate has skyrocketed to 97% in the past 3 years, and that we are a California Gold Ribbon and Title 1 Academic Achievement school.
Efforts to personalize the Garfield experience for all stakeholders have a tremendous impact on this aspect of the program, which is showcased in our data. As of November of the 2018-2019 school year, 82% of our students are Proficient in attendance, which exceeds the District goal of 70%. One hundred two registered parent volunteers have logged over 8,000 collective hours of service so far this year. These volunteers arrange an average of 75 parent-teacher conferences per month, and made over 800 phone calls home for teachers in the Fall semester alone (250 calls were made in the month of January). Over 180 workshops are facilitated through our Parent Center in a given school year. Students, as stakeholders in the learning community, also demonstrate the personalized nature of our program through their involvement in over 30 clubs and organizations. In fact, the 2018-2019 SES results report that an overwhelming majority of our students say, “There are lots of chances for students at my school to get involved in school activities outside of class.” Adding to these testaments of our Personalization model are other SES results, which indicate that 93% of our teachers are happy to teach at this school, and 97% of staff feel that Garfield emphasizes culturally relevant and responsive teaching. These and many other data are examples of the effectiveness of our personalization, as highlighted in our zero suspension and expulsion rate.
We are committed to the preparation of all students for success and perseverance in the real world. Schoolwide, in the 3 years since the inception of District credit recovery opportunities, over 1,000 Garfield students have recuperated deficient A-G credits, which has increased our overall graduation rate from 87% in 2015 to 97% in 2018. Of these 97%, an average of 89% were slated to go to college and 8% were planning to attend a trade school or directly enter a career.
Our findings demonstrate success between targeted and non-targeted student groups. For example, our EL population successfully reclassified at a rate of 45% in 2017-2018, compared to 33% in 2015-2016. Garfield Students of Poverty improved in the “Meets/Exceeds” category on the Math SBAC from 33% in 2017 to 39% in 2018. Although there is room for growth, our SWD also showed improvement in Math, jumping from 4% to 8%, and our Limited English Proficient (LEP) students increased 6%. Subgroups are represented in all aspects of the school community, from participation on athletics teams to club memberships. All subgroups directly benefit from programs offered schoolwide (e.g. college awareness, career tech education, after school activities), as well as specifically designed graduation plans to provide opportunities for individual academic growth.
The results of our CPP model program are being used for continual improvement to accelerate the impact on student success through the collaborative efforts of all stakeholders. Data-driven conversations during weekly Administrative Cabinet meetings, individualized PD planning for teachers with support from our instructional coaches and coordinators, and strategic deployment of support staff all contribute to student-centered learning and achievement. The goals and anticipated outcomes of CPP in relation to students, parents, and community has proven that our students are independent critical thinkers, take ownership of their educational experiences, and are college and career ready. It is the mission of GHS to influence a societal growth mindset, realize the untapped potential of students in urban public schools, and remove opportunity barriers for students in communities similar to ours.