Episode 8 - Return to School Education Resources with Dr. Marie Palano

SHOW TOPIC
Return to School Education Resources

SPECIAL GUEST
Dr. Marie Palano, Seneca Valley Analytics and Federal Programs Director

Dr. Marie Palano has been an administrator in the Seneca Valley School District since 2011, serving as assistant principal and principal before moving to her current role of Director of Analytics and Federal Programs. Dr. Palano uses meaningful data to develop and implement initiatives connected to the district's goals. In addition, Dr. Palano oversees federal programming (Title I, Title II, Title III and Title IV) for the district.

IN THIS EPISODE, WE WILL REVIEW
• How administrators and teachers are prioritizing learning goals to ensure students are meeting grade-level expectations
• How assessment can help to get to know students better, even in a virtual environment
• How - and which - resources for teachers will address gaps in student learning, specifically the younger students who are learning to read

USEFUL INFORMATION
www.svsd.net/ReturntoSchool
www.svsd.net/LearningModels

Transcript

FULL TRANSCRIPT (with timecode)

Voices E8 Marie Palano

File Name: Voices E8 Marie Palano.mp3

File Length: 00:16:45

SPEAKERS

Int - Introduction

JK - Jeff Krakoff

MP - Marie Palano

00:00:02:24 - 00:00:10:04

Introduction: Welcome to Voices, a Podcast brought to you by the Seneca Valley School District.

00:00:10:18 - 00:00:51:02

Jeff Krakoff: I'm Jeff Krakoff here with Dr. Marie Palano, director of analytics and federal programs at Seneca Valley. Great to have you here. A little background on who you are. You've been an administrator with the district since 2011. Before your before your current role you were an assistant principal and a principal and you know as far as your title Marie, I know you're involved in developing, implementing initiatives connected to reaching the district's goals, complying with federal programming mandates through TitleI, II, III and IV.

00:00:51:04 - 00:00:57:15

Jeff Krakoff: Can you give us a quick description of what your job is as an administrator in this area?

00:00:57:18 - 00:01:35:21

Marie Palano: Sure, absolutely. So in regard to federal programming, districts across the state receive funding both local, state and federal. So in regard to the federal funding and programming entitles I-IV, I do manage all of the funding. And of course the programs that are associated with it. So the Title I funding we use in our elementary and middle schools to support at-risk students in both reading and math. Our Title II is typically allocated to reduce class sizes so that teachers have the opportunity to work closely with students in smaller classes.

00:01:35:23 - 00:02:12:05

Marie Palano: Title III supports our English learners, so our English as a Second Language program. And Title IV is a newer program and it is targeted at the overall student experience so a well-rounded student. So we really do take that Title IV funding and we use that again in our Title 1 buildings to support our at-risk students in both reading and math. We do that through additional resources, through staffing, specifically with our reading specialist, and our math interventionist there. So

00:02:12:07 - 00:02:21:26

Marie Palano: So the programming and all of the funds that we receive are certainly allocated and directly related to student learning.

00:02:22:10 - 00:02:54:09

Jeff Krakoff: You mentioned having a goal of well-rounded students I'd be remiss if I didn't mention a little bit more about your background talking about being well-rounded. You earned your bachelor's degree in Spanish education at Mercyhurst and a number of advanced degrees and various certifications through Slippery Rock University, Gannon University, California University of PA, and most recently earning your doctorate at University of Pittsburgh. So congrats on all that hard work.

00:02:54:11 - 00:03:10:27

Jeff Krakoff: So you mentioned again developing and implementing initiatives connected to all the federal programming and goals. How are administrators and teachers. How do you prioritize to ensure that your students are meeting all of these expectations?

00:03:12:06 - 00:03:46:18

Marie Palano: Yes. So specifically now during these circumstances and in unprecedented times most people are certainly familiar with public schools. But it's important to mention that the cycle of teach, test, record, and move on is certainly something of the past. So at Seneca Valley, the administrators and teachers spend a great deal of time discussing what are the most critical skills, those crucial skills, that students need to live and succeed both today and in the future.

00:03:47:03 - 00:04:26:04

Marie Palano: So we talk a lot about what does it mean to know something deeply? And our curriculum committees and our teacher leaders many who have dedicated years and years to not only identifying specific learning targets in every subject or course, but also working to select quality resources that will supplement our instruction and support students and their learning. And what we do know and what will specifically be very critical this school year is the acknowledgement that not all standards are created equal.

00:04:26:06 - 00:05:01:16

Marie Palano: There are some that we spend the majority of our time teaching and we have spent a lot of time in collaborative discussions as grade levels, as buildings and departments talking about those essential learning standards. Those that will have longevity, that are important beyond a tested grade level and content area, and those that obviously connect to other content areas. And so we've focused on identifying those essential standards.

00:05:01:19 - 00:06:03:29

Marie Palano: And we've done so in a way that not only provides continuity horizontally across all grade levels and buildings, but also vertically. So as students transition and move from one grade to another in our district that we do have a continuity of education in regard to those essential standards. So we are very fortunate that we have laid the groundwork for that. Specifically, you know returning to school after schools being closed in the spring and providing remote online instruction so much of that work has been done and it's going to be very important that we capitalize on that work that has been done because not only will our instruction focus on grade-level standards and goals, but simultaneously, while exposing children and students to those grad- level expectations and goals there will be work that needs to be done in supporting students in addressing any opportunity or achievement gaps that might exist.

00:06:04:01 - 00:06:30:21

Marie Palano: So fortunately we have done much of this work and we do have that continuum of learning for the students in our district. And really we're going to need to spend a lot of time again likely virtually in collaborative sessions with teachers and in person talking about student learning, those essential standards. And how we know that students are making adequate progress.

00:06:31:01 - 00:06:45:18

Jeff Krakoff: So I know assessments are a big part of monitoring that success reaching standards and goals, but I'm curious especially in a virtual online-type of environment like work where we're facing and have faced.

00:06:45:20 - 00:06:51:09

Jeff Krakoff: How do assessments help you get to know and instructors get to know their students better?

00:06:52:18 - 00:07:03:14

Marie Palano: We have been very careful as a district as administrators and as teachers really learn together and understanding that assessment is one piece of the puzzle.

00:07:03:16 - 00:07:39:19

Marie Palano: So in the absence of hope and truly building children's confidence in themselves in that notion of self-efficacy how willing am I to take risks? In the absence of hope and self-efficacy we certainly will not see the full potential when it comes to achievement. So when we talk about student learning, assessment, student learning outcome, we are never doing so in the absence of recognizing the whole child. When we get to know students as people, it provides us a better opportunity to get to know them as learners. So

00:07:39:21 - 00:08:16:00

Marie Palano: So we look at assessment as one piece of the puzzle that will help us to inform our decisions so that we can best meet the needs of all students. And we need to be cognizant of course that during this COVID-19 there are things that impact students differently in a typical year. So we have to be very sensitive and aware of how our families and students have been impacted throughout this time. And we need to take that into consideration, not only as we develop assessments, but as we collaborate around the results of those assessments.

00:08:16:02 - 00:08:55:12

Marie Palano: So typically when we do that, specifically teachers, have been talking again for a long time and we're very fortunate that this framework and foundation has already been established. But when we talk about assessments we are consistently coming back to a few of these guiding questions. So questions like "What is the fundamental purpose of this assessment?" and "why is this assessment necessary?" and "is the assessment explicitly linked to learning goals so that students can see the connection between their work and what is being learned in the classroom environment?"

00:08:55:14 - 00:09:33:12

Marie Palano: So providing opportunities again for students to reflect on their assessment experience is really important as well. And so we tend to ask students questions like "What was the most difficult part of the assessment?" or "what else do you know that you did not have the opportunity to demonstrate during that particular assessment?" so that we can gauge what is the connection between the classroom experience and the instruction in that student learning. So assessment is very cyclical and there are many different reasons for using assessment.

00:09:33:23 - 00:10:31:28

Marie Palano: Some assessment is graded and some assessment is used to inform instruction. So in our district, we use a variety of different assessments for a variety of different reasons. And again each one of those being a piece of the puzzle to help us to get to know our students better as learners. We do have universal screeners such as NWEA and AIMS web that are grade specific and focused mostly in the areas of reading and math. And we use these assessments to identify students who are potentially at-risk for not meeting an end of year learning target and then we take that information and instead of saying "well this particular student is struggling in math" or "this particular student is struggling and reading" we really dig deeper into that information and say "you know what is it that we need to remediate first and then progress through different skills?"

00:10:32:00 - 00:11:02:23

Marie Palano: So it is very specific based on skill deficit, but those decisions for interventions are never made in isolation based on one piece of information. We are looking at classroom experience, teacher input, the universal screener but, we will absolutely do our due diligence as we always had in the past to identify and provide interventions and support for students who potentially are at-risk for not meeting an end-of-year learning target.

00:11:02:25 - 00:11:20:11

Jeff Krakoff: So truly is a 360-degree approach looking at the whole student. Let's say there is there is a learning gap identified with a student, how do teachers and which resources will they use to help bridge that gap?

00:11:21:17 - 00:11:26:04

Marie Palano: So we truly believe first of all in; effective instructional strategies.

00:11:26:06 - 00:12:03:14

Marie Palano: So there is no strategy approach or resource that will meet the needs of every student. So again going back to getting to know our students as learners and having ample resources available and training in effective instructional strategy is in those areas. And of course specifically teacher collaboration. So there is so much sharing of ideas, sharing of strategies. You know we are constantly gauging not only our students achieving, but are they making adequate growth?

00:12:03:16 - 00:12:40:28

Marie Palano: So if there is a learning gap. Are we doing enough to close that gap? So we need to have a student growth percentile that is at a particular point in order to say "yes this intervention is effective." So if and when an intervention for a student is not effective, we would then begin to look at what other strategies and resources do we have available to us? Do we need to change the intensity of the intervention which could potentially be a time interval maybe going from 30 minutes a day to 60 minutes a day.

00:12:41:00 - 00:13:15:26

Marie Palano: But what is it that we need to do so that we can ensure that students are making adequate growth? So along the way again nothing is done in isolation. There is much conversation and there is a lot of data around student learning so we are looking for evidence of growth and we are looking for that consecutively over time. And should a student be at grade level in a particular skill, perhaps there is another skill in that progression of learning that needs to be addressed next.

00:13:15:28 - 00:13:48:06

Marie Palano: So consistent communication we are constantly talking about what is it that all students must know and be able to do and I think that links back to those essential standards- how important those are in prioritizing student learning in the classroom. We're constantly questioning how will we know when each student has learned. Each one of these essential standards. And how do we respond when students do not learn? And that's where the collaboration comes in.

00:13:48:08 - 00:13:55:01

Marie Palano: We have built a community of educators that have a shared ownership of all students.

00:13:55:03 - 00:14:12:18

Marie Palano: It goes beyond this is my classroom or this is my grade level or my building. But how do we work together specifically with early literacy skills to ensure that our students are progressing appropriately to meet those end-of-year learning targets.

00:14:12:20 - 00:14:28:04

Jeff Krakoff: Absolutely fascinating how much is truly involved in the analytics and of education. So if I'm a parent what's my one or two takeaways from what we've talked about today that I really need to know and think about.

00:14:28:06 - 00:15:07:12

Marie Palano: So I think as a parent, I mean I'm a parent myself, and so I think you know we're only as good as the information that we have. So if there is something important that your child's teacher or building administrator needs to know about the development of your child, please share that information to the degree that you are comfortable sharing. We have all overcome obstacles. We have all had barriers and we truly are here to support student learning, not only in a way that provides opportunities for students, but also for families. As a school,

00:15:07:15 - 00:15:42:12

Marie Palano: yes, we focus on student learning, but we are certainly a community asset and we know when we are talking about the whole child that we need to meet student's needs before we have access to engaging them in their learning. So we are here to help, specifically during these difficult times. We want to be a member of your team. We want to help every student as much as we possibly can every day. And I will say throughout all of this we have learned a great deal.

00:15:42:14 - 00:16:20:00

Marie Palano: We have learned a great deal about ourselves and our profession and how we can stretch ourselves in our thinking and providing interventions. We had interventionist last spring that worked nonstop to provide and continue working with our at-risk students during that school closure in a virtual setting. And we will do so again if we need to to provide that continuity of education. So I absolutely want parents to know that we are thinking not only of students and their learning but also things that are impacting families right now.

00:16:20:02 - 00:16:23:05

Marie Palano: And how can we be of assistance and work together as a team.

00:16:23:19 - 00:16:32:03

Jeff Krakoff: All right. Dr. Palano, thank you so much for sharing your insights today. I wish you the best for the new school year. And it's great talking with you.

00:16:32:20 - 00:16:33:13

Marie Palano: And you as well.

00:16:33:15 - 00:16:34:22

Marie Palano: Thank you very much.

00:16:34:24 - 00:16:36:00

Jeff Krakoff: Take care.

00:16:36:02 - 00:16:36:18

Marie Palano: Take care.