How We Nearly Doubled Math Scores with Kevin Finnegan Transformative Principal 333

Social Media: When we saw Math could be a discussion, it totally changed everything.

Kevin Finnegan is the principal of Prairie Hill School in Illinois. His students recently showed a 77% growth in Math, and we talk about how he made that happen.

• Prairie hill is the school and the community comes together around it.
• Northern Illinois, PK–4th grade.
• 9 years as the principal.
• Mission statement: Students first, always.
• PLC school
• Reformed schedule so that every day (4 teachers per team) have an hour of common collaborative time every day.
• Why are we making this decision? The students are always the bringback.
• Norms: imagine the students you are talking about are here.
• To be a great principal is easy. You just have to have a great staff.
• PE teacher said, “I want students more.”
• Each class has 10 half hour blocks each week: Art, PE, STEM,
• Always been a high performing district. Makes change really hard when you have had success in the past.
• staff is competitive within themselves.
• Noticed that math scores were less than we expected.
• Dove into the data.
• Computation was awesome, but they struggled with elaborating on their thoughts.
• In every math assignment, adding the words, “I know this because…”
• If you see something that can be done in Kindergarten it can be done anywhere.
• Ready Math - iReady as platforms for learning.
• Standards based School, done in isolation.
• Common language in math.
• Didn’t get good training at first, but then got good training and that made a huge difference.
• Math has always dealt black and white.
• Math didn’t have to be one answer, it could be a discussion, totally changed everything.
• Talking about kids’ growth, talking about assessments, classwork, and then looking at the data.
• It’s not about what you teach, it’s about what we learned.
• How long did it take to understand that it was working?
• It fit us, rather than us fitting it.
• How to be a transformative principal? Spend a little time with kids, like on their birthday. It’s a constant reminder that kids come first.

Today’s Transformative Principal sponsor, John Catt Educational, has been publishing high quality guidebooks, magazines and educator-focused professional development books since 1959. John Catt’s mission is to support high-quality teaching and learning by ensuring every educator has access to professional development materials that are research-based, practical, and focused on the key topics proven essential in today’s and tomorrow’s schools.

John Catt amplifies fresh voices on timeless topics, with a list of authors recognized around the world for their fresh perspectives and proven strategies to drive success in modern schools and classrooms. Learn more about these professional development publications that are easy to implement for your entire faculty, and are both quickly digestible and rigorous, by visiting https://us.johncattbookshop.com/. 

Visit this page to learn more about bulk orders and how to bring John Catt’s research-based materials to your school: https://us.johncattbookshop.com/pages/agents-and-distributors

Learn about some of John Catt Educational’s newest publications:

• What the Academy Taught Us: Improving Schools from the Bottom-Up in a Top-Down Transformation Era by Eric Kalenze
• Be More Toddler: Leadership Lessons From Our Little Learners by Emma Turner
• A Quiet Education: Challenging the Extrovert Ideal in Our Schools by Jamie Thom
• Rosenshine’s Principles in Action by Tom Sherrington
• The Thinking School: Developing a Dynamic Learning Community by Kulvarn Atwal
• The researchED Guide to Explicit and Direct Instruction: An evidence-informed guide for teachers by Various Authors

Learn more about today's sponsors, Playworks, IXL, and Renaissance Learning:

As a global leader in education technology operating in more than 110 countries, Renaissance is committed to providing educators with insights and resources to accelerate growth and help all students build a strong foundation for success. We believe that technology can unlock a more effective learning experience, ensure that students get the personalized teaching they need to thrive, and help educators and administrators to truly, fully, See Every Student. Learn more at renaissance.com.

We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.

If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spent 27% less time transitioning from recess back to learning, saving teachers valuable instructional time. 

These results are possible for your students, too. Learn how Playworks can help you improve student-educator relationships, belonging, and attendance by signing up for a quick no-obligation conversation.

We’re also thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. 

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn mor...