PLC Practices - Fulton Public Schools

About

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) are collaborative groups of educators who work together to improve teaching practices and student learning outcomes. PLCs meet regularly and are guided by shared values, norms, and protocols. PLCs can take various forms, ranging from grade-level or subject-area teams within a school to interdisciplinary groups spanning multiple schools. PLCs demonstrate six essential characteristics:

A Focus on Learning
A Collaborative Culture with a Focus on Learning for All
Collective Inquiry into Best Practices and Current Reality
Action Orientation: Learning by Doing
A Commitment to Continuous Improvement
A Results Orientation

Pillars

Mission Statements

Bartley Elementary

We are ONE on a quest for excellence at Bartley School!

Bush Elementary

Excellence is our plan, by learning all we can.

McIntire Elementary

High Levels of Learning for ALL.

Fulton Early Childhood Center

Every child. Every day. Whatever it takes.

Fulton Middle School

Promoting growth and high achievement for ALL learners!

Fulton High School

Preparing and Educating for Success.

Vision Statements

Bartley Elementary

The vision of Bartley Elementary is for all students to strive for excellence in a safe and positive learning environment that has high expectations for the individual success of all. We will engage students as we prepare them for future endeavors through progressive instructional strategies and collaboration with our families and community.

Bush Elementary

At Bush Elementary School we commit ourselves to creating and maintaining a school that educates all learners by building on the strength of our students, staff, parents, and community members. This will be accomplished through a unified focus on Learning, Pride, and Commun

McIntire Elementary

The vision of McIntire School is to promote high levels of learning for all in a safe, positive, engaging environment. Families, staff, students, and the community will collaborate to support one another and ensure we meet the needs of all learners.

Fulton Early Childhood Center

The Fulton Early Childhood Center is a school filled with exploration, discovery, and authentic hands-on learning experiences. We partner with families to develop confident learners by embracing the unique abilities of all children.

Fulton Middle School

Fulton Middle School will be an exemplary learning community ensuring a safe and positive academic environment with mutual respect for all. Through partnerships with our families and the community, we are dedicated to providing innovative and engaging experiences to ensure high levels of learning for ALL students.

Fulton High School

Fulton High School
• Provides a POSITIVE and SAFE community for students and staff.
• Engages students to ACHIEVE their goals.
• Values professional DEVELOPMENT and community CONNECTIONS.

Collective Commitments

Bartley Elementary

Commit to observing, sharing, and collaborating with one another.
Have trust and presume positive intentions of others.
Try new things.
Hold myself accountable in a timely manner.
Focus on the right work (4 corollary questions).

Bush Elementary

We are committed to using student data to drive our instructional decisions as we differentiate instructional strategies to optimize student learning.
We are committed to providing a safe and caring learning environment for all.
We will encourage students, parents, and community members to be active participants in our students' learning.

McIntire Elementary

We make decisions based on data.
We differentiate instruction for each student.
We create an environment where we ALL belong.
We foster an environment for positive relationships.
We collaborate with ALL.
We promote a safe, respectful, and responsible environment for ALL.
We use research based materials and practices.

Fulton Early Childhood Center

As a school family we will…

ensure every child feels safe, loved, and nurtured.
ensure that students feel safe to take risks and know that mistakes are opportunities for learning.
foster independence, and allow students to be who they want to be. *build meaningful relationships within and among our school family through trust, guidance, and connections.
recognize the unique gifts and abilities of every child.
utilize a high quality curriculum with fidelity to ensure success and create a love of learning through developmentally appropriate practice.

Fulton Middle School

We are committed to establishing an emotionally and physically safe, trusting and positive environment so that students can learn at high levels.
We are committed to effective communication regarding student progress and positive relationships with all stakeholders.
We are committed to creating assessment capable learners utilizing the data teaming process and student goal setting.

Fulton High School

We are committed to the success and well-being of every student, recognizing all students as our students.

We are committed to high expectations for behavior and citizenship. Through our own actions, we will model kindness, understanding, integrity, and respect for our students.
We are committed to providing a welcoming and safe environment for all students, parents, staff, and community members.
We are committed to providing a challenging, rigorous, and developmentally appropriate curriculum.
We are committed to professional growth based on best practices and current research.
We are committed to weekly collaboration with our teams to support each other in data-driven decision making to develop instructional strategies and design methods of assessment.
We are committed to promoting a supportive environment through positive referrals, parent contacts, and social media communication.
We are committed to upholding the building expectations (grades, hall passes, supervision, etc.) for both students and staff.

SMART Goals

Bartley Elementary

Academic Goals
- The end of the year iReady Reading Diagnostic will increase from 69% (2023-2024) of students on or above grade level to 72% (2024-2025) of students on or above grade level.
- The end of the year iReady Math Diagnostic will increase from 63% (2023-2024) of students on or above grade level to 68% (2024-2025) of students on or above grade level.
- The percentage of students scoring advanced and proficient on the MAP will increase by 5% from 2024 MAP assessment to the 2025 MAP assessment.
Attendance Goals
- 90% of students will attend school 90% (or more) of the time.
Climate & Culture Goals
- The percentage of staff members selecting a 4 or 5 for questions 16, 17, and 18 as measured by our Staff Climate and Culture Survey will be 65%.
- Bartley will maintain teacher absences. Teachers will maintain 5 days or less per certified staff member.

Bush Elementary

Academic Goals
- The percentage of students scoring on or above grade level on the iReady Reading Assessment will increase by an average of 25% from the beginning of the year diagnostic assessment to the end of the year diagnostic assessment.
- The percentage of students scoring on or above grade level on the iReady Math Assessment will increase by an average of 30% from the beginning of the year diagnostic assessment to the end of the year diagnostic assessment.
Attendance Goals
- 90% of students will attend school 90% (or more) of the time.
Climate & Culture Goals
- The percentage of employees indicating “agree” or “strongly agree” that their supervisor ensures that staff morale is high in their school or department (as measured by the 2025 spring employee engagement survey) will increase to 80%. (Comparable to questions #14 and #16: 14. I usually look forward to each working day., 16. I feel supported by the people I work with.)
- The percentage of employees indicating “agree” or “strongly agree” that FPS recognizes employees for their high-quality work and accomplishments (as measured by the 2025 spring employee engagement survey) will increase to 80%. (Comparable to Questions #13: I see professional growth and long-term career opportunities with Fulton Public Schools.)

McIntire Elementary

Academic Goals
- The percentage of students scoring on or above grade level on the iReady Reading Diagnostic will increase from 52% to 62% by May 2025.
- The percentage of students scoring on or above grade level on the iReady Math Diagnostic will increase from 47% to 57% percent by May 2025.
- The percentage of students scoring proficient or advanced on the MAP Assessment will increase by 10% in both Reading and Math by May 2025
Attendance Goals
- 90% of students will attend school 90% (or more) of the time.
- Students will increase their time engaged in classroom instruction. This will be done by decreasing the amount of days spent in ISS and OSS. Students receiving office discipline referrals will decrease by 10% from X days to X days by May 2025.
Climate & Culture Goals
- The percentage of staff members selecting Agree or Strongly Agree (4 or 5 on the rating scale) on the staff survey for “belonging” in our building, will increase from our baseline score from the fall survey to 80% when given in the Spring.
- McIntire will maintain teacher absences. Teachers will maintain 6 or less days absent per certified staff member.

Fulton Early Childhood Center

Academic Goals
- 80% of Pre K students will identify 15 upper or lowercase letters by March 2025.
- 80% of Pre K students will count with 1-1 correspondence from 1-10 by March 2025. 80% of Pre K students will rote count to 15 by March 2025.
- 80% of Kindergarten Students will be at or above grade level in the phonemic awareness portion of the iReady Reading Diagnostic by March 2025.
- 80% of Kindergarten Students will be at or above grade level on the iReady Math Diagnostic by March 2025.
Attendance Goals
- 90% of kindergarten students will attend school 90% of the time.
Climate & Culture Goals
- Coming soon.

Fulton Middle School

Academic Goals
- The percentage of students receiving proficient or advanced on the ELA MAP test will increase by 8% per grade level cohort for the 2024-2025 school year.
- The percentage of students receiving proficient or advanced on the Mathematics MAP test will increase by:
  - 8% for our 6th grade cohort for the 2024-2025 school year
  - 10% for our 7th grade cohort for the 2024-2025 school year
  - 9% for our 8th grade cohort for the 2024-2025 school year
- The percentage of students receiving proficient or advanced on the Science MAP test will increase by 2% per grade level cohort for the 2024-2025 school year.
Attendance Goals
- 82% of students will attend school 90% or more in 2024-2025.
Climate & Culture Goals
- The perception of high staff morale will increase from 51% of staff agreeing or strongly agreeing to 70% of staff agreeing or strongly agreeing to question 14 in the Spring 2024 climate and culture survey that states, I usually look forward to each working day.
- FMS will decrease teacher absences by 1.2 school days. Going from 7.7 days to 6.5 days per certified staff member.

Fulton High School

Academic Goals
- We will achieve an 85% success rate as measured by the percentage of students with ALL passing grades at the end of each semester (Fall 2024 & Spring 2025) as compared to 75% Spring semester of 2024.
- We will achieve a 95% success rate as measured by the percentage of passing grades at the end of each semester (Fall 2024 & Spring 2025) as compared to 92.8% Spring semester 2024.
Attendance Goals
- The percentage of students attending school 90% of the time will increase from 76% as measured in May 2024 to 80% by May 2025.
Climate & Culture Goals
- We will increase the parent participation from fifty five in Spring of 2024 to 100 parents in the Spring of 2025.
- We will increase the student participation from forty four in Spring of 2024 to 400 students in the Spring of 2025.
- We will strive to have 80% of our staff rate us with a 3, 4, or 5 for question thirteen (I usually look forward to each working day) and question seventeen (I feel like I belong at this school) in the Staff Climate/Culture survey.

Meeting Norms

Bartley Elementary

Respect other’s time
Presume positive intentions
Be present and contribute
Come prepared with materials
Student-centered
We are ONE

Bush Elementary

Use devices respectfully
Begin/End on time
Everyone engaged
Be prepared/positive
Make sure all voices are heard
Assume/Have positive intentions
Side bars to a minimum

McIntire Elementary

Begin and end on time
Respect and listen to others/tone check
Take care of your needs, clean up after yourself
Keep sidebar conversations and distractions to a minimum
Be reflective educators
Come to meetings prepared

Fulton Early Childhood Center

I will ensure all voices are heard.
I will utilize turn and talk time to verbally process.
I will be mindful of my actions and distractions.
I will be on time, prepared, and ready to learn.
I will find my one thing and focus on it.
I will presume positive intent.
I will hold myself and others accountable.

Fulton Middle School

Begin and end on time
Presume POSITIVE intentions with an open mind
Speak and act professionally with respect
Be constructive and goal-oriented
Actively participate and focus on agenda
Be engaged, empower others, and educate yourself!

Fulton High School

Begin and end on time
Limit "What if" questions
Be professional (tech, comments, etc.)
Limit sidebar conversations
Maintain a positive attitude

Leadership

Bartley Elementary

Our Leadership team is composed of the principal, four teachers, and our PDC representative. The team meets twice a month on Friday mornings at 7:15 AM to plan and discuss building/staff concerns which may impede the success of our PLCs and to discuss ways we can offer support to remedy those concerns. We plan for building PD needs and offer training and support for all teachers by utilizing staff members with experience in areas of need.

Leadership Team

Serina Anthony (PDC)
Chancie Azdell
Danyelle Eads
Tracy Guse
Nikki White

Bush Elementary

Our leadership team is composed of the principal, four teachers, and our PDC representative. The leadership team meets monthly to review data, SMART goals, and action steps from the building improvement plan. We celebrate successes and help develop action steps for areas of concern. Our team also provides input into building PD activities.

Leadership Team

Whitney Eastwood (PDC)
Amber Hopkins
Jennifer Salmons
Lacy Waters
Jessica Yeager

McIntire Elementary

Our leadership team is comprised of the principal, assistant principal, four teachers, and our PDC representative. We plan for building PD needs, upcoming Focus Team meetings, and PBIS Team Meetings. Leadership team members facilitate data team meetings to ensure fidelity of the data teaming process. We will be utilizing the fourth edition Learning by Doing text to evaluate and improve our PLC practices this school year.

Leadership Team

Laura Dooley-Wilder
Megan Metz
Maggie Purdy
Travis Reger
Melissa Speer (PDC)

Fulton Early Childhood Center

Our leadership team is composed of our principal, representatives from each content area, and our PDC representative. Our lead team meets every Tuesday before school starts, from 7:15 - 7:45. Our lead team provides input and works collaboratively to lead staff through PD, based on our needs assessments, monitors the work of our focus teams, and leads our staff through review of building SMART goals and data. We develop and review our building improvement plan.

Leadership Team

Shannon Fisher
Elizabeth Hess
Libby Hrabovsky
Kari O'Neal
Abby Quick (PDC)

Fulton Middle School

The FMS leadership team is comprised of our principal, five teachers, and our PDC representative. Team members meet every two weeks to address needs and concerns of our building, as well as help develop building PD day needs.

Leadership Team

Kristin Clark (PDC)
Jeremiah Hoskins
Chelsea Jacobs
Abbey Ordway
Logan Patrick
Lucy Shrout

Fulton High School

The Fulton High School Leadership Team includes the principal, a counselor, five teachers, and our PDC representative. The team has historically met once every two weeks, but is currently meeting weekly. We oversee the fundamentals of the PLC process, including the creation and monitoring of the school’s mission, vision, collective commitments, and data teams.

Leadership Team

Jason Boedecker
John DeFily
Rachel Diemler
Christopher Elliott
Jim Hall (PDC)
Anne Langendoerfer
Kelly Neudecker

Focus on Learning

Question 1 - What do we want students to learn?

Fulton Public School curriculum is aligned to the Missouri Learning Standards and Priority Standards. State standards have been reviewed by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and approved by the State Board of Education. Teacher leaders in Fulton are involved in the curriculum development process each year. Updated curriculum is submitted to the Fulton Board of Education for final approval once it has been reviewed by instructional staff and administration. Approved curriculum can be reviewed at the FPS Curriculum page on the district website. Additional information about curriculum review, development, implementation, and evaluation can be found in the FPS Curriculum Handbook.

Question 2 - How will we know if students have learned?

Early Childhood

We progress monitor students and collect data based on our SMART goals. Our data teams and lead team look at this data to determine what our students have learned.

Elementary School

I-Ready Screenings are used as a tool to give yearly baseline, mid-year, and end of the year data. Reading Interventionists meet with classroom teachers to discuss the data.

Middle School

At FMS our data teams meet monthly to analyze students' scores on both classroom common assessments as well as standardized tests (NWEA, IXL, MAP). After analyzing these scores and finding both the successes and areas for improvement, we then determine what next steps are needed in order to ensure the success of all of our students in the classroom.

High School

Our data teams and lead team progress monitor students using different methods: formative and summative assessments, Mastery Connect, and SMART goal data. These tools allow us to see which students are prepared for additional learning or those that are in need of interventions.

Question 3 - What will we do if they don't learn it?

Fulton Early Childhood Center

In early childhood, interventions are put in place by the classroom teacher. We do not have the staff to implement RTI, but it is appropriate for the classroom teacher to implement interventions, with the way that our classrooms run. We now have a counselor, who will be running small group interventions in regards to social skills.

Bartley Elementary

Our interventions occur both in and out of the classroom. RTI (Blitz) is daily and available faculty and staff are utilized to work with students for a 30 minute segment to meet their instructional needs, whether it be remediation, continued instruction, or enrichment. We have two building tutors and one volunteer who provide individual or small group academic support.

Bush Elementary

After benchmarking students at the beginning of the year, reading interventionists meet in two-hour blocks with each grade level. The team breaks students into four to six groups based on their most pressing need. Every day, each grade level is assigned a 30-minute hornet time during which these groups of students meet with a teacher to receive instruction. Typically one classroom teacher services our enrichment students, while others have groups working on comprehension, phonics, writing, test prep, etc. Reading interventionists meet with small groups of students who are struggling the most. Each week teachers conduct progress monitoring so that students can move fluidly between groups as needed.

McIntire Elementary

After benchmarking students at the beginning of the year, reading interventionists meet in two-hour blocks with each grade level. The team breaks students into four to six groups based on their most pressing need. Every day, each grade level is assigned a 30-minute Hornet time during which these groups of students meet with a teacher to receive instruction. Typically one classroom teacher services enrichment students, while others have groups working on comprehension, phonics, writing, test prep, etc. Reading interventionists meet with small groups of students who are struggling the most. Each week teachers conduct progress monitoring so that students can move fluidly between groups as needed.

Fulton Middle School

Students at FMS are provided intervention in two main ways. First, students receive intervention in the classroom on grade level curriculum throughout each unit. Also, students take the NWEA assessment three times a year. This data, along with other academic and behavioral data, is used to place students into proper intervention needs during the intervention block at the end of the day.

Fulton High School

FHS has a designated seminar time in which we have built in several interventions. Four days per week, students have a thirty-five minute period during which time they may visit any one teacher on their schedule. They may use this time to work independently on their homework, seek help from that teacher, or prepare for or retake assessments. During this time, teachers can also request a student attend his or her seminar in order to make up missing assignments or receive additional instruction. On-Track Tuesdays are the days set aside for students to attend their assigned seminar teacher, who typically keeps the same students each year and serves as an adviser/mentor. During On-Track Tuesday seminar time, teachers and students check grades, look for and complete missing assignments, discuss strategies for success, set goals, and complete grade-level lessons designed by our counselors. Another intervention built into FHS is the Intensive Care Unit database, or ICU. ICU is a school-wide system for reporting missing assignments. When teachers input the missing work, parents receive a notification. Students have twenty-four hours to submit missing assignments before being pulled into the ICU room for supervised completion of their work. In 2018-19, our school implemented the ICU program with our freshmen; in 2019-20 we added sophomores to the ICU program. ICU has been proven effective in our building for recovering the practice necessary for success and in increasing the number of students who earn credit and remain on track to graduate with their cohort. Our PBIS team and Problem Solving team will continue to monitor students' needs and implement additional interventions (assigned Seminar time, Check and Connect, mentoring, etc.).

Question 4 - What will we do if they already know it?

Fulton Early Childhood Center

Our Pre K data team meets weekly to determine which students already know the objective. Teachers collaborate and plan learning activities for students who are ready to move forward. These activities are embedded into our daily work time, small group, and large group sections of the day.

Bartley Elementary

We have two building tutors and one volunteer who provide individual or small group academic support by offering enrichment instruction/activities. If students have mastered on level tasks, enrichment is provided by building tutors during RTI. Classroom teachers work together to provide instruction within the classroom to meet their instructional needs.

Bush Elementary

During Hornet time, one classroom teacher is responsible for planning enrichment activities for the group of students who have mastered their learning targets.

McIntire Elementary

During our RTI time, one classroom teacher plans for enrichment activities for the groups of students who have met benchmark goals.

Fulton Middle School

Classroom teachers work together to provide instruction within the classroom to meet the instructional needs of each student. If students have mastered on level tasks, enrichment is provided during the intervention block at the end of the day as well.

Fulton High School

FHS uses our iSucceed program, Academic Week, and National Honor Society to identify and reward students for their academic achievement. Students who excel in academics are recognized through these programs and earn time to explore Makerspace activities or play higher-level thinking games during seminar, celebrate their success through week-long Academic Week recognition including attending an educational field trip, and/or expand their service learning through NHS. In addition to these programs, our academically talented students have an opportunity to expand their learning through Scholar Bowl. The district Gifted teacher is also scheduling opportunities throughout the year where she can come to meet with her previous students as an added support. We have many AP and Honors level courses that are available for our students to take.

Continuous Improvement

Building Improvement Plans (2024-25)

Data Teaming Practices

Bartley Elementary

Grade Level teams meet bi-weekly during their common plan with the principal. The teams analyze data, review current assessments, discuss student progress, adjust intervention groups.

Bush Elementary

Grade level data teams meet on a weekly basis during a protected 60 min common plan time. The weekly meeting topics alternate between math data analysis, reading data analysis, SMART goal progress and learning rounds. Math weeks focus on creating assessments that align with math priority standards, reviewing those pretests to determine common student misconceptions and patterns of error, creating instructional plans, and reviewing formative assessments and student progress. During reading weeks, the grade level teachers are joined by our reading interventionists to review reading progress monitoring, current Hornet Time groupings, and instructional practices. SMART goal weeks focus on the collection of data toward our quarterly SMART goals and analyzing that data to plan for future instruction. Learning round weeks provide a collaborative opportunity for instructional staff to observe their peers, reflect on effective teaching strategies that they observe and provide positive feedback to their colleagues.

McIntire Elementary

Grade level data teams meet bi-weekly after school with a leadership team facilitator and/or reading or special education specialist. Teams also meet as needed during common plan time to analyze data, create instructional plans, review current assessments, evaluate student progress, and adjust interventions as needed based on student performance. Data teams will follow the Data Based Decision Making process from the DCI Framework.

Fulton Early Childhood Center

Grade level data teams meet weekly on Mondays during a protected 60 minute common plan. Grade level teachers, ECSE teachers, and admin are invited. Progress monitoring data based on building SMART goals is reviewed to determine areas of need. Our team operates with norms, an agenda, and data analysis protocol. The 4 Corollary questions drive all actions. Interventions are determined based on student need, instructional practices are reviewed, and instructional strategies are shared.

Fulton Middle School

Data teams are formed within departments and grade levels. Teaching partners meet at least twice a week during their common plan time to collaborate on lesson plans, common assessments, and review any necessary data. Grade level data teams are composed of all content areas and meet monthly with the building Principal. During these monthly meetings grade level teams review common assessment data as well as standardized testing data. The agendas for these meetings are created ahead of time so teachers are aware of what data they need to have ready to discuss. During data team meetings items such as formative assessment strategies, the Missouri priority standards, creating engaging and interactive lessons, and teacher's progress on their professional development plans are also discussed.

Fulton High School

Data teams are formed within our departments and are centered around common courses. Our teams meet regularly and document their work on a Data Cycle Report; most of our teams have a common plan time, those that do not meet before or after school. Some of our teams consist of members who teach single-section courses; these teams share their individual data for feedback and focus on improving instructional practices. Teams' priority standards are linked on our school's PLC website, which serves as our work space. Our school's Mission and Vision statements, Collective Commitments, and SMART Goals are all posted on this site. Additionally, there is a link on this site to all the Data Cycle Reports for our teams and all Leadership Team, Faculty Meeting, and PD Day agendas/minutes; the site also has a Resources page. Teams or individuals are expected to complete and submit a formal data cycle 1st quarter and 3rd quarter. They schedule times to review these data cycles with the FHS BLT during 2nd quarter and 4th quarter. Our Leadership Team also posts suggestions for PD Plans on this page, which allows teams to adopt plans that are consistent with our instructional goals, streamlining the work for our faculty members.

Data Teaming Resources

Elementary Resources

Secondary Resources

Focus on Results

Local Assessment Data
APR Results

Local Assessment Data

APR Results

2023 APR Scores

Annual Performance Reports (APRs) for the 2022-23 school year are linked below. APRs demonstrate the progress districts and individual schools are making towards meeting MSIP 6 Standards and Indicators. Data may only be compared to 2022 APR data, and not previous APRs released under MSIP 5.

Resources

Our Journey

Fulton Public Schools has been implementing the PLC model for nearly 20 years. Our schools have been active participants in this work and have received several awards in recognition of exemplary implementation.

Fulton Early Childhood Center

National Promising Practices Award in 2023

Bartley Elementary School

National Model PLC School Award in 2019
DESE Sustaining Exemplary PLC School Award in 2018
DESE Exemplary PLC Award in 2015

Bush Elementary School

National Model PLC School Award in 2020
DESE Sustaining Exemplary PLC School Award in 2018
DESE Exemplary PLC Award in 2015

McIntire Elementary School

DESE Exemplary PLC Award in 2016
DESE Sustaining Exemplary PLC School Award in 2019

Fulton Middle School

National Model PLC School Award in 2019
DESE Exemplary PLC Award in 2019

Fulton High School

National Model PLC School Award in 2019

District Continuous Improvement

Since 2012, DESE has supported the District Continuous Improvement (DCI) framework, which builds upon the PLC model and incorporates research from John Hattie and the National Center on Educational Outcomes. Fulton Public Schools has braided the DCI framework with existing PLC practices since 2020. While our district participates in the DCI initiative and receives support from RPDC consultants, we remain committed to foundational PLC practices.