Coaching Highlight
Harvey School District 152 – Meet Dr. Amy Warke
Amy Warke, Ed.D., is executive director for teaching and learning and human resources for Harvey School District 152 in southern Cook County. She’s been working at the district central office level since 2011, when her team first worked to build a Multi-Tiered System of Support with the assistance of IL MTSS.
We spoke with Dr. Amy to learn more about her district’s approach to MTSS and her advice for other districts starting on their MTSS journey.
Can you share some background about your district’s work on MTSS?
Harvey 152 began working to build MTSS in 2011. The entire process took approximately four years to build. We began with components of Tier 1, then added in what Tier 2 and 3 needed with interventions to support students and their needs academically and behaviorally. Since MTSS is a general education initiative, we believe that students deserve the opportunity to learn in tier one. We believe that all students are met where they are and then move them forward in their learning journey.
Where is Harvey now on your MTSS journey?
Harvey recognizes that the work is challenging! This year specifically we have been digging into data to help us determine what root causes can be a contributing factor to learning loss. We are then utilizing the systems and structures that have been in place to continue to help staff learn, which in turn is helping our students grow.
What goals and plans does your district have moving forward?
Moving forward our district intends to continue to marry behavior and academic support under one umbrella. We are focusing not only on interventions, but on our CORE tier one instruction, as well as looking at the whole child when we determine opportunities for support behaviorally and academically. This includes working with our families as well as our children.
What advice do you have for other districts working on implementing MTSS?
Our advice is to recognize that individuals do not know what they do not know. This truly helps when looking at complex changes that need to happen and how to approach rolling out the plan of support for all to learn and grow. This includes listening to all stakeholders, learning the challenges that are being experienced and collectively problem solving as a district, and as building teams to seek improvement.
Attendance is one of the areas we’re highlighting in early 2024. What is your district’s approach to improving attendance?
As we focus on student learning and growth, we recognize that if students are not present, they do not have the opportunity to learn. Last year, our District Foundation recognized the work that the schools were doing to improve student attendance. The Foundation provided attendance grants per building for the school improvement teams to design and implement an incentive-based program for students and families to “Finish Strong” by attending school.
A system and structure was put in place to review data every twenty days, provide calls to families when students were not in attendance, send nudge letters to families to let them know when an attendance threshold was becoming a concern, as well as continued follow up with students and families regarding late arrivals and days missed.
When implementing our system of consistent data review, communications with families, and incentivizing students as well as the families we have seen an increase in our student attendance. Our teachers and staff are doing an excellent job establishing relationships between the students, families and their needs, which is fostering a sense of belonging in our buildings and classrooms. The impact that this has had on learning and behavior has been significant. We have students present for learning, consistently following school and classroom routines and procedures, which in turn improve the climate and culture of our learning environments.
What’s your advice to other districts about attendance?
Our advice to other districts who are working with attendance challenges is that relationships matter. Taking the time and effort to personally connect with students and families makes the difference.
Is there anything else you’d like to share?
In order to build this system or any system, keep the children at the center of all discussions and decisions. Ensure your group norms focus on all voices being heard and are respectful of everyone’s opinions with no judgment. The best decisions are made when all perspectives are heard and discussed.
