Skaha Lake Middle School 110 Green Avenue West Penticton, BC V2A 3T1 Principal: Dave Brunelle Vice Principal: Travis Bond
SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PLAN (2014‐15) SCHOOL CONTEXT: Skaha Lake Middle School is in its sixteenth year as a middle school and has an enrollment of 359 students. Our grade 6, 7 and 8 teams are culturally diverse, with a large First Nations and Sikh population, which enroll 14 class divisions of advisory groupings. Skaha Lake Middle School has two administrators, 21 teaching staff, and 16 support staff. The Skaha Lake School learning community is proud of our facility and enjoys the involvement of a small but active PAC that supports our school culture and life with a variety of exciting and unique initiatives. Examples include our Shark Tank (aquarium), Shark Sculpture, Shark Quilt, Shark Painting, Shark Logo and theme and PAC sponsored “class support funds”. Skaha Lake Middle School offers a full range of co‐curricular and extra‐curricular sports, band and drama productions. The PAC continues to financially support our co‐curricular and extra‐curricular programs by purchasing school uniforms and paying for bus transportation when requested. Our current “Shark” and feeder school students and families (at Parkway, Kaleden, Wiltse, West Bench Elementary schools and Princess Margaret Secondary School) continue to be supported and involved through a variety of transition activities and are an integral part of life in "the Shark Tank." SLMS is situated on Green Avenue East and sits adjacent to Princess Margaret Secondary School. HISTORY/RATIONALE: Prior to 2009, Skaha Lake Middle School had three school‐wide goals to improve student achievement in the areas of literacy, numeracy and social responsibility. In the area of literacy, the staff decided to focus on reading and particularly reading comprehension. In order to collect measurable data, SLMS invested in the Accelerated Reading program. Our library was “leveled” and on‐line comprehension tests were purchased for most of the books in our circulation. The AR program allowed us to track how much our students were reading, the grade appropriateness of what they were reading and the level of comprehension when they were reading. After collecting base line data, the staff agreed on setting a school‐wide target of 85% correct on the AR on‐line comprehension tests. After a few short years, we reached our target and then maintained it for the years to come. In 2009, SLMS followed SD67 lead and narrowed our focus from three to one school‐wide goal. While some schools in the district continued with a literacy goal, many schools including SLMS began to focus on a school completion goal. School completion data indicated that the success or lack of success of students as early as grade 6 were strong indicators of school completion. SLMS began to focus on our “at‐risk” learners. Through the inquiry process, we decided to address the needs of our at‐risk learners and specifically our Aboriginal students and posed the question: As Aboriginal students experience an increased sense of belonging and cultural identity at our school; will we see improved academic achievement and student attendance? Historically, Skaha Lake Middle School has a high population of students with Aboriginal ancestry and particularly from the Penticton Indian Band. Prior to 2009‐10 there had not been a purposeful focus on addressing the cultural needs within the school environment as a whole and therefore a “disconnect” exists between Aboriginal students, their families and the school community. The staff at Skaha Lake Middle School recognized that if we are to improve the school completion rates for our Aboriginal learners, then those students need to show success at the middle level. After four years of implementing numerous initiatives and structures through our school completion inquiry, the data showed that were having many successes. Attendance improved, Aboriginal students were showing increased academic success and SLMS had many structures in place honouring First Nations and specifically Okanagan Nation culture. Skaha Lake Middle School had very successfully implemented a new exploratory course for all students at the grade 7 level called “Aboriginal Awareness 7”. Aboriginal Awareness 7 was designed to promote an appreciation of cultural diversity with a focus on the culture and history of indigenous people with a particular focus on our local Okanagan people. Aboriginal Awareness 7 tied into SD67 school completion goals as well as the Local Enhancement Agreement whose goal is to “increase the awareness and appreciation of Aboriginal history and culture by both the Aboriginal and general populations of students. In the fall of 2013, the staff felt it was time to look at a new goal. Over the course of several staff meetings, district meetings, in‐service sessions and professional development opportunities, we have developed a renewed interest in delving into our literacy and reading data. After much reflection and discussion, SLMS felt that is was time to review base‐line data that could be used to guide future discussions. We defined our literacy goal in two parts: 1) to improve student literacy and 2) to improve student success in reading. GOAL # 1‐ IMPROVE STUDENT LITERACY Increase the percentage of students in each grade level who fully meet and exceed expectations on the year‐end District Literacy Data performance standards evaluation. Increase the overall performance standard on the WCRA to fully meeting (73‐85%) or exceeding expectation (86‐
100%). GOAL # 2‐ IMPROVE STUDENT SUCCESS IN READING To maintain or increase the total amount of time students engage in reading (recommended 30 minutes per day). Increase the average scaled score of students to “on pace” or “above” for their grade placement on the STAR reading assessment. ACTION PLAN STRATEGIES: 1. Adopt a common definition of literacy. 2. Administer WCRA to Gr. 6 students in September. Use Grade 6 data and Gr.7/8 data from the previous June WCRA to determined weakness and focus for reading strategy intervention for each grade level. All students will complete WCRA in early June to measure progress. 3. Across the grades and curriculum, make use of the language adopted by Adrienne Gear in Reading Power and Nonfiction Reading Power. 4. Consistently engage students in reading, using AR and STAR to monitor students’ progress. Keep students and parents informed about individual progress. 5. Grade level teams collaborate to complete the year end District Literacy Data Performance Standards evaluation for each student. ASSESSMENT OF PROGRESS: To assess our progress toward the goals of improved student literacy and reading success, we will: 1. Collect reading data by administering the STAR assessment once each term and a final assessment in June. 2. Monitor student reading using AR program to ensure students are reading the recommended 30 minutes per day. 3. Collect literacy data by administering the Whole Class Reading Assessment in both September and June for Grade 6 and in June for Grade 7 and 8. 4. Collaborate with grade level teams, using all available information, to complete the year end District Literacy Data performance standards evaluations. ** Scale: 1 Not Yet, 2 Minimally, 3 Fully Meeting (73‐85%), 4 Exceeding (85‐100%) STRUCTURES: In order to facilitate the strategies listed above, data was collected from the following sources in order to produce measurable targets:  District Literacy Performance Standards  Whole Class Reading Assessment  Data from the Accelerated Reader software that tracks time students are engaged in reading  Data from STAR Reader that tracks students reading at or above grade level RESOURCES: Reading Power by Adrienne Gear Nonfiction Reading Power by Adrienne Gear EVIDENCE Goal #1: To improve student literacy. Target 1A: Increase the percentage of students in each grade level who fully meet and exceed expectations on the year‐end District Literacy Data Performance Standards evaluation. Performance Indictor
June 2013
June 2014
June 2015
District Literacy Data Grade 6 – Fully meeting and exceeding expectations
No data
No data due to teacher strike
%
District Literacy Data Grade 7 – Fully meeting and exceeding expectations
No data
No data due to teacher strike
%
District Literacy Data Grade 8 – Fully meeting and exceeding expectations
63%
No data due to teacher strike
%
Target 1B: Increase the overall performance standard on the WCRA to fully meeting (73‐85%) or exceeding expectations (86‐
100%). Goal #2: To improve student success in reading. Target 2A: To maintain or increase the total amount of time students engage in reading (recommended 30 minutes per day). Performance Indicator
Term 2
2012 ‐
2013
Term 3 2012‐
2013
Term 1
2013‐
2014
Term 2
2013‐
2014
Term 3
2013‐
2014
Term 1
2014‐
2015
Term 3 2014‐ 2015 Minutes of reading engagement
Grade 6
23
31
35
33
33 14 * 36 Minutes of reading engagement
Grade 7
34
34
43
45
45 15 * 31 Minutes of reading engagement
Grade 8
12
17
23
22
15 12 * 26 * Data may be skewed due to late start in the Fall 2014 due to the teacher strike. Target 2B: Increase the average scaled score of students to “on pace” or “above” on the STAR reading assessment. Performance Indicator STAR Scaled Score Results Sept
2012
June
2013
Sept
2013
June
2014
Sept
2014
June
2015
Grade 6 September 474+ June 534+ 658 670 560 630 564 Grade 7 September 563+ June 636+ 651 765 740 814 629 Grade 8 September 672+ June 760+ 652 776 664 820 830 REFLECTION AND SUMMARY
REFLECTIONS: Goal # 1: Improve Student Literacy When holding discussions about our new school goals, one of the first steps taken has been to agree upon the definition of ‘Literacy’. After much discussion, the SLMS staff agreed to adopt a definition that is commonly used by other schools in SD67. “Literacy is acquiring, connecting, creating and communicating meaning in a wide variety of contexts.” It is with this definition in mind that all of our literacy discussions have taken place. Please note that due to the teacher strike, the June 2014 WCRA data was not collected. Our investigations revealed that a number of themes were immerging. Firstly, we want more students in the range of ‘fully meeting’ or ‘exceeding’ expectations on literacy assessments. The staff has noted that the data from the previous three years has been extremely consistent but we have not seen an increase in students “fully meeting” or exceeding”. We do know that grade level teams are in the beginning stages of using Adrienne Gear’s Reading Strategies. It is our expectation that the implementation of Adrienne Gear’s work will be reflected in next year’s data. Secondly, most of the literacy data and teaching of reading strategies has been supported by Language Arts teachers, English teachers, and the teacher/librarian. Our staff wants to take a cross‐curricular approach to increase student performance on the newly identified goals. It is our hope that a collective effort by all subject areas teachers, regardless of academic discipline, will yield improved results. An inquiry group was formed by four teachers who asked the question: “What happens when we focus on the literacy skills of “predict” and “infer” in content courses (Math, Science, Social Studies and English)? The inquiry group has presented some of their strategies and findings and has concluded there is an improvement in student understanding and confidence when an interdisciplinary approach is used. Also, the grade 8 team has accessed release time to meet with the literacy helping teacher to identify weaknesses and develop strategies to intervene. In conversations with other middle schools in the district, we are looking at revising the WCRA that will better reflect the literacy strategies that we have adopted through Adrienne Gear’s Reading Power. Goal # 2: Improve Student Success in Reading We know that to improve student success in reading that we must provide time for them to read. We identified some strategies that would hopefully encourage and reinforce the culture of reading that currently exists at SLMS. With this in mind, it is our focus to increase the number of students that are reading at or above grade level. We are pleased to note that we are reaching our goal of 30 minutes daily reading by our grade 6 and 7 students. Although we have not reached that goal with our grade 8 students, we are encouraged to see the improvement shown this year as students are reading 26 minutes per day which is an improvement from last year’s 15 minutes per day. We have noted that the 2014‐2015 year has been our most consistent year using AR and STAR to monitor student progress. It is evident that staff has bought into the value of the data and are administering STAR tests in all three terms. There has been a rich discussion about the number of students that are reading at grade level. Initially it appeared as though large pockets of grade 8 students were reading below grade level. After investigation, the staff discovered that some students were intentionally reading below grade level in order to justify a lower AR point goal. SLMS staff challenged students to do their best work on the STAR reading test. Based on the Star Reading test, for grade 8 students that were reading at or above grade level, AR points goals would not be set. Instead, students would be monitored by number of minutes read. For some grade 8 readers, the AR point goal turned out to be a disincentive. With the removal of the point goal for the term, SLMS staff has seen significant improvement in the ‘scaled scores’. By using the scaled scores of the STAR assessment, staff has been encouraged by the increased number of students reading at or above grade level. For informational purposes, SLMS staff has decided to use the scaled score to establish base line reading data. The above chart reflects scale score averages for each grade level. This data is showing us “on average” our reading comprehension scores for all grades are above pace. As a staff we will be converting our reporting method from average scaled score to percent of students meeting/exceeding pace. This data conversion will help us better track progress and identify the percentage of student needing further intervention. Our ground work is almost complete. We now have a common definition of literacy, assessment tools in place, a structure to work from and resources to draw on. In the 2014/2015 school year, we continued to build staff capacity in seeking opportunities to intervene on identified areas of need.