Response to Executive Summary of SIG Site visit, October 2011
This narrative details the actions Horizonte has taken to address the challenges and issues of concern
reported in the executive summary submitted by Charles Hausman and Angelina Castagno. The issues
will be addressed in the order in which they were presented, beginning on page 3 of the report.
Technology
In an effort to provide computer access for more students, we created an additional computer lab on
the fifth floor of the main site (24 stations), and a portable laptop lab for use at the Rose Park site (20
laptops). We continue to address the need for updated fiber optics with the district to support more
and faster equipment, and have encouraged teachers to write grants for technology improvements in
their classrooms. For example Nathan Auck, math teacher at the main site, received an ELMO for his
classroom from a Chevron grant.
Textbooks
Due to the upcoming transition to the common core we are waiting for state office and district
recommendations regarding textbooks for the new courses. Course support is offered on the Wikki for
math and Ck12 foundation online textbooks. Language Arts has acquired 12 new titles and nearly 3000
copies have been purchased to provide classroom sets for our 9-12 grade sections at all sites.
Curriculum and Assessment
The curriculum mapping and alignment that the coaches have provided for the teachers has been
generally well-received, and much progress has been made since October. The teachers receive
monthly professional development (PD) in both math and language arts, and teachers, for the most part,
are comfortable with the system at this point.
We have made some adjustments in the assessment tools since the beginning of the year, and will
probably do some things differently next year. All students take a general math and language arts
assessment on Classworks when they enroll at Horizonte, and the results are given to the students’
math and language arts teachers. The results from the math assessment are not very specific or helpful,
so the math coach has designed pre and post tests that are used at the beginning and end of each
session, specific to the math class in which the student is enrolled. Formative growth is determined by
the difference in the 2 tests. In language arts the students have had a custom assessment at the end of
each session that we thought could be compared to the intake test for a measure of growth. There are
some limitations in the test creation and results reporting components of Classworks that have been
problematic, but we have worked with the district’s assessment and evaluation department to
determine growth results given the data that we had. We will finish the year using Classworks, but will
look at other options for assessing growth in language arts for next year. The coaches have used
assessment results in their monthly PD, and individually with teachers, to pinpoint specific concepts that
need attention.
Professional Development
In addition to reviewing assessment results in the monthly PD, teachers receive an overview of the
upcoming curriculum units, have time to discuss specific teaching strategies, prepare for upcoming
events, etc. See the minutes/agendas from the PD meetings for more details. PD is not required, but
most teachers attend in their content area, and some attend PD for subjects outside of their content
area, as all teachers at Horizonte do daily math and language arts problems at the beginning of each
class period. At this point, the teachers have responded very favorably (on the SIG survey) in regards to
the PD that has been offered this year.
External Perceptions and Reputation of Horizonte
We have made several efforts this year to strengthen the relationships with other schools and staff in
the district. In October we invited the administrators and counselors from the high schools and middle
schools to come to Horizonte for an informational meeting. We toured the school, provided
information on the outside sites and placement options, reviewed the orientation process and talked
about our school goals and school improvement plan.
In addition, our counselors presented information at the district’s head counselor meetings about
Horizonte, and worked with the other counselors to create a “transition plan” for students who return
to their home school after attending Horizonte. Our counselors also went to each high school’s
counselor meeting to discuss issues of concern.
Multiple Sites
The outside sites have benefited tremendously this year from having an assigned counselor to work with
their students. Coaches have made scheduling accommodations for the outside site teachers to attend
PD and our SLCC Pipeline program hired an additional college coach to work specifically with the smaller
sites in accessing the services of the program.
Mobility of Students
Student mobility will always be an issue for Horizonte, but we have developed a tracking system that
follows students from the first day of orientation. This helps identify students that do not complete
enrollment and tracks all of the lateral transfers, withdrawals, exemptions and returns to the home
schools. This data will be very helpful in identifying trends and risk factors, and will aid in our advance
planning for next year.
Performance Pay Bonuses
The administrative team met several times with the SIC, district personnel and interested teachers to
determine the plan for performance pay bonuses. Because of the high mobility of our students we felt it
was important to measure formative student growth throughout the year in addition to the end-of-year
CRT results. We presented a plan to the SIC for approval in January, and made some minor
modifications. The plan was presented to the entire staff in February, and we decided to provide the
bonus pay based on formative growth (for sessions 1-3) in March/April. Adjustments in our goals for
student performance (for the 2012-13 year) may be made after reviewing the final results for this school
year.
Maintaining Energy and Momentum
It has been very encouraging to see the student growth so far this year, and this in itself has helped to
maintain the energy and excitement about the changes that have been made. We’ve celebrated
student growth every session, and recognized exemplary teachers from last year’s CRT results. The
decision to provide part of the performance bonus in the middle of the year was also to help maintain
the energy of the teachers.
Sustainability
Efforts have been made to document and collect data on every aspect of the SIG that might show the
benefits of the extra staff and programs that have been put in place. This is an item of constant
concern and discussion as we see the growth that the students are making.