Are We Implementing the 10 Components?
A Programmatic Review of Our Schoolwide Program
***This tool CANNOT be the only piece of a schoolwide Annual Review. It MUST be used in
conjunction with student performance data and other pertinent data.***
Date/Time of the Meeting: May 6, 2015
Persons in Attendance at the Meeting:
Name
Brandon Sutton
Dr. Jacqueline Smith
Dr. Regina Mathis
Position
Principal
Title I Director
Assistant Superintendent
Outline of Questions
School-wide Reform Strategies-Helping All Students Learn
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What did we do to make sure that ALL students at the school had the opportunity to
reach the state's proficient and advanced levels of student achievement?
How did teaching for standards improve student learning?
What alternative instructional techniques and services were implemented?
How did we address the needs of all children in the school, particularly low-achieving
students?
What did we do to assess students on a regular basis?
What did we do to help students who, as a result of the above assessments, were falling
behind?
Responses:
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Star Reading 3x year; Moby Max for Math; CLC Tools; Extreme Reading; SRA
Language(6th and 8th have performed better that the 7th)
Implemented AR-Title I money helped support AR-Focus has been on reading
Use schoolnet benchmarks (1 every 9 weeks)
STAR –will be 3 times a year
PLCS –discuss common assessments
Common-formative assessments
Writing samples
Khan Academy
Schoolwide Reform Strategies-Scientifically Based Research
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What programs at our school are based on SBR? What research do we have to document this
claim?
What research should we consider reviewing to improve our schoolwide plan?
Responses:
 STAR-Renaissance
 Leader in Me
 PLC—Culture Built to Last—Systematic PLCs at work (Richard Dufour and Michael Fullan)
 Content Literacy Continuum Leaders Guidebook
 Designing and Teaching Learning Goals and Objectives (Robert J. Marzano)
 Building Professional Learning Community at Work- (Richard and Rebecca Defour)
Schoolwide Reform Strategies-Core Academic Program
 What did we do to strengthen the CORE ACADEMIC program of the school?
Responses:
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PLC
CLC
STEM PD
Pictures of STEM
Creation-- pacing guides
Lesson plans—learning goals and objectives—turned in weekly
Principal keeps a spreadsheet of faculty and lesson plan submission
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Schoolwide Reform Strategies-Extended Learning Time
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How did we increase the AMOUNT and QUALITY of learning time?
If we implemented an after-school program, was it effective? Was it research-based?
Responses:
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After-school program—grant funded—2 paid tutors paid through grant. GEAR UP is paying for
tutoring as well
Schedule reformed to have 90 minutes (math and reading) for the year
90 minutes common planning
one-on-one initiative with laptops
Schoolwide Reform Strategies-Enriched, Accelerated Curriculum
 Are all students given the opportunity to learn in an enriched environment rather than some
students receiving only basic skills instruction?
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Are students given opportunities to solve real-world problems, to think creatively and
demonstrate their reasoning?
Are all students given the opportunity to progress at their own pace?
Responses:
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Groups—based upon needs--skills in math and language arts---students placed according to
“like needs.” Groups are created based upon EOG, Language data, STAR, and teacher
recommendation.
AIG ---inclusive model
Math I
Math 4 to 3 plan---4 maths in 3 years
Alignment to Improvement Planning
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Is our schoolwide plan directly aligned to our state school improvement plan? The NCA plan? The
professional development plan?
Responses:
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District Plan---School Improvement Plan----PDP-----Professional Offering
Instruction by "Highly Qualified" Teachers
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How many teachers at our school do not meet the "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) definition of a
highly qualified teacher? Are those teachers working to meet the definition?
Are we utilizing all staff, especially those paid with federal funds, in the best way possible, and are
they appropriately certified? For example, if we continue to pull some students from the
classroom for extra reading instruction, do those individuals have reading credentials?
Responses:
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One—Alternative School teacher will be retiring
No one is pulled from regular classroom
One Teacher Assistant is EC…has received Corrective Reading Training
Professional Development
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How did our professional development drive the school-wide plan?
Did our work in professional development improve instruction? Did it have an effort on student
achievement?
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Did we devote sufficient resources toward implementing the professional development piece (if
"time" is often cited as an obstacle, then we need to try and allocate more resources to
overcoming this)?
How were ALL staff involved in professional development?
Responses:
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PD is focused on Leader in Me and CLC
Print out of who has been trained in Reading Foundations
Student Videos, mission statements, and student notebooks
Goldenleaf slideshow
Highly Qualified Teachers to High Need Schools
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Do we have a high teacher-turnover rate? If so, are we taking appropriate actions to lower this
rate?
What are we doing to support teachers and their employment at our school?
What is the experience level of our staff?
Responses:
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Overall turn-over rate is not high---this year is a but unusual…lost 4 employees
BT program: mentors
Birthday celebrations each month
Faculty Christmas
Above and Beyond every month---send teacher and team to lunch that month
Teacher Appreciation—PTO dinner
Parental Involvement
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Did we truly involve parents in our schoolwide program?
Was communication with parents ongoing and two-way, or was it mainly the school telling the
parents what they can do to help?
Responses:
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Yes: We have a joint PTO SIT Team meeting that will have minutes
Send home “Middle Years” sheets—monthly newsletters
Title I Parent Nights
Students showcase nights
Meet and Greet—Open House
Reviewing the Schoolwide Parent Involvement Policy and Compact
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Are these documents truly reflective of what happened this school year?
If not, how can we improve these instruments?
Response:
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PTO—SIT Team—Parental Involvement Plan
Put an estimated time of when to have parental involvement dates
Review Results of Parent Survey
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Were there any surprises on the survey results? Are there any responses on the surveys that
reflect a need to modify the program?
How many surveys were returned vs. sent out? Is there a change in the method of survey
distribution that could increase the number of surveys returned?
Any suggestions from parents that need to be addressed immediately or that should be
discussed at this meeting for a change in schoolwide program operation?
Response:
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There were about 145 responses out of 400 students
The parent survey is attached to the SIT document given out at the beginning of the year
Low participation
85% want kids to attend college
20% felt they were not kept up to date
20% felt that teachers did not report positive things
Preschool Transitioning
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Did our program for transiting preschool into our school benefit our students?
Did we involve local preschool programs in our improvement work?
How could we increase communication between local preschool programs and our school?
Response:
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N/A
Assessments
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Do our assessments inform instruction, or are they used only to summarize student
achievement?
Do we have a schoolwide system of assessment?
Do we utilize performance assessments and other authentic assessments?
Response:
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STAR
Same as what was discussed in component #1
Using data to help drive decisions but can improve on
Timely Assistance
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How did we identify students who were not achieving the state standards during the school
year?
What did we do to help these students?
Response:
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Students are put in programs to help them get caught up
Use data to determine where they need to be moved
Students are moved back if needed
Coordination of Programs
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Are all facets of the school geared toward our schoolwide goals?
Is there any way that we could modify other programs (including violence prevention programs,
nutrition programs, housing programs, Head Start, adult education, technical education and job
training) to better support schoolwide goals?
Response:
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PBIS ---Committee minutes
Use CTE to support STEM—County-Wide Goal—We need another CTE position
Nurse and social worker team
Big Brother-Big Sister Program---Check in—Check out—program buddies
Nutrition Department---set up during mornings for students who arrive late
Other items for discussion?
Response:
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Pizza—Tuesday and Thursday—Pizza Hut Pizza…but would rather use this as option
rather than students’ only meal
Mountain Mediation---attendance issue
Summary of Programmatic Review of Ten Schoolwide Components:
Swain Middle School has produced evidences that implementation of the 10 components are taking
place successfully.