Essential Elements: Schools-To-Watch Self-Study Rating Scale

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS: SCHOOLS-TO-WATCH SELF-STUDY RATING SCALE

Rating Scale Rubric:

(4) Our school has a high level of implementation or implementation of high quality for the aspects described in the criteria.

(3) Our school has a medium level of implementation or implementation of mixed quality for the aspects described in the criteria.

(2) Our school has a low level of implementation or implementation of low quality for the aspects described in the criteria.

(1) Our school has not implemented the aspects described in the criteria.

I. ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE:High quality schools with middle-level grades are academically excellent. They challenge all students to use their minds well.

I.1. All students are expected to meet high academic standards. Teachers supply students with exemplars of high quality work that meet the performance standard. Students revise their work based on feedback until they meet or exceed the performance standard. The educational program is challenging, rigorous, and purposeful; it has performance expectations that are common across all grades and subject areas. Teachers maintain performance expectations that are consistent and interrelated across and within subject areas. Everyone has high expectations for all students (Essential Element characteristics 2.2, 2.8, 4.18, 7.4) / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1
Evidence:

Learning standards posted in all classrooms
Quarterly Exams or Assessment – Multiple Choice, Constructed Responses, Written Responses
Document Based Questions instructional process
Rubrics used extensively
Alternate forms of Assessment – paper and pencil test, presentation, group project.
Vocabulary Assessment
NYS Alternative Assessment
Modeling expected performance

I.2. Curriculum, instruction, and assessment are aligned with high standards. They provide a coherent vision for what students should know and be able to do. The curriculum is rigorous and non-repetitive; it moves forward substantially as students progress through the middle grades. The educational program is comprehensive and inclusive, embracing and encompassing all of the State’s 28 learning standards. It is articulated vertically and horizontally, within and across the various curricular areas, learning standards, and grade levels with a set of learning skills that are common across all grades and subject areas and taught and reinforced in each grade and subject area. The program has up-to-date written curricula (based on and aligned with the State’s learning standards), instructional support, and learning aids for all subject areas. Teachers provide instruction that is standards-based, challenging, rigorous and purposeful; they use classroom assessments that reflect the State’s learning standards and are aligned with State assessments. (Essential Element Characteristics 2.3, 2.5, 2.6, 2.10, 4.2, 4.13) / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1
Evidence:

Curriculum maps (electronic) - all content areas, aligned to NYS Standards
Local assessments are common and aligned to NYS standards
Teachers have a working knowledge of state standards
Team, department and grade level meetings are used to focus on student achievement and ongoing development
Staff development introduces newest educational research and best practices

I.3. The curriculum emphasizes deep understanding of important concepts, development of essential skills, and the ability to apply what one has learned to real-world problems. By making connections across the disciplines, the curriculum helps reinforce important concepts. The educational program reflects interdependence, emphasizes cross-program connections, and promotes shared responsibility. Teachers focus instruction on thinking, reasoning, and problem solving and, at the same time, ensure that students acquire necessary content and subject matter. They use interdisciplinary approaches to help students integrate their studies and meet learning standards. (Essential Element characteristics 2.4. 4.10, 4.11) / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1
Evidence:

Literacy strategies instructed across the curriculum
Cross-curricular integration
Thinking skills are indicated on curriculum maps
Essential vocabulary instructed across curricular areas

I.4. Instructional strategies include a variety of challenging and engaging activities that are clearly related to the concepts and skills being taught. The school and the staff provide each student with a variety of learning experiences that are academically challenging, developmentally appropriate, and personally relevant in order for each of them to make informed educational and personal decisions. Teachers vary activities to maintain student interest. (Essential Element characteristics 1.6, 4.8) / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1
Evidence:

Theatre field trips
Newspaper as a resource
Multi/media approach (Laser disc, CPS )
Differentiated Instruction
Writing Process
Instructional Technology (CPS system, smartboards, virtual field trips)
Scientific method of inquiry
A variety of student generated review tools are used at the end of units to review content and focus on what is important

I.5. Teachers use a variety of methods to assess student performance (e.g., exhibitions, projects, performance tasks) and maintain a collection of student work. Students learn how to assess their own and others' work against the performance standards. The educational program includes diagnostic assessments that regularly and routinely monitor the learning of each student relative to the State’s standards and community expectations. Teachers use classroom assessments that are instructionally useful indicators of individual student growth and performance not only to monitor each student’s progress in meeting the State’s learning standards but also to plan instruction. Staff use data, both personal and achievement, to make curricular and instructional decisions. (Essential Element characteristics 2.11, 4.14, 4.15) / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1
Evidence:

Project-based learning and assessment
Bench marks
Listening assessments
Pre/post tests
Projects – Technology, Art, FACS, Health, core classes
Performance Assessments – Science labs, PE, Band, Chorus, Orchestra, core classes
Vocab Assignments
E-missions in Realnet Room – (Project Montserrat 2006, AlphaBase – 2007)
Book talks
Research projects

I.6. The school provides students time to meet rigorous academic standards. Flexible scheduling enables students to engage in extended projects, hands-on experiences, and inquiry-based learning. Most class time is devoted to learning and applying knowledge or skills rather than classroom management and discipline. The school has a schedule with flexible time assignments within blocks of time to encourage interdisciplinary programs and the creative use of time. (Essential Element characteristic 3.3) / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1
Evidence:

Flexible team/block schedules
Individual and small group help – lunch, after school
Flexible learning lab – 40 minutes at end of day to get work done
Homework Help – 45 minutes to 2 hours available after school for help.

I.7. Students have the supports they need to meet rigorous academic standards. They have multiple opportunities to succeed and extra help as needed. The program provides targeted and timely academic intervention services that are based upon a careful assessment of the academic, social, and emotional needs of students at risk of not meeting the State’s learning standards. The school provides, for those students needing additional help to meet the State’s standards, opportunities for additional time, instruction, and personal support. (Essential Element characteristics 2.14, 3.8) / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1
Evidence:

AIS Program
ELA AIS built into Master Schedule benefits all students.
Academic Center teachers push in grades 5-6 for ELA
Math AIS – small groups during Learning Lab with Math Specialist.
After school opportunities for AIS in Math & ELA as well as homework help.
Small group help within daily Math period. Individual help for students with teachers at lunchtime and after school.
Reading specialists help with test prep strategies for state exams
Resource teachers provide support for at-risk students by push-in; pull out & team planning
Main streamed students – special & regular education teachers collaborate for student success.
Inclusion classrooms promote success for students.

I.8. The adults in the school have opportunities to plan, select, and engage in professional development aligned with New York State’s Learning standards. They have regular opportunities to work with their colleagues to deepen their knowledge and improve their practice. They collaborate in making decisions about rigorous curriculum. They discuss student work as a means of enhancing their own practice. The school has teacher teams sharing responsibility for the education and personal development of a common group of student and provides common planning time for those teachers and teacher teams sharing responsibility for a common group of students. (Essential Element characteristics 3.1, 3.2, 4.17) / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1
Evidence:

TeacherCenter Workshops: aligned with CDEP goals, building action plans, faculty needs assessment
Curriculum Council
District staff development aligned with NYS standards, What Works in Schools, educational best practices
Zoomerang survey of teachers’ professional development needs annually
All building meetings provide a forum of staff development focused on student learning

II. DEVELOPMENTAL RESPONSIVENESS:High quality schools with middle-level grades are sensitive to the unique developmental challenges of early adolescence. There is respect for students’ needs and interests. Their staff understand students of this age. Staff know what it is like to be a young adolescent; and they respond readily and well to students’ needs and concerns.

II.1. The school creates a personalized environment that supports each student's intellectual, ethical, social, and physical development. The school groups adults and students in small learning communities characterized by stable, close, and mutually respectful relationships. The school and staff are committed to developing the whole child, intellectually and academically, personally and socially, physically, emotionally, and ethically. The educational program emphasizes not only intellectual development but also personal, social, physical, and ethical development. The school contains at least three of the four middle grades (grades 5, 6, 7, and 8) and has comparable small enrollments so that every student is viewed as an individual and receives personal attention. The school is structured to create close, sustained relationships between students and teachers. When the school population is large, the school has “houses” or schools-within-schools to promote a sense of family, to reduce the feeling of anonymity and isolation among students, and to engender within staff, students, and the community a feeling of belonging and personal identification with the school and with its purposes. Students have an adult mentor in addition to a guidance counselor, either formally through a teacher/student, advisor/advisee program or informally through a school culture of caring in which teachers or other adults assume responsibility for individual students. (Essential Element characteristics 1.1, 2.1, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 6.8) / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1
Evidence:

Teaming
Inclusion program
After-school program
Student Mentor Program
Small homerooms in grades 7 and 8
Small team sizes
Student to teacher ratio (22-24:1) in regular education classrooms
3 administrator building team
Assistant principals assigned only 2 grades and loop with the students
School counselors assigned by alphabet and retain student contact for 4 years

II.2. The school provides access to comprehensive services to foster healthy physical, social, emotional, and intellectual development. The school provides support services such as guidance, counseling, and health-related services to all students. Counseling and guidance services are available to assist students and their families in making life, career, and educational choices. A network of trained professionals, special programs, and community resources are available to assist those who have extraordinary needs and require additional services to cope with the changes of early adolescence and/or the academic demands of middle-level education. The school collaborates and cooperates with other human service agencies in the community. (Essential Element characteristics 3.15, 6.4, 6.7) / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1
Evidence:

Comprehensive Guidance Program
Full-time school psychologist available in middle school
Home-school liaison
School Resource Officer – FTE middle school
Connection with Cattaraugus and WyomingCounty Probation Officers regularly
WyomingCounty Social Worker access through HS
Mentor Program
FTE Certified School Nurse
More than NYS requirement of Health instruction
Cattaraugus County Health Department clinics on-site

II.3. Teachers use a wide variety of instructional strategies to foster curiosity, exploration, creativity, and the development of social skills. The educational program encourages students to pursue personal interests, engage in school and community activities, explore potential futures and careers, develop useful social, interpersonal, and life skills needed to live a full and productive life, and nurture a “love of learning.” (Essential Element characteristic 2.13) / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1
Evidence:

Variety of Instruction Strategies
Differentiated instruction
Technology Integration
Cooperative Learning
AIS program
Real life experiences
Field trips and theatre performances
Career Day, career research and guest speakers
Volunteer projects
Cross-team and Interdisciplinary Instruction

II.4. The curriculum is both socially significant and relevant to the personal interests of young adolescents. The educational program offers opportunities for the development of personal responsibility and self-direction. (Essential Element characteristic 2.12) / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1
Evidence:

PBIS initiative
Health and wellness policy
Complete exploratory program - career and life skills opportunities
After school recreation program
Modified sports
Clubs
Extensive music program
4-year art program

II.5. Teachers make connections across disciplines to help reinforce important concepts and address real-world problems. The educational program emphasizes reading, writing, and mathematics (literacy and numeracy) across the subject areas with expectations for performance that are consistent across and within the disciplines and commonly understood by teachers, students, and parents. (Essential Element characteristic 2.7) / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1
Evidence:

Cross-teaming instruction
Interdisciplinary units
Literacy across curricular areas
Middle School Power Words across curricular areas
Character Anchors program

II.6. The school provides multiple opportunities for students to explore a rich variety of topics and interests in order to develop their identity, discover and demonstrate their own competence, and plan for their future. The school has ties with the school community that strengthen connections between school/education and career opportunities. Students have opportunities to examine, explore, discuss, and understand the changes associated with early adolescence. (Essential Element characteristics 3.12, 6.3) / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1
Evidence:

Career day
Beaver Meadows programming
BOCES/HS Ag/Tech presentations
JR FFA
Spirit Days
Parent/Community Involvement and Volunteers
Sports
Extensive Foreign Language program
NJHS
Peer Mediation
SafeSchool Ambassadors
8th gr. “Girls Power Breakfast” and “Boys Unsung Heroes Breakfast”

II.7. Students have opportunities for voice -- posing questions, reflecting on experiences, developing rubrics, and participating in decisions. Those in positions of leadership provide students with opportunities to assume significant and meaningful leadership roles in the school. (Essential Element characteristic 5.11) / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1
Evidence:

Teen Leadership Group
SafeSchool Ambassadors
Peer Mediators
Student Council
National Junior Honor Society
Middle School Newspaper
Shared Decision Making Team
Cafeteria Improvement Committee
Student of the Month Sundaes with Administrators
Summer school program – reflection on school programs

II.8. The school develops alliances with families to enhance and support the well-being of their children. It involves families as partners in their children's education, keeping them informed, involving them in their children's learning, and assuring participation in decision-making. The school encourages active parent involvement through a variety of activities. Teachers inform and involve parents of middle-level students in their children’s education by helping them understand the learning standards that their children must meet, the instructional program, their children’s progress, and how to help their children at home with schoolwork, school decisions, and successful development through adolescence. There exists a system of two-way communication between the school and the parents and families of its students. (Essential Element characteristics 3.11, 4.19, 6.5) / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1
Evidence:

Parent-Student Orientation Day
Parent Connect
Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences
8th Grade planning meetings
Parents-Students-Teachers: United for Success
Parent Nights
Parent Volunteers
Shared Decision Making team
Spring Carnival
Teacher Web Pages
Middle School Quarterly Newsletter

II.9. The school provides students with opportunities to develop citizenship skills, uses the community as a classroom, and engages the community in providing resources and support. The school provides opportunities for students to participate in youth service, community service, and/or service learning activities. (Essential Element characteristic 3.10) / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1
Evidence:

Arcade Civil War walking tour
Beaver Meadows educational program
Science Camp to LetchworthState Park
Youth Court
Sheriff’s Camp
Educational Field Trips
NJHS Volunteering at Elementary Level
Multiple Community Service Projects
March of Dimes Walk America
“Intergenerational” program with The Pines
LEO Club

II.10. The school provides age-appropriate co-curricular activities. The school provides a variety of co-curricular and extra-curricular activities. (Essential Element characteristic 3.9) / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1
Evidence:

Clubs: Chess, Drama, Yearbook, Odyssey of the Mind, Science Olympiad, Jr. FFA, Newspaper, Audio-visual
Classes – Babysitting, Seasonal Cooking, Crafts, Dance,
Recreational Sports & Activities: Swimming, Lacrosse, Flag football, Soccer, Basketball, Bowling, Ping Pong, Weight Room,
Interscholastic Sports: Modified Boys: Soccer, Football, Baseball, Basketball, Wrestling; Modified Girls: Soccer, Softball, Basketball, Field Hockey; JV and Varsity Boys: Swimming, Track, Cross-Country, Tennis, Soccer, Football, Baseball, Basketball, Wrestling; JV and Varsity Girls: Volleyball, Cheerleading, Swimming, Track, Soccer, Softball, Basketball, Field Hockey
Special Music Performances/Ensembles: Jazz Band, Percussion Ensemble, Pit Orchestra, Marching Band, Solo Festival, All-County Performances
Social Development Groups: Friends, Teen, Healthy Woman, Anger Management, Guys, Banana Splits

III. SOCIAL EQUITY:High quality schools with middle-level grades are socially equitable, democratic, and fair. They provide every student with high quality teachers, resources, learning opportunities, and supports. They keep positive options open for all students. There is equal access to a high quality education.