Local Education Agency Information

School Name: Otwell Middle School

School Mailing Address:

605 Tribble Gap Road

Cumming, GA, 30040

LEA Name: Forsyth County School System, Cumming, GA

LEA Title One Director/Coordinator: Ms. Fonda Harrison

Signature of LEA Title One Director: ______Date: ______

LEA Title One Director/Coordinator Mailing Address:

1120 Dahlonega Highway

Cumming, GA 30040

Email Address:

Telephone: 770-887-2461 x. 202243

Fax:770-887- 1158

FY 2015 Planning Team Members

  • Mr. Steve Miller, Principal, OMS
  • Ms. Auburn Keaveney, Assistant Principal, OMS
  • Ms. Amy Reutter, Forsyth County Federal Programs Specialist
  • Mr. David Miller, ITS, OMS
  • Ms. Michele Luthart, Title I Lead Teacher, Title I Mathematics Teacher, 6th Grade, OMS
  • Ms. Ali Cregan, Parent Engagement Coordinator, OMS
  • Ms. Catherine Keyser, Band Director, OMS
  • Mr. Chuck Shadburn, Graduation Coach, OMS
  • Ms. Heather Roth, Counselor, OMS
  • Ms. Jeanna Black, Mathematics, Grade 8, OMS

Section I – Comprehensive Needs Assessment

Otwell Middle School is one of nine middle schools in the Forsyth County School District in Cumming, Georgia. Located approximately twenty-five miles north of Atlanta and thirty miles south of the Appalachian Mountains, Otwell Middle School is home to 1,167 students and 100 faculty and staff for the 2014-2015 school year. Our sixth grade students join Otwell primarily from four elementary schools: Whitlow, Cumming, Kelly Mill, and Sawnee. Our students continue to Forsyth Central High School after completion of their eighth grade year. Otwell offers competitive athletic teams in football, basketball, competition cheerleading, dance team, track and field, golf, wrestling, cross-country, and intramural soccer. Connections classes offered are musical theater, band, health, PE, science literacy, art, skills for adolescents (6th grade), innovations in technology, and computer literacy. We offer a wide variety of extracurricular clubs and activities, including but not limited to: Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Jr. Beta Club, Art Club, yearbook, chorus, Science Night, Robotics Club, and Technology Club. Otwell’s school mission and motto sum up who we are and who we strive to be: Every child, every day, no excuses!

For the 2014-2015 school year, Otwell’s free and reduced lunch percentage is 36.44 %.

A primary component of school improvement lies in understanding the population of all students being served. To target the needs of the student population at Otwell, our school and planning committee have reviewed the changing demographic patterns that have developed in the past five years. The following table was retrieved September 2, 2014 from the Georgia Department of Education’s website. This represents the most FTE count for March 6, 2014.

Gender / Ethnicity/Race / TOTAL / Grade 06 / Grade 07 / Grade 08
Female / Hispanic / 140 / 49 / 51 / 40
Female / American Indian / 4 / 1 / 2 / 1
Female / Asian / 19 / 7 / 5 / 7
Female / Black / 15 / 6 / 3 / 6
Female / Pacific Islander / 2 / 0 / 0 / 2
Female / White / 346 / 107 / 124 / 115
Female / Two or More Races / 15 / 3 / 8 / 4
Female / Subtotal / 541 / 173 / 193 / 175
Male / Hispanic / 168 / 54 / 61 / 53
Male / American Indian / 2 / 1 / 0 / 1
Male / Asian / 17 / 6 / 8 / 3
Male / Black / 16 / 5 / 8 / 3
Male / Pacific Islander / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Male / White / 341 / 113 / 115 / 113
Male / Two or More Races / 11 / 5 / 4 / 2
Male / Subtotal / 555 / 184 / 196 / 175
School Total / School Total / 1096 / 357 / 389 / 350

Currently Otwell also has zero enrolled migrant students. When we do have migrant students, they are served through the ELL program, Title I, special education, and general education programs. The Migrant Education Office at the Georgia Department of Education provides a Current Enrollment Report (CER) and New Participant Report (NPR) each month of the school year (if the system has new migrant students enrolled). Ms. Kathy Jolly, Forsyth County’s Title III Coordinator, completes a Priority for Services (PFS) form for each new student and submits it to the MEP office at GaDOE for review. PFS students are identified per their academic needs, including mobility and EL status. All PFS students are given priority for supplemental tutoring services based on the district's Implementation Plans approved by the state. In addition, Ms. Jolly checks the national Migrant MSIX data base provided by USED's Migrant Education office to review assessment and enrollment data for the student. The Georgia State Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) in Infinite Campus also provides assessment information. Locally, the district's Comprehensive Needs Assessment committee reviews student attendance and grades at the end of each grading period and makes recommendations to school-based counselors and Title I teachers for adjustments to tutoring or other support services as deemed necessary. Ms. Jolly contacts ELL Coordinators at each school, as well as ESOL teachers to notify them when new migrant students arrive. They also are notified if the GaDOE MEP office designates a migrant student as PFS.

The following chart represents the steady increase in the economically disadvantaged subgroup as measured by free and reduced lunch rates. Otwell serves the second highest free and reduced lunch population in Forsyth County. The free and reduced lunch population from 2013-2014 was 36.44%.

Based on the population we serve, we have determined the following as our strengths and areas for improvement.

Otwell’s strengths include the following:

  • Recognized as a Georgia Top 5% Highest Performing Title I Reward School.
  • Designated a Title I Distinguished School for eight consecutive years.
  • Recognized as a 2008 Georgia School of Excellence.
  • Achieved 99% passing for reading section of the CRCT for 6th, 7th, and 8th for 2011-2012 school year.
  • Commended in the GAPSS Analysis for the school faculty and staff’s commitment to exhibit a positive commitment to student academic, social, and emotional growth.
  • Commended in the GAPSS Analysis for having teachers who feel empowered by school leadership to initiate improvement efforts, and the leadership team participates in shared decision-making and distributive leadership.
  • Continued achievement meeting target performance levels for the Georgia Alternative Assessment program In Special Education.
  • Produced four Forsyth County Teachers of the Year winners in the past nine years: Ronnie McNeese, 2005; Mike Sloop, 2006; Melissa Sessa, 2007; and Jenna Ward, 2009. One of these county winners, Sessa, continue to teach at Otwell, while Mr. Sloop and Mr. McNeese currently serve as administrators within the county.
  • Received the Golden Plate award for two consecutive years for the cafeteria workers’ outstanding service in providing school lunches.
  • Earned State Counselor of The Year Award, Ms. Heather Roth.
  • Placed first and second in the 2012 Georgia E-cyber Mission challenge with Ms. Ward as the science teacher sponsor.

Otwell’s areas for improvement include the following:

  • To continuously improve CRCT scores for all grades on the math subsection of the CRCT, with a concentration on 8th grade which notably decreased from 96% meets and exceeds to 80% from 2011 to 2012, respectively.
  • To close the achievement gap as compared to the eight other Forsyth County middle schools for mean CRCT scores in Reading, English/ Language Arts, and Math.
  • To increase the mean score on the 8th Grade Georgia Writing Assessment Meeting Standards percentage scores. These scores have remained stagnant, while the category for the percentage of students exceeding has continued to decrease since 2009.
  • To provide staff development to reflect relevant content based on the school’s needs and student population.
  • To increase the parent involvement percentage through PTSA meeting attendance, parent-teacher conferences, Title I parent meetings, and parent support sessions.
  • To improve the attendance rate for all students for increased student achievement.
  • To increase differentiation and higher-order thinking strategies for increased depth of knowledge and student rigor.

Through the analysis of data and the identification of areas for improvement, Otwell has identified the following as the root causes of these weaknesses:

a) changing demographic in student population,

b) a need to align professional development for teachers relating to the school’s areas of weakness,

c) a lack of parent involvement in school functions.

Otwell’s student demographic shift correlates with CRCT scores that have been falling below the county average and closer to the state average since 2008. With a collapse in the American economy, Otwell’s student population has simply been changing faster than we have provided for through professional development.

The need for professional development with our changing demographic becomes even more needed with the continued implementation of the Common Core Georgia Performance Standards, the new Georgia Milestone, and the Student Learning Objective Assessments. The Common Core standards require increased depth of knowledge, analysis and synthesis of information, and complexity of text in fiction and non-fiction reading. The complexity and rigor of these standards present continued challenges as the test scores at Otwell have already fallen closer to the state average in the past five years.

The free and reduced lunch percentage has increased from 30% to over 50% since 2008, with the Hispanic population’s rate increasing from 14% to 26% in the same time period. Current data reflects Otwell’s free and reduced lunch population has decreased to 38.44% for the 2013-2014 school year. Otwell’s attendance data shows a decrease of students with 10 or more absences form 2012-2013 to 2013-2014 with the percentage of students with only 1-5 absences increasing from 43% to 51%. Our goal is to continuallyminimize student absencesto increase academic achievement.

Based on our areas for improvement, we have broken down our subgroups to address the learning needs of all students, along with identifying our at-risk population. Below are graphs representing the eighth grade scores in reading and math.

With a passing rate of 99 percent, the data show that the few students not passing are identified as special needs.

In math, the data show that math is historically weaker at Otwell with students identified as special needs, ELL, and Title I as the students who are most at-risk of not passing.

To address the weaknesses described above, Otwell develops the Forsyth County School Improvement Plan (see Appendix A for the 2013-2014 Executive Summary) at the beginning of each school year. Each department works together to set goals for its content area with all students being included in the plan for improvement. These goals are put together with support staff goals to create the School Wide Plan. The academic content areas set goals with CRCT data targets, while support staff work with ESOL, Title I, and Special Education to create goals for their students within the executive summary. The Connections teachers support improved school attendance along with the Guidance Department and graduation coach to increase oversight of students with the goal of having a positive impact on academic performance. The Connections department will also implement close reads to support reading and ELA content areas by increasing exposure to non-fiction text. This year Otwell’s staff and leadership team determined the School Improvement goals as follows:

Note: The final CRCT administration was in the Spring of 2014. A new measure, the GeorgiaMilestone, or End of Grade (EOG) Test, will be implemented for the first time in the Spring of 2015. This has impacted the data used to determine school improvement goals and Otwell will be focusing on increasing the CCRPI for the 2014-2015 school year.

  • To increase points earned from 47.2 in Achievement for Content Mastery towards the maximum possible points of 50 points.
  • To increase points earned from 11 on the Achievement Gap in all areas, with a focus on ELA/Reading and Science, towards the maximum possible points of 15.
  • To maintain existing Performance Flags for all subgroups meeting Participation Rate, Subgroup and State Performance Targets in all content areas.
  • To improve the Performance Flags English Learners and Students with Disabilities subgroups to meet Participation Rate, State Performance Target and Subgroup Performance Target in Reading.
  • To improve the Performance Flag in the Hispanic and English Learners subgroups to meet the Participation Rate, Subgroup Performance Target and/or State Performance Target in Science.
  • To improve the Performance Flag in the Multi-Racial, English Learners, and students with Disabilities subgroup to meet the Participation Rate, Subgroup Performance Target and/or State Performance Target in Social Studies.

Accompanied by the data above, Otwell uses the federal survey, TINA, to rank order every student at Otwell in relation to at-risk factors impacting academic student achievement. Every spring, fall, and winter, teachers complete a digital survey for every student taught. (In the spring, an administrator visits each of the primary three feeder elementary schools to complete the survey for the rising sixth graders.) This survey asks questions to identify needs, including:

  • If a student is served in the McKinney-Vento (Homeless), Migrant, Special Education, or Early Intervention programs.
  • If a student has excessive absences or has been retained/placed.
  • If a teacher or parent requests extra support for the student.
  • If the student has failing grades or did not pass the Forsyth County Interim Assessment.
  • If the student has low passing score or did not pass the CRCT.

The results of this survey assign point values based on the risk factors. The administrator and teachers review the results and provide Title I program support to the students identified as most at-risk with the highest need for supplemental academic support.

As a district, Common Core Georgia Performance Standards (CCGPS) have been prioritized for teachers, including frameworks for guiding instruction to target the needs of our learners. Teachers at Otwell are using the prioritized standards to target student needs through the implementation of data teams and common formative assessments (CFA) for all students this year. Content teachers plan with one another within the same grade level creating CFAs, which are ten question pre-assessments given to students prior to instruction of a particular unit. Student needs are determined through teacher analysis of these data, with teachers planning strategies and interventions for each subset of students to guide instruction for the unit. After instruction, a post-assessment is given to determine student gains, while also preparing for re-teach opportunities prior to a summative assessment. Teachers use the final instructional day(s) prior to a summative assessment to reinforce the defined areas provided from the Common Formative post-assessment data. The purpose of this cycle is to allow for more purposeful instruction for each subset of students to meet incremental gains towards the year long A.I.M. School Improvement Plan.

For the 2014-2015 school year, Otwell Middle School will address the needs of our students and families by working towards the following goals from the executive summary for schoolwide improvement:

  • To increase Otwell’s CCRPI score from 88.7 to a 93.7 over the next 3 years.
  • Continued guidance from Academics & Accountability on the latest instructional strategies & Data resources.
  • A continual push from Human Resources to increase our allotments so we can hire the best out there.
  • Support from Technology and Information Services so we can continue to engage our students with the best we can offer.
  • To maintain and improve upon the culture and climate of Otwell Middle School.
  • Continued guidance from Educational Leadership providing supervision in developing, achieving and maintaining the best possible educational systems
  • Our image is so important in our community and we could always use help from Public Information and Communications to promote the positive aspects of being in the Central cluster.
  • The Superintendent should continue to inspire the vision for our system and we will fall in line with that vision – Quality learning and superior performance for ALL – just like our vision at Otwell – Teach, Inspire, Motivate - Every child, every day!
  • To increase parent involvement through PTO meeting attendance, parent-teacher conferences, Title I parent meetings, and parent support sessions.
  • To decrease the percentage of students with 10 or more absences from 15% to 13% for the 2014-2015 school year.
  • To focus on the implementation of the CCGPS by increasing student rigor with differentiation, higher-order thinking strategies, and depth of knowledge as measured by administrative Focused Walk teacher observations and common assessments, created by classroom teachers, to be reviewed by administrators.
  • To provide purposeful professional learning opportunities for all personnel as measured by a staff survey.

Note: Parent and staff surveys were conducted in the spring of 2014. The surveys completed by the parents indicate areas of focus to strengthen communication and provide student learning support to families in the Otwell community. The staff surveys indicate a need for professional learning and other resources needed by the staff to support our at-risk students.

Testing information provided through Otwell students' 2014 CRCT results and the

TINA spreadsheets have been used to determine the direction of the Title I Reading Program. The 2014 CRCT results reflect a Meets percentage of 98.1% for Otwell in reading, a decrease from 98.6% in 2013. Testing information provided through Otwell students' 2014 CRCT results and theTINA spreadsheets have been used to determine the direction of the Title I Reading Program. The 2014 CRCT results reflect a Meets percentage of 98.1% for Otwell in reading, a decrease from 98.6% in 2013. Of note, the 6th grade TI CRCT reading scores increased from 4% to 37% exceeds. With the end of the CRCT, and the release of the Georgia Milestones, Otwell’s goal is to maintain, to the extent possible, current levels of performance based on a prediction of decreased scores from the relational comparison charts. Based on the Common Core Georgia Performance Standards, Otwell willconcentrate onmaintaining current performance of subgroups meeting performance indicators on the CCRPI and improving performance for the subgroups identified from the CCRPI in the school improvement plan.