Ralls Middle School
Campus Improvement Plan
2016 ~ 2017
Jeremy Griffith, Principal
Ralls Middle School Campus Improvement Committee Approved: October 14th, 2016
Ralls Independent School Board Reviewed: October 18th, 2016
Ralls Independent School District
Mission Statement
Ralls ISD, in partnership with parents and community, is committed to developing confident and courageous learners to be moral and productive global citizens by engaging them in innovative learning experiences guided by a caring, visionary, and highly qualified staff.
Comprehensive Needs Assessment Findings
Ralls Middle School conducted a Comprehensive Needs Assessment (CNA) for the 2016-2017 school year. Data was collected in the following areas and evaluated to determine strengths and weaknesses of academic programs within the campus.
Demographics
According to the PEIMS Reports Data Review for 2015-2016 school year, Ralls Middle School has a current enrollment of 120 students. Enrollment is the same as last year.
●RMS enrollment is:
o78.33% Hispanic
o20.83% White
o107 (89.17%) Economically Disadvantaged
o7 Migrant students
o79 At-Risk students
o4 Gifted and Talented students
o19 Special Education students
Student Achievement
STAAR, Unit Assessments, and Eduphoria data was reviewed for the 2015-2016 school year. Overall, RMS missed Index 1 (53/60) and Index 2 (28/30). We met Index 3 (29/26) and Index 4 (17/13). Ralls Middle School missed system safeguards in Social Studies, Reading, and Math with All Students, Economic Disadvantaged, and Hispanic. With this information, more structured tutorials and intervention time will continue to be a priority and will be provided to students through our enrichment period and STAAR classes. Also, new teachers are in place in both 8th Social Studies and 8th Math. A teacher has a period to use to help all teachers with data. According to the committee, student motivation techniques need to be incorporated in classroom to help students want to achieve higher standards. To achieve this, teachers and students will complete data sheets together and track individual data throughout the year. RMS has implemented the use of zero hall 2 days a week in order to enhance student motivation to complete school assignments.
A district wide curriculum (focusing on TEKS based instruction) and unit assessment process has been implemented and will continue. Teachers are using Eduphoria to generate unit assessments frequently to monitor student progress.
New science and math curriculum was adopted 2 years ago, and Social Studies curriculum was adopted last year. The most current TEKS are addressed in this curriculum. The new curriculum also incorporates technology. A 30-minute Enrichment period will continue to be part of the schedule in order to enhance student learning. STAAR classes for each grade level are also still in place. Grouping of enrichment and STAAR students was based on STAAR test and/or benchmark data.
In order to address missed system safeguards (All students, Hispanic, and Economic Disadvantaged in Math, Reading and Social Studies) RMS has hired new teachers in math and social studies in the 8th grade where they are tested. Creating data sheets for each individual student in all classes will also address these safeguards. RMS will focus on differentiating instruction in classrooms in order to meet the needs of all learners.
School Culture and Climate
Upon disseminating the current campus climate survey, there were some concerns that need to be addressed: parent involvement and student homework completion. 6 weeks assemblies continued in order to reward students for grades, attendance, and behavior. Parents are invited to attend these assemblies. Parental involvement in extracurricular events is getting better. Zero hall was implemented 2 days a week after school for 1 hour.
Reviewing the current Safety Audit Report, it was determined that the students and teachers feel the climate at RMS is very good, and due to the recent renovations, they feel a sense of pride. Staff and students feel safe and expectations are enforced. New magnetic locks on entrance doors and cameras throughout the district enhance the safety of all students and staff.
Also the district continued with the PRIDE program. This program has unified the district and given a valuable instrument to reward students for their hard work. It is a community event and has gained popularity with all stakeholders.
Staff Quality, Recruitment, and Retention
Ralls Middle School has 1 campus administrator, 9 classroom teachers, 1 special education teacher, and 2 paraprofessionals to serve approximately 120 6th-8th grade students.
The school board also approved to continue to offer a 2% matching annuity to staff that stay in the district for 3+ years. We continue to try and find new incentives to get and keep the highest quality teachers at Ralls.
In an attempt to improve instruction at Ralls MS we will implement the T-Tess evaluation system this year.
New staff have a mentor teacher and are provided with new teacher orientation and assigned a mentor teacher.
The faculty of Ralls Middle School is required to be Gifted and Talented certified to better serve our small population of GT students.
The staff is also encouraged to receive their ESL certification to better impact our ESL students. We currently have 2 English teachers with their ESL certification.
Campus Administrator attends University and Service Center job fairs annually to recruit highly qualified candidates.
Five compensated days are used in the summer for staff development and scheduled as holidays throughout the school year. In addition, 6 early release days and 6 full days are allotted at the end of each six weeks for staff development and workdays.
Teachers are encouraged and permitted to attend various workshops and conferences throughout the year in order to stay current on educational practices.
Administrator uses Eduphoria for classroom observations providing instant feedback for improving classroom instruction to impact student achievement and help teachers develop quality-teaching practices.
Previous staff development has focused on district needs for implementation of new science and math curriculum, technology integration, and Gifted and Talented updates. All teachers/staff/administration were trained in recognizing signs of mental health issues.
Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
With the implementation of new social studies, science, and math curriculum district wide, the instruction is vertically aligned within the campus and across the district. Ralls MS utilizes the TEKS Resource System for scope and sequence as well as the Year at a Glance. New curriculum lessons are designed to teach critical thinking and problem solving skills. The curriculum, instruction, and assessment are aligned, however the committee feels the data shows that part of our population is struggling.
According to the committee, there needs to have continued focus on technology with an emphasis on keyboarding skills and basic knowledge of building documents. All technology classes begin with keyboarding to teach essential skills.
Assessments are aligned with the TEKS, but students perceive assessments as difficult and challenging. However, in order to be prepared for the STAAR tests, assessments need to be more rigorous and instruction needs to prepare students for those rigorous exams. A writing coach was hired to aide 6-8 English teachers and the special education teacher in preparing rigorous and engaging student writing lessons. A Professional Service Provider (PSP) was hired to help with the use of formal assessments and data to better group students for intervention.
Family and Community Involvement
All families are encouraged to provide input to the teachers and staff; ask questions concerning their child’s education. A number of parents do attend activities involving their student, but hesitate to get involved due to a lack of communication skills. At least 86% of RMS student households qualify as economically disadvantaged, this fosters several barriers in the educational process. Every effort is made to contact parents for grade and behavior concerns.
The implementation of “Two Notes” each six weeks was key in getting parents involved positively with the school. Generally, parents are very supportive and receptive to school contact. RMS should continue to improve the level of parent communication and involvement. Teachers are required to make at least 10 parent contacts each 6 weeks and document them.
School Context and Organization
Looking at calendar surveys, district improvement minutes, campus improvement minutes, admin agendas, intervention list, master schedule and parent surveys reflect that Ralls Middle School has an active role and voice in district and campus decision-making.
The campus master schedule was completely revamped from the previous year to provide students maximum instruction time in class and will continue to be scrutinized to provide optimal time for student achievement.
Ralls Middle School moved the athletic periods to the end of the day to ensure that students and coaches are not missing academic class time for athletics. Each campus now has 1 combined athletic period with boys and girls combined. This move allowed coaches to teach 1 more academic class.
Overall, community and student perception of the campus is good, but RMS will strive to continue and improve all aspects of the educational processes of the campus.
Overall, students and staff know what is expected but communication between all parties will continue to be a focus for the 2016-2017 school year.
Technology
The technology pieces are in place, the utilization for learning purposes is a continued area of focus. Some staff make good use of the available technology for content delivery, but there is still more that could be done in a way of creation by students.
Engagement with and integration of technology is in need. Further staff development coupled with greater accountability for utilizing might help bring this about.
As far as infrastructure, each teacher is provided a ChromeBook and a PC Desktop; The Xerox printer/copier installed is working well for us. RMS is a 1:1 campus with each kid having a laptop issued to them for use throughout the day.
3 teachers at RMS had Smart Projectors installed in their classrooms and are making good use of them.
After reviewing current AEIS, STAAR Data, and AYP Data, the staff of Ralls Middle School has determined we have several areas to focus additional resources on. The data showed a need for intervention in the areas of vocabulary development and comprehension as well as Math problem solving skills across all student populations. There is also a need for technology acquisition. This will be attained through the utilization of the wireless Mac Notebook carts and Chromebooks for instruction.
PRIOTIZED AREAS OF CONCERN
AREA / SOURCE OF DATAMATH PROBLEM SOLVING / Eduphoria, Local Assessments, STAAR
VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT / Eduphoria, Local Assessments, STAAR
COMPREHENSION / Eduphoria, Local Assessments, STAAR
TECHNOLOGY ACQUISITION / Local Assessments
Staff Participating in Comprehensive Needs Assessment:
Jeremy Griffith, Principal
Estevan Flores
Anna Thompson
Tisha Norman
Morgan Calderon
Cindy Kohutek
Blake Henry
Landon Sims
Blake Riley
Title I
School wide Program Plan
Ralls I.S.D. utilizes SCE funds to support the five Title I campuses. SCE dollars and Title I money are used for personnel that work directly with at-risk and struggling learners to upgrade the entire Title I educational program.
Ten Schoolwide Components
1: Comprehensive Needs Assessment
A district wide CNA was conducted during the month of May 2016. Various campus administrators were in charge of conducting specific needs assessments. The areas reviewed for the CNA were :
Student Achievement
School Culture and Climate
Family and Community Involvement
Demographics
Staff Quality, Recruitment, and Retention
Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment
Technology
The various sub-committees followed the TEA-recommended process to determine strengths and needs in the various areas. Teachers, parents, community members and campus administrators were involved in creating the 2015-2016 CNA.
2: Schoolwide Reform Strategies
The main reform strategy for 2016-2017 is the continued and increased implementation using data. Campus trainings have been held throughout inservice to ensure teachers are ready to utilize data for maximum student performance. Unit assessments will be used to monitor and measure growth and implementation by the district administration.
3: Instruction by highly qualified professional teachers
Ralls Middle School met the NCLB standard of having 100% highly qualified teachers on each campus.
4: High-quality and ongoing professional development for teachers, principals, and paraprofessionals and, if appropriate, student services personnel, parents, and other staff
The Ralls Middle School campus principal utilizes input from teachers and SBDM committee to determine professional development needs. The district provides high quality, ongoing professional development for all teachers, principals and paraprofessionals.
5: Strategies to attract highly qualified teachers
The district is fortunate that it is located near three universities that provide a wealth of quality applicants.
The district also participates in at least two job fairs across the region to attract the most qualified applicants.
6: Strategies to increase parental involvement
The District has a Parental Involvement Coordinator who works with the campus administrators and the Director of Special Programs to ensure NCLB parent involvement activities are conducted throughout the year. Efforts to increase parent involvement are reviewed each spring at the District Improvement Committee. Parents from every grade level and every Title I campus participate in a review of current activities and provide suggestions and input for additional parent involvement activities via a parental involvement survey.
7: Plans for assisting preschool children in the transition from early childhood programs to elementary school programs
Information is provided to parents on the Pre-K classes provided in the district. In addition, campus opportunities are provided for parents to participate in orientation meetings. Additional information for parents is provided on the district website, Pride Guide, and local newspaper.
8: Measures to include teachers in the decisions regarding the use of academic assessments in order to improve the achievement of individual students and the overall instructional program
Campus administrators hold grade-level and department-level meetings on a regular basis to review data tracking and progress monitoring procedures.
Common academic assessments using Eduphoria provide a consistent means of assessing student performance.
9: Activities to ensure effective timely assistance for students who experience difficulty mastering the proficient or advanced levels of academic achievement standards
Programs are in place (GT) to challenge students to attain high levels of academic achievement. Academic rigor and relevance is provided within the framework of the new curriculum. Awareness for College and Career Readiness Standards is a focus on each campus.
10: Coordination and integration of federal, state and local services and programs
Funds are combined to upgrade the entire educational system within the district. Specifically, Title I and SCE funds are utilized on Title 1 campuses to provide additional services to struggling learners. Local and federal dollars are integrated to provide targeted professional development.
State Compensatory Education
This District has written policies and procedures to identify the following:
●Students who are at risk of dropping out of school under state criteria:
●Students who are at risk of dropping out of school under local criteria:
●How students are entered into the SCE program
●How students are exited from the SCE program
●The cost of the regular education program in relation to budget allocations per student and/or instructional staff per student ratio.
Students are evaluated for At-Risk determination according to the 13 At-Risk Criterion. New students are evaluated upon enrollment and current students are evaluated each six weeks. An SCE comparison report is prepared and evaluated each year to monitor overall achievement of At-Risk students.
______
The comprehensive, intensive, accelerated instruction program at this campus…consists of morning and after school tutorials for students at-risk. We have 1 teacher available to all students for homework help before school. There is also a general education content mastery available to help any student throughout the day.
Federal, State and Local Funding Sources
Federal funding sources that will be integrated and coordinated with State and Local funds to meet the needs of all students.
Program/Funding SourceFederal Programs
Title 1, Part A
Title 1, Stimulus
Title II, Part A (TPTR) Texas principal for retention.
Title II, Part D (Technology)
Title IV, Part A
State Programs/Funding Source
State Compensatory Education--
Bilingual/ESL Program
Gifted/Talented
Special Education
Local Programs/Funding Source
Grants
OEYP
In this plan, the term “student groups” refers to students who are H, W, AA, ED, At-Risk, Migrant, ELL, G/T, 504, and Special Education (modify as necessary).
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Ralls Middle School
Campus Improvement Plan 2016-2017
Goal #1- Digital Learning-Ralls Middle School, in improving the learning environment, will provide a evolving, caring, visionary staff that produces creative instructional practices with an emphasis on creative thinking, application, and technology.
▪Performance Objective #1- Provide professional development opportunities for staff and student activities that will enhance professional and academic growth, especially in the area of technology, that will impact student achievement.