Title I Schools Planning for a Schoolwide Program Will Use This Plan

Title I schools planning for a Schoolwide program will use this plan.

USD 423 Moundridge / Moundridge Elementary Building #6140 / K-4 2009-2010
K-5 2010-2011

USD Name and Number Building Name and Number Building Grade Span

JoAnn Browne / 207 S. Drucilla / 620-345-5500 / 620-345-5408 /

Building Principal Address Telephone Number FaxNumberE-Mail

Chad Higgins / 526 E. Cole / 620-345-5500 / 620-345-8617

LCP Contact AddressTelephone NumberFax Number

October 10, 2009 / 115 / 34% / 48/115

Date used for official data collection(Month/Day/Year) # of Students Enrolled in Building Total % of Low Income Total #of LowIncome

ASSURANCES:

X A peer review committee or representatives from the district have reviewed and approved this Schoolwide Plan.

X The school assures a district/school parent community involvement policy is in place.

X The school assures that a parent/school student compact has been provided to parents.

X The school assures that an Ed-Flex Waiver has been submitted to KSDE if the school’s poverty level is below 40%

X The school assures that it has sufficient ESOL endorsed teachers to accommodate its ELL students.

District signatures represent agreement to all assurances marked and that the plan has been reviewed and approved at the district level. Signature of KSDE official represents plan has been reviewed and approved in meeting all required criteria.

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Signature of Authorized District Representative Date

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Signature of Authorized District Representative Date

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Signature of Authorized District Representative Date

External Technical Assistance Team

Directions: List the name of the individuals who will serve on the External Technical Assistance Team (ETAT) with their contact information. Additional rows may be added to this chart as needed.

ETAT Membership should be selected based on the skills and knowledge necessary to support the school’s identified areas of improvement. More information can be located in the QPA Manual under Quality Criteria Two.

Requirements:

• Each school will select the membership of the ETAT
• The local board approves the ETAT
• An ETAT may serve more than one school in a district
• ETAT members may be affiliated with the district
• Members are not to be affiliated with the school (not even as itinerant personnel)
• An NCA (North Central Association) team may be used as the ETAT
• ETAT could provide technical assistance for Schoolwide planning
• The school and ETAT members determine the frequency of the external team visits

External Technical Assistance Team (ETAT)
Identify area(s) of expertise of each individual. Note requirements above.
Place an * beside the chairperson for this ETAT team / Name / Email address / Phone Number
*Principal, Inman Elementary / Mr. Paul Erickson / / 620-585-6555
Superintendent, Lyons / Mr. Gary Sechrist / / 620-257-5196
Principal, USD 460 / Mr. Larry Thompson / / 620-327-2141

1. Establish a Schoolwide Planning Team

A formal schoolwide planning team should be in place to lead the process of developing the schoolwide program. (See page 8 of the handbook for responsibilities of the planning team.) The stakeholders included on the membership team provide a broad and knowledgeable perspective regarding the preparation of students for the 21st century.

Directions: List the names of the individuals who will serve on the school planning team with their contact information. Add as many rows to this chart as needed. The roles in bold are required. It is also required that 1) one person fill no more than two roles on the team and 2) no more than one of the asterisked roles may be filled by an employee of the school district.

School Planning Team
Role / Name / Email address / Phone Number
Superintendent or Representative / Chad Higgins / / 620-345-5500
Principal or Principal’s Representative / JoAnn Browne / / 620-345-5500
Site Council Member* / Phil Waite / / 620-345-7414
Community Member
Family/Parent Representative* / Carina Knight / / 620-345-3553
General Education Teacher / Melissa Helms / / 620-345-5500
Counselor, Social Worker, etc. / Navene Rains / / 620-345-5500
Special Education Educator / Erica Schrag / / 620-345-5500
Local Consolidated Plan Contact / Chad Higgins / / 620-345-5500
Teacher of English Language Learners / JoAnn Browne / / 620-345-5500
Title 1 Representative / Pat Stucky / / 620-345-5500
Other

1. Systemic Planning Process

Describe the process that was used to develop and maintain this plan.

Include the following in your response.

1. Who was involved in the process?
2. Who assistedstakeholders in understanding components of a schoolwide program?
3. How was teacher voice and buy-in achieved?
4. What was the timeline for planning?
5. How was the plan communicated to parents, teachers, and the board of education?

Moundridge Elementary is a small school with only 10 certified teachers and all were involved in the process. We began the school year by going over the previous spring state test results, NWEA MAP scores, 2nd grade DIBELS scores and the results of the Kindergarten Screening. Mr. Higgins, Superintendent, and Mrs. Browne, Principal, went over the criteria of going School Wide Title 1 at: a School Board Meeting, a staff meeting, as well as at a Site Council meeting. It was determined that all of our students would benefit from consolidating our resources into one program.
Teachers and parents had numerous opportunities to voice concerns as well as ideas. 100% buy-in was achieved by doing this. It was decided to use the rest of the school year to: create a needs assessment; formulate Smart Goals, research instructional strategies to address these goals; review and revise our current MTSS Power Reading program; plan for MTSS Power Math and to write the Action Plan and the Results Based Staff Development plan to implement this Action Plan. Our Site Council met monthly to update and gain input. They in turn, met with other parents and community members to discuss our Action Plan; our Power Math addition proposal, as well as the possibility of restructuring our school to incorporate a Multi-Age concept.
A survey was given to parents at our Parent Teacher Conference, to the school board, and to community members at one of our music programs. Surveys returned were in favor of moving toward a School Wide plan.

1. Clarify the Vision for Reform

1.Explainthe mission/purpose of the school infuture oriented language that conveys what the school is striving to accomplish to prepare students for the 21st century.Statement establishes a bold direction for the school and challenges the status quo.

Moundridge Elementary school faculty, staff, parents and other interested community members seekto help each child blossom into the fullness of his or her abilities, talents, and gifts, by providing guidance, resources, individualized attention and love.

1. Explain the visionfor the schoolwide plan that strongly conveys organizational values of school staff and the school community.

1. Explain the vision regarding student success in the 21st century. (e.g., content knowledge and skills, problem solving, critical thinking, leadership, teamwork, real-world learning opportunities and career and technical education etc.)

1. Explain how the mission and vision will drive the schoolwide planning and guide school decisions and practices.

1. Moundridge Elementary envisions a school which produces responsible and respectful citizens. As a center for innovation, our students will inherent a lifelong curiosity about the world and how it works. They will become risk-takers and problem solvers in their own learning with the support of dedicated teachers, staff, parents and interested community members. Our students will engage in the basics of the digital age and become successful technological learners. They will discover that the world is just a click away and therefore they need to understand cultural differences. Moundridge Elementary students will be proficient readersas they learn to read in Kindergarten through third grade and then read to learn from then on.
2. The mission/vision is essentially our roadmap for planning, and ultimately, learning. This creates the focus on knowledge and skills that we have judged as important. By keeping the vision of what we want our school to look and act like, we will be guided in the decisions to ensure that we are heading in the direction to make our students successful, life-long learners.

1. Comprehensive Needs Assessment

1. Create a School Profile. As a school prepares to become a schoolwide program, it needs to understand its current status, a snapshot that will help illustrate the gap between where the school is now and where it wants to be when its vision is realized. A school profile provides that picture; it is a data-driven description of the school’s student, staff, and community demographics, programs, and mission. The school profile serves as a starting point for discussion by the planning team, and useful information for each of the focus areas of the needs assessment that follows. It suggests critical areas that might be addressed in the schoolwide plan.

USD 423 is located in McPherson County in a town with a population of approximately 1500. The community is independent with local businesses, doctors, hospital, churches, and recreational activities. The district serves a student population of approximately 435 students. USD 423 employs a staff of 42 certified employees, 4special education teachers through McPherson County Special Education Cooperative and approximately 22 classified employees.
Moundridge Elementary school is a K-4 building with 115 students. This school has experienced a slow decline in enrollment. In 2004, the student population was 145 -a 21% decrease in just five years. The Free and Reduced Lunch percentage in 2009-2010 was 34%. In 2004, the Free and Reduced Lunch percentage was only 17%. With the decrease in enrollment and the increase in Free and Reduced, we have slowly witnessed a change in our demography as well in our student achievement scores.
In 2006, All Day Kindergarten was added to the school’s configuration. Data indicates that not all incoming kindergartners are prepared for kindergarten. 2006 and 2007 NWEA scores showed that 48-52% of incoming kindergartners scored at least 1.5 years below expected levels. The summer between these two school years several members of the staff did a book study on, “Annual Growth for all Students, Catch-up Growth for Those Who are Behind” by Fielding, Kerr, and Rosier. It was obvious that we needed to do something to help catch these students up. Using MTSS concepts, our staff created a program that we called, Power Reading. It is a guided reading type of program that is designed for ALL students. We enrich those who are already at or above grade level and have small groups for those behind. We also use Tier III time to “catch up” those who are more than one grade level behind. Our staff made the commitment that, by the end of 3rd grade, 90% of our students will be at or above grade level in reading. The first three years of implementation we have witnessed great success. However, due to the change in our demography (decrease in enrollment and increase in SES) we are seeing more and more students come to school unprepared. We have also had a change with our SPED coop who are no longer allowing services for non-identified students like we have had in the past. With that and Title I Targeted Assisted status, we are only able to help identified Title students in our Tier II and Tier III classes. This separation of services has had the direct result in a fragmented Power Reading structure. This is one of the reasons that we believe moving to a schoolwide Title I will allow us to get back on track with our 90% Reading goal.
The Board of Education, administration and teachers have always supported a lower teacher-pupil ratio and, until the 2009-2010 school year, we have maintained two certified teachers per grade level. Due to budget decreases, we were forced to reduce our staff by two teachers. This compelled us to re-evaluate our classroom structure. This school year we created a Team Teaching concept that would allow each grade level to have 1.5 certified teachers. We continue the belief that the core subjects of reading and math must be a lower teacher-pupil ratio and this Team Teaching concept has allowed us to do this.
2010-2011 will again see a change in school configuration as we will add 5th grade and become a K-5 school. Kindergarten will continue having two certified teachers, as we believe that the foundation for educational success starts here. First and Second grades will become Multi-Age classrooms and grades 3-5 will be self-contained with one certified teacher per grade.
The changes in demography, fragmented Title, SPED and Regular Education services, and the changes in school configuration, are primary driving forces in our desire to become School Wide Title 1. Through a schoolwide model, we will be able to seamlessly integrate our Title I staff, SPED staff, resources, and services into the regular classroom. Students will be more flexibly grouped and instruction will be differentiated to meet the diverse needs of all students. Our interventions and enrichment efforts will be led by our most capable support staff and more students’ needs will be met than ever before.
Schoolwide Components: We propose the following components of our schoolwide program.
Curriculum

• Curriculum that is aligned with the Kansas State Standards and 21st Century Learning Goals.

Instruction

• Everyday Math—60 minute block ---Power Math (30 minutes)
• Literacy Block—90 Minutes—Power Reading (30 Minutes), Theme units, Book Buddies, Animated Literacy for 1st Grade, Integrated Science and Social Studies
• 6-Trait writing, Writer’s Workshop
• Wilson’s Fundations K-2
• High interaction with library resources and staff
• Book fair, Book It!
• Small group Tier III Power Reading and Power Math concepts

Collaboration/Staff Development

• Phonemic Awareness training
• DIBELS/Aimsweb training
• Multi-Age collaboration
• Technology training

Tier II Interventions
Power Reading (30 minutes daily for all students)

• Enriching activities for student at/above grade level
• Small group intervention based on skill needs
• Florida Research for Reading strategies

• General Education Intervention for Speech and Language
• General Education Accommodations—Reduced Assignments, Spelling Lists, etc.
• Testing Accommodations

Power Math (30 minutes daily for all students)

• Enriching activities for student at/above grade level
• Small group intervention based on skill needs
• National Math and Science Initiative strategies

• General Education Accommodations
• Testing Accommodations
• BAIP

Tier III Interventions

• Daily intensive, individualized instruction provided by SPED/Title I staff
• One-to-One tutoring based on individual needs
• IEP or 504 or General Education Plan (accommodations and strategies to carry on to next grade level)

Preschool Preparedness

• Work with local preschool, Head Start and Parents as Teachers to create a plan to help prepare 3-4 year olds

Assessments
NWEA, KCA, DIBELS/Aimsweb probes, Subject checklists/formative assessments, Writing Rubrics.
Parent/Family Involvement
Back-to-School Open House Parent Night, Back-to-School Parent Information Meeting, Parent/teacher/student compact, Parent survey, Parent-Teacher Conferences, School Website, School/Class newsletters, Awards Assemblies, Parent Volunteers, September BBQ, End-of-Year Picnic/Fun Day, Music concerts.

3.Identify the needs assessment instrument (s)(e.g., survey, questionnaire etc.) that will guide data collection andassist the schoolwide planning team as they assess how each area impacts student achievement.

Moundridge Elementary chose to use several methods of determining where our students, staff, curriculum, and parental needs were in this moment in time. We created a checklist, a parent survey, a 5 minute Walk-Through observation report, and a round table focus group open discussion forum. By using several methods of collection we believed that we would get a clear picture of where we are.

1. Identify Data Sources

Data collected should reflect student achievement trends over time (longitudinal) from several data sources.

List the data that was collected for each data type. Identify qualitative and quantitative data.

• Achievement Data (e.g., formative assessments, summative assessments, State Assessments, MAP, DIBELS, KELPA)

State Assessments, NWEA, DIBELS, KELPA

• Demographic Data (e.g., attendance, discipline, migrant, refugee, immigrant)

Enrollment numbers, Attendance, ESL

• Contextual Data (e.g., curriculum , professional development, block schedule, newcomer, ESOL center)

Administrative Walk-Through, Principal Effectiveness survey, Building Needs Assessment

• Perception Data (e.g., surveys, walk through reports)

Parent surveys, Teacher Needs Assessments, Student Intervention Team (SIT) minutes

1. Write one to three sentences for each of the data sources that capture the KEY FINDINGSfrom that data.

Achievement Data: Performance on state and local assessments provide summative (quantitative) data for analyzing yearly, tri-annually, monthly, and/or weekly performance. While our 3rd and 4th grade students have met AYP goals every year, we have found that, in the area of reading, our weakest areas are with main ideas and details. In math, both grade levels score lower in real world applications. These scores are consistent with the NWEA MAP assessments as well.
Demographic Data:Demographic trends describe the changes in demographics in our school population over time. By using this quantitative data, we are able to establish trends and make projections (qualitative) on the needs of the school/students. In the past 5 years our school has had a significant decrease in enrollment and an increase in Free and Reduced qualifying students. We have also experienced an increase in ESOL students.
Contextual Data: Administrative 5-Minute Walk Through data showed that Cooperative Learning structures would benefit all students. These structures would allow more active participation. The Principal Effectiveness Survey given in 2008 reported satisfaction with the current leadership.
Perception Data: Parent Survey: While our parents feel that their children are receiving a high quality education at MES, they sometimes feel as if communication between home and school could be an area of improvement.

1. Analyze Data

1. Explain the process used to analyze the data. Who was involved? Were all of the stakeholders involved in the data analysis? How was it determined what data was to be collected? Has enough data been gathered to start a discussion by the planning team? Does more or different data still need to be collected and analyzed?

As mentioned in the Planning Process, Moundridge Elementary is a small school with only 10 certified teachers so all were involved in the analysis of the data. We began the school year by going over the previous spring state test results. We had previously charted indicator strengths and weaknesses from 2003-2008 to determine where the instructional focus needed to be. In addition, each grade level meets, weekly, on a rotational basis, with the other Student Improvement Team (SIT) members. This provides time for the team to talk about each student in that grade level and their individual needs.
The Northwest Evaluation Association (NEWA) Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) assessments are given to every student three times a year. This assessment was first given during the 2007-2008 school year. The staff was trained how to use the Dynamic Reports and the Des Cartes Continuum of Learning to guide instruction for individual and group needs. The MAP scores are also used to form the Power Reading groups and identify strands with which students struggle.
Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) and AIMSWeb probes are two of the weekly assessments that are given to all Tier III students to monitor their progress. The SIT is then able to determine instructional strategies for each TIER III student.
This is the first year that MES has had more than one ELL student. There are currently seven ELL students and the KELPA-P was given to each student the first month they entered our school. The KELPA, given in the spring, is used to measure and monitor the English Language achievement and growth of these ELL students.
The consistent analysis of all data provides a structure for monitoring student growth. Between the assessments, surveys, student work and other means of gathering data, the staff feels that we are able to get a good picture of where our students are. We are able to use this data to measure the impact of instruction, monitor for possible gaps in learning, and provide more immediate opportunities to intervene.

1. From the data analysis:

a. Identify the planning team’s assessment of the strengths and root cause(s) of the current school program.