School Improvement Plan 2008-2011Leaksville-Spray Elementary School
415 Highland Drive
Eden, NC27288
Leaksville-SprayElementary School
School Improvement Plan
Rockingham County Schools’ Vision:
“Teaching All Students to Become Productive Citizens and Lifelong Learners”
Leaksville-Spray Elementary Schools’
Vision Statement:
“It is the vision of Leaksville-SprayElementary School that all students reach their highest potential in a safe, nurturing, academically challenging environment and gain the necessary skills to effectively compete in a global society.”
Mission Statement:
“Our mission is to empower each student to reach his or her full potential in a safe, positive, stimulating and technologically advanced environment.”
Belief Statement:
“At Leaksville-SprayElementary School we believe, that our success is a collaborative effort involving our entire school family ---students, parents, faculty and staff, our volunteers and our community. We value every child and adult for his or her unique talents and abilities. We strive to create an atmosphere of mutual respect which offers all children the chance to learn, to grow and to succeed in a positive, caring and safe environment.”
CONTACT INFORMATION
Leadership Team Members
2008 – 2011
School: Leaksville-SprayElementary School
The following team members collaborated with school staff to develop the School Improvement Plan for our school (parents, faculty, and administrators must be included):
Name / Position or Role / Signature / DateMary Roberts / SIP Team Chairperson
Misty Corum / 5th grade teacher
Gina Edwards / 4th grade teacher
Susan Tucker / Lead Curriculum Teacher
Jill Barker / 2nd grade teacher
Karen McCaslin / 1st grade teacher
Carol Underwood / Kindergarten teacher
Holly Dalton / Pre – K teacher
Kay Spencer / Music Specialist
Sharon Frith / Title I Lead Teacher
Sherri Barnett / Parent
JamecaWilson / Parent
RhondaPass / Parent
Amy Smith / School Counselor
Walter Smart / Head custodian
Victoria Lawton / Assistant Principal
Cindy Corcoran / Principal
School Improvement Plan Approval Form
Initial Approval by Staff
Date of Presentation/Approval Vote November 17, 2008
Results of Approval Vote 68 for and 0 against
Principal’s Signature ______
Approved by Superintendent
Date
Superintendent Signature______
Approved by RockinghamCounty Board of Education
Date
NARRATIVE
Leaksville-Spray Elementary sits in the heart of the old Leaksville-Spray community which is now a part of the city of Eden. The school services the students and parents of this area with the track and playground area accessible for the entire community. The enrollment at Leaksville-Spray is 493 at the present with around 60% Caucasian, 24% Black, 8% Hispanic and 8% other. The population is somewhat a transient population and the enrollment can be varying from day to day. In addition, there is a concern about and concerted effort by staff to improve attendance, tardies and early releases. The percent of unemployment in RockinghamCounty is a contributing factor to these particular concerns. Currently 80% of our student body receives free/reduced lunch. Leaksville-Spray is currently involved in the school improvement cycle with the school not making AYP in reading and has offered Choice ‘04-‘06, Choice and SES (Supplemental Educational Services) ‘06-‘08 and ’08-’09 we will offer Choice, SES and have appointed outside experts to advise the school. The school did not make AYP in math and in ‘07-‘08 offered Choice and in ‘08-‘09 will offer Choice and SES.
In ’07-’08 the students in grades 3-5 gained 11 points for a 63.1% proficiency with growth in math and the 4th grade students grew 11 points for a 55.4% proficiency on the 4th grade writing test. With the renorming of the EOG reading test the school was able to have an overall percent proficient of 51.4% with growth and was one of three elementary schools in RockinghamCounty that demonstrated growth in reading. The teachers have stepped up their supervision of students and worked to created atmospheres of learning and student engagement and the number of student out-of-school suspensions decreased from 201 in ’06-’07 to only 51 in ’07-’08.
In the past year the school staff has made great strides in their efforts to improve and increase student achievement. In ‘07-’08 the staff worked on a culture of working and collaborating together, revisited and redefined the mission and vision statement and created a set of norms in which the staff came to consensus and agreed upon based on research based practices and instructional strategies all designed to improve and increase student achievement. The staff is currently involved in intensive staff development with EdResources in reading. The staff has participated in math staff development activities and completed a book study of Marzano’s Classroom Instruction That Works. All faculty meetings have a portioned of the meeting devoted to best research-based instructional practices and Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning. Theteachers in grades 2-5 have been trained in Thinklink, a computer based program designed to create formative assessments for reading and math in order to provide bi-monthly data for teachers to analyze the progress of students. The staff is attempting to meet the criteria to be a NC IMPACT School of Technology and is currently assessing its meeting of thevarious components to do so. Technology use has tripled in the past school year with Activboards and data projectors in 70% of the classrooms. Finally, administrators have been involved in Focused Leadership and have attended SAIL (School Administrators As Instructional Leaders)with training in the Classroom Walk-Through process in order to monitor the daily practices of classrooms to ensure quality teaching is occurring.
COMPREHENSIVE NEEDS ASSESSMENT
This section should include:
- Student Achievement Data
- Instructional/Organizational Data
- Stakeholders Perspective, including but not limited to Parent Surveys and Working Conditions Survey
- Demographics
- Other data that describes the current state of your organization
Describe how teachers are involved in Assessment Use
Examples could include:
- Teachers take part in high quality staff development demonstrating how to use data to drive instruction.
- Teachers are actively involved in development of pacing guides to correlate with benchmark tests as well as the review of results of the tests.
- Teachers receive assistance in reporting assessment data to parents.
- Teachers are involved in the development/change of report cards and progress reports.
EOG/EOC Data can be found at Click on “Disaggregated Data” link.
EOG/EOC Data can be found at Go to t he year in question for results. Note that results will vary slightly from ABC results due to the different way that the numbers are computed.
Graduation Data found at Click on “Graduation Rates” link.
Data on the NC Writing Test: Grades 4, 7 and 10 can be found at Click on the link “Writing Reports.”
SAT results can be found at:
Comprehensive Needs Assessment Narrative
At the end of the 2007-2008 school year, according to the NC Reading Leveled Assessment, K-2nd grades had 20% students at-risk. They had 14% at-risk in math. In grades 3-5 there were 52% students at-risk in reading and 42% at-risk in math.
Teachers are required to develop and follow a daily schedule. To ensure the Standard Course of Study is being taught, the principal and assistant principal conducts walkthroughs and observations to assess and critique the teaching strategies being implemented. Common planning is provided each day. Common grade level planning occurs weekly providing teachers time to share ideas and develop a sense of support and teamwork. The principal and/or the curriculum lead teacher meets with grade levels biweekly. These meetings allow time to focus on student achievement goals and to develop strategies with which to meet these goals. Teachers are provided an additional 1 ½ hours a month of uninterrupted time to collaborate around student achievement (CASA) in which they examine data and determine strategies that are being utilized to meet the needs of those students identified as at risk. Faculty meetings are held monthly to inform the staff of necessary information concerning students and school-related activities. Time is set aside at each meeting to concentrate on promoting research-based strategies for increasing student achievement.
At LSE teachers completed a Working Conditions Survey which reveals that 69% feel that they have less than three hours a week for individual planning, while 85% feel they have less than 3 hours a week for structured collaboration. In addition, 90% agree that there is a mutual atmosphere of trust and mutual respect and 98% agree the faculty and staff have a shared vision. Our parent survey reveals that 96.9% of parents are aware that there is a safety plan in place at our school. About 68% of parents stated that their child reads for entertainment at home. On the student survey, 98% of our students believe that their teachers are doing a good job of teaching them. Students feel that our school could be improved if students listened and obeyed school rules, the cafeteria served more appetizing foods, and bullies should not be tolerated here. Math was the students’ favorite subject and reading was the least favorite.
LSE has a total of 493 students enrolled, of which 380 receive free or reduced lunch. There are 295 White students, 117 Black, 39 Hispanic, 29 Multiracial, 3 American Indian, 10 Asian, and 7 English as a Second Language. End of year assessments and EOG overall percent proficiency results were as follows: Kindergarten – Writing 81%, Reading 80% & Math 89%; First – Reading 79% & Math 93%; Second – Reading 84% & Math 86%; EOG Reading Percent Proficient 51.4% with growth; EOG Math Percent Proficient 63.1% with growth; 4th grade writing – 55.4%. While we did not make AYP in either math or reading due to our Students With Disabilities subgroup, we did demonstrate growth in both reading and math for 2007-2008.
Our highly qualified staff consists of 2 administrators and 42 highly qualified teachers including 24 certified classroom teachers and 18 other licensed instructional staff, of which 18 have a masters degree or higher. We have 5 national board certified teachers. Thirteen have 20 plus years of service, 21 have 5-19 years, 7 have 0-4 years, and 1 teacher has a provisional license. Four of our teachers are enrolled in graduate degree programs. There are 11 teachers who have had mentor training. LSE has 18 classified instructional support staff and 13 other classified staff. Each year, the school system and each individual school offers quality staff development in order to provide adult learning opportunities in a variety of subject areas. Teachers sign up and receive credits for attending these workshops through the RockinghamCountySchoolsProfessionalDevelopmentSEA System. This SEA system is customized under the North Carolina Department of Instruction. After completing the workshops, teachers then complete evaluations of the staff development they have received and their strategies for incorporating the new knowledge into their classrooms.
For the 2007-2008 school year our attendance was 95.97% and met AYP Standards. This was a .57% increase from the 2006-2007 school year.
Behavior issues have improved at LSE due to closer monitoring of students’ actions by the entire school community. There were 52 out-of-school suspensions during the 2007-2008 school year. The previous year there were 201 out-of-school suspensions.
Volunteers at LSE consist of parents, family members, church and other community leaders who offer support to teachers and students throughout the year; however, based on the needs assessment by the staff, one of the areas that teachers see as a need is more parent involvement.
This year the focus at LSE is using Ed Resources to supply high quality staff development. They model guided reading lessons and demonstrate how to use student data to drive individual student instruction. They observe teachers teaching guided reading and give immediate feedback about the lesson.
Teachers are involved in developing pacing guides. Each school has one representative per grade level to serve on a county committee. The committee meets regularly to work on these guides.
The principal offers teachers assistance in reporting assessment data to parents in grades 3-5. One of the Kindergarten teachers was involved in the development of the new report cards.
Comprehensive Needs Assessment 2008-2009
Task/Activity
/ Possible Sources of Information / Person(s) Responsible / Start/End Dates / Conclusion after Review of Data Source / rSchool Climate
Staff / NC Workplace Satisfaction Survey / Staff / Aug. 08-May 09 / 69% of our staff feels they have less than 3 hours for individual planning. 85% of our staff feels they have less than 3 hours a week for structured collaboration. Teachers feel we need less instructional interruptions. 98% report a shared vision.
Parent Input / Parent/Safe Schools Survey / Parents /
May 08
/ 96.9% of parents realize there is a plan in place to make sure their child is safe.(increase)68% of parents state their child chooses to read for entertainment.(same)
Students
Grade 2-5th / Student Surveys/Focus Groups/Interviews / Students / Oct. 2008 / On the student survey, 98% of our students believe that their teachers are doing a good job of teaching them. Students feel that our school could be improved if students listened and obeyed school rules, the cafeteria served more appetizing foods, and bullies should not be tolerated here. Math was the students’ favorite subject and reading was the least favorite.
Facilities/
Physical Plant / Observation /
Principal
/ 2008-2009 / Install cameras for school safety. Replace cafeteria tables. Add fencing along the left side of the building. Trim trees in front of building.Begin to replace carpet in targeted classrooms.
Community Support
Community Input / Focus Groups PTO/PTSA/Communities in Schools/Interviews
Parents Advisory Committee /
Volunteers
SIT andPTSO Board / Sept. 08
Aug. 08- May 09
Nov. 08-May 09 / -Volunteers desire to learn ways to help students. We had 19 parents attend the volunteer information sessions on Sept. 4.
We are proud to have our Hand-in-Hand volunteers from the LeaksvilleUnitedMethodistChurch who offer support to teachers and students.
-The PTSO board meets as needed to discuss upcoming projects or activities.
-Parents are elected at a PTSO meeting by their peers to serve on the SIT and are actively involved with the decision-making at LSE.
-Parents meet quarterly with Principal and other key staff members.
Community Business Partners / Interviews/Mtgs./Record of Donations /
Local
Businesses /Aug. 08-
May 09 / Communication with McDonalds, Food Lion, Dominos Pizza, McClein-Reil, Wal-Mart, Sonic, and Kiwanis.Parent Involvement
Parent Opinion of School Overall / Parent Survey results and comments /
Parents
Title I Staff
/ May 09 / Parents are pleased with the overall performance the teachers are doing with their children. 96.7% of the parents believe that their child gets a good education at LSE.96.9% of our parents feel that LSE has a plan to make sure their child is safe.
Parent Participation in activities offered / Title I blue folder results /
Administration
Teachers,Title I Staff /
May 2009
/ In 2007-2008, 84% of our parents attended parent meetings or conferences. This shows a 5% increase from the previous year. 97.3% attended at least 1 parent conference. This shows a 10.3% increase from 2006-2007.Records of parent concerns,
Suggestions, complaints and compliments / Parent Survey; workshop evaluations / Title I Staff,
Office Staff /
May 2009
/ On the 2007-2008 ParentInvolvementSafeSchool Survey, 11.4% of parents stated that they child is being bullied. (6.1% on the bus)Overall, parents highly rated the information sessions taught last year.
Several parents feel that the office staff is unfriendly. We will continue working to make office visits for parents and students more inviting and positive.
Student Achievement Data
Testing Information / EOG/NC Writing
K-2 Assessment Results / Principals, Curr. Lead, All Staff / Nov. 2008 / Kindergarten – Writing 81%, Reading 80% & Math 89%; First – Reading 79% & Math 93%; Second – Reading 84% & Math 86%; EOG Reading Percent Proficient 51.4% with growth; EOG Math Percent Proficient 63.1% with growth; 4th grade writing – 55.4%
Student Achievement K-5 / Summary of Student Information Forms /
Title I Staff
/ Aug. 2007- May 2008 / At the end of 2007-2008 school year, according to the NC Reading Leveled Assessment, K- 2nd had 20% at-risk students. In Math, K -2nd had 14% at- risk students. In 3rd-5th grades the reading scores are pending.In Math, 3rd -5th had 42% at-risk students.
School Progress / NC School Report Card /
Teachers
/ Nov. 2007 / The North Carolina School Report Card was sent to parents in November 2007. It will be sent to parents in 2008 as soon as prepared by state department.Instructional Overview
Curriculum and Instruction / Curriculum Lead Teachers/Faculty mtgs/Grade level Mtgs. / Principals,Curr. Lead Teacher,
Classroom teachers / Aug. 08- May 09 / Faculty meetings are held monthly. Grade level meetings with the principal or curriculum lead teacher are held every other week. Grade level planning is held once a week. Additional 1 ½ hour planning is provided once a month.
Student Access to Print / Library circulation reports / Media Specialist /
May 2008
/ Children at LSE have access to print on a daily basis. In the 2007-2008 school year, students checked out 29,337 books.Demographics
/SIMS Report
Attendance/Mobility / SIMS Report /
Pam Sexton
/Daily
/ In the 2007-2008 school year, our attendance was 95.97% and met the AYP Standard. This was a .57% increase from the 2006-2007 school year.Discipline / Principals Report /
Principal
/All year
/ In 2006-2007 we had 201 out-of-school suspensions. In 2007-2008 we had 52 out-of-school suspensions. This number was reduced 150%.Retention /Student Progress / Principals Report / Principal / 2007-2008 / There were 16 students in K-5th grades that were retained in the 2007-2008 school year.
K-7, 1st-2, 2nd-3, 3rd-3, 4th-1, 5th-0. This represents an increase of 9 students from the year before.
Teacher schedules / Title I Folders /
Title I Staff
/Sept. 08
/ Schedules are collected and placed in a Title I folder for documentation.Special Needs
Remediation/schedules/
selection of students/
providers/results (State/FISP Money) (Goals/
narrative) / Title I Documentation Folders: Assistance to Struggling Students / Title I staff, EC staff, and tutors / Aug. 08-May 09 / Four Title I teachers, one Title I instructional assistant, remediation teachers, grade-level homogeneously leveled remediation, and tutors are assisting struggling students to make needed gains in reading and math.
SSMT Referrals