Linton Springs Elementary School
School Improvement Plan
2016-2017
Linton Springs Elementary School
School Improvement Plan
2016-2017
School Vision / MissionOur Mission Statement:
The community of LSE will acknowledge, respect, and value the diverse needs and learning styles of our students so that each individual can reach his or her fullest potential.
Our Vision:
The LSE community strives to be productive lifelong learners who work collaboratively and independently. All will show care and respect for others and demonstrate responsibility to make wise choices.
Carroll County Public Schools Vision 2018: Focus on Excellence Objectives
Prepare Globally Competitive Students
Ø Fully implement a CCPS curriculum aligned with the Maryland State Standards.
Ø Partner with local institutions of higher education to ensure college readiness.
Ø Enhance programs to ensure career readiness for all students.
Meet Each Student’s Instructional Needs
Ø Close the achievement gap between highest achieving and most struggling students.
Ø Provide appropriate education services for students identified with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Ø Enhance alternative programs responsive to the needs of at-risk students.
Ø Implement a Gifted and Talented Program aligned with COMAR requirements.
Ø Enhance alternative learning opportunities through the use of digital resources.
Develop and Maintain an Effective Workforce
Ø Attract and retain highly qualified, effective, and diverse employees.
Ø Promote a culture of diversity in the workplace.
Ø Develop an electronic observation, evaluation, feedback, and professional development system.
Ø Continuously monitor the organizational structure to support the Vision 2018 Plan.
Provide a Secure, Orderly, Modern Environment
Ø Reduce incidents of bullying, violence, intolerance, and behavioral disruptions.
Ø Improve and modernize the environment within our school facilities and school buses.
Ø Enhance security for all CCPS students, staff, volunteers, and visitors.
School Needs Assessment
CBA
% of students meeting standards 70% / Nov 2014 / Mar
2015 / Nov 2015 / Mar
2016 / Base # of FARMS
Meeting
Standards >70% March / Increase/
Decrease
FARMS-
Non FARMS
2015-2016
Grade 2 / 52 / 84 / 50 / 78.9 / 87.5 14/16 / +8.6%
Grade 3 / 49.6 / 64 / 62.5 / 86.0 / 60 6/10 / -26%
Grade 4 / 60 / 40 / 68.5 / 71.4 / 67 6 /9 / -11%
Grade 5 / 72 / 69.5 / 85.5 / 92.6 / 82% 9/11 / -10.6%
LSE ELA teachers across all grade levels report continued weakness in students’ abilities to interact with text productively to make inferences and provide evidence to support their thinking. When presented with a question requiring students to make an inference, students often respond from prior knowledge without revisiting the text or synthesizing the new information gained from the text to form an idea. The LSE leadership team believes that direct instruction in the elements of close reading critical to enhance reading comprehension. Choosing appropriate text embedded with rich vocabulary provides opportunities to practice with teacher support and will allow of our students to become efficient and effective at interacting with challenging text thus increasing student achievement.
CCPS Math Benchmark
% meeting standards >80% / Jan 2014 / May 2014 / Jan 2015 / May 2015 / Jan
2016 / May
2016 / FARMS
Base #
2014-2015 / FARMS
Base #
2015- 2016 / % of FARMS meeting standards
>80%
May
2015-2016
Pre-K / 94 / 78 / 94 / 63 / 100 / 82 / 18 / 15 / X
Kindergarten / 93 / 94 / 96 / 87 / 98 / 98 / 16 / 10 / X
First / 83 / 92 / 89 / 90 / 90 / 97 / 17 / 12 / 92%12/13
Second / 83 / 84 / 85 / 88 / 73 / 83 / 12 / 15 / 76%13/17
Third / 80 / 88 / 83 / 80 / 83 / 84 / 15 / 18 / 73% 8/11
Fourth / 74 / 64 / 83 / 80 / 61 / 68 / 13 / 12 / 58% 7/12
Fifth / 96 / 71 / 92 / 56 / 87 / 87 / 14 / 12 / 82% 9/11
LSE Math teachers across all grade levels have shared concerns that students are struggling with unfamiliar math problems demonstrating a need for a combination of skills and processes required to attack and solve unfamiliar problems. When presented with an unfamiliar problem, teachers have noted that many students often become easily frustrated, rush through the problem or give up. The LSE leadership team believes that direct instruction in the elements of a productive struggle with opportunities to practice with teacher support will help all of our students to become efficient and effective problem solvers thus increasing student achievement.
School Improvement Goals to Target Areas from Needs Assessment
1. By May of 2017 all students from Pre-K – Grade 5 will be able to apply knowledge of problem solving to attack unfamiliar math problems specific to their grade-level resulting in 100% of students achieving 80% or higher on educator created and county-based assessments with at least 75% of all students meeting or exceeding expectations for the PARCC assessment in 3rd-5th grades.
2. By May 2017, all students from Pre-K to Grade 5 will effectively use close reading strategies to form ideas from the text resulting in at least 80% accuracy as measured by specific questions on educator created and county CBA assessments with at least 75% of students meeting or exceeding expectations for the PARCC Assessment in 3rd-5th grades.
3. In order to maximize instructional time, the amount of classroom and cafeteria referrals and time spent in the support room will be reduced by 30%.
School Improvement Goal
1 By May of 2017 PreK- 5 students will be able to apply knowledge of problem solving to attack unfamiliar math problems specific to their grade-level with 100% of students achieving 80% or higher on educator created and county-based assessments with at least 75% of students meeting or exceeding expectations for the PARCC assessment in 3rd-5th grades.
Strategic Actions
1. Grade level educators and Math Resource will work collaboratively to design prompts during planning that use grade-specific mathematics and vocabulary.
2. Educators will utilize parameters of the productive struggle (thinking needed, probing questions, student-to-student communication, awareness of time spent on a problem, allowing for mistakes, etc) in order to provide students with a positive environment to productively struggle with math problems.
3. Educators in all grades will use cyclical review of previously learned math skills i.e. Throw Back Thursday.
4. Professional development offered on “Growth Mindset”
5. Utilize technology to integrate and support instruction and to monitor student learning: i.e. Discovery Ed., Plickers, / Weekly
Two times per week
Weekly
Monthly (6 Times)
Weekly / Measures of Success / Desired Performance Level
1. 100% of students will achieve a score of 80% or better on selected Benchmark problem-solving items.
2. Connect grade level SLOs to SIP using various assessments. Track student success.
3. Two prompts created per week
4. Scoreboard will be used to track frequency of productive struggle in problem-solving.
5. Educator observation and anecdotal notes
6. Administration walk-throughs
7. Teacher survey
Teacher Reflection/
Increased productive use of available technology. Teacher survey at beginning and end of year.
Collaborative sharing within and across grade level and content areas.
School Improvement Goal
2. By May 2017, 100% of students will use close reading strategies to form ideas from the text 80% of the time as measured by specific questions on educator created and county assessments with at least 75% of students meeting or exceeding expectations for the PARCC Assessment in 3rd-5th grades.
Strategic Actions / Timeline / Measures of Success / Desired Performance Level
1. Grade level educators and ELA specialist will work collaboratively during planning time to plan instruction for close reading using quality text and rich vocabulary. / Weekly during Collaborative Planning / Examples: Exit Tickets, Whole group response, student white boards,
2. Educators will utilize the structure of close reading (choosing quality text; read, gather evidence, form an idea; develop a close reading ritual: read for the gist, read through a lens, look for patterns, form a new idea.) in order for students to comprehend text at a higher level. / Weekly during Collaborative Planning / Score Board will be used to track planning and administration of close reading lessons.
4. Educators in all grades will explicitly teach vocabulary using best practices (word of the week, interactive word wall, integration of academic vocabulary including special areas / Daily / Connect SLOs to SIP
Leadership Walkthroughs
Examples in student writing
5. Educators will model close reading strategies to students on a weekly basis using a variety of text: short, fiction, non-fiction, article, parts of text, paragraph, poem, story, etc.
6. Professional development offered on close reading. / Weekly
Monthly 6 times / Connect SLOs to SIP
Team sharing of chosen text- developing structure/scoring tool to monitor progress
during collaborative planning
Leadership team walkthroughs
Teacher survey/reflection
7. Utilize technology to integrate and support instruction and monitor progress : i.e. Discovery Ed, Plickers, etc. / Weekly / Increased productive use of available technology. Teacher survey beginning and end of the school year.
Collaborative sharing within and across grade level and content areas.
Behavior Needs Assessment: The leadership team decided to focus on this area of concern.
In reviewing school discipline data it was noted that our support room staff wrote the majority of student referrals -over 80 - while our classroom teachers wrote from 0-5 across all grade levels.
The majority of referrals took place in the cafeteria >100 and the classroom >60. This is reason for the focus in the school improvement plan.
The majority of referral offenses are physical contact with over 60 incidents ranging from minor to major incidents.
3 In order to maximize instructional time, the amount of classroom and cafeteria referrals and time spent in the support room will be reduced by 30%Strategic Actions
1. Decrease the amount of referrals written by the support room staff. All educators will be responsible to report classroom disciplinary actions in the system.
2. Decrease the amount of time students spend in the support room.
3. Provide classroom/behavior management professional development. Support room person to attend PBIS monthly meetings.
4. Explicit instruction relating to the LSE STAR Standards
5. Gain consistency with PBIS implementation school wide.
6.Highlight a STAR standard on the news show / Each Quarter
August –June
Weekly / Measures of Success / Desired Performance Level
Use of Watchdogs- (Dads of great students) to walkthrough cafeteria on a regular basis
Pre/post teacher survey
Informal walk-throughs/ observations, reduction in classroom and cafeteria referrals
Flow chart of behavior management, analyze monthly discipline reports