2009 No Child Left Behind - Blue Ribbon Schools Program
Type of School: (Check all that apply) / [X ]Elementary / []Middle / []High / []K-12 / []Other
[]Charter / []Title I / []Magnet / []Choice
Name of Principal: Mr. Jay Brewer
Official School Name: Ruth Moyer Elementary
School Mailing Address:
219 Highland Avenue
Ft. Thomas, KY 41075
County: Campbell County State School Code Number*: 176-030
Telephone: (859) 441-1180 Fax: (859) 441-9440
Web site/URL: http://www.fortthomas.kyschools.us/school_home.aspx?schoolID=4E-mail:
I have reviewed the information in this application, including the eligibility requirements on page 2 (Part I - Eligibility Certification), and certify that to the best of my knowledge all information is accurate.
Date
(Principal‘s Signature)
Name of Superintendent*: Mr. John Williamson
District Name: Ft. Thomas Independent Tel: (859) 815-2020
I have reviewed the information in this application, including the eligibility requirements on page 2 (Part I - Eligibility Certification), and certify that to the best of my knowledge it is accurate.
Date
(Superintendent‘s Signature)
Name of School Board President/Chairperson: Ms. Karen Allen
I have reviewed the information in this application, including the eligibility requirements on page 2 (Part I - Eligibility Certification), and certify that to the best of my knowledge it is accurate.
Date
(School Board President‘s/Chairperson‘s Signature)
*Private Schools: If the information requested is not applicable, write N/A in the space.
Original signed cover sheet only should be mailed by expedited mail or a courier mail service (such as USPS Express Mail, FedEx or UPS) to Aba Kumi, Director, NCLB-Blue Ribbon Schools Program, Office of Communications and Outreach, US Department of Education, 400 Maryland Ave., SW, Room 5E103, Washington, DC 20202-8173.
The signatures on the first page of this application certify that each of the statements below concerning the school‘s eligibility and compliance with U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (OCR) requirements is true and correct.
1. The school has some configuration that includes one or more of grades K-12. (Schools on the same campus with one principal, even K-12 schools, must apply as an entire school.)
2. The school has made adequate yearly progress each year for the past two years and has not been identified by the state as “persistently dangerous” within the last two years.
3. To meet final eligibility, the school must meet the state’s Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) requirement in the 2008-2009 school year. AYP must be certified by the state and all appeals resolved at least two weeks before the awards ceremony for the school to receive the award.
4. If the school includes grades 7 or higher, the school must have foreign language as a part of its curriculum and a significant number of students in grades 7 and higher must take the course.
5. The school has been in existence for five full years, that is, from at least September 2003.
6. The nominated school has not received the No Child Left Behind – Blue Ribbon Schools award in the past five years, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, or 2008.
7. The nominated school or district is not refusing OCR access to information necessary to investigate a civil rights complaint or to conduct a district-wide compliance review.
8. OCR has not issued a violation letter of findings to the school district concluding that the nominated school or the district as a whole has violated one or more of the civil rights statutes. A violation letter of findings will not be considered outstanding if OCR has accepted a corrective action plan from the district to remedy the violation.
9. The U.S. Department of Justice does not have a pending suit alleging that the nominated school or the school district as a whole has violated one or more of the civil rights statutes or the Constitution‘s equal protection clause.
10. There are no findings of violations of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in a U.S. Department of Education monitoring report that apply to the school or school district in question; or if there are such findings, the state or district has corrected, or agreed to correct, the findings.
PART II - DEMOGRAPHIC DATAAll data are the most recent year available.
DISTRICT (Questions 1-2 not applicable to private schools)
1. Number of schools in the district: / 3 / Elementary schools1 / Middle schools
Junior high schools
1 / High schools
Other
5 / TOTAL
2. District Per Pupil Expenditure: 6240
Average State Per Pupil Expenditure: 9602
SCHOOL (To be completed by all schools)
3. Category that best describes the area where the school is located:
[ ] Urban or large central city
[ ] Suburban school with characteristics typical of an urban area
[ X ] Suburban
[ ] Small city or town in a rural area
[ ] Rural
4. 5 Number of years the principal has been in her/his position at this school.
If fewer than three years, how long was the previous principal at this school?
5. Number of students as of October 1 enrolled at each grade level or its equivalent in applying school only:
Grade / # of Males / # of Females / Grade Total / Grade / # of Males / # of Females / Grade TotalPreK / 0 / 7 / 0
K / 40 / 44 / 84 / 8 / 0
1 / 28 / 51 / 79 / 9 / 0
2 / 39 / 38 / 77 / 10 / 0
3 / 33 / 35 / 68 / 11 / 0
4 / 31 / 34 / 65 / 12 / 0
5 / 35 / 35 / 70 / Other / 0
6 / 0
TOTAL STUDENTS IN THE APPLYING SCHOOL / 443
6. Racial/ethnic composition of the school: / % American Indian or Alaska Native
1 / % Asian
1 / % Black or African American
1 / % Hispanic or Latino
% Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
95 / % White
2 / % Two or more races
100 / % Total
Only the seven standard categories should be used in reporting the racial/ethnic composition of your school. The final Guidance on Maintaining, Collecting, and Reporting Racial and Ethnic data to the U.S. Department of Education published in the October 19, 2007 Federal Register provides definitions for each of the seven categories.
7. Student turnover, or mobility rate, during the past year: 5%
This rate is calculated using the grid below. The answer to (6) is the mobility rate.
(1) / Number of students who transferred to the school after October 1 until theend of the year. / 11
(2) / Number of students who transferred from the school after October 1 until the end of the year. / 10
(3) / Total of all transferred students [sum of rows (1) and (2)]. / 21
(4) / Total number of students in the school as of October 1. / 383
(5) / Total transferred students in row (3)
divided by total students in row (4). / 0.055
(6) / Amount in row (5) multiplied by 100. / 5.483
8. Limited English proficient students in the school: 2%
Total number limited English proficient 7
Number of languages represented: 4
Specify languages:
Spanish, Russian, Sinhala, and Tulugu
9. Students eligible for free/reduced-priced meals: 10%
Total number students who qualify: 45
If this method does not produce an accurate estimate of the percentage of students from low-income families, or the school does not participate in the free and reduced-price school meals program, specify a more accurate estimate, tell why the school chose it, and explain how it arrived at this estimate.
10. Students receiving special education services: 7%
Total Number of Students Served: 33
Indicate below the number of students with disabilities according to conditions designated in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Do not add additional categories.
0 / Autism / 0 / Orthopedic Impairment0 / Deafness / 0 / Other Health Impaired
0 / Deaf-Blindness / 5 / Specific Learning Disability
0 / Emotional Disturbance / 15 / Speech or Language Impairment
0 / Hearing Impairment / 0 / Traumatic Brain Injury
0 / Mental Retardation / 0 / Visual Impairment Including Blindness
1 / Multiple Disabilities / 6 / Developmentally Delayed
11. Indicate number of full-time and part-time staff members in each of the categories below:
Number of StaffFull-Time / Part-Time
Administrator(s) / 1 / 0
Classroom teachers / 19 / 0
Special resource teachers/specialists / 6 / 3
Paraprofessionals / 0 / 0
Support staff / 12 / 3
Total number / 38 / 6
12. Average school student-classroom teacher ratio, that is, the number of students in the school divided by the Full Time Equivalent of classroom teachers, e.g., 22:1 18 :1
13. Show the attendance patterns of teachers and students as a percentage. Only middle and high schools need to supply dropout rates. Briefly explain in the Notes section any attendance rates under 95%, teacher turnover rates over 12%, or student dropout rates over 5%.
2007-2008 / 2006-2007 / 2005-2006 / 2004-2005 / 2003-2004Daily student attendance / 97% / 97% / 97% / 97% / 97%
Daily teacher attendance / 96% / 97% / 97% / 97% / 97%
Teacher turnover rate / 10% / 0% / 0% / 8% / 4%
Please provide all explanations below.
14. For schools ending in grade 12 (high schools).
Show what the students who graduated in Spring 2008 are doing as of the Fall 2008.
Graduating class size / 0Enrolled in a 4-year college or university / 0 / %
Enrolled in a community college / 0 / %
Enrolled in vocational training / 0 / %
Found employment / 0 / %
Military service / 0 / %
Other (travel, staying home, etc.) / 0 / %
Unknown / 0 / %
Total / 100 / %
PART III - SUMMARY
Ruth Moyer Elementary, founded in 1930, is a kindergarten through fifth grade school located in the heart of Fort Thomas, Kentucky (pop. 17,000). With an enrollment of 445 students, our school mission statement guides our everyday interactions with students and parents. Our mission statement is
“The staff and parents at Ruth Moyer Elementary School believe that all students deserve the opportunity to achieve their maximum potential. We accept the responsibility to help all students achieve academically, learn life-skills, and to continue their education at the next level.”
Accredited by the Southern Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges, Ruth Moyer Elementary has been a consistent top performer on state assessments (CATS) and in 2008 was the highest performing school in all of Northern Kentucky region.
Since the implementation of the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990, Ruth Moyer Elementary School has maintained a course towards proficiency for all students. The latest state assessments clearly demonstrate Moyer’s ability to reach all learners as the school’s novice index was .52%. Moyer has reached the state assessment goal of 100 for all Kentucky schools by the year 2014 for the past five years. On nationally norm referenced assessment Moyer students consistently perform in the upper 70th percentile to the lower 80th percentile.
Moyer prides itself on providing a “guaranteed and viable” curriculum for all students. The programs that Moyer uses are research based (Trophies, Everyday Math, Social Studies Alive, Junior Great Books, and Successmaker) and are designed to challenge students to be creative and critical thinkers, problem solvers, and real world appliers. Every year the staff of Moyer evaluates a different curriculum strand (Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, Practical Living and Vocational Studies, and Arts and Humanities) and revises it to ensure that it is providing the best educational practices and programs.
Ruth Moyer has outstanding community and parent involvement. Students at all levels participate in Service Learning projects in which content areas are connected to community service projects. Parents are extremely supportive and involved in our school. Programs such as Picture Person, Junior Achievement, COSI, Red Ribbon Week, Kentucky Kid’s Day, and Everybody Counts demonstrate a high level of involvement in which parents organize and often teach lessons in our classrooms.
Our Parent Teacher Organization is responsible for many programs and activities at our school. They also provide funding for such initiatives as having interactive Smartboards in every classroom. They have also purchased software, hardware, books, sound equipment, manipulatives, classroom carpets and easels, as well as sponsoring numerous field trips. Recently our school has started an Extracurricular Booster Organization that has organized soccer, basketball, baseball, softball, and flag football opportunities for students. Currently the Moyer Boosters have organized a kindergarten through second grade instructional basketball league that fields teams from six other schools. After school opportunities for students are plentiful. Students have the opportunity to participate in Chess Club, Studio Art, Band, Chorus, Strings Program, Student Technology Leadership Program, Students Council, French Class, Chinese Class, Spanish Class, and Academic Team.
Ruth Moyer Elementary prides itself on providing a safe, friendly, and nurturing environment for our students to learn and grow. We succeed because the community and families we serve value and support excellence in education. This tradition of excellence is the reason that Fort Thomas Independent Schools have placed first among all K-12 Districts in the Commonwealth of Kentucky for the last thirteen consecutive years.
1. Assessment Results:
The state of Kentucky established an accountability model called the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (CATS) that generates data on schools and districts throughout Kentucky. The Kentucky Performance Reports provide results for the last six years of testing in the state of Kentucky. The goal for all schools is to achieve proficiency (measured as 100 out of an optimal score of 140) by 2014. For the past five years Ruth Moyer Elementary has exceeded the goal set for all Kentucky schools. The data in reading indicate scores from 2004 to present to be: 102, 109, 111, 114, and 115. The data in math indicate the same pattern for the past five years: 109, 109, 110.9, 115.4, and 122.9. The lowest performing category as defined by the state is novice. Moyer’s percentage of novice students over the past five years has shown a steady reduction, starting in 2004, with 2.22, 1.42, 1.22, .66, and in 2008 .52. Ruth Moyer is traditionally found in the top 5% of all Kentucky elementary schools on state testing. At Moyer, each student in grades second through fifth completes the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. Moyer students can be found to traditionally score in the upper 70th percentile to lower 80th percentile in all subject areas. These test scores indicate that Moyer, as a school, is ranked in the middle to upper 90th percentile of all schools, public and private, across the nation. Additional testing done at Moyer, STAR Reading, indicates that the average Moyer student exits at fifth grade reads at least a year and half above grade level. The state test results can be found on the Kentucky Department of Education website (http://www.kde.state.ky.us/KDE) under the Reports and Testing section.