Program Review School: Williamson High School and Middle Grades Preparatory
Programs/Initiatives / Targeted Audience / Implementationtimeline / Rationale for selection of program
Grad Point / Students who have failed courses and are in danger of dropping out, not graduating with their cohort group or those that are attempting to get back on track to graduate. / September 2016- June 2017 (Daily during the school day and afterschool and weekends, Summer school) / Reduce drop-out rates, meet on-time graduation targets, and engage learners with proven, media-rich lessons and motivate students when they need it most. Our graduation rate increased from 69% in 2012 to 81% in 2015 after requiring that our at risk students participate in GradPoint courses.
Edgenuity MyPath / Specifically for struggling 9th and 10th grade students that are not proficient on the STAR Math and/or Reading Assessments and 11th grade students that were not proficient on the ACT Aspire. / (January 2017 (Daily during the school day and afterschool and weekends) / ACT ASPIRE revealed that 94.7% of our current 11th students are in need of support in math and 89.6% in reading. Edgenuity MyPath is an online intervention program that offers data-driven differentiated instruction for mathematics and reading. Edgenuity MyPath is designed to meet our students at their learning level and give them exactly what they need to catch up, keep up, or get ahead. Our data revealed that only 16% of our 9th and 10th graders were proficient on the STAR Assessment and 5.5% on the reading.
Explorer Learning (Gizmo) / Students taking science that require extra and more powerful learning experiences and extrapolation activities to help increase scores on Aspire and ACT scientific reasoning. / September 2016- June 2017 (Daily during the school day and afterschool and weekends, Summer school) / Gizmos are interactive math and science simulations for grades 3-12. Gizmos aligned to the latest standards help educators bring powerful new learning experiences to the classroom. Gizmos bring many of Marzano's nine categories of effective instructional strategies to the classroom.
IXL Math & Language Arts / Specifically for struggling 9th and 10th grade students that are not proficient on the STAR Math and/or Reading Assessments. Also used for middle school students and Special education students to help with basic math skills and practice. / September 2016- June 2017 (Daily during the school day and afterschool and weekends and in the homes of our students) / ACT ASPIRE revealed that 94.7% of our current 11th students are in need of support in math and 89.6% in reading. IXL is fully aligned to the Alabama Course of Study (Common Core). It is adaptive, individualized and provides immediate feedback. With IXL's state standards alignments, it is easy to find unlimited practice questions specifically tailored to each required standard. With the IXL Analytics standards center it's simple to view student progress towards state standards. The reports in the standards center allow you to quickly evaluate student aptitude and identify trouble spots.
Math Design Collaborative / Incorporated in all math classes. / September 2016- June2017 (Daily during the school day) / ACT ASPIRE revealed that 94.7% of our current 11th students are in need of support in math. MDC uses formative assessment lessons and questions to check students’ math understanding and correct common misunderstandings. Rather than showing them predetermined steps to find an answer, teachers support students in a productive struggle to solve problems. Students participate in individual and group learning activities as they build their confidence and take ownership for their learning. The result: students build fluency with their procedural skills and deepen their mathematical reasoning and understanding
SREB Readiness Courses (SREB Literacy High School & SREB Literacy College) / A select group of 11th graders based on their ACT Aspire scores and readiness levels. / September 2016- May 2017 (Daily during intervention block) / ACT ASPIRE revealed that 94.7% of our current 11th students are in need of support in math and 89.6% in reading.
Sonday System / Specifically for middle school students that are not proficient on the STAR Math and/or Reading Assessments. Utilized be special education teachers to expand spelling activities to extended writing assignments as include comprehension strategies to help children become independent readers. / September 2016- May 2017 (Daily during intervention block) / ACT ASPIRE revealed that 89.6% of our current 11th students are in need of support in reading. The Sonday System materials have been carefully crafted to incorporate the essential components of reading (phonemic awareness, phonological awareness, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension) and also integrates a systematic spelling component. When reading and spelling are taught together, progress is faster, learning is more secure and the learner becomes a writer as well as a reader. Spelling offers an opportunity for kinesthetic/tactile practice through tracing and writing, and provides immediate diagnostic information regarding sounds, rules, and concepts that have (or have not) been learned. This intentional integration allows students to become more proficient at reading and spelling as well as writing. Teachers can expand the spelling activities to extended writing assignments as include comprehension strategies to help children become independent readers.
iReady (Ready Common Core) / Middle School Students that are not proficient on the STAR Math and/or Reading Assessments. / September 2016- June 2017 / The i-Ready software package delivers student instruction, performance diagnostics and progress reports based on K-12 Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in Mathematics and Reading. Students take the i-Ready Diagnostic and receive differentiated online instruction according to their ability, while schools and districts receive customized reports on student performance and progress throughout the year. Schools purchase licenses per subject, per student with discounts available for district-wide and multi-year packages.
Focused Math & Reading Intervention / Specifically for struggling 9th and 10th grade students that are not proficient on the STAR Math and/or Reading Assessments to help increase achievement on the Aspire and ACT. / September 2016- June 2017 (Daily during intervention block) / ACT ASPIRE revealed that 94.7% of our current 11th students are in need of support in math and 89.6% in reading.
Sadlier / Specifically for struggling 6th through 10th grade students that are not proficient on the STAR Math and/or Reading Assessments and the ACT Aspire to help increase achievement on the Aspire and ACT. / September 2016- June 2017 (Daily during intervention block) / ACT ASPIRE revealed that 94.7% of our current 11th students are in need of support in math and 89.6% in reading.
ACT Coach / Specifically for struggling 9th and 10th grade students that are not proficient on the STAR Math and/or Reading Assessments to help increase achievement on the Aspire and ACT. / September 2016- June 2017 (Daily during intervention block) / ACT ASPIRE revealed that 94.7% of our current 11th students are in need of support in math and 89.6% in reading.
West Instructional Services / ACT Tutoring primarily for 11th grade students, 2nd quarter 2016 we piloted our first group of Sophomores / September 2016- July 2017 (Daily during intervention block and for summer remediation) / ACT Data from 2015-2016 revealed that our students increased in every area, except for reading which remained the same. Our juniors and several of our seniors participated in ACT tutoring through West instructional services: 124 students were serviced (22 during the summer which included some repeats)
22 students have not yet Tested 18%
7 students No Information on Testing after tutoring 6%
11 students No change 8%
7 students went down points after tutoring 6%
77 students increased scores 62%
Think Through Math
` / 9th Grade Math students and Special Education / September 2016- June 2017 (Daily during intervention block for Special Education students and during classes for students requiring accommodations and extra help) / Aspire and ACT scores as well as STAR Mathematics Screening reveal that our students, specifically our 9th grade students and special education students were in need of extra support. ACT ASPIRE revealed that 94.7% of our current 11th students are in need of support in math and 89.6% in reading.
Alabama Science in Motion / Chemistry, Physics, Physical Science and Biology students / September 2016- May 2017 / ACT ASPIRE revealed that 94.7% of our current 11th students are in need of support in math, 96% in science and 89.6% in reading. The goals of Science in Motion are to provide high-tech laboratory experiences for students and effective professional development for teachers. In many instances the cost of the equipment involved would be prohibitive for individual schools or even systems to acquire. Sharing this equipment through Science in Motion offers equally enriching opportunities to students from different backgrounds and schools. Professional development workshops improve teacher mastery of subject matter and equipment use. Through these workshops teachers from different school systems gain the opportunity to network with peers, sharing both content knowledge and teaching techniques. Program specialists may also team teach during classroom visits increasing the teacher-student ratio and providing additional content knowledge.
Algebra Nation / 9th Grade Algebra students / September 2016- May 2017 / Aspire and ACT scores as well as STAR Mathematics Screening reveal that our students, specifically our 9th grade students and special education students were in need of extra support. ACT ASPIRE revealed that 94.7% of our current 11th students are in need of support in math and 89.6% in reading.
Directions:
Please complete the template by reviewing the programs (academic/cultural) that you implement at your school/district. Please submit an electronic copy of the completed form to your Regional Support Coordinator no later than December 1, 2016.
Things to think about for the January Effective Schools Summit:
What is the impact?
Will you keep a program, discontinue the program, why?
Are you targeting the same population too much?
Are you targeting the population with the greatest needs?