2006-2007 No Child Left Behind - Blue Ribbon Schools Program
U.S. Department of Education
Cover Sheet Type of School: (Check all that apply) [X ] Elementary [ ] Middle [ ] High [ ] K-12 [ ] Charter
Name of Principal Dr. Mary C. Kline
(Specify: Ms., Miss, Mrs., Dr., Mr., Other) (As it should appear in the official records)
Official School Name James F. Cooper Elementary School
(As it should appear in the official records)
School Mailing Address 1960 Greentree Road
(If address is P.O. Box, also include street address.)
Cherry Hill N J 08003-1121
City State Zip Code+4 (9 digits total)
County Camden State School Code Number* 07-0800-083
Telephone (856) 424-4554 Fax ( 856) 751-0954
Web site/URL http://cooper.cherryhill.k12.nj,us E-mail
I have reviewed the information in this application, including the eligibility requirements on page 2, and certify that to the best of my knowledge all information is accurate.
Date____02/07/2007
(Principal’s Signature)
Name of Superintendent* Dr. David Campbell
(Specify: Ms., Miss, Mrs., Dr., Mr., Other)
District Name Cherry Hill Tel. (856) 429-5600
I have reviewed the information in this application, including the eligibility requirements on page 2, and certify that to the best of my knowledge it is accurate.
Date 02/07/2007
(Superintendent’s Signature)
Name of School Board
President/Chairperson Mr. John Galie
( Specify: Ms., Miss, Mrs., Dr., Mr., Other)
I have reviewed the information in this application, including the eligibility requirements on page 2, and certify that to the best of my knowledge it is accurate.
Date 02/07/2007
(School Board President’s/Chairperson’s Signature)
PART I ELIGIBILITY CERTIFICATION
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 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. To meet final eligibility, the school must meet the state’s adequate yearly progress requirement in the 2006-2007 school year.
3. If the school includes grades 7 or higher, it has foreign language as a part of its core curriculum.
4. The school has been in existence for five full years, that is, from at least September 2001 and has not received the No Child Left Behind – Blue Ribbon Schools award in the past five years.
5. The nominated school or district is not refusing OCR access to information necessary to investigate a civil rights complaint or to conduct a districtwide compliance review.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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 DATA
All data are the most recent year available.
DISTRICT (Questions 12 not applicable to private schools)
1. Number of schools in the district: 12 Elementary schools
3 Middle schools
0 Junior high schools
3 High schools
1 Other
19 TOTAL
2. District Per Pupil Expenditure: $11,821.00
Average State Per Pupil Expenditure: $12,567.00
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. 2 Number of years the principal has been in her/his position at this school.
5 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 / 0 / 0 / 7
K / 30 / 20 / 50 / 8
1 / 24 / 28 / 52 / 9
2 / 20 / 27 / 47 / 10
3 / 26 / 22 / 48 / 11
4 / 21 / 34 / 55 / 12
5 / 20 / 28 / 48 / Other
6
TOTAL STUDENTS IN THE APPLYING SCHOOL ® / 300
[Throughout the document, round numbers 1 or higher to the nearest whole number.
Use decimals to one place only if the number is below 1.]
6. Racial/ethnic composition of 70 White
the school: 4 Black or African American
3 Hispanic or Latino
22 Asian/Pacific Islander
0 American Indian/Alaskan Native
100 Total
Use only the five standard categories in reporting the racial/ethnic composition of the school.
7. Student turnover, or mobility rate, during the past year: 2
[This rate should be 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 the end of the year / 4(2) / Number of students who transferred from the school after October 1 until the end of the year / 2
(3) / Total of all transferred students [sum of rows (1) and (2)] / 6
(4) / Total number of students in the school as of October 1 / 297
(5) / Total transferred students in row (3) divided by total students in row (4) / .020
(6) / Amount in row (5) multiplied by 100 / 2
8. Limited English Proficient students in the school: _1__
2 Total Number Limited English Proficient
Number of languages represented: 21
Specify languages: Albanian, Arabic, Bisaya, Cantonese, English, Filipino, Finnish, German, Gujarati, Hindi/Hindustani, Korean, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi,
Spanish, Tagalog, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese
9. Students eligible for free/reduced-priced meals: ___11__
Total number students who qualify: 33
If this method does not produce an accurate estimate of the percentage of students from lowincome families, or the school does not participate in the federally supported lunch 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: 15
46 Total Number of Students Served
Indicate below the number of students with disabilities according to conditions designated in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Do not add additional categories.
_ 7__Autism __0__Orthopedic Impairment
__0__Deafness __6__Other Health Impaired
__0__Deaf-Blindness __16_ Specific Learning Disability
__0__Emotional Disturbance __12_Speech or Language Impairment
_ 0__Hearing Impairment __1__Traumatic Brain Injury
_ 0__ Mental Retardation __0__Visual Impairment Including Blindness
__4__Multiple Disabilities
11. Indicate number of fulltime and parttime staff members in each of the categories below:
Number of Staff
Full-time Part-Time
Administrator(s) 1 0
Classroom teachers 21 5
Special resource teachers/specialists 2 12
Paraprofessionals N/A N/A
Support staff 17 6
Total number 42 23
12. Average school student-classroom teacher ratio, that is, the number of
students in the school divided by the FTE of classroom teachers, e.g., 22:1 _12:1
13. Show the attendance patterns of teachers and students as a percentage. The student dropout rate is defined by the state. The student drop-off rate is the difference between the number of entering students and the number of exiting students from the same cohort. (From the same cohort, subtract the number of exiting students from the number of entering students; divide that number by the number of entering students; multiply by 100 to get the percentage drop-off rate.) Briefly explain in 100 words or fewer any major discrepancy between the dropout rate and the drop-off rate. Only middle and high schools need to supply dropout rates, and only high schools need to supply drop-off rates. Also explain a high teacher turnover rate.
2005-2006 / 2004-2005 / 2003-2004 / 2002-2003 / 2001-2002Daily student attendance / 96 / 95 / 96 / 96 / 96
Daily teacher attendance / 97 / 96 / 97 / 96 / 96
Teacher turnover rate / 8 / 8 / 5 / 8 / 8
Student dropout rate (middle/high) / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A
Student drop-off rate (high school) / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A / N/A
PART III SUMMARY
Here at James Fennimore Cooper Elementary School, our learning community is committed to its mission of teaching all children to love learning, exceed expectations, and contribute to the human community. We firmly support the ideal underlying the federal No Child Left Behind legislation that all children can learn when provided with the appropriate supports. That ideal is also reflected in our district’s four Board of Education goals for 2006-2007:
1. Continue to improve student achievement at all grade levels and close achievement gaps where they exist.
2. Begin implementation of an integrated curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional development framework that will assure continuous student progress within an aligned PreK-12 educational program.
3. Develop an action plan to improve school facilities with a focus on learning, safety, space, infrastructure, and maintenance.
4. Review special education programs to ensure that every child’s needs are met in accordance with the Individual Educational Program (IEP) and in compliance with state-mandated program requirements.
Aligned with these district goals are our building goals for 2006-2007, which are posted in the entranceway of the building:
1. By June 15, 2007, 85 of all kindergarten students will score above the at risk band on the consolidated kindergarten DIBELS assessment.
2. By June 15, 2007, 80 of at-risk students in grade 1 will improve at least 5 points on the nonsense words subtest of the DIBELS grade 1 winter to spring benchmark assessment.
3. By June 15, 2007, Cooper students will meet state AYP in all tested areas on the NJASK 3-5.
4. By June 15, 2007, Cooper students will meet or exceed building goals of 99 percent proficiency in language arts and 93 percent proficiency in mathematics on the NJASK 3-5.
5. By June 15, 2007, grade three students will demonstrate a 10 percent increase in the number of students scoring advanced proficient in language arts literacy on NJASK3.
Teachers, parents, support staff, and students labor together to maintain the Cooper tradition of a cooperative and collaborative school culture. Together, staff, parents, and community members have joined together to mentor students who have not yet reached their social, emotional, or intellectual potentials. It is that very diversity that makes Cooper such a rich learning environment. In addition, at each grade level, students with learning challenges learn in inclusive settings where classified students and typical students learn together throughout the day with the help of a skilled teaching team. These same students join together to serve the school community. Over 10 percent of Cooper’s students serve the school and community through participation in the charitable and civic projects of student council. Nearly all fourth and fifth grade students serve younger students as reading buddies, recess friends, or safety patrol members.
As self-managing professionals, Cooper staff members are firmly committed to continuous learning. Teachers and assistants participate in on-site training sessions intended to develop their ability to meet the needs of all students through skilled differentiated instruction. Teachers meet together weekly to align learning goals across the classrooms of each grade level and to perfect the newly implemented mathematics curriculum. Striving to present a world-class education we continue work toward authorization as a Primary Years Programme (PYP) School. This framework incorporates acknowledged best practices, multiple means of assessment, and the lens of inquiry to provide rigorous academic training, yet there is much more. The most important goal of a PYP school is to develop students who will be inquirers and responsible learners with positive attitudes about themselves and others. These are habits of mind that last a lifetime.
PART IV – INDICATORS OF ACADEMIC SUCCESS
1. Assessment Results: Students at James Fennimore Cooper Elementary School participate in the NJ state assessment system. These annual tests of language arts literacy and mathematics measure students’ ability to read, write, and problem-solve. The language arts portion of the test is administered over two days. On the reading portion, students are asked to read extended texts, answer multiple choice questions, and provide extended responses to open-ended questions. The writing section asks students to write to picture and/or poetry prompts depending on the grade level. The mathematics portion of the test is administered on a single day in third and fifth grade and over two days for fourth grade. This section requires students to demonstrate proficiency in numeracy, geometry, probability, and problem-solving. Both open-ended and multiple choice problems are included in the mathematics portion. Scores are classified as partially proficient (199 or less), proficient (199-249), and advanced proficient (250 or more). A score in the proficient or advanced proficient is considered passing.
Over the past four years, scores for all students in the grades three to five band have risen from 91 proficient or advanced proficient to 98 in language arts literacy. Statistically significant sub-groups during the 2005-2006 school year included Asian (100 passing), White (97 passing), Special Needs (86 passing), and Economically-Disadvantaged (100 passing). There is no data availability on non-majority sub-groups prior to this year due to the small sample size prior to the establishment of grade cluster reporting (grades 3 to 5). The disparity between the total population and Special Needs students is currently being addressed by enhanced training in code-based strategies, direct instruction, strategic instruction in multiple cueing systems, push-in/pull-out support classes, and parent education. Parent education for both language arts literacy and mathematics includes provision of home support materials, education nights, and assessment support seminars.