Brevard County Public Schools

School Improvement Plan

2014-15

Name of School: Area:

Principal: Area Superintendent:

SAC Chairperson:

Superintendent: Dr. Brian Binggeli

Mission Statement:

Palm Bay Magnet High School will make a positive difference in the future of our students.

Vision Statement:

Palm Bay Magnet High School will provide high quality, innovative instructional programs that promote choice, equity, diversity, and academic excellence for all students. We are committed to offering high interest S.T.E.A.M related programs that excite and prepare our students for the rigors of college and career.

Communication of School Improvement Plan:

Briefly explain how the mission, vision and school improvement plan is communicated to all stakeholders.

Members of the School Advisory Council and other teacher leaders met over the summer to reflect on student data trends and to reflect on current instructional practice. As a result, gaps in instructional practice were targeted and a framework was created to guide development of the 2014-2015 SIP. During the first week of school, student data was shared with teachers and they were provided with a copy of the SIP initiatives to formulate their PGP’s. The Palm Bay Magnet High School mission, vision and school improvement plan are shared with stakeholders on the PBMHS Website. There are two tabs: one for the School Improvement Plan and one for the School Advisory Council. In addition, this information is communicated to the faculty/staff and parents via electronic mail and is also shared at the School Advisory Council meetings.

Brevard County Public Schools

School Improvement Plan

2014-15

Part 1: Planning for Student Achievement

RATIONALE – Continuous Improvement Cycle Process

Data Analysis from multiple data sources: (Needs assessment that supports the need for improvement-Examples may be, but are NOT limited to survey data, walk-through data, minutes from PLC’s or Dept. Mtgs. Move away from talking about every single data source and determine your rationale. Much like the PGP, what is your focus and why?)

Considerations/Examples: What are the areas of success? Where are concerns? What trends do you see? What kind of data are you looking at within your school? What data do you use for teacher practice? How are teachers planning? Are plans Standards Driven? Are Essential Questions meaningful? What do CWT tell you about instruction? How will you monitor the depth of implementation?
After examining the FCAT reading data over the past five years, Palm Bay Magnet High School has experienced an overall decline in student performance the past two years. Although the lowest quartile learning gains declined in 2014, 60% of the students experienced a learning gain which is considerably higher than in the previous three years. Progress is being made. Overall writing scores have plummeted over the past four years. The student demographics at PBMHS are changing, as is evident as the number of students receiving free and reduced lunch has increased to 63%.
49% of students in Grades 9 and 10 scored level 3 and above in reading on FCAT 2.0 in 2014
54% of students in Grades 9 and 10 scored level 3 and above in reading on FCAT 2.0 in 2013
55% of students in Grades 9 and 10 scored level 3 and above in reading on FCAT 2.0 in 2012
47% of students in Grades 9 and 10 scored level 3 and above in reading on FCAT 2.0 in 2011
50% of students in Grades 9 and 10 scored level 3 and above in reading on FCAT 2.0 in 2010
60% of our lowest 25% made annual learning gains in reading on FCAT 2.0 in 2014
68% of our lowest 25% made annual learning gains in reading on FCAT 2.0 in 2013
52% of our lowest 25% made annual learning gains in reading on FCAT 2.0 in 2012
40% of our lowest 25% made annual learning gains in reading on FCAT 2.0 in 2011
44% of our lowest 25% made annual leaning gains in reading on FCAT 2.0 in 2010
44% of our students in 10th grade scored 3.5 or above on Florida Writes in 2014
50% of our students in 10th grade scored 3.5 or above on Florida Writes in 2013
78% of our students in 10th grade scored 3.5 or above on Florida Writes in 2012
97% of our students in 10th grade scored 3.5 or above on Florida Writes in 2011
93% of our students in 10th grade scored 3.5 or above on Florida Writes in 2010
47% of our students scored 3.0 or higher on the Algebra 1 EOC in 2014
63% of our students scored 3.0 or higher on the Algebra 1 EOC in 2013
79% of our students scored 3.0 or higher on the Algebra 1 EOC in 2012
For the second year, Palm Bay Magnet High School’s Professional Learning Communities will be the conduit that leads our effort to improve reading and writing achievement. The shift to the Florida Standards will also fuel the need for collaboration in the PLC’s. PBMHS will take a school wide approach to improve reading and writing in all content areas. Students need to practice reading and writing in all subject areas with an emphasis on writing in response to text. A Student Staffed Writing Center will be implemented along with faculty wide professional learning opportunities that will focus on training all faculty members in the writing process and grading writing using the Literacy Design Collaborative rubrics.
Professional learning opportunities focused on the SIP initiatives will continue throughout the school year on early release days as well as on additional targeted days and will be offered before school, during all planning periods, and after school. A teacher survey revealed that 62% of the teachers would like to receive training in Document Based Questioning. As a result, the social studies district resource teacher has been consulted and will facilitate a school wide training on an early day. Gallery walks will be hosted after trainings to ensure transference to classroom practice. In addition, classroom walkthroughs will be conducted along with peer observations to monitor progress.

Analysis of Current Practice: (How do we currently conduct business?)

Last year Palm Bay Magnet High School used Professional Learning Communities as the conduit to support our goals of incorporating essential questions and interactive word walls, formulating higher order thinking questions, and utilizing Thinking Maps to increase metacognition and enhance student achievement. In-service learning opportunities were facilitated on the above instructional practices during the October PD Day, bimonthly before school, during all planning periods, including after school, with a follow up “Gallery Walk” to ensure classroom transference. Classroom Walkthroughs reveal that posting and referring to the essential question are becoming part of the classroom culture. An end of the year teacher survey revealed that 76% of teachers posted the essential question daily while 42% incorporated Thinking Maps into their instruction. 82% of the teachers were trained in formulating higher order thinking questions as well as Thinking Maps. In addition, PLC’s met to develop, plan, discuss implementation of and to analyze results of common assessments. 60% of all content/disciplinary assessments were common.

Best Practice: (What does research tell us we should be doing as it relates to data analysis above?)

What does the research say about your findings? Evidenced based? What practices can you put into place to work on what the data says is impeding student achievement?
Based on what you are seeing; what teachers are doing well; what you need to change and improve…RESEARCH SAYS YOU SHOULD…
Year-end classroom observations revealed that classroom teachers primarily used direct instruction with a teacher centered approach. A teacher survey showed that over 50% of respondents were uncomfortable with relinquishing control of the classroom and 25% felt inadequately prepared to implement a student centered learning environment.
Palm Bay Magnet High School is striving to become a high performing STEAM/AVID learning community through collaboration, technology integration and real world integration through student discovery while focusing on student achievement. Dufour asserts that the work in PLC’s should be student focused and that decisions made should be made in the best interest of the student. This is directly linked to Dimension 2, Element II of the IPPAS Performance Rubric.
In order for PBMHS to become a high performing technology enhanced learning community teachers must establish “student centered” learning environments. Prensky (2010) conducted more than a thousand interviews with students from around the world and confirmed they don’t want to be lectured to; they do “want to work with their peers on group work and projects….” The students he interviewed “want to create, using tools of their time.” According to Blackburn and Williamson (2008), in too many classrooms, most of the instruction consists of the teacher-centered large group instruction. The general practice during these lessons is for the teacher to ask a question, and then call on a student to respond. Although this provides an opportunity for one student to demonstrate their understanding, the remaining students don’t have the opportunity to do so. A student centered inquiry learning approach affords all students the opportunity to construct and demonstrate understanding.
Critical thinking and student achievement will be enhanced by incorporating student generated questions along with DBQ’s or document based questions in all content areas. Rubye Payne asserts “If twice a week, instead of having students answer questions at the end of the chapter, you ask students to write their own questions, their test scores will shoot up. If you teach them how to write questions and answer them, you can expect to raise test scores by one third” (Payne, 2010). Furthermore, “the document based question is the most effective way we know to get students engaged in thinking, and thinking about thinking. It is well suited for group work and is a great tool for developing writing skills” (Brady & Roden, 2009). This supports the Florida Standards which place an emphasis not only on writing in all content areas but also on comprehension and collaboration as well. Writing is a key component in the learning process. “Teachers in every subject area can harness the power of writing to help students understand content” (Nash, 2014).
These initiatives will be supported by the continued use of Thinking Maps and essential questions. David Hyerle states “Thinking Maps are tools to support processing, sharing, understanding, refining, presenting, and questioning information in order to transform information into knowledge” (Hyerle, 2010). “Essential questions are the thread that links units, lessons and year to year teaching and provide powerful tools for focusing daily classroom activity on meaningful goals…” (McTighe & Wiggins, 1989) “Essential questions must be powerful, directed and commit students to the process of critical thinking through inquiry and engagement in real life problem solving” (Elder & Paul, 2002).
Transforming into a “Technology enhanced student centered learning environment” will enable Palm Bay Magnet High School to produce students who are critical thinkers and can collaborate with their peers to solve real world problems to meet the demands of college and careers.

CONTENT AREA:

Reading / Math / Writing / Science / Parental Involvement / Drop-out Prevention Programs
Language Arts / Social Studies / Arts/PE / Other:

School Based Objective: (Action statement: What will we do to improve programmatic and/or instructional effectiveness?)

To increase student achievement and to establish a high performing STEAM/AVID learning culture, Palm Bay Magnet High School’s professional learning communities will focus on implementing a technology enhanced “student centered” learning environment by incorporating the following best practices:
Collaboration, technology integration and real world integration through student discovery.

Strategies: (Small number of action oriented staff performance objectives)

Barrier / Action Steps / Person Responsible / Timetable / Budget / In-Process
Measure
1. Teacher understanding of the Florida State Standards and implementation with fidelity. / 1. Allow time for teachers to collaborate on standards implementation.
2. Train teachers on I CPALMs/Black Board Learn/Performance Matters. / Administration
Department chairs
Math Coach, Literacy Coach
Peer Coaches
Magnet Coordinators / August 2014-May 2015 / $0.00 / Lesson Plans
IPPAS
Classroom Walkthroughs
2. Time for teacher collaboration, planning, observations and PLC group discussion focused on implementing a student centered classroom. / 1. Dedicate two Tuesdays a month for teachers to collaborate and to share successful strategies as well as needs.
2. Continue practice of peer classroom observations. / Administration
Department Chairs
Math Coach
Literacy Coach
Peer Coaches
Magnet Coordinators / August 2014-
May 2015 / $0.00 / Classroom
Walkthroughs
IPPAS
Peer Classroom
Observations
Agendas
3.Training teachers on implementing DBQ / 1. PD scheduled and to be facilitated by district social studies resource teacher.
2. Social Studies Dept. will provide follow up session. / Chris Spinali
Social Studies Team
Literacy Coach
Math Coach
Magnet Coordinators / Jan. 14, 2015 / $0.00 / Classroom Walkthroughs
Lesson Plans
Gallery Walk
Peer Classroom Observations
4. Training all teachers in writing in response to text using real world current event articles. / 1. Provide faculty wide training on writing process and WIQR.
2. Provide faculty wide training on writing rubrics.
3. Every teacher will incorporate a writing assignment graded with the LDC rubrics quarterly. / Literacy Coach
English Department
AVID Coordinator / Oct. 17, 2014
and quarterly / $0.00 / Classroom Walkthroughs
Lesson Plans
Gallery Walk
Peer Classroom Observations
5. 25% of the faculty are new to PBMHS. Teachers must be indoctrinated to PBMHS student centered strategies implemented during 2013-2014 including: EQ’s, Student generated HOTS questions, Thinking Maps & Word Walls. / 1. Initial PD planned Sept. 10, 2014 to introduce HOTS to new teachers & provide a
refresher for returning teachers.
2. Host Gallery Walk after training to showcase lessons with student artifacts. / Literacy Coach, Math Coach,
Department Chairs
Magnet Coordinators
Peer Coaches / August 2014-May 2015 / $0.00 / Classroom Walk-throughs
Lesson Plans
Gallery Walk
Peer classroom Observations
6. Training teachers on integrating E-Beam technology into instruction. / 1. Initial PD facilitated Aug.15 with Aug. 21 follow up.
2. Identify teacher leaders and establish demonstration classrooms for peer observation. / Literacy Coach
Math Coach
Department Chairs
Peer Coaches / August 15, & 21.
Sept.2014– May 2015 / $0.00 / Classroom Walkthroughs
Lesson Plans
Gallery Walk
Peer Classroom Observations

EVALUATION – Outcome Measures and Reflection-begin with the end in mind.