Brevard County Public Schools s8

Brevard County Public Schools

School Improvement Plan

2014-15

Name of School: Area:

Principal: Area Superintendent:

SAC Chairperson:

Superintendent: Dr. Brian Binggeli

Mission Statement:

To inspire and empower students through quality online learning.

Vision Statement:

A community of 21st century learners succeeding in a global environment.

Communication of School Improvement Plan:

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

The mission and vision is prominently featured on our website and is included in most publications distributed to stakeholders (handbooks, newsletters, etc.). The school improvement plan is reviewed regularly with faculty and the SAC throughout the year. In the Spring input is obtained from SAC and faculty. It is again reviewed and discussed during pre-planning and school advisory council meetings in September and October. Once the SIP is finalized and board approved, it will be posted on the school website.

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?
Brevard Virtual Schools (Brevard Virtual eSchool and Brevard Virtual Secondary School) has experienced significant growth in the last 5 years. In the Spring of 2009 we started with just 22 students and only one, part-time employee who managed the program. Today, we average 135-150 full-time students each year and over 3000 half-credit enrollments. Our faculty and staff has expanded to 26 full-time employees, including 21 classroom teachers. As the program has grown, the services we provide to students and families have also expanded. Brevard Virtual’s data below is comprised of only full-time students who were enrolled in both surveys 2 and 3 in Brevard Virtual Secondary School. Part-time students, which represent the largest number of enrollments, are not included. Brevard Virtual eSchool is not included, as this school has a separate school improvement plan.
Brevard Virtual Secondary School will earn a school grade for the first time in 2014, although that grade is currently pending. The total points earned to date are 538. The performance data used to calculate the grade was based on 39 students, in grades 6-10.
The BVSS school data showed 89% of students were proficient in reading and 89% made a learning gain. In mathematics, 63% were proficient and 39% demonstrated a learning gain. Of the lowest 25% of students, which is adjusted to the lowest 10 students (the cell minimum), 85% of students made gains in reading and 39% in mathematics.
An area of concern expressed by teachers, parents and students was the need for immediate assistance in mathematics at the time of learning. With teachers and students working remotely, almost all assistance is provided one on one. Therefore, it is highly likely that when assistance is required, the teacher is working with another student and unable to immediately respond by email or phone. Another area of concern expressed by teachers is the need to provide students with more instruction on reading text closely, increasing reading comprehension and the ability to respond to questions with adequate detail.

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

Move any Action Steps that have become standard practice to this section.
Students enrolled in Brevard Virtual may be part-time, receiving instruction in some courses from our school, or full-time and receiving all instruction and other services from our school. Part-time students are in membership in other BPS schools, private schools or home education. Full-time students are in membership with Brevard Virtual. The 2014-2015 school year is the fourth year that Brevard Virtual has employed full-time teachers. Prior to 2011, all students were served through a contracted service. Through this contract, students were enrolled in a program operated by K12 Florida and served by teachers employed by the vendor. At the end of the 12-13 school year, the contract with this vendor was cancelled.
In a virtual program, the teacher and parent partner in order to provide the educational program to the student. The curriculum is designed by a vendor and monitored and guided by the teacher. In BVSS, the curriculum is fully-online. Students engage in learning activities online, asynchronously, and their learning is evaluated through assessments submitted to the teacher. The Learning Coach’s role in this program is essential, for providing motivation, support and assistance.
As the Brevard Virtual Programs have expanded, infrastructure has been built to better serve our students. The following have become standard operating procedures:
·  Orientation: A live, face-to-face orientation session for all families. Students and their parents attend this 2-hour session where the school expectations and policies are reviewed, tips for success, and methods of support are discussed. Students and parents are also given the opportunity to meet their teachers.
·  Academic Advisement Programs Sessions (AAPs): BVSS students meet online with their academic advisors on a monthly basis to work with other students and receive instruction in key areas.
·  BVSS Open Lab: A teacher supervised session where students can work with their teachers and/or other students on campus. Approximately four open lab sessions are offered each month and attendance is voluntary.
·  Support Opportunity for Success (SOS) sessions: SOS is a monitored computer lab session where BVSS students work directly with their teachers. Students pace and grades are monitored on a weekly basis. Students who are behind pace or failing courses are required to report to SOS. During the session the student is provided with a “prescription” that schedules their activities for the day so they are working on specific courses during the time when their teachers are in the lab.
·  Collaboration Day: This monthly, day-long meeting engages teachers in professional development, planning and discussion.

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…
The Florida Department of Education’s publication “MTSS Implementation Components: Ensuring Common Language and Understanding” identifies the “critical elements” necessary to implement and sustain an effective MTSS program:
1.  Effective, actively involved, and resolute leadership that frequently provides visible connections between a MTSS framework with district & school mission statements and organizational improvement efforts.
2.  Alignment of policies and procedures across classroom, grade, building, district, and state levels.
3.  Ongoing efficient facilitation and accurate use of a problem-solving process to support planning, implementing, and evaluating effectiveness of services.
4.  Strong, positive, and ongoing collaborative partnerships with all stakeholders who provide education services or who otherwise would benefit from increases in student outcomes.
5.  Comprehensive, efficient, and user-friendly data-systems for supporting decision-making at all levels from the individual student level up to the aggregate district level.
6.  Sufficient availability of coaching supports to assist school team and staff problem-solving efforts.
7.  Ongoing data-driven professional development activities that align to core student goals and staff needs.
8.  Communicating outcomes with stakeholders and celebrating success frequently.
Brevard Virtual will engage in self-assessment and professional development related to MTSS and will establish the infrastructure to effectively implement MTSS at all grade levels. We will begin with an initial focus on data analysis and decision making through data teams.
Research shows that the implementation of effective data-based decision making and data teams is a process to ensure all students are successful. It will be through the structure of MTSS that we can monitor student progress toward mastery and intervene as necessary. Bambrick-Santoyo states that “…data-driven instruction functions as a super lever, sharpening a principal’s remaining tools and making learning soar. It gives both leaders and teachers a map of their schools’ instructional needs.” Leverage Leadership (2012).
Our school theme this year, “Data Domination – Every Student Counts!” will continue to bring our focus back to data-based decision making. Teachers will identify the key data points they will use to monitor students’ progress toward mastery in each of their courses/platforms. Every teacher will engage in systematic data analysis to target every student’s need for instruction, intervention and/or acceleration. They will then engage in data-team meetings to identify patterns and collaborate in the problem solving process. Doug Reeves believes “Data teams are the single best way to help educators and administrators move from ‘drowning in data’ to using information to make better instructional decisions.” Data Teams: The Big Picture (2011)
A virtual program is an excellent vehicle for differentiating instruction and helping all students be successful. It will be through the use of data, data-teams, MTSS and collaboration that we will ensure students have every opportunity for success.

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?)

Brevard Virtual will use data teams to analyze school-wide, classroom and individual student data to improve teacher effectiveness which will result in higher academic achievement for all students.

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

Barrier / Action Steps / Person Responsible / Timetable / Budget / In-Process
Measure
Lack of understanding of MTSS foundations / 1.  Evaluate current practices and develop an implementation plan with district MTSS coach, Melissa Long.
2.  Attend district level MTSS Facilitator trainings.
3.  Conduct faculty-wide training on MTSS. / Assistant Principal
MTSS Facilitator / June 2014
September 2014-May 2015
August 2014-May 2015 / $0 / Meeting/ Training agendas and minutes
Lack of systematic, data based decisions for individual student and classroom instruction / 1.  Set schedule, structure and responsibilities for data team meetings
2.  Establish a system for monitoring implementation in all classes.
3.  Identify key data points as the most essential to inform instruction/intervention.
4.  Implement the active use of data notebooks by all teachers. / Assistant Principal
Coordinating Teacher
Team Leaders / August 2014
August 2014
August 2014 (Ongoing)
August-September 2014 / $0 / Schedules, notes, data notebooks
Curriculum alignment with a clear understanding of the standards / 1.  Align the curriculum with the standards.
2.  Develop a plan for supplementing curriculum when standards are not effectively addressed.
3.  Conduct teacher training on Florida Standards and new FSA test specifications.
4.  Set instructional focus for BVSS AAPs sessions. / Assistant Principal
Coordinating Teacher / June 2014 (Ongoing)
June-July 2014
August 2014 - May 2015
August 2014 –May 2015 / $0 / Alignment charts, training agendas, AAPs recordings
Need to increase additional high effect instructional strategies / 1.  Research High Effect strategies and their implementation in online learning.
2.  Conduct parent trainings to model and provide instruction on how to use high effect instructional strategies with their children.
3.  Conduct Teacher trainings in HE strategies.
4.  Extend the 13-14 initiative of Essential Questions to all courses. / Coordinating teacher
Assistant Principal
Leadership Team / September 2014-May 2015
October 2014-April 2015
October 2014-April 2015
September 2014 / $500 / Training recordings, agendas, and notes
Need to establish an early warning system / 1.  Conduct Intake Meetings with all new families.
2.  Systematically monitor individual student data to identify performance concerns early.
3.  Refer students, as needed, to the IPST for review and action.
4.  Establish a mentor/mentee system in BVSS to create teacher champions for each student. / Assistant Principal
Guidance Counselor
Coordinating teacher
Team Leaders / May 2014-January 2015
August 2014 – May 2015
August 2014 – May 2015
August 2014 – May 2015 / $0 / Intake questionnaires, IPST schedules, conference notes, attendance rosters.

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

Qualitative and Quantitative Professional Practice Outcomes: (Measures the level of implementation of professional practices throughout the school)

Where do you want your teachers to be? What tools will you use to measure the implementation of your strategies? How will you measure the change in adult behavior? What tool will be used to measure progress throughout the year? Use real percentages and numbers.
Brevard Virtual teachers will engage in data-based decision making by first maintaining data notebooks for all full-time students. The use of a formal data notebooks will be evident through observations conducted by the administration and will grow from 0% to 100%. All teachers will actively participate in data-team meetings to engage in the problem solving process, to positively contribute to student achievement as evidenced by meeting notes and IPST attendance records.
The faculty will also engage in training and implementation of MTSS. The success will be measured by the MTSS Implementation self-assessment rubric submitted by each teacher. The scale is 1 (Not implemented), 2 (Implemented but not Fully Embedded) and 3 (Fully Embedded). The baseline assessment shows that the score in all categories was between 1.94 and 2.59. In May, the self-assessment will indicate growth in all categories by 0.5-1.0 points.

Qualitative and Quantitative Student Achievement Expectations: (Measures student achievement)

Where do you want your students to be? What will student achievement look like at the end of the school year 2014-15? What tool will be used to measure progress throughout the year?
As a result of developing our skills in data-based decision making, engaging in data teams and improving the MTSS infrastructure, students will demonstrate mastery of course standards and therefore be better prepared for standardized testing. The following results will be achieved on the FSA during the 2014-2015 school year.
Brevard Virtual Secondary School
Area / Percentile Rank in 2014 / Percentile Rank in 2015 / Change
Reading Proficiency / 88th / 90th / +2
Reading Gains / 91st / 95th / +4
Reading Gains LPQ / 88th / 90th / +2
Math Proficiency / 57th / 65th / +8
Math Gains / 3rd / 40th / +37
Math Gains LPQ / 3rd / 40th / +37
In addition to the quantitative measure, the impact of new initiatives will be measured through a survey completed by students. Following each AAPs session student responses will show an overall satisfaction rating (agree or strongly agree) in all categories.

Part 2: Support Systems for Student Achievement (Federal, State, District Mandates)