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 provide the highest quality of education for all students.

Vision Statement:

Creating a quality world one child at a time.

Communication of School Improvement Plan:

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

The mission, vision and school improvement plan is communicated to all stakeholders through various avenues to make the greatest impact. All stakeholders will be reminded of mission, vision statements and School wide focus through faculty and data meetings. Continuous reflection of the School Improvement Plan will occur during S.A.C. and P.T.O. meetings and posted on school website and newsletter to help us meet our mission.

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?
An analysis of the data over the past three years of FCAT 2.0, indicates that our students perform above the state and district averages. However, when you compare our students to 6 similar demographic schools in Brevard County we are consistently ranking 7th. While we can interpret some of Indialantic’s lack of growth due to the several shifts in the configuration of state testing in Florida, we must reflect on our teaching practices and curriculum being utilized. Upon disaggregating this data, we have to ask ourselves why our cliental are not performing at the anticipated level of proficiency. Over the past three years, the percentage of students scoring at proficiency and above has continually decreased in math. Expanding the scope of previous years’ math data, a similar trend is found. Prior to the 2011 FCAT 2.0, and the increase of rigor and deeper level of understanding needed, math scores were on a proverbial plateau. Immediately following FCAT 2.0, this plateau hit a precipice and dropped dramatically.
When comparing our proficiency levels to our learning gains in both reading and math, it is concerning that our learning gains are significantly lower percentages than our proficiency levels. Here at Indialantic, the majority of students come to us with a wealth of background knowledge and experiences that lend itself to a competency in most academic areas. As reflective practitioners we must ask ourselves why these students are not making annual learning gains as predicted based on their proficiency levels.
In the 2013-2014 school year, we focused on summarizations and extending thinking strategies and the following data indicates significant improvements were made. Indialantic scores improved in all categories as measured by the state’s school grading system. This would indicate that the implemented strategies were successful, should be continued, and we will find ways to enhance them as we transition them to the new Florida Standards.
READING
Learning gains for student at Level 5 / All students scoring 3 and above in reading
11-12 59% made learning gains in grades 4-6. / 11-12 84% of students proficient or higher in grades 3-6
12-13 53% made learning gains in grades 4-6 / 12-13 86% of students proficient or higher in grades 3-6
13-14 48% made learning gains in grade 4-6 / 13-14 87% of students proficient or higher in grades 3-6
Lowest 25% making learning gains / All students making annual learning gains in reading
11-12 66% made learning gains in grades 4-6. / 11-12 68% of students in grades 4-6.
12-13 68% made learning gains in grades 4-6 / 12-13 69% of students in grades 4-6.
13-14 90% made learning gains in grades 4-6 / 13-14 76% of students in grades 4-6
MATH
Learning gains for student at level 5 / All students scoring 3 and above in math
11-12 52% made learning gains in grades 4-6. / 11-12 83% of students proficient or higher in grades 3-6.
12-13 47% made learning gains in grades 4-6. / 12-13 74% of students proficient or higher in grades 3-6.
13-14 77% made learning gains in grades 4-6 / 13-14 80% of students proficient or higher in grades 3-6.
Lowest 25% making learning gains / All students making annual learning gains in Math
11-12 62% made learning gains in grades 4-6. / 11-12 71% of students in grades 4-6.
12-13 66% made learning gains in grades 4-6 / 12-13 60% of students in grades 4-6.
13-14 74% made learning gains in grades 4-6 / 13-14 88% of students in grades 4-6.

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

Move any Action Steps that have become standard practice to this section.
Analysis of Current Practice:
At Indialantic Elementary, we continually strive for excellence. As a result, there is much to be proud of. Our success is found in academic areas as well as extracurricular achievements. In 2014, we ranked 6th among the district elementary schools in regards to the total number of points earned on the Florida School Grading System. We ranked 7th in Reading proficiency and 9th in Math proficiency. Our 5th grade Science scores ranked 15th in the district while our writing scores were 6th. While we celebrate these significant achievements, we continue to strive for excellence and a further increase in our learning gains and proficiencies. The staff at Indialantic continues to be recognized as teachers that use 21st century tools to provide students with an engaging way to interact with technology in order to enhance content knowledge and mastery of the standards.
In his book Learning by Doing, Dr. Rick DuFour tells us that “Powerful collaboration is a systematic process in which teachers work together to analyze and improve their classroom practice. This process leads to higher levels of student achievement.” Indialantic teachers pride themselves on their cooperative nature and collaboration. At weekly data meetings, teachers work together to disaggregate data including DRA, Running Records and FAIR. This practice helps teachers identify strengths and weaknesses of all students with an emphasis on those in the lowest quartile to positively impact RTI. This information leads to data-driven standards-based lesson planning. Additionally, teachers are provided with horizontal and vertical teaming opportunities to explore best practices and unpack MAFS and LAFS to ensure that standards-based lesson planning is genuine. Teacher leaders and administration make themselves available for classroom observations and informal meetings in order to provide effective feedback. We look for ways to increase student-led teaching opportunities and progress monitoring strategies to promote classroom success and mastery of the new standards.
Weekly faculty meetings are planned to allow all members of the Indialantic community to come together for the greater good. At these meetings we share best practices that can be immediately implemented into classroom instruction. Teacher leaders provide monthly on-site professional development to support our School Improvement Plan. At this time, we see an increase in the number of teacher leaders desiring to share best practices. Many of these professional development opportunities are based on the research of Max Thompson’s summarizing and extending thinking strategies. Much student improvement is based on the consistent and pervasive implementation of these strategies by our teachers. Students’ work samples and improved Reading FCAT 2.0 scores are testimonies of the power of these research-based techniques.
One strategy that made a significant change in the performance of our students in Math is an extended thinking technique called Number Talks. These classroom conversations allow children to strengthen their mental math and computation strategies. “The development of number concepts is the foundation and heart of the mathematics program for young children. What children know and understand about number and number relationships impacts every other area of mathematical study” (Richardson, 2012). The FCAT Math 2.0 results for Indialantic strongly supports these statements. Our district ranking for FCAT Math Learning Gains went from 52nd in 2013 to 6th in 2014. When our teachers were surveyed, 87% believe that the implementation of Number Talks was a major reason for student improvement in both primary and intermediate grades.
Furthermore, it continues to be noted during classroom walkthroughs that the instructional focus is geared towards support for the lowest 25% of students and not necessarily focused on strategies that target higher level students’ growth. Instructional practices in math continue to trend toward whole group instruction based on the textbook’s curriculum. However, administration has observed a moderate increase in small group instruction as a result of the implementation of Number Talks. The need still exists for higher order thinking skills in order to strengthen number sense and challenge the higher level students. An increase in the level of understanding and rigor in the classroom will support that on the MAFS.
Research states that the higher the percentage of free/reduced lunch, the more structured and precise instruction must be. However, with 17.5% free and reduced lunch at Indialantic Elementary, there is a vast range of curricula, instruction, and assessment options used by teachers at each grade level. Collaborative practice ensures common goal setting as well as combined effort to work toward more focused outcomes in terms of student achievement. This will lead us to balanced achievement, or the point at which all students are on or above grade level in all areas. Yet, Indialantic’s focus is not just to achieve grade level mastery, but to increase the level of mastery from the prior year’s learning.
Indialantic Elementary’s high quality instructional faculty and staff has embraced the need and invested the time into researched-based professional development. They are always searching for ways to enhance their knowledge and use of best practices in the classroom. As they create and implement Professional Growth Plans to support the School Improvement Plan, teachers work, not as individual parts, but as one unit for the success for the school. After sharing FCAT 2.0 data from 2013-2014, each teacher has committed to work together to ensure that our students achieve to their highest potential based on standards-based instruction.

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…
Best Practice:
According to research done by DuFour and Eaker (2006), successful implementation of standards-based education practices requires that teachers focus on effective teaching and learning practices through planning, doing, reflecting, and revising. This involves more than teachers knowing state standards and/or following a textbook. Rather, it means that educators teach with fidelity the activities, lessons, and units at the cognitive complexity level specifically designed to ensure every child learns the grade-level expectations that lead to mastery of the standards. Administrators need to ensure that every teacher has the tools and resources necessary to deliver evidence-based instructional strategies. Being standards-based requires commitment. “This means that being standards-based means that every teacher, in every classroom, every day, through a continuous cycle of teaching and learning, must ensure students learn the standards, concepts, and skills to mastery.”
Furthermore, DuFour and Eaker say that best classroom instruction at Tier 1 is critical to improving student achievement for all levels of students. Every student must have an opportunity to learn at high levels—through effective standards-based classroom instruction; interventions, programs, or placements will not be able to make up or supplant less-than-effective classroom instruction.
For this to take place, teachers and administrators need to consistently ask themselves: What do students need to know, understand, and be able to do? How do we teach effectively to ensure all students are learning? How do we know students are learning? What do we do when students are not learning or are reaching mastery before expectation? When these questions are answered, teacher delivery of a standards-based education can be achieved for every child, in every classroom, every day.
The findings of Dr. Max Thompson and Dr. Julia Thompson support standards-based instruction. “Research and evidence shows that in order to be most effective, schools should implement 2-4 exemplary strategies consistently and pervasively” (2009) Two strategies that Indialantic implemented are summarizing and using extended thinking strategies. Research says that summarizing helps students construct meaning and create a “schema” for the information to remember it longer. Extended thinking strategies, such as compare/contrast, cause-and-effect, and abstracting deepen understanding, builds connections, and uses higher levels of thinking to develop conclusions. (Marzano, 2006).
However, Dr. Max Thompson (2011) states in Moving Schools: Lessons from Exemplary Leaders, that these exemplary instructional strategies must be balanced upon a standards driven curriculum. State shifts in standards have required “a genuine need for teachers to be more specific and focused when developing their lessons and units. There remains an enormous gap between the written curriculum standards and the classroom taught curriculum. Most schools and districts continue to follow a textbook curriculum for the content of a course. Highly successful schools have found that how teachers manage and plan the curriculum significantly impacts achievement.”

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?)