Catoctin Elementary School

Conducting a Needs Assessment for the School Improvement Plan

The mission of LCPS is to empower all students to make meaningful contributions to the world. We want our students to grow as knowledgeable critical thinkers, communicators, collaborators, creators and contributors. To that end, we must give ourselves permission and the tools and supports needed to provide deep, long-lasting learning experiences that center on engaging students in solving authentic, challenging problems. This is deeper learning.

Areas to triangulate when conducting a needs assessment:

●School environment: Perceptions, Process, Demographics

●Student achievement/outcomes

SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT

Perceptual Data

What does the student, staff, and parent survey data indicate
about the climate in the school?

Student Survey
Areas of strength: Students know what the rules are – 97%
Students feel safe in this school – 96%
Areas for growth: Students get along with each other - 69%
Staff Survey
Areas of strength: Schools rules are fair – 100%
Teachers are fair when correcting students – 100%
Students know expected behavior – 94%
Areas for growth: Students really care about each other – 75%
Parent Survey
Area of strength: Teachers care about my child – 98%
Children are being taught to respect different cultural/ethnic/racial backgrounds – 99%
Children know what behavior is expected – 99%
School provides a safe and orderly place for students to learn – 93%
Area for growth: My child feels safe from bullying at school– 83%

What common themes are seen across the three surveys? (expectations, relationships, safe environment, etc.)

Parents, students, and teachers strongly agree that students know the rules (expectations), they are fair, and children know what behavior is expected of them. Parents and students feel strongly that the school is safe and that teachers care about children.
There is a somewhat lower rate of agreement with students and teachers in the relationship strand of students caring about each other.

School Environment Summary

Summarize identified strengths.Consider how the data reflect equity in your school.
A strong area of agreement is that Catoctin has clear expectations and strong relationships between staff and students.
List possible root causes of the identified strengths. What evidence supports these root causes?
Possible Root Causes / Evidence to Support
  1. Teachers work to build strong relationships with students and parents
  2. Administrators work to build strong relationships with staff, students, and parents
/
  1. 90% of students say adults in this building "always" care about students and teachers care about students
  2. Over 90% of teachers say they have strong relationships with students and their home
  3. 99% of parents feel teachers care about their child

Summarize areas for growth. Consider how the data reflect equity in your school.
A relatively lower yet strong area is - Students really care about one another
List possible root causes of the identified areas for growth. What evidence supports these root causes?
Possible Root Causes / Evidence to Support
  1. Boundary Change with 350 new students this year
/
  1. 350 students were new to Catoctin out of 700

PROCESS DATA

Describe the quality of lesson planning and delivery, with evidence.

For Example: Are lessons tied to significant content? Is there alignment between the standard being addressed and the activity the students are engaging in? Are lessons differentiated to meet the needs of ALL students? Evidence can include walkthroughs, observations, CLT discussions, etc.

Strengths: Teachers use Planbook and collaborative planning – 98% of teachers utilize Planbook
Reading and math lessons are differentiated for students – about 85% of the time
Areas for Growth: Identifying data to use to drive instruction/planning

Technology and Learning
What does the Brightbytes survey data indicate about technology and learning?

Brightbytes Survey / Results / Strength or Growth Area?
Curriculum Report
Online Skills / 58% utilize these skills / growth
Multimedia Skills / 42% are confident / growth
Digital Citizenship Skills / 26% feel they are highly knowledgeable / growth
Professional Development Report
Online Skills / 22% want PD / strength
Multimedia Skills / 44% want PD / growth
Digital Citizenship Skills / 84% didn't feel highly knowledgeable / growth
21st Century Learning Report
Authentic Problems / 47% of students solve authentic problems with technology / growth

Project Based Learning
Describe the level of implementation of Project Based Learning.

Things to consider: How might the process data above affect your PBL implementation? What percentage of teachers have been trained in PBL 101? How many PBL projects were implemented during 2016-2017? How many exhibitions did your school have during 2016-2017? To what extend do the projects meet the Gold Standard?

Every teacher at Catoctin designed and implemented two PBL projects during the 2016-2017 school year. Most teachers planned these experiences by grade levels. Each grade level had at least one exhibition. While many teachers have PBL training formally, more teachers could be encouraged to engage in this PD at the county level when offered.

Process Data Summary

Summarize identified strengths.Consider how the data reflect equity in your school.
All Catoctin teachers designed and implemented at least two PBL units with students.
List possible root causes of the identified strengths. What evidence supports these root causes?
Possible Root Causes / Evidence to Support
  1. Formally PBL trained teachers
  2. School based PD for PBL
  3. Expectation of using PBL as an instructional strategy
/
  1. Two PBL projects per teacher were completed by the end of 2017 year
  2. We had some PBL projects featured in the local newspapers

Summarize areas for growth. Consider how the data reflect equity in your school.
Continued PD for teachers in PBL
List possible root causes of the identified areas for growth. What evidence supports these root causes?
Possible Root Causes / Evidence to Support
  1. Need to support PD for teachers
  2. Expand school based leadership capacity
  3. CAT is also a PL pilot school
/
  1. Many teachers want more PD
  2. Teachers who are not in their first year are seeking leadership opportunities

DEMOGRAPHICS DATA

Discipline (suspension/disproportionality rates)

What are the suspensions and office referrals for each subgroup?

White / Asian / Black / Hispanic / Multi- Racial / ELL / IEP / Econ.
Dis.
Enrollment / 467 / 14 / 42 / 135 / 42 / 112 / 120 / 149
Referrals / 29 / 2 / 5 / 12 / 5 / 12 / 16 / N/Avail
Suspensions / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0
Summarize identified strengths.Consider how the data reflect equity in your school.
There were no suspensions during the 2016-2017 school year. Referral rates are low and fairly evenly dispersed according the number of students in each subgroup.
List possible root causes of the identified strengths. What evidence supports these root causes?
Possible Root Causes / Evidence to Support
  1. Strong PBIS – Respect, Responsibility, Ready
  2. Strong Guidance Program
  3. Teachers and adults build strong relationships with students
/
  1. No suspensions
  2. Referral rates are low and evenly dispersed
  3. PBIS team meets monthly to analyze data and plan

Summarize areas for growth. Consider how the data reflect equity in your school.
Continue to build on strengths above.
List possible root causes of the identified areas for growth. What evidence supports these root causes?
Possible Root Causes / Evidence to Support
  1. Strong PBIS team and theme throughout school
  2. Strong Guidance Program
  3. Teachers and adults build strong relationships with students
/
  1. No suspensions
  2. Referral rates are low and evenly dispersed
  3. PBIS team meets monthly to analyze data and plan

Chronic Absenteeism

Do we have a significant percentage of students who are chronically absent?
(Absent more than 10% of the school year)

Subgroup / 0%-10% / 10%-15% / 15%-20% / 20+% / 10%+
All Students / 93.24% / 4.41% / 0.97% / 1.38%
American Indian / 100% / 0.0% / 0.0% / 0.0%
Asian / 93.33% / 6.67% / 0.0% / 0.0%
Black / 88.89% / 4.44% / 0.0% / 6.67%
Hispanic / 92.86% / 5.00% / 1.43% / 0.71%
Native Hawaiian / 100% / 0.0% / 0.0% / 0.0%
White / 93.31% / 4.39% / 1.05% / 1.26%
Two or more races / 97.73% / 2.27% / 0.00% / 0.0%
Students with Disabilities / 87.8% / 4.88% / 1.63% / 5.69%
Economically Disadvantaged / 88.89% / 6.79% / 2.47% / 1.85%
English Learners / 92.24% / 6.03% / 0.86% / 0.86%
Homeless

Chronic Absenteeism Summary

Summarize identified strengths.Consider how the data reflect equity in your school.
93.24% of all students at CAT have absences between 0 – 10% of the total school year. Subgroups are relatively consistent reflections of the overall percentage with African American students have a slightly lower overll percentage (88.89%).
List possible root causes of the identified strengths. What evidence supports these root causes?
Possible Root Causes / Evidence to Support
  1. Adults and students have strong relationships
  2. Students enjoy coming to school
  3. The community values our school
/
  1. 93.24% of all students have between 0 and 10% of days absent for the year
  2. Two groups have 100% in the 0 – 10% range
  3. Asian, Hispanic, Multiple, and white students are all above 93% in the 0 – 10% days range

Summarize areas for growth. Consider how the data reflect equity in your school.
Looking into the few students who had 20% or more days missed
List possible root causes of the identified areas for growth. What evidence supports these root causes?
Possible Root Causes / Evidence to Support
  1. Medical reasons
  2. Family travel
/
  1. 1.38% of all students fall into this range
  2. Discussion with parents
  3. Truancy officer notified when necessary and attendance letters were sent on a regular basis for students over 10%

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND OUTCOMES

Student achievement (SOL pass rates)

Note the overall student achievement levels across the content areas.

Projected Adjusted Pass Rates -
ES History/SS - 91%
Gr 3 Math – 77%
Gr 3 Reading – 87%
Gr 4 Math – 95%
Gr 4 Reading – 87%
Gr 5 Math – 93%
Gr 5 Reading – 89%
Gr 5 Science – 90%

Student Achievement Data

Summarize identified strengths.Consider how the data reflect equity in your school.
4th and 5th grade have strong passing rates in math and reading. Third grade reading is also strong.
List possible root causes of the identified strengths. What evidence supports these root causes?
Possible Root Causes / Evidence to Support
  1. This is the first time 3rd graders take an SOL
  2. We were a PL pilot school in math and reading during the 16-17 school year
/
  1. The pass rates in grade 4 and 5 are high (see above)
  2. Pass rate in reading for third is 87% for projected pass rate

Summarize areas for growth. Consider how the data reflect equity in your school.
Preparing third graders for their first SOL in terms of technology exposure to tools and format could strengthen the pass rate for some third graders. Also looking at the digital content in PL 3 – 5 and tweaking approach in year two of PL.
List possible root causes of the identified areas for growth. What evidence supports these root causes?
Possible Root Causes / Evidence to Support
  1. First time taking the test
  2. Using what we learned in our first year of PL to plan for year two.
/
  1. Third grade pass rates
  2. Reflection of administration and SLT
  3. Input from faculty

GRADUATION (High Schools)

All / White / Asian / Black / Hispanic / Multi- Racial / ELL / IEP / Economically
Disadvantaged / Foster Care / Homeless
Graduation Completion Index
Summarize identified strengths.Consider how the data reflect equity in your school.
List possible root causes of the identified strengths. What evidence supports these root causes?
Possible Root Causes / Evidence to Support
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2.
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Summarize areas for growth. Consider how the data reflect equity in your school.
List possible root causes of the identified areas for growth. What evidence supports these root causes?
Possible Root Causes / Evidence to Support
1.
2.
3. / 1.
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3.

NEEDS ASSESSMENT SUMMARY

In paragraph format, summarize your overall identified strengths and growth areas to include possible root causes and supporting evidence. This will also be entered into your SIP.

Catoctin Elementary School is a strong and thriving organizations where students feel safe in their learning. Students, staff, and parents strongly agree that adults at Catoctin and students have strong and positive relationships. Parents and Staff agree that teachers care deeply for students. Parents agree that children are being taught to respect different cultural backgrounds. Expectations are clear to students and parents and students understand the rules and feel they are fairly treated. Two relatively strong but lower areas are: Students get along with each other which could be a direct result of a boundary change last year bringing over 350 new students to Catoctin and children wanting more instruction on bullying.
Teachers completed their first year of the PL pilot last school year. Teachers indicate they want more PD on online and multimedia skills. SOL data indicates that some instructional adjustments will be made this year with PL in reading. Staff agree that PL dovetails nicely with math and digital content. Staff also agree that a stronger Reader's Workshop approach with digital content in 3 – 5 utilized this year as a mean to create something verses solely the Achieve digital content.
Catoctin teachers all designed and implemented two PBL projects. Most PBL/OttW units were designed as a collaborative team effort. Students also enjoyed monthly parent volunteers who coordinated science and math experiences in a hands-on / cooperative learning approach.
There is a strong PBIS team at Catoctin and staff support the 3 Rs – Respect, responsibility, ready to learn. Students understand the three Rs and can articulate them. Students are rewarded with Cardinal Cash. A first day "Pep Rally" for the 3 Rsis conducted. The PBIS team meets on a monthly basis to analyze data. There were no suspensions for the 2016-2017 school year.

NEXT STEPS

Using your needs assessment summary, identify three action steps for each of the areas listed below. These action steps are to be transferred to your School Improvement Plan.

Professional Development

  1. PL year two PD for 3 - 5
  2. Grade 2 PD for Reader's Workshop
  3. PD from our IFT to support technology and PBL

Feedback and Support to Teachers in the areas for Growth

  1. School Leadership Team to meet on a monthly basis
  2. Walk throughs, observations, conversations
  3. CLT and Teacher Leader training

Tiered Systems of Support

  1. Roll out of MAP this year
  2. CLT structure revisited / looking at MAP data / planning for instruction

REFLECTION

What district supports are needed to address your growth areas?

Support with MAP training for teachers, how to analyze data most efficiently. Additional PBL training for some teachers who want to participate in the county PD.

Given that deeper learning engages students in using their knowledge and skills in a way that prepares them for real life; mastering core academic content, while learning how to think critically, collaborate, communicate effectively and direct their own learning, what is your most important leverage point to empower students to make meaningful contributions to the world?

Catoctin's most important leverage point to empower students to make meaningful contributions to the world is the capacity of our staff.

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