Georgia Department of Education
Title I Schoolwide/School Improvement Plan
Title I Schoolwide/School Improvement Plan Revision2012-2013
HARTLEYELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Shelia Garcia, Principal
Date of RevisionAugust 16, 2012
(Month/Date/Year)
School Mailing Address: 2230 Anthony Rd.Macon, GA31204
LEA Name: BibbCounty
LEA Title One Director/Coordinator Name: Lori Rodgers
LEA Title One Director/Coordinator Signature: / Date:
LEA Title One Director/Coordinator Mailing Address: 484 Mulberry St. Macon, GA31201
Email Address:
Telephone: 478-765-8582
Fax: 478-765-8651
SWP/SIP Template Instructions
Notes:
- All components of a Title I Schoolwide Program Plan and a School Improvement Plan must be addressed. When using SWP and SIP checklists all components/elements marked as “Not Met” need additional development.
- Please add your planning committee members on the next page.
- The asterisk (*) denotes required components as set forth in Section 1114 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA).
- Please submit your School Improvement Plan as an addendum after the header page in this document.
Title I Schoolwide/School Improvement Plan
Planning Committee Members:
NAME / POSITION/ROLEShelia V. Garcia / Principal
Paula (Woolfork) Johnson / Academic Coach (Mathematics)
Dora Collins / Academic Coach (Literacy)
Kimberly Colbert / Kindergarten Teacher
Andrea Sanford / First Grade Teacher
LaTasha Little / Second Grade Teacher
Tuesday Battle / Third Grade Teacher
Amanda Martin / Fourth Grade Teacher
Meghan Thompson / Fifth Grade Teacher
Glenda Brumley / Lead Special Education Teacher
Latricia Riggins / Media Specialist
Delores Bumgardner / GeorgiaDepartment of EducationSchool Improvement Specialist, GaDOE SIS
SIP Components
*1. A comprehensive needs assessment of the entire school that addresses all academic areas and other factors that may affect achievement.Response: Matilda Hartley Elementary (MHES) School conducts a needs assessment annually to identify focused areas for continued success of all initiatives/programs that effect student achievement.Additionally, a parent customer service survey and a school climate survey are conducted.
These surveys from parents, educators and students provide valuable data that is used to address concerns from all stakeholders. Historical and student achievement trend data from state assessments results are reviewed and analyzed in addition to demographic, perception, professional learning needs assessment from the National Staff Development Council (NSDC), and brainstorming to assess the school's current needs. Based upon the multiple sources of data, it was determined that all students are in jeopardy of meeting the absolute bar school year. More importantly, the absolute bar will increase by 8 points in mathematics and 3 points in ELA. There is a 30 point discrepancy for students meeting the absolute bar in mathematics and a 10 point discrepancy for students meeting the absolute bar in English Language Arts. With the new CCRPI requirements, students are in jeopardy in all subject areas, particularily in science and social studies.
We have developed our school-wide plan with the participation of individuals who will carry out the comprehensive school-wide/school improvement program plan. Those persons involved are teachers from grades kindergarten through fifth, special education teachers, instructional coaches, the counselor, the media specialist, parents, members of the school council, and the administration.
Matilda Hartley Elementary School (MHES) has a proud history of academic excellence. It was identified as a “Title I Distinguished School” in 2007 by the Georgia Department of Education. However, with the implementation of the U.S. Department of Education’s No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001, all subgroups have experienced difficulty in reaching the annual measurable objective in all academic areas.
According to the 2009-2010 School System Report Card, a total of 24,449 local youth are enrolled in BibbCounty’s 41 schools. Seventy-three percent (73%) of our students are African American, 21% are white, 1% is multi-racial, 3% are Hispanic and 2% are Asian, as compared to the statewide average of 37% African American, 45% white, 3% multi-racial, 11% Hispanic and 3% Asian. More than 3 out of every 4 (77%) of our students are eligible for free or reduced lunch (compared to the state average of 49%). Poverty negatively impacts results for children in many ways. Compared to more affluent children, children experiencing deprivation have poor nutrition, more physical health problems, increased emotional, social and behavioral problems and lower average scores on measures of cognitive development. These issues place our children at greater risk for adverse consequences, such as academic failure. School year 2012-2013, the school was identified as a "PrioritySchool" by the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE). According to GaDOE, a priority school is a Title I school in the State based on the lowest achievement of the "all students" group in terms of proficiency on the statewide assessment and has demonstrated a lack of progress on these assessments over three years in the "all students" group. Hartley’s school demographics reflect that of BibbCounty as a whole. The school serves grades PreK through fiveand is school-wide Title I school. Approximately thirty-one percent of the students receive additional instructional support through the Early Intervention Program (EIP) and 29% to 74% of the students did not meet third grade or fifth grade CRCT standards in reading, language arts, math, and science.
It has a school population of 365 students in which 99% of the students are eligible for free/reduced lunches and 97% are African American. This is based on the socioeconomic status (economically disadvantaged) of the families the school serves. The increase in the percent of economically disadvantaged students can be attributed to the county’s high unemployment rate. Over the past two decades, the unemployment rate for BibbCounty has closely mirrored the State’s average. However, as of August 2011, the county’s unemployment rate of percent 11.85 exceeded the State’s average of 10.3% percent.
Currently, we do not have any migratory students attending our school. However, these are the procedures we would follow should those students be in attendance. We will report students that are potentially eligible for Migrant Education Program (MEP) support to the district MEP liaison and will follow the MEP federally mandated program guidelines to ensure that eligible students receive services.
The leadership team used the one sided multi-flow, a "Thinking Maps" tool, "Affinity" diagrams and carouselsto conduct a root cause analysis. We analyzed student achievement data for the last three years for:
- The number of times the student has transferred throughout the school system
- Retention rates by grade level
- The attendance record for individual students
- The correlation between retention, attendances, and transfers
Additionally, we have reflected current achievement data that will help the school understand the subjects and skills in which teaching and learning need to be improved. For example, a review of the school‘s Criterion Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT) data for Reading/English Language Arts and mathematics, Matilda Hartley made AYP by safe harbor in Mathematics (37.5 % to 52%) and confidence interval in English Language Arts (71.5% to 75%) School Year 2011-2012. Despite these gains, all school subgroups performed below the county and State average for the past three years. In 2008-2009 and 2009-2010, the school did not make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) because of math and ELA for all subgroups. Root causal data reveal students also lacked the background knowledge needed to write based on a variety of genres, ideas that are logical and grouped sequentially.
Consequently, MatildaHartleyElementary School was recently identified as a “LowAchievingSchool” in the Race to the Top grant application completed by the Bibb County School System. The school district was awarded the grant and Matilda Hartley was awarded the Community and Schools after-school grant in the amount of 5 million dollars over a period of three consecutive years. The table below depicts student achievement data for the pastthree years.
TREND DATA
(CRCT) / 2010 / 2011 / 2012 / SMART GOALS 2013
Math / 43.53% / 52.2% / 54% / 65%
Reading / 72.16% / 77.54% / 73% / 83%
ELA / 66.67% / 73.18% / 68% / 80%
Science / 23.38% / 30.43% / 25% / 50%
Social Studies / 25.32% / 23.91% / 27% / 50%
Student Attendance absent more than 15 days / 2.8% / 10.5%
Third Grade
Science / 31% / 44% / 33% / 50%
Social Studies / 37% / 27% / 36% / 50%
Fourth Grade
Science / 20% / 28% / 24% / 50%
Social Studies / 23% / 30% / 13% / 50%
2010 / 2011
Fifth Grade
Science / 25% / 21% / 24% / 50%
Social Studies / 18% / 15% / 20% / 50%
Writing / 52% / 35% / 50%
We have based our plan on information about all students in the school and identified students and groups of students who are not yet achieving to the State Academic content standards and the State student academic achievement standard including
Economically disadvantaged students in mathematics and ELA
Students with disabilities in mathematics and ELA
Black student in mathematics and ELA
The data has helped us reach conclusions regarding achievement or other related data. Our previous year’s Schoolwide Plan has been evaluated as to its effectiveness. Members of the school’s leadership team, along with grade level/department representatives and parents met and reviewed our progress as determined by our Spring CRCT results, as well as other information.
Overall, student achievement has made small improvements according to CRCT results in the areas of math and reading for some grade levels. (Math)students meeting the standard increased from 52 % to 54%. Last school year, a math consultant was hired to facilitate and support teachers with pedagogy in the area of mathematics. Additionally, side by side coaching with the mathematics academic coach was instrumental in building job capacity. As a result, 87% of 5th grade students met or exceeded the standard (AMO=75.7%); an increase from the previous year by 44%. There is a need to continue the ongoing training and support for teachers new to the school (50%) as well as faciliate the previous teachers’ learning.
However, with these gains, more than 50% of the students are not meeting standards in all grade levels. Specific strengths and areas of need are identified below.
The major strengths we found in our program were as follows:
- (Math)students meeting the standard increased from 52 % to 54%
(AMO=75.7%); an increase from the previous year by 44%
- Reading-Intensive support and coaching was provided to fourth grade
met/exceeeded standards in fourth grade, a 9% increase.
- Collaborative Planning-45 minutes daily for teachers to develop
- Teacher Release Time provided to analayze student work and develop
- Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS)to decrease the
Development of common assessments and flexible grouping
- Implementation of the “Six Elements of an Effective Mathematics
The major needs we discovered were as follow:
- More than 50% of students continue to struggle reading informational
social studies, and writing.
- More than 65% of the students did not pass the writing proficiency exam
- Additional instruction and/or interventions needed with reading
- More than 75% of the students did not meet proficiency in science.
- A high number of out-of-school suspensions, impacting student
impulse control, or other related incidents involving physical aggression
and focus on building strength of character.
- Limited to lack of technology to fully implement standards based
The needs we will continue to address are literacy, numeracy,
improving teacher effectiveness, and developing strength of character
in students.
The specific academic needs of those students that are to be addressed
in the school-wide program plan will be providing interventions for students
and professional learning for teachers that will focus on promoting academic
success in the following areas: Increasing the percentage of students meeting or exceeding standards in the following areas: Literary Comprehension, vocabulary,
numeracy, and reading in the content areas of social studies and science.
exceed the state average b) students struggling academically need additional enrichment and remediation assistance to stay on-track and be promoted to the next grade level, 3) students need academic support before and after-school. Root causal data indicating the students are not meeting state proficiency targets.
*2. Schoolwide reform strategies that are scientifically researched based, directly tied to the comprehensive needs assessment and academic standards.
Response: Continuous improvement in the effective operation of Hartley Elementary has included an intensive focus incorporating best practices and data-driven decision making in the school improvement process. This procedure involved a needs assessment of the instructional program, feeder patterns, the a review of Hartley's School Improvement Plan, Parent Involvement Policy and an in-depth analysis of the various types of student data. Based on these findings, the following improvement strategies will be implemented:
An instructional framework that....
- Involves students working in small peer groups where they use discussion to support the mathematical learning of everyone in the class.
Develop and share their mathematical thinking.
Listen carefully to the mathematical ideas of others.
Restate those ideas in their own words.
Ask questions about and provide insights into the
mathematical ideas of others.
- teach students focused revisions; and
- teach students self-reporting skills.
- include "Math Exemplars" to increase the use of real-life application and problem-solving.
- allow students participate in leadership decisions through clubs and activities such as, The Hartley Steppers, Math 24, Quiz Bowl, and activities that helps students to build strength of character
- includes a reading initiative to support meeting the 100,000,000 word initiative.
- incorporates "Test Talk" to communicate summative and formative assessment results to students.
- incorporates technology to promote differentiation and instruction aligned to individual student needs.
- The "55 Essentials" based on the book, by Ron Clark will be used as a
development (School Culture, Standard 1.4)
- includes reading across the curriculum
- incorporates "Thinking Maps" and Read 180 to support struggling readers
2(a). Schoolwide reform strategies that provide opportunities for all children in the school to meet or exceed Georgia’s proficient and advanced levels of student performance.
- Response: The ways in which we will address the needs of all children in the school particularly the needs of students furthest away from demonstrating proficiency related to the State’s academic content and student academic achievement standard are . . . (Strategies to be used.)
- Provide additional learning opportunities to remediate students before, after, and during the school day to meet the needs of targeted students. Standards-based instruction in all content areas for students in grades K-5;
- Common planning time for grade level collaboration and professional learning communities
- School Leadership Team to disaggregate test data to identify areas of improvement
- A balanced and authentic variety of assessments (diagnostic, formative, summative) to increase rigor and differentiated instruction, to evaluate student progress and to adjust daily instruction to provide students with feedback
- Examining student work so that student work reflects proficiency of standards-based instruction and related learning target
- Teacher release time to collect and analyze student’s benchmark performances, pre-post test data to plan for instruction.
- Written and verbal feedback to teachers and students consistently and pervasively throughout the school
- A school-wide discipline plan with communicated expectations to all stakeholder
- A Positive Behavior Support (PBS) team to implement and monitor the school-wide discipline plan with fidelity
- Hire a performance learning coach to implement the coaching model and support standards-based teaching and learning
- Hire a multi-combination teacher to support instruction in the areas of mathematics and science
- Hire a paraprofessional (particularily the tested grades 4-5) to support students with classroom instruction in all content areas
- A functioning leadership and advisory team to monitoring implementation of the curriculum and the school improvement plan
- An atmosphere of mutual trust and openness by involving all stakeholders in
and staff.
2(b). Are based upon effective means of raising student achievement.
- Response:Following (or in our appendices) are examples of the SCIENTIFICALLY BASED RESEARCH supporting our effective methods and instructional practices or strategies. . (Cite Research to support selected strategies.)
According to research, math talks are effective practices because students verbalize decisions and solutions to math problems (Jayanthi, Gersten, and Baker, 2008). Researchers also agree that it is a best practice because students assist one another’s learning of math by meaningful discourse (Hufferd-Ackles, Fuson, & Gamoran Sherin 2004) and teachers change traditional practices and develop a discourse community in their classrooms (NCTM, 2000).