TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. School Description
A. Mission Statement
B. School Program
1. Curriculum Design and Instructional Approach
2. Parent Involvement Efforts
II. School Performance
A. Performance and Progress
B. Lessons Learned and Actions Taken
C. Unique Accomplishments
D. List of Donors
III. Data Report
IV. Appendices
A. Staff Roster
B. Board Roster
C. Unaudited Year-end 2014-15 Financial Statements
D. Approved 2015-16 Budget
I. School Description
A. Mission Statement
Perry Street Prep is a community of diverse learners that builds relationships with families and empowers students to be college-ready and to thrive in a global society.
B. School Program
1. Summary of Curriculum Design and Instructional Approach – PreK-12
Perry Street Prep provides daily instruction for PreK-12 students according to the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt curriculum. (Journeys and GoMath)
Instructional strategies are classified as direct, indirect, interactive, experiential or independent.
· The direct instruction strategy is highly teacher-directed and is among the most commonly used. This strategy includes methods such as lecture, didactic questioning, explicit teaching, practice and drill, and demonstrations. The direct instruction strategy is effective for providing information or developing step-by-step skills. This strategy also works well for introducing other teaching methods, or actively involving students in knowledge construction.
· Indirect instruction is mainly student-centered. Examples of indirect instruction methods include reflective discussion, concept formation, concept attainment, cloze procedure, problem solving, and guided inquiry.
· Interactive instruction relies heavily on discussion and sharing among participants. The interactive instruction strategy allows for a range of groupings and interactive methods. These may include total class discussions, small group discussions or projects, or student pairs or triads working on assignments together.
· Experiential learning is inductive, learner centered, and activity oriented. The emphasis in experiential learning is on the process of learning and not on the product. Students are usually more motivated when they actively participate and teach one another by describing what they are doing.
· Independent study refers to the range of instructional methods which are purposefully provided to foster the development of individual student initiative, self-reliance, and self-improvement. Independent study can also include learning in partnership with another individual or as part of a small group.
Perry Street Prep’s curriculum is aligned to the National Common Core and District of Columbia standards and has a college readiness focus. All instruction is tailored to appropriate grade levels and differentiated according to a student’s individualized access point. We continue to revise our mathematics curriculum so it is aligned with the content standards in the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM). We provide various opportunities for problem-solving and the types of modeling and levels of rigor required in the standards. Scholars focus on strategies to become adept at reasoning and applying critical thinking in mathematics while solving routine and non-routine problems. Through effective mathematical discourse and making mathematical connections explicit, scholars build their critical thinking and processing skills.
Our Common Core aligned English Language Arts curriculum is designed to provide modeling, mini-lecture, small group and guided practice that support students content acquisition and mastery at their individualized level. Scholars learn routines for using close reading skills, how to select texts, and the appropriate ways to use the close reading process with both literary and informational texts. Teachers incorporate discussion, writing, and self-reflection into the lessons in order to build critical thinking skills and improve our students’ ability to analyze text, make inferences, and devise meaning through and from analogies.
2. Parent Involvement Effort
The Perry Street Prep Parent Engagement Program is an ongoing process that encourages participation, communication, and collaboration between parents, staff, students, and community members.
The research is clear that when schools and families support each other, students of all backgrounds and various abilities achieve at higher levels.The goal of the Parent Engagement Program is to increase student achievement by engaging and empowering parents to become actively involved in their children’s education across all grade levels.
To achieve this goal, during the 2014-15 school year, the Parent Engagement Program:
· Developed and delivered grade level curriculum presentations to parents and students on the factors that influence student achievement and success via our Curriculum Night.
· Created collaborative partnerships with external organizations and agencies that support parent and family engagement initiatives to provide needed services, supports, and resources to schools and families. Partnerships Include: Alternative For Crime Scholarship Foundation, Catholic Charities, Stand Up, Show Out, Ward 5 Drug Free Coalition, World Missions Inc., Far East Kiwanis, Sponsors Youth Builders Club for Leadership, S.A.S.S.I.E 4th – 8th grade Mentoring For Girls, Edgewood/Brookland Family Support Collaborative, Far East Family Support Collaborative, and the Southeast Family Support Collaborative.
· In partnership with D.C’s Department of Health, provided weekly Parent Cafés which are workshops through which parents will learn various tools to use when being confronted with obstacles and challenges that could possibly deter their children’s ability to learn in school.
· Hosted Read Across America Day during which parents volunteer to come into the school and read to students in their classrooms.
· Supported Parent-Teacher Conferences
· Coordinated Celebrate Diversity Day highlighting the varied cultural background of families in the PSP community.
· Enlisted parent volunteers to support classrooms and hallways during important testing windows.
· Collaborated with the Justice Grants Administration and Catholic Charities, on the Show Up, Stand out Initiative which aims to help students progress on grade level by conducting home visits to those who are having difficulties attending school on a regular basis.
Perry Street Prep offers numerous opportunities for parental involvement in academics and well as social activities, which are aligned with the school’s mission and related to raising student achievement. These opportunities included:
· Serving as a Board member for the Generation Next, the school’s on-line academic after- school program, comprised of five parents and four students.
· Volunteering for Men of Perry Street Prep, consisting of 20 fathers, mentor, tutor and work with young men to enhance their academic, and social abilities.
· Joining the PTO (parent teacher organization) through which parents plan, implement, and execute creative ideas, fundraising initiatives, and projects that support learning.
I. School Performance
A. Performance and Progress Overview
Throughout the 2014-15 school year, Perry Street Prep’s focused on:
· Offering its students a college preparatory curriculum;
· Inspiring in its students a lifelong love of learning;
· Encouraging each student’s social, cultural, and physical development; and
· Challenging its students to become leaders.
Perry Street Prep strives to accomplish these goals by demonstrating personal care and concern for all of its students and by celebrating their unique gifts and diversity. In turn, students are expected to become responsible participants in the Perry Street Prep and larger community and are encouraged to use their talents in the service of others.
The PreK-8 School used the following activities to support those goals:
· Intervention classes in grades 1-8 to meet students’ individual needs;
· A school culture reset to create a more supportive environment for teachers, staff, and students;
· Community meetings to discuss the importance of being productive members of our school community and recognize students for their contributions; and
· Family programming that empowered students, parents, and guardians.
Goals and Academic Achievement Expectations
In 2014, Perry Street Prep adopted the PMF as the school’s charter goals. The PCSB will report on Perry Street Prep’s progress on these indicators in its annual publication of the PMF results. In addition to the PMF, Perry Street Prep adopted two other goals, which are explained in the chart below.
Perry Street Prep Goals 2014-15Goal / Met/Not Met / Evidence
Perry Street Prep PCS will show a commitment to serving students with disabilities by completing PCSB’s Quality Assurance Review (QAR) in the fall of 2014, creating a Special Education QAR Action Plan in collaboration with PCSB staff, and achieving the goals identified in their Special Education QAR Action Plan, moving all areas noted as “does not exist” or “in process” to “in place” by the end of spring of 2016 and until its next five year review school year 2018-19. / Met / Perry Street Prep fully participated in the Qualitative Assurance Review process and submitted a completed QAR in accordance with the PCSB’s 3/31/15 deadline. The PSP team used feedback on the review document to draft a Special Education QAR Action Plan in advance of the 6/1/15 deadline. In the year to come, PSP’s special education staff will work diligently to ensure that all areas are rated as “in place.”
The School Corporation will remain complaint with PCSB’s attendance and discipline data submission policy as evidenced by the absence of any notices of concern in these areas. / Perry Street Prep did not receive any notices of concern in regards to the submission of attendance and discipline data during SY 14-15.
B. Lessons Learned and Actions Taken
In January 2015, Perry Street Prep entered into a partnership with TenSquare, a charter school consulting group that works inside and alongside schools and staff to elevate an organization’s leadership, culture, and effectiveness. As a condition of its charter renewal, Perry Street Prep agreed to close the high school program at the end of the 2014-15 school year. Therefore, school leadership concentrated on elevating the K-8 program.
After conducting at audit of Perry Street Prep in the fall of 2014, TenSquare worked with the Board of Trustees and school leadership to design a comprehensive plan aimed at improving school culture and academic instruction at Perry Street Prep. The audit informed a refocus on select initiatives and the addition of next level programming to support Perry Street Prep’s continued growth. Throughout the year, TenSquare and PSP school leadership continued to assess the school and make real-time adjustments or plan for changes to academics, culture, and operations.
School Culture lessons learned:
· In January, Perry Street Prep engaged in a “culture reset” during which students support staff introduced revised policies and procedures to students, staff, and families. Upon reflection, leaders understand that the reset would have been even more successful if it was rolled out at the start of the school year instead of halfway through the year. For SY 15-16, school leadership will spend more time establishing a foundation for school culture during Pre-Service and then immediately supporting teachers through coaching on classroom management.
· During the summer of 2015, school leadership revised the code of conduct and student handbook to make it more inclusive and responsive to the current student body. Moving forward, Perry Street Prep leadership will work with staff and faculty to enforce the code of conduct rigorously and equitably.
· In conjunction with the school culture reset in January, Perry Street Prep began to use PBIS –Positive Behavior Incentive System – and will continue to expand PBIS best practices in the building. As part of this expansion, leaders will increase the frequency of school-wide meetings to recognize individual students, classes, and grade levels who were positively contributing to the Perry Street Prep school community.
· In response to the burden of data collection, Perry Street Prep purchased the PLASCO data and recordkeeping system, which increases the accuracy of data collection by coordinating attendance, tardies, and discipline data.
Academic Program lessons learned:
· Perry Street Prep will continue to work on Common Core curriculum alignment with TenSquare. Although significant progress has been made, additional work to revise the Houghton Mifflin Harcourt curriculum as well as purchasing new, supplemental materials for additional sources is needed.
· The Houghton Mifflin Harcourt curriculum needs to be supplemented in reading and math in order to create a balanced literacy program. In particular, teachers need to learn guided reading. In SY 15-16, a significant portion of early professional development sessions will be dedicated to establishing a balanced literacy program.
· Perry Street Prep employs teachers with varying levels of experience and who consequently needs a variety of support. In order to meet the professional development needs of all academic staff, Perry Street Prep will offer a robust instructional coaching program led by TenSquare in SY 15-16. Every teacher will work one-one-one with a coach. In addition to receiving formal observations by supervisors, teachers will be observed weekly by their coach. An email or in-person meeting to discuss timely feedback and clear expectations for growth will follow each observation.
· Perry Street Prep will continue to use Charlotte Danielson’s Framework for Teaching for all evaluations. Each teacher will receive a mid-year and year-end formal evaluation. All informal coaching will be aligned to the formal evaluations.
· During SY 14-15, Perry Street Prep used Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s data assessment system that was provided as part of the curricular package. Unfortunately, the HMH system did not provide enough useful data. Moving forward, Perry Street Prep will contract with ANet to implement PARCC-aligned interim assessments four times per year. This data will be used to inform daily instruction and aid teachers in individualizing instruction.
· In order to capture the most accurate data, we will also administer our Beginning of the Year assessments earlier in the school year.
· The Special Education Qualitative Assurance Review (QAR) completed early in 2015 provided rich data on Perry Street Prep’s special education program. School leadership will used the QAR plan, written in collaboration with PCSB staff, to strategically improve special education services for students.
C. Unique Accomplishments
Show Up Stand Out
Show Up Stand Out is a partnership with Catholic Charities to help combat truancy related issues with students and their families. Show Up Stand Out provides Perry Street with resources, such as case workers who visit students’ homes to meet with parents and form a partnership.. They also distribute clothing vouchers, food, tokens, and metro cardsto parents to ensure that children can attend school.
Generation Next After School Program