Sylvester Elementary School

Worth CountyElementary School

Title I School-wide/School Improvement Plan

2011 - 2012

Worth Count Elementary School

Worth County Elementary School (WCES) is a Title I elementary school located in Sylvester, a small Southern Georgia community in Worth County. Worth County has a population of 22,000 with seventy percent living in rural areas. The ethnic population of the county is 29.6% African American, 68.3% Caucasian, 1.1% Hispanic, and 1.2% American Indian/Alaskan or other. The majority of Worth County citizens are employed in the following industries: education, health and social services, manufacturing, retail trade, public administration, agriculture, and construction. Ninety-one percent of the citizens are private wage/salary or government workers. There are approximately 858 (26%) citizens who hold a bachelor’s degree and 445 (49%) citizens who hold a graduate or professional degree.

Worth County Elementary School serves grades three through five and currently has a total population of 697. The ethnic composition for the 2011 school year is 60% Caucasian, 32% African American, and 18% other. WCES has a 65% participation in free/reduced lunch and 62(8%) students

are served by special education.

Worth County Elementary School is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools by the Georgia Accrediting Commission and has been recognized and honored as a Distinguished Title I School for five years. Two governors have honored the school for its participation in Red Ribbon Week. The honor chorus received superior ratings at the Georgia Association of Music Educators district choral festival for three consecutive years. In 2008, Worth County Elementary was awarded the School Bell Award by the Georgia Association of Elementary School Principals for its outstanding Accelerated Reader/Math competition. WCES has an active PTO, school council and receives support from its Partners in Education.The certified staff at WCES includes three administrators: principal, two assistant principals, a full time school improvement coordinator, one counselor, and forty-nine certified teachers providing classroom instruction, intervention programs, special education, and the gifted and talented. The WCES faculty and staff believe in a standards-based educational design. The school is dedicated to identifying and communicating the educational responsibilities of the family, the community, and the school in order to produce life-long learners.

Support personnel are a vital part of any staff. Worth County Elementary School has eleven paraprofessionals who assist in classroom instruction and interventions. In addition, the staff includes a bookkeeper/secretary, receptionist; media center paraprofessional, registered nurse, on-site maintenance technician and technology specialist. The school also employs one full time parental involvement coordinator to assist in communicating and informing parents of school activities. Custodial services are contracted through a private company.

The key defining features of WCES are its supportive administrators, certified staff, and support personnel working collaboratively to provide all students with a standards-based education that provides a variety of instructional strategies to meet the needs of all students. The pursuit of excellence is the driving force behind the success of the teachers and students at WCES. WCES promotes understanding and commitment of its mission and vision statement by continuous communication through the school year among the school, faculty, students, parents, and community. The administrative team, teachers, and support personnel are committed in providing students with a solid foundation that will ensure success for all students.

Mission Statement

The faculty and staff of WorthCountyElementary School will provide an environment that is essential to learning. We will challenge each student to reach his or her highest potential within a positive, risk-free school environment.

Our Beliefs

We believe that:

• Continuous improvements can only be made when there is a positive collaboration between school, home, and the community on behalf of the student;
• Maintaining a safe, challenging, and structured environment leads to success for all students;
• To achieve full student potential and address individual learning styles, a variety of research-based teaching strategies;
• A quality education should consist of a challenging curriculum that provides differentiated instruction to promote a lifelong desire to learn;
• Every child can learn, achieve, and be responsible for his/her education, even if physical, mental, or social limitations exist;
• Parental involvement encompasses the school and home environment;
• Highly qualified personnel should demonstrate professionalism to promote successful achievement among students to meet or exceed Georgia Performance Standards; and
• Attendance by students, teachers, and staff leads to successful performance in school and society.

Vision Statement

Our vision for WorthCountyElementary School is for our students to meet or exceed Georgia Performance Standards by providing Standards-based instruction, implementing appropriate intervention, and celebrating the students’ successes as they move forward. Continued success will be the result of attracting and retaining highly qualified teachers.

Accomplished During the 2010-2012 School-wide Title I School-wide Plan

Worth County Elementary School accomplished the following during the 2010-2012 Title I Plan:

• Student agendas are provided for all students which provide each parent a calendar of school events and opportunities for participation.
• Response to Intervention (RTI) is fully implemented and students that have been identified as at-risk are receiving additional and appropriate instruction. Reading Renaissance is used as a Universal Screener to identify at-risk students and is given three times a year.
• Staff development in the area of technology to enhance reading and math instruction and augment the collection of data to assist teachers in the planning of instruction continues on an annual basis.
• Staff development is ongoing and is provided by in house and outside agencies.
• All WCES certified teachers are trained in Standards-based Classroom (SBC) teaching strategies. SBC teaching methods and Georgia Performance Standards are utilized in all classrooms.
• The WCES Leadership Team meets monthly, or as needed, to evaluate the school’s progress, challenges, and opportunities and to plan and implement action plans.
• Grade level team meetings are held weekly to analyze data, discuss data, and use data for effective instruction planning based on needs of students.
• WCES administration and faculty meet together to analyze test data and discuss how data can be used to enhance teaching and promote student achievement. AYP Reports, Benchmarks, STAR Reading and Math, Unit Test, and CRCT data are used.
• Students use Georgia Online Assessment System to practice and strengthen skills in all academic areas to prepare for the CRCT.
• Computer lab enables teachers the opportunity to use reading and math software to enhance classroom instruction and give students the opportunity to learn keyboarding skills, learn computer terms, and internet research.
• Students who do not meet standards on the spring CRCT are given intense remediation prior to retesting.
• Teachers work collaboratively in Professional Learning Communities to improve instruction. Communities are grouped by instructional content, grade-level, and school-wide.
• Counselors meet with students who have academic, attendance or chronic discipline problems. Anger and/or stress management, bullying, and grief groups meet as needed.
• Special Education students are taught in the least restrictive environment through full inclusion and co-taught classes; co- teachers work together in multiple blocks to improve collaboration during planning.
• Worth County Elementary has a full time Psychologists on staff that works one-on-one and in small groups with students who display chronic behavior and serves on the Leadership Team and the RTI Team.
• Worth County Elementary has a full time Parent-Involvement person that works with the staff and PTO to plan activities and workshops to involve parents.
• Worth County Elementary has a fulltime Gifted Resource Teacher and has nine teachers that have gifted-endorsement.
• Music and Chorus were implemented for the 2011-2012 school year.
• A science lab was created with a fulltime certified instructor for the 2011-2012 school year.
• A school-wide Positive Behavior has been established for the 2011-2012 school year.
• The School Counselor has initiated a school-wide behavior intervention plan Second Step, which focuses on aggressive behavior
• Worth County Elementary has taken a school-wide initiative to provide more staff development for teachers during the 2011-2012 school year. Staff development will be provided by the LEA, RESA, and GLRS.
• IPADS were purchased for all Administrators and School Improvement Coordinator to assist in Focus Walks and evaluations
• 6 new promethean boards were added to classrooms and the science lab to facilitate and enhance instruction
• Piggly Wiggly, a Partner in Education, in conjunction with new behavior plan is providing incentives for studentsexcelling in Accelerated Reading and Math.

Worth County Elementary SchoolPage 1

System and School Name: Worth County Elementary School School Year: 2011 - 2012

Evaluation of the 2010-2012Plan

• WCES continues to strive to increase parental involvement in student education
• The pressure to make AYP causes remedial resources to focus on reading and math
• Scheduling to meet requirements of Response to Intervention
• Teacher training needed on all supplemental programs
• Provide teacher training in the identification of specific difficulties and the appropriate assistance for identified difficulties
• Provide greater understanding of the Response to Intervention process
• Provide teacher training on the ABE program
• Appropriate program needed for EL students (Purchasing new component to Renaissance Learning, English in A Flash)
• To provide more professional learning opportunities for teachers and paraprofessional
• Provide professional learning focusing on understanding science standards, revision of science units, and resourcedevelopment
• Professional development needed in Writer’s Workshop
• School-wide Positive Behavior plan implemented with incentives for motivation and success in the AR and AM Programs in conjunction with Piggly Wiggly, Partner in Education.
• Purchase of computer-based program for EL students
• Teachers provided opportunities for professional learning
• Provide Crisis Prevention Institute(CPI) training for all staff members
• Science becomes a measureable goal in 2013 and needs to be addressed in the School Improvement Plan

Worth County Elementary School CRCT ELA Data

Worth County Elementary School CRCT Math Data

Title I School-wide/School Improvement Plan

Planning Committee Members:

Worth County Elementary School Annual Measurable Goals

1. Reading for Information and Comprehension: 3rd Grade
2. Information, Media Literacy, : 4th and 5th Grades

1. The 3rd grade goal is to increase reading scores on the CRCT from 85% meeting and exceeding standards to 88%.
2. The 4th grade goal is to increase reading scores on the CRCT from 78% meeting and exceeding standards to 88%.
3. The 5th grade goal is to increase reading scores on the CRCT from 90% meeting and exceeding standards by 3%.
4. The 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade goal is to increase reading scores on the CRCT for the African American subgroup from 81.7% meeting and

1. Measurement: All Grades
2. Geometry: All Grades
3. Number and Operations: All Grades

1. The 3rd grade goal is to increase math scores on the CRCT from 76% meeting or exceeding standards by 85%.
2. The 4th grade goal is to increase math scores on the CRCT from 75% meeting or exceeding standards to 85%
3. The 5th grade goal is to increase math scores on the CRCT from 84% meeting or exceeding standards to 88%
4. The 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade goal is to increase math scores on the CRCT for the African American subgroup from 76.3% meeting or exceeding standards to meets or exceeds AMO (86%)

Worth County Elementary School Annual Measurable Goals

• Earth Science – all grades

• Increase percentages of the Black, SWD, and EDS sub-groups meeting and exceeding goals
• Increase percentages of all students meeting and exceeding state goals
• To establish a science lab with a fulltime certified teacher to offer students an opportunity to conduct experiments and apply the skills and knowledge learned in the general education science class.

School Improvement Plan

Worth County Elementary School

School Improvement and Title I School-Wide Plan

• Created a committee to develop the statement
• Gathered data from all stakeholders
• Administrators and teachers worked collaboratively to develop statements
• All stakeholders given the opportunity to review before final publishing