Georgia Department of Education
Title I Schoolwide/School Improvement Plan
SCHOOLWIDE/SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PLAN TEMPLATESchool Name: Walnut Creek / District Name: Henry
Principal Name: Rita Pitner / School Year: 2015-2016
School Mailing Address: 3535 McDonough Parkway McDonough, GA 30253
Telephone: 770-288-8561
District Title I Director/Coordinator Name: Dr. Sandra Moore
District Title I Director/Coordinator Mailing Address: 33 N. Zack Hinton Parkway McDonough, Ga 30253
Email Address:
Telephone: 770-957-7189
ESEA WAIVER ACCOUNTABILITY STATUS
(Check all boxes that apply and provide additional information if requested.)
Priority School / Focus School
Title I Alert School
Principal’s Signature: / Date:
Title I Director’s Signature: / Date:
Superintendent’s Signature: / Date:
Revision Date: 8/20/2015 / Revision Date: / Revision Date:
SWP Template Instructions
· 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 first ten components in the template are 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.
Planning Committee Members
NAME
/MEMBER’S SIGNATURE
/POSITION/ROLE
Rita Pitner / / PrincipalPhonecia Wilson / / Asst. Principal
Caarne White / / Counselor
Pam Michael / / EIP teacher
Diane Wright / / Parent Involvement Para
Linda Bayer / / Literacy ILT
Marga Kirschner / / Math ILT
Trude Hinson / / Media Specialist
Mary Beth Darnell / / Kindergarten Teacher
LaTashia Robinson / / 2nd Grade Teacher
Leigh Anne Cook / / 5th Grade Teacher
Luanne Smith / / SPED
Jennifer Harrison / / SPED Chairperson
Cheryl Gaita / / Parent
Darlene Minshew / / Parent
Maria Martinez / / Parent
Temiatyo Ogunsanya / / Parent
SWP/SIP Components
1. A comprehensive needs assessment of the entire school, (including taking into accountthe needs of migratory children as defined in Section 1309(2)) that is based on information which includes the achievement of children in relation to the state academic content standards and the state student academic achievement standards described in Section 1111(b)(1). /
· We have developed our school-wide plan with the participation of the individuals who will carry out the comprehensive school-wide program. The people involved were parents, teachers, community members, central office personnel, school support staff and local administrators. Input included teacher and parent surveys and/or focus groups in addition to on-going review and input from district level staff including the Federal Programs’ Coordinator.
· We used the following instruments, procedures or processes to obtain objective data on which to base this needs assessment.
o SLO data
o CRCT data
o CCRPI data
o Student population changes
o Continuous Improvement Plan
o SWAT Matrix
o DATA: GAPSS study, CRCT scores, CCRPI data
o Data desegregation sessions by the leadership team
o Data analysis by the staff
o Various surveys and focus groups
o Georgia Milestones data will be used upon its release
· Trends noted from data.
o Both math and reading CRCT scores have fallen year-over-year for past two years. Math CRCT scores continued to show a large decline--- from 90.09% meets and exceeds for SY 2012-2013 to 77.46% meets and exceeds for SY 2013-2014. Reading scores also declined from 95.65% meets and exceeds for SY 2012-2013 to 93.98% meets and exceeds for SY 2013-2014. ELA scores had a slight decline of under 2% in the meets and exceeds categories. We do not data for 2014-2015 SY because Georgia Milestones data has not be released by the state.
o There was a decrease in our CCPRI score this year—from 85.6 for 2013 to 78.6 for 2014 and then to 70.2 for 2015. Much of this drop can be attributed to four areas; closing the gaps, SDW, subgroup performance in math and science and individual growth in some areas.
o School demographics have also changed with free and reduce lunch rates continuing to increase. Moreover, with the addition of students from the closing of McDonough Elementary School our free and reduce rate will be impacted.
o The gap between general ed students in SWDs have continued to be concern.
o Parent involvement has increased, but improvement is still needed.
2. Schoolwide reform strategies that: /
· Provide opportunities for all children to meet the state’s proficient and advanced levels of student academic achievement described in Section 1111(b)(1)(D). /
· We will address the needs of all children in the school and specifically target the needs of students lacking proficiency related to the state’s academic content and student academic achievement standards as reflected in our needs assessment.
· Flex grouping and progress monitoring for all students will be employed.
· Title I ILTs will be used to provide needed professional development to help teacher develop instructional strategies that promote best practices.
· The purchase of F&P Remediation Kits that will be used to enhance reading skills for low performing students.
· Student Growth Portfolios will be used by teachers and students to track student progress on the standards. This will allow teachers, students and parents to be aware of areas of academic concern.
· Technology expendable equipment, headphones, tablets and ActivSlates, is needed to allow students to work with educational programs in both the computer lab and the classroom.
· Our LILT and MILT have provided a great deal of professional development to our teachers; however, there are still many teachers struggling with differentiated instruction and flex grouping. In order to address this problem, having an outside professional in these areas come in to provide PD is warranted. Grouping and teaching students at their levels is the only way we can ensure success for every student.
· In the fall of 2015, our school wrote a proposal to become part of the HCS Personalized Learning initiative. We were approved for the initiative and will begin a pilot in the spring of 2016. The move towards personalized learning with a focus on project-based learning and 21st century skills will allow us to focus on critical thinking skills and the development of other academic skills important for the Georgia Milestones. For implementation of the PL to be successful, a great deal of teacher training and study is needed. Books for book studies and PD are vital as we move towards PBL. PBL will also incorporate the student growth portfolios. Many materials for the successful development of PBL will be needed for the professional library. Moreover, PBL will support all of flex grouping, progress monitoring, and the use of tech-embedded instruction.
· One of the areas of continued weakness for our students is science. We tried to hire a science instructional lead teacher, but were unable to do so because of funds. We then began to research ways to help students better develop scientific thinking skills. One of the ways we found was through the use of robotics. We would like to purchase robotic kits to use as science manipulatives to help with the development of these skills.
· Other opportunity that will be provided to the students is the use of a maker space in the media center. A maker space is a redesign of the media center to have materials and tools available to students to complete projects. Students can develop plans and models using a 3-D printer and other materials and science manipulatives will be available for student use in completing projects.
· Use effective methods and instructional strategies that are based on scientifically based research that:
o strengthen the core academic program in the school.
o increase the amount and quality of learning time, such as providing and extended school year and before- or after-school and summer programs and opportunities, and help provide an enriched and accelerated curriculum
o include strategies for meeting the educational needs of historically underserved populations
· All programs in use at WCE are research-based.
· Include strategies to address the needs of all children in the school, but particularly the needs of low-achieving children and those at risk of not meeting the state student achievement standards who are members of the target population of any program that is included in the schoolwide program which may include:
o counseling, pupil services, and mentoring services;
o college and career awareness and preparation, such as college and career guidance, personal finance education, and innovative teaching methods, which may include applied learning and team-teaching strategies; and
o the integration of vocational and technical education programs; and /
· We will continue to use the classroom career sessions presented by the school’s counselor.
· Community volunteers and mentors will continue to be utilized to help at risk students.
· Remediation programs with the use of F&P Reading Remediation kits will be started for all students identified as 2 or more levels below expectation in reading.
· State funded EIP and SIEP sessions will continue.
· Address how the school will determine if such needs have been met; and
· Are consistent with, and are designed to implement, the state and local improvement plans, if any.
· To ensure that the reform strategies we have put into place as part of our school-wide plan are working, we will use progress monitoring as follows:
o Informal monitoring of student progress through teacher observation, conferencing with students and student self-evaluations
o Formal monitoring of progress to include F&P reading running records, IKAN-GLOSS, Georgia Milestones and other assessment measures deemed necessary by the state, county or through the revision of our on-going improvement planning process
o Individual student records and the school’s data room will be used for organizing monitoring data to track progress and as an instrument for planning.
· Common formative assessments (CFA) for each standard at each grade level have been developed. A pre-instruction assessment and a post-instruction assessment plan are being developed as part of the CFAs to monitor progress.
· Progress monitoring through the use of standards-based tracking in reading and math is being used. The date the standard is introduced will be noted and all assessments related to that standard will be noted on a common tracking form. Teachers will track each student on each standard in math and reading. Students will be ranked as emergent, progressing, meets or exceeds. Grade level teachers will discuss student assessment at least monthly and offer suggestions for improvement and remediation.
· Weekly planning meetings to flex group students and monitor student progress in the flex groups will take place
· We will be using Student Growth Portfolios that will allow students to track their own progress, set learning goals and to easily convey student progress to parents.
· Through the use of Title I funds we have added a Title I to focus on student performance in science and Social Studies. We also purchased F&P Remediation Kits for reading improvement to be employed as remediation strategy by our EIP teachers.
3. Instruction by highly qualified professional staff /
· All teachers at the school are highly qualified.
4. In accordance with Section 1119and subsection (a)(4), high-qualified and ongoing professional development for teachers, principals, and paraprofessionals and, if appropriate, pupil services personnel, parents, and other staff to enable all children in the school to meet the state’s student academic achievement standards. /
· We will continue all county-wide PL efforts. We will also work to provide teachers with more job-embedded, self-selected professional learning opportunities in the areas math, literacy and technology training.
5. Strategies to attract high-quality highly qualified teachers to high-need schools.
· All HCS efforts for attracting HQ teachers will be continued. A mentoring program for teachers new to WCE has been established and will continue.
6. Strategies to increase parental involvement in accordance with Section 1118, such as
family literacy services.
· A full-time parent involvement paraprofessional allows us to have parent outreach activities and an academic-based training program.
· An Annual Title I Meeting is held in August of each year to outline parent involvement opportunities and to present the School-Parent-Student Compact.
· Teachers and parents communicate regularly through student agendas, email and/or by phone. Events are also advertised through the use of flyers, daily school announcements, and special signs around the community, phone tree, Remind and/or the school marquee board.
· In an effort to ensure that school-to-home and home-to-school communications about school-level programs and activities are accessible to these parents, every effort will be made to provide these parents with materials in their native language.
· The Parent Resource Room and the media center are open for parents to checkout materials to help their child succeed academically.
· Surveys and focus groups are used to gauge the need for changes or improvements in parent involvement efforts.
· An online newsletter outlines events and opportunities at WCES. This newsletter is available in hardcopy when requested by parents without Internet access.
· Ongoing workshops help parents gain skills needed to assist their child with his/her academic work.
· Parent questions and concerns are addressed through the Principal’s 2nd Cup of Coffee.
Parent-student-teacher conferences take place at least twice yearly and the compact is reviewed at these meetings.
7. Plans for assisting preschool children in the transition from early childhood programs,
such as Head Start, Even Start, Early Reading First, or a state-run preschool program, to
local elementary school programs.
· The following are our plans for assisting with the transition for entering elementary school from a Pre-K provider or other daycare setting and leaving elementary school for middle school. We have also included plans for transition from other elementary schools into Walnut Creek.
o The feeder day care directors and pre-school teachers met with the kindergarten teachers to discuss the transition process and the curriculum gaps. Arrangements were made during these meetings for the various day care providers to visit our school. During these visits, daycare students visited kindergarten classrooms where they participated in classroom activities, met the kindergarten teachers and socialized with the kindergarten students. The media specialist read a story and gave the daycare students a tour of the media center. The visit ended after having lunch in the school café where the daycare students were able to walk through the line and get their own lunch tray. In addition to these school-level efforts, Henry County holds a well-advertised Kindergarten Round-Up each spring for early student registration.