Transcript School Improvement Plan 2011-12

Wethersfield High School
Thomas R. Moore, Principal
Andrew Komar, Assistant Principal
Holly Herzman, Assistant Principal
Michael Maltese, Assistant Principal
October 22, 2013
Wethersfield Board of Education
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2 Goals - Performance and progress on the
academic learning measures in the state’s
accountability system for schools
◦ School wide SPI Progress
◦ School wide SPI subgroup Progress
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3 Goals - Performance and growth on locally
determined measures
◦ Non-tested subject or grades (high school must include
graduation goal)
◦ Two more Student Learning Goals – indicators may focus
on student results from a subset of teachers, grade
levels, or subjects
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At this time the CSDE has not released School
Performance Index data.
This data will be shared once available.
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Goal 1- The graduation rate performance
target for 2012-2013 district 4-year cohort
was 89.5 while the district extended
graduation rate was 93.4. The district 4-year
cohort rate for 2010 was 85.5 and the district
4-year cohort rate for 2011 was 91.1.
Our goals will be a 4-year cohort goal of 90%
and an extended graduation rate of 94%.
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The graduation rate is actually an entire
school district goal encompassing the efforts
of elementary, middle and high school staffs
as well as the efforts of the central office
administration
The high school graduation rate provides the
community with feedback about our
programs
The goal of high school students is to
graduate with an eye on further aspirations
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The advisor/advisee program will help
maintain a focus on graduation
Any tutoring resources gained will be
prioritized towards seniors needing some
additional instruction to pass graduation
requirements
The parent portal provides immediate access
as to graduation status
We will maintain administrative and guidance
contact with all students “on the cusp” to
provide any supports possible
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Goal 2 - 85% of grade 9 students will attain a
minimum of 5.4 credits by June of their
freshman year.
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Research tells us that ninth graders who
maintain a healthy credit acquisition are most
likely to graduate in four years
Habits and routines formed in ninth grade
generally follow students through their high
school careers
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Our guidance program has one dedicated
school counselor for ninth grade students
The data teams and “game film teams” for
teachers of ninth grade students will provide
common formative assessment information
which should benefit ninth grade instruction
and achievement
Two specific school administrators are
allocated to the needs of ninth grade
students
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Goal 3 - 25% of students in grades 11 and 12
will be enrolled in an Early College Experience
(ECE)/Advanced Placement (AP) course during
their junior/senior year with an 80% passing
rate locally.
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We believe that it is advantageous for senior
students to experience a college level
curriculum in the safe and comfortable
environment of their home high school
This is a financial benefit for all students
gathering college credit
Instructors are UCONN certified
Almost all colleges accept UCONN credit
AP test scores don’t always result in college
credit
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ECE programs are being advocated by high
school staff and school counselors
The ECE program has been discussed at the
WHS Parent, Teacher, and Student Association
(PTSA) meetings
The ECE program offerings are being
expanded for coming years
Mrs. Mucinskas provides WHS with an ECE
liaison for information and clarification
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1 Goal - Teacher Practice
◦ What will be the building level focus to improve
classroom instruction? Consider the bottom lines,
Framework for Teaching Evaluation Instrument
(Danielson, 2013) and district focus areas.
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1 Goal - Team Improvement Goal
◦ Based on The Seven Stages of Professional
Learning. What is the goal related to data teams?
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1 Goal - School Climate and Culture
◦ Consider stakeholder feedback survey data (parent
and staff)
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Our goal is to increase the number of parents
using the parent portal whose children are not
achieving academically at a high level
Teachers at Wethersfield High School will share
their syllabi and learning expectations with
students and their families within the first two
weeks of school. Using the parent portal,
teachers will e-mail any family of a student who
is either earning a grade lower than a “C-“ or has
gone down one full letter grade from the
previous quarter. This communication will take
place at the mid-point of each quarter.
Teachers may individualize this goal in
collaboration with their evaluator
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Predicated on Domain 4.c of the Danielson
rubric. The elements of component 4.c are:
Information about the instructional program –
the teacher frequently provides information to
families about the instructional program
Information about individual students – the
teacher frequently provides information to
families about students’ individual progress
Engagement of families in the instructional
program – the teacher frequently and
successfully offers engagement opportunities to
families so that they can participate in the
learning activities
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This is a goal to communicate with an underrepresented
constituency of the high school population that did not
respond to the parent survey last year. We believe that this
goal is significant because the following are important
Frequent and culturally appropriate information sent home
regarding the instructional program and student progress
establishes a relationship between home and school
Two-way communication between the teacher and families
allows the home and school to partner in the best interests of
a student’s education
Frequent opportunities for families to engage in the learning
process allows families to discuss school and education at
home and emphasizes the importance of education
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The goal of the data teams and the “game
film” teams is to improve instruction and
student achievement in the classroom
Based on minutes collected from data teams
we would like to increase the number of
common formative assessments used by
teacher teams from an average of three to an
average of 12
Teachers will measure student achievement
gains from the data presented with their SLOs
and IAGDs
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Weekly (Tuesday) meetings. Data teams will
meet on the first and fourth Tuesday of the
month and “game film” teams will meet on
the second and third Tuesday of the month
Common Formative Assessments (CFAs)
established through the data teams
All meetings will submit minutes to the
appropriate administrator and will describe
the efforts and data discussed and analyzed
in order to improve instruction
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The “game film teams” use peer assessment
techniques and a locally created protocol to
gain feedback on the quality of instruction
The “game film team” protocol has been
based on the WHS Learning Principles which
were created by and voted upon by the school
faculty
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To increase the effectiveness of the school’s
discipline program
This goal is generated from the staff survey
question number 8 which asks if the school’s
discipline program is effective. 55% of the
staff responded favorably to this statement.
Our goal is to raise that percentage by 5
points
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Teachers at Wethersfield High School will share
their syllabi and learning expectations with
students and their families within the first two
weeks of school
Teachers at Wethersfield High School will gather
valid e-mail addresses from PowerSchool and
provide appropriate academic information for
each family as described in the criteria
Correlates highly with Danielson 4c., Managing
Classroom Procedures and 4d., Managing
Student Behavior
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Teachers will keep a log of parent contacts (e-mails,
texts, phone calls etc.)
Teachers will utilize their PowerSchool grade book to
keep accurate records to share with students and
families
Teachers will contact the families listed in the criteria
a minimum of 4 times during the school year
We are aspiring towards a 10% increase of families
(parents and students) accessing student grades via
the parent portal from 40% to 50%