by Superintendent Robert "Bob" Lewandowski
Our school faces many unique challenges and
issues. After extensive administrative and board discussions, due to the number of down
and failing students in both the Middle School
and High School at the end of the 2012 Fall Quarter as well as the results of the Prevention Needs Assessment, the Montana Youth Risks Behavior Survey of at-risk students, the District will be seeking a full-time Middle
School Principal to provide immediate administrative proximity and involvement with
students, parents, teachers and community to help our students succeed. This position will help
address and strengthen student standard proficiency, attendance, dropout rate,
disciplinary issues, at-risk behavior as well as the State's AYP corrective actions at both
the Middle and High Schools.
Qualified (K-12 principal certification) in-house
candidates are preferred to offset financial costs. The start date for the
position will be January 2, 2013. Applications from qualified candidates will
be accepted immediately. If an
in-house candidate is selected, replacement scenarios will be reviewed with
a student-centered approach and discussed by the board. The Board will interview
candidates on Friday, December 28, 2012 and make a potential hire by special
meeting following the interview.
At this time,
the number of students that are academically at-risk of failure complicated by
the behavioral at-risk factors calls for immediate action as described above.
The District will be hosting a community & parent meeting in January to review the at-risk data to mobilize our efforts in identifying the antecedents necessary to address our students' needs.
The following ACTION PLANS are being implemented to provide students with the additional support needed for academic achievement and success.
STUDENT
ACHIEVEMENT ACTION: School Wide Program: Strategies to Address Student Needs,
Opportunities for Student Proficiency
- The
District (by school) will identify students at-risk of not being proficient or
above in reading, math, English, social studies and science as indicated by the
Mont CAS, DIBELS, MAP, classroom assessments, and/or classroom mid-term and
term reports.
- The
District (by school) will develop an Individual Learning Plan (ILP) and
identify specific skill
deficiencies
for every student who is at-risk of not being proficient or above.
- The
District (by school) will provide a response to intervention for identified
students through a tiered process.
- Identified
skill deficiencies and interventions will be complemented by a
progress-monitoring instrument maintained by the classroom teacher for each
deficient skill. This process will be developed in the Individual Learning Plan
(ILP) on Mileposts.
-
Student
progress will be continuously monitored (by school and classroom teacher).
- Each
student’s personalized learning plan and program will be tracked using a
data-warehousing instrument called Mileposts by Silverback Learning and made
available to the administration and classroom teachers.
- Individualized
programs, plans and interventions will be developed by the classroom teacher
with support from the building administration and instructional facilitator in
an ILP that will involve parent meetings and monitoring. All program and plans
will be housed in the Mileposts program.
- The
District (by school) will seek best practices and utilize on-line programs and
technology interventions that enhance student skills and provided
differentiated instructional solutions.
- Common
core standard instruction will be implemented and utilized to describe student
needs and targeted outcomes.
- Provide
staff development and support through an instructional facilitator (coach) for
embedded instruction and practice for the successful implementation of
objectives 1-9.
- Follow
through with strategies identified in
Goal Area 1:
Student Achievement in
the
District Strategic Plan 2011-2016
STUDENT
BEHAVIOR ACTION: School Wide Program: Strategies to Address Student Needs,
Opportunities for Student Proficiency
- Increase
administrative proximity and involvement with students, parents and teachers to
improve attendance, drop-out rate and disciplinary issues as well as referrals.
- Provide
counseling out-reach through disciplinary follow-up linking behavior, academic
performance and attendance with parental involvement and the Individual
Learning Plans.
- Harness
MBI to help offset the current at-risk behaviors as identified by the 2012
Montana Prevention Needs Assessment and the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior
Survey.
- The
District (by school) will research evidence-based programing that can help identify scientifically based
approaches to preventing and intervening at-risk behaviors.
- Follow
through with strategies identified in
Goal Area 5:
Student Centered Positive Climate and Culture in the District Strategic Plan 2011-2016
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT ACTION: School Wide Program: Strategies to Address Student Needs,
Opportunities for Student Proficiency through professional development opportunities.
- Provide
staff development and support through an instructional facilitator (coach) for
embedded instruction and practice for the successful implementation of academic
objectives 1-9.
- Provide
substitute teachers to allow for professional development opportunities for the
implementation of academic objectives 1-9.
SCHOOL
IMPROVEMENT ACTION: The District (by school) will develop a school wide plan
for improvement. Each school improvement team will be lead by the principal.
Increase
administrative leadership and direction setters for implementing a working
school improvement process.
Develop
and identify a comprehensive
school improvement planning team.
Develop
and conduct a comprehensive
needs assessment survey.
Collect
comprehensive needs data from multiple sources to identify the most important
needs within the school. The data should focus on five specific areas: student
achievement, curriculum and instruction, professional development, parental and
community involvement, and school perspective and organization.
Develop
a Comprehensive School Improvement Plan.
The
School Improvement Plan is designed to help facilitate systematic change in the
entire educational program of high-poverty, at-risk schools. The purpose of
this systematic change process is to increase the academic achievement of
educationally disadvantaged
PARENT
& COMMUNITY ACTION:
The District will
increase parent and community awareness and involvement. as well as
administrative
leadership and direction setters for implementing a working school improvement
process.
Involve
parents in the programs, plans and interventions of their children. (See item 7
of the Student Achievement Plan).
Provide
Parent/Guardian training opportunities for using the student information system
twice every year (once per semester).
Host
Fall, Winter and Spring Community Awareness Meetings to review scores outcomes
and data.
Design,
distribute and collect a Comprehensive Needs Assessment Survey once every three
years. (See item 1 of the School Improvement Plan)
Design,
distribute and collect a post graduate survey once every three years.
Follow
through with strategies identified in
Goal Area 4: Community/Communication in the District Strategic Plan 2011-2016.
