School Improvement Plan 2013-14

1. School Improvement Plan 2013-14 Silas Deane Middle School Steven J. Cook, Principal Cynthia Fries, Assistant Principal October 22, 2013 Wethersfield Board of Education

2. Student Learning Outcomes Goals • 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 • 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

3. 2 SPI Goals • At this time the CSDE has not released School Performance Index data. • This data will be shared once available.

4. 3 Locally Determined Goals Goal 1 • The number of RTC (Responsible Thinking Classroom) referrals will decrease by 5 percent from spring 2013 to spring 2014.

5. Rationale • RTC is a positive behavioral support for students. • It allows students to reflect on their negative behaviors and not repeat them. • By intervening with students with high numbers of RTC visits, there will be more minutes spent in the classroom working towards the mastery of learning concepts.

6. Strategies • Administration will provide all staff with a bi-weekly update of all students who chose to attend the Responsible Thinking Classroom • Administration will meet with academic teams to discuss strategies designed to keep students in the classroom • At weekly data team/support staff meetings, administration and support staff will determine best strategies to support student making better decisions

7. Strategies Continued • Support staff will meet with high frequency students bi-weekly to provide feedback and to design intervention strategies. They will also involve parents in the process • Teachers will develop alternative management strategies to re-engage students • Through the implementation of the Advisor/Advisee Program, students will establish positive relationships with staff which will support positive classroom environments

8. 3 Locally Determined Goals Goal 2 • Silas Deane Middle School students will show an average of 12% growth in writing during the 2013- 2014 school year as determined by the fall Writing to Sources Assessment compared to the spring.

9. Rationale • Based on student performance on the 2012-2013 CMT, writing is a focus area. • If district-wide curriculum, Writer’s Workshop, and data team initiatives are implemented with fidelity across both grade levels students will show improvement in the Writing to Sources Assessment

10. Strategies • Utilize Columbia Teachers’ College writing rubric to monitor progress and assess student writing • Teacher evaluation goals for all staff centered on improving writing for all students, some with an emphasis on males • Implement Writing To Sources assessment to be administered and scored by ELA and Social Studies teachers

11. Strategies Continued • Implement Common Core Standards through the use of the Writing Workshop model and provide ongoing support • Develop collaborative processes to analyze student work, monitor student progress and adjust curriculum and instruction to meet the diverse needs of all students (content teams and data teams)

12. 3 Locally Determined Goals Goal 3 • Silas Deane Middle School students will show an average of a 10 point increase in math during the 2013- 2014 school year as determined by the MCAP district assessment while addressing the Smarter Balanced Assessment Claims for Concepts and Procedures, Problem Solving, Communicating Reasoning and Modeling and Data Analysis.

13. Rationale • As evidenced by the 2013-2014 CMT’s, math is a focus area. • If district and school-wide curriculum implementation and data team initiatives are implemented with fidelity across grades 7 and 8, students will show growth on the MCAP over the course of the 2013-2014 school year

14. Strategies • Implementation of the new common core based curriculums in both Pre-Algebra and Algebra • Utilizing the Math Workshop model • Creating Student Learning Objectives (SLO’s) focused around the Smarter Balanced Claims • Increasing the amount of writing in math with a focus on problem solving

15. Strategies Continued • Implementation of data teams and the continued PLC content meetings to identify struggling learners and teaching strategies • Development of an extended day SRBI initiative to support identified students in need of remediation

16. Organizational Capacity-building Goals • 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. • 1 Goal - Team Improvement Goal • Based on The Seven Stages of Professional Learning. What is the goal related to data teams? • 1 Goal - School Climate and Culture • Consider stakeholder feedback survey data (parent and staff)

17. Teacher Practice Goal 90% of teachers will effectively implement student feedback strategies as determined by the Danielson Rubric

18. Rationale • Domain #3 in the Danielson Rubric focuses directly on questioning techniques with relation to student feedback. In order to achieve this goal, consistent collaboration, professional discussion and reflection must take place across all content areas and grade levels with the focus of providing student feedback.

19. Strategies • Utilize content collaborative time to share best practices on providing student feedback • Implement standards based grading for the purpose of discussion of concept mastery with students • SDMS staff will allow “Re-dos” for assessment and part of the process is to receive feedback from staff on how to improve their work and achieve content mastery • All staff will utilize Advisor/Advisee program to assist students in goal setting and providing feedback for success

20. Strategies Continued • PowerSchool Parent Portal to be opened for both parents and students • Support staff will conduct student interviews to give students feedback on numerous categories such as academic growth, behavioral growth and social growth • SDMS staff will keep running logs of conferences with students and feedback given

21. Team Improvement Goal By the end of the 2013-2014 school year, 100% of our grade level data teams will be working at or above stage 5 (Analyzing Student Learning) as described in the 7 Stages of Professional Learning Teams Rubric.

22. Rationale • This goal directly relates to the Wethersfield School Improvement Plan of improving instruction across all content areas. This goal will emphasize using data to drive instruction, will require continuous reflection and collaboration, and will improve teaching and learning. This goal can help to improve learning for our subgroups, who historically perform poorly on the CMT

23. Strategies • Teachers will meet as professional learning teams to plan collaboratively and analyze data and identify students in need of support • Staff will view video clips of schools who have successful data teams and elicit ideas • Staff will participate in a minimum of two professional development opportunities focused on implementation of data teams • Teachers will differentiate their individual instruction to meet specific student needs

24. School Climate and Culture The percentage of parents who know how their child is doing in school before they get their childs’ report card will increase from 76% to 81% from spring 2013 to spring 2014

25. Rationale • Based on parent feedback in the spring of 2013, SDMS staff determined to increase communication in order for parents to be more involved in the collaborative aspect of learning for students.

26. Strategies • Open the parent portal in PowerSchool, sending a letter home to parents with directions so they have access to their children's academic progress • Provide professional development for staff on how to use the parent portal • The use of WikiSpaces & Team Blogs – Development of a school blog: “The Lion’s Roar” • Email/call parents for positive reasons and for intervention purposes with logs to be kept by staff • “Positive Post Cards” to be sent home to update parents of students performing well