A. C. Whelan Elementary School

1. A. C. Whelan Elementary School School Improvement Plan 2013-2014 Presentation to School Committee September 24, 2013

2. Leadership and Governance • New Leadership Opportunities for Teachers • Professional Leadership Groups (PLG) • Teams of teachers meeting to discuss curriculum, student achievement, and instruction • PLG facilitator monthly meetings, Vertical team meetings • Quarterly reflections • Review ANet results to monitor progress and adjust focus of PLG Work • ANet Data Team • Teams of teachers, coaches and administrators meeting to discuss student achievement and data analysis • 4 planning meetings, 4 data analysis meetings and 4 reflection meetings throughout the year • ANet results • Review ANet results to monitor progress and adjust re-teaching focus & MCAS results

3. Curriculum and Instruction • Achieve 3000 & EDWIN Teaching and Learning • Achieve 3000 provides differentiated literacy instruction for students in grades 4-5. Teachers are able to target individual student reading levels. • Students in grades 4 and 5 will access Achieve 3000 twice a week. • Student progress will be monitored through Achieve 3000, ANet and MCAS. • Edwin Teaching and Learning provides educators the opportunity to develop and share standards based resources such as assessments, curriculum units, and lesson plans. • Edwin will be used to develop, store, deliver and score assessments. • Student Assessment Data (ANet, MCAS, teacher assessments) • Understanding by Design (UbD) • Teams of teachers meeting to discuss curriculum, student achievement, and instruction • Summer UbD teacher participants, common planning, monthly • Formal and informal student assessment data used to plan lessons • Review ANet results to monitor progress and adjust focus for reteaching

4. Assessment • ANet • ANet is designed to provide data driven strategies to identify and close gaps in student learning through targeted instruction. • All instructional staff & support staff • Quarterly test administration • Each cycle includes: assessments, data anlysis, action planning, re-teaching, and reflection meetings • School ANet scores will be compared to the ANet network of schools.

5. Human Resources and Professional Development • Leadership Team • Teams of teachers, coaches, and administrators meeting to discuss curriculum, ELT performance agreement, and school culture • Monthly meetings open to all staff members; Leadership team members push out information to all staff during common planning • Performance agreement & teacher feedback • Teacher feedback and performance agreement approval

6. Student Support • Math Lab Block • Created a tiered specialist math block • Math certified content teacher provides weekly instruction to all students • ANet, MCAS, K-1 quarterly assessments, teacher feedback • Review assessment results to monitor effectiveness • Grade 5 Co-Teaching ELL Model • Tiered Reading support with a push-in model for grade 5 ELL instruction • General education grade 5 teacher & ELL specialist – daily 120 minute literacy block • ACCESS, ANet & MCAS • Review assessment results to monitor progress • Morning Fitness – Five Days a Week • Students arrive at school between 7-7:10 to participate in a voluntary daily physical fitness program open to all students grades 1-5. • Student participation & Presidential Physical Fitness Challenge data • Student feedback, parent feedback & assessment results. • Online School-Home Resources • Early Literacy programs Lexia Core 5 & Footsteps to Brilliance are used in the classroom and available to parents at home. • Data from both resources will be monitored and reviewed by teachers & families.

7. Financial and Asset Management • Breakfast in the Classroom • Breakfast in the classroom is an opportunity to provide daily universal breakfast through the EOS Foundation grant. • All students are provided breakfast daily • Participation will be monitored daily • In the first week of the implementation, participation in daily breakfast tripled. • Redrafting of ELT Performance Agreement • From last year’s site visit, the Whelan School is in the process of reflecting upon and refining our performance agreement proposal for approval through the DESE. • Leadership team & School Improvement Council will hold monthly meetings • Performance Agreement data includes: physical education statistics, student assessment data, etc. • Teacher Feedback, community feedback & Performance agreement approval.