School Improvement Plan
School Improvement Plan (SIP) 2016-2017 School Name: VIEW RIDGE MIDDLE SCHOOL Principal: TONY SMITH Date Plan Completed: 10/21/16 Team Members: Tony Smith-Principal Kirstin Kunihisa-Administrative Intern/Counselor Sheila Davis, Electives Leadership Rep Justin Nelson, Social Studies Leadership Rep Courtney Thompson, English Leadership Rep Katie James, Science Leadership Rep Nam Nguyen, Math Leadership Rep District Purpose Statement: The Ridgefield School District aspires to be the state’s premier district, leveraging strong community partnerships to provide each student personalized learning experiences, opportunities, and skills that ensure success and unlimited possibilities. District Core Values: QUALITY INSTRUCTION We ensure research-based instructional practices are implemented in every classroom utilizing access to professional growth and collaboration opportunities to reflect on and improve our practices. EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS We deliver a premier educational program dedicated to developing the whole child. We provide students with personalized academic and extracurricular opportunities while increasing student learning.
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LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS We strive to provide safe, well-maintained facilities with 21st century learning environments in which all students can succeed. We will maximize the availability of its facilities to support community use. COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS We will create educational partnerships to promote collaboration, improve communication, and provide programs for greater learning opportunities. School Overview: View Ridge Middle School continued to exceed state norms for overall student performance on state assessments during the 2015-16 school year. In particular our students showed well on the English Language Arts Smarter Balanced Assessment. The one area raising specific concern has been 8th grade math. Efforts to improve student achievement in recent years at View Ridge Middle School have included the following: Implementation of a Positive Behavioral Intervention and Support system to define, teach, and reinforce behaviors that produce a learning focused environment Establishment of Excel Time, a period in the school day in which students underperforming grade level expectations receive targeted intervention; and students at or above grade level take part in engaging academic enrichment options Utilization of the Professional Learning Community approach to collaborative teaming amongst subject area colleagues Utilization of interdisciplinary core teams (English, science, math, and social studies) to foster a collaborative multidisciplinary approach to student success. Development of a Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) program in which all students take at least one full year of instruction in cutting edge applied science that integrates these five domains Implementation of after school Math and Language Arts tutoring. Commitment to a social/emotional education and guidance system delivered during Rebel Time Providing opportunities for students to showcase their work through Art Night, National History Day, and other performance venues School Vision: The VRMS staff is in the process of articulating a new vision based on our new mission (below). This vision will describe our school’s preferred future and provide guidance to our teams in planning the course of our work for the next five years. School Mission: Together, View Ridge Middle School will prepare all students for high school and beyond by ensuring high levels of character development and academic achievement.
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Student enrollment and demographics (demographics based on 2015-16 data):
OSPI - School Improvement: • Yes Step:____3___ (Include school plan of improvement specific to school) • No Building Budget: ACCOUNT 2015-16 AMOUNT 2016-17 AMOUNT Learning Resources (Library) $1,950 $4,700* Principal’s Office $11,628 $5,000 Guidance and Counseling $200 $500 Health Related Services $300 $350 Teaching $23,050 $32,950* Professional Development $0 $7,290 TOTAL $37,128 $50,790 *Reflects district budget moved to building budget for 2016-17 school year Page | 3
Volunteer Opportunities: View Ridge utilizes volunteers from our Ridgefield Boosters, which supports both high school and middle school activities. Parent volunteers also assist in our STEM classes as career speakers and run our Rebel Den. Student leaders and parents volunteer their time to support Assurance Day (new student orientation), assemblies, and other school activities. National Junior Honor Society members complete a required number of service hours, and many of them do this by serving the school in some capacity. View Ridge students and staff also participate in a yearly Service Day. Students and teachers complete various service projects throughout the school, district, and community. Special Offerings: View Ridge’s academic program is traditional with a few enhancements. Elective options for students are STEM, PE/Health, Art, Band, and Choir. All students leave VR having experienced STEM, PE/Heath, and Art. Students are able to participate in STEM, our most unique program, Band and Choir both in the 7th and 8th grade. Excel period offers a variety of enrichment courses for students who are at or above grade level in reading and math. Collaboration: Collaboration, done effectively, can dramatically improve our pedagogy, school climate, and student learning. In order to allow the time necessary for ongoing collaboration, so that we can thoroughly improve without artificial deadlines and focus on quality, we are committed to weekly collaboration time. The main goal of collaboration is to work together to share ideas, improve teaching practice, and strengthen our schools. This time may include the creation of common assessments, sharing student data, planning units, reflecting on past practices, working across grade bands, and other clearly stated goals that improve team and school performance. View Ridge has committed to enhancing its use of the Professional Learning Communities model for collaboration this school year. Teacher teams are the bedrock of this model. The following teams, comprised of teaching staff, are the driving force behind our work: ● Building Leadership Team-guides general decision making in the building and leads the process of content teams in a continuous cycle of learning, assessment, reflection, and improvement ● Interdisciplinary Teams (A, B, C)-core content teams of that share a common set of students and provide specialized student support collaboratively to their students ● School Improvement Teams (Goal 1, Goal 2, Goal 3, and Goal 4)-guide the process of working on our school-wide goals contained in this document throughout the year Data Analysis: For the last 5 years, View Ridge has maintained passing rates higher than the state in both Reading and Math, even with the implementation of the Smarter Balanced Assessment. However, we are still seeing some concerning trends, especially in the area of math. The classes of 2019, 2020, and 2021 have showed a decline in passing rates for the last 5 years in Math. The class of 2021 passed at 84.7% in Page | 4
2012 compared to 65% in 2016. The class of 2020 dropped from 76.1% in 2012 to 55.7% in 2016. Ready passing rates have dropped over the last 5 years for the class of 2019 and 2021. The only cohort to show a increase in passing rates was the class of 2020. The class of 2020 increased their Reading passing rates from 64.7% in 2015 to 71% in 2016.
Class of 2019 (Current 10th) Math
Reading
Class of 2020 (Current 9th) Math
Reading
Class of 2021 (Current 8th) Math
Reading
2012
81.6%
84%
76.1%
82.5%
84.7%
84.2%
2013
77.5%
81.9%
80.2%
85.4%
71.1%
82.7%
2014
68.9%
78.5%
80.2%
82%
78.8%
83.7%
2015
50.5%
66.6%
61.7%
64.7%
67.7%
70.5%
55.7%
71%
65%
66.1%
2016
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SIP Goal #1: Achieve high outcomes through quality instruction, personalized learning, and continuous improvement resulting in success for every student. Strategy #1: Develop and implement a system-wide assessment system for continuous improvement including: a formalized process and timeline for data analysis including subgroups and ongoing professional development to ensure that staff members at all levels have the tools to analyze data effectively. View Ridge will begin this by planning for implementation of a Standards-based Grading system for the 2017-18 school year. Activities: o Identify key learning and decisions needed to implement a standards-based grading system. o Design View Ridge’s standards based grading report card o Develop assessment system for citizenship, study habits, and social skills o Inform parents and community on standards based grading and how to read their student’s report card o Professional development for on how to grade using standards based grading o Support collaboration amongst departments to finalize power standards work Measure of Success o Standards based grading is implemented school wide in the 2017-2018 school year o Power standards identified for each content area o Parent informational activities completed with informative and instructive feedback o More precise conversations between parents that are more focused on student learning than student behaviors (skills, not work completion) Strategy #2: Align resources for classroom support, professional development, and implementation of best practices that are proven to increase success for all students, focusing on Project Based Learning. Activities: o Professional development for staff with “guide” to assist as departments worked on PBL (Vickei Hrdina) o Resources: subs or PLC time for work (create PBLs and reflect on how they went) o Collaborate with Community for local resources o Work towards a compartmentalized break down of a PBL plan (to build throughout the year) ▪ Session I - Key Knowledge and Understanding, Success Skills, Project Summary, & Driving Question ▪ Session II - Final Products, Learning Outcomes/Targets, Checkpoints/Formative Assessments, Instructional Strategies for All Learners—January TRI Day Page | 6
▪
Session III - Entry Events, Making products public, resources needed, reflection methods, any additional notes (etc.)—March TRI Day, Wednesday collaboration time
Measure of Success o Departments will have one complete PBL plan by end of year o Implementation of interdisciplinary PBL by end of 17-18 year
SIP Goal #2: Provide safe, inclusive, and supportive environments that nurture the well-being of the whole child. Strategy #1: Implement Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, focusing on Tier 2 supports. Activities: o Attend PBIS Tier II and other PBIS professional development opportunities August 2016 PBIS team attendance PBIS Northwest in 2017 o Develop systems to support Check in/Check out (CHICO) system to support students with frequent behavioral problems CHICO Coach CHICO checklist Incorporate into student support system o Provide professional development to staff The “why” of PBIS Check in/out (CHICO) teacher and staff expectations Tier II referral process o Train CHICO coach on purpose and procedures. o Teach CHICO expectations to students referred to Tier II and placed on CHICO. o Develop Tier II documents (CHICO form, Referral form, Parent letter, Reporting, Brief FBA, etc) o Refer students to Tier II support and assign proper intervention Research and develop other Tier II interventions if needed o Monitor students in Tier II interventions o Review data collected on CHICO forms to evaluate success of intervention Measure of Success o Teachers refer students to Tier II support. o Students exit CHICO and follow VR student expectations, reflecting improved behavior o Staff and Tier II students understand and follow CHICO expectations
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SIP Goal #3: Provide collaboration and communication opportunities with families, staff, and the community resulting in strong partnerships. Strategy #1: Provide opportunities for parent and patron involvement at View Ridge Middle Schools. Activities: o Communicate involvement opportunities in school communication. o Seek out interested community members to support learning and other school events Solicit volunteers at the Ice Cream Social Prompt students to invite parents and others to participate in VRMS events and learning o Conduct second annual Day of Service, sending students into community to support various needs o Implement “Take Your Parent to School Day” o Involvement opportunities are listed in newsletters, emails, websites, and calendars Measure of Success o Make a list on drive, phone calls to community members, student survey who they know o Student emails/letters to parents o High level of participation in “Take your Parent to School”—40% o All students are involved with collaborating with the community (Day of Service) Strategy #2: Establish educational partnerships to leverage enhanced opportunities for all students. Activities: o Community professionals give “career talks” in classes. o Involve local professionals in classes supporting student learning in subject areas o Field Trips used to give students hands-on, in person experience with content learning o Partner with the ESD to develop Project Based Learning expertise amongst the teaching staff Measure of Success o Students participate in field trips o Professionals volunteer in classes o Involvement of local or regional professionals in each of the content area’s classes o Implementation of Project Based Learning units for each content area in spring semester
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SIP Goal #4: Close the disparity gaps by ensuring high expectations, removing barriers and providing opportunities for all students. Strategy #1: Implement a system-wide process for identifying and supporting struggling students and identifying and challenging highly skilled students. Activities: o Using a combination of SBAC, iReady, Dibels and Rewards scores to identify students in need of intervention and/or enrichment o Provide students with tailored curricula suited to their academic needs in English and Math, both intervention curricula and enrichment curricula. o Form a team to develop common expectations & goals for intervention and enrichment courses. o Provide staff time to develop intervention and enrichment units/curricula. o Provide professional development in utilizing different curricula and working with different levels of students o Assess success of Excel program Evaluate growth rate of students receiving interventions in Excel Measure of Success o Students are placed timely and accurately in Excel groups o Students are showing movement from L1-L2, L2-L3 (see chart below) o Written guidelines and expectations for intervention and enrichment in place and shared with all o Necessary professional development has been identified by staff, provided for appropriate staff members and used to improve Excel instruction
OSPI Designated School of Improvement:
Yes (Step #s___3___)
No
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STUDENT LEARNING GOALS SCHOOLWIDE SMARTER BALANCED PASSING RATE GOALS State 2014-15 Rank
2015-16 State Goal 2015-16 Rank
7th ELA
64.7 101/300
8th ELA
2016-17 Goal
70
66.1 98/311
75.3
66.8 81/294
71.7
71 85/302
76.6
7th Math
61.7 67/300
67.4
65 64/310
73
8th Math
50.3 125/293
58.2
55.7 101/303
66.2
Science
71.9 81/298
76.6
74.2 108/304
81.3
PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS MEETING TARGET GROWTH (MAPS 2015-16/iReady 2016-17) 2015-16 2014-15 Goal
2016-17 2015-16 Goal
7th ELA
57
65.5
56
74.2
8th ELA
58
66.4
52
74.8
7th Math
56
64.8
62
73.6
8th Math
51
60.8
38
70.6
STUDENTS BELOW PROFICIENCY IMPROVING UP ONE LEVEL ON iREADY TEST L1-L2
L2-L3
7th ELA
15
31
8th ELA
15
29
7th Math
25
43
8th Math
25
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LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS We strive to provide safe, well-maintained facilities with 21st century learning environments in which all students can succeed. We will maximize the availability of its facilities to support community use. COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS We will create educational partnerships to promote collaboration, improve communication, and provide programs for greater learning opportunities. School Overview: View Ridge Middle School continued to exceed state norms for overall student performance on state assessments during the 2015-16 school year. In particular our students showed well on the English Language Arts Smarter Balanced Assessment. The one area raising specific concern has been 8th grade math. Efforts to improve student achievement in recent years at View Ridge Middle School have included the following: Implementation of a Positive Behavioral Intervention and Support system to define, teach, and reinforce behaviors that produce a learning focused environment Establishment of Excel Time, a period in the school day in which students underperforming grade level expectations receive targeted intervention; and students at or above grade level take part in engaging academic enrichment options Utilization of the Professional Learning Community approach to collaborative teaming amongst subject area colleagues Utilization of interdisciplinary core teams (English, science, math, and social studies) to foster a collaborative multidisciplinary approach to student success. Development of a Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) program in which all students take at least one full year of instruction in cutting edge applied science that integrates these five domains Implementation of after school Math and Language Arts tutoring. Commitment to a social/emotional education and guidance system delivered during Rebel Time Providing opportunities for students to showcase their work through Art Night, National History Day, and other performance venues School Vision: The VRMS staff is in the process of articulating a new vision based on our new mission (below). This vision will describe our school’s preferred future and provide guidance to our teams in planning the course of our work for the next five years. School Mission: Together, View Ridge Middle School will prepare all students for high school and beyond by ensuring high levels of character development and academic achievement.
Page | 2
Student enrollment and demographics (demographics based on 2015-16 data):
OSPI - School Improvement: • Yes Step:____3___ (Include school plan of improvement specific to school) • No Building Budget: ACCOUNT 2015-16 AMOUNT 2016-17 AMOUNT Learning Resources (Library) $1,950 $4,700* Principal’s Office $11,628 $5,000 Guidance and Counseling $200 $500 Health Related Services $300 $350 Teaching $23,050 $32,950* Professional Development $0 $7,290 TOTAL $37,128 $50,790 *Reflects district budget moved to building budget for 2016-17 school year Page | 3
Volunteer Opportunities: View Ridge utilizes volunteers from our Ridgefield Boosters, which supports both high school and middle school activities. Parent volunteers also assist in our STEM classes as career speakers and run our Rebel Den. Student leaders and parents volunteer their time to support Assurance Day (new student orientation), assemblies, and other school activities. National Junior Honor Society members complete a required number of service hours, and many of them do this by serving the school in some capacity. View Ridge students and staff also participate in a yearly Service Day. Students and teachers complete various service projects throughout the school, district, and community. Special Offerings: View Ridge’s academic program is traditional with a few enhancements. Elective options for students are STEM, PE/Health, Art, Band, and Choir. All students leave VR having experienced STEM, PE/Heath, and Art. Students are able to participate in STEM, our most unique program, Band and Choir both in the 7th and 8th grade. Excel period offers a variety of enrichment courses for students who are at or above grade level in reading and math. Collaboration: Collaboration, done effectively, can dramatically improve our pedagogy, school climate, and student learning. In order to allow the time necessary for ongoing collaboration, so that we can thoroughly improve without artificial deadlines and focus on quality, we are committed to weekly collaboration time. The main goal of collaboration is to work together to share ideas, improve teaching practice, and strengthen our schools. This time may include the creation of common assessments, sharing student data, planning units, reflecting on past practices, working across grade bands, and other clearly stated goals that improve team and school performance. View Ridge has committed to enhancing its use of the Professional Learning Communities model for collaboration this school year. Teacher teams are the bedrock of this model. The following teams, comprised of teaching staff, are the driving force behind our work: ● Building Leadership Team-guides general decision making in the building and leads the process of content teams in a continuous cycle of learning, assessment, reflection, and improvement ● Interdisciplinary Teams (A, B, C)-core content teams of that share a common set of students and provide specialized student support collaboratively to their students ● School Improvement Teams (Goal 1, Goal 2, Goal 3, and Goal 4)-guide the process of working on our school-wide goals contained in this document throughout the year Data Analysis: For the last 5 years, View Ridge has maintained passing rates higher than the state in both Reading and Math, even with the implementation of the Smarter Balanced Assessment. However, we are still seeing some concerning trends, especially in the area of math. The classes of 2019, 2020, and 2021 have showed a decline in passing rates for the last 5 years in Math. The class of 2021 passed at 84.7% in Page | 4
2012 compared to 65% in 2016. The class of 2020 dropped from 76.1% in 2012 to 55.7% in 2016. Ready passing rates have dropped over the last 5 years for the class of 2019 and 2021. The only cohort to show a increase in passing rates was the class of 2020. The class of 2020 increased their Reading passing rates from 64.7% in 2015 to 71% in 2016.
Class of 2019 (Current 10th) Math
Reading
Class of 2020 (Current 9th) Math
Reading
Class of 2021 (Current 8th) Math
Reading
2012
81.6%
84%
76.1%
82.5%
84.7%
84.2%
2013
77.5%
81.9%
80.2%
85.4%
71.1%
82.7%
2014
68.9%
78.5%
80.2%
82%
78.8%
83.7%
2015
50.5%
66.6%
61.7%
64.7%
67.7%
70.5%
55.7%
71%
65%
66.1%
2016
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SIP Goal #1: Achieve high outcomes through quality instruction, personalized learning, and continuous improvement resulting in success for every student. Strategy #1: Develop and implement a system-wide assessment system for continuous improvement including: a formalized process and timeline for data analysis including subgroups and ongoing professional development to ensure that staff members at all levels have the tools to analyze data effectively. View Ridge will begin this by planning for implementation of a Standards-based Grading system for the 2017-18 school year. Activities: o Identify key learning and decisions needed to implement a standards-based grading system. o Design View Ridge’s standards based grading report card o Develop assessment system for citizenship, study habits, and social skills o Inform parents and community on standards based grading and how to read their student’s report card o Professional development for on how to grade using standards based grading o Support collaboration amongst departments to finalize power standards work Measure of Success o Standards based grading is implemented school wide in the 2017-2018 school year o Power standards identified for each content area o Parent informational activities completed with informative and instructive feedback o More precise conversations between parents that are more focused on student learning than student behaviors (skills, not work completion) Strategy #2: Align resources for classroom support, professional development, and implementation of best practices that are proven to increase success for all students, focusing on Project Based Learning. Activities: o Professional development for staff with “guide” to assist as departments worked on PBL (Vickei Hrdina) o Resources: subs or PLC time for work (create PBLs and reflect on how they went) o Collaborate with Community for local resources o Work towards a compartmentalized break down of a PBL plan (to build throughout the year) ▪ Session I - Key Knowledge and Understanding, Success Skills, Project Summary, & Driving Question ▪ Session II - Final Products, Learning Outcomes/Targets, Checkpoints/Formative Assessments, Instructional Strategies for All Learners—January TRI Day Page | 6
▪
Session III - Entry Events, Making products public, resources needed, reflection methods, any additional notes (etc.)—March TRI Day, Wednesday collaboration time
Measure of Success o Departments will have one complete PBL plan by end of year o Implementation of interdisciplinary PBL by end of 17-18 year
SIP Goal #2: Provide safe, inclusive, and supportive environments that nurture the well-being of the whole child. Strategy #1: Implement Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, focusing on Tier 2 supports. Activities: o Attend PBIS Tier II and other PBIS professional development opportunities August 2016 PBIS team attendance PBIS Northwest in 2017 o Develop systems to support Check in/Check out (CHICO) system to support students with frequent behavioral problems CHICO Coach CHICO checklist Incorporate into student support system o Provide professional development to staff The “why” of PBIS Check in/out (CHICO) teacher and staff expectations Tier II referral process o Train CHICO coach on purpose and procedures. o Teach CHICO expectations to students referred to Tier II and placed on CHICO. o Develop Tier II documents (CHICO form, Referral form, Parent letter, Reporting, Brief FBA, etc) o Refer students to Tier II support and assign proper intervention Research and develop other Tier II interventions if needed o Monitor students in Tier II interventions o Review data collected on CHICO forms to evaluate success of intervention Measure of Success o Teachers refer students to Tier II support. o Students exit CHICO and follow VR student expectations, reflecting improved behavior o Staff and Tier II students understand and follow CHICO expectations
Page | 7
SIP Goal #3: Provide collaboration and communication opportunities with families, staff, and the community resulting in strong partnerships. Strategy #1: Provide opportunities for parent and patron involvement at View Ridge Middle Schools. Activities: o Communicate involvement opportunities in school communication. o Seek out interested community members to support learning and other school events Solicit volunteers at the Ice Cream Social Prompt students to invite parents and others to participate in VRMS events and learning o Conduct second annual Day of Service, sending students into community to support various needs o Implement “Take Your Parent to School Day” o Involvement opportunities are listed in newsletters, emails, websites, and calendars Measure of Success o Make a list on drive, phone calls to community members, student survey who they know o Student emails/letters to parents o High level of participation in “Take your Parent to School”—40% o All students are involved with collaborating with the community (Day of Service) Strategy #2: Establish educational partnerships to leverage enhanced opportunities for all students. Activities: o Community professionals give “career talks” in classes. o Involve local professionals in classes supporting student learning in subject areas o Field Trips used to give students hands-on, in person experience with content learning o Partner with the ESD to develop Project Based Learning expertise amongst the teaching staff Measure of Success o Students participate in field trips o Professionals volunteer in classes o Involvement of local or regional professionals in each of the content area’s classes o Implementation of Project Based Learning units for each content area in spring semester
Page | 8
SIP Goal #4: Close the disparity gaps by ensuring high expectations, removing barriers and providing opportunities for all students. Strategy #1: Implement a system-wide process for identifying and supporting struggling students and identifying and challenging highly skilled students. Activities: o Using a combination of SBAC, iReady, Dibels and Rewards scores to identify students in need of intervention and/or enrichment o Provide students with tailored curricula suited to their academic needs in English and Math, both intervention curricula and enrichment curricula. o Form a team to develop common expectations & goals for intervention and enrichment courses. o Provide staff time to develop intervention and enrichment units/curricula. o Provide professional development in utilizing different curricula and working with different levels of students o Assess success of Excel program Evaluate growth rate of students receiving interventions in Excel Measure of Success o Students are placed timely and accurately in Excel groups o Students are showing movement from L1-L2, L2-L3 (see chart below) o Written guidelines and expectations for intervention and enrichment in place and shared with all o Necessary professional development has been identified by staff, provided for appropriate staff members and used to improve Excel instruction
OSPI Designated School of Improvement:
Yes (Step #s___3___)
No
Page | 9
STUDENT LEARNING GOALS SCHOOLWIDE SMARTER BALANCED PASSING RATE GOALS State 2014-15 Rank
2015-16 State Goal 2015-16 Rank
7th ELA
64.7 101/300
8th ELA
2016-17 Goal
70
66.1 98/311
75.3
66.8 81/294
71.7
71 85/302
76.6
7th Math
61.7 67/300
67.4
65 64/310
73
8th Math
50.3 125/293
58.2
55.7 101/303
66.2
Science
71.9 81/298
76.6
74.2 108/304
81.3
PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS MEETING TARGET GROWTH (MAPS 2015-16/iReady 2016-17) 2015-16 2014-15 Goal
2016-17 2015-16 Goal
7th ELA
57
65.5
56
74.2
8th ELA
58
66.4
52
74.8
7th Math
56
64.8
62
73.6
8th Math
51
60.8
38
70.6
STUDENTS BELOW PROFICIENCY IMPROVING UP ONE LEVEL ON iREADY TEST L1-L2
L2-L3
7th ELA
15
31
8th ELA
15
29
7th Math
25
43
8th Math
25
22 Page | 10
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