Executive Summary. Early College High School

Transcription

1 Salem-Keizer School District 24J Mr. Jason Weeks, Principal 4071 Winema Place NE Salem, OR Document Generated On November 9, 2015

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Description of the School 2 School's Purpose 3 Notable Achievements and Areas of Improvement 4 Additional Information 5

3 Introduction Every school has its own story to tell. The context in which teaching and learning takes place influences the processes and procedures by which the school makes decisions around curriculum, instruction, and assessment. The context also impacts the way a school stays faithful to its vision. Many factors contribute to the overall narrative such as an identification of stakeholders, a description of stakeholder engagement, the trends and issues affecting the school, and the kinds of programs and services that a school implements to support student learning. The purpose of the Executive Summary (ES) is to provide a school with an opportunity to describe in narrative form the strengths and challenges it encounters. By doing so, the public and members of the school community will have a more complete picture of how the school perceives itself and the process of self-reflection for continuous improvement. This summary is structured for the school to reflect on how it provides teaching and learning on a day to day basis. Page 1

4 Description of the School Describe the school's size, community/communities, location, and changes it has experienced in the last three years. Include demographic information about the students, staff, and community at large. What unique features and challenges are associated with the community/communities the school serves? (ECHS) collaborates in partnership with Chemeketa Community College (CCC) in Salem, Oregon. As a small high school within Salem-Keizer area specializing in dual credit opportunities at ECHS and CCC. Each year, around 90 students access dual credit opportunities on a part-time and full-time basis. students enter focused on access to the community college. Located on the campus of Chemeketa Community College, our 9th and 10th grade students access a full high school schedule taught by teachers while being introduced to the college environment. Upon entering 11th grade, students begin accessing community college course work through our partnership with CCC. The partnership allows students to begin taking a minimum set of college courses, taught by college instructors while still accessing a partial high school schedule. Support and intervention strategies are in place to ensure the success of our students in both degrees. Over time, students transition to full-time college work, many transition by mid-year of junior year. One of the most visual, and main, support systems at ECHS is school-wide AVID implementation. All students in grades 9-12 are enrolled in an AVID elective course. As our staff have continued to implement AVID strategies, a consistent and sustainable program is offered to students in all of the high school coursework. Utilizing the AVID strategies, our upper classmen are offered a multitude of opportunities and supports within their AVID elective class from academic supports to college applications. Our mission at ECHS is to serve an underserved but motivated population of Salem-Keizer students by providing them with an excellent high school academic program while creating a pathway to college classes at Chemeketa Community College. Currently, 38% of our students are either present or previously served English Language Learners while 59% are economically disadvantaged. Our school offers an opportunity for students to find success in an accelerated, support environment. As our enrollment and overall interest in our program has expanded within the past few years, the selection process is offered through a general lottery of qualified students. Students apply during their 8th grade year and the application process requires both teacher recommendations and student essays. Successful applicants then complete a personal interview with school staff prior to being accepted into the general lottery pool. Once accepted, student assessment results are reviewed by school staff to determine the best supports that may be provided to help the student find individual success. Page 2

5 School's Purpose Provide the school's purpose statement and ancillary content such as mission, vision, values, and/or beliefs. Describe how the school embodies its purpose through its program offerings and expectations for students. Our mission is to serve an underserved, but motivated population of Salem-Keizer students by providing them an excellent high school academic program, while creating a pathway to college classes at Chemeketa Community College. As we work to support our school goals, we seek to have our 11th grade students taking college courses at the beginning of their junior year before progressing to a full-time college schedule by spring term. To create this opportunity for access, we focus on accelerating a student's learning and credit opportunities throughout the 9th and 10th grade school years. Through this acceleration, specific student support interactions are provided to help students find continued academic support. Through our 1 to 1 ipad program, our high school students are immersed in technology to support their individualized learning and success in both and Chemeketa Community College. Our partnership with Chemeketa Community College, allows for an innovative counseling process with students accessing an Early College High School and a college academic counselor. Through this combined counseling process, students are provided opportunities to access community college coursework, while maintaining our AVID focus of College and Career readiness for all students. As we continue to expand our support and offerings, we continue to see an increased focus and an increased number of students accessing the university system. With a four and five year plan option, students choose the best course of study to meet their college and career goals. Page 3

6 Notable Achievements and Areas of Improvement Describe the school's notable achievements and areas of improvement in the last three years. Additionally, describe areas for improvement that the school is striving to achieve in the next three years. continues to receive the highest possible rating within the state as related to academic performance. Within this past year, demonstrated a 100% passing rate within SBAC for ELA standards and a 66% in Math. This success is supported with our graduation rate of 97.78%. As we continue to expand with our college credit opportunities and access for all students, students earned over 3400 college credits last year while accumulating over 1000 hours of community service. Additionally, our students earned over a ½ million in scholarship funds last year. Early College took the Smarter Balanced assessment for the first time in the school year. The scores for the first year were encouraging as 100% of the juniors met English Language Arts with a level 3 or better while the math scores were 65.6%. While Early College High School continues to perform well on state and national assessments, we continue to seek additional opportunities and access for our students. Through our current work we continue to seek ways to expand upon our academic supports for all students and accommodate for their individualized learning. In the past year, we have expanded and refined our study hall process and added an academic support class within the school day. For college level supports, we are implementing a required counselor/administrative intervention meeting for students demonstrating limited college success. These intervention conferences will help guide and determine the next steps within our intervention supports. Through our continued dialogue with students, they have expressed interest in expanding our extracurricular opportunities within Early College High School for all grades. As part of this effort, we have formed a student government, afterschool club sport opportunities and expanded social opportunities for our students, such as our High School Prom. While in the initial stages of this work, we have received positive feedback from these efforts. Page 4

7 Additional Information Provide any additional information you would like to share with the public and community that were not prompted in the previous sections. 's reputation is on helping students to gain access and opportunity to both the high school and college curriculums, who might have otherwise been overlooked. As we continue to refine and enhance our efforts to support all students at Early College High School, we continue to hold true to our mission. We actively seek and work to engage the underserved student populations, within the Salem-Keizer School District, while providing the academic supports students need to support our accelerated learning opportunities. Utilizing a dual credit platform for our work, students see that their effort truly supports them in their personal academic growth. Through this unique mix of academic and social learning opportunities, located within a community college setting, we continually see students thrive and find success. Page 5