Executive Summary. West Lincoln High School

Transcription

1 Lincoln County Schools Dr. Cale Sain, Principal 172 Shoal Rd Lincolnton, NC Document Generated On February 21, 2013

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? is located in rural western Lincoln County, in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. West Lincoln High School was built in 1961, to merge Union High School and North Brook High School. WLHS has successfully blended the ideas of a rich heritage and a tradition of excellence on the strengths of a positive faculty and strong academic programs. Since 1961, West Lincoln has been, and continues to be, the largest institution in western Lincoln County, serving the rural Cat Square, Crouse, Howard's Creek, Lincolnton, and North Brook communities. Many WLHS graduates continue to live in the community and approximately twenty-eight are on the faculty. Additionally, while WLHS began as a smaller high school in Lincoln County, it has grown into the second-largest high school with 935 students. is a predominately white school, both in students and staff, which mirrors the West Lincoln community. The staff is one hundred percent White while the student population is eighty-nine percent White/Non-Hispanic(832 students), 8.6% Hispanic (80 students), 1.2% Black (12 students), and 1.2% Multi-Race, American-Indian, and Asian-American (11 students). These numbers are very similar to the demographics for Lincoln County. According to the 2010 Census, Lincoln County is 85.4 White, 6.9% Hispanic, 6% Black, and 1.7% other. The western Lincoln County communities continue to be comprised mostly of middle class, working class, and poor families and residents. The economic realities of our communities are found in our Free and Reduced Lunch numbers. Whereas Lincoln County has a poverty level of 13.7%, slightly over fifty percent of our students qualify for Free and Reduced Lunch. Additionally, 2010 Census data indicate that per capita income in the past twelve months is at $25,485 and the median household income for Lincoln County is $50,279. These communities continue to experience the same challenges as the rest of North Carolina and the United States. The Lincoln County unemployment rate is slightly over ten percent. Since western Lincoln County has no manufacturing base and a very small services industry, many of our families must travel to Lincolnton (county seat and only incorporated town in Lincoln County) or the neighboring counties of Catawba, Cleveland, Gaston, and Mecklenburg for employment. Over the years, western Lincoln County has struggled with a social culture that does not value higher education. According to 2010 Census data, 82.1% of Lincoln County residents 25 years old or older have a high school diploma or higher, while only 19.7% of residents 25 years older or older have a bachelor's degree or higher. Other than school and church, there are very few cultural opportunities for our families and students. Much like work, residents of western Lincoln County have to travel to neighboring counties for cultural opportunities. 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. utilizes the following mission statement to embody everything that we do for and with our students: " staff will work with students, parents, and the community to ensure a quality education in a safe environment where students develop self-confidence, pride, responsibility, and high academic standards in order to meet the demands of a competitive global economy." Additionally, we have adopted the following as belief statements for our school: All students will be empowered to learn, achieve, and succeed. All students can and will learn, and that they should be taught utilizing the Common Core and Essential Standards curricula, as well as 21st Century skills, in the most effective way to ensure success. Education is a shared responsibility between students, parents, teachers, and administrators. A highly qualified staff should motivate, engage, and empower students to reach their maximum potential. Professional development opportunities for staff are an integral component of learning and growing as a school. Strong, effective communication between home and school is essential for students and teachers to be successful. A collaborative work environment is the best means to reach schools goals and encourage success. Success should be celebrated. A commitment to continuous improvement in all aspects of school is essential in order to achieve the mission statement of West Lincoln High School. A strong, positive culture impacts all aspects of school. The actions of the faculty in pursuing the school beliefs ultimately will determine the integrity of. We believe that we serve our students by offering a strong Advanced Placement and Honors program, as well as a regular education program. WLHS offers AP courses in the following areas: Literature and Composition, Language and Composition, Calculus, Statistics, U.S. History, European History, U.S. Government and Politics, Biology, and Chemistry. Additionally, we offer students the option of Virtual Public High School AP offerings. We offer a full complement of Career-Technical Education classes from the following program areas: Agriculture, Business Education, Family and Consumer Sciences, Health Occupations, and Technology. In many of these classes, our students have the option to enroll in honors level classes. Since 1987, Lincoln County Schools has operated the Lincoln County School of Technology. LCST, for short, offers junior- and senior-level coursework in all the Career-Technical program areas. For almost a decade, WLHS has been privileged to sponsor a Navy JROTC program. Known as the "Rebel Navy," the JROTC program is a vital program area for our students as it offers leadership opportunities for our students to compete within our school but also with other schools in the area. We believe that the most valuable education for our students naturally involves high expectations. 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. has enjoyed several notable achievements over the past three years. Through successful fundraising drives, we have been able to raise over $40,000 that has gone to purchase technology for our classrooms and school. In , we were able to purchase eight SmartBoards for our End-of-Course teachers. This year we purchased a new classroom set of desktops for our new computer lab. At this time, WLHS has two desktop labs with a third lab (laptops) on the way. With regards to testing, WLHS saw the highest-ever EOC scores for While enjoying an upward trend every year, last year we were at 86.9% proficient in English I, Biology, and Algebra I, an increase from 73.8% in Additionally, our Biology and Algebra I scores were the highest ever for , 92.5% and 83.7% respectively. Moreover, the hard work of the EOC teachers is evidenced by two consecutive years of high growth in those tested areas. Since the READY Accountability model was implemented, WLHS has an index score of 3.23 (exceeds growth) based on data. continues to enjoy teacher stability evidenced by a low teacher turnover rate. In , our teacher turnover rate was twelve percent, while the state average was fourteen percent (NC Report Cards). Another notable achievement continues to be our focus on professional development. During , our teaching staff attended several county-level workshops on the new Common Core and Essential Standards curricula. In many cases, WLHS staff was on the training teams for the professional development. This year, our focus on staff development has been formative assessments, digital literacy, and 21st Century Skills. Our four-year and five-year graduation rates also continue to rise. Since , our four-year graduation rate has increased from 73.5% to 88.4%. Since , our five-year graduation rate has increased from 84.2% to 86.8%. In both cases, our graduation rates exceed the Lincoln County Schools graduation rates as well as the state rates. While we continue to work on increasing our EOC scores in Algebra I, English II and Biology, and implementing the Common Exam program, we have much work to do with our ACT results. In all four areas, WLHS finished below the district and state percentages. Another area of concern for WLHS continues to be our Advanced Placement results. There is much work among our staff that remains to be done to increase our AP results for our students and parents. We also want to focus on increasing our technology infrastructure at WLHS. While all classrooms have internet connectivity (and wireless throughout the building) and LCD projectors, we realize that we have much work to do to place Smart Technologies in every classroom. 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. West High School continues to fulfill our mission of educating students in preparation for a global economy. Although fewer than fifty percent of our students currently go on to higher education, we realize that it is as much due to the economy and environmental factors than the school. We know that we continue to need professional development in certain areas and additional technologies in our classrooms. We are in the process of looking at changing our business partnership to a more local bank. We know that we need to work on increasing our ACT scores but again, this is very difficult to do when many of our students have no plans to attend a four-year university. Page 5