Executive Summary. Limona Elementary School

Transcription

1 Hillsborough County Public Schools Mrs. Robin Johnson Hewitt, Administrator 1115 Telfair Rd Brandon, FL Document Generated On December 9, 2014

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? Limona Elementary school is located at 1115 Telfair Road, Brandon, Florida. The school is built in the shape of a circle and resembles the pentagon when photographed from the air. The school opened in 1971 with its first Principal, Mrs. Marjorie Barnett. The school underwent a major school renovation in 2010 which included new floors, cabinets, paint, roof and air conditioning. The school picks up from the surrounding neighborhoods, which are of a medium income and two small apartment complexes using three buses. Many students attend Limona through School Choice. Students feed to the middle schools; McLane and Mann for Middle School and then to Brandon High School. Enrollment at Limona has been steadily increasing over the past three years due to development of a new subdivision within walking distance to the school. This year Limona reached 55% free or reduced lunch. The students at number 551 with 240 white, 86 black, 152 Hispanic, 36 Asian, and 37 Multiracial. The staff consists of approximately 65 staff members. Many of the teachers have spent their entire career at Limona. 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. For the school year our purpose is to have parents take an active role in their children's education. We began the year with an evening presentation on The Florida Standards and how to help their students reach academic success. We will provide parents with information and volunteer opportunities through PTA/School newsletters, agendas, Hewitt's Headlines, Parent Link phone calls, Spirit Nights, PTA events, curriculum based Parent/Family involvement nights such as SMATH night, Science Fair and Science Olympics' participation as well as the Fall Reading Festival, and Chorus and musical group performances. Teacher's conference with parents at least two times a year. Many classrooms are keeping student data folders where students are setting goals, monitoring progress and communicating their success with their parents. The targeted area for improvement that the Limona is trying to incorporate into all classroom instruction include engaging students in rigorous content using precise data analysis and higher order questioning strategies. Key to a child's success is engagement especially in Reading. For students to learn, they must be engaged and understand that learning to read is the touchstone of all other subjects such as writing, math, science and social studies. The school has a yearly 96% attencance goal. We fail to reach this each year by a few tenths. Absenteeism and tardiness play a role in student success. It is important for parents to understand the impact that missing a day of instruction has on their child's future. We have several incentive programs that are both classroom based and school wide to encourage on time attendance. We also recognize perfect attendance each nine weeks at a school awards assembly. To help students be successful in learning to read, it is important for parents to read to their children and for students to read to their parents and explain their understanding of what they have read. The school has purchased Renaissance Place or (AR) subscription for students to track their recreational reading. Students set goals, read a set number of books and take reading tests. The school is having quarterly AR celebrations. Many teachers are creating student data folders where students set goals that are monitored by students, teachers and parents as they track their own performance. 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. Limona has consistently maintained high levels of student achievement in all content areas. Reading proficiency for 2014 was 74% in grades 3, 4, and 5 for level 3 and above. Math proficiency for 2014 was 78% in grades 3, 4 and 5 for level 3 and above. Science FCAT results showed significant improvement for 5th grade students in the category % level 3 or above increasing from 62% at level 3 or above in 2012 to a 67 % at level 3 or above in The bottom quartile has made significant gains in the past three years in reading from a 56% at level 3 or above in 2012 to 69% at level 3 or above in Math results show that 73% of the bottom quartile made gains in 2012 to 81% in We believe these gains can be attributed to reworked district training offerings to teacher in mathematics instructions and science professional development. The targeted area for improvement that the Limona is trying to incorporate into all classroom instruction include engaging students in rigorous content using precise data analysis and higher order questioning strategies. This implementation will increase the learning gains of the bottom quartile in reading from 69% to 72%. 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. Limona Elementary takes great pride in maintaining a School Grade of "A" for the past 15 years. Page 5