Executive Summary. John Hopkins Elementary School

Transcription

1 Jackson Public School District Dr. Carri Pillers, Principal 170 John Hopkins Road Jackson, MS Document Generated On January 27, 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? was built in John Hopkins is an urban school located in the far northwestern corner of Jackson, on the border of the city of Clinton. The school is located in a remote area with no businesses or homes. All students are transported to the school daily. The school plant covers 66,664 square feet with 42 classrooms and office space on a campus of 6.9 acres. The school population is 99% African American and serves students in PreK through 5th grade. John Hopkins is one of 32 elementary schools in Jackson Public School District. It is a public school that serves 460. In the school year, the district rezoned the area causing the enrollment to decrease from 499 to 460 students. has an average of 23 students for every full-time equivalent teacher. The Mississippi average is 16 students per full-time equivalent teacher. Minority enrollment is 99.8% of the student body (majority Black), which is more than the state average of 55%. operates within the Jackson Public School District. The student population of 460 students has declined by 10% over the past three years. The teacher population of 28 teachers has declined by 10% over three years to 19 classroom teachers. The student/teacher ratio of 18:1 has increased to 23:1 over three years. John Hopkins School is an Approaching Target school with a 97.4% low-income population. The ethnic/racial breakdown is 99.8% black,.0023% Hispanic, and 100% highly qualified teaching staff with 9.1% IEP students. 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. is devoted to improving the teaching and learning of teachers and students. Our school exists to educate our students to reach their full potential and to become productive citizens in their community. The mission of is to provide a quality education for all students by promoting positive behavior, maintaining safe and orderly environment, and acquiring a knowledge base to become a lifelong learner. The vision is for to become a hallmark of excellence that produces well-rounded proficient students to achieve successfully at the secondary level. The goals of John Hopkins School are: to increase student achievement, increase ADA, increase parent and community involvement, decrease office referrals and decrease incident and accidents. The expectations of the Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) are to respect others, accept responsibility, manage self and solve problems. Our aim is to provide exceptional instruction and support by ensuring that all students meet or exceed state standards in reading, language arts, math and science. In addition to providing quality staff developments, there is an array of opportunities for administrators and teachers to continue their professional growth that provides quality instruction that focuses on each student making adequate yearly progress. John Hopkins School, challenged with the task of redefining its goals and mission, engages in an in-depth study of the Jackson Public Schools policies, beliefs and mission along with its own. In addition to refining our goals and mission, we endeavor to take into account the challenges and opportunities our students will possibly encounter in the future. 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. Twelve John Hopkins teachers were trained under the Mississippi Learning Institute (MLI). This program allowed teachers to focus on instructional strategies and assessments. John Hopkins also reaches out to area day care centers for rising Kindergarten students by having a Pre-Kindergarten Day. National Board Certified Librarians represented in Washington, DC which included one of John Hopkins. John Hopkins collaborates with Mississippi College School of Education and Hinds Community College to allow student teachers to obtain classroom observation and pre-student teaching hours of experience. The school also participates in the Presidential Hills Friends and Family Annual Day of Activities annually. John Hopkins, in partnership with Dayspring Community Church, allows Book Buddies in a mentoring relationship to strengthen our students' reading confidence. Dayspring Community Church also had formed the Princess Club for our Fifth Grade girls to encourage positive self-image, teach etiquette and to build self-esteem. The Rotary Club of Jackson donates dictionaries to our third grade students and also leads them on a dictionary scavenger hunt. Community outreach in which John Hopkins regularly participates include the following: Breast Cancer Awareness, Toys for Tots, Canned Food Drive for Stewpot Community Services and Goodwill donations. John Hopkins' Open Doors students have also participated in SHOP. The John Hopkins' Choir has participated in Christmas at the Capitol, caroling at the Metrocenter Mall and Cottage Grove Nursing Home. John Hopkins has notably received numerous grants and awards - Open Doors Glory Garden Grant, Partnership Excellence Award from MDE, Jr. League Grants exceeding ($35,000), Project Fit - Blue Cross Blue Shield ($25,000), Healthy Fruit Grant, PBIS Grant, National School Lunch Week 3 Consecutive years 1st place, 4 National Board Certified Teachers, Featured on the Conservation Notes and District Level Science Fair and Reading Fair Winners. John Hopkins School has been designated as an Approaching Target School by MDE. In an effort to regain the status of Successful and/or above, the district has implemented Wildly Important Goals "WIGS". This endeavor will assist John Hopkins to achieve an overall increase of 10% in the areas of Language Arts, Math, and Science with a decrease in discipline referrals. The school was identified prior to MCT2 as Successful. The goal of John Hopkins is to increase test scores by 10% in all academic areas each year to the next three years. The staff recognizes that we need to grow all population across the spectrum, we are making progress in helping our students meet benchmarks identified by state and federal standards. Title I funds have provide an array of technology, classroom supplies and materials, a computer lab technician and an academic tutor for more engaging and effective instruction. This has allowed the purchase of fourteen SMARTBoards, desktop computers, Ipads, 27 student netbooks and a cart, in addition to software. These funds have and will continue to assist us in addressing the highest needed areas, assist with the student deficit in reading and professional development to create sustainability in all grades. Our school district has also provided several support pieces for addressing identified standards, including Common Core professional development, Case 21 district assessments and test item bank, technical support, and detailed instructions for each school establishing two major goals to meet based on student data. 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. Major transitions have occurred at John Hopkins School within the past three years. We have had three principals within the last four years. Due to the recent rezoning of the district, the enrollment has decreased from 499 students to 460. Seven staff members were transferred to other schools and funding was decreased which accounts for the loss of the school Interventionist. John Hopkins currently has one Pre-K class, and three kindergarten through fifth grade classes. We also have two Significant Cognitive Develop classrooms, one music classroom, one Open Doors classroom, one in-school suspension classroom, one speech therapy classroom, one media center, one computer lab and two inclusion teachers with a total of 42 classrooms. Since John Hopkins is in the far northwest corner of Jackson, covering 66,664 square feet, the area is very secluded. All students are transported. There are no businesses or homes located in the area. Therefore, it has been very challenging to solicit adopters for the school; though we do have book buddies through Day Springs Church and a specialty partner - Relevant Empowerment Church. John Hopkins, in partnership with Dayspring Community Church, allows Book Buddies in a mentoring relationship to strengthen our students' reading confidence. Dayspring Community Church also had formed the Princess Club for our Fifth Grade girls to encourage positive selfimage, teach etiquette and to build self-esteem. The Rotary Club of Jackson donates dictionaries to our third grade students and also leads them on a dictionary scavenger hunt. John Hopkins also participates in the Presidential Hills Friends and Family Annual Day of Activities. Twelve John Hopkins teachers were trained under the Mississippi Learning Institute (MLI). This program allowed teachers to focus on instructional strategies and assessments. John Hopkins also reaches out to area day care centers for rising Kindergarten students by having a Pre-Kindergarten Day. National Board Certified Librarians represented in Washington, DC. The school collaborates with Mississippi College School of Education and Hinds Community College to allow student teachers to obtain classroom observation and pre-student teaching hours of experience. Community outreach in which John Hopkins regularly participates include the following: Breast Cancer Awareness, Toys for Tots, Canned Food Drive for Stewpot Community Services and Goodwill donations. John Hopkins' Open Doors students have also participated in SHOP. The John Hopkins' Choir has participated in Christmas at the Capitol, caroling at the Metrocenter Mall and Cottage Grove Nursing Home. The administrators, teachers, staff, parents, and community are committed to ensuring the physical, emotional, social and academic progress of all students. Page 5