Executive Summary. Alice Birney Elementary School

Transcription

1 Jefferson Parish Public School System Mrs. Jewel Jackson, Principal 4829 Hastings Street Metairie, LA Document Generated On March 11, 2015

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Description of the School 2 School's Purpose 3 Notable Achievements and Areas of Improvement 5 Additional Information 6

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? Alice Birney Elementary (ABE) is centrally located in a residential area of Metairie, Louisiana at 4829 Hastings Street. The 45 year old campus has a courtyard surrounded by six buildings that consists of 30 classrooms, administrative offices, and a cafeteria which includes a stage for performances. There is an additional separate building for the Library and two playgrounds. Redistricting in the last several years and an increasing number of nearby apartment buildings contributes to the largest student population of the school's history of 678 pre-kindergarten thru 5th grade students. There is a diverse student population made up of 359 Hispanic/Latino students, 134 White, 130 African American, 33 Asian, and 22 Other Ethnic students. With the diversity, a unique sense of respect and caring exudes the campus. Alice Birney Elementary is a Title 1 and Title 3 school. With the increasingly diverse neighborhood population and the parish's restructuring to include separate Advanced Academies, ABE now services 217 English Language Learner (ELL) students as the highest ELL population for the parish, and has decreased to 9 gifted/theater/art students. There are 58 students receiving Special Ed services and numerous students receiving academic accommodations and/or classified as At Risk. ABE has 282 students who have been absent more than 5 days of school and 95 students who have more than 10 days of absences. ABE's school community has a high transient population with 215 students either entering late or dropping early within the school year, creating challenges in achieving goals. Presently the staff consists of a Principal, an Assistant Principal, 3 office staff including a Bilingual Parent Advisor, an Academic Dean, a librarian, a school counselor, an Itinerant team of 15 evaluators/nurses, a part-time band instructor, 8 ELL teachers, 9 Special Ed teachers (which includes 3 part-time gifted/talented specialists and 1 full time Speech Therapist), 4 Physical Education teachers/coaches, 27 PK thru 5th grade classroom teachers, and 9 classroom assistants. 21 staff members hold an advanced degree and/or National Board Certification status. A unique feature of the school is the school campus layout. ABE has an open campus with the great potential for expansion to accommodate the ever increasing student population. This unique feature is also a challenge for the school since every classroom is occupied and a few rooms are double housed to provide the students a place to learn. Presently ESL teachers push-in to the grade level classes and also pull out from the class to provide the much needed small group instruction. The small group instruction is provided to students in an open multipurpose area located in the center of each building. 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. The purpose of Alice Birney Elementary (ABE) is to ensure all students become positive, productive members of society by providing highquality instruction. The faculty and staff provide challenges and interventions based on the Louisiana Common Core Standards. Rigorous instruction and assessments are scrutinized to meet the needs of all students. The vision of Alice Birney Elementary encompasses the ideal that Alice Birney students will be the best students they can produce. All students will be prepared to read, write, and think critically to achieve any goal set for themselves. All teachers will foster a positive relationship with their students to motivate the students as they create a life-long love for learning. Title 1 funds provide the newly acquired Academic Dean to support the curriculum needs of all teachers and students. Through weekly collaborative meetings to build competency and consistency throughout the grade levels, current curriculum practices are evaluated and incorporated into lessons. The Leadership Team conducts regular unplanned Walk-Throughs to identify student learning and teaching methods needing assistance. To oppose the ever-increasing ELL enrollment an additional ELL teacher recently joined the staff to decrease the ELL teacher-pupil-ratio in 4th and 5th grade. Each grade level now has trained staff to reach the unique needs of second language learners. Additional staff members are currently enrolled in special ELL certification and/or Rosetta Stone training. All ABE teachers receive survival Spanish sentences to allow them to communicate with new entering students who do not speak any English. ABE focuses on making students feel safe and secure which will allow students to be free to learn. The love for learning is evident in the climate of ABE. The students are kind, caring, and respectful students who work daily to improve their learning. Students are greeted each day by the principal and again as they enter their classrooms by their individual teachers. ABE PBIS committee meets regularly to discuss and address behavior expectations, rewards, and incentives which are designed to motivate the students and teachers to do their very best. The committee also regularly discusses safety concerns which are all part of protecting students: conducting regular safety drills, Visitor sign-in, anti-bullying sessions are held, Caught Ya Being Good & Birney Bucks rewards address everything from classroom expectations to social behavior. The Student of the Month program at ABE provides certificates and a lapel pin to honor those students. All of the activities and incentives are designed to make the students of ABE feel loved, accepted, and safe. With the changing surrounding school community, the faculty is working to embrace those changes within the school. The school is actively working to build relationships with families in the community by hosting several family events at different times of the day. During the school day ABE hosts a Principal's Coffee to allow parents to visit the school and discuss challenging issues. ABE also hosts Math Night, Literacy Night, a Parent Testing meeting, and a weekend Family Picnic sponsored and organized by the school's business partner. The stakeholders of ABE work diligently to build relationships with students, families, and the business community. The goal of ABE is to improve instruction which will improve student learning. ABE has recently partnered with the University of New Orleans (UNO) to host 4 student teachers. Both ABE and UNO are excited about the partnership. The intention is to bring in current instructional strategies as seen through the eyes of a novice teacher while the seasoned teacher provides modeling of best practices. With ABE focusing on strategic academic improvement, the goal of improving instruction to improve learning is the foundation for all decisions within the school. ABE's goal is for the students to achieve academic success through successful implementation of: constructed responses, the writing process, reading and responding, the Literacy Block, and literacy across content. ABE uses funds raised at the school level to purchase much needed resources to support the students and teachers in their academic pursuit of the goal. To provide additional support to reach the rigorous goal, ABE offers tutoring after school for one hour twice per week to the 3rd through 5th grade ELL population. ABE also provides tutoring on Saturday to all 3rd through 5th grade students who are in need of the academic support. An Academic Behavior Intervention Team (ABIT) is a school level committee designed to address the learning challenges and needs of the students in ABE school. The team meets weekly to discuss strategies, interventions, and possible evaluations to assist students with their Page 3

6 academic challenges. Parents and teachers are invited to attend the meetings to discuss the best course of action that will allow the student to be successful with their learning. The mission of ABE is to create a learning environment in which students are actively engaged while learning the skills necessary to become responsible, respectful, and productive life-long learners. ABE's mission directly supports the values, beliefs, goals, and vision of the school. Our Values / Beliefs We believe that all students can learn, achieve, and succeed. We believe that students learn in different ways and learn best when actively engaged. We believe in providing a rigorous and challenging academic program enriched with cultural arts, physical training, and technological instruction that develops the intellectual and creative potential of the students. We believe in encouraging and promoting citizenship, patriotism, environmental responsibility, and an appreciation of cultural and individual diversity. We believe in fostering in students a positive self-image by providing opportunities for individual and shared success and that develop confidence, responsibility, and self-discipline. We believe that it is important that the dignity and worth of the individual be recognized and preserved. We believe in providing a safe, pleasant learning environment. We believe that teachers, parents, and community share responsibility for the support of the school's vision. Page 4

7 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. Alice Birney Elementary's notable achievements consist of moving academically from a "C" school to a "B" school, maintaining a positive caring image in the community, and creating a welcoming school culture for all families as explained in the "Purpose". Areas of improvement for ABE are learning instructional strategies that will positively impact the bi-lingual population in the areas of reading, writing, and mathematics. In addition, ABE will continue to focus on vertical alignment of the CCSS across grade levels, creating more rigorous weekly assessments, and providing actionable feedback on instruction. Areas where ABE can improve over the next 3 years are in improving instruction, creating assessments reflective of Common Core rigor, and creating a system for frequently monitoring learning and teaching. To improve instruction at ABE the academic focus will need to monitor student learning through a variety of assessments. Teaching will need to be adjusted based on the students' progression. Feedback will be essential to this process and so will celebrations of success. Formative assessments will be an important part of the classroom routine to impact the monitoring for learning and teaching. As important, monitoring methods must match the purpose and learning targets. With a close watch of the level of assessment rigor and the frequency and depth of feedback, a careful monitoring process of school improvement will occur. Page 5

8 Additional Information Provide any additional information you would like to share with the public and community that were not prompted in the previous sections. Alice Birney Elementary plans for the school year to be the best school year. ABE is in the process of creating an elementary National Honor Society to provide students with a motivational academic goal. Page 6