Executive Summary. Scottsdale Online Learning

Transcription

1 Scottsdale Unified School District 48 Dr. Christopher Thuman, Principal 7501 E Virginia Ave Scottsdale, AZ Document Generated On March 25, 2015

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Description of the School 2 School's Purpose 4 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? (SOL) is part of the Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) system of elementary, middle and high schools. The Scottsdale Unified School District has 31 schools serving about 25,668 students. More than 3,862 persons are employed by the district, including about 1,551 teachers. The district celebrated its 100th anniversary in Its boundaries include most, but not all, of the city of Scottsdale, almost all of the town of Paradise Valley, a section of the city of Phoenix and a section of the city of Tempe. All teachers in SUSD could potentially be teachers at (SOL). All online teachers are highly qualified in their subject and teach in various modalities. SOL has been in operation since 2011 and had its first graduation class in There are over 20 teachers that serve the SOL students with an administrative staff of five. SOL currently has about 150 full-time students that come mainly from Arizona and the SUSD high schools. Many of the students have attended one of the five SUSD high schools in the past and had to choose fully online for extra-curricular, medical or personal preference reasons. SOL administration is a dynamic team that really gets to know the students and parents of the program. Their approach is progressive and positive which helps to keep students engaged and ontrack. The program initially started with a small group of students with the first graduating class graduating in Students started with a traditional semester that proved to be too much to handle with multiple online classes at once (up to five). The scheduling was changed in 2013 to support six-week blocks with two classes at once; going year-round. This proved to also have its challenges for students and for staffing. In 2014 a nine-week semester was started that aligned with the traditional SUSD high schools and this is what is currently being implemented today. SOL students can take three-week summer sessions along with regular SUSD students in June and July. Challenges that SOL has faced is with engaging and supporting the success of students consistently. Some of the student population that is drawn to SOL has experienced challenges in other academic environments. This can continue for SOL students when they go fully online and it is a continuing effort to ensure that students do not fall through the cracks. There have been improved communication systems implemented that have drastically improved tracking and communication with students and parents. Identifying students who need help at an early stage has proven to be a successful intervention to support success. The teachers that are with SOL are leaders in their curriculum area. Two teachers holds National Board Certification (math and social studies) while over ten of the teachers have their Master degrees and the remaining 4-5 teachers are planning on pursuing masters or national board certification or both. Many teachers continue to teach in the classroom and hold department chair positions at their home brick and mortar schools. These teachers have led the way with blended curriculum and suggesting improvements in the SOL program. All fulltime online teachers and administrators have had opportunities to pursue professional development in online and blended learning through inacol and ISTE conferences and administration is fully supportive of making improvements to the program to help students succeed and keep technology on the cutting edge. The demographics of SOL represent SUSD across the board. Today, the District covers 112 square miles. Boundaries are not coterminous Page 2

5 with city of Scottsdale boundaries. SUSD serves most of the town of Paradise Valley and parts of Tempe and Phoenix in addition to most of Scottsdale. The District has about 25,668 students and 1,551 teachers. SUSD has 5 comprehensive high schools, 1 online high school with SOL, 6 middle schools, 3 K-8 schools, 16 elementary schools and 3 Early Childhood campuses. Currently SOL has 150 full-time students. Breaking down the SOL demographics further have 25% of SOL students on a 504 or IEP and 35% minority (9% African American; 15% Hispanic; 5% Native American; 5% Asian); male to female student ratio is about 50:50. The SOL teacher breakdown is also about 60:40 with male:female and the total numbers of teachers can fluctuate between 20 and 25 depending on courses being offered during that semester. SOL has its main location at 8500 Jackrabbit Road in Scottsdale, AZ, with an operational office at 7501 East Virginia Ave in Scottsdale. SOL originated at 7501 Oak Street from until that location was turned into an elementary school. There are two main administrative teams. One that deals with the day to day operations at the Virginia location and one team that operates out of our District offices at Jackrabbit where policies, procedures and overall operations are completed. Page 3

6 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. (SOL) was developed for Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) to provide more options for Scottsdale students and parents, plus to attract students from other areas to pursue a quality education with highly-qualified teachers. The mission statement that SOL adheres to and believes in is that SOL strives to meet the needs of a diverse population of learners through 21st century opportunities that break down the barriers of traditional school. SOL has a vision of sustaining and supporting all students from inception to college and career readiness through creating a team atmosphere of learning and success. The curriculum is top of the line and was chosen through a rigorous process in It was important to the selection team that the curriculum met high standards to be able to be offered as full credits, rather than a credit recovery situation. Historically, SUSD had a program in place that limited students to a credit recovery curriculum. Many students who needed a class online had to go elsewhere; either other school districts or other states. SUSD made the decision to offer high quality online classes to fully online students through SOL in The course offerings are wide and deep and full of stimulating content from core classes to electives. SOL has opened its doors to many quality courses and maintained a high standard for the teachers that teach them. AP classes are offered on almost all levels and there are no limitations to a small number of students wanting to take a class. Even if just one student want to take a class, it will be offered. SOL's biggest purpose is to empower student choice. Whether it be a personal preference or a sport, career-direction or travel option, SOL students are given that flexibility. Students can work anywhere in the world and learn at a high level through the curriculum at SOL. Teachers are encouraged to set high standards for students, while being understanding of special schedules. Policies are set up to help students be successful. Students who have medical or social challenges can have another option without leaving the school district they grew up in and students from other districts can have a quality virtual high school to attend. The purpose of SOL has been reinforced with graduating classes since 2012 where students have attended universities across the state, gained dance scholarships across the country and pursued successful sports and acting careers. SOL intends to support well-rounded students who want to gain a quality education whilst pursuing interests that compel them to step outside the traditional school. 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. (SOL) originated in 2011 and had its first graduating class in Since that time SOL has had over 75 graduates who have gone on to pursue university, successful acting careers and earned sports and dance scholarships. Many students have come to SOL as a way to pursue personal goals as young adults or bridge them while they were recovering from a medical illness. SOL has gotten actively involved in reaching out to students and families to help those that needed to get back on track. SOL also has outperformed some brick and mortar schools when it came to state testing (AIMS). In the results were higher than two of the five SUSD brick and mortar schools. SOL also takes part in and supports all 504, IEP and special needs students that need transitioning from a brick and mortar school. SOL has seen many successful cases where students needed some more one on one support in a virtual environment to guide students through a challenging time in their life. There have been many testimonials to the quality of the teachers and administration that have been shared at the District level. The gratitude of providing options for students is beyond what parents expect and the quality level of the curriculum and teachers is second to none in the state of Arizona. Over the past three years SOL has had 75 graduates and is projected to have 300 more over the next three years. Three years ago there were 50 full-time online students and now there are over 150 with this to increase by ~50 each year. The number of teachers started with six and has increased to over twenty. The number of courses offered went from a choice of 30 classes to over 85 options. SOL has continued to modify its policies and procedures to support student success in the future. The communication systems have drastically improved since the inception of SOL. Some of the products that were purchased (Genius) have allowed for teachers to free up more of their time with menial tasks to open up more time to spend one on one with students in a virtual environment. SOL is looking at increasing the amount of face to face time with its students over the next three years. The social component has been analyzed and improved upon even within this past school year with more social time, future clubs and extra-curricular activities. Administration has brain-stormed with teachers to try to improve student engagement and peer connections. Modified teaching days and face to face virtual time are some of the remedies for offering more choices for students outside of the day-to-day submission of work. The SOL team is 100% committed to seeking improvements for its students and are always striving towards full engagement and success of every student. 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. (SOL) administration has initiated a student council for SOL students in and even started having fun events such as ice-cream socials to increase the amount of social interaction. The curriculum and teachers are solid as a rock at SOL, but it has been deemed that an area of improvement could be with the social outlets for the SOL students. The SOL team is looking at modifying teacher schedules as well for to help support student needs outside of the regular school day. This proposal was approved and is going into effect for the school year. This will allow for teachers and students to have more flexibility. The new SOL school calendar is also a huge improvement made for the school year that is still seeking the best benefits for students. A new policy starts in March 2015 that will be stricter on late work to try and prepare students for college and career deadlines. It is a policy that was implemented in the elearning program starting in January 2014, but was not immediately enforced in SOL due to the sixweek time blocks. Once the calendar was changed the late policy which only allows for a one week grace period on due dates will be adopted in March The results from the regular elearning program have been positive and it is hoped that it will be extrapolated to SOL with positive results. Page 6