Executive Summary. Oakland Primary School

Transcription

1 Sumter School District Mrs. Shirley G Tomlin 5415 Oakland Drive Sumter, SC Document Generated On January 9, 2015

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? serves students in pre-kindergarten through first grade. We are committed to providing a warm and nurturing environment where all children can learn and succeed. We maintain high expectations for our students' academic, social, emotional, and physical development. is located approximately eight miles south of Sumter, in the state of South Carolina, and is adjacent to Shaw Air Force Base. Industry and the military provide the majority of household income in the area. has 675 students in 4 pre-kindergarten, 11 kindergarten and 12 first grade classes. 52 % of our students are military. The composition of the student body is 40% Caucasian, 49% African-American, and 11% other. is conveniently located close to shopping centers, medical facilities, fine restaurants, excellent housing choices, and institutes of higher learning. It is a little over an hours drive from the Grand Stand of South Carolina. We are also less than 40 miles from the state capital of Columbia, South Carolina. is a progressive and technologically up-to-date school and offers a wide range of educational experiences for our students. The parents of our school are involved as volunteers, mentors, tutors, and actively support the school through their time and efforts to improve school/community relationship. 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 mission of is to educate the "whole child." With that in mind, our school's theme for is "Building the Future- One Child at a Time". Our vision is to provide an appropriate educational experience that maximizes the potential of every child. We believe: challenging instructional practices incorporate learning activities that take into account differences in learning styles; each student is a valued individual with unique physical, social, emotional and intellectual needs; each individual is responsible for his or her own actions; the quality of education primarily determines the quality of life in a community; and teamwork is necessary to achieve the goals of an organization. Teachers and administrators are continually involved in professional development to help gain strategies and skills for meeting the needs of our students. Differentiation of Instruction and Balanced Literacy have been a focus for several years. We are in the process of reviewing and revising intervention programs in the areas of reading, math and student behavior to increase student achievement levels. As a staff, we are beginning to look at a variety of data including Measures of Academic Progress (MAP), Benchmarks, Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) Screening, Reading Running Records, State Readiness Assessment, etc. to determine where instruction can be modified. Students come to us with a variety of backgrounds, skills and abilities. The diversity of our school offers real life experiences for students to learn and grow. Students are expected to be responsible for their learning and social skills development. We sponsor various groups and clubs that students are encouraged to join in order to help them grow socially, emotionally, and academically. Assemblies are held throughout the year that focus on character development, drug awareness, fire safety, and standard/subject specific areas. 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. We recently received a Patriot Park grant for STEM. Through this grant we were able to purchase over 100 Ipads for teachers to use with students in the classroom. We also purchased an elibrary of over 2500 books to give our students and teachers access at both home and school. Within the past year, the district provided our school with Interactive Boards for use within all of our classrooms and each teacher received a laptop computer. Classroom and computer lab computers were upgraded within the past two years.technology is being used to enhance instructional delivery. We have a STEM after-school program in which our students learn about Robotics, photography and writing, gardening, and math and science investigations, as well as an after-school tutorial program that provides assistance in reading and math. Also our students are very involved in service learning projects throughout the school year such as March of Dimes, Relay for Life, Shower Shaw with Cookies Drive, American Heart Walk, etc. We will continue to analyze data for improving instructional delivery and student achievement which will help to improve and strengthen our MTSS program. Currently, we focus on academics but plan to add a behavior component. The Edivation 360 program for professional development will be targeted to meet the individual teacher's need. This will make our professional development more meaningful for our teachers. This school year we have four full day pre-kindergarten classes which allows us to meet the needs of disadvantaged students and prepare them for kindergarten. 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. Oakland Primary is proud of its heritage and tradition and we are dedicated to the total development of every Pre-k through first grade student. We are committed to providing a warm and nurturing environment where all children can learn and succeed. We maintain high expectations for our students' academic, social, emotional, and physical development. The best teachers in town can be found at Oakland and we sincerely value the community partnerships and parental support that we receive. The staff at Oakland believes that learning is a lifelong process; it is a journey, not a destination. Students come to us with a variety of backgrounds, skills and abilities. The diversity of our school offers real life experiences for students to learn and grow. Staff members are committed to providing the best possible educational experience for each child. Students are expected to be responsible for their learning and social skills development. Oakland students and staff are service oriented. Each year funds are raised for local charities such as Relay for Life, Heart Walk, March of Dimes, Pennies for Patients, United Way, etc. We are also top cookie donators in the Shower Shaw with Cookies drive. The University of South Carolina is in close proximity to the school and partners with us. Their Early Childhood Education students complete their practicum experience at our school each year. Our school is also involved in two pilot programs within the district which are Edivation 360 (Professional Development) and a Multi-Tier Systems of Support (MTSS). Instructional resources are purchased making the best use of available funds. Our PTA is very supportive and raises funds to support all programs within the school such as Study Ladder, Education City, Eagle Buck Student Incentive Program, assembly programs and workshops for staff members. Our biggest challenge is that we are a primary school with only pre-kindergarten through first grade students. These students come from a large attendance area resulting in large class sizes. The grade level structure makes it difficult at the beginning of the school year until we get the students accustomed to procedures and routines. Also, we have a large size special education population that serves students classified as Developmentally Delayed and Autistic. We also serve students with speech and language difficulties and various other learning disabilities. This makes it difficult when mainstreaming students into the regular education classroom increasing class size even more. An area of concern identified from parent and teacher surveys is meeting the needs of all of our students. We have instituted a modified Multi-Tier System of Support (MTSS) program to help meet the needs of students who are at risk academically but we also see the need for interventions to address social behaviors. However, at the present time we are constrained by lack of funding and personnel. We are extremely excited to have been selected to serve as a Trailblazer MTSS school for the school year by the district which will include the behavior intervention piece. We are currently going through a process to develop a plan of action along with professional development for our staff. Page 5