Anniston City Board of Education Dr. Sherron Jinadu, Principal 1301 Woodstock Avenue Anniston, AL 36207 Document Generated On September 16, 2015
TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Description of the School 2 School's Purpose 3 Notable Achievements and Areas of Improvement 5 Additional Information 6
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
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? is located in Anniston, AL also known as "the Model City." It is east of Birmingham and west of Atlanta, Georgia. The 2010 census reported the population of Anniston as 23,106. There are over 508 students currently enrolled in. It serves students in grades 9-12. The feeder pattern consists of one middle school and five elementary schools. The student population consists of 98% African American students, 1% Hispanic students and 1% Caucasian students. All students at receive free lunch and breakfast based ulpon the Community Eligibility Provision. There are currently fifty certificated "highly qualified" teachers at. The courses offered at consists of Pre AP courses in English, science, and math as well as online AP courses. The career technical department offers ten career classes(i.e., health science, culinary arts, cosmetology, welding, electrical, criminal justice, marketing, accounting, information technology, ROTC programs) that lead to students being credentialed in their area. This year we are working in conjunction with the Anniston Fire Department to offer a first responder program. We currently have six students enrolled. We have also added through the Alabama High School Athletic Association an officials class. We currently have thirteen students enrolled in this program. We also launched our hospitality/tourism and culinary arts program for the students. We had two students to attend a culinary arts summer program in Auburn. When the students complete the program they will be able to officiate middle and recreational games for the city of Anniston. offers to the public and to the students the Microsoft IT Academy. We have one of the best fine arts departments. It consists of a choral department and marching band. The slogan for the community of Anniston is "One City One Vision." The Anniston community has three private schools also in the area. There is only one community college Gadsden State located in the Anniston area. The local city council consists of one Mayor and four Council members. Anniston has nationally recognized bike trials, mountain climbing and rafting. The city of Anniston hosts bike races, musical events, and marathon runs. The city council and mayor work hand in hand with the school system. The school system is still planning to consolidate by closing two schools. The Anniston City Board of Education is working to make this happen by the next school year. Discussions have been held on the organization of charter schools and the revitalization of Fort McClellan. Page 2
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 vision of for the students who attend is "Preparing all students to continuously learn to be ready to earn." Our mission statement is "Parents, educators and community members working together to help maximize the life potential of students through education in a nurturing environment. " Our values for our students are deep rooted based on the quality of education our own children have received. We want to ensure that each student at regardless of their zip code or their socioeconomic status receive a quality education. We firmly believe our students are talented academically and athletically. We strongly believe our students have a voice in the Anniston community, Calhoun County and the state of Alabama. Students are expected to attend college and are afforded the opportunity to receive scholarships. Classrooms have college corners for students to engage in conversation with their teachers about the college he/she attended. Each Wednesday through the graduation coach and counseling department "College Wednesdays" are held with participating college admission representatives talking and bringing information regarding their schools. The faculty and staff wear college shirts each Wednesday to promote this activity. The career technical program at works to continuously add new programs of interest to the students and provides tours to various factories and plants for the students to receive first hand knowledge. We have begun to implement "Career Thursdays" to offer information to students about current jobs in the area and careers of interest to the students. This year our Advisor/Advisee program is tailored to the specific grade level to consist of 9th graders reading the book Double Vals by Kirstie and Kristen Bronner. The sophomore students are working on "Skills to Pay the Bills" as a transition and career program. Students get an opportunity to do journal writing. The juniors are focusing on improving their ACT skills. The seniors are working on completing their senior profile forms. is the only school in the Calhoun County area that is a part of AVID (Advancement Via Individualized Determination) and offers an elective class for a cohort of twenty five students who receive extra assistance to help them in their decision regarding attending college. The students are selected through a process and the students are encouraged to take rigorous classes such as Pre AP or AP courses. The students receive assistance with "tutorials" during their elective class and take college field trips during the year. It is not a matter of if the AVID students attend college, but what college they will be attending after being placed in this program. We currently have three sections of the AVID program in grades 9, 10 and 11th. is strongly supported by the community. The community foundations in the area are a constant source of support through various field trips. They help provide trips such as Tuskegee College for our Top 100 Scholars. They also support our Top 100 Scholars Banquet. Community members support our ninth graders through our "Stand by Me" mentoring and remediation program. The mentors will support the students through the entire four years. provides a wrap around approach in assisting the students through tutorial services, ABC meetings focusing on academics, behavior and coursework interventions, and mentoring programs. We have counseling services available for students who may need assistance as well as a promotion coach for our ninth grade students, a pass coach for our tenth and eleventh grade students, and a graduation coach for our seniors. We also have a parent specialist who works with parents to provide support for them. Page 3
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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. There are several notable achievements at that have occurred within the past three years. made AYP or adequate yearly progress in reading after eight long years. Through the hard work and dedication of the teachers this feat was done. The use of School Turnaround helped guide our school in the right direction by focusing on our data, aligning our resources, diagnosing our school, setting targets, and designing successful classrooms. As a result of the hard work was deemed School Turnaround of the year. We had six students to credential in safe serve for our culinary arts program during 2015. Our marching band received over 36 awards during the 2014-2015 school year. The areas of improvement we strive to achieve in the next three years is to continue to increase the number of students to be credentialed in all ten programs. We would like to increase the number of students in our AP classes to make 3s and 4s through Summer AP camps and continuing to have students take Pre AP courses to have them prepared for the rigor of the AP courses. We want to increase the number of students to benchmark on the four parts of the ACT test in the eleventh grade. We are striving to increase our attendance to 95% or higher each year for our students. Each year we would like to increase the amount of scholarship money our students receive. We also strive to increase our graduation rate and to decrease our drop out rate. We would like to increase the median score for our students on the ACT and to increase the number of students making a 21 or higher (composite score)on the ACT. Page 5
Additional Information Provide any additional information you would like to share with the public and community that were not prompted in the previous sections. participated in the College Application week during 2015 for the first time. We also initiated an Economics Challenge group and was one out of 85 schools selected to move to the next round of competition at the University of Alabama in Birmingham.. Page 6