Hemmat Yousef Younes, Principal 8 Talkha, Damietta Highway AlDaqahlia Mansoura Document Generated On October 29, 2014
TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Description of the School 2 School's Purpose 4 Notable Achievements and Areas of Improvement 6 Additional Information 7
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? (DAS) are located on Damietta Highway in Talkha, Mansoura. The schools have 8 large buses which are responsible for moving students to and from school in Mansoura and surrounding areas. DAS serves approximately 254 students ranging from grades 7-12 with 40 full-time and part-time teachers on staff. The school houses its own restaurant, Panadora, with a full menu, good service and reasonable prices. Panadora management ensures honesty and cleanliness in food they serve. To ensure competitive sport practice, the school maintains two large soccer fields and one small sports court. The large fields are utilized for soccer and group sport events, while the small ones are used for individual games such as speed ball, handball, basketball and volleyball. The school's governing body is as follows: Dr. Mohammed Rabie Naswer, Chairman of Board of Trustees. Asmaa Rabie, Superintendant Dr. Hemmat Yousef, Principal Muhammed Zein, School Deputy Muhammed Wafik, Executive Manager 12% of our student body are in grades 7 through 9 and 88% are in grades 10 through 12. The majority of the student body are from upper middle and high class families who are socially active and effectively participate in upraising the school's standards by offering feedback about the school's performance. Census data show the relative wealth and prosperity of Mansoura. Data indicate that 44.9% of the population in Mansoura City hold a bachelor's degree or higher. Mansoura includes a well-balanced mix of businesses that provide economic stimulus. It is also situated between Damietta and Mahalla which are both economically advanced communities. While dealing with the challenges at hand, strive to maintain a stable educational environment. Mansoura community and the surrounding communities are accustomed to enroll and encourage their children to study in engineering or medical fields. It is our duty to cater to those needs to promote students' abilities to enter such fields. Hence, the Science and Math curriculum are specially tailored to empower them to succeed in their chosen professional field of choice according to American educational standards. The school also focuses on business curricula and extracurricular activities to enhance our students' social abilities amongst their peers and others. Furthermore, maintain contact with graduates in order to gain insight from them to see where we can advance on certain aspects to better prepare our current students for their future in college. All of these combined help us improve our educational environment so that we may tailor to all interests that are interested in attending. At, our main goal is student success in learning. We know that in order to reach this goal, instruction must be student oriented. Students are assessed using a variety of unbiased assessment tools such as local test, quizzes, projects. And the results are reviewed to enhance learning for all students. We also understand that it is a team effort for each child to succeed, therefore we use many forms of communication among staff concerning student learning and also conveying this to the parents. Page 2
Delta American schools ensure consistent measurements across classrooms and courses by providing grading percentages for each subject and grade level. This, along with requirements for minimum numbers of grades, validates that every student is graded uniformly. Each grade level gives identical assessments, within individual subjects, in order to gauge student learning as a whole. This uniformity helps stakeholders and school leaders gauge student learning school-wide. We engage in processes to determine areas for continued improvement in student learning and readiness for success at the next level. Teachers who teach different grades meet in order to discuss specific skills that the students need in order to be successful and better bridge the gap to the next grade level. Communicating information about student learning and school achievement to stakeholders is provided through the school Facebook page which is updated weekly to inform parents of upcoming school events as well as reminders of school procedures. Parents have access to the objectives being taught and tests given in a particular week and the home work given every day. Our school has a Positive Behavior Support System. This system ensures parents are informed of student behavior which may affect their learning. At, we continuously assess student performance and use the results for continuous improvement. Page 3
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. DAS belief that a complete and balanced education involves the overall skills of the child, and the school encourages all students to become involved in extracurricular activities. Students can choose from different athletic sports which teach valuable lessons about competition, teamwork, and fun. The focus on standards-based instruction at DAS leads to increased expectations for students. DAS use an evaluation system which helps teachers focus on five key areas: curriculum and planning, standards-based instruction, assessment for student learning, professionalism, and student achievement. Teachers are supported in becoming proficient in these areas through a differentiated professional learning program that targets individual needs. Teachers are expected to connect standards, instruction, and assessment and consistently demonstrate this connection to students. DAS maintain a clear focus on giving students rigorous opportunities to succeed and to prepare them for life after high school. From the comprehensive instructional and extracurricular programs to the high standards for teaching and learning, DAS strive to live out its vision, mission, and goals daily. The current vision, mission, and overarching goals of DAS are as follows: DAS GOALS ARE 1. Prepare a student who is able to deal with a rapidly changing world. 2. Encourage creativity in all students' practices. 3. Prepare students who are able to meet the needs of succeeding in college. 4. Prepare students who are socially accepted. Purpose: strive to provide the best quality educational experience in order to up bring a generation of youth that is mentally, physically, and socially capable of meeting the challenges of a rapidly changing and highly demanding world, A generation that is proud of its cultural heritage and understands and respects the vast cultural diversity of our global village. Direction: we aspire to be Mansoura's most creative addition where teachers inspire students create and the whole school community cooperates DAS support the challenges of the learning environment both for students who need remediation and those who need enrichment. Through all regular Physical Education classes and collective sports contests, DAS offer students a chance to develop not only a healthy body and mind, but also cooperation and readiness for teamwork spirit. Moreover, Art class are designed and delivered in a creative way that lets students unveil their artistic potential and develop their aesthetic skills. Showing students artistic products through the school building helps mainly in creating a general common taste. DAS belief that a complete and balanced education involves the different skills of all students, and the schools encourage all students to become involved in extracurricular activities. Students can choose from different athletic sports which teach valuable lessons about competition, teamwork, and fun. Page 4
DAS belief in 1. Honest, integrity, and respect for self and others. 2. Acceptance and tolerance of difference. 3. Partnerships among students, parents and staff. 4. Priority on courtesy, innovation, leadership skills. 5. The importance of reading, math, science and technology. 6. High standards in personal presentation and behavior. 7. The latest in teaching technology methods. 8. A supportive and caring environment. Page 5
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. Pride is a common phrase heard in the halls of DAS. We at DAS have many things of which we are proud of. DAS have been named one of the best schools in the region for the past two years. The schools have achieved Adequate Yearly Progress each year. We have had an increase in the number of students over the years, and our standards of student achievements in both core subjects and the SAT tests scores have improved over the years. DAS have improved in several key areas over the past several years which has in turn led to notable achievements. Perhaps the greatest area of improvement is the focus on the individual student. In the 2012-2013 school year, the school implemented the use of text books for core subjects and provided professional assessment students attend a variety of sessions based on their needs for remediation or enrichment during summer. Students also find enrichment through extracurricular opportunities. Several of the school's notable achievements are of a direct result of the keen focus on students' emphasis on DAS's achievements in the area of Math. Math scores have increased in the SAT results from the year 2011-2012 to the year 2013-2014. For the past three years, DAS has been giving its students chances to practice and compete in various sports competitions. DAS swimming team has come first at the national swimming championship level. Another area of improvement is in the area of technology. Based on our keen concern to provide DAS students with all the support to face the future it has focused more time and resources on technology in the last three years, DASs have added equipment that supports instruction, such as increased smart boards and computer lab.das also have technology support specialists on staff to assist teachers. We also has had an increased focus on standards-based instruction. Along with the implementation of the Class Keys, school leadership has considered collaborative planning a priority when building the master schedule. Teachers are required to plan with one another and have begun to build a repertoire of common unit plans and assessments. Professional learning works hand-in-hand with collaborative planning as teachers are given opportunities to learn and apply the key components of a standards-based classroom, such as formative assessment and differentiation. While DAS have many reasons to be proud, the leadership and faculty believe there are several key areas of improvement. DAS realizes that a greater emphasis must be placed on planning and professional learning as the curriculum calls for increasing text complexity, the use of informational text, and writing across the curriculum. Teachers must continue to plan together to develop common formative and summative assessments and create differentiated assignments, while continuing to integrate the latest technology into the classroom environment. DAS must also place a renewed emphasis on increasing scores on the Standardized Achievement Test (SAT).DAS leadership also realizes the necessity of providing a better preparation course for the students who are coming from Arabic schools to reduce the gap between them and those coming from language schools. Page 6
Additional Information Provide any additional information you would like to share with the public and community that were not prompted in the previous sections. DAS are keen to provide our students with various cultural experiences. In order to achieve this we have our students travel to the United States of America, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates. Annual visits give students the opportunity to be part of different cultural experiences. Page 7