School City of Hammond Ms. Mescha Lammy, Principal 5926 Calumet Ave Hammond, IN 46320-2505 Document Generated On March 10, 2015
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? Hammond, Indiana is an urban community with a total population of approximately 79,686. Four public high schools serve the educational needs of approximately 3,693 students in grades 9-12. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2010 American Community Survey, the Hammond population is comprised of 41.5 % white, 22.5% African American, 34% Latino, and about 2% being listed as "other". The breakdown of students enrolled in grades k-12 in the Hammond Public School system is: Native American-4 students (0%), American Indian 43 students (.03%), Asian-33 students (.2%), and Multiracial- 484 students (3.5%), White- 2,548 students (18%), African American- 4,017 students (29.4%), and Hispanic-6,583 students (47%)-giving a total minority population of approximately 80%. Hammond is part of an industrialized, interdependent metropolitan community, located in Northwest Indiana, with close ties to Chicago. Job opportunities in: research laboratories, oil refineries, steel mills, retail establishments, trucking and shipping, as well as the gaming industry are available in Hammond, Indiana. The economic development of the community has been mixed in the past several years. A gradual change has been taking place from heavy industry to specialized service and skilled trades, spearheaded by the recent closings and cutbacks of major mills and industries in the area. Due to the decline of economic conditions, Hammond has a growing number of individuals living below the poverty level-currently 22.1% of Hammond's population which is slightly less than double the national average (14%). This along with increased reliance on public assistance, social security, and median household income ($38,396) below the national average ($52,762) has brought about a decrease in home ownership and an increase of rental and vacant properties in our district. The enrollment at Hammond High continued to decline during the 2012-2013 school year. Current statistics show the racial makeup as: 3.6% Multiracial, 6.8% White, 39.6% Hispanic and 48.3% African American. The percent of students identified as qualifying for Special Education services is 17.5% of the total enrollment. Current records show that 83% of the student body qualifies for the free lunch program and 5% qualify for the reduced lunch program. Those percent totals, 88%, qualify Hammond High for Title One services, which began in 2009-2010 school year. There is currently 45 certified staff employed at Hammond High for the 2014-2015 school year. The administrative staff will be comprised of the Principal, Ms. Mescha Lammy, and Mr. Johnny Goodlow Jr., Assistant Principal, and Ms. Malline Morris, Dean of Students. A suspension/expulsion interventionist (SEI) was hired two years ago to help the administration staff reduce the number of suspensions and expulsions issued to students. He works to help monitor student achievement, increase parental involvement, and coordinate student and parent meetings. Three security personnel that are law enforcement professionals assist administrators in the monitoring of student behavior. finished its third and final year under the 1003g School Improvement Grant two years ago. The 1003g grant is a federal grant in which Hammond High was awarded $5.9 million over the course of three years provided substantial gains are made and the school reaches the state set benchmarks each year. The grant has allowed for several improvements which include: the procurement of vital technology, addition of staff, and improvements in the physical environment of the school. During the 2010-2011 school year, all classrooms were fitted with media carts that included visual presenters and projectors. Three additional computer labs opened during the Page 2
2011-2012 school year along with an infrastructure upgrade to the wiring system to support the purchase of classroom set of media tablets. Hammond High implemented a 1:1 technology model for the 2012-2013 school year; all students received a media tablet during the fall. The tablets have similar functions as personal laptops, web access and word processing capabilities, and allowed for communication between teacher and student during instruction. During the 2013-2014 school year, staff members will receive Promethean Smart Boards in their classroom along with the necessary professional development to help teachers properly use them to strengthen their instruction. During the 2014-2015 school year, will change its 1:1 device from Kuno to Google Chromebooks. This change will provide our school with access to the newest apps and software from Google, one of the leading software/app producers in education. During 2013-2014 school year, Hammond High ventured into the third year of the TAP (Teacher and Student Advancement) system, which promotes student achievement by improving teacher instruction with the use of a system of evaluation focused on providing consistent feedback through ongoing professional development. The implementation of TAP was able to occur largely from a TIF grant. The 2014-2015 school year will mark year four of TAP. During this phase, all teachers will create an individual growth plan which will allow them to set goals and use data to improve student achievement. Likewise, data will be used to determine the needs of teachers. Professional development opportunities will be made available to teachers based on their individual needs. 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. recently revised its vision, mission, and community core values. They are as follows: Hammond High Vision Statement: BOUND BY NONE- Builds Respect, Discipline, Relationships, Lifelong Learners Hammond High Mission Statement- creates and supports productive stakeholders utilizing technology, promoting core values, and encouraging positive independent thinkers Hammond High Community Core Values- Positive Accountable Integrity Respectful Responsible The curriculum at includes courses in the following: general education, advanced placement, honors, introductory vocational, and special education. All courses are taught in accordance with Indiana Academic Content Standards and students are guided in course sequence to assure all have the opportunity graduate with a diploma from the State of Indiana. Students can earn one of the following diplomas: Core 40, Core 40 with Academic Honors, Technical Honors, or General Education Diplomas. Students who choose the Core 40 with Technical Honors must enroll at the Area Career Center (ACC) during their junior and/or senior year(s). All students must earn a minimum of 40 credits and pass all state mandated tests. In accordance with state education guidelines any student who fails to meet the state's test requirement and those in the Community Based Special Education program will be eligible to receive a certificate of attendance. At the start of the 2013-2014 school year, each department revised content specific curriculum maps, pacing guides by making maps skills based and infusing the common core standards. This school year, the common core standards will be added to each curriculum map. Hammond High has undertaken the several initiatives to expand the course offerings and educational outcomes of students. Hammond High has been awarded a position in the second cohort of the AP-TIP IN grant. This grant is funded with federal Investing in Innovation funds under the umbrella of the National Math and Science Initiative and is facilitated by the university of Notre Dame. It provides training for teachers and free test preparation for students in addition to cash bonuses for qualifying scores. Student test preparation will come in two forms: Structured Tutoring Time for small group tutoring and AP Student Conferences which will be held on three Saturdays during the year. Additional programs and courses will be added to improve the College and Career Pathways at. These include: - Twelve AP courses and ACP courses will be offered for the 2014-2015 school year. - AP Chemistry, Biology, Computer Science, and Statistics have all been added for the 2013-2014 school year. - Hammond High will enrich their STEM curriculum with PTLW classes. The second level of the engineering (Introduction to Engineering Design) and biomedical (Principles of the Biomedical Sciences) programs was added. - During the 2013-2014 school year, Hammond High will offer Principles of Engineering (POE) and Human Body Systems (HBS) to their engineering programs. - 's JROTC (Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps) will enter its second year during the 2014-2015 school year. This course is designed to develop: 1) citizenship and patriotism, self discipline, 3) physical fitness, 4) reliance and leadership, and 5) the skills used in decision making, communications, and problem solving. Page 4
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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. Some of the most notable achievements and areas of improvement in the last three years for include an increase in AP course offerings. We now offer the most in the School City of Hammond with thirteen courses. We've added JROTC, which has produced several student leaders within our school. Mandarin Chinese courses have been added as a new option for foreign language credit requirements. Our overall graduation rate has increased along with an overall increase in students passing the ECA. We've became a 1:1 school, so our students and faculty have access to the most technology in the district. We are now entering our fourth year in TAP teacher evaluations which has continued to strengthen our instruction. We've seen an overall decrease in suspensions and expulsions at our school tanks to the hiring of our suspension/expulsion interventionist (SEI) and a shared effort to find other alternatives to suspensions and expulsions. In addition, we've added new project lead the way classes Bio-med to that curriculum. We've created 22 partnerships with local organizations and increase our overall parental involvement (3% to 40%). Some of the things we're looking to improve within the next three years are to increase the number of students looking to receive Looking to increase core 40 honors diplomas. Our attendance rate was 95% and has recently dropped to dropped 94.6%. Our JROTC classes need more than just person in order to be, effect. We're continuously looking to increase our overall ECA test cores for all catorigies. We also want to add more electives than what's offered at. Furthermore, even though we've increased our parental involvement, we still are creating more opportunities. 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. School City of Hammond recently hired Ms. Mescha Lammy as the new principal for. Her main focuses this year are school culture and climate. Page 7