School Improvement Module 4 Application Submit at the end of Module 4. Action Planning In this course’s assignments, you have followed the steps of the Quality Improvement Process. You and 2-3 colleagues identified an opportunity for improvement, documented current reality, determined a root cause for the problem, and selected several evidence-based strategies as solutions. The next step in the process is action planning. Action plans are an essential part of any School Improvement Plan (SIP). They specify how the school will act to improve learning, which is the goal of all schools, no matter how well their students are doing. In this module’s application, you and your 2-3 colleagues will create an action plan specifying the details of how the strategies your team selected will be implemented, monitored, and evaluated. Then you will report on the action plan. Course Objectives • • Analyze leadership decision-making processes and behaviors related to continuous school improvement and change. Relate the impact of shared vision, mission, and goals on school improvement and the academic performance of all learners. Directions: 1) Save and print the Module 4 Application PDF. 2) Create a Word or text document for your response. Use 12-point Arial or Times New Roman font. 3) Use APA (6th edition) format for the paper, title page, references page, and in-text citations. 4) Follow the outline to complete the paper, “Opportunity for School Improvement: Action Plan.” Use the topics as the subheadings in the paper. 5) Follow the directions to submit your final Word or text document. Title: Opportunity for School Improvement: Action Plan Introduction and Data Describe the opportunity for improvement identified in the Module 2 SIP assignment. Briefly describe the vision, mission, and goals for the improvement opportunity. Briefly describe the relevant data that supports the opportunity for improvement. What does this data tell you? What factors are likely to have contributed to these data results? What conclusions for school improvement can you draw from the data? © 2017 American College of Education 1 School Improvement Objectives State the SIP objectives addressed by the action plan. Action Plan Describe the evidence-based strategies to be implemented that support the SIP objectives. You may create a table for this portion of the paper. Best Practices Strategy 1 (Describe the strategy.) Tasks/ Action Steps (What will be done?) Responsibilities (Who will do it?) Resources (Funding/time/people/materials) Timeline (By when? Day? Month?) Best Practices Strategy 2 (Describe the strategy.) Tasks/ Action Steps (What will be done?) Responsibilities (Who will do it?) Resources (Funding/time/people/materials) Timeline (By when? Day? Month?) Best Practices Strategy 3 (Describe the strategy.) Tasks/ Action Steps (What will be done?) Responsibilities (Who will do it?) Resources (Funding/time/people/materials) Timeline (By when? Day? Month? Professional Development Describe the professional development strategies and activities necessary to accomplish the objective(s). This component must directly address the opportunity for improvement stated in the SIP. Monitoring and Evaluating the Plan What evidence will the school use to draw conclusions about the impact and effectiveness of the action plan? Who will be responsible for organizing the evaluation of the action plan? When will the evaluation activities take place, and when will they be completed? Conclusion Reflect on the quality improvement process. What have you learned about school improvement analysis and selection of improvement strategies? © 2017 American College of Education 2 Running Head: SIP 1 SIP Review and Opportunity for Improvement SIP 2 Introduction Poor performance in schools is a burgeoning issue in many states. Low academic performance needs immediate addressing if states hope to have a future competent and qualified workforce able to innovate and improve on its present systems. The SIP addresses improvement concerns by creating a roadmap that encompasses shareholders, the state, and community and student parents in a 3-year improvement plan. It addresses the areas of access, governance, and quality, which are key contributors to a school’s performance. In order to have an effective SIP, the school must first define its improvement mission, conduct a needs assessment to identify its areas of weakness, identify the objectives it hopes to accomplish, involve the appropriate stakeholders, and create an action plan where it outlines the steps to be taken to achieve the objectives and finally enact and monitor the plan. Schafer has been facing poor performance, especially in reading with its students having below average proficiency in English (Cleveland, 2017). This paper reviews the strengths and weaknesses of the plan analyzing how it incorporates technology, teamwork, and cooperation to enhance its performance. TITLE: SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PLAN REPORT FOR SCHAFER ELEM SCHOOL School Name and District: Schafer Elem School SD 45 DuPage County Grades Served: Kindergarten- 5th Grade Vision, Mission, and Goals: Does the school have a shared N vision, mission, and goals? SIP 3 State the school’s shared vision and mission statements. Do multiple measures of data N support the shared vision, mission, and goals? Do the shared vision, mission, and N goals focus on equitable access, actions, and outcomes for all students? Are the shared vision, mission, N and goals used to guide and monitor decisions, actions, and outcomes? Data Analysis: What assessments are used in this example of school? List the assessments The main assessments used are testing, namely: i. MAP ii. R-CBM iii. ISAT iv. MAZE What are the assessment scores, and what do they tell you about this school’s weaknesses? Answer in complete sentences • The 3rd grade recorded an improvement of 1% to 64% from their previous academic year. • In ISAT, you are reading 48% of the 3rd-grade students attained or surpassed the set score. • In the four-set reading standards of the AYP, the grade 3 students neither reached nor surpassed the set mean. SIP 4 • 71% of the 4th-grade students attained the set ISAT reading scores, with only 48% of the selected 4th-grade students not reaching the set score. • In the 5th grade, only 32% of the selected group of students did not attain the set ISAT reading scores, which are different from the overall 75% who did. • A steady decline in 5th-grade students in three consecutive years has been witnessed. The school has a major disadvantage in terms of performance, especially in reading on assessment. In grade, 3the students recorded low performance and failed to reach the set AYP scores showing the school’s immediate need of a SIP to improve these scores. Data from the 4th, 3rd, and 5th grades show a margin of disparity in low-income students to be struggling with the identified area as opposed to excelling counterpart in similar faculty. Does the SIP identify the areas of Y weakness district, reflected state, in or local, national assessments or other data? Objectives: Are the objectives stated in the SIP Y directly related to low achievement? Provide an objective indicating low achievement • The school concentrates its attention and efforts on reading comprehension for the selected group of students as opposed to the rest of the student population. Has the SIP team considered how Y broad or narrow weaknesses are? Are the objectives measurable? Y Does each area of weakness involve many students or a few? Explain in complete sentences SIP 5 Statistical reading shows a large percentage of about 43% of student are from low income and happens to be the majority in school total student populous. Key Factors: What does the school think is causing each weakness? Explain in complete sentences The main weakness of the school stems from the large number of the selected low-income student population who don’t have adequate course material that is imperative for grade advancement. The students lack basic background information, and their reading skills fall below the set AYP standards making it cumbersome to teach the relevant standards of their respective grades. What factors have contributed to each area of weakness? Of these factors has the school prioritized ones that can be influenced or controlled? Explain in complete sentences The selected group are viewed to be largely responsible for the institution’s dismal performance in reading the assessment. The blame lies largely on their inability to have books and adequate reading material that confer with their respective grades. A large number of the population have dismal English proficiency because of a lack of adequate background vocabulary from previous grades. Schafer has focused on these students by providing additional reading chances after schools and integrating technology to attract them to these programs. The transfer rate, especially in the 5th grade, has effectively hampered programs to improve performance. On average, 14% of students transfer from the school annually lacking adequate exposure to the program. The high intake rates also contribute to the problem because students who transfer to the school lack adequate exposure to the program and shift the program's baseline (I, 2009). Do these key factors indicate what the school thinks has caused or contributed to low student achievement? Explain in complete sentences SIP 6 According to these key factors, the institution thinks that low-income students are responsible for the schools below average performance. They also identified non-proficient as a key contributor to the low ISAT scores. Strategies and Activities for the Action Plan: Is there a strong relationship Y among the key factors, strategies, and activities? Is technology integrated into Y strategies and activities? Are strategies and activities in the Y action plan focused on what students, teachers, and parents will do to impact student achievement? Are the measures of success Y toward achieving objectives clear? Have all weaknesses been Y sufficiently addressed? Would the effect of implementing Y these strategies and activities most likely cause the school to attain its achievement goals? Overall Plan: How do the shared vision, mission, and goals emphasize the expectation that all students will meet content and performance standards? Explain in complete sentences. SIP 7 The school concentrates its efforts in improvement of its dismal scores, thus embarking on satisfying three major goals to this end. These goals are: • Continuous assessment to gauge the effectiveness of the intervention and the areas of need • Focus on improvement of vocabulary especially in the selected group • Provide direct instruction in engagements with the selected group From the set goals, the school does not discriminate performance based on ethnic or racial backgrounds but instead views every student as having the potential to succeed academically. The goals enable the school to concentrate more on the students and in improving their proficiency in the English language. Does this plan have a chance of successfully improving student achievement? Explain in complete sentences. The likelihood of attaining academic improvement is high as the plan incorporates and sets roles for every member of the plan and ensures all its cons are appropriately addressed, thus ensuring improvement. The plan hinges on evidence-driven decisions provided for by continuous testing and assessment, which ensures the school has appropriately monitored its areas of weakness and how improvement is attainable. Teamwork is a major component of school success. Is there evidence of teamwork in the SIP? Explain in complete sentences. Teamwork is evident in the SIP for the school. The school seeks to provide instructions and training for the teachers who in turn, use direct instruction and the material given to teach students. The students are expected to learn and interactively ask questions on the topic, thus providing feedback on the lessons that need further lessons and those that are well understood. The teamwork exhibited between teachers, the school’s administration and students will ensure SIP 8 the weaknesses are addressed, and there is a significant and continuous improvement, especially in reading on assessments. How well did the school establish a critical relationship among its problem areas or weaknesses, the presumed causes of these weaknesses, and the plan for improved student achievement? Explain in complete sentences. The primary focus and of the school revolves around the establishment of streamlined focus through addressing the key parties responsible for performance who are teachers and students. The set relationship will improve comprehension and learning for the poor performing group by addressing their academic and emotional needs simultaneously. To accomplish this, the school has enacted a program to improve on comprehension of the course material and to expose the students to more advanced vocabulary suitable for their grade level. The relationship enables the school to monitor how its interventions are performing to achieve exceptional results in the coming academic years. How is technology integrated into the plan? Technology integration in the SIP is meant to attract the selected group of students towards coming for more lessons to improve their reading by using Study Island. The resource is responsive and fun and will expose the needy students to the adequate course material needed. Also, technology is to be used in the assessment of results to monitor the effectiveness of the interventions employed by the school (I, 2009). How is the technology used to prepare, implement, and collect/analyze data used in the plan? Study Island is to be used to prepare students for annual testing by exposing them to the course material and additional vocabulary. Regarding data collection and analysis, the AimsWeb and MAP software are to be used to analyze the means and improvement rates of the school per SIP 9 grade. The two soft wares will also be used to identify the immediate areas of weakness and in making appropriate data-driven decisions. Conclusion The school’s SIP has sufficiently incorporated all the major factors of governance and quality needed in making a significant improvement. The use of advanced technology in preparing students for formative assessments, collecting data, and analyzing it will ensure appropriate data-driven decisions are made and will also improve the student’s reading on assessments. The plan adequately focuses on the selected group of students who appear to be struggling with reading and makes adequate plans aimed at improving these areas. It also focuses on the emotional status of the students through counseling, which might be an underlying factor causing its dismal academic performance. However, the school does not adequately outline the formative assessments to be used in addressing the weaknesses of the students. SIP 10 Reference Cleveland, R. E., & Sink, C. A. (2017). Student happiness, school climate, and school improvement plans: Implications for school counseling practice. Professional School Counselling, 21(1), 2156759X18761898. I. (2009). Schafer Elementary School School Improvement Plan [PDF]. Northern Illinois University.
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