Explain the activities in which your school will participate to increase your overall rating. Include specific details.

As evidenced in the SES Band Data, which content area(s) will be the focus for improving student achievement and why was this area chosen?

Careful analysis of Reading results (from various sources to include K-12 student populations) shows that the majority of students remain deficient in reading skills. This will continue to be the focus as the staff of WPS remains dedicated to providing therapeutic, behavioral and academic supports to improve upon key indicators (attendance, access to remediation, therapeutic support for emotional stability, etc.) for increased success. Our school-wide goal is for the percentage of students scoring proficient or higher in reading to increase from 5% to 8% by the end of May 2019 as measured by i-Ready Diagnostic data.
 

What specific BEST Practice(s) will be implemented or scaled-up to improve teaching and learning in order to increase performance within the SES Band?

We will continue to scale up BEST Practices by focusing on an authentic, dynamic and evolving PLC. The purpose of this is for teachers to work alongside one another and share information from current trainings as well as strategies that work for individual students.
Best Practice #1: Professional Learning Community (PLC)
Best Practice #2: Response to Intervention (RTI)

Describe in detail how the BEST Practice(s) will be scaled-up.

In order to "scale up" this best practice, teachers have access to trainings on new technologies and resources available.

• We will implement school-wide events focusing on social/emotional learning.
• The school psychiatrist will present monthly to instructional staff regarding mental health diagnosis and effective strategies to deal with the symptoms of mental illness in a classroom setting.
• Flowcabulary will be utilized to increase vocabulary skills K-12.NewsELA will be utilized in content areas to provide access to lexile leveled informational texts in grades 2-12.
• The Literacy Continuum (by Fountas and Pinnell) will be consulted for targeted reading instructional goals in the guided reading and phonics, spelling, and word study sections. 
• iReady will be used to increase literacy skills in grades K-8.
• Teachers will be provided professional development targeting strategies to improve literacy skills (i.e. Wilson, Fundations). 
• Flowcabulary and/or Vocabulary.com and NewsELA will be utilized to increase vocabulary skills and informational text comprehension. NewsELA  may also be utilized in content areas to provide access to lexile leveled informational texts in grades 2-12.
• Literacy Coach and support team  will devise and implement a reading and writing plan with three components including, instruction, assessment, and motivation, when needed.
• Literacy Coach and support team will review data and meet with teachers, when needed,  to develop remediation plans and review differentiation strategies.

What specific school-level progress monitoring data is collected and how often?

How does the school ensure the fidelity of students not progressing towards school and district goals?

How does the school ensure that all classroom instruction is accessible to the full range of learners using Universal Designs for Learning (UDL) for effective instructional design (planning) and delivery (teaching)?

A focused and authentic PLC, will serve as a way to review student data and assist in making informed academic decisions. Data will be disaggregated and presented to the leadership and the literacy team as a means for targeting specific patterns and trends within our population.  In addition to presenting discussion and data, stakeholders will need to present remediation and enrichment plans for students, including what supplemental materials and resources are needed to determine student readiness and improve achievement. Over the years it has been a recommendation that teachers attend professional developments and teacher trainings to improve teacher practice.  This year, teacher participation in outside professional development will be vigorously encouraged and rewarded.  Teachers will be asked to share their learning experiences with their colleagues and disseminate the information to all stakeholders. Our Response to Intervention has also been scaled up from previous years.  Our RTI team consists of leaders in their respective areas and all members are well-skilled in using and interpreting BASIS. In addition to the initial referral, the process of progress monitoring has been refined as has the communication between the RTI team and instructional staff.  

How does the school ensure Tier 1 Standards-Based classroom instruction is being implemented properly and effectively?

Describe texts used for core, supplemental, and intervention programs at each grade level. How does the school ensure students have access to a balance of literary and informational text in a variety of mediums?

Students of all grade levels are encouraged to use the Broward Single Sign-On (SSO) portal to locate and gain access to a plethora of resources. A few of these resources include online textbooks, Destiny Library, Khan Academy, Math Nation, Pearson Student Bridge and Naviance. Students also have access to Canvas where they are able to log-in to online courses and locate coursework, assignments and resources. At the beginning of the year, each student is made aware of their usernames and passwords for each portal.  Teachers also include the use of these resources in their daily instruction.  Students are also familiar with the logging-in process and can access these resources at any time.  Students may utilize these resources for practice, enrichment or remediation.

How does your school implement the Broward County Public Schools Social and Emotional Learning Standards to ensure students are developing social and emotional skills?

Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) is embedded in the structure of Whispering Pines School (WPS).  Each student is assigned a family counselor as a mental health therapist.  Students receive SEL in small groups, on an individual basis and using a classroom push in model.  For middle and high school students, we have developed a calendar for lessons based on the BCPS SEL standards to be used during the personalization or social personal class.  Each strand/goal becomes a monthly focus.  

In which ways are the five competencies of the Social Emotional Learning explicitly taught and/or integrated school-wide and in the classroom?

During weekly child study meetings on each grade level, the team discusses trends in behavior and therapeutic needs.  Each of the goals is then targeted by developing small groups of students identified with similar needs that are aligned with the core competencies.  In addition, goals are addressed consistently throughout the personalization and social personal class.  Competencies are explicitly taught by members of the behavior team and paraprofessionals as part of monitoring on individualized behavioral tracking sheets.  For example, students have individualized goals related to specific competencies (relationships with peers and adults, self management skills, communication, social skills, etc.).  If a student shows a trend in one of the core competencies, it is explicitly addressed by  the therapist or teacher to increase skills in the area.  

How does your school-wide policy and practices support the social emotional learning for students?

Our school is currently using a variety of SEL programs to address learning in this domain.  They are: Start with Hello, Choose Peace Not Violence, Schoolwide Mentoring, Kid of Character, Zones of Regulation, Social Thinking (expected v. unexpected behaviors), and Incredible Five Point Scale.