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?

Western High School has identified that the lowest 25% quartile for both reading and math continue to remain our greatest areas of concern and have the greatest need for remediation. Attention for these two areas have been in the focus for improvement strategy for last year, but based on the data, we feel there is still room for improvement.

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?

Students identified in our lowest 25% quartile will be pulled from time to time for remediation in reading and math; or when these students represent the largest segment of a given class, a visit from a specialized reading or math coach will be used to bolster instruction that is being delivered in classes that are not traditional math or reading classes. Students will be repeatedly assessed and remediated whenever the possibility exists to help improve scores and the use of CARE cycles will be implemented by all teachers that have these students in their respective classrooms. In order to improve teaching and learning professional development on accountable strategies will be delivered to teachers and implemented in instruction.  A school-wide aligned instructional focus calendar based on the ELA standards will be followed across curriculums.  

In the area of Mathematics, the students in the lowest 25% quartile made gains as measure by the End of Course Exam in Algebra 1.  Accountable strategies will be used in working through and solving math problems.  An after school tutoring program as well as Algebra Camp for students who need credit recovery will be provided for remediation.

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

Teachers with the greatest amount of success factors, as identifed in student assessment, will continue to share Best Practices with the others in their respective PLCs toward duplicating the successful strategies with thier colleagues. Feedback from contributing members of the PLCs will help to improve those Best Practices to aid in scaling-up the procedures to make them more effective and efficiently utilized by all members in the PLC. Most importantly, weekly PLC meetings will provide the opportunity for colleagues to meet and revise or otherwise modify the plans to increase effectiveness amond our lowest 25% quartile students. Any barriers that are discovered will be discussed, reviewed and eliminated by the implementation of greater improvements in the plan to overcome the perceived strategies.

During the 2018-2019 school year our focus is to continue improving our lowest 25% quartile reading assessment proficiency level.  To accomplish this we focus on the Reading and the English Language Arts classes.  Students are given supplemental instruction in afterschool tutoring programs.
Teachers are implementing an instructional focus calendar, assessed the students using mini-assessments following the Curriculum, Assessment, Remediation, Enrichment (CARE) cycle, and monitored student achievement.   All other departments will teach their content specific curriculum while using strategies that support the ELA standards focused on the instructional focus calender. The RTI group will identify struggling students, design interventions and monitor the students progress. We will accomplish this by using common planning periods where instructional focus calendars alligned to the tested benchmarks. Teachers will create common mini-assessments with questions designed by using the Florida Department of Education Test Item Specifications. After each test the data will be complied and analyzed. Data chats will be conducted.  Teachers will conduct in class remediation with students who performed poorly on the assessments.  

Students who continue to struggle with the content in English Language Arts and Mathematics after repeated remediation sessions will be referred to the Child Study Team for intensive academic interventions and monitoring.  

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

Teachers implemented an instructional focus calendar, assessed the students using mini-assessments following the Curriculum, Assessment, Remediation, Enrichment (CARE) cycle, and will closely monitor student achievement on a weekly basis.

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

The RTI group will identify struggling students, design interventions and monitor the students progress.  

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)?

Not all students are alike. Based on this knowledge, differentiated instruction applies an approach to teaching and learning that gives students multiple options for taking in information and making sense of ideas. Differentiated instruction is a teaching theory based on the premise that instructional approaches should vary and be adapted in relation to individual and diverse students in classrooms, so the model of differentiated instruction requires our teachers to be flexible in their approach to teaching and adjust the curriculum and presentation of information to learners rather than expecting students to modify themselves for the curriculum.

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

Students that have not met FSA reading requirements are scheduled into reading courses that address the gaps in reading achievement.Students are administered FAIR testing throughout the year to monitor reading progress. Teachers in these courses also utilize Kahn Academy, Newsela, and the Edge Reading Program, in order to improve academic success.

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?

In Biology courses, USA Test Prep is being utilized to provide students with access to texts that replicate what is commonly seen on the Biology EOC exam. Teachers at all grade levels encourage students to use Khan Kahn Academy, Newsela, Vocabulary.com, and Horizon for the ELL students. In all courses, supplemental readings are used to provide rigor in the classroom.

Please complete this section based on 2018-2019 end-of-year results.
Instructional Implications: Discuss the success of specific strategies/activities and provide a rationale as to why those academic improvements occurred as a result of those strategies.

Strategy 1: Students identified in our lowest 25% quartile were pulled from time to time for remediation in reading and math. Result: Overall scores in reading saw an marginal increase as a result of this strategy; while math scores remained flat or even saw a slight decline. The reading coach took great strides to ensure that additional efforts were successful for those identified students that needed remediation. As for math, an experienced math teacher was brought in to conduct pull-outs for the identified math students needing remediation, with mixed results--some improving and some not.

Strategy 2: Teachers with proven success on common assessments shared best practices at PLCs. Result:  Western High School continued to experience exceedingly high results in those specific areas where teachers shared successful ideas and strategies to promote student success. The addiional time afforded on Professional Study Days continued to support these efforts for the learning communities in each of the curriculum areas. With the overwhelming success of this strategy, Western High School will continue to deploy this strategy in the year to come.