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?

As evidenced in our 2017-2018 FSA score data, our main academic focus area for the 2017-2018 school year for improving student achievement is English Language Arts.  Although data supports Lyons Creek Middle School being ranked in the top 15% of level 3 or above compared to other middle schools, we still have several growth areas.  We will focus on scaling up instructional strategies, as well as ensure that all tasks are directly aligned to the standards that are being taught. Sharing best practices with other high-performing schools will enable our school to close the gap and provide our teachers with the best resources and strategies to be able to increase learning gains.

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?

Weekly Professional Learning Communities will be centered around content alignment, student engagement, and best practices specific to the standard of the week.  These PLC’s will lead to an increase engagement in learning, support a well-paced lesson, and help the teachers provide students with opportunities to practice skills and deepen understanding.  

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

Phase I- Defining the Need for Change
a) Identify the Problem- a practice or set of practices that its impeding the provision of high-quality teaching- analyze the root causes, and reformulate the problem as a challenge.
b) Identify and agree on the desired change, its purpose, the anticipated results, as well as the potential obstacles.  (Why are we doing this? How will the services benefit from doing it? What may make it hard to achieve?)
Phase II- Planning for Demonstration and Scale-Up
a) Select a dedicated point person
b) With the point person, identify and analyze relevant effective practices from other settings.
 

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

School-Leve Progress Monitoring is collected after every Instructional Round which is about 4-6 weeks.  LCMS uses USA Test Prep as its progress monitoring tool.

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

The Response to Intervention model is Lyons Creek Middle School’s way of ensuring the fidelity of students not progressing towards school and district goals.  Classroom teachers and coaches provide various strategies and interventions for 6 weeks.  During this time the student is monitored to see if the response to the strategies and interventions are helping the student move toward the goal of proficiency or is there a deeper issue.  The RTI team meets at the culmination of the 6 weeks to determine next steps and a plan of action for the student.

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)?

Weekly Professional Learning Communities will be centered around content alignment, student engagement, and best practices specific to the standard of the week.  These PLC’s will lead to an increase engagement in learning, support a well-paced lesson, and help the teachers provide students with opportunities to practice skills and deepen understanding.  

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

At the beginning of the school year all staff was trained on the school-wide behavior plan. All students were trained on negative and positive behavior. Once staff and students were trained then teachers and administrators monitor student behavior throughout the school year.

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?

6^th Grade Intensive Reading- National Geographic Inside Text Level A/Achieve 3000
     7^th Grade Intensive Reading- National Geographic Inside Text Level B/ Achieve 3000
     8^th Grade Intensive Reading- National Geographic Inside Text Level C/ Achieve 3000
     6^th Grade Language Arts- Collections Text Book/Newsela
     7^th Grade Language Arts- Collections Text Book/Newsela
     8^th Grade Language Arts- Collections Text Book/Newsela

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.

Lyons Creek Middle School maintained their "A" grade and increased 23 points overall. Math Achievement increased by 5 points, which was a result of our Professional Learning Communities and Help Academy an after school tutoring program. We increased 8 points for math learning gains overall. Science increased 2 points due to Saturday camp and hands-on activities in the classroom. Furthermore, Social Studies increased 3 points from the previous year due to PLC's. On the other hand, we decreased in ELA for our lowest 25% percentile due to lack of collaboration within the ELA and reading group, however, during the 2019-2020 school year the ELA team and the reading department is working collaboratively to reinforced reading through all content areas.