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?

To increase early literacy in reading and mathematics by focusing on reading and mathematics performance data analysis, professional learning communities, and best practices at our school as well as best practices at another similar elementary school with a large ESE population and Specialized Program for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder.  Panther Run Elementary School ranks 103 out of 119 in our SES Band.  We will also be working to identify research-based best practice instructional strategies at our school in order to increase student achievement.

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?

1.  Professional Learning Communities 
2.  Response to Intervention (RtI)
3.  Performance Tasks/Formative Assessments
4.  Inclusive Practices

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

1.  PLCs:  Each grade level team participates in Professional Learning Communities (PLCs).  These groups use data to drive instruction and improve instructional strategies as well as share best practices and ideas for enrichment and remediation.  Administration to monitor and support PLC's.  Presentation of PLC agendas will be part of monthly team leader meetings.  More efficient utilization of the Literacy Continuum to determine instructional practices and to set ELA goals.

2.  RtI:  The Comprehensive Problem Solving Team, the Leadership Team and Administration will work together to identify research-based best practice strategies to increase student achievement.  The CPS Team will utilize BASIS in order to accurately document the progress of each student brought to the team for academic or behavioral concerns.  Research-based interventions are recommended by the team and put into place by the teacher with fidelity, monitored closely and documented apprpriately to determine if the student is making progress.  The teachers continue to be coached on how to appropriately document progress in graph form.  The team determines what Tier is appropriate based on the student's progress by looking at the data.  

3.  Performance Tasks/Formative Assessments:  Grade level teams are implementing performance tasks to be administered monthly.  These performance tasks are analyzed as a team and will provide an early look into the complexity of student understanding of content being taught.  With these tasks, teachers will be able to more thoroughly address student challenges in comprehension and application.  Each grade level team participates in Professional Learning Communities (PLCs).  These groups use data to drive instruction and improve instructional strategies as well as share best practices and ideas for enrichment and remediation.  The Leadership Team and Administration will work together to identify research-based best practice strategies to increase student achievement.  Develop grade level progress monitoring and assessment calendar.  Continue to utilize a school-wide data reporting format - One Note.  Monthly progress monitoring of iReady Reports; classroom assessments; formal and informal assessments and BAS data.  Classroom formative assessment data will be housed and monitored in One Note.

4.  Inclusive Practices:  Administrator and Student Government Representative guest readers utilizing educational reading material pertaining to persons with disabilities.  Showcase of student talents on morning announcements including Students with Disabilities from the general education and self-contained classrooms.  Students with Disabilities volunteer to present self-generated material regarding their disability (ie. student with Intellectual Disability presented "We are more alike than different" on the morning news, Speech Impaired students presented "Sometimes I Stutter" powerpoint to classmates and select staff).
 

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

Monthly progress monitoring of iReady Reports; classroom assessments; formal and informal assessments; BAS data.

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

Teachers collect weekly and comparative data to ensure students are progressing towards school 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)?

Sharing of best practices
Monitoring student data through PLCs
Making instructional decisions based on data
Multiple means of engagement, representation, expression
Differentiation of instruction
 

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

Lesson planning
Participation in PLCs
Utilizing research-based instructional practices
Classroom walk-throughs and observations
 

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?

Core: 
ELA - iReady (K-5), Leveled Readers (K-5), Science A - Z (K-5), Social Studies Leveled Readers (K-5)
Math - Go Math (K-5), Math Personal Trainer (K- 5)
Science - STEM Scopes (K-5)

Supplemental: 
ELA - iReady (K-5), Leveled Readers (K-5), Science A - Z (K-5), Social Studies Leveled Readers (K-5), Write-in Reader
Math - Reteach from Go Math (K-5), Math Personal Trainer (K-5)
Science - STEM Scopes (K-5), Extended Science in 5th grade

Intervention: 
ELA - iReady, LLI, Phonics for Reading, Visualizing & Verbalizing, Soar to Success, Fundations, Super QAR, Wilson, Write-in Reader, Reading                                    Tool Kit (K-3), Literacy Tool Kit (4, 5) 
Math - Go Math Strategic Intervention, Go Math Intensive Intervention, Moving with Math, Touch Math, iReady for RtI students  
Science - Intensive Skill/Strategy Instruction utilizing STEM Scopes (K-5)

Students and teachers have access to literary and informational text leveled book room, classroom libraries, iReady, weekly visits to the Media Center    
 

 

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.

Teachers provided targeted instructional curriculum for all students.
Push-in and Pull-out models were provided to support struggling students.
Common formative assessments were administered and analyzed to create appropriate remediation and enrichment.
Teachers participated in training in the area of reading, mathematics, and science.
Diagnostic Assessments were administered to pinpoint areas of focus and match the area of focus to a research-based intervention to be implemented with fidelity. 

All these resulted in an increase in student achievement as follows:
4th grade:  ELA proficiency improved from 59% in 2018 to 62% in 2019.
4th grade:  Math proficiency improved from 69% in 2018 to 76% in 2019.
5th grade:  ELA proficiency improved from 56% in 2018 to 66% in 2019.
5th grade:  Math proficiency improved from 69% in 2018 to 76% in 2019.
5th grade:  Science proficiency improved from 48% in 2018 to 63% in 2019.