School Name: Lawton Chiles Elementary

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Lawton Chiles Elementary

Development of Lawton Chiles’ 2006-07 School Improvement Plan is a collaborative effort between the School Advisory Council and the faculty, staff, parents and community members. The goal of Lawton Chiles’ School Improvement Plan is to develop school objectives, which strengthen and enhance student achievement and our commitment to educational excellence.

Four climate surveys were used to assess the needs at Lawton Chiles for the 2005-2006 school year. The surveys were done with kindergarten parents, teachers, students and parents. Based upon the results of the survey, the following objectives have been written:

Reading: To increase reading achievement in kindergarten through fifth grade by using research based practices that emphasize a balance of literature and explicit skills instruction.

Mathematics: Eighty-five percent of all students will demonstrate a year’s worth of growth in basic mathematics skills based on evaluation using the Harcourt basal math criteria.

Writing: To increase written communication in kindergarten through fifth grade by improving instructional strategies, which place an emphasis on focus, organization, elaboration and conventions in written communication. Ninety percent of fourth graders in each demographic group will score 3.5 or higher on the Florida Writes Assessment.

Science: To increase student achievement by focusing on experimentation, problem solving and the use of higher order thinking skills. Eighty-five percent of all students will demonstrate growth in the knowledge and understanding of basic scientific concepts, based on evaluation using the Scott Foresman Science Criteria and/or Sunshine State Standards.

Parental Involvement: Parents will be involved as active participants in their child’s education at school.

School Safety and Environment: To decrease bullying and increase physical activity by implementing a researched based program called Peaceful Playgrounds.
Air Quality: Students, faculty and staff will be provided with a safe indoor environment air quality in which to work and/or learn.

Health: The Physical Education teacher will collaborate with staff, parents and students to implement strategies and activities that will help students develop healthy living habits.

Technology: To increase the integration of appropriate technology with curriculum in order to meet the Standards of Technology in Education (ISTE) standards.

Attendance and Tardies: The staff will ensure that all students and their parents realize the importance of attending school every day and being on time.

Guidance: Counseling/Guidance services will be available to K-5 students at Chiles.

School Grades:

Vision/Mission

Belief Statements

Mission: Lawton Chiles has adopted the School Board Mission.
We are committed to the success of every student.
Vision: Lawton Chiles Elementary strives for excellence by actively involving all students, parents and staff and the community in a safe, nurturing and respectful environment.

Beliefs
All students can and will learn more than they presently know.
Lawton Chiles will be child centered.
All students will feel successful.
Lawton Chiles will be an A+ school.
Individuality is valued.
Each child is important and valued.
Everybody deserves respect.
Students will be encouraged to be life long learners.
Students will learn to respect differences in individuals.
Students are encouraged to share their opinions.
Teachers serve as facilitators and ensure learning for all.
Students should want to learn and enjoy learning.
The teaching of social skills should be a part of the school day.
Communication will be on-going between parents and teachers.
The staff will provide a safe environment for all students.

School Profile/Demographics

Lawton Chiles is in its seventh year of operation. Most students live within five miles of the school. Thirty-three, point eight percent of the students are on free and reduced lunch. Parent participation is extremely high. FCAT test data indicated that ninety-two percent of all fourth grade students scored level 3.5 or above on the writing FCAT. Ninety-five percent of our third graders scored higher than a level 1 on FCAT.

Quality Staff
Highly Qualified Certified Administrators
List your school’s highly qualified administrators and briefly describe their experience with increasing student academic achievement. Some schools indicated staff here.

Ann Mullally, Principal
Eleven years as a classroom teacher, grades 1-4. Classes contained students of all abilities. In addition, taught two years in alternative education classrooms for children with emotional and learning disabilities.
Five years as a Curriculum Resource Teacher, assisting K-5 classroom teachers and resource teachers.
Twenty-one years as an Elementary School Principal in three different schools.
Selected Florida National Distinguished Principal in 2003.
Commissioner’s Outstanding Principal in 1993.

Bill Powell, Assistant Principal
Sixteen years as a classroom teacher, grades 4-6. Teaching experience included self-contained classes with students of all abilities and one year self-contained Title I Class.
Teacher of the Year at Christa McAuliffe Elementary School, 1988-89.
Four years as Behavioral Resource Teacher.
Seven years as an Assistant Principal in two elementary schools.

Staff: All staff members are highly qualified as identified by the No Child Left Behind Legislation. Twenty-seven faculty members hold Bachelors Degrees. Thirty-three faculty members hold Masters Degrees.

Additional Requirements

Teacher Mentoring 
Describe your school’s Teacher Mentoring Program.
Beginning teachers participate in the district’s induction program and consult with a mentor teacher throughout the year. The administrative team meets three times yearly to review student progress. In addition, the administrators meet three times a year with teachers to analyze Professional Development Plans. Release days are also used for teacher training, peer observations, coaching and mentoring.

School Wide Improvement Model
Describe the research-based School Improvement Model at your school. How is this model being implemented, and how has it helped with student achievement?
The core curriculum at Chiles consists of a continuous improvement model utilizing a variety of research-based programs including the Harcourt reading and math, Scott Foresman science will be implemented next year, Open Court basals and SRA Direct Instruction. Reading and math instruction is supplemented with Touch Math, STAR Reading and Math, Accelerated Reader, Read Naturally, Reading Fluency, Leap Frog materials, and Mountain Math. Our goal is to help students in all demographic groups make at least one year’s worth of growth.

School Advisory Council
Describe the activities of the School Advisory Council.

The School Advisory Council is made up of 16 members representing instructional and non-instructional staff, parents and community members. Meetings are held at least eight times a year to discuss the implementation of our School Improvement Plan, conduct a needs assessment and discuss school issues.

Communication with Parents
Describe the actions being taken to provide written notification to parents of each student in the format that the parents can understand. Also attach a copy of the communication sent to parents.

Teachers communicate daily and weekly with parents through agendas, newsletters and weekly folders, phone conversations and email. The principal holds several coffees throughout the year and communicates weekly through a newsletter “Communicator” that goes home every Friday and is posted on-line. Test scores and survey data is reported yearly to parents.

Extended Learning Opportunities
Describe the programs that are provided before and after school, during the summer, and during the extended school year.
Our Extended Day Enrichment Program provides a supervised time every afternoon for students to receive additional help with homework and/or individual tutoring. Third, fourth and fifth grade students, identified as needing additional reading support, receive an additional two hours of reading instruction as well as being eligible for a summer reading program. Tutoring is provided after school during January and February for third through fifth graders at risk for failing the FCAT.

Adequate Progress Statement 
Describe the adequate progress for your school due to the implementation of this School Improvement Plan.

GOAL: Reading

Goal Statement
Students successfully compete at the highest levels nationally and internationally and are prepared to make well-reasoned, thoughtful and healthy lifelong decisions.
Needs Assessment

Ninety-nine percent of parents agree or strongly agree that students at Lawton Chiles can apply skills to be successful readers at their instructional level. Eighty-seven percent of the staff agree or strongly agree that an expectation of our reading program is that students frequently predict, sample, confirm, and self-correct during reading.

Objective
To increase reading achievement in kindergarten through fifth grade by using research based practices that emphasize a balance of literature and explicit skills instruction.

Strategies
Maintain the use of Harcourt Brace Reading/Language Arts Program
Maintain the use of Direct Instruction programs for at-risk students
Hire additional instructional personnel to support at-risk students or those in the lowest twenty-five percent quartile in every subgroup as measured by No Child Left Behind/Adequate Yearly Progress
Emphasize student participation in Accelerated Reader, using students' ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) in STAR, at each grade level through the use of incentives and to include content area books in the program
Promote parent awareness of reading programs and academic expectations at Open House, classroom newsletters, and on the school's web page
Provide parent training in developing reading skills
Provide training through the Families Building Better Readers program for the parents of incoming kindergartners
Provide CRISS training for parents
Provide protected time blocks for reading/language arts in regular education classes in kindergarten through 5th grade
Use technology centers and media resources to support classroom units in developing research and thinking skills in 3rd through 5th grades
Share successful reading strategies and current reading research through schoolwde communication
Maintain use of Skills for School Success and agendas in 3rd through 5th grades and use of folders to ensure communication to parents and organizational skills for students
Maintain a Direct Instruction support group in K-2
Use FCAT Explorer and FCAT Test Tools with 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders in the computer lab and train new teachers.
Purchase teacher materials to support reading instruction
Provide for teachers and paraprofessionals to attend reading workshops and conferences
Provide possibilities for an after school tutoring program for below level readers
Maintain Paws to Read (struggling readers read to certified dogs)
Maintain a book exchange program
Provide release time for kindergarten teachers to screen incoming kindergarteners with DIBELS/ESI—K.
Incorporate career awareness through guest speakers and Junior Achievement in the 2nd and 5th grades and through a Career Awareness Day in April
Maintain intervention strategies to meet the needs of struggling readers and research additional strategies
Provide for inclusion of ESE students in mainstreamed language arts classes where appropriate
Monitor students' reading progress by developing a class matrix that compares data from each grading period that will be reviewed at regularly scheduled meetings with teachers, the Curriculum Resource Teacher, Counselor, and Principal
Analyze data from norm referenced and Harcourt Brace Theme, Mid Year and End of Year tests along with Direct Instruction tests to identify student needs to adjust instruction and grouping
Maintain an FCAT Reading Support Group within the school day for additional instruction in reading
Purchase trade books to support the math program through the literature connection (Media Center)
Provide an accelerated curriculum to meet the needs of high achieving readers
Participate in Open Court Study in grades 1-3
Pilot Open Court at grades 1-5

Evaluation
Eighty-five percent of the students in grades one through five will score 80% or above in reading on the Harcourt Brace or Reading Mastery Assessments.
Or
Fifty-one percent of third through fifth graders will score at Level 3 or higher on the FCAT.

Research-Based Program
Open Court reading, Kaleidoscope, DIBELS, Harcourt Trophies Reading Series, Reading Mastery, Corrective Reading, Edmark, Leap Frog Program, STAR, STAR Early Literacy, Accelerated Reader, Great Leaps, Early Intervention in Reading, Reading Rescue

Professional Development Aligned with Objective
Initial and follow up Harcourt Brace and Open Court Reading Inservice and coaching for Direct Instruction for new teachers or teachers who change grade levels
Inservice for teachers and parent volunteers for using ZPD information in Accelerated Reader
Faculty inservice on the use of new software
Inservice on FCAT reading, writing, and skill development for new teachers and teachers who change grade levels
Provide training for Skills for School Success for new teachers, teachers who change grade levels, and parents
Inclusion strategies for meeting the needs of individual students with deficiencies and/or disabilities
Reciprocal Teaching – Dr. Nancy Corbett Budget for Reading (chart will not cut and paste-serves only as a guide)

**
Reading Elements: Highly Certified In-Field Instructors

Please provide a list of and a brief narrative about the certified quality instructors in reading.

All kindergarten-fifth grade teachers are highly qualified teachers of reading. Three teachers are certified in Reading Certification and one teacher holds the Florida State Reading Endorsement. The Curriculum Resource Teacher is certified in Reading kindergarten-twelfth grade and is an Advanced Direct Instruction Reading Coach.

GOAL: Mathematics

Goal Statement
Eighty-five percent of the students in grades 1-5 will score 80% or above on the Harcourt Brace Math end of the year test.

For kindergarten, 85% of kindergarten students will earn a score of 80% mastery or higher on end of year report card math checklist.

For grades 1-2, the math average Normal Curve Equivalent (NCE) school-wide gain for each major ethnic group on the SAT-10 will exceed 1 NCE.

For grades 3-5, 53% of the total school population will score Level 3 or above on the FCAT mathematics assessment, and 53% of the students in each identifiable subgroup will score Level 3 or above on the FCAT.

Needs Assessment
Ninety-eight percent of parents agree or strongly agree that students at Lawton Chiles can apply the mathematical skills that are taught at their grade level and 90% of parents agree or strongly agree that students at Lawton Chiles demonstrate the ability to solve real-life problems.

Objective
Eighty-five percent of all students will demonstrate a year’s worth of growth in basic mathematics skills based on evaluation using the Harcourt Basal Math Criteria.

Strategies
Fine Arts teachers will focus on integrating math skills and concepts with instruction
Teachers will implement a variety of differentiated instructional methods, including but not limited to Responsive Classroom, Cooperative Learning, flexible grouping for instruction and remediation, Sunshine Math, and learning styles
Reproduce a Math School Home Connection, by chapter or unit, to keep parents informed on math program for grades K-5
Multi-sensory materials including, but not limited to, Touch Math, Mountain Math, manipulatives, and Harcourt software will be used to increase opportunities for achievement
Create a cover letter to share grade level mathematics expectations and curriculum ladder with parents during parent meetings/Open House
Provide after school tutoring for children at risk to score a level one on FCAT
Schedule a Math Fair Night incorporating students to familiarize parents with our programs and formats for FCAT testing and provide a parent training for the Harcourt Brace School website and FCAT Explorer early during the school year
Provide an opportunity for teachers to attend conferences focusing on mathematics training
Critical thinking