School Improvement Plan 2013-14

School Improvement Plan 2013-14 Wethersfield High School Thomas R. Moore, Principal Andrew Komar, Assistant Principal Holly Herzman, Assistant Principal Michael Maltese, Assistant Principal October 22, 2013 Wethersfield Board of Education

Student Learning Outcomes Goals • 2 Goals - Performance and progress on the academic learning measures in the state’s accountability system for schools • School wide SPI Progress • School wide SPI subgroup Progress • 3 Goals - Performance and growth on locally determined measures • Non-tested subject or grades (high school must include graduation goal) • Two more Student Learning Goals – indicators may focus on student results from a subset of teachers, grade levels, or subjects

2 SPI Goals • At this time the CSDE has not released School Performance Index data. • This data will be shared once available.

3 Locally Determined Goals • Goal 1- The graduation rate performance target for 2012-2013 district 4-year cohort was 89.5 while the district extended graduation rate was 93.4. The district 4-year cohort rate for 2010 was 85.5 and the district 4-year cohort rate for 2011 was 91.1. • Our goals will be a 4-year cohort goal of 90% and an extended graduation rate of 94%.

Rationale & Strategies • The graduation rate is actually an entire school district goal encompassing the efforts of elementary, middle and high school staffs as well as the efforts of the central office administration • The high school graduation rate provides the community with feedback about our programs • The goal of high school students is to graduate with an eye on further aspirations

Rationale & Strategies • The advisor/advisee program will help maintain a focus on graduation • Any tutoring resources gained will be prioritized towards seniors needing some additional instruction to pass graduation requirements • The parent portal provides immediate access as to graduation status • We will maintain administrative and guidance contact with all students “on the cusp” to provide any supports possible

3 Locally Determined Goals • Goal 2 - 85% of grade 9 students will attain a minimum of 5.4 credits by June of their freshman year.

Rationale & Strategies • Research tells us that ninth graders who maintain a healthy credit acquisition are most likely to graduate in four years • Habits and routines formed in ninth grade generally follow students through their high school careers

Rationale & Strategies • Our guidance program has one dedicated school counselor for ninth grade students • The data teams and “game film teams” for teachers of ninth grade students will provide common formative assessment information which should benefit ninth grade instruction and achievement • Two specific school administrators are allocated to the needs of ninth grade students

3 Locally Determined Goals • Goal 3 - 25% of students in grades 11 and 12 will be enrolled in an Early College Experience (ECE)/Advanced Placement (AP) course during their junior/senior year with an 80% passing rate locally.

Rationale & Strategies • We believe that it is advantageous for senior students to experience a college level curriculum in the safe and comfortable environment of their home high school • This is a financial benefit for all students gathering college credit • Instructors are UCONN certified • Almost all colleges accept UCONN credit • AP test scores don’t always result in college credit

Rationale & Strategies • ECE programs are being advocated by high school staff and school counselors • The ECE program has been discussed at the WHS Parent, Teacher, and Student Association (PTSA) meetings • The ECE program offerings are being expanded for coming years • Mrs. Mucinskas provides WHS with an ECE liaison for information and clarification

Organizational Capacity-building Goals • 1 Goal - Teacher Practice • What will be the building level focus to improve classroom instruction? Consider the bottom lines, Framework for Teaching Evaluation Instrument (Danielson, 2013) and district focus areas. • 1 Goal - Team Improvement Goal • Based on The Seven Stages of Professional Learning. What is the goal related to data teams? • 1 Goal - School Climate and Culture • Consider stakeholder feedback survey data (parent and staff)

Teacher Practice Goal • Our goal is to increase the number of parents using the parent portal whose children are not achieving academically at a high level • Teachers at Wethersfield High School will share their syllabi and learning expectations with students and their families within the first two weeks of school. Using the parent portal, teachers will e-mail any family of a student who is either earning a grade lower than a “C-“ or has gone down one full letter grade from the previous quarter. This communication will take place at the mid-point of each quarter. • Teachers may individualize this goal in collaboration with their evaluator

Rationale & Strategies • Predicated on Domain 4.c of the Danielson rubric. The elements of component 4.c are: • Information about the instructional program – the teacher frequently provides information to families about the instructional program • Information about individual students – the teacher frequently provides information to families about students’ individual progress • Engagement of families in the instructional program – the teacher frequently and successfully offers engagement opportunities to families so that they can participate in the learning activities

Rationale & Strategies • This is a goal to communicate with an underrepresented constituency of the high school population that did not respond to the parent survey last year. We believe that this goal is significant because the following are important • Frequent and culturally appropriate information sent home regarding the instructional program and student progress establishes a relationship between home and school • Two-way communication between the teacher and families allows the home and school to partner in the best interests of a student’s education • Frequent opportunities for families to engage in the learning process allows families to discuss school and education at home and emphasizes the importance of education

Team Improvement Goal • The goal of the data teams and the “game film” teams is to improve instruction and student achievement in the classroom • Based on minutes collected from data teams we would like to increase the number of common formative assessments used by teacher teams from an average of three to an average of 12 • Teachers will measure student achievement gains from the data presented with their SLOs and IAGDs

Rationale & Strategies • Weekly (Tuesday) meetings. Data teams will meet on the first and fourth Tuesday of the month and “game film” teams will meet on the second and third Tuesday of the month • Common Formative Assessments (CFAs) established through the data teams • All meetings will submit minutes to the appropriate administrator and will describe the efforts and data discussed and analyzed in order to improve instruction

Rationale & Strategies • The “game film teams” use peer assessment techniques and a locally created protocol to gain feedback on the quality of instruction • The “game film team” protocol has been based on the WHS Learning Principles which were created by and voted upon by the school faculty

School Climate and Culture • To increase the effectiveness of the school’s discipline program • This goal is generated from the staff survey question number 8 which asks if the school’s discipline program is effective. 55% of the staff responded favorably to this statement. Our goal is to raise that percentage by 5 points

Rationale & Strategies • Teachers at Wethersfield High School will share their syllabi and learning expectations with students and their families within the first two weeks of school • Teachers at Wethersfield High School will gather valid e-mail addresses from PowerSchool and provide appropriate academic information for each family as described in the criteria • Correlates highly with Danielson 4c., Managing Classroom Procedures and 4d., Managing Student Behavior

Rationale & Strategies • Teachers will keep a log of parent contacts (e-mails, texts, phone calls etc.) • Teachers will utilize their PowerSchool grade book to keep accurate records to share with students and families • Teachers will contact the families listed in the criteria a minimum of 4 times during the school year • We are aspiring towards a 10% increase of families (parents and students) accessing student grades via the parent portal from 40% to 50%

School Improvement Plan 2013-14