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Courtenay Middle School Growth Plan Report - June 2007
We completed the majority of our action plans with the exception of having our feeder schools host writing workshops
We kept all parents including the SPC informed through our monthly newsletter and our web site. We also did a monthly report to PAC.
Our SPC met June 29 to review the results we have collected this year.
All results are in with the exception of F.S.A.
Both the staff and the school planning council have endorsed continuing with our goals of improving student performance in mathematics and in writing. The staff has discussed and the S.P.C. has recommended the goals be expanded to include reading. This decision will be made in August or Sept.
The Writing Goal: Courtenay Middle School will improve student performance in writing.
Performance indicators and targets
· Using Provincial Writing Performance Standards 85% of students will achieve at or above the score they achieved in the September school wide write in the year end school wide write. The September write will be assessed using Grade 7 Performance Standards for the Grade 7's and the Grade 8 Performance Standards for the Grade 8's. The year-end write will use the Grade 7 Performance standards for 7's and the Grade 8 Performance Standards for Grade 8's. The number of students writing at level 3 or better will increase by at least 20% between the Fall and year end school wide writes.
Grade 7's - 93% were at or better, as a group the % of students scoring 3 or better increased from 24.6 - 62.2%
Grade 7 First Nations - 93% were at or better as a group, the % of students scoring 3 or better increased from 24.6% - 41% (population 17)
Grade 8's - 86.5% were at or better, as a group the % of students scoring 3 or better increased from 37.6 - 65.6%
Grade 8 First Nations - 82.6% were at or better as a group, the % of students scoring 3 or better increased from 26.9% - 60.9% (population 23)
· F.S.A. results place our students at or better than the provincial average
Information not available until the fall, We did achieve 2% above the district and 2% under the provincial averages on the 05/06 FSA. This is not a huge difference. Our participation rate is exceptionally high despite the fact our Life Skills students do not write the F.S.A. Our rate is 95% vs. 86% for the district and 88% for the province.
· Parent satisfaction survey results will show more than 75% of our Grade 7 parents are satisfied with student progress in writing
only 48 parent responses were reported. 60% are satisfied with student progress.
· student satisfaction survey results will show more than 85% of our students see themselves as improving in writing
64% said many or all times 22% said sometimes. 12% do not see themselves getting better. The split would be 75% - 23%
ANALYSIS
· Results are quite positive. We use a six point scale and there is a strong shift away from 0's and 1's from the start to the end of the year.
· Staff have noted an improvement in writing samples
· Staff were pleased with the school wide write topics as the students were interested in them and that helped students do well. We do have to be careful that students aren't under the impression their writing will change policies.
· The drop below provincial average for F.S.A. writing is borderline for significance
· Counting the final school wide write as part of the final exam is a good strategy
· Our targets should remain the same
· We need to reinforce our students accomplishments with them and with their parents.
· We should look at "6 +1 Traits of Writing" as that program is being used in elementary schools.
· Teaching a standard essay format has been a benefit to our students.
· This goal will remain for 07/08. We have a good return o staff and they are ready to work on the growth plan.
· Will need to continue to do in-service on the new performance standards we developed this year.
Summary of Strategies
we completed the Fall school wide write and communicated the results to our feeder schools. We also did a mid year write and then completed a year-end school wide write.
we developed new performance standards for two other genres of writing - stories and poetry.
we again used release time to reinforce common criteria and to standardize expectations for assessment. This was done following the Fall, and mid-year school wide writes.
our target results will be put on our shared drive, have been discussed with the SPC, and will be communicated to our PAC in the Fall.
to facilitate idea exchanges we continue to use resource and data folders in our teachers' shared drive
student writing folders were maintained for school wide writes and are being passed on to grade 8 teachers
our format for record keeping is working well and is being used by teachers
The Numeracy Goal: Courtenay Middle School will improve student performance in mathematics.
Performance indicators and targets
We will make progress towards achieving the following performance standards:
· on the final year-end exam, 85% students will achieve at or above the score they received in the cross grade readiness exam (within a leeway of 5%). The Grade 7 readiness exam will be based on Grade 6 learning outcomes and will be written in September. The Grade 8 Readiness exam will be the June Grade 7 cross grade final exam.
Grade 7's - 98% achieved at or above their performance at the start of the year
- school average Sept. exam 44%, final exam 71% = improvement of 27%
- solid improvement in all four curricular strands
- First Nations 100% achieved at or above their performance at the start of the year.
- pass rate in Fall was 33.7% improving to 90% on Final
- pass rate on Final is the same as last year
Grade 8's - 55.8 % achieved at or above their performance at the end of Grade 7
- 76.8% achieved at or above their performance on the District Math Assessment (DMA)done in the Fall
- school average Gr. 7 final 72%, Gr. 8 final 69% = decline of 3%
- Fall DMA average 64% Final 69% = increase of 5%
- 90% of students passed the '06 Grade 7 Final 95% passed the Grade 8
Final, - but the stats were skewed due to entering rewrites (79% passed the Fall DMA)
- 87%of First Nations students passed the Grade 8 final (20/23)
- after rewrites 98% of the Grade 8 students passed the Grade 8 final
- notable improvement in patterns and statistics curricular strands, decline in numbers and shape and space
- First Nations 43% achieved at or above their performance at the start of the year (10/23). 74% were at or better than the Fall DMA.
· cross grade average scores will improve by 10% from the start to the end of the year
Grade 7's improved by 27%
Grade 8's declined by 3%
Using the Fall DMA the Grade 8's improved by 5%
· 80% of students will achieve a passing Grade on the end of year cross grade math final for their respective grade
Grade 7's - 90% (Sept. 33.7%) Previous year 90%
Grade 7 First Nations - 86% (population 14)
Grade 8's - 95% (Gr. 7 Final 90%) Previous year 82%
Grade 8 First Nations - 87% (population 23)
· F.S.A. results at or above the district average
Information for this year not available until the Fall. Results for '05/06 showed our students achieved 2% above the district and 5% below the provincial averages. Our participation rate is exceptionally high despite the fact our Life Skills students do not write the F.S.A. Our rate is 94% vs. 85% for the district and 87% for the province.
· parent satisfaction survey results will show more than 80% of our Grade 7 parents are satisfied with student progress in mathematics
only 48 parent responses were reported. 61% are satisfied with student progress.
· student satisfaction survey results will show more than 84% of our Grade 7 students see themselves as improving in mathematics
67% said many or all times21% said sometimes. 11% do not see themselves as improving. We divide the middle so the split is 77% - 23%
ANALYSIS
· Grade 7's achieved their targets
· Grade 8's achieved their pass target and made progress towards their other targets. We were pleased to see the pass rate for Grade 8's maintained.
· The improvement is certainly there when averaged for both grades. Last year we decided to use the District Math Assessment pre test for Grade 8 as our starting point for Grade 8's. We believe this is a more accurate starting point in comparison to Grade 7's. The Fall District Math Assessment Results in relation to year-end results showed much more positive results for Grade 8's.
· Once again, we are planning early math meetings to share strategies for addressing that area. Thinking of four .6 release days for meetings as well as after school sessions.
· We continue to support the grade 8 rewrite program. It means the majority of students leave after demonstrating they can succeed in math.
· Keep the performance indicators and targets the same
· Continue with grade 8 term exams in the first and second terms
· The strong number of returning staff will allow us to focus on the growth plan more next year.
Strategies
we completed the Fall assessments and communicated the results to our feeder schools, the results are also posted on our network
we used the Sept. 22nd in-service day to have goal meetings and workshops - these sessions included joint planning of targeted units (targeted from the assessment results). We also continued to hold meetings on regular school days and used release time for two afternoon sessions where common units were developed and distributed to all of our math teachers.
we continued the school-wide multiplication project
we required Grade 8 students who failed the final exam complete a study package for the sections they failed. The end results had all 98% of our students pass the final. Once again anecdotal reports showed many students felt very pleased with their eventual success. We liked having them finish the year with a positive feeling of success.
17 of our students participated in the Gauss Math Contest
The binder resource program was continued and expanded
We maintained the supply of math manipulatives and have ordered more for next year.
Projects
Reading
DART results show 23% of our Grade 8 students not meeting minimal expectations 05/06 F.S.A. results for this group in Grade 7 showed 25% not meeting expectations. Even so our results were above both the district and the province 75% vs. 72%.
Staff discussed the need to look at:
¨ Being consistent with our Sustained Silent Reading (S.S.R.) program
¨ Developing a structured data bank to analyze student progress in reading - look at the model Isfeld is developing
¨ Improving classroom book selections for S.S.R.
¨ Developing reading skills across the curriculum - look at the Aspen Model
Student Health and Safety Committee
Meetings have occurred once or more per week on average, sometimes the whole group and sometimes a sub-committee with a specific purpose - bake sales, posters, Justice Theatre, anti-racism contest, anti-racism skit and discussion, inspiring art group, Green Warriors (environmental awareness), YANA group. Wendy de Candole took on bake sales after the first one in October. Patti Vermette and Wendy Morin attended meetings on several occasions.
A group of 9 Grade 8 Boys and one Grade 8 girl created an anti-racism skit which was presented to all classes in Grade 7 and Grade 8. The skit was followed by questions the students asked of the audience and by discussion with the players or in class following the presentation. Feedback was positive.
School Safety Project (Anti-Bullying)
Ms Gietz taught anti-bullying lessons in all Grade 7 divisions (minimum 4 - maximum 8).
The first two monthly newsletters had anti-bullying articles since then we have had articles about Internet safety for parents and students.
Information about anti-bullying initiatives was shared as appropriate with staff.
Justice theatre presented an anti-bullying mock court case based on cyber bullying. The presentation is a reenactment of a real trial. Teachers were provided with a wealth of materials including lesson plans, latest research, and web sites with masters held in the library.
EQ Preparedness
There have been no volunteers for the committees although the invitation has been made many times. We have continued to implement the three-five year plan created by the 2004-2005 committee.
Articles have been published in the monthly school newsletter every second month, alternating with articles on Internet safety. Monthly reports have been made to PAC. Demonstrations and useful websites have been provided to PAC.
First Aid training was given to some students through the mini-elective program and with the support of St. John Ambulance. Eleven students registered this year with 10 completing the course.
The school now has the following in place: two days' worth of water (2-year shelf life) and food (five-year shelf life); emergency medical supplies; a binder of student information held in the office; a NEPP binder; a binder with copies of purchase orders to date and the 3-5 year plan to provide direction as to next steps in EQ and disaster preparedness. Supplies have been marked for identification purposes and to provide a timeline for replacement.
Habits of Mind
With such a major change in staffing our Habits program was reviewed this year. Many classes worked with it, but there was not a school wide push. We have now formed a committee to continue the program in the 2007/08 school year. We will be beginning the year with a school wide shield project that will form part of our school's décor.
Summary
We are again pleased with the progress we made this year. Our new staff has now completed a year of adjustment and is ready to take leadership roles in pursuing excellence and enquiry projects to improve student learning. There will be more details in the fall when our staff is together with a new principal and we complete our plans for the 2007 - 2008 school year.
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