“Reaching New

Heights!”Kendell L. Dorsey, PrincipalState of the School Address

Winton Woods Elementary SchoolWednesday, April 18, 2012

“Working Together”

About Us534 students (256 – grade 3 and 278 – grade

4)Students with Disabilities (75 students – 14%)Limited English Proficient (62 students – 12%)African-American (356 students – 67%)Hispanic/Latino (44 students – 8%)Multiracial (48 students – 9%)White (86 students – 16%)

We have had 636 come through the building this year. 25% of all students are transient (either started

after the first week of school or have withdrawn).

Improvements for 2011-12Improved our diagnostic assessments to

ensure that we can provide appropriate interventions for students as needed

Placed an emphasis on teacher collaborationCreated common department planning time on

Wednesdays to allow teachers to collaborate on best practices

Created improvement teams of staff (and some parents) to improve aspects of the school including: culturally responsive practices, parent/community relations, academic pride, positive behavior supports and service learning

Improvements for 2011-12Our school improvement teams have:

Created our new Galloway Learning Center in the front lobby

Improved our school wide behavior program be unifying school money and creating a new traveling school store “Warrior Deals on Wheels”

Our award-winning service learning project, “Giraffe Heroes” focuses on character education and doing projects to make the world a better place

Instituted a new parent newsletterHad an excellent Mix-It-Day which was a

meaningful experience for students

Improvements for 2011-12Our community has supported us to provide many

improvements:A Chase Bank grant allowed all students to attend the National

Underground Railroad Freedom Center.Our lobby improvements were donated by the family of Julie

Galloway (a former WWES teacher)Our Career Fair was staffed by community members and all 4th

graders were able to attend.Wal-Mart has provided funds to support our school store and

aware two staff members with financial awards.PTA has funded many initiatives to support many of our

programs.Motivational Speakers – current/former professional athletesDuke Energy sponsored Science related assembly – The

Energized GuyzGreenhills/Forest Park Kiwanis purchased “Stellaluna” for all 3rd

grades and sponsors reading competition

Improvements for 2011-12Our community has supported us to provide

many improvements:Local churches/organizations have donated

school supplies Quinn Chapel A.M.E. Church Compass Community Church Forest Park Steppers Club

Whiz Kids

Last Winter This Winter Last Spring* This Spring

Reading - 3 61% 64% 72% 66%

Reading - 4 78% 67% 88% (74%)**

Math - 3 45% 45% 55% 68%Math - 4 54% 51% 86% 71%

Benchmark

DiagnosticsWe have improved our diagnostic

assessments to ensure we are well aware of your child’s progress.Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI)Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy

Skills (DIBELS)Diagnostic Spelling Assessment (DSA)Scholastic Math Inventory (SMI)Ohio Achievement Assessment Practice Tests

(Benchmarks)

Response to InterventionWe use our diagnostic data to provide

interventions for students based on their level of need. We must monitor their progress with interventions and take them through all tiers to determine if they may need special services.Tier 1 – general curriculumTier 2 – targeted interventions needed (team

time, guided reading groups, math support, SOAR intervention)

Tier 3 – intensive intervention (WAC Reading, pair with intervention specialist)

80-90%

“Meaningful Experiences”

Curriculum: ReadingThe district has implemented a new literacy

framework model.Part of the make up of reading class is guided

reading, self-selected (independent) reading , working with words and writing

As students engage text we want to encourage them to make connections, question, predict (infer), determine importance, visualize and synthesize.

We use elements of the daily five method to ensure children have a meaningful experience. Each day we want to make sure that students: read to self, read to someone, listen to someone read, work on writing and work on words.

Curriculum: ReadingHow can you help?

Encourage your child to make connections, predict (infer), determine importance and visualize as they read.

Focus on those daily five skills when working with your child: have them read to themselves, to you or younger siblings.

Encourage reading of many different mediums. It is great for students to read fictional stories. We also want them to engage in non-fictional text (i.e. newspaper, appropriate websites, research) – this is a big focus of the National Common Core Standards that are coming down the pike.

Attend literacy related events at school and in the community

Curriculum: MathWe continue our use of the Investigations of Number, Data and

Space. Support students to make sense of mathematics and learn that they can

be mathematical thinkers Emphasize reasoning about mathematical ideas Engage the range of learners in understanding mathematics.

The program focuses several ideas: Students have mathematical ideas. The curriculum must support all

students in developing and expanding those ideas.

Teachers are engaged in ongoing learning about mathematics content and about how students learn mathematics. The curriculum must support teachers in this learning.

Teachers collaborate with the students and curriculum materials to create the curriculum as enacted in the classroom. The curriculum must support teachers in implementing the curriculum in a way that accommodates the needs of their particular students.

Curriculum: MathHow can you help?

Ensure that your child knows all of their appropriate math facts

Support your child with homework using the Math Handbook

Have your child continue to engage in math activities throughout the summer

Students can also continue their work in Study Island throughout the summer.

Attend math nights when they are offered

Curriculum: ScienceThe district adopted Interactive Science.

The program is built around 3 focus areas: Reading – a high quality engaging text that

allows for receive multiple opportunities to engage non-fictional text in a meaningful way

Inquiry – provide meaningful real world experiences to help students construct meaning around Science concepts

Digital – the program has a comprehensive digital component that assist students in accessing the curriculum

Building ClimateWe have worked hard to improve our building

climate. We still have work to do.Our office referrals have increased 22%.We have increased out of school suspensions by 41%.

(114 to 161)We have put a lot of emphasis on improving building

climate:Improved our positive behavior support system –

unified Warrior Bucks Created a new school storePositive Behavior Referrals (VIW)Implement Warriorology – Character EducationAnti-bullying training with Children’s TheatreGiraffe Heroes – Character Education component

Building ClimateWe have put a lot of emphasis on improving

building climate:Guest Speakers – Pittsburgh Pirates, former

BengalImplement behavior interventions based on

student need through the Response to Intervention process including: Check In/Check Out Small group intervention – anger management,

social skills Ladies Who Lunch

Site based therapist through Talbert HouseTeacher professional development with a

behavioral specialist

Building ClimateHow you can help?

Daily remind your child of school behaviors and hold them accountable for poor choices

Consider mentoring a child to be a positive influence

Keep in strong communication with the school regarding your child’s behavior

“Making A Difference”

Looking towards the futureContinue to strengthen academic

achievement by working to meet students’ individual needs

Develop focused school wide initiatives to strengthen the climate of the building and improve student discipline

Improve parental involvement – increase parental involvement on all improvement teams, increase parental and community tutoring

Improve our physical building (i.e. library, painting, clean up)