school improvement plan -...

School Improvement Plan

2016-2017

Draft Due: October 3, 2016 Final Copy Due: October 31, 2016

2016-2017 Piedmont School Improvement Plan Report

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Piedmont Contact Information School:

Piedmont Courier Number:

497

Address:

1241 East 10th Street Phone Number:

980-343-5435

Charlotte, NC 28204 Fax Number:

980-343-5557

Learning Community Central

School Website: http://schools.cms.k12.nc.us/piedmontMS/Pages/Default.aspx

Principal: Jackie Barone

Learning Community Superintendent: Taralynn Sullivan

Piedmont School Improvement Team Membership From GS §115C-105.27: “The principal of each school, representatives of the assistant principals, instructional personnel, instructional support personnel, and teacher assistants assigned to the school building, and parents of children enrolled in the school shall constitute a school improvement team to develop a school improvement plan to improve student performance. Representatives of the assistant principals, instructional personnel, instructional support personnel, and teacher assistants shall be elected by their respective groups by secret ballot....Parents serving on school improvement teams shall reflect the racial and socioeconomic composition of the students enrolled in that school and shall not be members of the building-level staff.”

Committee Position Name Email Address Date

Elected

Principal Jackie Barone [email protected] 10/8/13

Assistant Principal Representative Brady Monismith [email protected] 10/8/15

Assistant Principal Representative John Kirkland [email protected] 10/13/16

Dean of Students Meredith Austin [email protected] 10/13/16

Inst. Support Representative Dawn Johnston [email protected] 10/8/13

Teacher Assistant Representative Kerry Hogan-Hamer [email protected] 10/8/13

Teacher Representative Maranda Thornburg [email protected] 10/8/13

Teacher Representative Clark Davis [email protected] 10/8/13

Teacher Representative Elijah Ashley [email protected] 10/9/14

Teacher Representative Ronny Reddig [email protected] 10/8/13

Parent Representative Shanequa Sellers [email protected] 10/8/13

Parent Representative Erika Gantt [email protected] 10/8/13

Parent Representative Stephanie Roberson [email protected] 10/9/14

Parent Representative Kenneth Morton [email protected] 10/8/15

mailto:[email protected]










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Vision Statement

District: CMS provides all students the best education available anywhere, preparing every child to lead a rich and productive life.

School: At Piedmont Middle IB teachers work to develop in students the skills of creative problem-solving, effective communication, the ability to work in groups with diverse

members, and the ability to withstand and resolve conflict. The focus of study is to develop analytical and conceptual thinking, rather than rote memorization. Information and

technology literacy, combined with self-directed learning, help prepare our students for the future. The Learner Profile, driven by the Areas of Interaction, guides our curriculum and

instructional design across all three grade levels. Our students move into high school prepared to face both rigorous academic challenges, and the personal demands of their later

adolescent years.

Mission Statement

District: The mission of CMS is to maximize academic achievement by every student in every school.

School: Piedmont exists to inspire in its students a passion for learning and a commitment to personal integrity and academic excellence. Students will demonstrate self-confidence

and creativity, be open-minded and inquisitive, and display a sense of social responsibility and global awareness.

Piedmont Shared Beliefs Every child can learn

Every child is valued as a unique individual, and worthy of the best educational experience Piedmont can provide.

High expectations are integral to success.

Community and service are valued.

The Piedmont learning experience extends beyond the core classes to integrate all the electives, where the acquisition of core content and

skills form the foundation from which real-world applications are explored.

The art of teaching requires modeling effective communication, problem

solving, decision-making, knowledge acquisition, and interpersonal skills

for successful living.

Piedmont SMART Goals Provide a duty-free lunch period for every teacher on a daily basis.

Provide duty-free instructional planning time for every teacher under G.S. 115C-105.27 and -301.1, with the goal of proving an average of at least five hours of

planning time per week, to the maximum extent that the safety and proper supervision of students may allow during regular student contact hours.

Provide a positive school climate, under CMS regulation JICK-R, by promoting a safe learning environment free of bullying and harassing behaviors.

Increase composite score of 86.89% of students proficient to a composite score of 90% of students proficient on EOGs by June 2017.

Decrease our largest achievement gap amongst subgroups from 48.8% to 25% on EOGs by June 2017 (SWD subgroup was lowest at 49.1% and Asian was

highest at 97.9%).

100% of 8th grade students completing a high-quality IB Community Project by May 2017.


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Piedmont Assessment Data Snapshot

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools

School Improvement Plan READY EOY Assessment Proficiency Summary

Piedmont IB Middle School

Assessment Subgroup 2015-2016 2014-2015

% GLP % CCR % GLP % CCR

Grade 06 EOG Composite All 86.8 78 79.4 70.8

All 86.8 78 79.4 70.8

All 83.5 76.2 79.4 72.4

All 90.1 79.7 79.4 69.2

All 82.8 74.5 78.3 71.1

All 79 73 73.7 69.1

All 86.6 76 82.9 73.1

All 88.6 82.8 88.4 80.9

All 80.3 74.2 79.2 68.6

All 86 77.4 86.1 75.9

All 99.7 96.8 100 98.3

All 98.4 97.6 100 100

All 87.6 77.7 82.6 72.6

All 80.9 74.4 77.4 70.1

All 99.7 96.8 100 98.3

EOG Composite All 86.3 78.8 82.7 75

African American 81.4 71.6 77 67.7


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American Indian 83.3 83.3 66.7 58.3

Asian 97.9 95.4 97.8 95.2

Hispanic 86.1 77.2 77.5 63.4

More Than One 88 82.4 83.5 80.4

White 96 93.8 95.4 91.4

EDS 78.6 67.3 73.7 63.9

LEP 80 60 45.5 36.4

SWD 49.1 43.6 58.3 50

AIG 97.9 96.6 97.4 95

All 86.3 78.8 82.7 75

All 98.4 97.6 100 100

All 86.9 79.7 83.7 76.5


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Piedmont Profile

Piedmont’s student population represents a cultural mix from across Mecklenburg County. We are a magnet school that is

not a home school for any of our student population. Students in all three grade levels are selected by the lottery process.

Students must fulfill certain academic standards to be eligible for admittance into Piedmont; students must score a level 3

or 4 or 5 on the 4th grade EOG to be eligible. Students must agree to take and pass a world language course each year,

and complete 20 hours (6th grade) or 25 hours (7th) of community and service hours in addition to a community project in

8th grade. We lost some students over the summer, but almost none at the Opening of School. Right now our enrollment is

1085 students: 6th grade (384), 7th grade (346), and 8th grade (355). Our student population is comprised of 45% male and

55% female, 60% African American, 19% white, 9.6% Hispanic, 7.6% Asian, .3% American Indian, and 3.8% Multi Racial.

Of our student population 36.7% are gifted, 1.2% are students with disabilities, and .1% are LEP.

Piedmont has 50 fully certified teachers - 25% of our teaching staff have Masters Degrees or higher. Six of our teachers

are Nationally Board Certified. Teachers in their first or second year receive a mentor and attend monthly professional

development sessions with our academic facilitator and IB coordinator. All mentors are certified and experienced in the

same content area as the mentee. Additional support includes: one resource officer, one EC assistant, a .1 LEP teacher

(who we are hoping to hire soon), a media specialist, a media assistant, and an ISS assistant (who serves as testing

coordinator). Piedmont has the support of two assistant principals, a dean of students, three school counselors, an

academic facilitator, a professional development facilitator and an IB coordinator. We have a nurse, five secretaries, and

five custodians.

At Piedmont we give common teacher created assessments after every unit of study. We also use data from CMS and

MAP formatives and formatives that teachers create from the PowerSchool and DPI question banks, and from released

EOG’s from other states. We use EVAAS and portal information to track progress. PLCs (departments and teams)

triangulate data and use it to identify student and instructional weaknesses, and then to inform instruction and planning

(team and department activities to bridge the learning gap. All content areas are proficient in the disaggregation of data

and the DataWise and/or Data-Driven Instruction and their lesson plans and common assessments reflect that intentional


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planning. This year Lisa Gurthie will work with the Arts PLC, John Kirkland is working with Social Studies, Karen Gorman

with math, Brady Monismith with math and Health/PE, Jackie Barone with World Language, Meredith Austin with ELA, and

Dawn Johnston with Science. We are concentrating on bringing the other PLCs to the level of effectiveness we see in

Math and Social Studies and on incorporating best practices that the Instructional Leadership Team investigates and

determines to be effective and useful (such as close reading). At this point we have functioning PLCs in every content

area; we just want to raise the level of effectiveness to exemplary. 2014-2015 was an excellent year for Piedmont.

Piedmont was recognized this year as, Magnet Schools of America School of Distinction and we received an A+ as our

NCDPI School Performance Grade. We are proud of our academic progress, and determined to improve in areas of

challenge and make even greater gains next year.

The Piedmont staff holds an Annual Review on the work day in June for the purpose of analyzing testing and survey data,

and looking at every strategy of the SIP and deciding whether to maintain, revise, or delete strategies for the coming year.

We work from evidence in making these decisions. Every teacher maintains a Data Binder or some other evidence of

data use, with reflections at the end of each quarter. We utilize CMS, Insight, and State Working Conditions surveys as

well as our own teacher, parent, and student surveys which are taken by all stakeholders and which relate directly to

concerns, initiatives, and activities at Piedmont. This year the identified critical issues for the 2016 - 2017 school year are

raising proficiency levels on EOG tests, specifically raising the level of college and career ready students, in addition to

closing the achievement gaps amongst our subgroups. We will continue to work on removing the major disadvantages of

being poor, as our ED subgroup climbs toward 50%, and on identifying our at-risk students early and beginning

interventions by mid Quarter 1. We are participating in MAP testing and hope that the computer adaptive formatives will

greatly aid teachers in identifying learning gaps and deficiencies early in the school year. All content areas are committed

to implementing and assessing the Common Core State Standards and Essential Standards including literacy standards.

To assure effective communication the administration meets monthly with the PTSA, SLT, MUSE (Arts boosters), and

Athletic Boosters organizations. The Piedmont parent electronic newsletter keeps all stakeholders updated on all current

information/activities/events. Every teacher has a Wiki page and e-mail groups for all their classes. In addition, the

Piedmont wiki site, Face Book site, and Blackboard Connect messages also keep parents informed. The Principal sends


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stakeholders a Blackboard Connect message every Saturday morning that summarizes the week’s events and advises

families of what is coming the following week. We are attempting to “go green” by posting homework and project

assignments, as well as rubrics, study guides, field trip information and permission slips, on teacher wiki pages. We

document carefully in the beginning of the year those families without internet connection, so that hard copies are available

to those students.


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Strategic Plan 2018: For a Better Tomorrow

Goal 1: Maximize academic achievement in a personalized 21st-century learning environment for every child to graduate college- and career-ready Four focus areas:

I. College- and career-readiness II. Academic growth/high academic achievement

III. Access to rigor IV. Closing achievement gaps

Goal 2: Recruit, develop, retain and reward a premier workforce Five focus areas:

I. Proactive recruitment II. Individualized professional development

III. Retention/quality appraisals IV. Multiple career pathways V. Leadership development

Goal 3: Cultivate partnerships with families, businesses, faith-based groups and community organizations to provide a sustainable system of support and care for each child Three focus areas:

I. Family engagement II. Communication and outreach

III. Partnership development

Goal 4: Promote a system-wide culture of safety, high engagement, cultural competency and customer service Five focus areas:

I. Physical safety II. Social and emotional health

III. High engagement IV. Cultural competency V. Customer service

Goal 5: Optimize district performance and accountability by strengthening data use, processes and systems Four focus areas:

I. Effective and efficient processes and systems II. Strategic use of district resources

III. Data integrity and use IV. School performance improvement

Goal 6: Inspire and nurture learning, creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship through technology and strategic school redesign

Four focus areas: I. Learning everywhere, all the time II. Innovation and entrepreneurship

III. Strategic school redesign IV. Innovative new schools


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SMART Goal (1): Duty Free Lunch for Teachers

Provide a duty-free lunch period for every teacher on a daily basis.

Strategic Plan Goal: Goal 5: Optimize district performance and accountability by strengthening data use, processes and systems

Strategic Plan Focus Area: Strategic Management of District Resources

Data Used: Teacher survey data – Insight, TWC/Master schedule

Strategies (determined by what data)

Task

Task

Task (PD)

Point Person (title)

Evidence of Success (Student Impact)

Funding (estimated cost / source)

Personnel Involved

Timeline (Start—End)

Interim Dates

1. Create master schedule to provide this time for teachers

Principal

AP

Master Scheduler

Teacher schedules with no duty at lunch

N/A Principal

APs

Dean

Master Scheduler

July 2016

2.Non-teaching staff supervise cafeteria during lunches

Principal

AP

Master Scheduler

Teacher schedules with no duty at lunch

N/A APs

Dean

Counselors

SRO

Aug. 2016 – June 2017


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SMART Goal (2): Duty Free Instructional Planning Time

Provide duty-free instructional planning time for every teacher under G.S. 115C-105.27 and -301.1, with the goal of proving an average of at least five hours of planning time per week, to the maximum extent that the safety and proper supervision of students may allow during regular student contact hours.

Strategic Plan Goal: Goal 2: Recruit, develop, retain and reward a premier workforce Goal 5: Optimize district performance and accountability by strengthening data use, processes and systems

Strategic Plan Focus Area: Professional Development/Effective & Efficient Processes and Systems

Data Used: Teacher survey data – Insight, TWC


Task

Task

Task (PD)




Personnel Involved


Interim Dates

1. Create master schedule to provide this time for teachers

Principal

AP

Former Dean

Teacher schedules with common planning daily

N/A Prin.

AP

Dean

July 2016

2. Minimize disruptions to planning time by keeping to 2 parent conferences per week (1 if a 504) at specified times

Counselors

More planning time

Schedule of conferences

N/A Counselors

Teachers

Aug. 2016 – June 2017

3.Minimize disruptions to planning time by utilizing e-mail and weekly bulletin to communicate information including professional development information and learning opportunities

Principal

PDF

Data manager

AF

IB Coor.

More planning time for teachers

Flipped professional development

N/A Admin. Team

Counselors

Secretaries

Teachers

Aug. 2016 – June 2017


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SMART Goal (3): Anti-Bullying / Character Education

Provide a positive school climate, under CMS regulation JICK-R, by promoting a safe learning environment free of bullying and harassing behaviors.

Strategic Plan Goal: Goal 4: Promote a system-wide culture of safety, high engagement, cultural competency and customer service

Strategic Plan Focus Area: Physical Safety, Social and Emotional Health

Data Used: Counselor Referral Data, Student Surveys


Task

Task

Task (PD)




Personnel Involved


Interim Dates

1. Bully Liaison / Bully-prevention

Advisory lessons and groups

Yellow help sheets for student/adult communication

Student Advisory Council

Counselors Lower number of bullying incidents reported to administration and/or counselors

Higher ratings on student survey questions regarding safety

Positive feedback from stakeholders

N/A Counselors

Teachers

Admin. Team

August 2016 – June 2017

2. Character Education

Advisory Lessons and Groups

IB Learner Profile

IB Coordinator

Counselors

IB Learner Profile incorporated in unit plans and curriculum maps

N/A Counselors

Teachers



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3. Healthy Active Child 30 min.

HAC built into every student’s schedule

Walking track for 30 min.

Intramurals (PIFL, soccer, basketball)

Principal

AP

Grade Level Team Leaders

PE teacher/Athletic Director

PE/Health Teacher

Students will engage in healthy activity to get heart rate up daily

Students will engage in relationship building activities with teachers and peers daily

N/A Content Area Teachers


4. School Health Team

Fitness activities (min. 30 minutes per day)

Wellness (health and social/emotional) instruction

Health Teacher

PE Teacher

School Nurse

AP

Decreased absences of staff and students due to illness

Lifelong wellness skills learned

N/A Health/PE teachers

Counselors

School Nurse

October 2016 – May 2017


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SMART Goal (4): Increase composite score of 86.89% of students proficient to a composite score of 90% of students proficient on

EOGs by June 2017.

Strategic Plan Goal: Goal 1: Maximize academic achievement in a personalized 21st-century learning environment for every child to graduate college- and career-ready

Strategic Plan Focus Area: Academic Growth/High Academic Achievement

Data Used: MAP Test scores, EOGs, NC Final Exams, Common Assessment Data


Task

Task

Task (PD)




Personnel Involved


Interim Dates

1.Improve computational and mental math skills

Collaborative Planning

Summer math project

weekly math practice with multiplication, square roots, cube roots

Math Department Chair

AF

IB Coordinator

Higher scores on EOG and MAP testing (specifically calculator inactive sections)

N/A Math Teachers

Summer 2016 Aug. 2016 – June 2017

2. School-wide vocabulary and grammar focus

Stem words

Academic Vocabulary (using complex texts when appropriate)

ELA department chair

LA Teachers

Higher scores on EOG and MAP testing and informal assessments

Other content areas will incorporate words that are subject specific and assess accordingly, including IB journals (8th grade)

N/A Entire Staff Sept. 2016 – June 2017


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3.ILT work on early release days

model reading and lifelong learning to students

learn and implement new strategies for raising the level of rigor (including analyzing text complexity)

ILT Team

Lesson plans and activities utilizing strategies learned in text will be presented and shared at faculty meetings for all

PD funds Admin

Counselors

Teachers

Sept. 2016 – May 2017

4. Increase critical thinking and writing skills and use of appropriate academic language

Curriculum Associates Ready North Carolina materials, Walch Algebra Project, and Compass Learning in math

PLC Planning

ILT Team

Increased scores on end of grade assessments

Higher quality projects and IB assessments as measured by IB rubrics

N/A Teachers Aug. 2016– June 2017


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SMART Goal (5): Decrease our largest achievement gap amongst subgroups from 48.8% to 25% on EOGs by

June 2017 (SWD subgroup was lowest at 49.1% and Asian was highest at 97.9%).

Strategic Plan Goal: Goal 1: Maximize academic achievement in a personalized 21st-century learning environment for every child to graduate college- and career-ready Goal 4: Promote a system-wide culture of safety, high engagement, cultural competency and customer service

Strategic Plan Focus Area: Academic Growth/High Academic Achievement, Cultural Competency

Data Used: MAP Test scores, EOGs, NC Final Exams, Common Assessment Data


Task

Task

Task (PD)




Personnel Involved


Interim Dates

1.Best practices for teaching LEP/ SWD students shared with teachers

EC teacher

ELL teacher

Increased scores for ELL and SWD on end of grade assessments and MAP testing

N/A Teachers Sept. 2016 – May 2017

Monthly Faculty Meetings & Emails

2. Implement parent workshops (or “TED” talks) on how to use reading/study strategies

PD Facilitator

EC teacher

Counselors

Increased survey results from parents regarding how they are able to further support students at home

N/A Admin

Counselors

Sept. 2016 – May 2017

Winter 2016

Spring 2017


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SMART Goal (6): 100% of 8th grade students completing a high-quality IB Community Project by May 2017.

Strategic Plan Goal: Goal 1: : Maximize academic achievement in a personalized 21st-century learning environment for every child to graduate college- and career-ready

Strategic Plan Focus Area: Academic growth/high academic achievement Data Used: Journals/Mentor Log (google doc)


Task

Task

Task (PD)




Personnel Involved


Interim Dates

1.Create and implement google doc for students to write journals

8th Grade SS Team

Each student will have a completed google doc of 12 journal entries

N/A Teachers Sept. 2016– March 2017

Quarterly

2.Teachers and staff members will mentor students * read and review journal entries * advise on project

All instructional staff and administration

Each student will have completed mentor reflection sheets in their google doc

N/A Teachers

Admin.

Oct. 2016 – March 2017

Quarterly

3.Parents will be able to view completion of journals in PowerSchool

8th Grade Science Teachers

Mentors

Each mentor will enter Y/N on each journal in the shared google doc.

Science Teachers will enter # of journals completed for parents to view in PS.

N/A Teachers

Admin.

Oct. 2016 – March 2017

Quarterly


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4.Improve grammar/mechanics and overall writing skills *focus on monthly topics

ELA department

Mini-lessons to share with teachers via email and/or on morning announcements

Cost of Flocab subscription

All content area teachers

Oct. 2016 – April 2017

Monthly


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Mastery Grading Procedures Plan – Required for All Schools

Strategic Plan Goal: Goal 1: Maximize academic achievement in a personalized 21st-century learning environment for every child to graduate college- and career-ready.

Strategic Plan Focus Area: Academic growth/high academic achievement

Data Used: Common Assessments, PowerSchool


Task

Task

Task (PD)




Personnel Involved


Interim Dates

1. Common assessments

Pre- and post- assessments created in PLCs aligned to objectives

All content areas will provide a minimum of 4 common formal assessments each quarterly (one of which will be a quarterly summative exam)

Department Chairs

Admin Team


Higher quality projects and assessments

N/A Admin

Teachers


Weekly Thursday PLC meetings

2. Data disaggregation

PLCs will share data in weekly meetings with admin

ILT will meet monthly to analyze school level data

Admin team will meet weekly and analyze grade

Principal

APs and Dean

AF


N/A Admin

Counselors

Teachers

Data Team


Weekly Thursday PLC meetings


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level, content area data

3. Flexible grouping

Student schedules will be reviewed and altered quarterly

6th block academic enrichment class will be used for regrouping/reteaching based on classroom common assessment data

Extended day, help sessions and Compass Learning

Team Leaders

Assistant Principals and Dean


N/A Admin

Counselors

Teachers


Weekly Thursday PLC meetings and Friday team meetings

4. Additional learning opportunities

Students will be permitted to retake formal assessments if team interventions are followed

Team interventions can include: tutoring, test corrections, regrouping during 6th block (will be consistent across PLC)

Department Chairs

Team Leaders

Increased scores on end of grade assessments and classroom common assessments

N/A Admin

Teachers

Aug. 2016– June 2017


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5. Late and make-up work

Students who have been

absent have 5 days to

make arrangements to

submit work for full credit

(excused

absence/unexcused

absence, the student will

receive reduced credit)

Students who were not

absent and did not submit

work on time:

o Homework = accepted for lower credit (not 0)

o Other work = accepted late for lower grade (not 0)

Any work not turned

in within 1 week after

due date = 0

Principal

APs and Dean


N/A Admin

Counselors

Teachers

Aug. 2016– June 2017

6. Grade reporting

Teachers will record grades in Powerschool no later than 5 days after an assignment is turned in (with the exception of longer projects = 10 days

Principal

APs and Dean

More up-to-date information on classroom grades in PowerSchool available to parents and students

Higher classroom grade averages

N/A Admin

Counselors

Teachers

Aug. 2016– June 2017


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Piedmont - 600 Waiver Requests

Request for Waiver

1. Insert the waivers you are requesting

Maximum Teaching Load and Maximum Class Size (grades 4-12) [required for all schools with grades 4-12]

Forbis (55, 47, 34, 26, 33), Smiley (38, 30, 38, 35, 29, 27), Czerwinski (37, 25, 32, 33, 26, 30), Winegardner (39, 24,

23, 33, 33, 12, 12), Ashley (52, 34, 30, 17, 36, 18, 29), Cherry (44, 39, 30, 18, 20, 35, 24), Madan (19, 29, 34, 33, 32,

33, 30), Kennedy (20, 16, 34, 35, 32, 30, 22), Coriale (25, 28, 31, 24, 36, 34, 16), Lugo (21, 19, 34, 32, 32, 26, 32),

Carpenter (33, 22, 30, 29, 27, 28)

2. Please identify the law, regulation or policy from which you are seeking an exemption.

115C-301 (c and d) Maximum Teaching Load and Maximum Class Size [required for all schools with grades 4-12]

3. Please state how the waiver will be used.

Class size will be adjusted to address student individual instructional needs through flexible grouping of students in the

most effective utilization of teaching teams. Maximum teaching load will be used to allow teachers in specific areas of

the curriculum to teach students designated for specific skill needs and to address the large number of students

requesting elective classes. This allows honors students to be in larger classes, while struggling students with learning

deficiencies can work in smaller classes. The larger numbers also allow students their choice in elective classes. The

IB Program requires every student to enroll in World Language and that results in larger numbers, even with the

addition of virtual classes. In CMS, we are not considered a Title 1 School, so we do not receive extra funding or


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additional staff despite having approximately 42% of our population classified as ED or having all of our students

enrolled in the IB program. Waivers allow us to satisfy state requirements for physical education and health, in addition

to the demands of the IB program with limited staffing.

4. Please state how the waiver will promote achievement of performance goals.

This waiver will allow more flexibility in grouping students to meet their abilities and needs and thus should enhance their achievement on the performance goals. Teachers group and regroup students to provide exemplary differentiated instruction so that we are sure to meet the learning needs of all students while maintaining the rigor of the IB program.


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