After a disappointing evaluation for Nelsonville-York Elementary School, the district developed a school-improvement plan to ensure a standard curriculum, improve professional training and include more technology in the classroom.
The state required the elementary school to develop an improvement plan after it fell just below the effective rating and received a rating of continuous improvement on the Ohio Department of Education's annual report card. As a response, Superintendent Ted Bayat expanded the required plan - which was approved by the school in December - to include all schools in the district, said Rochelle Nelson, school improvement facilitator.
The district expanded the plan to include all schools in an attempt to anticipate future problems in the school district, Bayat said.
We're a proactive school district
not reactive he said. I think we're always striving for higher expectations.
Although the district previously had plans focused on the curriculum, the school plan includes goals for professional training and technology and is a more elaborate study of the district Nelson said.
(Nelsonville-York) had a continuous improvement plan in the past
but never something as detailed as this
she said.
One major goal within the district is for all students to meet or exceed Ohio's local report card standards by 2014, Nelson said.
Since August, teachers and administrators have developed a standardized curriculum for all grade levels and are in the process of designing assessments to monitor students' learning.
Students' grades on the short-cycle assessment tests are put on their report cards with their other grades so parents, as well as teachers, can see the child's progress, said Nelsonville-York Elementary School Principal Teresa Dearth.
The standardized assessment tests resemble state proficiency tests and allow teachers to identify students' weaknesses in each subject and adjust lesson plans to fit their needs, Nelson said. The assessments and curriculum plan also reduce the amount of variation in the classroom by ensuring all students are learning the same material.
Education traditionally tended to be an isolated event. But research is finding that it needs to be more collaborative
she said. The assessments are built in accountability
but it's a good accountability. It's good for the students
and that's the bottom line.
Beyond quarterly student assessments, Nelsonville-York Elementary plans to continue working with the programs already in place, such as Write Track, a structured writing program and curriculum mapping. So far this year, the school has had a 10 percent increase in achievement on the fourth grade proficiency tests, Dearth said.
Goals also outlined in the school plan are increased communication within the schools and district, as well as between the schools and the community and increased knowledge and use of technology, Nelson said.
It's a work in progress. The way we set (the school-improvement plan) up it's an ongoing
