Each year our staff creates a School Improvement Plan (SIP). This plan is based on school data in the areas of achievement and behavior and the goals that are directed by our Board of Education. Once we have selected our strategies and action steps we begin to implement professional development (teacher training and learning) in areas where we need advancement. Based on our study of 90/90/90 School, Douglas Reeves' research, and Marzano Strategies, this school year we will be focusing on professional development in the areas of:
Nonfiction Writing Strategies
- Reading, responding, and summarizing nonfiction texts
- Writing nonfiction essays and opinion pieces
- Note taking in the classroom setting in all content areas
- Enhanced focus on writing in content areas such as science and social studies
Mathematics Problem Solving Strategies
- Implementing multiple opportunities to succeed in problem solving by implementing daily problem solving strategies such as Poster Math,
- Explicit instruction in strategies such as: act out or use objects, make a picture or diagram, look for patterns, create a table or graph, guess and check, work backward, etc.
Formative Assessment
- Creating student ownership and improving motivation by establishing procedures for assessment tracking, goal setting, and data portfolios
- Descriptive Feedback
- Creating and establishing checkpoints to assess students quickly, accurately and with interventions available to all
- Instruction using strong and weak pieces of work
- Aligning goals, assignments, and rubrics
Engagement Strategies
- Implementing Kagan Cooperative Learning Strategies
- Assessing our lessons with Instructional Practices (IPI) Inventory three times per year
Past Professional Development Initiatives:
- Instructional Practices and Models (Balanced Literacy, Inquiry Learning)
- 5 Components of Reading Instruction: Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary, Comprehension
- Mathematics Number Sense
- Unpacking GLE's and creating essential learning targets
