Weathersfield School Adequate Yearly Progress Report - September 2013

Weathersfield School Did Not Make AYP in Reading and Math – September 2013

AYP Announcement for Weathersfield School

Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, is an accountability report given to each school by Vermont’s Agency of Education based on the Fall 2012 NECAP test scores in reading and math. The fall 2012 tests measured the progress of students from the FY 13 school year. This report tells whether or not a school has made adequate progress for various sub groups of students including the school’s free and reduced student population, students with disabilities, English Language Learners, all students, and various ethnic origins of the student population. 100% of our students in grades 3-8 participated. If a subgroup has a student number of less than 40, AYP is not determined. We do have some subgroups here at WS with a student population of less than 40. 

Here are the WS results: Weathersfield School did not make AYP in reading for free and reduced lunch students –

2011 and 2013 are the only two years that WS students in grades three through eight did NOT make AYP in Reading for free and reduced lunch students

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Weathersfield School did not make AYP in math for all students, white students and free and reduced students

this is the third year in ten years that WS students in grades three through eight did

not make AYP in Math for all students, free and reduced lunch students and white students.

However, last year we made AYP in all those categories!

Just because we did not make AYP does not mean we are not an excellent school and improving daily. True, the target was raised for us this year and like most schools in Vermont, we did not make AYP. We did show growth and improvement, but we did not meet the target set by the federal and state government. We are NOT discouraged. We ARE determined to continue in our quest to help each and every child to meet high, challenging standards. Thank you to parents, teachers and students for your hard work this past year. I am so proud of how we tackled this as partners....we have made a difference!

Because we did not make AYP in 2013, we are now a school in Year 2 of an Improvement Plan. We will continue on with the excellent professional development work we started last year to improve teaching and learning and to ensure that our student scores show steady progress over time, as they have to date. This data has been tracked over time and is available to anyone, just ask! The WSSU has invested a great deal of time and energy in writing a new English Language Arts curriculum, tied to the Common Core Standards, complete with rubrics and assessments at each grade level. The curriculum was rolled out at the WSSU Inservice on August 23, 2012. The work of that cadre is ongoing as they revise assessments and look at creating anchor papers at every level. We are very excited about this and feel certain that this will have a huge impact on increasing student learning! The same process is being followed for math. We have a Common Core Math curriculum this year that another cadre will refine and later develop matching assessments.

Here is a list of other professional development opportunities which will be the focus of our work in FY 14:

Professional Development Goals for the FY 14 School Year – Building Based and WSSU Supported

1. Instruction, Instruction, Instruction

2. ELA Curriculum, Rubrics, Assessments, and Materials

3. Technology – Grade K -4 Standards Based Report Cards

4. K- 12 Math Curriculum and Assessment

5. WS Schoolwide Improvement and Action Plan – Year 3

6. Building Developmental Assets in School Communities with our MAPP Partners

7. Act One - Protecting Children From Sexual Abuse

8. Professional Learning Communities – data collection, analysis and tiered instruction for remediation

9. Restraint and Support Training

10. Inform Data Collection System

11. Mentoring

12. Skillful Teacher Training

13. Streamlining the transition into public school from EEE, Pre - Schools, Home Care Providers and others

14. Next Generation Science Standards

15. Supplemental Services for at risk students

Our PLCs, (Professional Learning Communities) , are ready and poised to do the following this year:

1. Look at student work and data on every child/grade and school data, too; refine units of instruction as necessary

2. Providing supplemental intervention with clearly defined entrance and exit criteria

3. Support teachers through collaboration coaching, resources and problem solving

4. Review school climate surveys

5. Train in teaching and learning skills/strategies to maximize effectiveness

Required Action for WS in Year 2 School Improvement:

A. Must have SU and School Based Improvement Teams.

B. Must provide written notice to parents about not making AYP.

C. Must offer school choice.

D. Superintendent must sign off on assurances.

E. WS must offer supplemental educational services.

F. Review, revise and implement NEW school improvement plan

The law requires schools to notify parents whose children are in a school on an improvement plan that they have the option to transfer to another school in the district if they are unhappy with the school, and that transportation will be provided. In telling you this, I have met the letter of the law, however, the only elementary school in the district is the Weathersfield School, and so there is not another choice for K-8 students. In the Bennington School District, there are several schools in the same district which makes this law more plausible for them, but not for us

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To give this some perspective, 2011 marked the final target AYP increase (before the 100 percent proficiency goal set for 2015) in Vermont. As a consequence, the department has seen a significant increase in the number of schools that did not make AYP. 214 schools are identified for school improvement in one or more areas. 17 of those are new schools entering their first year of school improvement. Additionally, 21 schools did not make AYP for the first time this year.

We are a Title 1 Schoolwide School. If you would like a copy of our Schoolwide Action and Improvement Plan, please call the school at 674-5400, and we will make a copy available to you. It is a three year plan and written by a number of local people, in and outside of the school community. We also have the plan on our school website. The plan speaks to a comprehensive way to address student achievement and to get parents, community and local businesses involved in the process. We had 100+ volunteers work in our school of 230, K-8 students, last year. Some read to children, some worked in the library, some went on field trips, some coached sports, while others tutored children or helped in the classroom. There is an endless list of ways volunteers can help make a school better and we are thankful to have such a loving and involved community!

We encourage volunteerism and welcome anyone and everyone who cares to join us in making Weathersfield School the very best school in the state of Vermont! I think we are half way there!

Sincerely,

JeanMarie

JeanMarie K. Oakman, WS Principal

September 13, 2013