School Name:  New Manchester High School

School Year:  2012-2013

Principal Name:  Connie Craft

Title I Program:

Yes

X

No

Current Status:

Priority

Focus

Alert

Implementing (Select all that apply):

X

School Improvement Plan (School Improvement Plans are due to Area Director by August 31, 2012).

Flexible Learning Plan (FLP)

Principal's Signature:  Connie Craft

Date:  August 31, 2012

Area Director's Signature:

Date:

Associate Superintendent's Signature:

Date:

1.  Provide a narrative description of the school, the community and educational programs/practices used every day.  Describe your school including instruction, communication, parent and community involvement, etc.  What do you do every day and what is the understood expectation in instruction, communication, organization, inclusiveness, etc.?  What are the expectations of teachers regarding planning and implementing? How do teachers and administrators monitor for consistency? What specific instructional strategies are used and expected by all - vocabulary, reading, writing across the curriculum, student-focused instruction (what does it look like), integration of technology, hands-on, applied student instruction in all subject areas,  etc. What are the common strategies that will be used by all? How is this monitored?  How is that evaluated and shared?

New Manchester High School (NMHS) is now in its second year of operation as the fifth and newest high school in Douglas County with both the faculty and the students being a blend of the existing educational community. In addition to the expected student achievement norms, NMHS also has two specific focal points of development:  (1) being a 21^st Century Technology School; and (2) becoming a Performing Arts Magnet School over the next three years.  Our goal is to support student achievement in a variety of ways, including the two areas of focus. 

NMHS teachers maintain their high expectations for student performance in all classes.  It is our belief that student performance rises to match expectation, and as a faculty we will support raising the bar for all.  Teachers meet weekly with their Common Course Teams to discuss student needs based on data generated from common assessments.  Baseline data will be gathered on each student via a common course pretest so that instructional planning will be accurate and differentiated as indicated by student performance.  Interventions coming from Common Course Team discussions should be evident in lesson plans and classroom delivery of instruction.  Implementation of the instruction and possible interventions will continue to be monitored by the administrative team via walkthroughs, formal and informal observations, attendance at Common Course Team Meetings and individual conferences with teachers.  Feedback from the observers is vital to improvement in classroom instructions.  Teachers will continue to incorporate Learning Focused School strategies in the delivery of instruction, essential questions posted and discussed, standards listed and explained; graphic organizers, differentiation strategies, assessment strategies, and tickets out the door.  Instruction should be student focused with an array of assessments (including project based, oral performance, rubrics, etc.) utilized to determine student mastery of standards.    

As a BYOT  (Bring Your Own Technology) school, NMHS supports the integration of technology in instructional practices.  Teachers will be trained to use the Promethium Boards, slates, and student response devices that are available to them in their classrooms. Classroom sets of netbooks are available in each of the school's instructional wings for teacher/student use.   Furthermore, teacher trainers will provide INTEL training on how to support the use of technology in the classroom as lessons are being planned.  Students are encouraged to bring their technology devices to support learning.  Common District Assessments will be utilized to determine student growth via Thinkgate. 

The goal of the New Manchester High School Fine Arts Department is to establish ourselves officially as a Fine Arts Magnet program.  The department will promote Visual Arts, Band, Chorus, Dance, and Drama through various performance classes and ensembles.  Year two will be focused on retention and recruitment.  The department will ensure that all students are educated with a rigorous curriculum and are held to the highest of expectations set forth by the county and the state. 

2. Data information.  Data should describe strengths and challenges.  Examples include data pertaining to overall school/student performance, attendance, instructional practices from walk throughs/observations, student learning, GAPSS data and parent involvement programs.  Describe what you find clearly so that stakeholders understand.

• What does the data tell you about your school's strengths?

• What does the data tell you about your school's opportunities for improvement?

As New Manchester High School reviews its first year data, we rely heavily on our EOCT scores.  This data indicates that all four content areas need to be strengthened with math being first and foremost.  Ninth Grade Language Arts and Economics had a pass rate of 80% or better.  The other six content areas will work toward making that 80% mark, with special emphasis being to math comprehension.  As the year progresses, we will collect data on the performance of our students based on: 

1.  Course grades for all students - monitor at regular intervals
2. Performance on Common District Assessments - all students
3. Attendance, demographics, gender, and disciplinary issues
4. Individual teacher proficiency measures - student achievement indicators, discipline issues, common course team participation
5. Walkthrough data
6. Teacher attendance data
7. Variety of assessment measures utilized by teachers; use of rubrics
8. Teacher grading practices
9. End of Course (EOCT) Assessments - CCGPS Algebra; Math I and II; Ninth Lit.; Am. Lit.; Biology; Physical Science; US History; Economics
10. Lexile Score - establish baselines for all students in order to measure growth
11. AimsWeb data for ninth and tenth grade students
12. GHSWT - Eleventh Grade Students
13. End of Pathway Exams - all CTAE completers
14. Common Course Pre/Post Tests given to all students in all courses - a minimum of 10% growth is expected. 

3. Based on the data, what 3-5 goals for improvement emerge for your school?  (Use the Template Provided ) Cite relevant evidence from your data (in all areas) to support the goals.  What strategies will the school use to address these goals (no more than 3 strategies)?  The strategies you select will address your specific goals and be in addition to what you do every day.  All staff will know those strategies and implement them consistently and pervasively across your school.  Strategies will be detailed on the school improvement plan template.

 Strategies should:

• Be researched based.

• Provide opportunities for ALL children in the school, including targeted populations, to meet or exceed standards.

• Use effective instructional methods that increase the quality and amount of learning time.

New Manchester High School will focus on the following goals:   

1. All students will be monitored through data generated from common assessments.  This data will be the focal point of all Common Course Team Meetings. 
2. Interventions will be developed for all students identified through data as having not mastered an assessed standard.  These interventions will be noted and analyzed for success in meeting student needs. 
3. All teachers will utilize Learning Focused School strategies and technological resources as they develop and implement lessons for classroom presentation. 

•4.       Professional development will be provided to support teachers seeking professional growth in the use of technology or content specific growth/presentation strategies. 

4. Describe the school staff, including the Hi-Q status of all professional staff.  What strategies are used to recruit, build capacity and retain effective, highly qualified teachers (leadership-administrative/teacher, mentoring, professional learning, etc.)?   (Describe specific strategies you are using to promote the CLASS Keys Self-Assessment/Reflection and Professional Growth Plan. What do you do to hire a highly qualified staff based on district procedures,  initiatives and programs in your building? This will require that you look at your school's strengths and weaknesses in your decisions. Your staff decisions should be based on the needs of your students. What do you provide to increase retention: developing teacher leadership capacity, professional development, processes and procedures in place that provide a strong foundation for a healthy culture and work environment, student results, etc.)

Annually, one of the primary goals in selecting teachers is to ensure that each person hired is highly qualifed, and we have 100% achievement on that goal.  However, a number of our teachers are first year hires, so we have identified the Lead Mentor teacher, Ms. Tekmekia Gilchrist, to meet with the new teachers monthly, or more often as needed, to support their instructional practices, duties and responsibilities, and classroom management needs.  Each new teacher has also been assigned a "Buddy" teacher from within their individual departments who can be the "go to" person on a daily basis to provide support and answer questions. 

All teachers and administrators have been trained in the elements of Class Keys and have been provided with a notebook with dividers to use as their portfolio for evidence collection over the course of the school year.  Once reflections are completed, each department develops a professional growth goal based on the common challenges that emerged from the departmental discussion of the reflections.  A student achievement goal has been developed for the entire school that will measure student performance growth over the course of the school year.  This measureable goal is based on a required Pre/Post Test that each common course team will develop and administer by September 15, 2012 and again by April 1, 2013.  The expectation is that each student will improve minimally by 10% between both test administrations.  The faculty has also been divided among the administrative team for evaluation purposes so that each teacher knows which administrator has been assigned to cover his/her department.  The assigned administrators will also be responsible for monitoring common course team meetings and examining data generated by the teams.  The administrators will provide feedback to faculty via walkthroughs and informal/formal observations.  Any teacher deemed to be at-risk will be placed on a PDP and will be given additional support to help remediate any identified deficiencies. 

All teachers are given the opportunity to be active stakeholders by participating on the School Improvement Committee; serving as a department co-chair (each department has two co-chairs), partcipating on the Aspiring Leadership Committee; serving as a participant in the common district assessment process and providing redelivery to the faculty; serving as a technology trainer (these teachers have opportunities to attend specific technology based training courses); and serving as sponsors for various clubs and/or extracurricular activities for students.  All teachers are encouraged to become members of the NMHS PTSA, as well. 

5. Describe professional development activities that are offered at the school which enable all children in the school to meet performance standards. (Use the DCSS Three Year Professional Learning Plan Template attached)  Include when and how the learning takes place through "Initiative Training"?  What does it look like through "Monitoring for Implementation" (differentiated, job-embedded, collaborative, shared, etc.)?  Describe how the Professional Learning impacted teacher knowledge and student learning through "Evaluation" (multiple measures).  Also, use the DCSS:  Standards Based Classroom Instructional Framework (LFS).

The professional development activities projected for New Manchester High School this year include: 

1.  Training for all teachers in the following areas of technology: 

•a.       Promethium Board/slate training - beginner/proficient/advanced training provided by DCSS Technology

•b.      Student Response Device training - DCSS Technology - each teacher will have a class set

•c.       Infinite Campus Training - DCSS Technology - available for teachers as needed

•d.      Moodle Training - DCSS Technology - available for all teachers

•e.       Tech Updates - In-house Trainers - available to all to support new innovations as they appear

•f.       Thinkgate Training - In-house Trainers - all teachers - implementation of common district assessments

•g.      AIMSweb Training - In-house Trainers - ninth and tenth teachers - skills diagnostic

•h.      LFS Training - Refresher course for those who need it; full course for new teachers

•i.        Edmodo Training - In-house trainers - available for teachers as needed

1.  Professional Learning - courses needed to support content understanding or instructional delivery as requested by teachers

The implementation of the practices acquired from the professional development opportunities will be monitored via administrative walkthroughs, observations, and individual meetings with teachers. The goal is for all professional development outcomes to become job embedded practices.  

New Manchester High School participated in the Wayfind Survey that identified perceived proficiency levels for technology usage.  Based on that data and teacher requests, professional development is being offered in Promethean Board usage, student response device use, slate use, and teachers have completed Intel training that offers a plethora of instructional resources. 

In order to monitor proficiency levels, teachers will be given an assignment that must be observed by one of the in-house technology instructors in order to receive credit for any proficiency training. 

Please see the attached technology plan. 

7. Describe strategies to increase parental involvement in the classroom, school, and instruction of their child (leading other parents), capacity-building, communication, etc.). 

New Manchester High School in increasing parent involvement in the following ways: 

1.  Supporting the New Manchester High School PTSA - first general meeting was held August 28, 2012 - officers have been elected and meeting dates established for the entire school year.  All faculty members are encouraged to join PTSA.   
2. Parent Volunteers - a number of PTSA parents have asked to serve as volunteers during the school day.  They are being directed to have background checks so that we can have them on campus during the school day. Parent volunteers helped direct students to classes during the first two days of school and have asked to help further however we may need them. 
3. School Council - both parents and partners in education will be invited to serve with teachers and students on the School Council. 
4. Booster Clubs - parents of students participating in extracurricular activities have been invited to be part of the booster clubs supporting the various groups and entities. 
5. NMHS Website - we are instructing parents to monitor our school website for current information about student and school events. 
6. "Notify Me" is also a feature which parents are encouraged to register for in order to receive school system information in a timely manner.   
7. Parent Nights - several parent nights have been planned for the school year, including AP Parent Night and Math Parent Night.  The counselors will meet with parents of each grade level on Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and Senior Parent nights. 
8. Honor Societies - parents are invited to attend induction ceremonies of the National Honor Society, and National French and Spanish Honor Societies.   
9. School Marquee - display upcoming events on our signboard adjacent to the entry way to the school. 
10. Guidance Newsletters - designed to keep parents informed of grade specific events and needs, including grade specific parent nights. 
11. Technology Resources - teachers can involve parents by using the technology sites such as Infinite Campus, Edmoto, Remind 101, and Moodle to keep parents abreat of classroom activities such S tests, projects, or homework deadlines. 

C2.1

C3.1

A1.1

A1.2

A1.3

A1.4

A2.1

A3.1

I1.1

I1.3

I2.1

I2.3

I2.6

PL2.1

Common course assessments will be utilized to establish baseline data on student performance in each content course

Common Course Teams will meet to analyze data from common assessments

Interventions/differentiation will be provided to meet student needs for standards mastery

Student Performance data will be analyzed to measure growth in performance

August - September 2012

August 2012 - May 2013

August 2012 - May 2013

April 2013

Common Course Pre/Post Tests

Thinkgate

AIMSweb

Common District Assessments

Teachers

Administrators

In-house Trainers

Classroom grades per assessment

Common Course Team Minutes

Documentation of interventions

Lesson Plans indicating interventions and/or differentiation strategies

Data reflecting individual student performance from base point to March collection of data

C2.1

C3.1

A1.1

A1.2

A1.3

A1.4

A2.1

A3.1

I1.1

I1.3

I2.1

I2.3

I2.6

PL2.1

New teachers will receive LFS training

All teachers will incorporate LFS strategies into their daily lesson presentations

Walkthrough Observations

Formal/Informal Class Key Observations

August - December 2012

August 2012 - May 2013

August 2012 - May 2013

August  2012 - May 2013

Professional Development Training - DCSS

LFS Walkthrough Template

Teachers

Administrators

Lesson Plans reflecting LFS strategies

Walkthrough and observational documentation

All teachers have documentation of implementing LFS strategies in instruction

I2.7

PL1.1

PL1.4

PL1.5

PL2.1

PL2.3

PL2.5

Technology training will be provided for:  Promethium Boards

Promethium Slates

Student Response Devices

Thinkgate

AIMSweb

Moodle

IC Training

Misc. Tech Training

Content or course requirement training as needed

August 2012 - May 2013

August 2012 - May 2013

No cost is expected - in-house trainers will be utilized

Teachers

Administrators

Class Registration Information

Attendance logs for training

Attendance information data for faculty to support 100% participation in training over the course of school year

DCSS:  Three Year Professional Learning Development Plan

Professional Learning FY12

*Indicates emphasis for year

Professional Learning FY13

*Indicates emphasis for year

Professional Learning FY14

*Indicates emphasis for year

1.  Initiative Training: 

Thinkgate/AIMSweb Training

1.  Initiative Training: 

Thinkgate/AIMSweb Training

1.  Initiative Training: 

Fine Arts Magnet

-Monitoring for implementation:

Administrative Team - Common Course Teams

-Monitoring for implementation:

Administrative Team - Common Course Teams

-Monitoring for implementation:

Administrative Team - Common Course Teams - CDA's

-Evaluation:

Class Keys element - Leader Keys

-Evaluation:

Class Keys element - Leader Keys

Membership of 21^st Century Schools

-Evaluation:

Judges Sheets from One Act for Drama, LGPE for both Choral and Instrumental Ensembles, and a working portfolio for Visual Arts.

2.  Initiative Training: 

Promethium Board/Slates/Student Response Devices Training

2.  Initiative Training: 

INTEL - technology integration into instruction

2.  Initiative Training: 

A member of the Fine Arts Dept. will attend a conference and present to the rest of the department. 

-Monitoring for implementation:

Administrative Team - Common Course Teams

-Monitoring for implementation:

Administrative Team - Common Course Teams

-Monitoring for implementation:

Fine Arts Director and Fine Arts Chair

-Evaluation:

Class Keys - Administrators

-Evaluation:

Class Keys - Administrators

-Evaluation:

Class Keys - Performance Judges

•3.       Initiative Training: 

LFS Training - refresher for trained

3.  Initiative Training: 

3.  Initiative Training: 

-Monitoring for implementation:

Administrative Team - Com. Course Team

-Monitoring for implementation:

-Monitoring for implementation:

-Evaluation:

Class Keys - Administrators

-Evaluation:

-Evaluation:

DCSS:  Standard Based Classroom Instructional Framework (LFS) Implementation and Monitoring Protocol

TRANSFORMING STANDARDS

Set and Communicate Expectations

Training

Review Expectations and Set Up "Look Fors" and "Ask Abouts"

Guided Practice

Expected Behavior

Evaluated:  Consistent Implementation With Quality

Leadership Team Discussion and Planning

Training with Support Materials

• Training Follow-up and Review Meeting with Teachers and Administrators
• Set Timeline Dates and Expectations
• Discuss Monitoring Guidelines with "Look Fors" and "Ask Abouts" (walk-through criteria)

Teachers Practice Strategies with Monitoring, Coaching, and Support

Teachers Full Implementation Working on Quality with Monitoring

Final Step:  Full Implementation as Part of Evaluation Process

Timeframe:

30-40 Minutes

1 Hour to 2-3 Days

1-2 Hours

6-8 Weeks

3-4 Weeks

Expected Continuous Behavior

DATE(S):

June 2013

DCSS:  Standard Based Classroom Instructional Framework (LFS) Implementation and Monitoring Protocol

ACQUISITION LESSON

Set and Communicate Expectations

Training

Review Expectations and Set Up "Look Fors" and "Ask Abouts"

Guided Practice

Expected Behavior

Evaluated:  Consistent Implementation With Quality

Leadership Team Discussion and Planning

Training with Support Materials

• Training Follow-up and Review Meeting with Teachers and Administrators
• Set Timeline Dates and Expectations
• Discuss Monitoring Guidelines with "Look Fors" and "Ask Abouts" (walk-through criteria)

Teachers Practice Strategies with Monitoring, Coaching, and Support

Teachers Full Implementation Working on Quality with Monitoring

Final Step:  Full Implementation as Part of Evaluation Process

Timeframe:

30-40 Minutes

1 Hour to 2-3 Days

1-2 Hours

6-8 Weeks

3-4 Weeks

Expected Continuous Behavior

DATE(S):

June 2013

DCSS:  Standard Based Classroom Instructional Framework (LFS) Implementation and Monitoring Protocol

EXTENDING/THINKING

Set and Communicate Expectations

Training

Review Expectations and Set Up "Look Fors" and "Ask Abouts"

Guided Practice

Expected Behavior

Evaluated:  Consistent Implementation With Quality

Leadership Team Discussion and Planning

Training with Support Materials

• Training Follow-up and Review Meeting with Teachers and Administrators
• Set Timeline Dates and Expectations
• Discuss Monitoring Guidelines with "Look Fors" and "Ask Abouts" (walk-through criteria)

Teachers Practice Strategies with Monitoring, Coaching, and Support

Teachers Full Implementation Working on Quality with Monitoring

Final Step:  Full Implementation as Part of Evaluation Process

Timeframe:

30-40 Minutes

1 Hour to 2-3 Days

1-2 Hours

6-8 Weeks

3-4 Weeks

Expected Continuous Behavior

DATE(S):

January 2014