School Goal (Specifically, what will you accomplish

School Contact Information:

Address 900 South Capitol

Phone (309) 347-5919

FAX (309) 346-6083

URL http://www.pekin.net/pekin108/jeff/

School Mission

Jefferson School is diverse, creative and evolving. We strive to engage children in a life of learning by supporting innovation, involving parents and community and celebrating learning.

School Vision

Jefferson School is an environment that breeds excitement about teaching and learning. Students, parents and staff are active partners. The professional staff is innovative, creative and achievement oriented. The individual members of the school community fit together and work as a team using the strengths of individuals to create a powerful learning organization.

School Values

ASSESSMENT: We use assessment tools to recognize student growth as well as performance in the core curriculum.

COMMUNICATION: We communicate from school to home to ensure student success.

CURRICULUM: We teach so that all students master the core curriculum.

ENVIRONMENT: We use a variety of means to create the best learning environment for student success.

TECHNOLOGY: We use technology to improve student performance.

School Goal Summary

In order to improve student achievement in Language Arts based on multiple assessments, we will develop a common set of expectations for student products to measure student growth toward mastery of the district curriculum.

School Goal (Specifically, what will you accomplish?) In order to improve student achievement in Language Arts based on multiple assessments, we will develop a common set of expectations for student products to measure student growth toward mastery of the district curriculum.
District Goal (The school goal aligns with what district goals?) Goal One (1999-2001): To increase student performance through the school improvement process by ensuring language arts and mathematics standards are effectively taught, assessed and communicated.
Data-Driven Rationale (What data lead you to set this goal?) The district adopted a new curriculum aligned to the state standards in math and Language Arts. The staff determined that with the change in curriculum and accompanying assessments and adopted text materials that Language Arts achievement would be the most logical focus for the school.
Leadership (Who will be responsible to lead out and facilitate the plan?) The building Leadership Team will provide leadership for and facilitate the plan. The membership of the team is Brenda Grafelman, Debbie Fischer, Marian Gray, Pam Walinger and Jeff Erickson.
Evaluation Strategy (How will the results be measured?) We will use results of student achievement on multiple assessments to measure results. We will be successful if students demonstrate growth over the year toward mastery of the district curriculum. We will collect samples of student products which demonstrate varying degrees of mastery. We will be successful if teacher assessments of student work are consistent within grade levels.
Start Date August 1999	Review Dates: Will coincide with the SAI Cycles	Evaluation Date: June 2001

Action Plan
Action (What are the critical elements of the goal?)	Indicators of Success (How will we measure progress?)	Resources	Title 1, 2, 4, 6	Enterprise	Text Reall.	Bldg Budget	Other
Data collection & analysis Formative and summative district assessments Teacher made assessments ISAT ITBS	Set targets and improve student performance on targeted outcomes based on results of district assessments	Staff meeting time and School Improvement Planning Time
Training Workshops Consultants Team Planning School Improvement and Institute Days	Creation of consistent grade alike expectations for student achievement Implementation of new strategies and improved implementation of successful teaching strategies Improved collaboration among grade level teams and across grade levels	Institute and School Improvement Days Consultants Substitutes for shared planning time Workshops				X	1
Development of shared assessments	The development of shared lessons with assessments aligned to the district curriculum and consistent rating of achievement among grade alike teams.	Shared planning time among grade level teams				X	1
Identify and secure materials	Secure and use materials appropriately to meet student needs to achieve targeted outcomes.	Various Supplieers				X	2

1= Reduced class size grant staff development allocation from the district grant

2= Matching funds from tech center to support purchase of software aligned to math and language arts standards

Feedback of Results
Evidence / Knowledge of Results (What did we learn?)	Recommendations (What do we need to do differently?)
District expectations for writing were reasonable	Continue emphasis on writing at all grade levels Continue RAP & share ideas in various ways More manipulatives (coins, clocks, geometric shapes, scales, etc) needed in grades 2/3
Not having a fall assessment for kindergarten was a good idea Kindergarten students can be successful level 3 readers in the spring Kindergarten students were expected & able to write a sentence to go with a picture Begin instruction in subtraction in first grade earlier instead of waiting until second semester	Continue using Literacy Leaders and guided reading strategies Kindergarten needs baseline data in fall Manipulatives greatly helped instruction Incorporate more calendar questions in daily first grade work Set a structured way of explaining story problem answers (K-3) Grade 1 gather fall baseline data in math Pretest with fall assessment earlier in September & use information to guide instruction
Posters helped students & staff learn the standards Concern with the writing process. What does the state expect? Third grade students had a larger percentage in "does not meet" compared to the district in reading Our students' state tests are matching Cogat (ability test) ITBS tests do not give us a great deal of good information to work with	Have students label work samples with # Match instruction to state standards for students Investigate state rubric requirements Find software / materials for K-3 to support instruction Need a way to track student growth in reading especially at the 2-3 level Should we expand Accelerated Reader for all students?
We didn't understand the writing standards set by the state There is a gap between the end of first and beginning of second assessment process. Too big of a jump between grades How do we know the correlation between text reading & comprehension level (if a child is reading at level 22 is he comprehending at level 22)	Teacher training for instruction and scoring Re-evaluate "Write on Jefferson" to Correlate with current Illinois writing goals Teach students how to take the tests Raise fluency standards Comprehension should be instructed and assessed throughout the year—don't wait until the end of the year
First grade & K reading materials & levels do not transfer easily to grades 2 & 3 Confusion with writing rubrics & Mighty Writing format and vocabulary Connect every lesson to a standard	Need to transfer to 2^nd and 3^rd grade language and leveled books Consistency need to occur across grade levels and the district We need a benchmark Make students accountable for their goals (Learning their standards for their grade level)