Chapter IV: Self-Study Report

Category A: Organization for Student Learning A1: School Purpose Criterion To what extent has the school established a clear statement of purpose that reflect the beliefs and philosophy of the institution? AIJMS has established a clear statement of purpose, which reflects the school’s beliefs and philosophy. The school’s purpose is aligned with the Guam Public School System’s (GPSS) Vision serving as an overall umbrella.

GPSS VISION Our educational community prepares all students for life, promotes excellence, and provides support.

AIJMS VISION AIJMS nurtures values through education, respect, scholarship, and cooperation.

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AIJMS MISSION

AIJMS students will acquire knowledge and a positive attitude, become life-long learners, and be responsible citizens. During SY 07-08, the faculty, staff, students, and parents voted to simplify the mission statement because it was too wordy and students got caught up in the verbiage, not in the meaning of our mission. The results of the voting were as follows: 64% of students, 60% of parents, and 56% of faculty and staff voted in favor of our new mission. The mission and ESLRs are visibly posted throughout the hallways, classrooms, restrooms, administrative offices, in the library, dining hall, gymnasium, nurse’s office, and teacher’s lounge. It is also written in the faculty and student/parent handbooks, the school’s website, annual report card, and bulletins to ensure everyone is reminded of the AIJMS values. During annual student/parent and teacher/staff orientations, parent-teacher organization meetings, and homebase classes, the meaning of the Mission Statement and ESLRs are reviewed and discussed. In addition, teachers address and reinforce in fieldtrip planning forms and daily lesson plans the ESLRs. To what extent is the purpose defined further by the adopted expected school-wide learning results that form the basis of the educational program for every student? Our mission is defined by our Expected School-wide Learning Results. The ESLRs were adopted during the SY 98-99 and revised in SY 01-02 and have been disseminated to all stakeholders every year. Throughout the school year, administrators, teachers, and staff demonstrate a strong commitment to the school’s mission and ESLRs and as evidenced in daily activities and operations. The ESLRs include indicators and are written in acrostic fashion, forming the word PIRATES, which is the school’s mascot. Under each ESLR are sub-indicators that specify what students do to demonstrate knowledge of each learning result. The school has also developed a rubrics to measure this knowledge. However, this document needs to be reviewed and formally adopted by all stakeholders.

AIJMS ESLRs Our school community prepares all students for life, promotes excellence

and provides support for all learners to become: Problem Solvers Every student at AIJMS will: P.1 Demonstrate the ability to come up with solutions to their problems P.2 Explain cause and effect Innovative Thinkers Every student at AIJMS will: I.1 Utilize available resources to apply to practical everyday solutions I.2 Generate ideas to overcome prevailing predicaments

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Responsible Contributors Every student at AIJMS will: R.1 Maintain good citizenship R.2 Show active involvement in school and community activities Academic Achievers Every student at AIJMS will: A.1 Excel in all subject areas A.2 Improve test scores to meet the objectives of the School Action Plan Technologically Literate Consumers Every student at AIJMS will: T.1 Develop an awareness of technology, computer, and other equipment that helps them learn T.2 Use appropriate technology to ensure learning and to solve problems Effective Communicators Every student at AIJMS will: E.1 Use language that is precise, engaging, and well suited to the topic and audience. E.2 Write and speak appropriately. Successful Learners Every student at AIJMS will: S.1 Demonstrate the ability to apply what they have learned. S.2 Demonstrate self-motivation, critical thinking, and mastery of skills essential to life-long learning Evidence • Expected School-wide Learning Results (ESLRs) poster • Faculty and student handbooks • School Vision and Mission Statements poster • Home Group development of rubrics for the ESLRs as they relate to their content areas • School bulletin • School website (www.aijms.net) • Expected School-wide Learning Results (ESLRs) poster • Mission Revision: Voting results • School Annual Report Cards • Lesson Plans • Fieldtrip Planning Forms • Board Policy 378: Lesson Plans

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Areas for growth • Ensure that all students and school personnel understand and can interpret the school’s

Vision, Mission, and ESLRs • Ensure that fieldtrips, lesson plans, and school activities are driven by the ESLRs A2: Governance Criterion To what extent does the governing authority adopt policies, which are consistent with the school purpose and support the achievement of the expected school-wide learning results for the school? The governing authority, understood to be the Guam Education Policy Board and the school’s administration, creates and adopts policies, that are consistent with the school purpose and support the achievement of the ESLRs. The Guam Education Policy Board was created via Guam Public Law 26-26 (as codified in 17 GCA, Chapter 3, Section 3111) to develop and adopt system wide education policies. The GEPB consists of 13 voting members. Nine members of the board are elected through district-wide elections at each General Election for a term of two years. One student member is elected by the island-wide Board of Governing Students, and the Governor appoints three members. On November 15, 2002, the voters of Guam elected members of the first GEPB who enact policies and set the directions for GPSS. It is also responsible for the selection and performance evaluation of the superintendent. The duties and responsibilities include, among others: (i) establishing curriculum goals and policy; (ii) establishing student performance standards; (ii) creating a mechanism for standardizing assessment of each student based upon the adopted standards; (iv) approving a textbook list; (v) establishing student discipline policy; (vi) creating a school calendar; (vii) setting graduation standards; and (viii) periodically reviewing policies for refinement and improvement. Consistent with their indicated duties and responsibilities, the GEPB creates policies as a result of local or federal legislation or by research done within our district, which are deemed to have an opportunity to enhance the safety and welfare of all students as well as their education. As it is, all within the educational community of AIJMS collaboratively work to assist in the creation of policies and to ensure compliance with any and all policies. Guam’s legislative body recently passed into law Guam Public Law 28-45. This statute is also known as the “Every Child is Entitled to an Adequate Public Education Act.” PL 28-45 states:

“It is the mission of the Guam Public School System and the duty of all public officials of the Executive Branch of the government of Guam to provide an adequate public educational system as required by Section 29(b) of the Organic Act.”

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Pursuant to PL 28-45, GPSS is mandated to place into respective positions certified teachers, administrators, guidance counselors, librarians, school health counselors, and allied health professionals. In addition, GPSS shall adopt and disseminate required textbooks and workbooks to each public school student for the classes in which he or she is enrolled.

The statute further stipulates an increase in the percentage of students performing at Levels 3 and 4 (solid academic performance) as measured by SAT10 until the GPSS goal of 90% at Level 3 in ten years is reached. This prompted the development of the School Improvement Plan (SIP) during the 2005-06. The SIP contained goals and action steps to specifically address student academic performance the promotion rate, and student discipline and attendance. To what extent does the governing authority delegate implementation of these policies to the professional staff? The Superintendent of GPSS has total oversight and responsibility of the daily operations of the school system and adheres to all directives and policies set by the GEPB. The Superintendent is assisted by Associate Superintendents (Central Office Personnel) in carrying out the vision and mission of the GPSS. The directives given by the central office to respective schools are then executed by school administrators. The principal assumes full responsibility for the daily operations of the school to include both curricular and non-curricular activities. For accountability, the principal is required to submit weekly status reports (WSRs) on operations and the implementation of the Corrective Reading and Connecting Math Concepts programs. These reports indicate the number of faculty and staff absent and its impact on the school mission, the number of teacher observations completed the status of classrooms without proper ventilation, top discipline offenses, and the status of morning and afternoon bus transportation. To what extent does the governing authority monitor results? The GPSS District Action Plan (DAP) is a blueprint for academic excellence and requires all schools to formulate an action plan in support of its ESLRs and district level goals and objectives. The plan, referred to as the School Improvement Plan (SIP), is the basis for all activity and is used to guide the decisions that impact student learning. Performance data derived from the SIP are used to develop the overall report for the GPSS. AIJMS administrators and teachers review results from our students’ assessments, such as SAT10 item analysis and DI quarterly reports, as well as quarterly grades. In addition, results from school level assessments are reviewed. Some of these assessments include, but are not limited to, the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT, Math) and the Nelson (Reading) pre- and post tests, as well as teacher made quizzes, chapter, and unit tests. These results reports allow the teachers and administrators to review student performance and identify improvement areas. In addition, Corrective Reading and Connecting Math Concepts results are submitted weekly and reviewed by peer coaches, the school’s Reading Coordinator, and administrators. Information gathered at these data analysis conferences are used to provide guidance and assistance to

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teachers in improving student mastery of skills. Monthly and quarterly reports are also submitted to the district level at the Reading First Center. The Program Administrator analyzes the data from all school’s implementing the remedial programs and reports their status to the Superintendent and the State Educational Agency (SEA..on Guam it is the Federal Programs Office of GPSS). The review of data at this level is also used to direct training needs and other support programs for schools. Evidence

• Guam Education Policy Board Policies • Public Laws 26-26 and 28-45 • GPSS organizational chart and job description • AIJMS organizational and functional chart • Faculty handbook • PTEP evaluation forms • Weekly status reports (WSRs) • District Action Plan • School Annual Report Cards • GPSS Annual Report • School Improvement Plan (SIP) • GPSS Evaluation Packet • AIJMS Principal’s Evaluation Results SY 06-07 • AIJMS – Public Law 28-45 Compliance Report

Areas for Growth

• To provide consistency and continuity, school administrators should remain at the school no less than five years to effectuate change.

• Local and federal laws and board policies should be kept on file and ready for access and review by the school community.

• Ensure that student achievement data are submitted by teachers and reported by school leaders in a timely manner to allow for immediate feedback and attention to areas of student needs and improvement.

A3: School Leadership Criterion To what extent does the school leadership make decisions to facilitate actions that focus the energies of the school on student achievement of the expected schoolwide learning results? The school leadership team for Agueda Johnston is comprised of the principal, assistant principals, and their respective staff. Their duties may be found on the AIJMS functional chart. The organizational chart shows the flow of information at the school level, the district, and the GPSS policy board. The school leadership structure also includes the nine faculty teams and their team leaders, department chairpersons, accreditation committee chairpersons, CRT/ESL, DI coordinator, and peer coaches. One of the primary functions of these additional leadership roles is to communicate with the administration issues relative to their respective areas.

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Some of the ways school leaders make decisions on student achievement of the ESLRs are as follows:

• The ESLRs are taught to students in all subject areas but reinforced primarily during

homebase. Students recite and remember the ESLRs, and all teachers integrate the ESLRs in their daily lesson plans and field trips.

• Daily briefings among school administrators are held daily to facilitate communication and to immediately address issues impacting the learning environment.

• Continued implementation of the CR/CMC programs for students below grade level assists in compliance with the No Child Left Behind Act. (NCLB)

• Organization of the School Climate Cadre addresses student referrals and behavior modifications.

• Organization of the Emergency Management Team prepares staff and students with the proper courses of action in a variety of emergency situations during monthly drills.

• Time is scheduled during the workweek to allow accreditation team members to meet and address the various criteria put forth by WASC.

• Implementation of a bi-weekly bulletin (mentioned earlier) keeps students and staff abreast of current information and upcoming events pertaining to the school.

• Support of the 90% Club to encourage performance of students in CR/CMC classes. This was later cancelled because students who had moved out of the program were not included club regardless of their grade point average in the regular curriculum. As a result, the reading coordinator and the reading, language arts, and math teachers did not adopt the program with the current school year. To ensure student academic success was celebrated, our school re-implemented the A and B Honor Roll on a quarterly basis.

• Support of lunchtime and activity day entertainment and activities. • Administrative support of student performances at invitational events, such as band and

the Kulu Natibu Dance Squad performances. • Implementation of the Positive Behavior Intervention Support System (PBIS), which

rewards students and reinforces positive behavior. The school has also implemented a monthly raffle using donated prizes for students who accumulate PBIS tickets. The Big Nine, which are the school-wide behavior expectations, are used to teach and reinforce positive behaviors as well.

• Newly adopted recycling program for aluminum cans, known as “I Recycle,” which encourages all members of AIJMS to participate, and will bring funds directly to the school. Various island businesses are sponsoring this initiative to reduce, reuse, and recycle. In addition, the school leadership has also shown support to an AIJMS alumnus’ request to conduct a paper-recycling project. This involves collecting paper waste from AIJMS.

• Project Menhalom is a federal grant awarded to GPSS middle schools to support each school’s character education curriculum as well as how to deal with current and prospective social issues.

To what extent does the school leadership empower the staff? The empowerment of the AIJMS staff by the school leadership is exemplified in the following ways:

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• Monthly faculty meetings that address upcoming events or current issues and solutions. • Time given during the meetings for the Guam Federation of Teachers Union to address

any pressing concerns from staff. • Time given during meetings to address “Pirate Pride” where individual staff personnel

are selected to report on any accomplishments or successes. • Faculty is divided into nine different teams appropriate to their content area and meets

daily to address curricular and non-curricular issues. (Six at grade level, three are subject areas). Each team has a team leader. Team leaders are changed quarterly to share the leadership role. Those individuals meet monthly for team leader meetings with the administration.

• Administration has offered an open door policy to all staff to address any concerns brought up in a timely fashion.

• A suggestion box is offered to address any concerns to administration, if they are not available, or the party wishes to remain anonymous.

• Staff attendance is encouraged and perfect attendance certificates are given out monthly. To what extent does the school leadership encourage commitment participation and shared accountability for student learning? The School Leadership encourages commitment, participation and shared accountability for student learning by implementing the following:

• Standardization of the lesson plan format to address and ensure compliance among GPSS standards as well as compliance with AIJMS’s ESLRs.

• Regular class monitoring to ensure teachers are following lesson plans and students are actively engaging in the learning process.

• Various on-site training offered to assist with new content areas, or adopted programs [DI, SAFE Schools (replacing CPI), etc.].

Evidence

• Bulletins • Lesson plans • Faculty meeting agendas • Team meeting minutes • Faculty Handbook • Union Contract • AIJMS Budget SY 08-09 report • HATSA and Project Menhalom grants (Character Education) • DI Data and reports

Areas for Growth

• Implement programs to address “Technologically Literate Consumers.” Although the school does have computers available for students, they are on a very limited basis.

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• Grants are currently being submitted to alleviate the lack in this area. • Provide training and an adequate timeframe for staff members when adopting new

programs or adapting to new requirements. • There has been a funding issue regarding supplies for the school. Open purchase orders

previously granted to educators at the beginning of the school year to purchase needed supplies for classrooms are no longer in effect. Some staff aside from teachers mentioned using their personal funds to purchase materials required for their daily tasks. Allotted funding should be released to allow schools to order much needed instructional supplies.

• Alleviate the stress of over tasking personnel by offering extra assistance to them or by hiring additional staff.

A4: Staff Criterion To what extent are the school leadership and staff qualified for their assigned responsibilities, committed to the schools purpose and engaged in ongoing professional development that promotes student learning? The Guam Public School System’s Certification and Personnel Office establish the qualifications and requirements for school administrators, teachers, and staff. The Superintendent appoints administrators to individual schools. Faculty and staff undergo a two-part application process through the Certification and Personnel Office, which verify the individual’s resume and transcripts as well as eligibility. Once approved, the individual is then assigned to an available position within GPSS. An interview with the principal will then determine the person’s employment with the school system. There are a total of 102 people employed at AIJMS. The composition and number of faculty and staff members are itemized in Chapter One.

Public Law 28-45 (Every Child is Entitled to an Adequate Education Act) mandates a certified teacher, with at least a bachelor’s degree in the subject area they teach, in every classroom. At AIJMS, all classroom teachers are assigned to teach subjects in their area of certification. The professional levels for teachers as of SY 2007-08 are illustrated in the following chart:

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AIJMS Teacher Classification Distribution SY 07-08

6%

32%

21%

33%

8%Teacher V

Teacher IV

Teacher III

Teacher II

Teacher IC

Teacher classification ranges from Teacher 1C to Teacher V and the level of each instructor is determined by years of educational service and college credits earned. Teachers are required to renew their certification every three to six years depending on the level of education or title held. Completion of college credit courses is required prior to recertification emphasizing the role of educators to consistently upgrade their pedagogical skills. Emergency certified teachers (Teacher IC) have at least a bachelor’s degree, however, their certification expires at the end of the school year. In order to come back into the GPSS, they have to reapply at the beginning of each school year. All the teachers at AIJMS in this category are aggressively pursuing their full certification. The professional conduct of faculty, staff, and administrators are guided by GEPB policies Personnel Rules and Regulations, and the Board-Union Contract to name a few. Educational training and certification courses further enhance the development of responsible, caring, and supportive personnel. Teachers are evaluated yearly using the Professional Teacher Evaluation (PTEP) instrument and administrators will soon be evaluated using an instrument that is currently under pilot. However, during SY 2006-07, the principal was evaluated using an instrument developed by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP). Below are the results of the Principal’s evaluation from SY 2006 – 2007.

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To what extent are the school leadership and staff engaged in ongoing professional development that promotes student learning? Some of the procedures and practices adopted by the administration and staff members that exemplify their commitment to the school’s purpose and their engagement in ongoing professional development that promote student learning are as follows:

• Professional development held several times in the school year to assist all staff in accomplishing tasks, understanding concepts, or the adoption of new programs. Some topics addressed during these meetings and workshops have included: o Introduction to the Positive Behavior Intervention Support system o Understanding SAT10 results o Adoption and education of the I-Recycle program o Accreditation o Island-wide Professional Development Day (various courses offered to all GPSS

teachers to enrich student learning) o Corrective Reading and Connecting Math Concepts In-service training

• Support Staff also undergo workshops and training to assist them with their duties such

as: o SAFE Crisis Management o CPR Training / License Renewal o Proper Search and Seizure techniques

At the end of each staff development opportunity, evaluation surveys are conducted to examine the application and effectiveness of the training. This is to ensure the intended purpose of providing support to faculty and staff in improvement student learning outcomes is achieved.

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AIJMS has formed a Staff Development Committee that has been trained by Project HATSA ( a partnership with GPSS focused on educational reform in the areas of teacher certification, teacher preparation, professional growth, supervision, and evaluation) to ensure that development opportunities are driven by student data.

The Guam Public School System in conjunction with Project HATSA has established a teacher mentorship program for new teachers. This program is designed to increase teacher retention by providing a network of support from trained mentors. Currently, there are six teachers in the mentorship program and the preliminary results are promising. Below are some of the strengths and weaknesses identified by the new teachers:

Strengths:

• Non threatening….teachers like the informal interaction and guidance given by mentors • The number of visits provided by the mentors is good (1 visit every 2/3 weeks). Teachers

indicated that all mentors were willing to come in more frequently depending on the needs of each teacher…flexibility and availability to teachers was greatly appreciated

• Having the mentors in their classes observing and providing feedback is good practice for when school administrators conduct observation

• Feedback is timely • Everyone gets along well with their mentor….personalities are similar and conducive to

effective dialogue…they feel comfortable speaking with their mentors and informing them of teaching challenges

• Teachers appreciate mentors giving out their contact numbers and the notion that they are available 24/7 to support them in the classroom

• Mentors are good at communicating with teachers via email. If they are unable to come to the classroom, they send feedback electronically

• Mentors provide a wealth of information for teachers to utilize in the classroom (e.g., best practices, latest research on teaching pedagogy)

• Mentors are effective with sharing alternatives to students having difficulty with lessons.. specific example of special needs students and appropriate modifications to assist the child

• Modeling the lesson by mentors is effective • Their input and coaching regarding pacing of lessons is effective

Areas to Improve:

• Visits seem mechanical at times (e.g., conversations or meetings just to get signatures on documents)

• Teachers welcome more frequent visits during preparation periods….choose period before prep period to observe that way the prep period can be used for immediate debrief

• Teachers suggested more modeling of lesson development and delivery • HATSA resource center not available when teachers are available

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Evidence

• Bulletins • Staff Development Workshops planning spreadsheet • Teacher Certifications • Teacher Evaluations • Workshop evaluation forms • Project HATSA Teacher Mentorship Program

Areas for Growth

• Workshops or training programs offered should be driven by data, based on their relevance, to all staff members rather than a select few if possible (i.e. CPR training, Community Emergency Response Team, SAFE schools program).

• Due to only two days of Professional Development being approved by the GEPB, the school needs to find a means of increasing the number of professional development opportunities within the set instructional days, such as use of the team planning period to provide opportunities for professional development.

• Follow-up sessions or review after training to see if the workshop offered was successful in application.

A5: School Environment Criterion To what extent does the school have a safe, healthy, nurturing environment that reflects the school’s purpose?

AIJMS constantly strives to maintain a safe, healthy, and nurturing environment for all its students. To measure this area, a 20 question survey instrument was developed and distributed to parents. A total of 704 parents responded to the survey. The first five items provided information on their perspective of the school’s ability to provide a safe, healthy, nurturing environment. The items were as follows: Item 1: The school provides a safe, healthy, and nurturing environment that reflects the school’s purpose. Item 2: The school administration provides quarterly reports on the school action plan. Item 3: The school facilities have improved in the past years that will help enhance student learning. Item 4: AIJMS provides a sufficient amount of information on my child’s academic/behavioral throughout the school year. Item 5: There is an adequate amount of school aides for the student population. Eighty-six percent of parents surveyed that indicated they felt their children were safe at school. Ninety-percent of our teachers surveyed agreed that the school provides a safe, healthy, and nurturing environment that reflects the school’s purpose. Eighty-six percent of the students

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surveyed indicated that teachers create a safe learning environment. Seventy-eight percent of the students surveyed indicated that they had a safe school environment. The following graph displays the data gathered from the survey.

Parent Survey Responses Q1-5

208

136115

256

96

395

103

406

305

125

64

250

10188 92

26

88

1835

233

9

35

12 15

152

2

92

52

515

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

1 2 3 4 5

Question #

Num

ber o

f res

pond

ents

Strongly AgreeAgreeNeutralDisagreeStrongly DisagreeNo Answer

As indicated by the data, the school and its facilities are perceived by parents to provide a safe, healthy, and nurturing environment. Five hundred and sixty two or 80%, of 704 parent respondents indicated that they felt the school was safe or that there was an improvement in the facilities. However, there was a sense that the school lacked an adequate number of school aides to assist in monitoring and ensuring student safety. To address this issue, school administrators recruited more substitute teachers and have minimized the number of school aides placed into classrooms due to absent teachers and limited substitutes. As reflected in our Parent/Student Handbook, the policies and codes of conduct support the goal of providing a safe, healthy, nurturing environment that is conducive to learning. Zero tolerance polices regarding acts of violence, harassment, and threats are stringently enforced to ensure compliance and to promote a sense of well being among students. School rules and behavioral expectations are discussed extensively during orientation and manifested in the AIJMS Schoolwide Expected Behaviors. In SY 2006-07, the school adopted a new paradigm of addressing student behavior called Positive Behavior Intervention Supports (PBIS). Positive behavioral support (PBS) is a general term that refers to the application of positive behavioral interventions and systems to achieve socially important behavior change. Positive behavioral support is an application of a behaviorally-based systems approach to enhancing the capacity of schools, families, and communities to design effective environments in which teaching and learning occurs. Attention is focused on creating and sustaining school environments that improve lifestyle results for all children and youth. PBIS is comprised of the implementation of research based character education program, a system of awards for reinforcing positive behavior, and system of inputting and reporting discipline data that stakeholders can use to make decisions (i.e., the School Wide Information System or SWIS web based program).

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To promote positive behavior, the school community (support staff, teachers, parents, businesses, etc...) has committed to hosting monthly raffles where students earn prizes for the acts of good behavior. Teachers are provided with AIJMS behavior “tickets” each month that they can use to recognize students who display any of the Schoolwide Expected Behaviors (also referred to as the Big Nine). When a student displays these behaviors, teachers recognize and reinforce their behavior with a ticket. Student(s) deposit these tickets into a designated collection bin or box where the tickets are drawn at the raffles. The prizes used for this purpose come from the kindness and donations of the community.

PBIS falls under the direct support of a federal grant awarded to the GPSS middle schools entitled, Project Menhalom (indigenous Chamorro word that means “of good character, wise, principled”). Project Menhalom (PM) provides the financial resources to improve the safety of students by training teachers to teach and reinforce positive social behaviors.

Students are continuously encouraged to report anything that makes them feel uncomfortable at school. In addition, students are aware that random locker searches are conducted in an attempt to increase the level of deterrence for possession of contrabands so that students would feel safe. The middle school concept addresses both the academic and behavioral development of students. A homebase period, 20 minutes long, is used to teach and reinforce the student codes of conduct. Character education lessons that teach appropriate social behaviors by reinforcing the School-wide Expected Behaviors (also referred to as the Big 3 — Be Safe, Be Responsible, Be Respectful.) Since SY 00-01, AIJMS implemented and continues to implement a school uniform policy designed to promote pride, equality, and the safety of all school students and personnel. A survey conducted by the Parent Teacher Association showed that 86% of the parents surveyed believed the uniform policy provided unity, pride, and identity at school. Eighty-one percent indicated that uniforms promote safety. Eighty-eight percent agreed that the uniform policy created a better learning environment for their child. To control the movement of visitors on campus, all visitors must sign in at the main office and be issued a visitor’s pass. If a child is to leave the campus for any reason, a parent, legal guardian, or designee must sign out the student and show identification to be authorized take the student off campus. Before, during, and after school hours, all support staff and teachers make a concerted effort to make student safety a priority. This is also evident by the active and timely responses of school personnel during emergency exercises every month. To date, the school has practiced different scenarios such as a terrorist on campus, fires, earthquakes, bomb threat, and the appropriate responses to these events (e.g., lock down or evacuation). The safety of students is further ensured by reviewing and following through with students’ medical conditions as indicated on their medical records. This effort provides awareness for all personnel of a students’ medical challenge. AIJMS also promotes a nurturing environment through the Parent-Family-Community Outreach Program. The programs objectives are to assist with the social transition and educational success

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of immigrant families from the Freely Associated States of Micronesia. Although this is the target population, the program is able to provide services to all students. The social worker and the community program aide work closely with both faculty and staff to assist students who have uniform, discipline, attendance, medical, and registration concerns. They also collaborate with outside agencies to provide workshops to students and their parents at AIJMS. This workshop is known as Parent Information Workshops. The community program aides organize such topics like, Youth violence prevention, Anger Management, and School Policies.

The school provides a safe, healthy and nurturing environment...

0 20406080

100

Total Agree Neutral TotalDisagree

Perc

enta

ge o

f re

spon

dent

s

Teacher Parent Students

To what extent is the school environment characterized by respect for differences, trust, caring, professionalism, support, and high expectations of each student? AIJMS teachers and staff provide an environment that helps students become productive citizens in their community and to adjust to the changing times as they grow into adulthood. AIJMS provides a variety of chances for students to take ownership of the school by providing opportunities for students to join different clubs and organizations. In addition, AIJMS also offers a peer mediation program in which students are taught how to handle conflict in a peaceful and rational manner. Currently, there are over 24 student mediators who have assisted in over 85 mediations for SY 2007-08. This is important given the zero tolerance policies for fighting and bullying. Mediation programs give students a peaceful alternative to violence. Aside from mediation, the school administration also offers alternatives to students who have been suspended. The administration has an aggressive policy of leveraging suspension days for students to participate in intervention programs offered in the community. For example, if a student is suspended for 10 days for a fighting offense, a student can have five days of the suspension lifted if the parent is willing to enroll their child in anger management classes. For the remaining five days, the child is allowed back in school provided the parent is willing to shadow the student. Students are also recognized for their academic and athletic successes at AIJMS. An A and B honor roll ceremony as well as a sports banquet are two ways of celebrating student successes. Parents and family members are always invited to these events. The honor roll ceremonies

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generally take place after each quarter and the sports banquet at the end of the school year. Both events allow students to take pride and reflect on their accomplishments and involvement throughout the year

The National Junior Honor Society (NJHS), one of the most recognized honor societies nationwide, provide students with another level of accolade for academic success. This organization not only promotes academic excellence, it reinforces community service and the value of helping others. NJHS members have been instrumental in the last several years with tutoring and escorting parents during Open House, Commemoration Day festivities, and during Parent/Teacher conferences. AIJMS’s educational community will continue to encourage students to fulfill their potential and to strive for excellence in everything. To support this effort, it is imperative that school leaders continue provide multiple opportunities for reinforcement throughout the school year. Evidence

• Parent, student, and school personnel surveys • Parent/Student Handbook • District board policy and school uniform policy • School emergency procedures and school evacuation map • GPSS Personnel Rules and Regulations • Parent-Family-Community Outreach Program Manual • Parent workshop sign-in sheets • Sample of student monitor form

Areas for Growth

• An upgrade on school facilities, specifically gymnasium facilities/building (release of allocated money for the gym)

• Frequent site visits by GPSS division heads (quarterly) in an attempt to ensure that the school is maintained and free from any potential danger

• Timely responses by support divisions (i.e., maintenance) to the schools’ requests especially those dealing with the safety and health of the environment

A6: Reporting Student Progress Criterion To what extent do the school leadership and staff regularly assess student progress toward accomplishing the school’s expected school-wide learning results? The school requires teachers to use multiple assessments to determine student performance and progress toward accomplishing the school’s ESLRs. The assessments are also used to provide baseline data of skill mastery and to determine lesson progress. Assessment instruments at AIJMS vary depending on the subject, however, all grade level courses use pre- and post tests to measure achievement. Seventy-eight percent of the teachers surveyed indicated using pre- or post tests to identify academic strengths and weaknesses and to measure progress. Quarterly assessment of skills, ensures that teachers are reviewing the alignment of skills taught with the

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districts content standards and performance indicators, criterion and norm referenced tests, and the school ESLRS. In past years, these documents were kept in curriculum guides and disseminated to teachers at the beginning of the school year. However, they have become outdated and need to be reviewed. Eight eighty percent of teachers surveyed indicated that they understand the importance of the ESLRs in defining the school purpose. Seventy-six percent of the teachers report that the ESLRs have been used as a basis for the development of curriculum goals and the evaluation of student learning. Eighty percent of the teachers indicated that the ESLRs and sub-indicators were measurable and serve as the basis to assess student progress. Another means of assessing student progress toward accomplishing the school’s ESLRs is the review of the weekly submissions of Corrective Reading and Connecting Math Concepts lesson progress charts. These charts provide administrators, the Reading Coordinator, and peer coaches an idea of students at mastery and whether students are meeting requisite lesson gains. Teachers are required to provide mid-term reports. Through the mid-quarter reports, parents and students are able to get a sense of the student’s latest performance academically and determine what course of action, if any, to take in order to improve his/her grade. In addition, report cards, are issued at the end of each quarter. These reports provide parents, teachers, and administration important information on how to move forward in addressing student learning and what steps to take to ensure student progress toward academic success. In order to provide an avenue to which parents may address any and all concerns, two teacher workdays are set aside for parent-teacher conferences; one after the first quarter and another after the third quarter. During these short sessions, parents and teachers may dialogue to determine the best course of action in helping the student succeed. To what extent do the school leadership and staff report student progress to the rest of the school community? SAT10 results are provided to parents and the community by the counseling department, administration, and GPSS Research, Planning, and Evaluation Division. Teachers are encouraged to communicate and meet frequently with parents. Student progress is also reported during monthly PTO meetings. GPSS requests various reports throughout the school year documenting student progress, including promotion and retention data. Another form of communication to the public is through our website, www.aijms.net, as well as the GPSS website, www.gdoe.net, which display numerous reports regarding the school, including SAT 10 Annual Yearly Progress reports. Students who participate in any sport or interscholastic event must maintain a grade point average of 70% or better, have not been suspended, and have no U’s for citizenship. The student must maintain these criteria or be either removed from the team or made ineligible to play. In an attempt to show off the athletic successes of our students, trophies and other accolades are displayed in the main office. Evidence

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• Sample pre- and posttests • Sample mid-quarter progress reports • ESLRs poster • Team binders • District and school websites • Interscholastic participation manual

Areas for growth

• Funding for student planners containing the parent/student handbook needs to be sought to ensure daily reporting of student progress

• Direct Instruction Program evaluation/follow-up A7: School Improvement Process Criterion To what extent does the school leadership facilitate school improvement which is driven by plans of action that will enhance quality of learning for all students? The administrative team has shown much support for action items or programs that aim to enhance student learning. Evidence that may be used to support this was the development of the SIP during SY 05-06. The SIP is geared mainly toward improving student performance in the areas of language arts, reading, and math. In addition, it also addresses and provides action items to assist with improving in the areas of the school’s promotion rate, student and personnel attendance rate, and discipline rate. The Corrective Reading and Connecting Math Concepts programs are now in its fifth year of implementation The focus of this program is to assist students in building skills in the areas of decoding, comprehension, and math. Teachers and selected staff were trained each year to support the program. To what extent does the school leadership have school community support and involvement? The structure of the middle school into disciplinary teams facilitates greater communication and parental involvement. Team prep periods are used to meet with parents, focusing on collaborative partnership to address students’ needs so that more opportunities for student improvement and academic success are provided. Community support mainly manifests itself in PTO meetings, open house, interscholastic sports, and parent-student orientation. Parents demonstrate their support by participating in various school activities including fundraising, school-wide clean up days, fieldtrips, award ceremonies, and the 8th grade promotional exercise. In addition to parents, the school receives support in many forms from the multiple mayors of the communities in which our students reside. Local businesses such as Pepsi Bottling Company, Bestseller Bookstore, and Seven Eleven convenient stores have been helpful through in kind donations. Guam Waterworks Authority, a local

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government agency, and Naval Hospital, a federal government institute, have adopted our school and have helped with maintenance and preparation of the school for the opening of the school year. To what extent does the school leadership effectively guide the work of the school? The school administration and faculty created a School Improvement Plan (SIP) that was approved by the teachers, PTO officers, and the Superintendent of Education. The plan was developed to improve student achievement in reading, language arts, and math as measured by the SAT-10. This improvement plan is the basis for all activity and drive the decision making by school leaders. The plan is monitored each year and the progress of established goals is reported to the Superintendent. The primary components of the plan include: Standards and Assessment; Personnel Quality and Accountability; Federal State and Local Programs; Home-School Connection; School Indicator System; and School-wide Changes and Needs. In addition to the home/school connection component in the SIP, school leaders have designed a separate and more comprehensive home/school plan that promotes increased community support and involvement. To what extent does the school leadership provide for accountability through monitoring of the school-wide action plan? At the beginning of each school year, the administration has made a conscious effort to review the goals and objectives outlined in the SIP. Data from the previous year is shared with teachers in order to help them plan for the current school year. The responsibility of monitoring the SIP rests with all stakeholders. Thus, the administration has empowered the respective departments to take ownership and charge of the SIP relative to their content areas and moves forward in ensuring student success as indicated in and anticipated by each of the action steps. Although the SIP focuses solely on the areas of language arts, reading, and math, stakeholders have agreed to include science and social studies. School performance data in the SIP is provided to the Research Planning and Evaluation office at the end of the school year and is then compiled with the other middle schools and reported in the GPSS annual report. Schools are ranked depending on their raw score. AIJMS was ranked a satisfactory performing school for SY 2007-08. Evidence

• Lesson plans/fieldtrip objectives that include components of the ESLRs • Parent sign-in sheets at PTO meetings, student orientations, Open House • School Action Plan • SAT-10 results (Item Analysis)

Areas for Growth • More staff development programs that are applicable to each subject area • More resources or allotments for teachers and more support staff (resource management) • School Action Plan needs to be updated and must address all subject areas • Administration/GPSS officials need to find more grants that support learning programs

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• Direct Instruction Programs and programs funded by grants need to be evaluated and maintained when successful

Areas of Strength

• ESLRs revised and in place • Students know the ESLRs • Vision and Mission statement are clear • PTEP implemented by administration • Student handbooks are provided yearly • Teachers keep open communication with parents • High percentage of certified teachers • Three out of four administrators hold Master’s Degrees and are certified in educational

administration and supervision • Administration holds daily administrative meetings to keep each other abreast of their

tasks • Participation of all employees during staff development • Students, faculty, and staff are well informed of school events • Respective personnel are informed of various trainings for support staff • Peer mediation program • Operable computers and internet in most classrooms • Direct Instruction program is school wide, as well as island-wide • Content standards and performance indicators are in place • Middle school interdisciplinary teams are on-going (team preps) • PTO, open house, interscholastic sports, orientations, and conferences in place