Gaston County Schools · Overview of the School Improvement Team and Plan Process School Improvement Plan Alignment Page 2 The State of North Carolina Strategic Goals Page 2 Gaston

10/4/2018

Gaston County Schools

School Improvement Plan

Handbook

2018-2019

School Improvement Plan Handbook

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Table of Contents Overview of the School Improvement Team and Plan Process

School Improvement Plan Alignment Page 2

The State of North Carolina Strategic Goals Page 2

Gaston County School’s Strategic Goals Page 2

Items that make up the School Improvement Plan Page 3

School Improvement Plan Time Line (year one and two) Page 4 - 5

Legal requirements of the School Improvement Plan Page 6 – 9

Functions of the School Improvement Team Page 10

Duties of the School Improvement Team Page 10

School Improvement Team Membership Page 10-11

Frequency of Meetings Page 11

Election Process Page 11-12

Term of Service (by-laws) Page 12

School Improvement Team meeting minutes Page 13

Process for Board of Education Approval Page 13

Explanation of the how to complete the School Improvement Plan

Cover Sheet and School Improvement Team Membership Page 14

Gaston County Schools and the School Vision and Mission Page 14 Assessment Data Snapshot Page 15

SMART and Strategic Plan Goals Page 15 Rules For Filling Out The School Improvement Plan Template Page 15 Data Used Page 16

Strategies Page 16

Implementation Team Page 16

What Data Will You Collect Page 16

When Will You Monitor Page 17

Monitoring and Who Is Responsible Page 17

Signature Pages Page 18

School Safety Plan Page 18

Staff Voting on the School Improvement Plan Page 18

Professional Development required to implement strategies Page 18

Contents of the School Safety Plan Page 19

Title I Requirements Page 20 -21

Compliance Statements Page 22

Final Evaluation of school improvement plan year one/two Page 22-24

Compliance Statement Template Page 25

Title One Needs Assessment Page 26


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School Improvement Plan Alignment The school improvement plan for Gaston County Schools have been developed and aligned to

the requirements of the following documents and sources.

Gaston County Schools Strategic Plan

READY Accountability Model

SACS/CASI School and District Accreditation Standards

Elementary & Secondary Education Act (ESA)

Title I required components of School wide Programs

North Carolina Strategic Goals, NC goals can be found at the following

link:www.ncpublicschools.org/organization/mission

The State of North Carolina Strategic Goals

Goal 1: Every Student in the NC Public School System graduates from high school

prepared for work, further education, and citizenship

Goal 2: Every student has a personalized education

Goal 3: Every student, every day has excellent educators

Goal 4: Every school district has up to date financial, business, and technology systems

to serve its’ students, parents, and educators

Goal 5: Every student is healthy, safe, and responsible

Gaston County Schools Strategic Goals GCS Goal 1: Every student will graduate prepared for post-secondary opportunities.

GCS Goal 2: Every member of our diverse student population has the opportunity for

individualized instruction.

GCS Goal 3: Every employee is capable and committed to the education of the whole child.

GCS Goal 4: Every school has up-to-date technology to support teaching and learning.

GCS Goal 5: Every student has the opportunity to learn in a safe school environment.

http://www.ncpublicschools.org/organization/mission


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Items that make up the school improvement plan School Contact Information – cover sheet

School Improvement Team Membership

Vision, Mission, Values

Assessment Data Snapshot

Gaston County Strategic Goals

SMART Goal: Strategic Plan and Accountability Targets

Optional SMART Goal: Decided by the School Improvement Team

Assessed Indicators

Action Steps

Compliance Statements- uploaded as an artifact in documents folder

School Safety Plan & Signature Page –uploaded as an artifact in documents folders

Title I Plan – completed only if you are a Title I School- uploaded into documents folders


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Year One Timeline

GCS School Improvement Plan Timeline 2018-2019

Date Item Due Action

June– August 2018 School Improvement Team Training

Accountability Department

September 12, 2018 SIP Plan due and copy of secret ballot turned in to the Accountability Department. SIT Team, meeting times and location posted on website.

Submitted to Assistant Superintendent for Administration, Associate Superintendent for Academic Services, and Chief Accountability Officer

September 17-21, 2018 September 24-28, 2018

District level feedback and Approval of SIP via video conferences

Assistant Superintendent for Administration, Associate Superintendent for Academic Services, and Chief Accountability Officer

October 8, 2018 Presentation of SIP to BOE for review

Assistant Superintendent for Administration, and Chief Accountability Officer

October 22, 2018 Presentation of SIP to BOE for approval

Assistant Superintendent for Administration, and Chief Accountability Officer

November 1, 2018 Post SIP to school website School Webmaster

November 5, 2018 School safety plans submitted to the BOE for approval closed session

Associate Superintendent for Finance and Operations

January 31, 2019 High February 7, 2019 Middle February 11,13 and 14, 2019 Elementary

Monitoring Date Mid-Year

Assistant Superintendent for Administration, Associate Superintendent for Academic Services, Executive Director for K-12 Instruction and CAO

June 18, 19, and 20, 20189 Elementary June 26, 2019 Middle June 27, 2019 High

Reflection and Evaluation document and focus for year two of the SIP

Assistant Superintendent for Administration, Associate Superintendent for Academic Services, Executive Director for K-12 Instruction and CAO


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Year Two Timeline

GCS School Improvement Plan Timeline 2019-2020

Date Item Due Action

June 2019 Year One Final Monitoring Document

Assistant Superintendent for Administration, Associate Superintendent for Academic Services, Executive Director for K-12 Instruction, and Chief Accountability Officer

June 2019 Results of School Improvement Team Election

Submitted to Chief Accountability Officer

June 2019 District level feedback on SIP


August 31, 2019 Post updated SIP to school website

Webmaster/Accountability

Monitoring Date January 28, 29, 30, 2020 – Elementary February 5, 2020 –Middle February 6, 2020 - High

Chief Accountability Officer and Executive Director for K-12 Instruction

Final Evaluation/Reflection June 16, 17, and 18, 2020 Elementary June 24, 2020 Middle June 25, 2020 High

Close out year two of SIP and focus on new two year SIP



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Legal Requirement for School Improvement Plan

Statutory Reference/Requirements of School Improvement Plan

Statutory Provision

115C-105.27(a) School Improvement Team components

Principal, representative of APs, instructional personnel, instructional support personnel, teacher assistants, and parents of children enrolled in the school constitute a school improvement team.

Representatives of the school based members must be elected by their respective group by secret ballot.

Parents are elected by the parents of children enrolled in the school. The election is conducted by the PTO; if none exist, then by the largest organization of parents formed for that purpose.

Parents must reflect the racial and socioeconomic composition of the student body.

School improvement team members in the parent seat must not be members of the building-level staff.

School improvement team meetings must be held at times convenient to parents, so as to assure substantial parent participation.

115C-1057.27(a1) (new – July 2013) 143.318.12 Chapter 143 Article 33C Open Meeting Requirements

Schools must follow the open meeting law: 1. Minutes have to be taken 2. Meetings conducted openly 3. Public notification of meetings 4. Regular meetings at a set time 5. Published in a central location

Safety Plan Requirement

Deliberations on school safety plans must be done in closed meetings. Principal has the responsibility to assure these requirements are met. *Will be uploaded into Indistar

115C-105.27(a2) (new July 2013) Public Record Requirements

A SIP is a public record, except for the school safety component. The SIP must be posted on the school’s website.


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Names of SLT members, their positions, and date of election must be posted on the school website. The minutes of the school improvement team meeting must be posted to the school’s website.

115C-105.27(b) Data Driven School Improvement Requirements

This section describes in detail what must be included in the SIP. In general:

The SIP must take into account the annual performance goals for the school set by the NC State Board of Ed, and the goals set out in the mission statement for the public schools adopted by the SBE; and

To the greatest extent possible, be data-driven.

SLTs must use EVAAS (or a comparable, compatible system approved by the SBE) to:

analyze student data and ID root causes for problems;

determine actions to address such problems; and

appropriately place students in courses such as Algebra I.

SIPs must contain clear, unambiguous targets, explicit indicators and actual measures, and expeditious time frames for meeting the measurement standards.

115C-105.27 (b) (2) Safety & Discipline Plan Requirement

Must include a plan to address school safety and discipline concerns. *Will be uploaded into Indistar

115C-105.27 (b) (4) Instructional Practice Requirements

Must include a plan that specifies the effective instructional practices and methods to be used to improve the academic performance of students identified as at risk of academic failure or at risk of dropping out.

115C-105.27 (b) (6) Duty Free Lunch Requirements

Must include a plan to provide a duty-free lunch period for every teacher on a daily basis or as otherwise approved by the SIP. *Will be uploaded into Indistar


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115C-105.27 (b) (7) Duty Free Instructional Planning Time Requirement

Must include a plan to provide duty-free instructional planning time for every teacher under G.S. §115C-301.1, with the goal of providing an average of at least 5 hours of planning time a week. [Note that the statute referenced provides that all classroom teachers are to be provided duty-free instructional planning time during regular student contact hours, to the extent that the safety and proper supervision of student may allow. *Will be uploaded into Indistar

115C-105.27 (b) (8)

Redundant Reporting Requirement

Shall include a plan to identify and eliminate unnecessary and redundant reporting requirements for teachers and, to the extent practicable, streamline the school's reporting system and procedures, including requiring forms and reports to be in electronic form when possible and incorporating relevant documents into the student accessible components of the Instructional Improvement System."

115C-105.27 ( c ) School Improvement Plan Approval Process

Principal presents the plan to APs, instructional personnel, instructional support personnel, TAs, and parents for review and vote. Vote is by secret ballot.

SIP goes to the BOE only if approved by a majority of the staff who voted on the plan. Note this is a different number than a majority of such staff assigned to the school.

115C – 105.27 (c1) New July 2013 Safety & Discipline Plan Requirements

The superintendent reviews the safety components of the SIP and makes written recommendations to the BOE.

The BOE reviews the safety components in closed session. The BOE must make findings on the safety components. Safety components and the BOE’s findings are not to be included in BOE minutes.


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115C-105.27 (d) School Improvement Plan Adoption Requirements

Adoption of the Plan by the BOE

BOE accepts or rejects the SIP.

If the BOE accepts an SIP, it may not make any substantive changes in it.

If the BOE rejects an SIP, it must give the specific reasons for doing so.

If an SIP is rejected, the SLT prepares another one and goes through the same approval process.

If no SIP is approved by the BOE within 60 days after being submitted for the first time, the school or BOE may request to use the dispute resolution process adopted by the SBE.

If a request is made, both school and BOE must participate in the process.

If no such request is made, the BOE may develop a SIP for the school.

115C-105.27 ( e) School Improvement Plan Duration Requirement

SIPs remain in effect for two years, but an SLT may amend an SIP as often as necessary or appropriate.

If any part of an SIP becomes unlawful or if the BOE finds it is impeding student performance, the BOE may vacate the relevant portion of the plan and direct the school to revise it.

115C-105.27 (f) Duplicative Plan Requirement

If the BOE finds that an SIP adequately covers another plan that the district is required to prepare, the district is not required to prepare an additional plan.

115C-105.27 (g) New July 2013 Notification of Violations or concerns Requirements

Any employee, parent, or other interested party or organization, is encouraged to notify the principal of concerns about whether the school has complied with these requirements. The same parties may also submit in writing to the superintendent concerns about whether the school has complied with these requirements. The superintendent shall make a good-faith effort to investigate the concern. If requested, the superintendent shall provide a written response to the concern.


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Functions of the School Improvement Team

Facilitates the involvement of the school community in the development of the School Improvement Plan

Encourages, supports and creates opportunities for involvement from parents in the community

Contributes to the design of the School Improvement Plan

Monitors the effectiveness of the School Improvement Plan strategies

Duties of the School Improvement Team

Members of the School Improvement Team are directly involved in the development of the School Improvement Plan, and as appropriate, some of the day-to-day operations of the school. The School Improvement Team:

facilitates the development of the School Improvement Plan.

uses data as the driving force to create programmatic instructional change.

monitors, assesses and amends the School Improvement Plan, as needed.

advances policies and procedures that enhance achievement and meet educational, safety and parent involvement goals.

builds the capacity of the school to address parent and staff concerns.

School Improvement Team Membership

Composition of Staff Membership:

School Principal

Members of the professional staff to include the following:

One Assistant Principal

Instructional Staff

At the high school level

One per department

At the middle school level

One per grade level, one EC teacher, one encore teacher

At the elementary level

One per grade level and one EC teacher


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Instructional Support Staff (This can be a counselor or media specialist)

Instructional Assistants(This can be any classified person on your staff that directly support students, ie. data manager, teacher assistant, or secretary)

Composition of Parent Membership: The parent membership must reflect the racial, geographical and socioeconomic status of students in that school.

Parents shall not be members of the building-level staff.

Frequency of Meetings

It is recommended that School Improvement Teams meet at least twice a month. However,

during the development of the School Improvement Plan the teams may meet more

frequently. School Improvement Team meetings must be open to the public, with the

exception of deliberations on school safety plans. In addition, School Improvement

Team meetings must be held at times convenient to parents, to “assure substantial parent

participation.” The meeting schedule, including date, time and location, must be published

on the school’s website, in parent communication, as well as in the main office area.

Election Process

The process for selecting members of the School Improvement Team is flexible. However, in order to secure the broadest cross section of the school and school community points of view, it is suggested that a communication is sent from the principal to parents and teachers outlining the duties and responsibilities of the School Improvement Team. In that same communication it is also recommended that suggestions by parents and teachers be made regarding individuals who would be appropriate candidates for team membership. Candidates must be willing to remain positive, objective and focused on the goal of improving teaching and learning. In addition they should be willing to devote the time, energy, and creativity needed to be an effective team member.

Parent Members: All parent members of the School Improvement Team must be elected using secret ballots by parents of children enrolled in the school. The election should be conducted by the parent and teacher organization in the school or by the largest organization of parents formed for this purpose. If the election does not result in a representative group of parents, the principal may appoint additional parents to the team as needed. Parents shall not be members of the building-level staff.


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Staff Members: Representatives of assistant principals, instructional personnel, instructional support personnel, and teacher assistants must be elected by their respective groups by secret ballots.

Elections should take place during the month of May or June each school year.

Term of Service

The term of office is somewhat flexible. Each member will serve a minimum of one year and a maximum of three consecutive years. To ensure that there is some consistency of membership from year to year, it is suggested that approximately two-thirds of the composition of the team remain each year, while approximately one-third of the members rotate off the team. Therefore, some members may be elected to serve a one-year term, while others may be elected for a three-year term. Each team should develop a process for ensuring that there is continuity on the team from year-to-year, while still upholding the election guidelines. The election and attrition process should be outlined in the School Improvement Team by-laws and published by election time. Note: While not mandatory, development of by-laws is recommended to provide a

framework of operation for the team’s efforts. Once developed these guidelines should be

reviewed and amended as needed on an annual basis, usually in the spring.

Minutes for School Improvement Meetings Minutes should be taken and posted on your school website for each meeting. The minutes should include the items listed below as a minimum.

o Date, time, and place of the meeting o Statement of approval of minutes from previous meeting o A list of committees making reports and any actions o A list of any groups or individuals who addressed the SIT o A list of decisions reached o Items for the next agenda o The time the meeting started and adjourned

Process for Board of Education Approval During year one of the school improvement plan process, the Board of Education (BOE) has to approve each school improvement plan. Once school improvement plans have been approved by the district leadership team, a binder and electronic files(on google drive) should be developed and presented to the board of education at the first BOE meeting during the month of October. The BOE will ask questions and vote to approve the school improvement plans during the second BOE meeting during the month of October.


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First BOE meeting during the month of October

Develop a short presentation to review the process used to approve the school improvement plans and include the process followed by the schools, district leadership, and legal requirements of the school improvement plan.

Give a hard copy of the school improvement plans to the BOE Clerk and each individual BOE member will receive each school’s improvement plan via google drive to review.

Second BOE meeting during the month of October

The BOE ask questions if any

The BOE votes to approve the school improvement plans

Profile and School Leadership Team Membership

The school profile will be completed by the accountability department before the school improvement plan template is sent out to the schools.

Schools will submit the names of their school improvement team members along with their email address to the accountability department to be populated in the school improvement plan template.

During year one and two of the school improvement plan cycle, please submit the results of your school improvement team election to the accountability department. The accountability department will update the coversheet with the new SIT members.

Gaston County Schools and the School Vision and Mission The accountability department will record the vision and mission statement in the school improvement plan template for the school. If the mission and vision is on the school website the accountability department will copy the mission and vision from the school website. If the vision and mission is not posted on the school website schools should submit their mission and vision statements to the accountability department each year or when the mission and vision changes.

.

It is not necessary to rewrite your current mission statement if your school already has one. However, you may need to revise it. Revisit your mission statement by gathering fresh opinions and impressions of a representative group of stakeholders. Your mission statement should reflect the spirit of your school’s beliefs while keeping in mind the district’s vision. To determine if your mission is appropriate, you must assess your beliefs. This can be done by letting the stakeholders develop their own set of beliefs. Once you have developed your listing of shared beliefs, they should be the driving force behind the mission statement. The


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shared beliefs will be the foundation for your mission statement. Use these shared beliefs to determine if you should keep your mission statement as is, make minor adjustments, or rewrite it. The following questions should be considered when reviewing the mission statement:

Does the mission statement motivate and inspire?

Does the mission statement give a clear purpose and direction to the school?

Could the administration, faculty, staff, parents, and community members readily use the mission statement to guide their actions towards the school?

Assessment Data Snapshot: Data Review

The Accountability Department will work with each school to complete review the self-

assessment during the months of July and August.

SMART Goals

Each school is required to have two school improvement goals. Please list the school’s goal(s) after the mission and vision under the Set Direction portion.

Two goal requirement:

School Performance Goal: This goal is to be based off of the self-assessment and increasing student proficiency in the areas of Reading, Math, and/or Science. Please list the indicators that directly align to this goal under the performance measures document. (Goal # 1)

Ready Accountability/School Performance Grade or other Goal/Targets, Each school is required to focus on areas that they failed to meet the AMO target goals established by NCDPI or EOG/EOC target if the school is a D or F school. (Optional Goal)

Rules for filling out the School Improvement Plan Template

Current Status (Needs Assessment) – This should be what your proficiency rate was for the 2017-18 school year.

Student Outcome Data- This should list any data points used when completing the needs assessment.


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Data Used Identify the data points that were evaluated and support your school’s goal(S).

Record the data points in the appropriate box.

Data sources may include, but are not limited to, the following:

EOC Assessment Results Student/Teacher

Attendance Rates

School Safety Audits

EOG Assessment Results Student/Teacher Retention Rates

Suspension Rates

Summative Assessments 4-Year Cohort Graduation Rate

Teacher Surveys/Working Condition Survey

Annual Measurable Objectives

SAT/ACT Results Parent Surveys

EVAAS Data AP / IB Assessment Results Student Surveys

Indicators Schools are directed to choose the following four indicators to assess that are aligned to school performance goals. However, school are free to assess more indicators along with the mandated four

Instructional Student Health/Safety Parent/Community/ Involvement & Staff Support

A 4.01: The school implements a tiered instructional system that allows teachers to deliver evidence-based instruction aligned with the individual needs of students across all tiers.

A 4.06: ALL teachers are attentive to students' emotional states, guide students in managing their emotions, and arrange for supports and interventions when necessary.

E 1.06: The school regularly communicates with parents/guardians about its expectations of them and the importance of the curriculum of the home (what parents can do at home to support their children's learning).

C 2.01: The LEA/School regularly

looks at school performance

data and aggregated classroom

observation data and uses that

data to make decisions about

school improvement and

professional development needs.


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Action Steps Please list the action steps that the school will take to fully implement the indicator that was assessed. Action steps can be as detailed as needed. There is no maximum number of action steps. The team should think in small steps when creating action steps. A target date should be added of when the action step will be completed.

Person Responsible

Please list the person who will be responsible for the collection of data and reporting of the progress of the Indicator/Action Steps to the School Improvement Team.

When will you monitor

September 2018 January 2019 February 2019

June 2019 January 2020

June 2020 ** All monitoring will be done through coaching comments in the Indistar platform.

Monitoring and who is responsible Listed below is who will be responsible for monitoring the school improvement plan during the school year: Assistant Superintendent for Administration

Oversight of District Strategic Planning

Oversight of School-Based Strategic Planning

Approval of School Improvement Plans

Monitoring of School Improvement Plans


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Associate Superintendent for Academic Services

Instructional Strategies

Professional Development to support strategies



Executive Director for K-12 Instruction



Instructional Strategies

Professional Development to support strategies Chief Accountability Officer

Creation and Management of District and School-based Strategic Planning documentation

Data and Measurement Elements of School and District Strategic Planning

Signature Pages The accountability department will populate the signature pages with your School

Improvement Team membership.

Ensure that the plan is approved and reviewed on the monitoring dates established.

For year two of the school improvement plan, signatures are required for the monitoring date and the final evaluation.

Signatures should be obtained on the monitoring and the updated signature pages should be posted on the school’s website as well as in the main office area. The district level sign off and monitoring will take place via google drive and will be required to be linked within Indistar.


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School Safety Plan All schools are required to produce a school safety plan that addresses both school safety and discipline concerns as a part of G.S.§115C-105.27. School Safety Plans are HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL documents that are not to be published on the school’s website. In addition, deliberations on school safety plans must be conducted in closed School Improvement Team meetings. The superintendent is required to review all school safety plans and make written findings and recommendations to the Board of Education in a closed session meeting. As a result, a district wide template has been developed for consistency in reporting. All schools are required to use the provided format. Please ensure that the following safety plan contents are completed, reviewed with staff and members of the School Improvement Team, and signed off on. The safety portion of the school improvement plan will be reviewed and approved by the Assistant Superintendent for Operations & Services.

Staff voting on School Improvement Plan Once the school improvement team has approved the school improvement plan, the principal is required to present the proposed school improvement plan to all staff members. The staff is required to approve or disapprove the school improvement plan by secret ballot. The results of the vote should be recorded on the monitoring document on google drive.

Professional Development required to implement strategies Once you have selected your strategies, please include what professional development activities are needed to implement your strategies and achieve your goal. The professional development can be conducted by your staff or an outside vendor.

School Improvement Plan--School Safety Requirements 2018-2019

Our school safety plan includes the following components.

Emergency Plans/Procedures 1) Emergency closing of school 2) Emergency notification process for school closing during the regular business day 3) Access control 4) Metal detecting 5) Fire, bomb threat, general evacuation, district evacuation plans


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6) Lock downs 7) Shelter in place 8) Hazardous materials 9) Severe weather and natural disasters 10) Serious illness/injury 11) Civil disturbance 12) Community disaster 13) Crisis intervention 14) Student supervision and two way radio deployment 15) Substitute teacher procedures 16) Nuclear emergency (if applicable) 17) Athletic emergency (if applicable)

Training (the following items are completed as documented on our Annual Assurance Statement) 1) Emergency plans--school specific plans (all) 2) Visitor/volunteer and substitute teacher procedures (all) 3) Critical incident response and evacuations (all) 4) Lock downs (all) 5) Gang resource notebook (all) 6) Availability of NC Sex Offender app/website (all) 7) Metal detecting and surveillance equipment (selected staff) 8) Bomb sweep team (selected staff) 9) Threat assessment (selected staff)

Other Components (#1-4 are completed as documented on our Annual Assurance Statement) 1) Each instructional area has a School Crisis Management Guide Notebook 2) Emergency Plans Notebook (includes our school specific plans as well as district plans) 3) Two critical incident response kits 4) Active school safety committee (internal safety audits/reviews and advises the Principal) 5) Working emergency phone line and phone (for electrical and cell outage situations) (location of

line and phone are included) 6) Report on our external school safety audit (copy included) 7) School and classroom student discipline expectations and processes (copy included) 8) Monthly school safety report (sample included) 9) Reportable offenses and serious incidents--process for reporting (copy included) 10) Bus safety procedures (copy included)

Title I Requirements 1. Comprehensive Needs Assessment

● A comprehensive needs assessment is conducted by each school which will serve Title I

and Title II issues.

● Achievement, poverty, and personnel data is addressed

● Local and district summary sheets are prepared

● Data will be used to direct strategies of other components


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2. School Reform Strategies

● LEA assists schools in directing reform strategies based on results of local and district

needs assessment data.

● Areas of focus will be low performing academic areas, providing extended day

opportunities, under-served population and low-performing students

3. Highly Qualified Staff

● Personnel needs are targeted and a professional development plan is established for

provisional licensed personnel to become highly qualified no later than the end of the

2005-2006 school year.

4. High Quality and Ongoing Professional Development

● Data from the needs assessment will target provisional licensed and ILTs as high priority

for quality professional development activities.

● Assessment data will direct professional development toward low performing academic

areas, teachers and schools.

● Achievement gap and poverty data will also be an indicator in directing high quality

professional development.

● No less than 5% of funds and no more than 10% and not less than 5% of funds for each

subsequent fiscal year shall be used for professional development activities to ensure that

teachers who are not highly qualified become highly qualified no later than the end of the

2005-2006 school year.

5. Teacher Recruitment and Placement

● Achievement data will be used as one strategy to place highly qualified teachers in areas

of need.

● Collaboration with Title II in reducing class size and high quality professional development

.

6. Parent Involvement

● Schools collaborate with parents to develop a parent involvement policy and plan.

● Parent involvement activities are planned to recruit and inform parents on issues involving

and related to the Title I program.

● Each school receives an allocation including the 1%, which must be set aside for

reasonable and necessary costs to conduct parent involvement activities.

7. Transition Plans (Pre-K to K, Elementary to Middle, Middle to High)

● Incorporated into the Head Start program is a transition plan that begins 6 months prior to

entrance into the elementary school or next transition level.

● Early Head Start also has a plan for transitioning children into the Head Start program

● Staggered entrance into the elementary included orientation for children and parents.

8. Teacher Involvement in Assessment Use

● Teachers take part in high quality staff development demonstrating how to use data to

drive instruction.


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● Teachers, as part of the School Improvement Team and voting members of the school-

wide improvement plan, vote on issues regarding how school reform strategies evolve

from assessment data.

● Teachers receive assistance in reporting assessment data to parents. Reporting, to the

extent possible, will be in a language that is understood in the home.

9. Instruction Activities for Identified Students

● Early detection with classroom instructional modifications and placement in special needs

classes.

● High quality staff development such as Thinking Maps, Multiple Intelligence, Learning

Styles, and others assist teachers in teaching and addressing needs of students with

different learning styles.

● Various technology programs such as Failure Free Learning, Compass Learning, Orchard,

Study Island, and Rosetta Stone, allow for individual pupil education planning.

● Science-based research is required from vendors

10. Coordination and integration of Federal, State, and Local Services

● Collaborations between preschool programs, Smart Start, Literacy Council, Safe Schools,

health agencies, and 21st Century and church organizations provide a balance program

academically, physically and emotionally for all students.

o Health screening

o Extended day opportunities for children and adults

o Literacy programming for children and adults

● Collaboration with Title II (Teacher Quality) and state staff development provides a plan for

ensuring all provisionally licensed personnel are high qualified by the end of the 2005-2006

school year.

11. Funding

Please add the amount of funding required to implement the strategies listed in your title one plan.

Compliance Statements

Schools are required to state how they will address each item in the compliance section of the

school improvement plan.

1) Healthy active children policy– K-8 only

Physical activity is not denied to any students as a means of discipline, nor physical

activity used as a form of punishment.

Each student participates in an average of 30 minutes per day of physical activity

outside of the physical education class.


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2) House Bill 1151

All schools must include a plan to provide a duty-free lunch period for every teacher on a daily basis or as otherwise approved by the SIP.

All schools must include a plan to provide duty-free instructional planning time for every teacher under 115C-301.1, with the goal of providing an average of at least 5 hours of planning time a week. Note that the statute referenced provides that all classroom teachers are to be provided duty-free instructional planning time during regular student contact hours, to the extent that the safety and proper supervision of student may allow.

Final Evaluation of school improvement plan year one and two An evaluation should occur at the end of year one and two of the school improvement plan cycle. The evaluation should focus on evaluating the indicators/actions in the plan, not the goals. If there is clear evidence that you have selected a goal that is unachievable or have achieved the selected goal then the goal should be changed. Based on data you have collected during the school year, feedback from the two monitoring dates, current testing data, discipline data, survey data, etc, please use those and other items to facilitate your evaluation of the school improvement plan.

Year One Closeout

At the end of year one of the school improvement plan process, a fifteen minute video

conference will be scheduled with each school to review the end of year one spreadsheet

and review strategies and targets for year two of the school improvement plan. The

conference will be attended by the Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources,

Assistant Superintendent for Administration, Assistant Superintendent for Academic

Services, Chief Accountability Officer, and the Principal. The feedback provided during the

conference will be used to update the school improvement plan by the end of August. The

format and agenda is listed below.

Agenda for Conference:

I. Review of School Improvement Plan 10 minutes

Goal # 1 and # 2

What was your status at the start of the school year What was your target for the current school year Did your school meet your current year target? Did your strategies work and will you change them the next school year? What will your target be for the next school year? What professional development is needed for the next school year?


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II. Discussion and Questions 5 minutes

Discussion Updating school improvement plan after the conference

o Due by:_________________. o Use feedback provided by Mrs. Matson, Dr. Balknight, and your

Executive Director Two monitoring during the school year

o Title I plan has to be developed for the next school year o January/February o June/July o New monitoring spreadsheet added to SIP o Posting meeting times and minutes to the website o Questions

Year Two Closeout:

At the end of year two of the school improvement plan process, we will schedule a 15

minute conference with each school to review the end of year two and work on a self-

assessment and review the process for developing a new school improvement plan.

The new school improvement plan template will be shared with each school during the

month of May during the second year of the school improvement process. The schools will

follow the year one timeline posted in this document.

Video conferences will be conducted during the month of June.


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Compliance Statements

1. Describe your plan to provide duty-free lunch to all teachers:

2. Describe your plan to provide planning time for each regular classroom teacher each week, with the goal of 5 hours per week.

3. Physical activity is not denied to any students as a means of discipline, nor physical activity used as a form of punishment (K-8 only)

4. Each student participates in an average of 30 minutes per day of physical activity outside of the physical education class (K -8 only).


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Title I Statewide Project Summary: Needs Assessment Provide an explanation of the Comprehensive Needs Assessment which reflects statutory requirements. Schools must address particularly the needs of low-achieving children and those at risk of not meeting state student achievement standards. Refer to the SIP profile or plan for any of these items (note page numbers).

Important note: Components 1-9 on the Title I Compliance Statements of the School Improvement Plan must refer to this needs assessment.

1. Summary of Comprehensive needs summary:

2. School wide Reform Strategies:

3. Instruction by a highly qualified professional staff:

4. High quality and ongoing professional development:

5. Strategies to increase parent involvement:

6. Strategies to attract high quality teachers to high needs schools:

7. Transition strategies:

8. Including teachers in decisions regarding the use of assessment:

9. Activities for children experiencing difficulty:

10. Coordination and Integration of Federal, State, and Local Services:

11. How Assessment Results are Reported to Parents: Explain how assessment results will be reported to parents.

Documents

Gaston County Schools · Overview of the School Improvement Team and Plan Process School Improvement Plan Alignment Page 2 The State of North Carolina Strategic Goals Page 2 Gaston