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physical education teachers and a media specialist. Our PTO funds an assistant for the computer

lab. The staff includes Literacy and Math Specialists, Interventionists, special education teachers,

a speech language pathologist, an EL teacher, a counselor, school psychologist, and a Mandarin

instructor. Spring Mill is known for its strong parent support. Parents volunteer in multiple ways

to tutor students, participate in the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) and support a variety of

extra-curricular activities for students throughout the year.

Spring Mill has variety of extra-curricular programs for students. Mentoring programs such as

PBS (Positive Behavior Support), Oasis Volunteers, Book Buddies, PEER helpers (from the

middle schools) and Big Brothers and Big Sisters provide opportunities for older students and

adults to mentor children at Spring Mill. The Kiwanis Club has sponsored various recognitions

for students. Members of our school community participate actively in action oriented service

activities throughout the year. Full-day kindergarten classes are available at Spring Mill.

Technology resources are provided in every classroom and include a teacher computer, four

student computers, a Promethean Board, etc. Our science curriculum is enhanced by an outdoor

interactive nature center and hands-on instruction using science kits. After School Achievers and

AYS (At Your School) before and after school care provide support to families who need

extended day services.

More information is available on our school’s website: http://sm.msdwt.k12.in.us/

District Website: http://www.msdwt.k12.in.us/

Description & Location of the School Curriculum

MSDWT evaluates curriculum every six years in conjunction with the state textbook adoption

process. The goal of the program evaluation, curriculum/standards revision and textbook

adoption cycle is to provide an educational program that enables all students to learn and achieve

to the highest possible level. Additionally, MSDWT has developed curriculum/standards guides

in special areas, elective areas and academic core areas of English/Language Arts, Math,

Science, and Social Studies. The curriculum guides incorporate the most recent Indiana

Academic Standards; Common Core State Standards, district technology proficiencies and

district media proficiencies. Lastly, the WT Board of Education approves all curriculum guides.

A curriculum guide for each level is available on the district website. All standards are posted on

the district website.

School Website: http://sm.msdwt.k12.in.us/

District Website: http://www.msdwt.k12.in.us/?page_id=303

Safe & Disciplined Learning Environment

Spring Mill Elementary emphasizes a safe and disciplined learning environment because we

recognize that this is a key factor for increasing the amount of learning time for students and

providing them with an environment that allows them to feel safe and focus on learning.

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Several staff members at Spring Mill were trained in the Love and Logic behavior intervention

strategies in prior years. In 2008-2009, Spring Mill’s enrollment grew from 626 students in the

previous year to 751 students. We focused on creating common behavior expectations across the

school – in the classrooms, hallway, cafeteria, restrooms, on the playground, bus, etc. – and our

efforts in 2008-2009 provided a foundation for the work we have done in subsequent years, to

develop a schoolwide plan for behavior support.

In 2009-2010, Spring Mill Elementary joined the MSDWT initiative to create a Positive

Behavior Support (PBS) Program. The PBS Team, which included the Assistant Principal, a PBS

Building Level Coach, representatives from every grade level, special education and special

areas, received training from Dr. Sandy Washburn (Indiana University, Bloomington). The Team

met on a monthly basis to develop a plan for us to implement in 2010-2011. The PBS Plan

included a Schoolwide Expectations Matrix, guidelines to address infractions, and a

reinforcement system to reward positive behavior choices. The PBS Team used its leadership to

work purposefully and share information with staff and parents on the initiative, promote staff

buy-in and solicit input to strengthen the plan.

Since 2010-2011, when we began implementing school-wide PBS every student has had the

opportunity for specific instruction in the essential agreements for the hallway, restroom, arrival,

dismissal, lunchtime, etc. The training happens in different stations with students seeing

examples and non-examples of appropriate behavior in these areas. Throughout the year we

provide reminders to students about these essential agreements and set up celebrations to

acknowledge every student in the school who has not had office discipline referrals during each

quarter, or disrupted the learning environment. The PBS Team has also closely monitored data

regarding discipline referrals, analyzing it monthly (or sooner in some cases) with the aim of

identifying the frequency of student referrals, timeframe of referrals during the year, location of

high referrals, types of referrals, etc. and creating plans to address these issues. The PBS Team

works closely with the principal and assistant principal to collaboratively tackle behavior

issues.

We value the notion of collaboration to support students and guide them in making positive

choices in behavior. In our Response to Instruction and Intervention (RtII) model, to address

behavior issues, we created a tiered system where students have behavior plans and check-

in/check-out at the beginning and end of the day with a teacher/administrator who mentors them.

Throughout the day, teachers provide students with feedback on their behavior scorecards.

Specific goals are set for students to meet. When they meet the goals, they are gradually weaned

out of the process. The principal and assistant principal check-in and check-out with students in

Tier 3 and some students in Tier 2 as needed, to provide a more intensive intervention.

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Additionally, Spring Mill addresses student safety throughout the day with a high level of staff

supervision at arrival and dismissal, during recess, and in the cafeteria. A Crisis Team is in place.

Data for 2010-2011 Data for 2011-2012

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• Spring Mill has continued to focus on Positive Behavior Support (PBS) this year. We

have had a strong team as well as strong leadership from our PBS coaches.

• Visitors often comment that for a school with over 700 students our hallways and

classrooms are very quiet. Our PBS work where every child receives information on

schoolwide essential agreements has been helpful and we will continue to focus on

streamlining these practices.

• Office referrals have decreased significantly for students who have remained at Spring

Mill for multiple years. Of the 20 students with highest referrals at Spring Mill in 2010,

many are not on the 2011 list. On the 2011 list 13/20 students are new to Spring Mill.

• Our referral average is still less than one per day. Students are sometimes brought to the

office for a conversation and cool off time but this is not always made into a referral.

• Classroom referrals are the highest by location.

• Teachers do a lot of redirecting for positive behavior. We are considering a common

model for instructing students on behavior expectations and reinforcing positive behavior

next year.

• Our staff will be studying this year-end data early next fall to determine things we need to

streamline and improve to decrease behavior referrals and increase positive behavior

choices.

• We will focus on utilizing behavior plans with more fidelity next year as well as put

mechanisms in place to teach students coping skills.

Classroom referrals are the highest by location and we are planning to focus more on classroom

management procedures next year.

Trend Data on Student Population by Subgroup

(Part of Title I Component #1 & #8)

(Please refer to graphs in Appendix F on page 60)

Our staff has studied these graphs which break up student achievement data on ISTEP+ over the

past several years by ethnicity, grade level, gender, special education and socioeconomic status.

We studied this for English/Language Arts as well as Mathematics to review trend data. A

synopsis of our review is noted below:

• Since 2008 our trend data have shown an increase in student performance every year,

except 2012 spring, when we experienced a small dip.

• A root cause analysis of the dip allowed us to determine that it might be an

implementation dip (we moved from Title I targeted assistance to a schoolwide model,

and also moved from predominantly pull-out services to a high amount of push-in

support).

• Student achievement in English/language arts lags behind mathematics in sub-groups

except for the performance of white students.

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• The subgroups with the largest gaps in achievement are black students, students with

limited English, and students on paid lunches.

• We have made significant gains in closing the gap between the general education and

special education populations, as well as between female and male students.

• Third grade students showed bigger gains in English/language arts vs. math. In fourth

grade, student achievement increased in both subjects. Fifth grade students showed a

strong trend for high achievement in Mathematics and less consistency in growth in

English/Language Arts.

Our Quality Assurance Review on page 41 gives additional reflections and analysis of our data

by the principal and assistant principal who presented it to the district’s Teaching and Learning

Division in June 2012.

Based on the data we analyzed, we can sum up our main priority with the following graph:

To increase student achievement and close achievement gaps, we will need to fine-tune our

efforts in supporting African American students, and students receiving free and reduced lunch

support.

Additionally, we are shifting our goal in reading from ‘vocabulary’ to ‘comprehension’ because

our data suggest that we have a large number of fluent readers who have difficulty with

comprehension.

We will continue to build on the growth that we have seen in our ENL population over the past

year. With an increased focus on utilizing SIOP (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocols)

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strategies, as well as through the RtII model and review of progress monitoring data, we have

seen an increase in LEP (Limited English Proficiency) levels for our ENL students. The LAS

Links data below show how our English fluency data looked at the beginning vs. the end of the

last school year. We are proud of the growth our students have made in moving from one LEP

level to the next.

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Documenting & Using Results

The system enacts a comprehensive assessment system that monitors and documents performance and uses these results to improve student performance and school effectiveness. (AdvancEd, Standard #4)

Assessment Descriptions by Grade: (Key: CFA = Common formative Assessment)

Assessment Title & Content Area

(please briefly note what the assessment measures)

Grade(s) Timeline Administered

LAS Links English Proficiency Placement Test

• Students English Language Levels

K - 5 Within 30 days of enrollment at the

beginning of the year or within 2 weeks of

student’s enrollment during the school

year, Winter

AIMSWeb Reading Assessments

• Fluency

K-5 Three times a year for all students and bi-

monthly for progress monitoring

Developmental Reading Assessment

(DRA)/Individual Reading Inventory

• Fluency and Comprehension

K - 5 Beginning of year for all students; also

mid-year for some students performing

below grade level

Math AYP Assessment

• Proficiency in grade level standards

1 - 5 Beginning, middle, and end of year for all

students

Math Facts Benchmark

• Proficiency in math facts

1-5 Three times per year

Kindergarten Math Benchmark

• Kindergarten Math Standards

K Three times per year

Writing CFAs

• Writing process and conventions

K - 5 Three times per year

Reading CFAs

• Comprehension strategies

1 - 5 Six times a year

Math CFA’s and Quarterly Assessments

• Math grade level standards

2 - 5 Two pre/post tests per quarter

Four quarterly assessments

Naglieri Non-Verbal Ability Test (Phase I of

COMPASS Identification Process)

• Patterns, Sequencing, and Analogies

2 Fall

Phase II of COMPASS Identification Process

(SAGES)

• Reading, Math, Social Studies,

Reasoning Skills

Selected

students in

2, 3, and 4

Spring

ISTEP+ Applied Skills (Open Ended)

• Math, Language Arts, Science (4),

Social Studies (5)

3 - 8 March 4-13, 2013

ISTEP+ (Multiple Choice)

• Math, Language Arts, Science (4),

Social Studies (5)

3 - 5 April 29-May 8, 2012

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ISTAR

• Math, Language Arts, Science (4),

Social Studies (5) for students who do

not take ISTEP+

3-5 Spring

STAR Math

• Grade level math standards

1-5 Three times a year and bi-monthly for

progress monitoring

IMAST

• Special Education students who did not

take all or part of ISTEP

3-5 Late Spring

IREAD-3 3 March 18-22, 2013

IREAD K-2 K-2 Late Spring

Description of Ongoing Data Review Process

(Title I Component #8)

Spring Mill’s teachers and administrators have multiple opportunities to engage in analyzing

academic assessment results and making instructional decisions to improve student achievement.

They partner at different points of time during the year within the Professional Learning

Community (PLC) process to make meaningful instructional decisions.

• Grade level teams meet in Professional Learning Communities twice each week to

analyze data from academic assessments and make instructional changes that can

increase student achievement. They also look at samples of student work to identify key

errors (that hold students back from demonstrating mastery of standards) and determine

strategies to address these errors. Their primary role is to consider instructional strengths

and challenges and determine necessary changes to pedagogical practices in response to

what they observe in student work.

• Progress monitoring data of students identified as needing Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions

is reviewed frequently by the RtII Team (which includes the ENL teacher) to gauge

progress and determine whether interventions are effective or need to be intensified or

changed.

• Grade level PLC teams, literacy and math specialists, the school psychologist, special

education and ENL teachers, as well as school administrators meet thrice a year to review

every student’s progress in reading and math. Student data is grouped on a chart with the

colors green (at/above benchmark), yellow (close to benchmark) and red (far away from

benchmark). Every student is identified by a specific label that indicates his/her level of

progress in reading and math. In the fall, winter and spring going through this process

allows us to reflect on different perspectives of student achievement at the individual

level, grade-level, school-level and disaggregated subgroup levels, while also allowing us

to see what interventions are still needed or are in place. This process focuses on

collaborative conversations that allow us to use data to make instructional decisions that

will benefit students, review instructional interventions and make changes as appropriate,

and identify supports/resources needed by teachers and students.

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• Literacy and Math Specialists and Coaches meet with the principal every other week to

provide updates on the coaching and modeling work they do to build capacity among the

staff, review professional development and reflect on student performance data.

• The Special Education Support Team meets with the principal and school psychologist

once a month to discuss issues and review pertinent data.

Teams use data from multiple sources to flexibly group students for supplemental instructional

supports, determine if appropriate interventions are in place, make adjustments to existing

groupings/interventions, and request necessary supports. Teacher leadership is encouraged with

the goal of building capacity across the board and creating a sense of ownership. As a result, our

staff engages in collaborative practices in multiple dimensions throughout the year as a

Professional Learning Community.

5 Year Trend Data on Student Achievement & Attendance by Subgroups

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Teachers studied a variety of data to determine goals for the School Improvement Plan with

regard to increasing student achievement and closing achievement gaps between specific sub-

groups. Data from district and state conducted assessments played an important role in helping

us determine our goals. A key aspect we considered was data from AIMSweb assessments that

showed our students who were fluent readers still struggled with comprehension. Our team

selected Comprehension and Number Sense as primary goals for the 2012-2013 School

Improvement Plan. Please see the section title ‘Trend Data on Student Population by Sub-group’

which begins on page 18 for further analysis. The data charts are in Appendix F which begins on

page 60. Achievement data based on the benchmarks listed in the assessment description chart on page 16

and reflections on the data are included in the copy of the end-of-year Quality Assurance Review

which begins on page 41.

Summary of Data: Skill Strengths & Skill Weaknesses

(Title I Component #1 & #8)

The School Improvement Team identified the following information in response to the questions

noted below:

What critical skills are deficient for our students? (For many students, not all.)

o Fast word-calling

o Critical thinking, problem solving, searching deeper when the answer is not in front

of them

o Difficulty transferring information; difficulty generalizing skills. If it shows up in a

different way on a question they struggle. This is true in math as well.

o Listening skills, following directions – the shift seems to be towards more visual

skills

o They have difficulty processing information that is communicated.

o Speaking skills are disjointed and weak – many are unable to share a complete

thought in a sequential and organized manner.

o Several don’t like to write, have difficulty going back and refining what they have

written, if they enjoy writing they don’t want to revise; language conventions are

weak; they are used to reading, writing and doing their artwork with technology and

not familiar with using pencils and paper

o Social skills and taking responsibility for their work.

o Open-ended work is challenging.

o Explaining their answers in math.

o They don’t take tests seriously – they don’t see it as something that tracks their

learning.

o Difficulty applying skills learned in problem-solving contexts; difficulty with multi-

step directions

o Lack of common sense

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What do they need to be successful in elementary and move on to middle school?

o Check their answers.

o Explain what they’ve done; explain their thinking,

o Recognize key words.

o Organization skills: supplies, thoughts/ideas

o Understand why they need to know and do the things they need to do at school and

how it’s going to help them in their lives? (Do they have the background knowledge

for this?)

o Being accountable for the quality of their work.

o Using tools to be successful – portable word guide, technology, word-prediction,

using multiplication chart, word walls.

o Going back and checking; reworking, redoing, revising.

o Do a lot of reading – reading for pleasure.

o Writing, thinking, inquiring – within the IB framework.

Narrative & Analysis of the Comprehensive Needs Assessment (CNA):

Spring Mill Elementary conducted a stakeholder survey in May 2012 and parents, staff and

students had the opportunity to complete climate surveys relevant to their stakeholder groups.

Interpretation services were provided for Latino and Burmese families. Additional comments

from the School Improvement Team’s reflections at the end-of-year meeting are also an

important part of the CNA.

Strengths noted in the CNA Challenges noted in the CNA

• School’s purpose and direction

• The diversity of our school – international,

ethnic and socio-economic

• Warm, welcoming, inviting feel

• A supporting and challenging environment

• The IB curriculum

• Grade level collaboration and planning

• Strength of staff in working with data,

understanding student learning needs and

supporting students

• Student-centered focus

• Administrators and teachers providing

support for students and holding them to

high standards

• The learning environment

• Family support and involvement at Spring

Mill

• Administrators and teachers supporting

• Want a formal process to support new

teachers

• Want to be able to drill down into data by

sub-groups

• Availability of technology*

• Want more notice to attend school

convocations and other occasions when

students are being recognized

• Difficult to explain to kids why they are not

being recognized for particular learner

profile trait during convocations

• Want more support for high achieving

students

• More stability in After School Achievers

• Want more recess time for physical activity

• Feel students are tested a lot

• Want parent-teacher conferences

• Want more consistent communication re.

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Strengths noted in the CNA Challenges noted in the CNA

families

• PTO’s multi-dimensional support and active

involvement of parents

• Convocations and recognitions for students

• Availability of after school care

• Communication via newsletters, weekly

updates from teachers, etc.

• After-school activities that provide various

opportunities for students

• Artistically Talented Program

• Specials classes – high quality opportunities

for students in all the specials classes

• Challenging students across the board.

• Sense of community

progress of students

• Want more opportunities for Full Day

Kindergarten

• Want more recess time and time for

physical activity**

• Prefer Spanish to Chinese

• More afterschool support for Burmese

students

• More help for ELLs

• Feel class sizes are large

• Restrooms, cafeteria, parking lot, etc. are

small for the size of the school

• Need more space for interventions and progress monitoring***

• Continue to work on addressing student

behavior – teaching social skills and coping

skills****

• Teachers want more instructional planning

time Updates since the CNA was conducted: *All classrooms equipped with Promethean Boards in summer 2012.

** With a longer school day next year, recess will be a little longer.

*** A room was created for interventions during the summer.

**** This is being addressed in PBS plans for the 2012 school year.