2009-10
The purpose of the School Improvement Team at Central Community High School is to maintain a continual, long-term focus on the excellence of curriculum, improvement of instruction, performance of programs, and the enhancement of student skills. The School Improvement Team will:
Be a permanent, functional system to effectuate change in the school.
Focus on a formative process of growth and improvement.
Make decisions regarding instructional and curricular strategies.
Serve as an advisory panel to the Administration and Board of Education.
Generate ownership in the process and involve all staff members as
stakeholders.
View the improvement of student achievement as its main purpose.
The
School Improvement Team of Central Community High School is comprised of at
least one representative from every academic and vocational department of the school
curriculum. Each member of the School
Improvement Team serves as a representative of all faculty members in their
respective subject areas. Additional
members can also be asked to serve on the School Improvement Team in an adjunct
capacity due to the establishment of goals and strategies that may require more
attention and focus of a particular subject area. Administrative members of the School
Improvement Team will provide leadership, direction, and purpose with membership on the team and
support for its strategies. As a member of the School Improvement Team, each
representative has agreed to:
Attend SIP Team meetings on a regular and necessary basis.
Serve as a liaison to subject area personnel.
Provide leadership within each subject area.
Facilitate all subject area meetings and functions.
Provide input and feedback to the administration as requested.
Coordinate the Curriculum Study of their respective subject area.
Serve on subcommittees as appropriate.
Communicate data analysis, goals, and strategies to all stakeholders.
Participate in the development of the annual School Improvement Plan.
Accept other duties as agreed upon by the School Improvement Team.
Promote goals and build consensus among all stakeholders.
The members of the School Improvement Team have also discussed the involvement of parents, students, Board of Education members, and other individuals of the community within the process. A consensus of the members was that input from these groups should be sought for the development of strategies on an as needed basis in an advisory capacity. However, the function of the School Improvement Team should focus on internal review and development of strategies within the school.
The School Improvement Team has agreed that the length of membership on the committee should be a minimum of two years in the School Improvement process and there should be an attempt to allow each subject area to select a new representative with no more than two new members being preferable in any given year. The goal is to allow others to be a part of the process or allow present members to decline participation while still maintaining a degree of continuity in the composition of the team.
The School
Improvement Team meets on a regular and routine basis to discuss many
components of school operations, policy and programs for improvement. The School Improvement Team will make
recommendations on staff development activities that will result in improved
instructional methods and activities.
Each summer, student achievement is analyzed based upon Prairie State
Achievement Exam results, EXPLORE and PLAN Testing scores, A.C.T. results,
course failure lists, Honor roll lists, and other information used for
development of the School Report Card and End of Year Reports. Each year a Needs Assessment Survey will be
conducted of students, parents, and faculty members that will also be reviewed
for information.
Over the past year, long-range strategies have been implemented to make improvements for student achievement and recorded documentation of results. Our selected target area goals for improvement are in the areas of Reading/Writing with Critical Thinking Analysis Skills, Articulation, and Curricular Expectations. Over the next school year, we will continue to develop annual strategies to bring about our desired improvement in these target areas. Their effectiveness will be evaluated and strategies will be revised as deemed necessary by the School Improvement Team.
Our Target Area Goals will continue to be emphasized this year in an effort to continue student achievement. Any area of our school that demands attention will be studied and new goals and strategies will be developed and become the central focus of our upcoming annual planning. The School Improvement Team has already begun a shift to focus on enhancing critical thinking and higher level learning skills in our students. In addition, we will implement our Response to Intervention Plan this year that includes the use of the Auto Skills software program for improvement in students’ reading and mathematics skills. Staff members will be trained in the usage of this program and students will be identified as lower achievers for usage of the tutorial system. Their use and enhanced skills will be monitored throughout the school year.
The intent of the School Improvement Team is to continue focus on our stated goals and carry out strategies on a timeline of completion. We also will revisit our data and School Improvement Plan each summer to promote educational achievement and develop Remediation Plans designed to provide necessary services to “at-risk” students. As a result, the School Improvement Team has a continual commitment and procedure to improve instruction and student achievement at Central Community High School.
2009-10
Kevin Meyer –
Superintendent
Kent Jones – Principal
Jim Falconio - Fine Arts and Foreign Language
Katie Florczyk – Language Arts
Karrie Kujawa – Science
Trisha Lohman – Guidance, Careers, and Media
Kurt Peters – Social Science
Nathan Rueter – Phys. Ed., Health, Driver Education
Ken Schonhoff – Career and Technical
Cris Toennies – Special Populations
Angela Witte – Mathematics
COMPONENT II School
/ District / Community Profile
Central
Community High School District #71 is a high school district serving students
in grades 9-12. In 1971, the communities of Aviston
and Breese consolidated their high schools to form Central Community High
School. The school itself is located approximately between Breese and Aviston on Old U.S. Highway 50, but it serves eight
communities in Central Clinton County. Students from Albers, Aviston, Bartelso, Beckemeyer, Breese, Damiansville,
Germantown, and St. Rose attend Central Community High School. The
district covers 205 square miles.
Each
of the eight communities shares certain characteristics while maintaining their
individuality. These small communities range in approximate population as
follows: Damiansville – 368, Bartelso
– 593, Albers – 878, Beckemeyer – 1043, Germantown –
1118, Aviston – 1231, St. Rose – 1319, and Breese -
4048. The communities continue to be heavily influenced by agriculture, a very
strong tradition in Clinton County, but they also boast some light industry as
well. Since Clinton County is only forty-five minutes from St. Louis,
many people in C.C.H.S. district commute to St. Louis or the Metro-East to
work. This diversity of population leads to a mix of technical and
professional employees and a wide variety of income ranges in the families of
the district.
There are two unique aspects in Central Community High School District #71. The first is that C.C.H.S. is one of the few remaining high school districts in central/southern Illinois. The district enrolls students from eight surrounding elementary districts all with separate characteristics. Second, there is both a parochial high school and grade school located in Breese. Both schools have a significant enrollment of students. The combination of these two factors creates a dual administrative school district system and a district that coexists with a neighboring private high school and elementary system. These factors create a high school with characteristics that require efforts to assimilate students and maintain competitive academic and extracurricular programs.
The
enrollment at C.C.H.S. has grown over the past ten years from 450 students to
approximately 600 students. Some of this increase has resulted from
growing community populations while some has developed from increasing
percentages of students attending the public high school. Clinton County was recently noted as the
thirteenth fastest growing county in the state of Illinois. The
communities surrounding Central continue to see population increases, and new
home construction continues to grace the district. C.C.H.S. receives a
relatively small amount of its funding from state aid; the district relies
heavily on personal property tax support. Due to the growth in the
surrounding communities, growth continues to occur in Central’s Equalized
Assessed Valuation.
Central
Community High School employs two administrators: a principal and
superintendent. The school also employs 43 certified teachers with an
overall average of 15.2 years of teaching experience. Over forty percent
of the certified staff members have earned their Master’s Degrees, and several
have continued in degree programs beyond the Master’s level. All faculty
members at Central meet the requirements of being highly qualified teachers
according to the No Child Left Behind Guidelines.
Central’s
student population models the ethnically homogenous make-up of the communities
it serves. Ninety-seven percent of the students at C.C.H.S. are of
Caucasian background. The remaining percentages of student demographics
break down as follows 2.3% are Hispanic, and .3% is Asian/Pacific
Islander. Central’s population has a 15.7% low-income rate, a mobility
rate of 5.3%, and an attendance rate of 95.4%.
The average class size at C.C.H.S. is 18.6 students per class. All of these figures can be found in the
school report card at www.centralcougars.org.
Central
offers four curriculum levels for its students. The honors level contains
courses that are designed for college prep students. These courses
challenge students to work at an accelerated pace as they prepare themselves
for college. Some of the honors classes are grade weighted. The
general levels of classes are geared toward students who have attained basic
skills and are working for higher competencies. The vocational program is
a sequence of classes designed to prepare students for vocational or technical
careers. Students who participate in this sequence are also offered the
opportunity to participate in job shadowing and apprenticeship
activities. The remedial level assists students who are one or more grade
levels below their age appropriate grade level. These courses are
designed to close the gap and solidify the students’ skills.
To
graduate from Central, students must earn twenty credits and participate in
physical education each year of high school. Students must successfully
complete four credits in English, 2.5 credits in Social Studies (including a
semester of American Government and a year of American History), three credits
in Math, two credits in science, one half credit in keyboarding, one half
credit in health, one half credit in either Management of Resources or
Economics, and one credit in Fine Arts. To encourage students to be
well-rounded young people, Central also offers a variety of sports teams,
musical activities, and extra-curricular clubs in which students may
participate.
Central offers a challenging and rewarding educational experience for its students. The school, community, and district emphasize the importance of education and continually strive to make Central a more effective school.
In order to evaluate the success of each individual department and educational program at Central Community high School, several types of test results and data are used. Prairie State Achievement Exam scores are analyzed specifically identifying those students who “Do Not Meet” in each academic area. In addition, data is also collected from freshmen who take the Explore test and sophomores who take the PLAN, which are aligned with the ACT. These results are used to identify students in the lower quartile of each academic area. Departments also use the Explore, PLAN, ACT, and PSAE data to draw conclusions regarding their particular programs and aspects within the subject matter. Along with these sources of hard data, there are several sources of soft data results used to review the programs of Central High School. A school-wide Needs Assessment Survey is done annually to draw conclusions from the opinions of students, parents and staff members. Local grade results are also reviewed to gain an understanding of how well our students are performing on local assessments. Other sources of information include student management data, honor roll lists, and at-risk lists. By analyzing these different sources of information, we feel we can draw relevant conclusions as to the success of our individual departments and levels of student achievement.
Using the sources identified above, the Central Community High School School Improvement Team identified major areas of strength and weakness in our overall student achievement levels. As we analyzed the data, we found it most effective to categorize our strengths and weaknesses first and then draw general conclusions. Following the conclusions of our analysis are the statistical sources of information used to facilitate and support their development.
Strengths:
- Central High School freshmen taking the Explore test showed consistent scores above the 50th percentile in English (70%), Reading (59%), Math (79%), Science (69%), and the Composite (72%).
- Central High School sophomores taking the PLAN test also showed consistent scores above the 50th percentile in English (69%), Math (66%), Reading (62%), Science (66%), and Composite (71%).
- Using trend analysis for the class of 2011 (the first class to take the Explore and PLAN), students scored lower in math, at the same level in reading, and above in science and overall composite score for the 2008-2009 PLAN test as compared to their scores on the 2007-2008 Explore test.
- Prairie State Achievement Exam results showed a consistent number of meets this year. Female students scored highest in reading and writing. Males scored higher in math and science.
- Central Community High School’s ACT results indicate that non-core students increased 1 in reading (17-18), .6 in science (18.6-19.2), and .7 in the composite (18.3-19). Core students increased by 1 in reading (22.4-23.4) and .5 in composite (225-23).
- The Needs Assessment Survey was completed by students, parents, and staff members - 141 students, 10 parents, and 39 faculty were surveyed. Overall, all three groups rated the survey statements positively, particularly in areas of technology, teachers’ willingness to help, and in the school’s care for students’ success.
- Central continues to include a large number of students on the honor roll. Students in all grades near the 50% mark as a class for making the honor roll for both semesters.
- The School Report Card data shows that percentage of expenditures for instruction dramatically increased, and other expenditures are down. Operating expense per pupil is close to state average and high for the area. According to the School Report Card, PSAE results showed a 2-5% increase in subject areas.
Weaknesses:
- On the Explore test, males were equal to females in math but somewhat below in all other areas.
- In the PLAN test, males scored lower than females in all testing areas.
- Data from the PSAE test indicates that we still continue to do poorly in the exceeds category. There were no exceeds in the writing category; although, great improvements have been made in both reading and writing scores over the past several years. There is a large discrepancy in math scores in the “meets” category between males and females. Males = 61.8%, Females = 48.7%.
- ACT data shows that in terms of college readiness, scores for students meeting all four areas – college English, college algebra, college social science, and college biology – averaged out at 18% for Central compared to the state average of 22%. The five-year trend for math has decreased (23.8-22.8).
- The Needs Assessment Survey completed by students and parents indicated the importance of parent/teaching communication in relation to grades. All three surveyed groups rated foreign language instruction lower than other instructional areas. Students noted that “students are victims of harassment”, however, students also highly rated the school’s appropriate response to issues of harassment.
- When consulting the failure rate of students at Central Community High School, SIP members found that a higher number of students (as compared to 2007-2008) are still failing classes. Seventy-nine students failed a core class for the year. In terms of the student population, 14% of students failed a core course in the 2008-2009 school year. Most failures were due to attendance issues. There were more failures reported in grades 10 and 11.
- The School Report Card data indicates that the dropout rate increased from 1.4% to 1.8 %. Attendance rate has decreased over the past two years (97.2 – 96.5 – 95.4). Graduation rate has dropped significantly for females (97.6 - 90.7).
Conclusions:
As a result of the findings listed above, the CHS School Improvement Team has agreed that critical thinking/inquiry-based learning must continue to be a predominate focal point of our curriculum. The team continues to believe that critical thinking is the essential component of all curricular areas. While the focus on reading and writing shall continue, it is believed that reading and writing will be the natural means of assessing improvement in critical thinking skills in all subject areas. The focus on critical/analytical thinking and the Response to Intervention program coupled with the subsequent Target Area Goals of articulation of classes and curricular expectations shall continue over the next four years. Response to Intervention will also become a critical part of our School Improvement Plan as it will seek to identify students with deficits in reading comprehension and math. This tiered program will provide necessary assistance to students in these subject areas. Articulation will be enhanced through the use of the newly implemented Curriculum Mapper software which allows teachers to input curriculum for each class and articulate curriculum within departments. An increased focus on articulation and curriculum mapping will ensure that the curriculum of each department is planned from one level to the next and focuses on the Illinois State Learning Standards. A continued emphasis in the area of Curricular Expectations will improve the sequencing of classes and strengthen the academic expectations for our students.
The School Improvement Team is pleased with the progress that Central has made. We are particularly impressed with the performance gains made by male students, specifically on the ACT and PSAE. The team anticipates the use of trend data from the Explore and PLAN tests in future years to see the effectiveness of the switch from the Iowa Test of Basics Skills to the ACT sequence tests. In addition, future PSAE scores will be analyzed according to the newly instituted PSAE preparatory workshop to evaluate its usefulness and effectiveness on scores.
COMPONENT IV Target
Area Goals and Strategies
Response to
Intervention, Critical/Analytical Thinking, Reading, and Writing
Central Community High School will continue to review reading and writing as Target Area Goals, emphasizing them across the curriculum. One focus will be toward developing and sustaining methods and activities to encourage higher order critical/analytical thinking which will manifest itself within the previously stated emphases of reading and writing. During subject area meetings, teachers will be reminded to continue the effort of increasing the reading, writing, and critical thinking skills through their lessons. The team continues to believe that a concerted effort to insert more inquiry based learning into our curriculum will result in better preparation of our students for state assessments, college, and the workforce.
An additional focus to this Target Area is the incorporation of the Response to Intervention (RTI) plan. The RTI plan stipulates the identification of students with weaknesses in reading skills and ensure that each of those students receive additional instruction to be successful. This additional focus correlates with the Target Area Goal. The plan will be implemented this fall for all incoming Freshmen. This year the plan calls for the identification of students with weaknesses in reading skills based on the results of their 8th grade Iowa Test of Basic Skills & Explore testing. Once the students are identified, they will be given additional individual instruction in reading to raise their reading achievement. A three- tiered program will be used within the RTI plan. The majority of the students at Central Community High School will fall in Tier 1 in which they will only receive instruction in the general education classroom. Additional Tiers, 2 & 3, use increasingly intense levels of instruction to address the deficit area and will be in addition to the general education instruction. The plan requires for students to be retested several times throughout the year, checking for progress. This model allows for the identified students to move back to the lower leveled tiers based on their success. The computer program, Auto Skills, will be incorporated to accomplish the task of providing additional individual instruction and the frequent testing. The documentation that this program will provide includes the necessary information to the RTI team on whether the student needs further assistance or can return to a lower leveled tier. The RTI plan will assist C.C.H.S. in raising our reading achievement.
Strategies for Goal 1:
- Implement the RTI program to provide additional reading instruction to students in the class of 2013 who where identified through testing with weaknesses in the target area.
- Develop programs that create more opportunities to integrate critical/analytical thinking activities into the curriculum.
- Build on prior goals of reading and writing using them as assessment tools for critical/analytical thinking.
- Utilize Auto Skills to raise identified student’s reading achievement.
2009/2010 Plans and Timeline:
1. The School Improvement Team plans to invite outside presenters to supply resources, activities, and methods to help teachers integrate critical thinking activities into their present curriculum. These subject-area strategies couple with critical reading and writing opportunities will help to build critical thinking across the curriculum to promote solid genitive development in students. Teachers will be encouraged to implement these strategies throughout the year to improve students’ performance.
2. Each teacher will continue to be encouraged to complete critical thinking assignments, such as critical reading and writing activities to assess students’ emerging critical thinking skills. These assignments should be natural parts of classroom activities and department curriculum that show relevance to current subject matter. Strategies for developing such activities will be available fro the Language Arts Department if teachers would like assistance in the development of their activities.
3. The RTI plan will be fully implemented with the assistance of the Auto Skills. As part of the plan, incoming Freshmen who have been identified will receive additional instruction in reading during their Study Halls. Through out the year, the students who are part of this program will be retested to determine progress.
4. Staff members on the RTI team will need to be trained to utilize the Auto Skills program. The training will assist teachers in understanding, implementing, and monitoring the results of the program.
5. Concluding the 2009/2010 school year, results will be presented to the faculty and staff by the RTI team involving the results the program. This will allow for reflection and modification of the program.
Articulation
Teachers of Central Community High School will structure their respected curriculum/subject matter in a vertically and horizontally aligned manner that will be most educationally beneficial to students. The Illinois State Learning Standards will serve as the foundation for aligning each subject area and developing cross-curriculum educational experiences for students.
Strategies for Goal 2:
- Update and revise curriculum outlines using Curriculum Mapper for each course offered specifying content and standards that are included in instruction.
- Coordinate curriculum content within subject areas to ensure coverage of all standards in the curriculum and eliminate excessive overlap.
- Communicate and establish lines of vertical articulation with elementary systems to ensure preparation for secondary instruction and expectations.
2008-2009 Plans and Timeline:
Central Community High School will review and develop curricular changes that will be most beneficial to the students. This review will involve researching what classes are offered, along with reviewing when they are offered. Restructuring classes and offering new classes will be recommended based on the needs of the student body.
Strategies for Goal 3:
- Establish a subcommittee for detailed study and examination of programmatic expectations for review and recommendations.
- Conduct a survey of students, graduates, school districts, and post-secondary institutions to examine expectations.
- Adhere to the adopted curriculum study cycle to review subject area expectations and revisions as recommended.
2009-2010 Goals and Timeline:
COMPONENT V Professional
Development
The School Improvement Team has recommended several staff development activities during the 2009-2010 school year. Most of the following suggestions have a focus on target area goals and are products of the strategies for improvement as outlines above. Others are more informational and based upon interests and needs of the faculty. The School Improvement Team will continue to monitor and facilitate professional development goals and function based upon the following recommendations.
software for the 2009-2010 school year.
Timeline:
As a result of these recommended topics, the Administration and School Improvement Team will facilitate the following tentative schedule of activities:
August 17
September 4 (11:30 dismissal)
October 9 (11:30 dismissal)
October 30 (Teacher Institute Day)
January 15 (11:30 dismissal)
February 26 – Tri-County Institute
March 19 (11:30 dismissal)
May 7 (11:30 dismissal)
COMPONENT
VI School Remediation Plan
Rationale
In order to promote student achievement, provide necessary educational services to “at risk” students, and fulfill the obligations mandated by recent Illinois State Board of Education guidelines, the School Improvement Team of Central Community High School has developed a Remediation Plan for students at our school.
In order to identify students who are in need of academic remediation, specific criteria must be followed which identifies the need for additional services and assistance. Students who are currently being educated under an Individualized Educational Plan are not subject to this determination. The criteria used to make the evaluation to designate remediation is as follows:
- A student will be identified as in need of remediation by lacking the number of sufficient credits earned during a school year to progress to the next grade level of classification. Students must earn 5 credits in order to achieve Sophomore status, 10 credits to earn Junior status, and 15 credits to earn Senior status.
Remediation Services
Students identified by the above criteria as being in need of remediation will be referred to the following services:
Identified students will be placed on an “at risk” designation list for progress toward graduation and subject area reference. This list will be confidential and used for guidance and administrative purposes. The list will designate a need for increased counseling attention and increased communication with students, staff, and parents for the purpose of improved academic progress. Included in this will be a letter sent home to parents informing them of the list and services which could assist in remediation.
Students will be referred to tutorial services available at Central Community High School. This may include tutoring services offered through the Regional Office of Education grant programs such as the Perkins Tutorial Grant and Youth Development Grant Program. Other opportunities such as before or after school tutoring or peer tutoring may also be available.
Central Community High School offers Summer School courses (based on need) through the Regional Office of Education that will provide an opportunity for students to regain status and earn credits in specific subject areas. Any student placed on the “At Risk” List is encouraged to attend Summer School courses as needed.
Central Community High School will offer possible courses from 7:00 – 8:00
A.M. each school day that may fulfill credit opportunities for those students that
are behind in specific subject areas. These “Zero Period” courses will only be
offered based upon demand shown by registration requests of students
necessary to justify their existence. The course(s) that are offered will require
students to provide their own transportation, attendance, and requirements as
any other part of the C.C.H.S. curriculum.
Students in need of remediation can also be referred to other services as needed and appropriate to the individual situation. Examples include but are not limited to the following: Alternative School placement, Illinois Virtual High School, Correspondence Courses, and other services as appropriate.