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Title I Schoolwide Plan for

Birney Elementary SchoolName of School

Written/Revised during theSchool Year: 2011- 2012 for the 2012-2013 School Year

Plan Submitted:June / 28th / 2011 - 2012

Principal’s Signature

Title I Schoolwide Plan

1 | P a g eCobb County School District Revised 4/27/12

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Planning Committee Members for Schoolwide Plans ReviewDate of Meeting: 8/6/12Name of School Birney Elementary

NAME POSITION/ROLE/PARENT SIGNATURE

Michael Perkins Principal

Tiffany Renfro Parent

Carmen Bandy Academic Coach

Vonda Benham Academic Coach

Shellis Carlson Reading Recovery Teacher

Suzanne Waters Reading Recovery Teacher

Chandra Marshall Parent Liaison

Tara Oliver Data Discipline Coordinator

Marilyn Rahman Counselor

Michelle Mclane Counselor Kishea McKinney, 5th Grade Special Education

Teacher

Scott Custance 5th grade teacher

Anthony Merriles 4th grade teacher

Kaylee Custance 3rd grade teacher

Pauline Cutts Assistant Principal

Raquel Rodriguez Social Worker

Shawn Kirby Media Specialist

Table of Contents Pages


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1. Comprehensive Needs AssessmentA. Participation of Individuals……………………………………………B. Instruments, Procedures, or Processes…………………………………C. The Needs of Homeless, Neglected, and Migrant Children……………D. Current Achievement Data……………………………………………..E. Information about All Students………………………………………...F. Data, Conclusions (Summary of Needs)………………………………G. Measurable Goals/Benchmarks………………………………………...H. H.2. Schoolwide Reform Strategies That Are Scientifically ResearchedA. Schoolwide Reform Strategies That Provide Opportunities For All

Children………………………………………………………………..B. Effective Means of Raising Student Achievement…………………….C. Effective Instructional Methods That Increase Learning Time………...D. Address the Needs of All Children……………………………………..

3. Instruction by Highly Qualified Professional StaffA. Strategies to Attract Highly Qualified Teachers……………………….B. School Status of Highly Qualified Teachers…………………………...

4. Professional Development For StaffA. Include Teachers, Principals, Paraprofessionals, and Others…………B. Aligned Professional Development with the State’s Academic

Content…………………………………………………………………C. Professional Development Activities that Address the Root Causes…..D. Include Teachers in Professional Development Activities Regarding

the Use of Academic Assessments……………………………………..E. Schools Yearly Professional Development Schedule………………….

5. Strategies to Increase Parental InvolvementA. Involved Parents in the Planning of the Comprehensive Schoolwide

Program………………………………………………………………...B. Parent Involvement Policy and Parent Compact………………………

6. Plans for Assisting Preschool Children in the Transition From Early Childhood Programs and/or Students Entering Middle School or High School………………….

7. Measures to Include Teachers in the Decisions Regarding the Use of Assessment……………………………………………………………………..

8. Coordination and Integration of Federal, State, and Local Services and Programs

A. List of State and Local Educational Agency Programs and Other Federal Programs that will be Included………………………………

B. Description of How Resources from Title I and Other Sources will be Used……………………………………………………………………

C. Plan Developed in Coordination with Other Programs………………..


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9. Activities to Ensure that Students who Experience Difficulty Mastering Standards shall be Provided with Effective , Timely Assistance

A. Measures to Ensure that Students’ Difficulties are Identified on a Timely Basis……………………………………………………………

B. Periodic Training for Teachers in the Identification of Difficulties……C. Teacher-Parent Conferences……………………………………………

10. Description of how Individual Student Assessment Results will be Provided to Parents……………………………………………………………………….

11. Provisions for the Collection and Disaggregation of data…………………….

12. Provisions to Ensure the Disaggregated Assessment Results are Valid and Reliable…………………………………………………………………………

13. Provisions for Public Reporting of Disaggregated Data………………………

14. Plan Developed During a One-Year Period…………………………………...

15. Plan Developed with the Involvement of the Community to be Served………

16. Plan Available to the LEA, Parents, and the Public…………………………...

17. Plan Translated………………………………………………………………...

18. Plan is Subject to the School Improvement Provisions of Section 1116 ……...

1. Comprehensive Needs Assessment of the entire school that addresses all academic areas and other factors that may affect achievement.

A. We have developed our schoolwide plan with the participation of individuals who will

carry out the comprehensive schoolwide/school improvement program plan. Those persons involved were

Michael Perkins, Principal Pauline Cutts, Assistant Principal


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Tara Oliver, Data and Discipline Coordinator Vonda Benham, Academic Coach Carmen Bandy, Academic Coach Angela Ellis, IRR Special Education

Shawn Kirby, Media Specialist Kaylee Custance, 3rd Grade TeacherChandra Marshall, Parent Liaison Shane Petrillo, 5th Grade Teacher/ParentSuzanne Waters, Reading Recovery, EIP Teacher Shellis Carlson, Reading Recovery, EIP TeacherMarilyn Rahman, Professional School CounselorMichelle McLane, Professional School CounselorKishea McKinney, 5th Grade Special Education TeacherJohnelia Wilkerson, PE teacher/Parent/PTA secretaryRaquel Rodriguez, Social Worker/Parent/PTA treasurer

We presented our preliminary Title 1 Plan and Budget to our school leadership team, our PTA Executive Board, and our Local School Council. We then gathered feedback on our plans to use for editing and adjusting certain items within the plan. This helped for stakeholder participation and shared decision making. The ways in which we communicated our final plans were through participation in monthly Professional Learning Committees (PLC’s), afterschool Georgia Key committee meetings, staff meetings, weekly team meetings and monthly team leadership meetings, quarterly PTA meetings and monthly PTA Board meetings.

B. We have used the following instruments, procedures, or processes to obtain this information…. (Be sure to use brainstorming as a strategy for Needs Assessment.)

Cobb County School Improvement SurveyInternal Georgia Assessment of Performance on School Standards (GAPSS) reviewMonthly feedback/parking lot staff concerns following PLC’s.Minutes from various committees that met throughout the monthWeekly America Choice Design Team (ACDT) meetings with the design teamCRCT and other assessment dataDRA dataBenchmarks and Checkpoints GKIDSTeacher made assessments

We start the school year by meeting with key stakeholder groups such as; our PTA Board, our School Council, our School Leadership Team, Partners in Education, and community outreach personnel such as our Parent Liaison and our School Social Worker. Once we had their input, we then looked at school achievement data as listed above. Group survey data as well as summative assessments results impacted our approach and our specifics within our plan.

C. We have taken into account the needs of homeless, neglected and migrant children by using various school programs such as parent./teacher conferences, Bobcat Pals, social worker and counselor input (backpacks, school supplies, school uniforms, personal hygienic items, etc.,), Cobb County resources with the Homeless Office and other services. Our Partners in Education provide uniforms, tutoring, a food


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pantry, school supplies, holiday food and gifts for needy families. Title I materials are freely available and given. We also immediately administer formative assessments with these new students to evaluate their academic progress and intervene with special services when appropriate. Such services include but are not limited to; RTI interventions, EIP services, ELL services, and/or Special Education services. By quickly assessing these students who typically come from unstable environments, we can quickly help stabilize their academic and behavioral needs to help ensure their transitional success.

D. We have reflected current achievement data that will help the school understand the subjects and skills in which teaching and learning need to be improved. For example………DRA, Benchmarks (ELA and Math), report cards, Academic Alerts, Checkpoints, ITBS, Cogat, GKIDS, CRCT, staff meetings, committee meetings, county office, teacher assessments, newspapers, GADOE website.

Mathematics % Meeting/Exceeding Standard on CRCTCobb County

All Students Black White Hispanic Asian American

IndianMulti-racial SWD LEP Econ

Disadv

2009-2010 83.2 78.3 88.9 88.8 92.3 NA 64.3 49.1 90.5 81.1

2010-2011 79.2 78.1 80.6 77.5 94.4 NA 80 64.3 78.8 76.3

2011-2012 70.3 64.3 79.3 75 82.4 NA 71.4 37.2 69.4 66

Reading/ELA % Meeting/Exceeding Standard on CRCTCobb County



Disadv

2009-2010 89 87.5 90.7 89.7 92.3 NA 89.3 61 88.5 87.6

2010-2011 89.9 89.8 90.3 86.8 100 NA 100 73.8 85.6 88.4

2011-2012 85.6 80.5 89.7 89.1 97.1 NA 96.4 53.5 86.6 84

Science % Meeting/Exceeding Standard on CRCTCobb County



Disadv

2009-2010 65 62 72 62 NA NA NA 41 59 61

2010-2011 68 62 77 68 84 NA 80 55 63 65

2011-2012 66.8 60.3 82.1 68.6 82.4 NA 85.7 37.2 63 62.8


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GKIDS

English/Language Arts % Meets/ExceedsReading 65.3

Writing 55.0

Listening/Speaking/Viewing 78.6

ELA TOTAL 66.7

Mathematics % Meets/ExceedsNumbers and Operations 67.4

Measurement 88.3

Geometry 80.9

Data Analysis 78.6

MATH TOTAL 77.7

Checkpoint Grade 1 ELA

Curriculum Description% Correct

Winter% CorrectYear End

GPS04 R.3.a Automatically generates the sounds for all letters and letter patterns, including long and short vowels 91.8 93.3

GPS04 R.3.c Reads words containing consonant blends and digraphs 80.0 93.3

GPS04 R.3.d Reads words with inflectional endings 36.4 46.7

GPS04 R.6.c Asks and answers questions about essential narrative elements (e.g., beginning-middle-end, setting, characters, problems, events, resolution) 61.8 83.8

GPS04 W.1.e Writes in complete sentences with correct subject-verb agreement. 82.7 81.9

GPS04 W.1.j Begins to use common rules of spelling 82.7 95.2

GPS04 W.1.l Uses appropriate end punctuation (period and question mark) and correct capitalization of initial words and common proper nouns 62.7 77.6

Checkpoint Grade 2 ELA



GPS04 R.1.c Reads compound words and contractions in grade appropriate texts 84.6 86.8

GPS04 R.3.c Recognizes and applies the appropriate usage of homophones, homographs, antonyms, and synonyms 66.7 78.4

GPS04 R.4.b Makes predictions from text content 50.0 60.4

GPS04 R.4.i Identifies and infers main idea and supporting details 72.4 80.8


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GPS04 R.4.l Recognizes plot, setting, and character within text, and compares and contrasts these elements among texts 79.7 84.8

GPS04 W.1.l Consistently writes in complete sentences with correct subject/verbagreement. 63.7 65.6

GPS04 W.1.r Uses appropriate capitalization and punctuation (periods, question and exclamation marks) at the end of sentences 80.5 87.2

GPS04 W.1.s Begins to use commas (e.g., in a series, in dates, after a friendly letter greeting, in a friendly letter closure, and between cities and states), and 63.4 65.6

GPS04 W.1.u Recognizes appropriate uses of quotation marks 33.3 64.8

Checkpoint Grade 1 Math



GPS04 D.1.b Pose questions, collect, sort, organize and record data using objects, pictures, tally marks, picture graphs, and bar graphs 60.2 59.5

GPS04 G.1.a Build, draw, name, and describe triangles, rectangles, pentagons, and hexagons 49.6 57.1

GPS04 M.2.b Begin to understand the relationship of calendar time by knowing the number of days in a week and months in a year 47.8 58.3

GPS04 N.1.aRepresent numbers up to 100 using a variety of models, diagrams, and number sentences. Represent numbers larger than 10 in terms of tensand ones

71.7 89.3

GPS04 N.1.f Identify bills ($1, $5, $10, $20) by name and value and exchange equivalent quantities by making fair trades involving combinations of bills 76.1 86.9

GPS04 N.2.c Decompose numbers from 10 to 99 as the appropriate number of tens and ones 50.4 66.7

GPS04 N.3.b Skip-count by 2s, 5s, and 10s, forward and backwards; to and from numbers up to 100 88.5 90.5

GPS04 N.3.f Know the single-digit addition facts to 18 and corresponding subtraction facts with understanding and fluency 78.8 83.3

Checkpoint Grade 2 Math



GPS04 G.1 Students will describe and classify plane figures (triangles, square, rectangle, trapezoid, quadrilateral, pentagon, hexagon, and irregular polygonal 21.3 28.0

GPS04 G.2 Students will describe and classify solid geometric figures (prisms, pyramids, cylinders, cones, and spheres) according to such things as the number o 23.0 40.2

GPS04 M.2 Students will tell time to the nearest five minutes and know relationships of time such as the number of seconds in a minute, minutes in an hour and hour 45.9 81.1

GPS04 N.1.a Represent numbers using a variety of models, diagrams, and number sentences 41.0 59.1

GPS04 N.1.b Understand the relative magnitudes of numbers using 10 as a unit, 100 as a unit, or 1000 as a unit. Represent 2-digit numbers with drawings of tens an 53.5 68.7

GPS04 N.1.cUse money as a medium of exchange. Make change and use decimal notation and the dollar and cent symbols to represent the collection of coins andcurrency

40.2

GPS04 N.2.a Correctly add and subtract two whole numbers up to three digits each with 42.6


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regrouping

5th Grade Writing % Meeting/Exceeding Standard on CRCTCobb County



Disadv

2009-2010 75 68 92 80 NA NA NA 33 92 NA

2010-2011 70.4 68.1 66.7 66.7 100 NA 100 46.7 61.3 63.3

2011-2012 60.8 59.3 85.7 44.8 66.7 NA 100 53.3 26.3 55.1

E. We have based our plan on information about all students in the school and identified students and groups of students who are not yet achieving to the State Academic content standards and the State student academic achievement standard including

Economically disadvantaged students…… Students from Major racial and ethnic groups….. Students with disabilities…… Students with limited English proficiency……

Math Reading/ELA Science Social Studies

SWD X X X XLEP X X XED X X XBlack X X X XHispanics

X X X

White X XAll X X X

F. The data has helped us reach conclusions regarding achievement or other related data. The major strengths in our program reflected on the CRCT 2012 were:

Reading - reading skills and vocabulary acquisition in 3rd, 4th, 5th

Grammar and sentence construction in 3rd, 4th, 5th. Math - Algebra in 3rd, 4th, 5th

The major strengths in our program reflected on Checkpoint Assessments / GKIDS data were: Reading – phonics, decoding, and concepts of print…K, 1st, 2nd

Writing – organizing ideas, journaling, letter recognition and formation…K, 1st, 2nd 9 | P a g e

Cobb County School District Revised 4/27/12 5/14/12

Math – Numbers and operations, decoding different math families…K, 1st, 2nd

Major needs to address are: Literary comprehension – (concentrating on nonfiction reading, Venn diagrams,

summarizations, and retelling) Math comprehension - Measurement in 3rd , 4th, and 5th, Geometry 3rd, 4th ,5th

Number and Operations 3rd, 4th, 5th

Specific needs: Reading – need to address literary comprehension, research and the writing process, and

instruction on non fiction-reading for information. The writing process strategies will include the use of visual organizers, summarizations, retelling of text, editing, and identifying main idea and supporting details. PLC’s will also include training for specialized instruction with regards to these strategies.

Math – need to address measurement in 3rd, 4th, and 5th, : geometry 3rd , 4th, and 5th: Number and Operations 3rd, 4th, and 5th. To address our math deficiencies we will continue fostering our problem solving approach focusing our strategies that utilize hands-on manipulatives, math vocabulary, rote memory math fact memorization providing better number and operations skill building will help student progress. Math Lab will continue to provide supplemental math instruction during Specials rotation. We will also look to increase our administrations of common formative assessments in mathematics on an every 4-5 week scale to better continually check for students’ weaknesses and be able to address them more immediately. Our grade level data teams will focus solely on mathematics assessment cycles and instructional strategies to increase student achievement.

ROOTCAUSE: Transiency Difficulty maintaining parental involvement Behavior management disrupting quality instruction Challenges with time and availability with in-depth staff development that keeps pace with

increased rigor within the state curriculum.

Summary of Needs:While looking at our 2012 spring CRCT testing data we notice that our Mathematics scores dropped by about 3 percentage points for all students. While we did have the rootcause challenges described above, we also feel that we can do a better job of continually formatively assessing our students to better check for comprehension and be able to address deficiencies more immediately. Our new state curriculum the Common Core will allow us to go deeper into complex concepts as the curriculum focuses more on depth rather than breadth. Our grade level data teams will also exclusively focus on mathematics pre/post tests every 9 weeks with a 4.5 week check on students who struggled on the pre-test. We feel that this type of formative assessment system on a school wide basis will catch struggling students more frequently so that we can provide support in a more timely manner. We will also use professional development time along with weekly team meetings to look at student work and collaborate toward best practice strategies and grade level consensus for consistent instructional


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vocabulary usage among our teachers.

We also notice that our Reading scores stayed within about 1 percentage point of our previous years’ data. Although we feel that our literacy program is still a strength of ours, we certainly feel that we have work to do to develop better high academic vocabulary among our students, as well as increasing exposure to texts that are much higher in complexity with the Common Core curriculum. Going hand in hand with Reading content is Writing skill development. Our Writing scores took a significant fall this year among our 5th graders and we feel that this is due to some vertical inconsistencies within our different grade levels. We are exploring using professional development time and materials from Mark Diamond to push our instructional approach for teaching Writing in a consistent manner from grade level to grade level. We believe that increasing our expectations for Writing in each subject throughout each day, along with significant effort to integrate Reading complexity into the subjects of Science and Social Studies will increase our student achievement in English Language Arts.

Lastly, while looking more specifically at particular sets of student groups’ test score data, we notice that we still have challenges in working with our African American student group, our Students with Disabilities, our English Language Learners, and our Economically Disadvantaged. We feel that a new teacher collaboration model will help in developing more differentiated and specialized instructional lesson plans, along with a focus on looking at student work samples and providing more specific commentary to guide student progress. This initiative is a model called Tuning Protocol which encourages teachers to make the most of collaboration time in a professional, efficient, and focused manner.

G. The measurable goals/benchmarks we have established to address the needs were…

Birney’s 2012-13 School Strategic Plan(SSP) Student Performance Goals

All students will read and comprehend written materials at or above grade level. All students will meet or exceed grade level state standards in mathematics.

Birney’s 2012-13 School Strategic Plan(SSP) School Performance Goals

To increase the opportunities for parents and community members to become engaged in the academic programs at our school.

2. Schoolwide Reform Strategies that are scientifically researched based.

A. Schoolwide reform strategies that provide opportunities for all children in the school to meet or exceed Georgia’s proficient and advanced levels of student performance.

The ways in which we will address the needs of all children in the school particularly the needs of students furthest away from demonstrating proficiency related to the State’s academic content and student academic achievement standard are listed on the following chart:

Comprehensive Reform Strategies 2002-2013


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School Year Initiative or Reform Effort

2002-2013

America’s Choice Comprehensive School Reform Design: Standards based instructional design, taught through the workshop approach of mini-lessons, small group/independent work time including individual conferences, followed by metacognitive sharing of how students applied standard introduced in the mini-lesson.

2004-2013

Since 2004, most 3rd - 5th grades have used the content area specialist model. Team teaching offered the opportunity to utilize content-focused instruction to groups of students and to focus professional development in one main area per teacher.

2005-2013 A Direct Instruction model of reading instruction for students with disabilities continues this year.

2004-2013 Focus on Facts: Intensive instruction of basic mathematical skills pertinent to a specific grade level.

2002-2013 Academic During and After-School Tutoring and Enrichment Programs

2005-2013Implementation of the use of Thinking Maps as graphic organizers to link content and thinking strategies in K - 5th grade classrooms; used as well with students during EIP, Special Education, Gifted and ESOL instruction time.

2008-2013

Some of our 3rd-5th grade teachers utilized the Self Contained and/or Reduced class EIP model for team teaching and class size. It was based on data that student achievement increased by remaining in one smaller classroom without the transitions to another classroom and teacher style. It maximized the amount of quality learning time.

2008-2013

Student with Disabilities have been integrated in the general education classroom. We have utilized our Special Education specialists to work with regular education teachers in a co teaching model. All students are shared between 2 teachers that work/plan closely together on a day to day basis.

2010-2013Math Bowl for 4th and 5th grade. To increase problem solving and computation skills and to move more student from our Meets category to our Exceeds category

2006-2013Math and Science Labs for all grades to be used in the Specials rotation. To increase our AMO in Math and the application of mathematics as well as support our second indicator, Science.

2012-2013 Developing uniform instructional approach in area of Writing (Mark Diamond) for all grade levels.

2012-2013 Presenting and utilizing teacher Tuning Protocol collaboration model to make optimal use of team collaboration time.

B. Are based upon effective means of raising student achievement.

We developed our Professional Development Plan to address the needs of all students. The scientific research that we used is listed in Appendix A.

In regard to our 2011-2012 SIP survey involving student, parent, and staff responses it is evident that our strongest domains of instructional approach include: utilizing research based instructional strategies, promoting higher order thinking skills, implementing and


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excelling with differentiated instruction, and developing and providing for flexible grouping of student groups. (See Appendix B)

C. Use effective instructional methods that increase the quality and amount of learning time.

School Year Effective Instrumental Methods

2009-2013 Scana after school tutoring for students with disabilities

Summer 2013 Summer Science Academy for grades for rising K-5 graders (2 week program).

2009-2013 In school tutoring with certified teachers for 3rd, 4th and 5th graders (February-April)

2009-2013 Kindergarten camp for rising kindergartners

2008-2013 Reading Bowl to increase reading comprehension and fluency. This prepared them to compete in the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl.

2009-2013 Saturday School with certified teachers for 3rd, 4th and 5th graders (November-March)

2009-2013 Technology Club to increase student’s fluency in the technology standards and prepare them for national competitions.

2002-present Reflect on assessment regularly to drive instruction

2010-2013Math Bowl for 4th and 5th grade. To increase problem solving and computation skills and to move more student from our Meets category to our Exceeds category

2011-2013 Connect with Kids software – to be used by teachers and counselors to teach social skills.

The instructional programs listed above predominately increase our student learning and practice time. Most of these initiatives take place after school hours, during the summer break, or during school day time that is not designated for direct instructional time, for example during appropriate “Specials,” time. We feel that the extra time for practice and re-teach opportunities are very important for a large portion of our student population.

D. Address the needs of all children, particularly targeted populations, and address how the school will determine if such needs have been met and are consistent with improvement plans approved under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA).


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Birney will determine our targeted populations from current assessments available from state, county and local sources to track the progress of our students and create the next steps for student growth. Progress will be assessed frequently to determine necessary strategies for success.

3. Highly Qualified Professional Staff.

A. Strategies to attract highly qualified teachers to high-needs schools.

We will provide instruction by highly qualified teachers who meet the standards established by the state of Georgia. At this time all staff members are highly qualified as shown by the HiQ Report and school staff roster. Strategies that are used to attract and keep highly qualified teachers are: mentoring teachers, new teacher training, Academic coaches, and grade level support.

B. School status of highly qualified teachers to high-needs schools

As a high needs school our school status shows we have 100% highly qualified staff. Ninety-six percent of the classroom teachers have three or more years of experience while sixty percent of teachers are credentialed with advanced degrees. Birney’s teachers continually strive to improve their competence to meet diverse student needs by participating in well over 50 hours of professional development each year. This focused professional development ensures “best practices” are being used in each of our 50 classrooms, which directly contributes to student achievement.

To continue attracting competent potential teacher candidates to our school, we continue to collaborate and participate in a local grant (TQP grant through Kennesaw State University). Teacher candidates sign up at KSU to participate in Urban Education practicum teaching experiences. Some of these interns are housed within our building and work cooperatively with our master teachers so that they are receiving real world teaching experiences that will better prepare them for entering the profession and working with at-risk student populations.

4. Professional development for staff to enable all children in the schoolA. We have included teachers, principals, paraprofessionals and others, if

appropriate, pupil services personnel, parents, and other staff in our staff development that addresses the root causes of our identified needs. For example…

Staff attendance at local, state and federal conferences Parent opportunities offered through PTA and other volunteer opportunities Attendance of staff at staff development opportunities on the local and county level Participation of the staff working on higher level degrees Attendance and participation on our local school council, including administration,

teachers, and parents involved in local businesses. Inclusion of Partners in Education through tutoring, mentoring, volunteering, and


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financial support.

B. We have aligned professional development with the State’s academic content and student academic achievement standards…

Professional Learning Activity Content Area/Month

Number of Participants Provided by

New Teacher Support: Teachers new to Birney collaborate with seasoned teachers to participate in and observe America’s Choice Workshops for implementation in their own classroom. The seasoned teacher also observes lessons and collaborates with the teacher new to Birney and offers suggestions leading to student achievement. Release time is provided for coaches to work intensively with new staff.

All Academic

Areas, Aug.-May

13-15 per yearAcademic Coaches (Title I) and master classroom teachers:

Refocus on the Americas Choice school design. Going into the year eleven of the design, there have been staff changes. It is important for all stakeholders to understand the principles behind why Birney continues to implement the Americas Choice model.

All Academic

Areas, Aug. - May

118 Title II A

Worksheets Don’t Dendrites will teach teachers to use brain based strategies to increase student achievement

Core Academic

Areas, Aug. - March

140 Title II A

3C’s: Effective ways to successfully differentiate and teach best practices; teachers redeliver to grade-level teams

Core Academic

Areas, Sept., Feb.

2 per year County Funded

Paraprofessional Training – included in Birney’s monthly PLC’s. To Increase paraprofessional understanding of student achievement, small group instruction and communicate with students/families

Core Academic

Areas, Aug. - March

15 No funding needed

Mark Diamond: a program to provide strategies to increase writing achievement.

Writing, Oct. 8 County Title I funds

Training in the Common Core Curriculum through Professional Learning Communities – 6 times a year.

Core Academic

Areas, Aug. - March

staff Title II and SFSD funds

Teaching With Poverty in Mind, by Eric Jensen – Certified Staff Book Study

All Academic

Areas, Aug. - May

staff Local, county, federal funds


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C. We have devoted sufficient resources to carry out effectively the professional development activities that address the root causes of academic problems. For example….(money, time, resources, instructional coaches:

Providing teacher training time during the academic day for staff by using local and county funds to pay for substitutes

Using Academic and county coaches help train and assist teachers in best practices within the classroom

Using EIP/ESOL teachers/Academic Coaches help work with staff to provide strategies and modeling for classroom teachers

Using Title I and Title II money for materials and training Using the Parent Liaison and School Social worker to assist the school

with parent/student concerns and training Guest speakers as needed Using PTA funds, materials, and activities for our students and parents

as scheduled

D. We have included teachers in professional development activities regarding the use of academic assessments to enable them to provide information on, and to improve, the achievement of individual students and the overall instructional program in the following ways….

Data team meetings monthly Continual reflection of assessments Staff meetings monthly PLC’s monthly to assess and reflect on student achievement data County wide assessment training and desegregation of data materials as

scheduled Using SIP survey information from parents, students, and staff responses

E. Schools yearly professional development schedule

2012-2013 Professional Development For:

Birney_____________________________________

Name of School

Month Core Academic Addressing Location Estimated CostAugust RTI overview Birney no costSeptember PLC – Curriculum, Instruction,

AssessmentCommon Core OverviewReflection-strengths and weaknesses

Birney Title II and SFSD funds


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on CRCT and other assessmentsUnderstanding the nature of PovertyMark Diamond Writing InstructionTuning Protocol, Teacher Collaboration Model - Assessment

October PLC – Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment conference proceduresCommon Core Standards, Higher Order thinking and performance

Birney Title II funds

December PLC – Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment: Increasing fluid intelligence and strengthening academic operating systems


January CPI Crisis Prevention/workbooks Birney Title I funds Curriculum: Wet, Wild and Learning Tree EEA/Project Wet Title I fundsPLC - Curriculum, Instruction, AssessmentStandards of Mathematical Practice


February PLC - Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment: Share Model and accommodations to support the whole child

Birney Title II

Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment: Tutorial Funds

Birney Title I

March 3rd grade writing assessment training/procedures

Birney Title I

Curriculum, Instruction: Children’s Literature Conference

Athens Title 1

Curriculum, Instruction: Best Practices in Speech Pathology Birney Title I

JuneCurriculum, Instruction: Summer Science Academy Birney Title I

JulyCurriculum, Instruction: Kindergarten Camp Birney Title I

* Travel Forms and Performance Contracts must be Completed Six Weeks in Advance!

5. Strategies to increase parental involvement

A. We have involved parents in the planning, review, and improvement of the comprehensive schoolwide program plan by….


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Offering academic programs once a year by each grade level. Videotaping strategies being taught in classrooms and sharing at PLC. Offering Career Week with Counselors Offering a fulltime Parent Liaison Conducting Parent-Teacher conferences as mandated by county school district and as needed

based on student needs (translators provided as needed). Offering yearly grade level activities to educate and involve parents/guardians in our academic

program. Conducting Open House/parent workshops with a curricular focus. Conducting a May PTA meeting “International Night” to celebrate and educate others on the

many nationalities present at Birney. Maintaining a Parent Resource Room with bilingual books, cd’s and games available for parents

to check out. Making at least two site visits to the Discovery Center to meet the needs of our families that live

in the 2 apartment complexes that Birney serves. A team of administrators, parent liaison, and other key persons address CRCT questions and increase parent awareness of student/school concerns. Babysitting and translating provided.

Creating and maintaining a program for Dad’s (Father’s Being Involved) to come interact and read to every classroom.

Soliciting business owning parents to participate on our local school council on a yearly basis.

*In cases where the students reside in a Neglected and Delinquent Residential Facility, a representative from that Facility can serve as a proxy for the parent(s) and attend all parent involved activities.

B. We have developed a parent involvement policy included in our appendices that:

Include strategies to increase parent involvement (such as family literacy services) The policy will describe how the school will provide individual student academic assessment

results, including an interpretation of those results Makes the comprehensive school wide program plan available to the LEA, parents, and the

public (internet, newspaper, newsletter) Compacts require – include with policy Parent involvement checklist included (see Appendix C)

6. Plans for assisting preschool children in the transition from early childhood programs to local elementary school programs and/or students entering middle school or high school

Following are our plans for assisting preschool children in transition from early childhood programs. Also included are transition plans for students entering middle school and entering from private schools plus students entering our school throughout the year:

We host local Pre-K schools that brought about 100 children. Each Pre-K group spent one half day visiting kindergarten classrooms through interaction with the students, teachers, and participation in the school lunch experience.


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We offer a summer kindergarten camp to about 45 pre-kindergarten students to expose them to kindergarten expectations and the curriculum to better prepare them for kindergarten. This 2 week camp is taught by certified early childhood teachers.

We invited and received key staff members and students from the middle school in our feeder pattern to come and orient our fifth graders and give them important information on how to successfully transition to the middle school. We also obtained information regarding the parent orientation night that the middle school hosted and distributed/promoted the event with our local school communication options such as; dial out system, flyers sent home, daily announcements, etc…

All classes have Bobcat Pals, a program maintained by our counselors that designates 2 students to help any newcomers with classroom and school needs and to help them adjust more quickly to a new school.

Our counselors also help with providing transitional supplies for indigent students such as; helping find backpacks, paper, pencils and such, also helping to provide for standard school attire for these at-risk students.

7. Measures to include teachers in the decisions regarding the use of assessment to provide information on, and to improve, the performance of individual students and the overall instructional program.

The ways that we include teachers in the decisions regarding use of academic assessment are: Teacher sharing information at staff meetings Teacher sharing information at monthly Professional Learning Committee’s Periodically teachers meet to share information across grade and building levels Teacher sharing at monthly data team meetings and plan strategies for student instruction Shared leadership has been embedded into the culture at Birney Elementary. Instructional staff

members meet twice a month, analyzing data and then planning lessons to accelerate students’ progress.

Each grade level and members of the America’s Choice Design Team review the data to ensure that ALL students make academic gains.

The America’s Choice Design Team is the leadership team that is made up of administration and academic coaches and meets weekly to guide consistent implementation of best practices. The team also conducts Focus Walks as a means to monitor and evaluate instruction and student learning.

Staff members collaborate with the Response to Intervention team (RTI) and Teacher-Led Collaboration Teams to develop support systems for those students whose needs warrant individual analysis and behavior/academic improvement plans.

Team Leaders meet with administration once a month to review assessments, discuss school news and collaborate on team needs.

Staff communication occurs through representation on school wide committees and through frequent staff newsletters transmitted via email.

Professional development occurs after school at staff meetings and on Early Release and Professional Learning Days.

8. Coordination and integration of Federal, State, and local services and programsThis component requires a description of how the school will implement the programs listed above, a description of how Title I resources and other resources


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will be coordinated to support student achievement goals in the school improvement plan, and a listing of all state and federal programs consolidated in the schoolwide plan.

A. List of State and local educational agency programs and other federal programs

that will be included

Title I Funding Title II Funding Title III funding Community Resources Special Programs LEA Programs (Local Educational Agency) Coordination of other programs

B. Description of how resources from Title I and other sources will be used.

Resources UseTitle I Additional staff

Substitute Student materials Technology/materials Staff development Academic Coaches Professional Development Conferences/Workshops Parent supports Transportation for field trips CRCT Academic Engagement Learning lab staffing / materials Summer academies / camps / materials AYP grade level tutoring initiatives CRCT Academic Engagement

Title II Staff developmentTitle III ESOL teachers

Materials Translators training Improvement of ESOL program

State EIP money Materials / Computer Software Additional teachers for Small group instruction Reading Recovery

County Staff development Substitutes Materials Operations 20 day additional $ - Saturday school

Other Sources - After school tutoring


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ScanaPartners in Education

Tutoring Volunteering Student supplies Parent supports

C. Plan developed in coordination with other programs, including those under the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994, the Carl D. Perkins vocational and Applied Technology Act, and National and Community Service Act of 1990.

9. Activities to ensure that students who experience difficulty mastering standards shall be provided with effective, timely assistance, which shall include:

We shall providing activities to ensure that students who experience difficulty mastering proficient or advanced levels of academic achievement standards shall be provided with effective, timely additional assistance. Those activities are… (Especially for those students who are struggling.)

A. Measures to ensure that student’ difficulties are identified on a timely basis.

Reading Recovery / EIP Supplemental Math/Literacy services Gifted program Saturday School Pull out small group instruction from a certified teacher for 3rd, 4th and 5th graders ASP (After School Program) offers a wellness program, a hands-on environmental education

program through Master Gardeners, Art enrichment, chorus, and gender-based enrichment classes. Each second through fifth grade student in the After School Program also receives assistance with homework and test preparation.

After school activities such as chorus, art, drama, technology, science, environmental science, chess, Spanish, writing, mathematics, and reading.

Scana Tutoring after school tutoring for students with diabilities

School social worker, school counselors and specials teachers: monitor and notify classroom teachers of excessive student absences and tardies. Due to our transience population, this is an area we continue to monitor as it has been a challenge for us previously.

Girls On The Run: a character/self esteem development program for selected girls in grades 3-5. Physical and character concentrations are the primary focus of this year long program. Four female staff members developed and maintained the program.

Response to Intervention (RTI) process Academic Alerts to parents every 4 ½ weeks

B. Periodic training for teachers in the identification of difficulties and appropriate assistance for identified difficulties.

DRA training Differentiation of Instruction and Best practices through school, local and county staff developments


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Professional development delivered at monthly staff meetings Monthly PLC’s conducted by academic coaches

C. Teacher-parent conferences that detail what the school will do to help the student, what the parents can do to help the student, additional assistance available to the student at the school or in the community.

Weekly Report – Tuesday folders from teacher to every parent in the class Progress Reports (every 41/2 weeks) Report Cards Parent meetings, as needed Parent workshops as scheduled Parent engagement activities (PTA, Fall Festival, International night, curriculum nights,

fund raising activies) Parent liaison room Retention/Remediation (if determined by state testing, teacher/parent conference,

administrative/teacher parent/conference) County scheduled parent-teacher conferences Needed RTI parent conferences with select school staff Special education IEP meetings

10. Description of how individual student assessment results and interpretation will be provided to parents.

Parents are invited in during the scheduled conference period set by the county and are also invited in on a regular basis by the classroom teacher for conferences when the need arises.

Academic Alerts are sent home to parents notifying them of student’s progress on assessments and classroom performance.

Report Cards are sent home every nine weeks to parents as well as accompanying assessments. Individual student ITBS, CRCT, and State Writing Assessment reports are sent home to parents to

inform them of their student’s performance. Phone calls are made regularly by our teachers, as well as written communication sent home. School newsletter (translated in Spanish as well) is sent home quarterly and given to newly registered

students. Weekly Calling Post messages are sent out to parents in English and Spanish notifying parents of

upcoming school events, important dates, and reminders. Open door policy where parents are encouraged to come in and request a meeting or conference

at any needed time. State mandated retention/placement meeting for 3rd/5th grade students

(If the parents do not speak English, the parent liaison and/or other translator is present to assist).

11. Provisions for the collection and disaggregation of data on the achievement and assessment results of students.

Information detailing collection and desegregation of data on students are collected from the following: School CRCT Report Classroom teacher assessments Periodic County assessments including DRA, Checkpoints, Benchmarks


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Standardized Testing, such as, Iowa and Cogat, GKids, ACCESS, Writing Assessemtns for grades 3, 4 and 5.

Local school assessment notebooks kept on yearly basis Academic alerts/ Report card distribution Parent – Teacher conferences RTI parent meetings Special education IEP meetings

12. Provisions to ensure that disaggregated assessment results for each category are valid and reliable.

Assessments on each child is done on a regular basis, daily, weekly, monthly by certified classroom teachers.

Norm based tests are given at county determined times and strategies are changed to meet the needs of each child as is physically possible.

Monthly data teams bring assessment information to the staff and strategies are shared among grade levels and Specialists.

13. Provisions for public reporting of disaggregated data.

The following are used to inform the public of our progress:

Updated school website available to public Cobb County School website Georgia Department of Education website Newspapers Television Call out system from local school School newsletters Classroom newsletters Radio Parent communications

14. Plan developed during a one-year period, unless LEA, after considering the recommendation of its technical assistance providers, determines that less time is needed to develop and implement the schoolwide program.

The Schoolwide plan and the School Improvement plan is developed, reviewed, and revised as needed throughout the school year by a team of teachers, administrators, and parents.

15. Plan developed with the involvement of the community to be served and individuals who will carry out the plan including teachers, principals, other staff, and pupil service personnel, parents and students (if secondary).


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We have developed our Title I School plan and our School Strategic plan with the participation of individuals who will carry out the plan.

16. Plan available to the LEA, parents, and the public.

Our Schoolwide Plan as well as our School Strategic Plan is available to access on Birney’s local website and county website in English and Spanish. Paper copies are also available in the front office, Media Center as well as in the Parent Resource Center. It is available at parent meetings, School Council and PTA meetings.

17. Plan translated to the extent feasible, into any language that a significant percentage of the parents of participating students in the school speak as their primary language.

The Schoolwide Plan is available in the Parent Resource Center. All materials sent home are also translated in both languages (English and Spanish, the predominant languages spoken by our student population) as needed.

18. Plan is subject to the school improvement provisions of Section 1116. If our school enters “Needs Improvement” we will complete and participate in all requirements according to state and federal guidelines.

Appendix A

Scientific Research to Support Birney’s Professional Development Activities

Goldring, Porter, Murpy, Elliot, & Cravens. Assessing learning-centered leadership: Connections to research, proessional standards, and current practices (2007). “In the most successful schools, leadership ensures there are integrated communities of professional practice in service of student academic and social learning. There is a healthy school environment in which student learning is the central focus, …as communities, rather than bureaucracies, are more likely to exhibit academic success.” Outcomes from successful PLCs include:

shared responsibility for students’ successes increased meaning and understanding of the content that teachers teach significant advances into making teaching adaptations for students larger academic gains in math smaller achievement gaps between students from different backgrounds

Richard DuFour, Rebecca DuFour, and Robert Eaker. Revisiting Professional Learning Communities at Work (2008).

“The most promising strategy for sustained, substantive school improvement is developing the ability of school personnel to function as professional learning communities. The challenge of improving schools does not depend upon educators discovering new ideas; it depends upon their willingness to implement what is already known regarding best practices for student learning. We believe that the first


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step in breaking free of the traditional norm of educators working in isolation is to establish a new image of the fundamental structure of the school, one that is based on a communal gathering of high-performing collaborative teams that share collective responsibility for the learning of their students.”

The DuFours and Eaker identify six characteristics of PLCs: 1) A shared mission, vision, values, and goals which are all focused on student learning.2) A collaborative culture with a focus on learning.3) Inquiry into best practice to build shared knowledge.4) Learning by doing because members are action-oriented.5) A commitment to continuous improvement to create conditions for perpetual learning, and not

simply learning a new strategy.6) To know whether students are learning by using ongoing assessment.

“Teachers work in isolation. Overcoming this traditional norm of teacher isolation is one of the most formidable barriers to creating a PLC. Even worse, teachers can spend an entire career in the profession and never know how well they teach a particular concept on comparison to their colleague teaching the same concept in the classroom across the hall. Research has repeatedly concluded that teacher isolation has adverse consequences for students, for teachers, and for any effort to improve schools.” They make their case for learning communities by citing supportive research and noting organizations that support learning communities. They refer to Mike Schmoker’s article (School Administrator, 61(10), 48-49, in 2004) entitled Start Here For Improving Teaching and Learning that states, “ Evidence from numerous schools, as well as broad concurrence of the research community, point to proven structures and practices that make an immediate difference in achievement. PLCs begin when groups of teachers meets regularly as teams to identify essential and valued learning, develop common formative assessments, analyze current levels of achievement, set achievement goals, and then share and create lessons and strategies to improve upon those results.” At Birney, our teachers have invested time creating common assessments and exploring team planning through lesson study. We are spending more and more time collaborating as teams in planning effective lessons from our assessment data. We are now ready to see ourselves as a learning community and make collective commitments in providing time to learn with and from one another to impact student achievement. Upon surveying the teachers, we were asked to continue and expand the lesson study to include reading, English language arts, and mathematics for all grade levels. Lesson studies enable us to plan lessons, observe them in action, and through professional dialogue, participate in reflective thinking about the teaching and learning.

B. Nye, S. Konstantopoulos, and L. Hedges. How large are teacher effects? Educational Evaluation and Policy Analyses (2004). The influence an effective teacher has on student achievement is relatively independent of anything else that occurs in a school. Nye and his colleagues found teachers with more pedagogical competence will outgain students who have a non-effective teacher. Therefore, effective teachers make a significant difference in student achievement. A professional learning community’s focus is on student learning with a commitment to continuous improvement.


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Appendix B


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