The Watson Chapel School Board recognized eight district employees with a combined service of 272 years earlier this week during Superintendent Jerry Guess' final board meeting.
Board president Kevin Moore and Guess presented the retirees with a plaque of service. Cornovious Branch, Lynell Bowen, Marva Crater, Sandra Loetscher, Peggy Matlock, James Raney, Sharron Scales and Annie Shaw were recognized by the board and thanked for their years of service.
Board member Alan Fraizer said Guess has always been a great ambassador for the school district and spoke highly of Guess's efforts to improve the fiscal policies.
"He's done a really nice job briefing the board," Frazier commented. "Last year when I served as president, if there was something hot brewing, he would come over and brief me. He's very much appreciated."
Kristy Sanders, the district's K-12 curriculum director, introduced the district's principals, who presented their school improvement plans for the 2021-22 school year as the district struggled in various academic subjects.
Edgewood Elementary Principal Annette Neely said the mission was to create an environment that gives students the opportunity to reach their full potential academically, socially and emotionally by instilling a solid educational foundation that will secure success for a lifetime.
With consistently implementing PLC at Work processes and RISE strategies, Neely said Edgewood Elementary has a goal that by May 27, 2022, it will increase the percentage of students' performance proficiency in reading by 5% in kindergarten and 13% in first grade as measured by the STAR Early Literacy Assessment.
With consistently implementing strategic interventions and extensions (Vitamin Approach) to respond to the academic needs of all students, Edgewood Elementary will increase the percentage of students mastering mathematical and science skills and standards needed to be successful in kindergarten and first grade for 2021-22, Neely added.
Creating and sustaining a welcoming environment, and improving communication and notification methods, Neely hopes, will increase the percentage of participants in parent engagement activities and shared decision-making. That will increase the partnership between school, home and the community, and ultimately lead to more engaged students and parents, and increased graduation rates for students, she hopes.
L.L. Owen Elementary's School Improvement Plan for 2021-22 is to address the learning gaps in core areas related to the covid-19 pandemic and the deficiency in reading comprehension in ACT Aspire and Star as evidenced by data. The school year dealt with inconsistent attendance for virtual students, which directly affected the level of student achievement.
A teacher survey/discussion revealed the need for more literacy instruction, ongoing classroom support in the modeling of lessons and a viable curriculum that aligns with student literacy needs.
Their goal is to increase student proficiency in literacy by 20% using the science of reading as evidenced by STAR Reading and ACT Aspire Summative results by May 2022 and increase student proficiency in math and science by 30%. It also seeks to increase student achievement by using the RTI process and increase the graduation rate by ensuring vertical alignment by linking lessons, skills and assessments for a holistic approach.
Coleman Elementary's vision is to become a professional learning community of collaborative lifetime learners that provides creative, equitable and productive educational opportunities for all students.
After reviewing the data from STAR Reading, STAR Math, and ACT Aspire 2019, Marcia Merritt, principal of Coleman Intermediate School, said it was evident that their students struggled with reading, math and science. There was a large gap between students who were exceeding/ready and those in need of support, she said.
Goals at Coleman Intermediate School are that teachers increase academic growth and strengthen student literacy skills by providing rigorous, differentiated instruction measured by data from Common Formative Assessments, STAR and ACT Aspire for the 2021-22 school year.
Teachers and staff members at Coleman are asked to provide students and parents opportunities to acquire information, knowledge and skills to support education at home and school for the 2021-22 school year.
Watson Chapel Junior High had low student achievement as evidenced by STAR diagnostic reporting, according to Principal Uyolanda Wilson. There was also high absenteeism among teachers and students, which is problematic in ensuring high levels of learning, she added.
Including covid-19 leave, teachers were absent for a total of 407 days, Wilson reported. She said there was a lack of systematic interventions for struggling students and a lack of systematic extension for proficient students.
Wilson also pointed out that the lack of parental involvement contributed to the lack of student growth and performance.
Data analysis provided showed 22 of the seventh-grade students, or 16%, are performing at grade level. Roughly 26 eighth-grade students, or 19% of the class, are at grade level.
Seventy-three of the 535 students are proficient readers.
Wilson's goal is to have 30% of seventh-grade students reading proficiently as evidenced by STAR and ACT Aspire data by the end of the school year; 30% of all seventh-grade students scoring proficient in math on those tests; 30% of seventh-grade students showing 10% gains in science, as measured by to USA Test Prep and ACT Aspire; and 90% of all ninth-grade students earning 5½ credits by the end of their ninth-grade years.
Watson Chapel High School's current reality was that student growth in 10th grade from the beginning of the year to the end of the school was zero in grade-level equivalency and saw a 62-point drop in the average scaled score in reading.
Eleventh-graders showed a 0.3% growth in grade-level equivalency and a 41-point improvement in the average scaled score.
In math, 10th-graders showed 0.5% growth in grade-level equivalency and a 21-point improvement in the average scaled score, while 11th-graders showed 0.8% growth in grade-level equivalency and a 24-point improvement in the average scaled score.
The goal for Watson Chapel High School is to see growth in literacy by the end of the 2021-22 school, and create and implement a plan of action to increase the graduation rate.
"Our students must read because if they can read they can do math, science, and any other subject you throw at them and so that's our focus. We have to teach our students how to read," Sanders said. "The second thing is the culture. It's what we do and how we act. You can't be fake. You can't say one thing and turn around and do another."
