Elementary school shares new student achievement plans, aims to reclassify 25% of elementary students in window of grades 3 to 5
This year Healdsburg Elementary School wants to reclassify 25% of its English learners as “fluent English proficient” while in grades 3 to 5.
The goal is part of the school’s multi-faceted School Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA), which was recently updated and presented to the board of trustees during the Oct. 16 Healdsburg school board meeting.
While the goal may seem bold, Healdsburg Fitch Mountain Campus Principal Erika McGuire said that during the 2018-19 school year 26% of the elementary school English learners were reclassified as being fluent English proficient while in grades 3 to 5.
McGuire said the school plans to reclassify 25% of its students through the blended learning method, a practice where students learn both from teachers and software programs that teach reading skills. She noted that teachers will also continue to receive professional development time and coaching for blended learning.
The SPSA is a sort of road-map for schools to look at and plan for what goals they want to complete and what programs they may want funding for from the associated consolidated application.
The consolidated application is used by the California Department of Education to divvy out categorical funds from various state and federal programs to county offices and school districts.
Other goals in the Healdsburg elementary SPSA include having students show growth in standardized reading and math tests, increasing parent involvement in school activities by 10% and building a stronger sense of community at each elementary campus.
“Three years ago we completely rewrote the goals and went from seven or eight goals to really looking at the LCAP (Local Control and Accountability Plan, a wider and more detailed plan that also sets goals for a school achievement) and making sure that our site goals and school goals aligned with the LCAP goals,” McGuire explained.
Regarding the other goals, Healdsburg Elementary School Principal Jeff Franey said the parent involvement goal is important, “Not only in a celebratory aspect but how we’re understanding data, student report cards.”
Healdsburg Junior High School also has a new SPSA and Principal Chris Miller was on deck to discuss the plan, which has similar points as the elementary plan.
“We have three goals in our school plan … I’m happy to say that in math we have a new curriculum we are piloting and are all participating in lesson study. Our math team is feeling really really excited,” Miller said.
The three goals include having students increase their communication and problem-solving skills through literacy and math, integrating English language development into core classes and electives for English learners and creating an equitable and engaging school atmosphere and community.
For community building Miller said the site has been working on an activity called “Team HJH,” where teachers and staff work on building community exercises and expressing school wide expectations.
Miller added that the junior high also has a “newly refreshed parent teacher organization” that is working on ideas for increasing a sense of community at the school.
Board President Jami Kiff said of the plan’s highlights, “I am incredibly encouraged at your math department, and thank you for your focus.”
New data dashboard tool
Also on the agenda was a presentation from Erin Fender, the district’s director of curriculum and instruction, on a new parent engagement tool for the California Data Dashboard, a statewide tool that measures how local schools are performing in state and local indicators.
State indicators include English learner progress, chronic absenteeism and graduation and suspension rates and college and career readiness.
Local indicators include implementation of academic standards, parent involvement and engagement, school climate surveys and access to a broad curriculum.
The dashboard, which resembles a speedometer, works by using color to indicate the level of progress. For instance positive movement/high increase would relate to the speedometer needle inching to the far right to the green and blue right section.
The new engagement tool that was approved by the California Department of Education Board in March will allow parents and the district to self-evaluate their indicators.
“It is perfect for us because as a district it (parent outreach) is something we are paying a whole lot of attention to,” Fender said.
The self-evaluation is based on a 1 to 5 scale (with 1 citing that a goal is only in the research phase and 5 meaning that a goal or action has been implemented and is sustainable) and rates the progress of each category, such as implementation of academic standards or parent engagement.
For instance in the academic standards section providing professional learning in all subjects was self-evaluated with mostly 3s and 4s and in parent engagement 3s were mostly given for working on building communication and relationships, according to Fender.
“What will happen after tonight is then I have to fill this out (the self-evaluation form) on the reporting tool by Nov. 1, we report it to you all, then I load it up and in January when the data dashboard refreshes completely with all of the 10 indicators this data will be publicly available and will be a lot more robust and more narrative,” Fender said.
Title I and Title III
Fender also provided information on preliminary allocations from Title I and Title III funding. Title I provides financial assistance to schools with high percentages of children from low-income families and Title III provides federal funding for the purpose of helping students reach English proficiency and academic standards in all subject areas.
The amount of Title III funding provided is based on the number of English learners and immigrant students in a district.
For the 2019-20 school year the preliminary allocation of funds from Title I is set at $289,891. The allocation for the 2018-19 school was $285,742.
Fender said the preliminary allocation figure is much less than what was provided in previous years.
“When I started in the district, it was over half a million dollars and we had some rollover funds. This year we have less than $300,000 in Title I allocations,” Fender said. “This isn’t about that we are not doing a good job as a school district, this is about defunding from the federal level to local education. This is priorities set by our feds as about who should pay for what in education.”
In the Healdsburg school district the Title I funds are used at Healdsburg Elementary School and at Marce Becerra.
The proposed budget for 2019-20 allocations includes $65,464 for paraprofessionals in transitional kindergarten to second grade, $47,294 for an intervention teacher in grades 3- 5, along with $81,770 for paraprofessionals, $72,688 or an additional school psychologist and counseling staff and $35,978 for a paraprofessional at Marce Becerra Academy.
Title III preliminary funding allocations are set at $32,703. Allocations for the 2018-19 year were $41,233.
Funds allocated from Title III are based on the number of English learners and immigrant students in a district, although the Healdsburg district does not take funds for immigrant students due to the low number of immigrant students.
The funds are used for helping students reach English proficiency and for meeting academic standards in all subject areas.
A proposed allocations budget for the 2019-20 school year shows that $15,000 will be used for Blended Learning coaching.
A total of $11,000 will be used for professional development, $3,135 will be for collecting and monitoring benchmark data, $3,000 for translation, child care and food for District English Learner Advisory Committee and English learner Advisory Committee meetings and $500 for a to-be-announced expenditure.
No action was taken on the reports, they were for review only. The items will most likely return to the board for consideration at a later meeting.
