Reaching New Heights Kendell L Dorsey Principal State

“Reaching New Heights!” Kendell L. Dorsey, Principal State of the School Address Winton Woods Elementary School Wednesday, April 18, 2012

“Working Together”

About Us 534 students (256 – grade 3 and 278 – grade 4) Students with Disabilities (75 students – 14%) Limited English Proficient (62 students – 12%) African-American (356 students – 67%) Hispanic/Latino (44 students – 8%) Multiracial (48 students – 9%) White (86 students – 16%) We have had 636 come through the building this year. 25% of all students are transient (either started after the first week of school or have withdrawn).

Improvements for 2011 -12 Improved our diagnostic assessments to ensure that we can provide appropriate interventions for students as needed Placed an emphasis on teacher collaboration Created common department planning time on Wednesdays to allow teachers to collaborate on best practices Created improvement teams of staff (and some parents) to improve aspects of the school including: culturally responsive practices, parent/community relations, academic pride, positive behavior supports and service learning

Improvements for 2011 -12 Our school improvement teams have: Created our new Galloway Learning Center in the front lobby Improved our school wide behavior program be unifying school money and creating a new traveling school store “Warrior Deals on Wheels” Our award-winning service learning project, “Giraffe Heroes” focuses on character education and doing projects to make the world a better place Instituted a new parent newsletter Had an excellent Mix-It-Day which was a meaningful experience for students

Improvements for 2011 -12 �Our community has supported us to provide many improvements: �A Chase Bank grant allowed all students to attend the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. �Our lobby improvements were donated by the family of Julie Galloway (a former WWES teacher) �Our Career Fair was staffed by community members and all 4 th graders were able to attend. �Wal-Mart has provided funds to support our school store and aware two staff members with financial awards. �PTA has funded many initiatives to support many of our programs. �Motivational Speakers – current/former professional athletes �Duke Energy sponsored Science related assembly – The Energized Guyz �Greenhills/Forest Park Kiwanis purchased “Stellaluna” for all 3 rd grades and sponsors reading competition

Improvements for 2011 -12 Our community has supported us to provide many improvements: Local churches/organizations have donated school supplies Quinn Chapel A. M. E. Church Compass Community Church Forest Park Steppers Club Whiz Kids

Benchmark Last Winter This Winter Last Spring* This Spring Reading - 3 61% 64% 72% 66% Reading - 4 78% 67% 88% (74%)** Math - 3 45% 54% 45% 51% 55% 86% 68% 71% Math - 4

Diagnostics We have improved our diagnostic assessments to ensure we are well aware of your child’s progress. Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) Diagnostic Spelling Assessment (DSA) Scholastic Math Inventory (SMI) Ohio Achievement Assessment Practice Tests (Benchmarks)

Response to Intervention �We use our diagnostic data to provide interventions for students based on their level of need. We must monitor their progress with interventions and take them through all tiers to determine if they may need special services. �Tier 1 – general curriculum �Tier 2 – targeted interventions needed (team time, guided reading groups, math support, SOAR intervention) �Tier 3 – intensive intervention (WAC Reading, pair with intervention specialist)

80 -90%

“Meaningful Experiences”

Curriculum: Reading �The district has implemented a new literacy framework model. �Part of the make up of reading class is guided reading, self-selected (independent) reading , working with words and writing �As students engage text we want to encourage them to make connections, question, predict (infer), determine importance, visualize and synthesize. �We use elements of the daily five method to ensure children have a meaningful experience. Each day we want to make sure that students: read to self, read to someone, listen to someone read, work on writing and work on words.

Curriculum: Reading How can you help? �Encourage your child to make connections, predict (infer), determine importance and visualize as they read. �Focus on those daily five skills when working with your child: have them read to themselves, to you or younger siblings. �Encourage reading of many different mediums. It is great for students to read fictional stories. We also want them to engage in non-fictional text (i. e. newspaper, appropriate websites, research) – this is a big focus of the National Common Core Standards that are coming down the pike. �Attend literacy related events at school and in the community

Curriculum: Math � We continue our use of the Investigations of Number, Data and Space. � Support students to make sense of mathematics and learn that they can be mathematical thinkers � Emphasize reasoning about mathematical ideas � Engage the range of learners in understanding mathematics. � The program focuses several ideas: � Students have mathematical ideas. The curriculum must support all students in developing and expanding those ideas. � Teachers are engaged in ongoing learning about mathematics content and about how students learn mathematics. The curriculum must support teachers in this learning. � Teachers collaborate with the students and curriculum materials to create the curriculum as enacted in the classroom. The curriculum must support teachers in implementing the curriculum in a way that accommodates the needs of their particular students.

Curriculum: Math How can you help? �Ensure that your child knows all of their appropriate math facts �Support your child with homework using the Math Handbook �Have your child continue to engage in math activities throughout the summer �Students can also continue their work in Study Island throughout the summer. �Attend math nights when they are offered

Curriculum: Science �The district adopted Interactive Science. �The program is built around 3 focus areas: �Reading – a high quality engaging text that allows for receive multiple opportunities to engage non-fictional text in a meaningful way �Inquiry – provide meaningful real world experiences to help students construct meaning around Science concepts �Digital – the program has a comprehensive digital component that assist students in accessing the curriculum

Building Climate �We have worked hard to improve our building climate. We still have work to do. �Our office referrals have increased 22%. �We have increased out of school suspensions by 41%. (114 to 161) �We have put a lot of emphasis on improving building climate: �Improved our positive behavior support system – unified Warrior Bucks �Created a new school store �Positive Behavior Referrals (VIW) �Implement Warriorology – Character Education �Anti-bullying training with Children’s Theatre �Giraffe Heroes – Character Education component

Building Climate We have put a lot of emphasis on improving building climate: Guest Speakers – Pittsburgh Pirates, former Bengal Implement behavior interventions based on student need through the Response to Intervention process including: Check In/Check Out Small group intervention – anger management, social skills Ladies Who Lunch Site based therapist through Talbert House Teacher professional development with a behavioral specialist

Building Climate How you can help? �Daily remind your child of school behaviors and hold them accountable for poor choices �Consider mentoring a child to be a positive influence �Keep in strong communication with the school regarding your child’s behavior

“Making A Difference”

Looking towards the future Continue to strengthen academic achievement by working to meet students’ individual needs Develop focused school wide initiatives to strengthen the climate of the building and improve student discipline Improve parental involvement – increase parental involvement on all improvement teams, increase parental and community tutoring Improve our physical building (i. e. library, painting, clean up)