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Principals present school improvement goals for 2009-10

Date: 10/26/2009

By Courtney Llewellyn

Reminder Assistant Editor



EAST LONGMEADOW -- With the advent of each new school year comes a listing of the goals of each principal with School Improvement Plans (SIPs). The principals of the town's three elementary schools share some common goals for the 2009-10 academic year.

"There are a lot of district-wide goals," Brenda Houle, principal at Mapleshade, noted. "We bounce ideas off other administrators and I think we're more effective when more people are involved."

Mapleshade, Mountain View and Meadow Brook share two goals in particular this year -- implementing three new units of the Investigations math curriculum and teaching differentiated reading instruction through the Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System.

Investigations is a complete kindergarten through grade five mathematics curriculum designed to help children understand fundamental ideas of number and operations, geometry, data, measurement and early algebra. Three units were taught in the schools last year; this year, three more units will be added to the curriculum.

"It's really been phenomenal," Principal Judy Fletcher of Meadow Brook School said. "You can really see the thread of continuity through the years."

"It's not easy," Carolyn Wallace, principal at Mountain View, added. "It makes the kids and the teachers think differently."

This is the second year of the Investigations program. The third and final year of implementation will begin in autumn 2010.

The other goal all three schools share is for differentiated instruction in reading.

The Fountas & Pinnell Leveled Literacy Intervention System (LLI) is a small-group, supplementary intervention designed for children who find reading and writing difficult. LLI is designed to bring children quickly up to grade-level competency -- in 14 to 18 weeks on average, according to information on the LLI Web site.

Houle explained that the system starts with one on one work between a student and a teacher. A child reads while the teacher checks what he or she does any self-checking, skipping over words, etc. -- and then gauges what level the child reads at. Once the teacher knows what level a student reads at, books can be chosen for that student to build his or her skills, whether that student needs improvement or is advanced.

Reading assessments take place in the fall and the spring, and the spring assessment will measure the amount of progress made by each student.

"The two big initiatives in our elementary schools are math and literacy," Fletcher noted.

Meadow Brook and Mapleshade have a common third goal, and that is help students prepare for MCAS testing. Even though Meadow Brook houses only kindergarten through second grade, the school currently has an Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) status from the No Child Left Behind Act.

"It's a little tricky for us ... because third graders who take the [math and English Language Arts] MCAS tests give our school an AYP status," Fletcher explained. "When a subgroup does not achieve AYP, we have to do something. That's why we started wraparound services before and after school to help students who need improvement."

Mapleshade has a goal of doing something similar for students who require help in English Language Arts. Houle explained that individual success plans and extended day help will be offered starting in November.

A goal unique to Mountain View is the implementation of the Peaceful Playground program, designed to decrease bullying and increase students' activity level during recess.

"We made this a goal because we wanted it to be important," Wallace said. "What I like about it is that the kids like it."

The implementation of this program is the final stage of a joint project between the students, the PTO, staff and local businesses. Last year the money was raised to purchase the program license and materials, playground equipment and a storage shed needed to extend this program from Meadow Brook to Mountain View.

Please see next week's issue of The Reminder to learn about the SIPs of Birchland Park Middle School and East Longmeadow High School.