Schools share goals for 2008-09 year
Date: 11/17/2008
By Courtney Llewellyn
Reminder Assistant Editor
EAST LONGMEADOW The principals of the five schools in the East Longmeadow school system met last month with Superintendent Edward Costa to discuss the improvement goals they wish to achieve this school year. Each principal presented three goals and how he or she and the staff of each building plan on reaching them.
The results of the stated goals will be reviewed at the end of the 2008-09 school year.
Mountain View Elementary "The elementary schools share a lot of goals," Mountain View principal Carolyn Wallace stated.
Mapleshade and Mountain View share the goal of continuing to investigate differentiating reading instruction through the Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System and a Reader's Workshop model of instruction.
"The goal is to get everyone used to that test," Wallace said. "[Working individually with each child] is labor intensive but the information gained will be very useful. Teachers will be learning a lot about their kids."
Mountain View will continue working on its investigations math program, this year focusing on fractions and decimals, data analysis and functions and patterns. Students will work on these three units this year and will be introduced to three more next year and three more the year after that.
A goal specific to Mountain View is increasing the staff's knowledge of strategies to work with "at-risk" students -- those who don't meet special education levels but need "extra help," according to Wallace.
"It's more tools in the toolbox," she added.
Mapleshade Elementary Mapleshade aims to improve its Composite Performance Index for the Special Education subgroup in English Language Arts in order to meet the Adequate Yearly Progress standards of proficiency for the spring 2009 MCAS test. Administrators, staff and classroom and special education teachers will analyze MCAS data for patterns of weaknesses and identify a course of action for the continuing improvement in special education students' performances.
The elementary school will be working on the same reading program as Mountain View, and will also be taking part in the math investigations program.
Meadow Brook Elementary Meadow Brook will also be implementing three units of the Investigations Math program as phase one of a three-year curriculum.
Teacher Karla Shea will train first and second grade teachers in the use and assessment of the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) program in order to place students in leveled books for supplemental reading instruction.
Meadow Brook will also implement the revised pre-referral process to support students who were identified as "at-risk." An Assistance to Child and Teacher Team will meet weekly to document data including the type, the length and the degree of success of each student's progress.
Birchland Park Middle School The middle school administration and instructional staff will work on developing and implementing a pre-referral protocol in order to identify and provide academic services and/or special education services to students who fail to achieve proficiency on the MCAS math test.
Principal Kathleen Hill said, "To do this, we'll be offering [more math] classes during the day and after school."
The administration and staff will focus on assessment initiatives in order to provide common learning experiences for all students.
"You'll see two teachers teaching the same course but with different students," Hill said. "We need common benchmark assessments throughout the course."
Birchland Park administration and staff will also use Professional Learning Communities to help in improving student achievement.
"These goals are already in progress," Hill noted. "They're aggressive goals but we have set aside the time to work on them."
East Longmeadow High School Principal Richard Freccero shares a goal with Birchland Park -- the high school will be developing a educational proficiency plan as required by the state to assist students who did not achieve proficiency on the math and English MCAS tests. Freccero said each student would have an individualized plan to help him or her reach proficiency by the time he or she graduates.
This year's incoming freshman class is also required to take a history/social studies MCAS test their sophomore year, so the high school is working on attaining the necessary texts and resources so students can excel on their fourth MCAS test, which is required for graduation.
The third improvement goal has to do with the evaluation of the high school by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). The association evaluates schools throughout the region every 10 years and East Longmeadow High School's last visit from NEASC was in 2003. At that evaluation, the school received the highest rating possible.
"We're getting ready with a pre-self-study report," Freccero said. "This will give a year of planning for our planning."
