“Reaching New
Heights!”Kendell L. Dorsey, PrincipalState of the School Address
Winton Woods Elementary SchoolWednesday, April 18, 2012
“Working Together”
About Us534 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after the first week of school or have withdrawn).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 2011-12Improved our diagnostic assessments to
ensure that we can provide appropriate interventions for students as needed
Placed an emphasis on teacher collaborationCreated 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 2011-12Our 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 newsletterHad an excellent Mix-It-Day which was a
meaningful experience for students
Improvements for 2011-12Our 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 4th
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 athletesDuke Energy sponsored Science related assembly – The
Energized GuyzGreenhills/Forest Park Kiwanis purchased “Stellaluna” for all 3rd
grades and sponsors reading competition
Improvements for 2011-12Our 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
Last Winter This Winter Last Spring* This Spring
Reading - 3 61% 64% 72% 66%
Reading - 4 78% 67% 88% (74%)**
Math - 3 45% 45% 55% 68%Math - 4 54% 51% 86% 71%
Benchmark
DiagnosticsWe 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 InterventionWe 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 curriculumTier 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: ReadingThe 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: ReadingHow 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: MathWe 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: MathHow 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: ScienceThe 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 ClimateWe 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 storePositive Behavior Referrals (VIW)Implement Warriorology – Character EducationAnti-bullying training with Children’s TheatreGiraffe Heroes – Character Education component
Building ClimateWe have put a lot of emphasis on improving
building climate:Guest Speakers – Pittsburgh Pirates, former
BengalImplement 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 HouseTeacher professional development with a
behavioral specialist
Building ClimateHow 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 futureContinue 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)