Weston High School Action Plan 2018-2019€¦ · problem-solving ability, and goal-setting skills,...

Weston High School

Action Plan

2018-2019

INTRODUCTION

This action plan is a collaborative effort between the administrative team, curriculum instructional leaders, and teachers. It is designed not only to ensure our high levels of student achievement but to hone in on specific goals at our school. Our teachers continuously reflect on and revise their instructional practices based on student performance. Our collective commitment is to every student, in every class every day. In this way, all WHS students leave our district prepared for their preferred futures.

WHS MISSION

Weston High School is committed to providing a safe and intellectually challenging environment that will empower students to become innovative thinkers, creative problem solvers, and inspired learners prepared to contribute to our global society

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE/GAUGING

PROGRESS

2018-19 Goals & Strategies

GOAL STRATEGIES/ACTIONS

Goal 1: Ensure that all students continue to improve by meeting their academic needs through high level instruction and cognitive engagement.

● Require all teachers to set professional goals with determined measurable student outcomes

● Provide professional development workshops to support teachers in data gathering and analysis

● Support teachers’ efforts to collaborate around scoring and analysis of formative assessment in planning for all learners

● Promote teacher-to-teacher opportunities as a means to professional learning

● Encourage teacher innovation and risk-taking

● Create and share digital resources and strategies to enhance inter-departmental collaboration

● Feature teacher innovators as exemplars

● Explore innovative secondary programs on a global level

Goal 2: Prepare all students so that they are college and career ready.

● Integrate our new college & career counselor into the school counseling department. This counselor will:

o Meet with seniors in the fall to review college lists, discuss application strategy, edit application essays, address

concerns

o Meet with juniors in the winter to begin college process

o Hold workshops for both students and parents to support families through the search, application, and admissions process

o Host parent coffees o Author electronic CCC

newsletter available to families through Naviance

o Organize and supervise college representative visits

o Serve as WHS representative at conferences

o Coordinate sophomore career day program

o Organize international college fair

o Supervise the senior internship program

Goal 3: Ensure that the needs of special education and 504 students are met through a systematic approach that aligns with WHS mission

● Align processes and procedures with

staff including administration,

school counselors, special education

teachers, student assistance team

members, Effective School Solutions

(ESS) to ensure systematic approach

● Maintain accurate records of 504

and SPED students in order to

ensure that students' needs and 504

procedures are being met.

WRITING INITIATIVE

It is critical that all students develop the ability to write in a meaningful way for a variety of purposes and audiences. Students are supported in all stages of the writing process. They receive feedback on the purpose, thinking, organization, language, and mechanics of their writing. The standard for the writing portfolios in grades 8 and 10 serves as a key performance measure where students demonstrate that they meet the district expectation for writing.



Goal 1: Ensure that every writer meets the district standard for WHS Writing Portfolio.

● Analyze portfolio results from grades 8 and 10 and identify struggling writers

● Compile and analyze performance data including common assessment and midterm performances

● Support these identified struggling writers with targeted Writing Center intervention

● Visit ninth grade English classes to review portfolio feedback and set writing goals

● Reinforce revision skills with tenth grade students and support them with the portfolio submission process

● Conference with eleventh grade students who did not meet benchmark and provide them with targeted interventions as they revise and/or rebuild their portfolio

● Document support and exit students when appropriate

Goal 2: Continue to develop the collaboration between Writing Center coordinators and classroom teachers to encourage transfer of writing skills.

● Identify common assessments in grades 9 and 10 and push into classrooms to support instruction and conferencing

● Reach out to departments beyond the humanities to support cross-curricular writing

● Ensure that 8th and 10th teachers understand the requirements of meeting district standard on portfolio

Goal 3: Develop targeted writing instruction goals that promote student growth.

● Identify assignments among curricular partners to be used as performance measures for all students

● Focus on one area of need and target instruction towards improvement

● Share successful instructional strategies at department and curricular partner meetings

● Compile and analyze data on student performance with colleagues

● Revise strategies, as needed

Healthy Learning Environment



Goal 1: Increase opportunities for staff and students to provide feedback about all matters of school climate and operations.

● Schedule regular opportunities for

staff and students to provide

administrators with impromptu

feedback on their daily experiences

(Admingle, Meet the Admins)

● Leverage Trojan Time Advisory to

seek input from students regarding

extra-curricular offerings

● Convene student focus group on

school culture

● Administer school climate survey

Goal 2: Prepare students emotionally for the challenges of navigating adolescence. Develop students’ emotional intelligence, self- and social awareness, critical thinking, effective decision-making, creative problem-solving ability, and goal-setting skills, so that they are more successful in the classroom and form more quality relationships.

● Continue to Train WHS staff in

Emotional Intelligence through Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence under the direction of WHS school social worker and EI team

● Implement EI training for all students.

● Collaborate with the district to train parents on EI skills

Goal 3: Align Middle School and High School SRO program to ensure a strong 6-12 collaboration

The two district School resource officers will:

● Meet on a weekly basis in order to discuss new and ongoing issues.

● Review and revise instructional program for grades 6-12.

● Share SRO webpage responsibilities

to include MS/HS monthly updates ● Combine MS/HS social media

accounts. ● Meet weekly with building

administrators to discuss concerns/issues

Goal 4: Coordinate student service initiatives.

● Gather student leaders for regular opportunities to plan for collaborative work (Club Coalition)

● Facilitate collaboration between athletic teams and student government

ATHLETICS

Our student athletes develop the qualities of a positive work ethic, initiative,

perseverance and teamwork, sensitivity and respect for individual differences in a

supportive and healthy environment. Our Captains’ Circle develops student

leaders that serve as role models for our community



Goal 1: Enhance and increase community service opportunities that align with our school mission.

● Collect cans and bottles at Onion Barn for 2 weekends per team

● work at a variety of town events (i.e. Booster Youth Nights, Kiwanis 5K/ half marathon).

● Participate in fundraising efforts (i.e. Pink Aid, Weston Against Cancer, Coaches vs. Cancer)

Goal 2: Strengthen the individual sports team culture.

● Provide survey data prior to season for coaches to analyze.

● Meet with individual coaches during the pre-season to create goals/action plans using survey data and captain’s exit interviews.

● Monitor progress toward meeting goals coaches during season

● Meet periodically with team captains to gauge progress of season

SOCIAL STUDIES Students continue to become engaged citizens through inquiry based learning

experiences that emphasize critical thinking, problem solving, and participatory skills. Our courses stress the importance of developing questions, applying disciplinary tools and concepts associated with historical themes, evaluating sources, and communicating conclusions.



Goal 1: Include inquiry as a common method of instruction in every social studies course

● Embed questions into lessons and model inquiry questioning

● Practice question development strategies with students

● Provide inquiry-based learning opportunities

● Analyze and reflect student performance from prior year

● Analyze student data to gauge progress on inquiry goal

● Review strengths and weaknesses at the end of each benchmark with colleagues and students

● Share best practices and student work ● Collaborate and reflect with colleagues

Goal 2: Use assessments of student writing and presentation to inform instruction to promote student growth.

● Analyze and reflect student performance from prior year (Writing portfolio, Benchmark presentations/simulations)

● Identify a specific focus area: revision process, research, questioning, purpose, analysis, etc.

● Identify benchmark assessments to use as performance measures to gauge progress

● Review strengths and weaknesses at the end of each benchmark

● Collaborate and reflect with colleagues; share, calibrate, and analyze assignments/student work based on common goals/curricular teams

● Share best practices and student work

MATHEMATICS

Students engage in meaningful differentiated activities that encourage investigation and discovery of mathematical concepts, in order to facilitate the transference of problem solving skills and abilities to authentic situations. Students connect the importance of solid foundational skills to the ability to derive meaning from higher-level mathematics. Students have opportunities to collaborate and communicate, take ownership of their learning, and reflect on their thinking and work.



Goal 1: Provide opportunities for students to engage in mathematics using an investigative approach that encourages collaboration and communication and promotes deep understanding of higher-level concepts.

● Create and implement differentiated discovery/investigative activities to introduce new concepts

● Utilize tiered lessons to differentiate to a wide range of learners

● Replace “review packets” with activities that encourage creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication (i.e. Around the World, Breakout, Speed Dating, etc.)

● Implement an Accelerated Algebra & Geometry course to allow students to access higher-level math pathways.

Goal 2: Provide opportunities for students to maintain and hone foundational skills in order to better access the rigor of higher level mathematics curriculum.

● Implement “Friday Fractions” warm ups

● Reassess cumulative concepts on summative assessments

● Utilize technological resources (i.e. UTexas Quest, Quizlet, teacher-made lesson videos) to provide

practice on foundational and current skills and concepts

SCIENCE

Students engage in 3-dimensional learning highlighted by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), enabling them to comprehend science more as an interrelated world of inquiry and phenomena rather than simply a set of science concepts and disciplines. By implementing the NGSS, teachers of each discipline focus on engaging students in core content ideas by integrating science and engineering practices with crosscutting concepts that are applicable to all disciplines of academic study. Classroom assessments modified to align with the 3-D nature of the NGSS enable teachers to gauge the progress of student learning with respect to the core content ideas, science practices, and crosscutting concepts. The expectations of the NGSS build on Weston’s work in inquiry and commitment to promoting 21st century skills. Students concentrate on exploring real-world phenomena, designing experiments and analyzing data, creating and testing models, making evidence-based arguments and various other skills associated with the nature of science.



●

Goal 2: Provide opportunities for students to engage in the science practices to promote growth in investigating, analyzing, modeling and communicating about complex scientific ideas and processes.

● Implement the first year of our new science research program

● Provide students with opportunities to engage in and develop the many skills associated with the nature of science:

o Inquiry and investigating o Collecting and analyzing data and

evidence

o Modeling

o Logical reasoning and problem solving

o Communicating, evaluating, and applying information

o Researching and presenting arguments and explanations (written, oral, visual)

● Continue to integrate student modeling into units and provide multiple opportunities for students to evaluate and revise their models.

● Share best practices and examples of student work with teachers and students to improve teaching and learning of science practices

Goal 3: Develop and implement 3-dimensional assessments (formative and summative) that align more closely with the 3D learning occurring in the science classroom, thus enabling teachers to gauge the progress of student learning with respect to the core content ideas, science practices, and crosscutting concepts.

● Incorporate the phenomena-driven approach into assessments to gauge student improvement in conceptual understanding, not just factual recall

● Develop formative and summative assessments that focus on having students apply their understanding of core content ideas in the context of engaging in science practices and connecting to crosscutting concepts.

● Collaborate with colleagues to design, share and revise examples of 3D assessments and examples of student work to improve teaching and assessing of content and skills

TECHNOLOGY AND ENGINEERING Students develop technology literacy by studying and interacting with the human made world. Clear and concise technical communication is used to present solutions to authentic problems which emphasize transferable problem solving skills. All courses challenge students to be innovative and develop interdisciplinary knowledge through the application of mathematics and science principles. Teachers continually reflect on instructional practices and refine experiences for students to remain relevant and current with the ever changing technological world.



Present opportunities for students to experience the engineering design process in meaningful ways that are as closely related to real-world applications as possible.

● Analyze curriculum units and content within to create summative assessments and/or projects that relate to industrial applications as closely as possible.

● Research and develop activities and projects that are feasible and of interest to high school students.

● Clearly define what tasks are satisfying each step in the engineering design process.

● Lead students in relating classroom experiences to real world applications through verbal and written communication.

Support the increase in enrollment

in the department as a whole while

continually placing an emphasis on

attracting female students.

● Visit the middle school prior to course selection and present information regarding the high school program with two students.

● Keep gender interests in mind when developing activities and projects.

● Provide creative choice so all students are able to learn various skills through a subject that interests them.

● Be mindful of the budget for supplies as enrollment increases and adjust activities and/or projects as necessary.

● Consider potential increases in required FTE and required PLTW training by looking towards the future and planning for continual program growth.

● Visit current curricular and instructional leadership practices and determine if any adjustments should be recommended to support the increase in student enrollment as well as instructors.

WORLD LANGUAGE

Students develop language proficiency by engaging in tasks reflective of authentic experiences. Students develop a cultural understanding of the products and practices of the target languages in order to participate successfully as citizens in the global society. While engaged in thematic units that promote cultural understanding, students advance in their proficiency levels from novice to intermediate, and advanced in three modes of communication: interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational.



Goal 1: Develop curricular cross-disciplinary connections between world languages and other courses at WHS.

● Facilitate professional development opportunities for teachers to identify cross-disciplinary connections between world languages and other disciplines.

● Design and integrate cross-disciplinary learning activities with curricular partners of same course and teachers of other disciplines.

● Showcase student cross-disciplinary accomplishments in the classroom, hallways, WL Celebration Night, publications, festivals, and others.

● Create extracurricular cross-disciplinary opportunities for students to collaborate in other school events like clubs, festivals, etc.

Goal 2: Continue to gauge student progress within the three modes of communication in order to support student achievement in those areas.

● Design instructional activities to

support language specific area of

focus

French: Increase student

proficiency in interpersonal

writing and presentational

speaking.

Latin: Develop students’

vocabulary by using more

authentic and spontaneous

Latin (oral and written), which

should in turn help their

comprehension.

Mandarin Chinese: Increase

student proficiency in the

interpretive reading mode of

communication.

French: 1) introduce students to the

multiple choice task instructions and to the

free response sections of the AP exam

with a focus on rubrics used. 2) analyze

formative assessments that can serve as

baseline data. 3) Introduce fun idiomatic

expressions, transition phrases, and

expressions of emotional reaction to be

practiced all year on conversation. 4)

Require students to keep a journal of

writing and listening activities to increase

comprehension and put ownership on

their learning progress. 5) Include more

vocabulary games during the year to

promote vocabulary acquisition. 6) Provide

detailed feedback in rubrics with an

emphasis on depth of response, 2) Train

students in utilizing more graphic

organizers when developing responses.

Latin: 1) use props and simple questions to

prompt students to use the Latin forms, 2)

use pictures to get students to use new

vocabulary, 3) Use Memrise, an online

vocabulary app that repeats vocabulary

words and definitions in various ways, 4)

Use oral Latin in the classroom for

greetings and simple conversations.

Chinese: 1) Design lessons with focus on

developing reading comprehension skills,

2) Designs authentic formative and

Spanish: Increase student

proficiency in presentational

and interpersonal writing

summative assessments, 3) Differentiate

activities, materials and assessments to

meet the needs all learners, 4) Increase

student self-directed learning by

promoting more projects of student

choice.

Spanish: 1) Promote a variety of writing

styles for presentational and interpersonal

writing. Interpersonal: chats and emails

(formal and informal). Presentational: lists,

descriptions of objects, people, and places,

notes, narrations of historical and

journalistic events, editorials, opinion and

presentation letters, reports, persuasive

and argumentative essays, critiques, etc.,

2) Assist students with language

mechanics in order to improve coherence.

3) Increase comprehensible input through

audiovisual and print sources as the basis

for writing activities 4) Promote the use of

graphic organizers, 5) Offer lexical and

grammatical supports in the form of

posters and handouts to increase the use

of adjectives, transition words, adequate

tenses and moods, punctuation,

accentuation, and prepositions, 6)

Promote the use of a self-correction code,

7) Provide detailed and timely feedback

and opportunities for revision, 8)

Collaborate with the ELA department to

determine areas of focus for all grades.

● Attend PD opportunities in or out of

district to learn about best practices

in WL

● Participate in webinars

● Design authentic learning

experiences beyond the school

setting that promote student

engagement and growth in the

target language; teachers meet with

curricular partners and/or CIL to do

so.

MUSIC Students engage in the three artistic processes of creating, performing and responding in performing ensembles and non-performance courses. Students engage in authentic experiences which develop music skills and foster the understanding and appreciation of a broad range of musical styles and genres. Performance courses are specifically designed to develop ensemble work ethic, technique, music literacy and the communicative power of music in connection with the world.



Goal 1: Refine measurement tools to align expectation and performance rubrics across all ensembles.

● Provide students clear expectations for rehearsals.

● Align preparation and musicianship expectations.

● Provide students with indicators for success for individual and ensemble performance.

Goal 2: Focus on utilizing district-wide essential questions in all courses to promote student discourse and connection to music content.

● Provide students with common questions across courses that will connect music content.

● Allow students time to reflect on questions in class and facilitate peer to peer discourse.

VISUAL ART

Students feel safe and comfortable in the classroom, at ease to experiment and innovate with traditional and digital art processes. They use authentic digital tools to create and curate art; and productivity tools to streamline tasks and communicate. Teachers use data to ensure instructional strategies and the environment of the classroom are supporting student learning. Teachers stay up to date with rapidly changing digital tools and applications in order to foster student growth and learning with content specific digital tools.



Goal 1: Continue to collect and analyze student data for tracking student progress in the visual arts.

● Initiate the collection of data for one unit and share

● Analyze what the data tells us about student progress

● Draw conclusions based on the data story and revise instructional and assessment practices to improve student learning

Goal 2: Create and sustain a healthy learning environment in the classroom so that students are productive, comfortable, and successful.

● Choose one area on which to focus ● Identify measurable and actionable

data in this area ● Determine instructional strategies to

address area of focus ● Employ strategies and collect data ● Analyze data with colleagues ● Draw conclusions ● Revise strategies as necessary,

employ strategies, collect and analyze data, draw conclusions (repeat cycle)

Goal 3: Continue digital ● Present/attend PD session on

integration by learning and collaborating with digital productivity tools in planning and instruction.

appropriate digital tools

● Practice and share one instance of using appropriate digital tool

● Assess effectiveness of digital tool for planning and instruction

PHYSICAL EDUCATION & HEALTH



Goal 1: Continue to collect and analyze 9th and 10th grade student’s achievement on Connecticut Fitness Test.

● Students review previous years and their levels of fitness they achieved

● Students self-reflect on data and target areas of strengths and weakness

● Specific warm ups geared towards different components of fitness

●

Goal 2: Students in 11th and 12th will expand their understanding of fitness and health while creating their own workouts.

● Collected their knowledge thru exit slips

● Students take the knowledge from previous years of warm ups concepts

● Introduced to fitness room ● More focus on anatomy and

nutrition ● Students create and log workouts

for each class

DAILY CLIMATE & OPERATIONS



Goal 1: Ensure that student and staff needs are met in a proactive and systematic way.

● Conduct weekly meetings with main

office staff to solve problems and

ensure high-quality operations.

● Clarify responsibilities of each main

office staff member and

communicate to staff and

community.

● Increase staff capabilities and

responsibilities related to

technological systems (e.g.

PowerSchool).

Goal 2: Improve student attendance by creating sustainable systems for tracking attendance, assigning consequences for unexcused absences, and communicating with students, staff, and parents regarding attendance concerns.

● Train attendance clerk to accurately input attendance data, and provide information to administrators about students that have unexcused absences.

● Administrators follow-up consistently regarding unexcused absences and assign appropriate consequences.

● Train attendance clerk to run reports and generate correspondence to students and parents.

Date post:	02-Jun-2020
Category:	Documents
Upload:	others
View:	1 times
Download:	0 times

Weston High School Action Plan 2018-2019€¦ · problem-solving ability, and goal-setting skills,...

Documents