Stevenson Middle School

Executive Summary—Strategic Plan (2010/11)

Growth Targets

At least a 10% growth in all core subject areas.  (see attached)

Professional Development Focus 

1. Specifically Designed Academic Instruction in English (SDAIE) strategies, Academic Vocabulary, and Higher Order Thinking Skills will be implemented to address the needs of English Language Learners (ELLs).
2. Standards-based Lesson Design – Focus on Learning Objectives.  Teachers will write effective learning objectives derived from the State content standards to drive and differentiate their instruction.

Rationale for Focus

Seventy percent of our students are ELLs, SDAIE strategies are considered the leading classroom instructional pedagogy found to foster improved learning outcomes for English Language Learners.  In addition, learning objectives anchor the learning with measurable outcomes leading to the differentiation of instruction.

Instructional Monitoring 

An initial landscape by Administrative staff will be conducted to identify areas of strength and growth in instructional delivery.  The Instructional Rounds protocol will focus on identifying specific instructional strategies that are aligned to the professional development foci as well as impact checks.  Subject and grade level coaching cycles, led by content coaches, will focus on lesson design with a collaborative approach on differentiating instruction.

Observational protocols with structured feedback will provide impact checks on the implementation of our PD foci.

School-wide Initiatives

1. School-wide Testing Campaign:  The goal of the campaign is a 50-point API gain for the 2010-2011 school year.  The campaign will concentrate on constructing a positive testing environment and using strategies to: motivate (pep rally, focus students, incentives/rewards and student activities), instruct (word of the week, release questions, mini study packets), and test taking skills and data analysis. 
2. College-Going Environment: Stevenson will foster a college going environment through: AVID, Save Me a Spot in College, The Pirate College Academy, STEM-UP, City Year, college t shirt days, college visits, college/career fairs, door decorating competitions, administration of the PSAT and counselor presentations, so that students gain a foundational knowledge of post secondary educational opportunities.
3. School 2 Home Initiative: Instructional technology will be incorporated as a tool to differentiate instruction.  Sixth and seventh grade students will all receive a laptop to use at school and take home.  As a result, sixth and seventh grade students will use digital portfolios and participate in game day, and technology day.  In addition, School 2 Home will allow class work and homework assignments to be in digital form.
4. Discipline, Attendance, and Safety Committee: Focus on supporting and fostering a culture of academic excellence through monthly lessons around our expected school-wide behavior expectations and monthly celebrations of students’ attendance, with the goal of an increase in overall attendance to 98% and continue decreasing our suspension rates.

Intervention/Acceleration

RTI provides strand specific intervention to all 6^th grade students using a three-tiered model.  SMS will continue to fully expand this model in 7^th and 8^th grade by 2011-2012.  Ongoing assessment will drive the strand-based instruction of all RTI students.

Parent Involvement

The Family Action Team (FAT) will increase parental participation and engagement through: monthly parent meetings directly linked to student academic achievement, transition to middle and high school, college knowledge academy, UCLA Math Project.

SMS will be first in parent participation amongst PLAS schools through the tracking system.  In addition, the building capacity experiences will provide parents leadership training to build a community of adult learners.