Posted Wednesday, February 24, 2010 by PTA.
State of Clinton Elementary School
Annual Address
By
Principal O’Neill
February, 2010
As we enter the second half of our 2009-2010 school year, I want to update our community on where we currently are with regard to our academic program and where we are headed.
Our administrative team has adopted the acronym LEARNS to drive our leadership as we continue our work for the academic, social, and emotional success of our students. With this in mind, I will address where we stand with regard to the district academic programs.
L‚ Leadership for Learning
The Clinton staff has created a vision to guide us into the future:
Based on the core belief that all students have the ability to learn, all members of the Clinton School community will empower each child to reach his or her fullest potential.
As lifelong learners, our students will possess core academic knowledge and 21st century skills leading them to become respectful, accepting, productive and responsible citizens in this global society.
We will continue to focus on teaching and learning while guiding our students to be compassionate young citizens.
Every week, each grade level meets as a team, with me or with a supervisor and/or subject specialist if possible, to plan lessons, review instructional strategies, critique programs and assessments, and give input on curricula and school-based issues. If I cannot be present at the meeting, their notes are sent to me for review and feedback.
Our Professional Learning Committee is in the process of developing our Professional Development Plan for the 2010-2011 school year. By focusing on continuous improvement and shared goals, we can implement professional development which will help us maintain our commitment to ongoing improvement of practice.
E‚ Enhance Support and Evaluation of Teachers
Much of our administrative work over the past two years has been focused on creating a common language around effective teaching. The Framework for Teaching by educational consultant Charlotte Danielson, has provided us with a comprehensive tool to promote professional learning. It will help us support the growth and professional learning of our teachers. It will also allow us to utilize a nonevaluative process to coach teachers and at other times, evaluate the quality of teaching to provide specificity on teachers’ performance.
The Framework also provides a structure for developing a well-designed, evidence-based recruitment and hiring process based on a consistent definition of good teaching, which is applied to all candidates.
A‚ Adopt and Implement Consistent Standards-based Curriculum
Literacy, a complex integration of many skills so critically important to the success of our students, will be balanced with language arts instruction. In our newly adopted language arts curriculum, our teachers will incorporate strategic reading and writing instruction based on research that demonstrates that strong readers and writers use certain strategies and that when less strong readers and writers are taught these strategies, their skills improve. This instruction takes the form of the workshop model. A single strategy becomes the focus of the lesson and includes direct instruction, demonstrations and modeling, guided practice, independent practice and reflection/sharing. Reading and writing workshops provide opportunities for students to work on tasks while the teacher meets with small groups of students for reading instruction or writing conferencing.
Our Clinton teachers and administrators have been involved in on-going professional development to ensure that the new language arts curriculum will result in a highly literate community of readers and writers while simultaneously addressing the New Jersey Curriculum Content Standards.
Our math curriculum is under review this year. An outside audit of the program was conducted in the fall and we are awaiting the results. As we analyze the results, we will maintain what has been successful in the past and work on new curriculum and instructional methods that meet the needs of every Clinton student.
Our related arts program is second to none as many experienced during our first annual Related Arts Back-to-School Night. Clinton School is chock full of talent and our music, art, physical education, and media teachers bring out this talent on a daily basis. We have an upcoming art and music festival which will showcase the great work of our students.
Clinton School has received its sixth Arts In Education Grant. In the past, our fourth grade students have received instruction in the visual and performing arts and participated in culminating events that are enjoyed by the entire community. This spring, our fourth grade students will work with a renowned jazz musician to learn about the history of jazz and compose and perform original music.
R‚ Regular Review of Data on Student Learning
One of our initiatives this year has been the implementation of the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA). This classroom-based assessment enables our K-2 teachers to help identify students’ skills and plan for timely instruction of crucial skills, fluency, and comprehension. The data from the assessments provides us with objective information to identify the strengths and weaknesses of every K-2 student and plan for their instruction and support.
Our 3-5 students took the NJASK in May with a more challenging 3-4 test. We received the initial data this past September. The state is working to improve the turn-around time so districts can review the data in a timely manner. In general, the NJASK data for 08-09 includes the following:
| GRADE 3 | |||
| Partially Proficient | Proficient | Advanced Proficient | |
| Language Arts Literacy: | 36% | 56% | 8% |
| Mathematics: | 30% | 46% | 24% |
| GRADE 4 | |||
| Language Arts Literacy: | 37% | 53% | 10% |
| Mathematics | 36% | 31% | 33% |
| Science | 8% | 41% | 51% |
| GRADE 5 | |||
| Language Arts Literacy: | 33% | 57% | 10% |
| Mathematics: | 34% | 43% | 23% |
This data is further disaggregated by demographic groups and by content clusters. As we analyze it, we identify trends/patterns, diagnose needs, and adjust instruction in order to keep all Clinton students engaged and successful.
Based on the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Accountability Requirements for the 2008-2009 school year, Clinton Elementary did make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).
N- Need to Expand Access to Rigorous Coursework
At every level we need to include students in programs to meet their needs and advance them accordingly. For the first time, we have full-day kindergarten for all our youngest students. We have nine inclusion classes to include our special needs students in the least restrictive environment. We have in-class academic intervention for some of our students in grades one through three and an after school academic intervention program for our struggling fourth, fifth and ELL students. We are reviewing our enrichment program for grades four and five and examining creative approaches to scheduling for next year.
Our work does not end in June. We have enhanced summer school offerings for many regular and special education students. This year I completed an action research project to determine the effectiveness of our summer reading program. I was encouraged that all students who participated in the program realized at least a one level increase in their reading level.
I am on the steering committee for the district’s Task Force For Excellence & Equity For All. We are working to identify obstacles to rigorous coursework for all students, recommend solutions to raise the level of learning for all, and close the achievement gap.
S‚ Support the Learning Environment
Creating environments conducive to learning and reflecting our needs for the 21st century is an essential part of our work. Maintaining classrooms that are “kid-friendly” is important not only for safety but for teaching and learning. We have replaced desks and big square tables with round tables in many of our K-3 classrooms. Special chairs and desks allow students to move when needed. We have replaced worn out carpeting with new rugs and/or tile for safety and aesthetic reasons. The bathrooms have been repaired and painted. The gym has new lights and a sanded, waxed floor.
Technology has become a critical component of our work and our students’ learning. Smartboards are now in all fifth grade classrooms with plans to do the same for fourth grade next year. Our third grade classes use iPods and Macbooks to enhance their learning experiences. K-2 teachers use DRA handhelds to collect reading data on each student. Our auditorium includes an upgraded audio/visual presentation system to support our in-school and extracurricular activities and our broadcast booth has been updated for our students to use when applicable. We have begun the work to give our school wireless capability which we should have within the next few months.
We take great pride in our efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle. Our Clinton community is one of the “greenest” on the planet. We recycle juice pouches, bottle caps, cell phones, paper, cardboard, and plastic. We try to think of ways to reuse items before discarding them. Students collect unused or gently used school supplies at the end of the year to use for the following year. Students announce a green tip every day on the daily announcements and our Clinton Courier includes a “green” column every month.
We are facing tough budget decisions in the upcoming months that may delay some of our strategic initiatives but one thing is certain: our decisions must reflect our priorities of putting our students’ learning first and continuing our work together to make Clinton School the “little school that will.”