Annual Report

School Improvement Initiatives

December 12, 2005

Vision

The overall goal of the Board of Education, administration, and staff of the district is to work toward our vision of moving from very good to great and becoming a world-class school system, recognized as a model for quality education.

Mission

Our mission statement, our statement of purpose, is "Every Student, Every Day, A Success." It will be an inspiration and driving force for all we do in the district and provide us with direction as we work toward our school improvement goals.

District Improvement Goals

The quality of a school district can be measured in many ways -- by the experience of the staff, modern facilities, increasing enrollment, or its fiscal responsibility. But the bottom line is that none of these factors really make a difference unless students are achieving.

Through a combined effort of focusing on teaching and learning and the alignment of strong content standards, assessments, and instructional materials, the district will continue to demonstrate a commitment to continuous improvement. Our fundamental purpose will remain focused on improving what we do in order to maximize student achievement and opportunities for children.

These district-wide goals are long term and will be in place until they are met or until they carry us through this improvement cycle. Short-term goals will be developed and reviewed each year in relation to student performance at the building level. These goals were selected based on data about student performance on the standards and the accountability and assessment system that is in place in the district.

1. The staff of Seward Public Schools will advance student achievement through the development of standards, assessment, and accountability.

The Seward District continues to define challenging course and grade level academic standards for all grades and determine how well all students are meeting those classroom standards. We want to give our students the best opportunity to demonstrate their skills and knowledge by developing strategies to determine what our students know and are able to do. Student achievement at the highest levels will be facilitated through effective curriculum design (the written standards) and delivery (teaching).

Click here to view the Action Plan. (Pdf file)

2. The staff of Seward Public Schools will employ selected district-wide research based instructional practices across the curriculum to increase student progress toward standards.

The district's focus is on teaching and learning. We recognize that the single, most important factor in the improvement of student learning is the quality of the teacher and the effectiveness of the instructional strategies that are used. The Seward Public School District is committed to incorporating the most effective instructional practices in our classrooms through on-going training with teachers and administrators, through professional discussion and sharing within our staff; and by assessing what is happening in the classroom as a result of our practices.

Click here to view the Action Plan. (Pdf file)

Building Improvement Goals

Student performance and related school improvement goals are reviewed annually in each building. Every building develops goal statements and action plans to enable students to achieve the district-wide standards and goals. Every building evaluates and updates its school improvement plan on an ongoing basis based on student performance data.

High School

In January of 2004, Seward High School staff adopted specific high school improvement goals to complement our district goals. We also began development of and finalized prior to the start of the 2004-05 school year, classroom and behavioral expectations for all students to provide a consistency throughout our building.

Our specific building goal is:

1. All students will be proficient in reading and writing skills.

All classrooms will provide opportunities for reinforcement of writing skills to include spelling and vocabulary appropriate to their curricular areas.
All teachers will provide opportunities for reinforcement of reading skills through classroom activities (reading aloud, oral reading, silent reading, etc.)
Implement reteaching opportunities in access time (fifth period) for student who do not achieve at a proficient level on reading criterion-referenced assessments.

The implementation of the building goals was immediate and will continue as we enter the 2004-2005 school year. The improved achievement on CRA's, NRT's, and statewide writing assessment as well as improved AYP for grade 11 reading will be evidence of student success in achieving our established goals.

Middle School

The 2003-04 school year served as the beginning of a new cycle for a five-year school improvement plan. In year one, a steering committee was formed to specifically target areas where there could be growth and improvement in student achievement for students at Seward Middle School. When the goals were written, action plans were formed to specifically target how the goals would be met.

In year two, teachers met several time during professional development days to implement the district and building goals. As a result, teachers were trained to improve on their effective instructional strategies and change discipline procedures. In December 2004, all teachers and administration participated in three days of APL training. All action teams met during professional development days to review, modify and implement the action plans. Improving in the areas of effective instruction and discipline will have a direct effect on improvement in student achievement. The following is a description of the Seward Middle School building goals.

Goal #1: All students will be proficient in the areas of reading, writing, and spelling.

An action team was formed to review state assessment scores, achievement test scores, and statewide writing assessment scores on an annual basis. The strategies this action team will implement are promoting correct conventions in writing, increasing the amount of language art instruction time, implementing strategies for improving reading instruction in reading and writing across the curriculum, and develop a reading incentives program. Teachers will promote staff training and work time to achieve this goal.

Goal #2: All students will improve academic achievement by taking responsibility for their own learning/assignments.

Goal #3: All students will take responsibility for their own behavior.

Two action teams were formed to help students in the reduction of late assignments, decrease office referrals. The action teams began the process of developing a set of building-wide rules for all students and the implementation of the SMS PRIDE program and the 4R room.

Goal #4: All special needs students will improve achievement in reading, writing, and math.

An action team was formed to implement strategies that would provide alternative math and reading, address the special education philosophy, and provide training on working with special needs students. State assessments and achievement test scores will be reviewed annually as evidence of attainment. Evidence of Adequate Yearly Progress for special needs students will be evaluated to meet federal No Child Left Behind legislation.

Elementary School

In January 2004, the Seward Elementary staff reviewed student data from the criterion-referenced assessments (CRA ) and the norm-referenced tests (NRT ). The CRAs are locally designed assessments that provide standards-based information. The NRTs are standardized achievement tests. With the administration of both types of assessments, the school is provided a balanced 'portrait' of student achievement. From the review of this data, specific areas for growth and improvement in student achievement were targeted. Those targeted areas became building goals and action plans for successful implementation were developed.

Goal #1: All students will read at grade level and write at a proficient level.

The activities or strategies implemented to achieve this goal include:

During the 2003 -- 2004 school year, all elementary teachers were trained in DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills). DIBELS is an assessment tool for screening and measuring progress of young readers in letter naming fluency, initial sound fluency, phoneme segmentation fluency, nonsense word fluency, oral reading fluency and retell fluency, and word use fluency. DIBELS is a valid and reliable assessment.
At the beginning of the 2004 -- 2005 school year, an assessment team was selected to administer the DIBELS to all students --- kindergarten through 4^th grade. The assessment identified at-risk students who required intensive or strategic reading intervention. To meet the needs of those at-risk students in kindergarten through second grade, two research-based interventions, Stepping Stones and Sound Partners, were implemented. Staff members and parent volunteers were trained to administer the selected interventions. These interventions are delivered to students individually and/or in small groups.
Instruction in the Six Traits Writing Process needs to be strengthened. Research will continue in this area for additional training and the possible implementation of the Step Up to Writing Program.
In the spring of 2005, third and fourth grade teachers will be trained in the use of the GORT-IV reading assessment. This assessment's focus is on oral reading fluency.
Appropriate vocabulary lists for kindergarten through second grade have been developed. By the end of the 2004 - 2005 school year, vocabulary lists for the third and fourth grade levels will be developed. Mastery of such vocabulary lists is essential for reading fluency and comprehension.

Goal #2: All students will be proficient in basic math skills.

The activities or strategies implemented to achieve this goal include:

In the spring of 2004, a computer basic skills program, Math Facts in a Flash -- Renaissance Learning, was implemented. The media specialist trained all classroom teachers. This program provides basic skills practice in the areas of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Students proceed through the program based on their individual ability level.
Research into supplemental programs for the strengthening of basic math facts will continue. Staff training will be provided when a program is selected.
Additional intervention strategies for math computation will be developed by each grade level to be implemented at the beginning of the 2005 --2006 school year.

Improving Learning for Children With Disabilities

In the fall of 2003-2004 Seward School's special education program began a new state-monitoring format identified as ILCD which stands for Improving Learning for Children with Disabilities.

The concept of ILCD is that special education program improvement should be tied to a district's overall school improvement format and in fact it should follow the five year timeline of the regular school improvement plan.

An ILCD Steering committee was selected and the first meeting was held in early March 2004 with a second occurring in April. The committee's membership includes parents of special needs students, special education teachers, a regular classroom teacher, para educators, a regular education administrator, the special education coordinator, a service coordinator, the curriculum director and related service providers.

Given the task of evaluating special education programming across eight state-chosen indicators, the ILCD committee has outlined the necessary data that needs to be collected and reviewed, recommended the processes for completion of parent and staff surveys required by the Nebraska Department of Education and reviewed the results of the formal special education student file review which Seward participated in at the beginning of May 2004.

During the 2004-2005 school year, the committee met twice and completed all data analysis across the eight indicators. In August of 2005, ILCD Action Plans will be developed to address all areas that show a need for improvement to assure the academic success of Seward's special needs students ages birth through 21 years.

Professional Development

Professional development activities are aligned to our school improvement goals, derived from student achievement needs, and aligned with the district's vision for instructional delivery. The professional staff will participate in training and in professional discussions with the goal of improving professional practices in ways that increase student achievement and meet the district's mission and goals.

Providing opportunities for professional growth is an integral service of the Curriculum and Staff Development department. Our goal is to support our teachers and administrators as they acquire information, techniques, and strategies they will use in implementing the curriculum.

Professional development topics provided during the 2004-2005 school year included: