NPHS School Improvement Plan 2016-17

of North Posey County is comprised of two elementary schools, a junior high school, and a high school.. The North Posey High School curriculum is aligned with the standards adopt-ed by t

North Posey High School

PL 221 School Improvement Plan

2016-17

Introduction

Description and Location of Curriculum

Located in the northern portion of Posey County in the southwest corner of the state, the MSD of North Posey County is rural in nature, consisting of a popula-tion of approximately ten thousand people The school corporapopula-tion, with a to-tal of 209.5 full-time employees, is this portion of the count’s largest employer Students migrate to the high school from one junior high and two parochial schools The student population of the high school is comprised of approxi-mately 95.7% Caucasian citizens, and the average per capita income for our county was approximately $29, 187 in 2013 27.3% of the high school’s students receive free or reduced lunch privileges

M.S.D of North Posey County is comprised of two elementary schools, a junior high school, and a high school The high school and junior high school are housed in the same building and share the media center, cafeteria, nurse’s office and several staff members The high school has a student population of 491 students with a teaching staff of 39 The guidance department has two full-time guidance counselors In addition, a staff of custodians, dietary personnel, secre-taries, an athletic director, a technology coordinator, and extra-curricular staff and sponsors help support the programs of the high school

The North Posey High School curriculum is aligned with the standards

adopt-ed by the Indiana State Board of Education Teachers at North Posey High School, in conjunction with the direction of building administration and guid-ance of other school personnel, consistently work to improve the curriculum

by participating in professional development opportunities in all areas of cur-riculum throughout the school year The North Posey High School Curcur-riculum Guide is available at the high school, at the MSD North Posey County Central Office, and on-line at www.north posey.12.in us Our curriculum guide is also provided to all parents and students during Freshmen Orientation

Titles and Descriptions of Assessment Instru-ments

All courses require teacher-generated assessments, both formal and infor-mal Final examinations are administered in all classes; however, those results are not used to evaluate the school’s curriculum and methods

State-required End-of-Course Assessments for English 10 and Algebra I are administered for graduation requirements, and the End-of-Course Assess-ment for Biology I is also given to students Classroom-specific End-of-Course Assessments are also administered to measure Student Learning Objectives established by every teacher at the beginning of each year

A combination of these assessments have continued to help enhance curricu-lar areas of strengths and weaknesses at North Posey High School Assess-ments from the Accelerated Reading Program (STAR Reading) are also con-sistently used to progress monitor ours students’ reading levels We are now excelling in our thirteenth year of this independent reading program and have enhanced the program through implementing progress monitoring tools for all students In order to ensure College and Career Readiness, results from the PSAT, SAT, ACT and Advanced Placement Exams are analyzed as well North Posey High School students are provided opportunities to use PIVOT/

INSPECT in both English and Algebra during assigned testing windows as an indicator in how they will perform on required state assessments Teachers also use assessment data to differentiate instruction and tailor lesson plans to our diverse student academic needs

Mission, Vision, and Beliefs

A democratic society cannot function without an educated citizenry To ensure that North Posey High School graduates can assume their roles in that society, our school has committed itself to meeting the students’ educa-tional, emoeduca-tional, and psychological needs The school and community must encourage scholastic achievement, promote responsible behavior, fos-ter self-respect and respect for others, and champion the concepts and val-ues of our pluralistic society Likewise, the students must accept the respon-sibility for their own development, and with appropriate encouragement, exert the effort necessary for success

The staff of NPHS accepts the responsibility of providing to its students the educational background and skills necessary to achieve their potential The school’s intent is to foster in each student positive emotional development, effective social interaction, and responsible citizenship, as well as a desire to learn and to succeed Specifically, all students are strongly encouraged to find at least one extra-curricular activity or after-school interest group that would require them to be a part of our school, outside of the “typical” school day NPHS encourages the engagement of students, parents, and school per-sonnel in a cooperative effort to provide a productive learning environment

Summary of Data

A 2014-15 A-F Accountability Report Card

Letter Grade

North Posey High School received an “A” as its final letter grade for school accountability

There was no letter grade change from last year The final grade reflects student performance and improvement on the Alg I and Eng 10 Graduation Exams, along with graduation rate and college and career readiness

Student Performance

Mathematics

73.8% of students passed the assessment

This rate is above the state average

This rate is above the state goal

Language Arts

91.0% of students passed the assessment This rate is above the state average

This rate is below the state goal

Student Improvement

The shift to a new assessment aligned to the new Indiana College and

Career Ready Standards established a new baseline for our ISTEP+ assess-ment making previous years’ Student Performance, Student Growth and Accountability grades not comparable to the 2014-15 results

Summary of Data Graduation Rate College & Career Readiness

97.3% of students graduated within 4

years

This rate is above the state average

This rate is above the state goal

54.7% of students achieved CCR

This rate is above the state average

This rate is above the state goal

B Annual Performance Report

Indicator ’12-13 ‘13-14 ‘14-15 State Totals

% Passing ECA Math Standard 53.3 54.7 73.8 68.9

% Passing ECA English Language Arts

Standard

83.2 86.9 91.0 77.9

% of graduates who have passed both

ECA Standards

89.6 93.9 96.43 82.75

% of graduates granted waivers for the

ECA

% of graduates taking Advanced

Place-ment tests

39.8 29.5 8.2 3.9

% of AP tests with score of 3,4, or 5 36.6 44.1 47.8 49.7

% of 12 th graders taking SAT 57.4 52.7 55.5 45.9

% Core 40 with Honors Diplomas 45.3 43.9 43.1 37.2

# of International Baccalaureate

Diplo-mas

% of graduates pursuing college

educa-tion

# of students with more than 10

unex-cused days absent

# of students retained in the 9 th grade 0 0 0 886

# of expulsions and suspensions

involv-ing drugs, weapons, or alcohol

% of students in Career and Technical

Program

68.7 49.15

Current Educational Planning

The North Posey High School curriculum encourages teachers to utilize in-structional strategies that are aligned with the academic standards defined

by the state of Indiana Each discipline is required to maintain curriculum maps for each semester that illustrate how the instructional strategies in the classroom are specifically aligned with each standard Teachers are encour-aged to make interdisciplinary connections that promote problem-solving and literacy skills for our students A close analysis of student achievement data is conducted by administrators, counselors, and teachers to promote school improvement

A Curriculum Support, Instructional Strategies and Student Achievement Analysis

B Parental Participation

North Posey High School faculty and administration welcome parental in-volvement and participation in school-related activities and events All stu-dents and parents receive a copy of the curriculum at Freshman Orientation with Core 40 and Academic Honors graduation requirements included The high school routinely distributes copies of the state standards to parents of students enrolled in Core 40 courses A guidance web page has been con-structed so the community has access to course offerings, scholarship infor-mation, and additional information deemed appropriate When students know their parents support the school and its activities, they are more likely

to increase their efforts to achieve high educational goals Because student involvement increases when parental involvement increases, the faculty be-lieves parental involvement plays a key role in the educational success or failure of its students This focus has encouraged our entire school district

to provide parents with an on-line system for monitoring grades, discipline, accounts, and assignments for every student This service also allows par-ents to directly e-mail teachers or administrators when they have concerns

or questions about their student The faculty continues to explore strategies

to get parents involved in positive ways

North Posey High School has two computer labs that teachers may reserve for classroom use In addition to these labs, four other labs exist that are utilized daily through business and technology courses All labs are updated with current software and are networked; the labs are on a rotating schedule for more updates on a continuous basis Other current technological tools used in our building include, ceiling mounted LCD projectors, Promethean Active boards, and wireless mobile computer labs We have recently been staffed with a technology coordinator on site, and she is responsible for maintaining building support for our staff’s technological needs The dis-trict’s technology plan is updated and maintained by our technology direc-tor, Eric Long

C Technology as a Learning Tool

D Safe and Disciplined Learning Environment

North Posey High School has shown a decrease in violations with cheating, dress code violations, and failure to clear absences However, an increase in cell phone violations and fighting exists that will be a focus for the following year It is believed that by using a computer system for referrals and attend-ance that all infractions are getting documented in the system and records are accurate However, more attention will be given to these changes in our student behavior Based on comments made through a Student Liaison Committee that meets with faculty and administration once each month, students felt there was a significant difference from previous years in alcohol and drug-related incidents As stated, both of these areas remained con-sistent from previous years, but students felt there was even a larger differ-ence than the numbers indicated Teachers and administrators will continue

to keep parents informed and constantly try to reduce the number of dis-tractions within the school The following chart tracks discipline issues in our school from 2011-2016

Infraction 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16

Cell Phone 52 51 22 92

Disruption of

School

Failure to Clear

Absence

Failure to Serve

Detention

Harassment/

Intimidation

Horseplay 28 17 16 15 Insubordination 234 158 146 136

Public Display of

Affection

Vandalism/Theft 8 1 4 2

TOTALS 646 536 458 389

A Attendance Rate

Student Achievement Objectives

A Graduation Rate

Immediate Areas of Improvement

After reviewing data such as standardized test scores, graduation rates, and results from other school-preferred assessments, North Posey High School will focus on improving educational opportunities for all students with the following goals:

Goal #1 – All students will continue to improve literacy skills across the curriculum

Goal #2 – All students will continue to improve problem solving skills across the curriculum

Goal #3—All students will continue to improve communication skills, both written and spoken, across the curriculum

North Posey High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school that offers Core 40 with Academic Honors, Core 40 with Technical Honors, and Core 40 diplomas To graduate with less than a Core 40 diploma, a for-mal opt-out process must be completed A credit recovery program (APEX)

is available to juniors and seniors to assist them in meeting the diploma re-quirements For students seeking academic challenges, the high school offers rigorous course work, including Advanced Placement offerings in AP Language and Composition, AP Literature and Composition, and AP Calcu-lus, as well as dual credit opportunities in the disciplines of Science, Social Studies, Business, Engineering, and Agriculture As a member of the Evans-ville Area Vocational Cooperative, the school offers enrollment in specific vocational courses at the Southern Indiana Career and Technical Center dur-ing a student’s junior and/or senior years North Posey has offered courses in the engineering component of Project Lead the Way since 2003 and in the biomedical component of Project Lead the Way since 2009

Diploma Opportunities

Continuous Improvement Benchmarks

North Posey High School will continue to use the following benchmarks as measures for school improvement:

 90% of students passing both ECA’s for Algebra I and English 10/ISTEP

 Increase in the percentage of all graduates receiving a 3, 4, or 5 on at least one AP exam or receive the equivalent of 3 semester hours of college credit during their high school years

 90% of students graduate from high school

Proposed Interventions

 Professional development of the faculty and staff will focus on creating rigor in student objectives, improving student success on standardized assessments (ECA’s, SAT’s, AP exams, etc.), and other district/building-specific needs

 7 built-in professional development days have been added to the school calendar by extending the school day by 5 minutes

 The school will improve the Accelerated Reading program and continue

a school-wide literacy program to improve students’ comprehension, reading and writing skills, and encourage life-long readers

 The school will identify general needs of incoming ninth-grade students and current students with low English and math scores and provide ex-tra instructional support in these two subject areas

 Throughout the curriculum, all members of the instructional staff will provide instruction in math problem-solving and literacy skills

 The school will provide a guidance program to identify student career interests and develop readiness program to connect that interest be-tween enrollment and success in rigorous courses

 At-risk interventions will continue to be initiated through the RtI pro-cess