Progress in Attaining

Keene School Board Goals for 2011-2012

November 2011

Keene High School

The collaborative initiative with the Winchester K-8 school administration continues.  Principal Mr. Lewis and Guidance Counselor Ms. Heise are meeting regularly to improve the academic achievement and social interaction of the incoming freshman class from Winchester.

Symonds School

Goal #1 – Student Learning:  Symonds has just completed NWEA and NECAP testing for the fall and is turning its attention back to instruction.  It has collected fall data on NWEA and the implementation of RTI and has discussed how that looks.  The parent group has discussed how the implementation of Instructional Time Guidelines has affected the childrens’ day.

 Goals #2 - Organizational Efficiency:  Symonds has collected data on staff absences, electricity usage and copy machine use.  The information has been presented to staff and discussed.  A procedure has been put in place to review the information on a monthly basis.

 Fuller School

Improvement of Student Learning:

·         Continued implementation of RTI.  Teachers have been submitting information developed during RTI planning times regarding the development of instructional groups to address student need.  At this point, the most common approach is horizontal grouping of students across grade levels.

·         Staff meeting time has been taken for teachers to discuss common experiences with RTI implementation.

·         Inventory.

Advocating for Public Education and Students:

·         Recently initiated meetings on the order of a “School Council” to discuss ideas and concerns related to Fuller and the district.  Meetings are scheduled to take place at 5:30pm on the first Wednesday of the month, right before monthly FSA meetings that start at 6:30.  The meetings are open to teachers and parents.  The topic of the narrow grade span concept was discussed at the first meeting on November 2. 

Jonathan Daniels

Continues to address the scheduling glitches related to RTI.  We feel that we have settled into a process that is working for now.  We will be collecting additional student data for upcoming parent conferences.

The annual Craft Fair is on December 3.  This event always brings many visitors to JD.

Keene Middle School

Raise the bar on student learning:  We currently have one sixth grader scheduled to take Topics of Algebra; a 7^th grader taking Topics of Algebra and three 8^th graders in Honors Algebra in Virtual Learning Academy.  We have and 8^th grade social studies IAP in progress and approximately 20 students taking two music classes through the IAP process.  We have participated in ELO training provided by the state and are exploring using community mentors to support such a program.  We are in the process of goal setting with all students – reading and math.  We have identified the students who will be in the Tier 2 V-Math program and they have received their first week of instruction.  This program provided additional support to their regular math program.

Increased organizational efficiency/Manage responsible and efficient allocation of the school district budget:  We are currently working on next year’s budget and reviewing the need of two assistant principals.  We have been exploring what other middle schools are doing.  Our preliminary results show that our current organization might be the most cost effective and efficient.

Franklin School

All items in our SIP are being done as planned.  Leadership teams are fully operational and report out at every staff meeting.  Weekly RTI meetings have started; the “tiers” have been defined and are operational.  Instructional time guidelines are being met although the schedule is exceedingly tight.  Our Data Team is working with the staff to make the best use of MAP data.  Franklin was well represented at the Jodi O’Meara workshops on DI and RTI, and we plan to use ASCD’s video series on differentiated instruction over the next several months to continue to strengthen our core.  We continue to reduce our reliance on tutors to better insure that our most qualified staff works with our most at-risk students.  A presentation on RTI was made to the Franklin PTC in September, with more in the planning stages.  Our annual Open House was revamped to include clear curriculum focus, K-5, and presentations are available on the school’s website.

Administration

Superintendents Gurney and Woolridge and Curriculum Director, Meredith Cargill, presented at the New England Secondary Consortium to bring attention to the goals of making graduates ready to enter the workforce or higher education with the skills necessary to be successful.  This conference will bring together representatives of higher education, secondary education, businesses and the military to discuss any other items, including experiential learning opportunities and overcoming obstacles to successful career transitions.