1. education
2. school

Rocky River !
Elementary School!
School Improvement Plan!
2014-2015!
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PART I: SCHOOL BACKGROUND
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SCHOOL HISTORY
Rocky River Elementary School (RRES) is located at 483 Rocky River
Road and opened in the fall of 2009. Our school serves students ranging
in age from 3 year-old pre-kindergarten through third grade students. The
school currently operates 35 classrooms, in three classroom wings. Rocky
River Elementary School also houses a central library with adjoining
computer lab, music room, art room, gym, multi-purpose cafeteria with an
adjoining stage for school presentations and assemblies. There are also
six smaller classrooms which can be used for pull-out tutor rooms,
computer mini-labs, classroom projects areas and a variety of related
services therapies. Outside the school is an enclosed outdoor play area for
preschool and younger students, a large play area with a play structure and
recreation equipment, and expansive fields for school and community use.
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OUR STUDENTS
Rocky River Elementary School opened the 2009-2010 school year with
543 students. Since opening, enrollment has been steadily increasing.
This school year Rocky River added and additional preschool classroom,
and is home to a preschool that houses two 3 year old classrooms and 3 4
year old classrooms. Rocky River continues to grow with a total enrollment
that has reached 667 pre-school and school-age students.
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OUR STAFF
Rocky River Elementary School students are served by 27 K-3rd grade
regular classroom teachers, and has 5 preschool classroom teachers. In
addition the school employs a Physical Education teacher, music teacher,
art teacher, media specialist, counselor, and technology facilitator. Seven
special education teachers provide special education services for students
with disabilities. The office and instructional support staff includes three
office professionals, 27 full-time instructional assistants, four custodians,
and six cafeteria staff. The leadership staff includes a principal and
assistant principal.
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OUR PARENTS
Rocky River Elementary School parents are important partners at Rocky
River. We have a parent organization that is active in a number of ways
including hosting family events, volunteering and fundraising. Parents also
spend countless hours volunteering in our school. They provide tutoring
services and assist teachers as well as are active in after-school programs
and events. The 2014 North Carolina Teacher Working Condition Survey
results indicated 96% agreement that Parents/Guardians support teachers,
contributing to their success with students and 100% agreement that the
school does a good job of encouraging parent/guardian involvement.
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CLASS SIZE
The average class size is 22.1 students per class ranging from 20.0 in third
grade to 23.7 in second grade The weekly schedule at RRES provides
each student in grades K-3 with 45 minutes of P.E., music, computer lab,
library, guidance, art, and istation. Additionally, every grade level has an
enrichment/intervention block where no new instruction is taught and
students are provided with activities to address a deficit or enhance a skill
already mastered. Teachers also have access to mobile macbook and
iPad labs in order to learn technology skills and integrate technology into
the class curriculum. The schedule at RRES also allows for monthly early
release days for district, school, and staff teams to focus on student
improvement goals, curriculum alignment, development of performance
assessments, and professional improvement activities to help ensure that
students will master the Essential Standards of the Common Core
Curriculum.
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PART II: STUDENT PROFILE!
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Enrollment Data!
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Pre-Kindergarten
71
Kindergarten
142
1st Grade
128
2nd Grade
166
3rd Grade
160
TOTAL
667
Enrollment Data for 2007-2008 (as of March 2008)
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Student Demographics!
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White
502
75%
Black
49
7.3%
Hispanic
64
9.6%
1
0.1%
Asian/Pacific Islander
13
2.0%
Multi-Racial
36
5.4%
Exceptional Children
69
10.4%
Economically Disadvantaged
—
29.5%
Boys
370
55.5%
Girls
297
44.5%
Total Student Population
667
100%
American Indian/Alaskan Native
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PART III: MISSION, VISION, AND BELIEFS
Mission Statement !
The vision of Rocky River Elementary School is to be a premier hands-on,
minds-on global learning environment. We strive to inspire life-long learning
and personal, social and academic excellence for the 21st Century.
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Vision Statement !
Our mission is to provide a 21st Century learning environment where students,
families and teachers collaborate to encourage, nurture and equip every child,
every day to be successful citizens in a global society.
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As a Learning Community we value...
• Diversity - We respect individual differences: culture, interests and abilities.
• Integrity - We value honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility.
• High Expectations - We achieve academic excellence by nurturing students'
curiosity.
• Student Centered Environment- We create student centered classrooms where
students are actively engaged.
• Communication - We establish a sense of community where students, teachers and parents
feel connected to and supported by one another.
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PART IV: ASSESSMENT OF STRENGTHS AND NEEDS!
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Data:!
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Year
Gradelevel
2012-13 Kinderg
arten
Reading Math
Year
Gradelevel
Reading Math
89%
88% 2013-14 Kinderg
arten
90%
87%
1st
Grade
94%
87%
1st
Grade
69%
82%
2nd
Grade
91%
86%
2nd
Grade
86%
85%
3rd
Grade
56%
62%
3rd
Grade
79%
88%
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Data:!
Rocky River serves students from Kindergarten through 3rd grade.
The primary purpose for our summative assessment data used to
drive instruction and make critical decisions on programming. The
district and Rocky River instructional staff uses a variety of state and
district developed assessments that are aligned to the North Carolina
Standard Course of Study. In addition locally created pacing guides,
quarterly assessments and the mClass Reading 3D are used to
benchmark students and provide diagnostic information to teachers to
adjust their classroom instruction to meet the needs of all students.
For kindergarten, first and second grade students one of the primary
tools is the North Carolina K-2 Assessment and the North Carolina
End-of-Grade Assessment is used for third grade students. Results
from those assessments are included above. A relative strength in
the area of math is evident by a modest increase, from 81% proficient
to 85.5% proficient across the school and across grade-levels. Our
school has identified a relative weakness in literacy dropping slightly
from 82.5% proficient to 81% proficient across the school and across
grade-levels.!
The school improvement goals detailed below are generated to
address areas of need identified.!
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SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT GOALS
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School Goal 1.1 Increase Reading proficiency for K-2 students from
82% to 90% as measured by K-2 summative assessments. Reading
proficiency for 3rd grade students will increase from 79% to 90% as
measured by the 2014 North Carolina Reading EOG. Close the
achievement gap among all subgroups to 10% or less in Reading.
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MGSD Strategic Goal: Establish MGSD students as globally innovative leaders by
fostering a culture that cultivates critical thinking, communication, collaboration
creativity, rigor relevance, and social relationships.
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State Board of Education Strategic Goal: North Carolina Public Schools will
produce globally competitive students.
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Goal 1.1
Increase Reading proficiency for K-2 students from 82% to 90% as measured by
K-2 summative assessments. Reading proficiency for 3rd grade students will
increase from 79% to 90% as measured by the 2014 North Carolina Reading EOG.
Close the achievement gap among all subgroups to 10% or less in Reading.
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Strategies!
Establish baseline
reading
performance for
each K-2 student.
Resources
Required
NC K-2 Assessments,
mClass: Reading 3D
Beginning of the Year
Assessments, iStation
baseline data.
Establish baseline NC Beginning of the
reading
Grade Reading Test,
performance of
class: Reading 3D
each 3rd grade
Beginning of the Year
student
Assessments, iStation
baseline data.
Develop a schedule Instructional Staff,
to include morning Enhancement
reading instruction Instructional Support
of no less than 75
Staff, Master
minutes per day
Schedule.
Timetable
Fall 2014
Person(s)
Means of
Responsibl
Evaluation
e
RRES staff
Summary Data
Reports of the
various
assessments
Fall 2014
RRES staff
Summer
2014
Administratio Master Schedule
n and School
Leadership
Teams
Summary Data
Reports of the
various
assessments
Strategies!
Provide all students
with quality
Balanced literacy
instruction
Resources
Required
Timetable
Letterland, Daily 5,
2014-2015
digital resources,
guided reading and
enhancement/
intervention time
daily.
Provide all students Research-Based
2014-2015
with targeted
interventions such as
interventions in the iStation, Reading
classroom based on AtoZ
data from
assessments and
core instructional
program
Conduct weekly
Cooperative planning 2014-2015
PLCs to include
time for the entire
professional
grade-level
development time
and an opportunity
to collect and
analyze progress
monitoring data
Provide ELA staff Letterland training,
2014-2015
development to
Daily 5 training,
enhance core
resource and training
reading instruction materials
including Daily 5,
Letterland and
Guided Reading.
Utilize human
core instructional
2014-2015
resources to support program
reading block and
enrichment/
intervention time,
including utilizing
Enhancement
teachers and
instructional
assistants in
classrooms.
Person(s)
Means of
Responsibl
Evaluation
e
RRES staff
Summary Data
Reports of the
various
assessments
RRES staff
Pacing Guides,
Lesson Plans, RtI
progress
monitoring.
RRES staff,
and
Administratio
n.
Summary Data
Reports of the
various
assessments, PLC
agendas.
RRES staff,
Attendance and
and
participation in the
Administratio training, agendas.
n.
Classroom
EOQ, EOG scores,
Teachers,
Lesson Plans
Enhancement
Teachers,
Instructional
Assistants
Strategies!
Resources
Required
Hire certified Small SGI training
Group Instructors to
support classroom
instruction
Timetable
2014-2015
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Person(s)
Means of
Responsibl
Evaluation
e
Classroom
EOQ, EOG scores,
Teachers,
Lesson Plans
Certified
Small Group
Instructors
School Goal 1.2 Increase Math proficiency for K-2 students from 85%
to 90% as measured by K-2 summative assessments. Math
proficiency for 3rd grade students will increase from 88% to 95% as
measured by the 2014 North Carolina Reading EOG. Close the
achievement gap among all subgroups to 10% or less in Math.
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MGSD Strategic Goal: Establish MGSD students as globally innovative leaders by
fostering a culture that cultivates critical thinking, communication, collaboration
creativity, rigor relevance, and social relationships.
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State Board of Education Strategic Goal: North Carolina Public Schools will
produce globally competitive students.
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Goal 1.2
Increase Math proficiency for K-2 students from 85% to 90% as measured by K-2
summative assessments. Math proficiency for 3rd grade students will increase
from 88% to 95% as measured by the 2014 North Carolina Reading EOG. Close
the achievement gap among all subgroups to 10% or less in Math.
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Strategies!
Establish baseline
math performance
for each K-3
student.
Provide all students
with targeted
interventions in the
classroom based on
data from
assessments and
core instructional
program
Resources
Required
Timetable
NC K-2 Assessments, Fall 2014
iXL math
assessments, Local
math pre-test
Research-Based
2014-2015
interventions such as
iStation, Reading
AtoZ
Person(s)
Responsible
RRES staff
RRES staff
Means of
Evaluation
Summary Data
Reports of the
various
assessments
Pacing Guides,
Lesson Plans, RtI
progress
monitoring.
Strategies!
Consistently
monitor the progress
of students and
adjust math
instruction as
needed.
Resources
Required
Timetable
Core math
2014-2015
instructional program.
Digital resources such
as iXL,
Person(s)
Responsible
RRES staff
Means of
Evaluation
Pacing Guides,
Lesson Plans, RtI
progress
monitoring.
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School Goal 2.1 To improve student outcomes, each member of
Rocky River will develop in their job functions by working in a
Professional Learning Community with peers in similar work roles.
Certified and non-certified instructional staff will participate in staff
development designed to drive and enhance our core instruction.
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MGSD Strategic Goal: In order to lead, teach, assess and support students,
MGSD actively recruits, retains and continually develops highly competent,
caring and student focused staff.
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State Board of Education Strategic Goal: North Carolina public schools will be led
by 21st Century professionals.
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Goal 2.1
To improve student outcomes, each member of Rocky River will develop in their
job functions by working in a Professional Learning Community with peers in
similar work roles. Certified and non-certified instructional staff will participate in
staff development designed to drive and enhance our core instruction.
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Strategies!
Ensure that all
certified staff
members hold
weekly PLC
meetings focused on
professional
development,
curriculum and
instruction, as well
as data collection.
Resources
Required
Protected common
planning time, data
reports from various
assessments, district
and school
professional
development plan
Timetable
2014-2015
Person(s)
Responsible
Means of
Evaluation
Instructional PLC agendas
staff,
Administratio
n.
Strategies!
Certified staff will
participate in PLC
book study on the
Daily 5 and
implementation of a
balanced literacy
program.
Resources
Required
Timetable
Daily 5 book for each 2014-2015
certified staff
member. Protected
PLC meeting times
during teacher
planning each week,
Letterland and
Fundations resources,
literacy materials
Enhancement
Protected common
2014-2015
teachers’ will have planning time,
PLCs focused on
opportunities to meet
support of core
with district-level
instructional
peers for collaborative
programs as well as planning.
have district-led
opportunities to
collaborate with
peers
Ensure that all
Monthly meetings,
2014-2015
classified staff
school professional
members have a
development plan for
collaborative team non-certified staff,
of their peers and
provided with
professional
development
opportunities to
enhance core
instruction.
Member of the
Monthly meetings,
2014-2015
custodial staff and
bus drivers will
have periodic
meetings to
collaborate and
grow as
professionals.
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Goal 3.1
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Person(s)
Responsible
Means of
Evaluation
Instructional Agendas
staff,
Administratio
n.
Enhancement Agendas,
Teachers,
Department
Chair,
Administratio
n
Instructional Agendas
Assistants,
Administratio
n
Custodial
Agendas
staff, Bus
drivers,
administration
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School Goal 3.1 Ensure that each student at-risk of academic or
social/emotional failure is provided with a individualized plan for
improvement to include proper identification, appropriate
interventions and consistently monitor progress for improvement.
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MGSD Strategic Goal:
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State Board of Education Strategic Goal:
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Goal 3.1
Ensure that each student at-risk of academic or social/emotional failure is
provided with a individualized plan for improvement to include proper
identification, appropriate interventions and consistently monitor progress for
improvement.
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Strategies!
Resources
Required
Timetable
Person(s)
Responsible
PLC teams and RtI Data, Team Meetings, 2014-2015
teams analyze
PBIS and RtI
academic
meetings and plans.
achievement data as
a teams
PLC Teams,
RtI/PBIS
Teams
PLC teams and RtI
teams analyze
discipline data to
make adjustments to
PBIS plan and
identify at-risk
students.
Conduct weekly
RtI/PBIS Team
meetings to examine
data and discuss
both core
instructional
program gaps and
individual student
plans.
Data, Team Meetings, 2014-2015
PBIS and RtI
meetings and plans.
PLC Teams,
RtI/PBIS
Teams
Meetings
RtI/PBIS
Teams,
instructional
staff.
2014-2015
Means of
Evaluation
Academic data
report from various
sources.
Adjustments to
core curriculum
and tier 1
interventions.
Discipline Data,
revision of PBIS
plan, individual
student plans for
at-risk students
Agendas, meeting
notes/minutes, preand post-data of
students
performance,
changes in RtI tier
one interventions,
and PBIS plan
Strategies!
Resources
Required
Timetable
Attend Module One Region and District- 2014-2015
PBIS training for
level training, PBIS
the entire RtI team. notebook and schoolwide implementation
plan
Conduct Beginning School level training 2014-2015
of the Year and
sessions.
Middle of the Year
RtI and PBIS
training for the
entire staff
Person(s)
Responsible
RtI/PBIS
Teams,
instructional
staff.
Means of
Evaluation
List of PBIS/RtI
Committee
members trained,
PBIS coach, RtI and PBIS
RtI/PBIS team agendas and
members
meeting notes,
Staff Meeting
agendas.
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School Goal 4.1 Utilize 21 Century skills and tools and in all
classrooms to enhance instruction and improve student outcomes.
Develop safe and responsible consumers and producers of digital
resources.
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MGSD Strategic Goal:
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State Board of Education Strategic Goal: North Carolina Public Schools will
produce globally competitive students.
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Goal 4.1 Utilize 21 Century skills and tools and in all classrooms to enhance
instruction, improve student outcomes and develop safe and responsible
consumers and producers of digital resources.
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Strategies!
Provide students
with digital
resources for second
language
acquisition.
Resources
Required
Timetable
Rosetta Stone, school- 2014-2015
based representatives,
professional
development.
Enhancement
schedule to include
Rosetta Stone
Person(s)
Responsible
Means of
Evaluation
ITF,
on-going
Instructional assessment on
Assistants,
Rosetta Stone.
Certified
classroom
teachers,
administration
Strategies!
Resources
Required
Implement Gateway
Project for third
grade students that
demonstrates use of
21st Century skills
and tools
Utilize digital
resources to
enhance instruction
Digital resources,
research resources,
Instructional
Technology
Facilitator (ITF)
Provide students
with explicit
instruction on
digital citizenship
Common Sense
Media,
Timetable
2014-2015
school year
Digital resources such 2014-2015
as iStation, iXL,
xtraMath, ITF
2014-2015
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Person(s)
Responsible
Means of
Evaluation
3rd Grade
Gateway project
Teachers, ITF rubric, digital
portfolio product.
ITF,
Instructional
Assistants,
Certified
classroom
teachers,
administration
ITF,
instructional
staff,
administration
Rubrics, pre- and
post assessment
data
Lesson plans
Rocky River Elementary !
Summary of School Waiver Requests!
Program Years 2014-2015!
Waiver
Please describe the
waiver you are
requesting
1
Individual Class Size
Waiver Request
2
Textbooks:!
• Utilize textbook
funding for identified
instructional supplies,
materials and digital
resources.
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Indentify the law,
regulation, or
policy from which
exemption is
requested
North Carolina
General Statue
115C-301(g)
authorized a waiver
of class size
requirements for an
individual
class if a local board
of education cannot
organizationally
correct an exception
and if the exception
results from:
1. Exceptional
circumstances,
emergencies, or act
of God
2. Large changes in
student population
3. Organizational
problems caused by
remote geographic
location
4. Classes
organized for a
solitary curricular
area
North Carolina
General Statue
115-85 and North
Carolina General
Statue 115C-86
State how this
waiver will be used
and how it helps
achieve the
specific
performance goals
identified in the
School
Improvement Plan
This waiver will allow
us the flexibility to
make decisions to
reorganize classes
that are over the
state mandated
class size limit.
This waiver will allow
the flexibility to
transfer funds from
the textbook
allotment to the
instructional supply
allotment.