John Adams High School Investment School January 2014 Report JOHN ADAMS HIGH SCHOOL INVESTMENT SCHOOL JANUARY 2014 REPORT To Families & Caregivers of John Adams High School students: In keeping with our promise to families of students attending CMSD’s Investment Schools, I am pleased to present John Adams High School’s second quarter 2013 progress report. As discussed with families when John Adams High School was selected as one of 13 CMSD Investment schools, it is common for turnaround schools to see improvements in culture and attendance before academic improvements are evident, so you may notice those trends. Research from other districts engaging in similar school reforms shows that sometimes there is even a dip in performance or a rise in discipline issues as standards get tougher, before seeing the improvements they seek. That is why CMSD has made a 3-year commitment to all Investment Schools, recognizing that turnaround does not happen overnight. As I reported to the community in December, we are proud to report that most Investment Schools have demonstrated improved student perceptions of safety and increased family and community participation at the school. In addition, I can now report that based on winter benchmark assessment data from our K-8 schools, most K-8 Investment Schools showed growth in their predicted Performance Index as compared to the fall baseline or as compared to last year’s Performance Index score. An important part of our effort to turn around John Adams High School and to fulfill our Cleveland Plan goal to ensure every child attends a successful school is your active participation in your child’s education. Families are one of the most important factors in student attendance and achievement, and we look forward to our continued partnership in your child’s education. In the coming months, there will be ongoing opportunities for families and community members to provide feedback on our goals and progress. Please share your ideas and concerns with your School-Parent Organization (SPO), principal, or superintendent (contact information below). The Investment School progress reports will continue to provide a detailed look at your child’s school performance so that, together, we can reinforce strategies that are working and provide additional supports where needed accelerate school improvement in our Investment Schools. Sincerely, Eric Gordon Trent Mosley, Investment School Superintendent [email protected] 989-239-9380 2 JOHN ADAMS HIGH SCHOOL INVESTMENT SCHOOL JANUARY 2014 REPORT Dear John Adams Stakeholders, As we conclude the first semester of our investment year, it is important that we take a moment to reflect on what we have accomplished and how far we have come. The initial year of investment has been challenging as we work to implement a change in the way we educate our children and prepare them for college and careers which will ultimately prepare them to effectively compete in the global work force. The foundation of our transformation is ensuring that every John Adams educator is committed to the success of our students and the community. Please know that every John Adams staff member has been carefully screened and selected by a team of parents, community members and teachers. Each John Adams staff member has signed a commitment letter confirming their willingness to do whatever it takes to help our children succeed. This is evident not only in our teaching staffs attendance being higher than the district average of 93% but through the hours our teachers spend after school working together to improve their practice to reach more students every day. Our staff’s commitment and increased presence in the building are directly related to the increased number of students indicating that they feel safe at school. Our most pressing issue continues to be student attendance. Attendance at John Adams stands at 81%, far below the state and district average. We currently have over 300 students who fail to attend school on a regular basis. As we cannot educate children who do not attend school, we remain committed to those students and want to do whatever we can to find a way to reach them and to improve their attendance. We are currently working with the community to find ways to attract these students back to our school or to any school that will help them achieve success. As we continue to work to teach the children of the John Adams community please remember that this is a community effort and only through our combined efforts will we be able to ensure that every child has an opportunity to learn and achieve their dreams. Please consider joining our Student Parent Organization, (S.P.O.) whose members assist us every day to increase attendance, find resources for our students, work with councilors to increase our graduation rate, tutor students for the Ohio Graduation Test (O.G.T.), or who help spread information about event happening in the school. As always I thank you for entrusting your children to the John Adams family. We never stop working to help our scholars to reach their full potential, so I am certain that together we can transform John Adams into the premier high school it once was. Sincerely, Damon L. Holmes Principal John Adams High School 3817 Martin Luther King Blvd Cleveland, OH 44105 Office: 216.491.5700 3 JOHN ADAMS HIGH SCHOOL INVESTMENT SCHOOL JANUARY 2014 REPORT Part I: Student Achievement There is no new benchmark data for high schools to predict student achievement at this time. Look for additional information at Quarter 3. Part II: Attendance and Culture Average daily student attendance: Improving trend % daily attendance 100% 95% 93% = state target 90% 85% 81% 81% 80% 12-13 yr Q1 (13-14) Q2 (13-14) 75% 70% John Adams High School Data through December 15 Average daily staff attendance: Improving trend 100.0% 95.0% 94.3% 93.2% 93.7% 90.6% 95%=state average 12-13 yr 90.0% Q1 85.0% Q2 80.0% John Adams High School District avg Includes instructional staff for Q1 and Q2 (e.g. teachers, paraprofessionals); Teachers only for 1213; Q2 attendance from 10/12 to 12/20 4 JOHN ADAMS HIGH SCHOOL INVESTMENT SCHOOL JANUARY 2014 REPORT Part II: Attendance and Culture (continued) Major discipline incidents: Declining trend (goal = 0) 23 25 18 20 15 2012-13 10 2013-14 5 0 Year-to-date Students report feeling safe at school: Improving trend; (goal = 100%) % of survey respondents Data through December 100 80 60 Excellent safety 40 Adequate safety 20 0 2012-13 Teachers report strong support from administration: Fall 13 District Fall 13 CMSD is developing a Conditions for Teaching Survey to evaluate how supported teachers feel at school. We will roll-out this survey this spring. In the meantime, academic superintendents are informally surveying teachers to make sure they feel supported, and the CTU is also regularly communicating teacher sentiment at schools. 5 JOHN ADAMS HIGH SCHOOL INVESTMENT SCHOOL JANUARY 2014 REPORT Part III: Family and Community Engagement Number of family and community engagement events All data on this page as reported to the Family and Community Engagement Office, so may not include additional off-site or community events. 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 3 # of family and community events No data 12-13 Year-to- 13-14 Year-todate date As of December 1 Participation at family and community engagement events We hope to move to a method of reporting family and community engagement that will allow for comparison across schools, but this is challenging since some parents attend an event for multiple siblings, while another student might have a dad and an aunt attend an event, for example. Keep in mind that H.B. 525 or the “Cleveland Plan” requires that all families attend a family conference by December 15 of each school year. 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 310 No data # of participants at family and community events 12-13 Year-to- 13-14 Year-todate date As of December 1 Customer service: Both MassInsight, a partner to the Investment Schools, and the Family and Community Engagement (FACE) office recently distributed online surveys to determine the extent to which parents feel welcome and respected at school. Unfortunately, we did not receive enough responses to report the information as reliable. FACE will re-administer their survey in the spring, so please be on the look-out and complete the survey online or by phone. MassInsight may be in touch in the meantime to make sure schools are welcoming families: please respond so we can improve our service. You can always contact the principal, SPO chair, or superintendent with any questions or concerns. 6 JOHN ADAMS HIGH SCHOOL INVESTMENT SCHOOL JANUARY 2014 REPORT Part IV: Facilities School cleanliness: The Operations team is beginning school walk-throughs to monitor school cleanliness and facilities maintenance. They will survey the grounds and entrances, hallways, kitchen and dining area, and bathrooms. We hope to have initial data to report on progress around this metric for the next quarterly reports in March. Food quality: Because fewer than 10 parents responded to the Mass Insight survey, we cannot report baseline data on food quality, but we will be surveying students on breakfast and lunch quality going forward. 7