Running head: SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT GOAL AND ACTION STEPS

Jessica P. Currin

School Improvement Goal and Action Steps

ELP 551: Contexts and Challenges of School Improvement

Dr. Brenda D. Champion

North Carolina State University

Spring 2019
 SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT GOAL AND ACTION STEPS

Lincoln Heights Magnet Elementary School - Literacy Improvement Goal

SMART Goal:

By June 2019, 80% of fourth and fifth-grade students will be proficient as measured by the

English Language Arts End of Grade Assessment.

Action Steps:

Action Step Time Resources Cost

1. Each grade level will April 2019 – - literacy coach - no additional costs
collaboratively plan their literacy June 2019 - one common planning time
instruction each week with our per week devoted to literacy
literacy coach. planning
- EL Education Curriculum
2. Each grade level will receive April 2019 – - literacy coach - no additional costs
professional development on June 2019 - PLC time for PD - Language Dive
“Language Dives” and implement this - Language Dive Poster for Posters will be
strategy in their literacy block at least each room created on our school
four times a week. poster maker
3. Each teacher will incorporate a core April 2019 – - supplemental texts from EL - no additional costs
read aloud each day during their June 2019 Education Curriculum
literacy block. The read aloud will - texts from school library
include a text that is on or above grade
level.
4. Each teacher will incorporate April 2019 – - multiple copies of the same - no additional costs
strategy-based skill groups during June 2019 text from the leveled book
their literacy block. Each student will room
work with the teacher in a strategy-
based skill group at least one time per
day each day of the week.
5. Each teacher will have a one-on- April 2019 – - no additional resources - no additional costs
one reading conference with each June 2019
student at least one time per week.
6. Each student will engage in April 2019 – - variety of texts - no additional costs
independent reading using a text on June 2019
their instructional level for at least 30
minutes a day.
7. Each grade level will create and April 2019 – - PLC time to create and - no additional costs
give a common formative assessment June 2019 analyze common formative
each week to all students that assesses assessments
the skills taught during the week.
These common formative assessments
will be analyzed during PLCs each
week.
SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT GOAL AND ACTION STEPS

Improvement Goal Narrative

After analyzing quarter three benchmark data, it became clear to me that our staff needed

to refine our English Language Arts (ELA) improvement goal and action steps for students in

grades four and five.

At Lincoln Heights Magnet Elementary School (LHMES), students in grades four and

five take an NC Check-In ELA benchmark assessment at the end of each quarter. Each

benchmark assessment is cumulative and includes standards that taught throughout the entire

school year. Sixty-one percent of students in grades four and five were proficient on the end of

quarter one benchmark assessment. At the end of quarter two, 62.75% of students were

proficient. At the end of quarter three, 66.6% of students in grades four and five were proficient.

The administration at LHMES expects teams to work towards a goal of at least 80% of

students proficient on each common formative assessment. This idea was reinforced through my

data class with Dr. Drake. If 80% of students are proficient on a standard, then core instruction is

working. When less than 80% of students are proficient on a standard, teams need to analyze

their core instruction and make necessary changes.

Students in grades four and five at LHMES are growing in proficiency according to the

quarterly NC Check-In benchmark assessments. Students have increased their overall

proficiency by 5.6 percentage points since the end of the first quarter. This increase in

proficiency should be celebrated with teachers to continue building a positive school culture. I

believe with reflection, honest dialogue, and a refinement of our action steps, 80% of our

students in grades four and five can and will be proficient on the ELA End of Grade assessment.

Professional learning communities (PLC) are groups of people working interdependently

to improve student achievement. The focus of a PLC should be on student learning,

SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT GOAL AND ACTION STEPS

collaboration, essential curriculum, common formative assessments, SMART goals, and

intervention rather than remediation (Erkens & Twadell, 2012). The fourth and fifth grade PLCs

will work collaboratively to unpack the literacy standards they are teaching and plan their

instruction to give all students equal access to rigorous and relevant curriculum. The literacy

coach will plan with each grade level each week. During this time, PLCs will plan their whole

group instruction, strategy-based skill group instruction, and read aloud instruction.

Dr. Brander from The Hill Center shared research that supports the importance of

incorporating phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency instruction in every literacy

lesson. Teacher read alouds are crucial in all grade levels. During this time, teachers can model

fluency and think alouds. Another essential action step is to use “Language Dives.” The idea of a

“Language Dive” is to allow students to interact with a compelling sentence from the text the

teacher reads aloud each day. Students deconstruct the sentence into chunks and grapple with

grammatical ideas. Students practice constructing the sentence based on context clues and

comprehension. Students are then able to practice writing a sentence that uses complex

vocabulary and models the author’s craft.

If teachers in grades four and five, with support from administration and our literacy

coach, implement the strategic action steps then by June 2019, 80% of fourth and fifth-grade

students will be proficient as measured by the English Language Arts End of Grade Assessment.

This SMART goal is specifically tied to literacy instruction in grades four and five at LHMES.

At the end of the year, PLCs will be able to measure whether 80% of their students were

proficient on the ELA End of Grade Assessment. This goal is achievable because we only need

to grow by 13.4 percentage points. The benchmark assessments have been assessing students on

end of grade material all year. At least 80% of our fourth and fifth-grade students will be
SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT GOAL AND ACTION STEPS

proficient by the end of the year because they will have learned all the curriculum. This SMART

goal is relevant because students must be proficient in literacy before leaving elementary school.
SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT GOAL AND ACTION STEPS

References

Erkens, C., & Twadell, E. (2012). Leading By Design: An Action Framework for PLC at Work

Leaders. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.