Coginchaug R.H.S.  Site Plan 2008-2013

(School Improvement Plan Appears After This Description)

Last year the school implemented its Site Plan, a five-year initiative created by the high school community which was an engaging, collaborative, and inclusive process. It was informed by current research and used the core ethical values and beliefs of the district and the school about learning. Seven Action Plans were completed this past year. This detailed plan  maintains and improves the high standards Coginchaug holds. Coginchaug's Team Leaders and Professional Development Committee meet every year with Carol Luckenbach and Dr. Steve Wysowski to incorporate the Tactics and Action Steps for the up-coming year into the school's professional development plan.

For the past 12 years, Coginchaug's direction has been guided by a Site Plan which coincides with the implementation of the District's Strategic Plan while addressing the specific needs at the high school. Coginchaug is the only school in District 13 that has a Site Plan. This is a five year blueprint that gives the school the foundation to both maintain and continue to strive for higher standards over the next few years. As in the past, the school's goal is to implement new strategies and initiatives primarily based on this plan. Incorporated into Coginchaug's Site Plan are state mandates and directives from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.  Programs are implemented that are thought out thoroughly and planned well ahead of time with significant input from all of the constituents and stakeholders of the entire District 13 community.

To formulate such a plan, a representative group was assembled and met in October 2007 to create a draft plan. The group consisted of students, teachers, staff, parents, community members, Andre Hauser, Assistant Principal, Dr. Steve Wysowski, Principal, and an external facilitator who was assisted by two internal facilitators, Carol Luckenbach, Curriculum/Professional Development Director and Amy Emory, Pupil Personnel Director. The plan includes objectives and tactics that will be used to guide the school in achieving these goals and a new mission statement:

The mission of Coginchaug Regional High School is to ensure that each student graduates prepared to successfully meet the demands and the challenges of a constantly changing world by committing to high academic standards and meaningful, innovative learning opportunities in a supportive safe environment that promotes collaboration, self reliance, ethical behavior and civic engagement.

The planning team created objectives to achieve the desired results. The first objective is that all students will graduate having met district Lifelong Learning Standards and the second is that all students will embody the Core Ethical Values. These Core Ethical Values are the social expectations of the school. The planning team then formulated tactics that are statements of what will be done to achieve that mission and those objectives. The tactics are:

•    We will align and integrate initiatives and effectively involve the faculty in the school's decision-making process.

•    We will improve internal and external communication to unite the Coginchaug Community in achieving the mission and objectives.

•    We will actively engage each student in the curricular, co-curricular, social and emotional life of the school.

•     We will explore the educational uses of emerging technologies and integrate them within the curriculum.

•     We will clarify the Lifelong Learning Standards (21st Century learning expectations) throughout the Coginchaug Community and finalize the means of assessing and reporting student progress toward those standards.

 In the second phase of the Plan, Action Teams were developed in 2008 to achieve these tactics. Each Action Team was assigned one tactic to develop specific  action steps that would be implemented over the next five years. These Action Plans were later presented to the Site Planning Team, the Superintendent and the Coginchaug faculty. They were accepted on April 30, 2008, and are currently in use.

A unique and exciting aspect of Coginchaug's Site Plan is the inclusion of students, parents and community members who feel well represented in what Coginchaug does. The plan, which supports the district level Strategic Plan, is not only well known to our staff but is also widely known to students and parents as well. Region 13 has been very deliberate in setting goals for its future. In setting those goals there is a rich tradition of including the appropriate stakeholders for a broad perspective. Coginchaug's Site Plan is evidence of that planning and cooperation.

In addition the District has revised its Lifelong Learning Benchmarks to align with the work of the Partnership for 21st Century Learning. The District Curriculum Council spent the 2008-2009 school year studying various models for 21st century skills and evaluated and revised the District Lifelong Learning Benchmarks accordingly.

School Improvement Plan

School Improvement Plan

Building: Coginchaug                                                                                   School Year:2009-2010

School Improvement Goal(s):

• Improve student learning for our students who are at greatest risk for failure.
• We have also identified reading across the content areas and persuasive writing as skills that we need to work on along with specific areas within the disciplines tested to improve CAPT scores next year.

Identified Instructional Strategies

• Some teachers will learn strategies to help students improve their ability to read well across content areas
• Teachers in all disciplines will incorporate strategies to improve reading.
• Teachers in all disciplines will use training this year in creating CFA’s and Data collection and interpretation as well as differentiated instruction to improve student learning throughout all four years.
• Staff will use differentiation and attempt to reach various learning styles in an attempt to reach our most challenging students. The training in common formative assessments will greatly improve learning in all areas. Data collection will be started to help target skills needed to improve performance for this year’s CAPT test takers.

Activities Planned to Accomplish Goal:

• Some teachers have learned strategies for reading across the content areas. Others are getting even more peer training to make them feel more comfortable with the discipline.
• Some teachers in disciplines outside of the English Department will be taught strategies for improved reading comprehension. .
• We have already conducted workshops for improved learning for our at risk students.  Administrators will study data to ensure that the intervention strategies are working. This learning style training has been driven by the Site Plan.
• We will continue to use CAPT practice activities to improve our standardized test scores.
• Giving more time to teachers as suggested by the Site Plan has happened and should provide better planning that should result in improved student learning.
• Training in creating common formative assessments and data collection and use will greatly aid in improving the delivery of instruction to maximize learning.

Collaborative Work Groups:

Timeline (include how team and faculty meetings and professional development days will be used for the achievement of the plan):

We have already conducted workshops and spent considerable time at the beginning of the year discussing how we will implement the use strategies for improving student grades.  Teachers in several departments are using strategies to improve reading comprehension. For the remainder of the year, we will be attending workshops in creating common formative assessment, data collection and use and employing those new strategies for improved student learning.

We will use faculty meetings as workshops if needed beyond the workshop days that are already scheduled.

Common planning time has been expanded this year to include co-teachers along with departments and interdisciplinary teachers. This initiative is driven by the school’s site plan.

Resources and Professional Development Needed:

• Time.
• Professional Development has already taken place and will continue

Criteria for Evaluation of Progress:

• Improved CAPT scores,
• Reduced numbers on the D and F lists.
• Equal or improved numbers on Honor Roll

Report on Progress

All departments are doing CAPT like activities for writing and reading in their specific content area. Some teachers have received training from colleagues in how to improve student reading of content specific material.  Strategies include group reading and collaboration on reading for understanding for specific content.

The four major departments and the world language department have been meeting during common planning time and beyond to create and review the results  of CFA’s.

The English department is currently looking at 9th grade writing--specifically paragraph structure. In November they developed an  assessment using the core ethical values and a rubric addressing measurable features. Assessments were completed before the holiday break, and in recent data team meetings they have worked at calibrating the application of the rubric to reach standard scoring practice.

Their next task is disaggregating the data into overall student achievement levels and skill strand achievement scores.  Using those datum, they will identify learning goals and instructional strategies to effect increases in student paragraph writing skills.

The English department is also looking at 9th and 10th grade CAPT Response to Literature assessments.  All students in both grades have completed a formative assessment in September or October, and 10th graders will have a second assessment implemented the week following exams.  Scores from the two exams within each grade will be compared and plans will be developed for subsequent instruction prior to the final CAPT.  Scores from the exams will be compared across grades to plan long-term and vertical instructional strategies.

The Math Department made pre/post teaching type CFAs for a unit in Algebra 1, Geometry, Pre Calculus and Advanced Topics.  They were given as both a pre and post teaching CFA in all but Algebra 1.  This is because the department changed gears at the later PD day and decided to go with a progress monitoring type of CFA.  The results from the Geometry and Pre Calc CFA showed a dramatic increase from the pre to the post.  The Advanced Topics data was not as impressive, and as a result more time was spent on the subject.  Teachers in the department have developed a new Geometry CFA that is a progress monitoring type.  It will be given after midterms and the data will be analyzed in order to determine which area we want to focus on for the next 4 weeks of instruction.  The department hopes to develop a similar CFA for Algebra 1 during midterms

The Social Studies department has been working on three major initiatives concerning common formative assessments.

1)  In response to the results of the freshman first quarter CFA assessment, teachers of Global Studies have increased direct instruction in the skill of finding the main idea in reading and structuring notes in outline form.     A coordinated follow-up assessment of these skills will be incorporated in mid-terms.

2) The department worked together to grade CAPT practices that were handed back to sophomores at the beginning of January.  The grading was done together to calibrate expectations.   The mid-terms for all sophomores will include  a common document-based assessment in order to reinforce and follow-up on the CAPT exercise, as well as to inform student placement for Junior year.

3) In addition to the items mentioned above, the department is coordinating midterm expectations for objective and short answer questions.

The Science Department has undertaken common assessments in Integrated Science and Biology in preparation for CAPT and for improving student performance. Teachers meet with data obtained through common formative assessments to compare trends and improve student learning results.