Cathy Perry Executive Director Cathy has worked for nonprofit organizations for over 30 years. She is the Executive Director of the California League of Middle Schools, and became the ED of the National Forum in 2022. < Back

2023 Prairie Vista Middle School Hawthorne School District Los Angeles County Wendy Ostensen, Principal Enrollment: 753. Grade Levels: 6-8. School Characteristics and Replicable Practices Fine arts academy Professional learning communities MTSS staff training on student needs Family engagement through workshops, meetings, and curriculum/instruction nights School climate boosted by arts, clubs, leadership, and collaborative activities

2023 Animo Florence-Firestone Middle School Los Angeles Unified School District Los Angeles County Joshua Hartford, Principal Enrollment: 450. Grade Levels: 7-8. School Characteristics and Replicable Practices Mixed grade-level math intervention leveled by student need Advisory class facilitates academic mindset and social-emotional growth Double-literacy and Double-STEM schedule for all students Weekly PD and collaboration time without extending the work day Reverse referrals: Push-in support so that students stay in class

Indiana Arizona | Arkansas | California | Colorado | Florida | Georgia | Illinois | Indiana | Kentucky | Michigan | Missouri New Jersey | New York | North Carolina | Ohio | Oregon | Pennsylvania | South Carolina | Texas | Utah | Virginia State Director Susie Highley IMLEA_ED@iasp.org Participating Organizations Indiana Association of School Principals Indiana Middle Level Education Association 11025 E. 25th Street Indianapolis, IN 46229 317-759-4344 Email: IMLEA_ED@iasp.org State Website: https://imlea.org Joined National STW Program in 2009 Schools to Watch Application 2027 Application Instructions Indiana Schools to Watch (Initial Designation Year) Benjamin Franklin Middle School (2019) Cascade Middle School (2021) Center for Inquiry School 84 (2018) Christel House Academy South (2011) East Central Middle School (2018) East Washington Middle School (2019) Hazelwood Middle School (2015) Hebron Middle School (2012) Highland Hills Middle School (2015) Lebanon Middle School (2015) Northridge Middle School (2015) Plainfield Community Middle School (2023) Riverside Intermediate School Plymouth (2012) Rochester Middle School (2017) Scribner Middle School (2015) Shelbyville Middle School (2014) South Ripley Jr. High School (2016) Thomas Jefferson Middle School (2011) Triton Central Middle School (2010) Tri-West Middle School (2011)

2017-2018 Ruth Hale Barker Middle School 2016-2017 SCHOOL STATISTICS Designated in 2018 Community Size - Rural School Enrollment - 495 Grade Levels - 5, 6 School Calendar - Free and Reduced Lunch 31% English Learners 10.3% Students With Disabilities 14.9% Demographics African American - 2.4% Asian - 5.6% White - 71.6% Filipino - 0% Hispanic - 15.5% Native American - 0.8% Pacific Islander - 0.6% Other - 2% Two or More - 1% School Characteristics and Replicable Practices Academic Excellence All students at Ruth Barker Middle School are expected to meet high academic standards. Students’ needs are met through special education inclusion, Response to Intervention, and TREC classes. Students also participate in Genius Hour/Wonder Hour. Best practices employed by teachers include modeling reading and writing and small group lessons. Teachers provide oneon- one conferences with students providing feedback for improving work based upon rubrics, both teacher and student created. Standards and expectations are made clear to students and parents through weekly emails, team letters, curriculum guides, and exemplar/anchor texts from all classes. Curriculum, instruction, assessment, and appropriate academic interventions are aligned with high standards. All core subjects use a district curriculum map and pacing guide; this allows for collaboration among teachers as to best practices for lessons as well as re-teaching or intervention strategies. Utilizing MAPs assessments, the NZ Maths numeracy project GLOSS assessment for math strategies, the IKAN (a math knowledge test), DAZE and DIBELS reading assessment, and the Phonics First spelling assessment to identify gaps in students’ learning, students receive specialized and specific interventions. Monthly RtI meetings involve discussions about the whole child with all stakeholders involved. During PLC meetings, teachers use anchor texts and work samples to ensure grade level expectations are the same. Barker curriculum emphasizes deep understanding of important concepts and the development of essential skills through the integration of core subject areas. Science, math, writing, and reading are studied as interrelated units of study where teachers and students make connections across subject areas. Students are involved in setting their own learning goals and demonstrate mastery in a variety of ways. At the end of a lesson/unit of study, students reflect upon their learning. Essential skills are emphasized and teachers look for opportunities to utilize tasks involving higher level thinking. Curriculum expectations are high; therefore, a partnership between the teacher, the students, and the parents is crucial. Teachers at Barker use a variety of challenging and engaging activities that are clearly related to the grade-level standards, concepts, and skills being taught. To increase student collaboration and communication, teachers utilize cooperative learning structures, such as pair/share and gallery walks in which students display their thinking. Socratic circles engage students in deep conversations regarding curriculum issues, and when critiquing and evaluating their own work as well as that of their peers, students become critical thinkers and learners. In some classes, videos created by the students are used to teach others and serve as a resource for parents, also. Multiple learning paths and engaging activities are utilized at RBMS to meet the needs of every learner. Teachers at Barker use a variety of methods to assess and monitor the progress of student learning. Students are given MAP assessments three times a year in math and literacy which measure grade level ability skills and mastery. The GLOSS and DAZE assessments are administered at the beginning of the year to all students to determine grade-level skills and identify students in need of intervention. Daily formative assessments in multiple forms are used by teachers. All students participate in Genius Hour, a time when students are able to research and create a project about a topic in which they are interested. Genius Hour projects are self-paced and vary in difficulty, thereby meeting the needs of every learner. Students are also assessed in their encore classes by their art and music portfolios they create. The faculty and master schedule at Barker provide students time to meet rigorous academic standards. Most core class periods have been extended 30 minutes. The PE4 Life program allows a 40 minute time period per day for RTI in literacy and math, which allows for up to 3 days of intervention and still meet the state requirements for PE. During this RTI time, the remediation, Title I, and ESL teachers focus on foundational skills students may lack. Barker teachers know what each student has learned and still needs to learn. Pre-assessments, classroom formative and summative assessments, and district assessments are used as data points to identify students in need of assistance. A variety of levels of assistance are provided. Teachers work with students before school and during lunch, and point-in- time intervention is provided during the school day for literacy and math. An after-school homework club is offered as well. Students are encouraged to show mastery of skills in a variety of ways. For those students who have mastered the standard, enrichment activities are provided. The adults at Barker Middle school are provided time and frequent opportunities to enhance student achievement by working with colleagues to deepen their knowledge and to improve their standards-based practice. Every core teacher has a built-in PLC representative to serve as the facilitator for our weekly PLC meetings, which consist of focusing on student learning, student work samples, teacher collaboration, and discussion about best practice and students’ needs. Teachers are provided time each week to work both with their grade-level team, as well as their subject area colleagues. RtI meetings are held once a month to discuss the whole child and his/her progress. The RtI team consists of counselors, teachers, interventionists, and administrators. District coaches provide trainings and strategies to improve teaching practices. Developmental Responsiveness At Ruth Barker Middle School (RBMS), we are sensitive to the unique developmental challenges of early adolescence and realize the importance in developing the individual strengths of each student who enters through our doors. Every child is viewed as unique and special. Staff members are flexible in their response to meeting each child’s needs because they recognize not every child responds the same. Because of this, we are able to commit to offering a wide range of opportunities in order to bring out the strengths of each child.The RBMS theme for the 2017-2018 school year is “Home,” and all staff members strive to make every student feel welcome and comfortable at school. We individually personalize our school environment to support each student’s intellectual, ethical, social, and physical development. This is made possible through many academic and extracurricular outlets. Throughout the curriculum, project based learning (PBL), collaborative group work, student choice, and differentiated assessments can be found. Extracurricular examples include of personalized opportunities for development are student initiated clubs, mentoring, advisory, Girls on the Run, elementary and high school partnerships, math enrichment club, Student Council, student ambassadors, student recognition and after school activities for students identified with lack of social opportunities. We have a comprehensive program to foster healthy physical, social, emotional, and intellectual development. To aid our students in their physical development, our counselor works with organizations to provide the resources for snack packs and to provide extra snacks when the school has extended breaks. Food for the snack packs have been secured through partnerships with local businesses and snack packs are assembled by a team of community members who weekly volunteer their time. The school coordinates with local mental health organizations to provide school based counseling services to students in need of therapy. This allows students access to therapy without missing a large portion of academic instruction. Also, by having therapy within the school it reaches those who may not otherwise be available due to lack of parental resources such as transportation or work constraints. Collaboration also occurs with our Parent-Teacher Organization’s (PTO) “Barker Gives Back” program that addresses the individual needs of each child by providing resources such as clothing, school supplies, resources for their home environment and extended holiday food. Girls on the Run, an afterschool running program for girls, addresses the social, emotional, physical and intellectual development. Teachers work to enhance the curiosity, creativity and the development of social skills for students in a structured and supportive environment. In order to ensure this is happening an advisory time has been established every morning of the school day in which character education lessons are taught. Students discuss such as trustworthiness, organization, responsibility and friendships with their peers and advisor during the advisory period. Curriculum is both socially significant and relevant to the personal and career interests of young adolescents. Teachers use an interdisciplinary approach to reinforce important concepts, skills, and address real-world problems. All students participate in a weekly Genius Hour during which time they can participate research projects of their own choice. The topics being researched during Genius Hour lead to conversations about career fields and future study. Students are provided multiple opportunities to explore a rich variety of topics and interests in order to develop their identity, learn about their strengths, discover and demonstrate their own competence, and plan for their future. We have an active Student Council, Principal’s Advisory Committee, Book Fair Planning Committee, Student Ambassadors and leadership opportunities in our student-led clubs. Student Council members and student ambassadors are student leaders within the student body providing support to their peers. Clubs allow students to foster individual interests and to share with other like-minded students. RBMS actively seeks leadership opportunities for our students; recognizing that students and parents have more buy-in when students lead the way. We work with the Illinois Watershed Project, Watch Dog Dads, local counseling agencies, Crystal Bridges Museum, the Amazeum and Ellis Island Simulations. The school provides an age appropriate, co-curricular activities to foster social skills and character, and to develop interests beyond the classroom environment. Additionally, we have many adult mentors from a variety of backgrounds who come during lunch time to build relationships with students one-on- one and sometimes in small groups. Student led clubs, student council, band, orchestra, choir, talent show, Girls on the Run, Advisory, Bruin Ballers (basketball club), Fine Arts night and Hour of Computer Coding provide students with the opportunity to foster social skills and character development. Social Equity We provide all students, regardless of income, disabilities, exceptionalities, or language variances, with equal opportunities to participate in a learning environment where our expectations for behavior and academics cause them to perform to the best of their abilities. We are constantly looking for ways to make inclusion the best option for each and every student so that they are given what they need as individuals to be successful in a classroom of their peers. We have smaller groups taught by certified teachers. All students are welcome in instrumental or vocal music classes, art classes, technology classes, and our ESL teachers are very involved with the regular education classroom teachers to reinforce instruction. Students with exceptionalities, learning differences, and limited language are placed in mainstream classes. These students are held to the same high standards of academics and behavior as are all students. Through Project Based Learning, Genius Hour, Makerspace and crosscurricular collaborations, we work to provide our students with various ways to achieve and show their mastery of content standards. By giving students access daily to technology, we are able to foster their questioning, creativity and heterogeneous learning styles that we see leading to excitement and ownership in their learning. Math teachers are CGI trained which lends itself to varied learning styles. Band students are allowed limitless retakes and can use Google Classroom for video playing assignments, and multiple assessment forms are utilized to improve feedback and mastery. As facilitators of our students’ learning we are constantly adapting to the ever-changing needs of our students in order to effectively meet their specific needs. All students have access to our curriculum, resources, and activities. This includes providing transportation to school events, funds for field trips, and supplies when needed. Student-created rubrics are also used to help with student engagement and choice. All of our students require and deserve equal access to valuable knowledge across all curriculum and activities. This includes their need for ownership in these opportunities by providing choices in their learning. Our students have electives in sixth grade of various fine-art classes including orchestra, band, performance choir or general music. This helps to ensure that access to all opportunities is uniform for all learners. We have been fortunate to have essentially a 1:1 ratio with computers and this lends itself to an even more technology-fluent classroom environment. The ESL department holds an exit celebration with families to celebrate their success and hard work. We also hold award ceremonies with an open invitation for anyone to come and celebrate what their students are accomplishing. Our teachers communicate with parents weekly, and our social media accounts are kept up-to- date as a point of communication with students and guardians as well. Consistency of a reward system designed to value diversity, civility, service and democratic citizenship is incredibly important for a cohesive and safe school environment. Barker’s values are communicated through our newsletters, websites, citizenship lessons and classroom discussions. We highly value academics and reward those successes by honor roll designations and subjectspecific awards. Just as much emphasis is placed on our students as citizens. We give Barker’s Best awards which take note of those students showing leadership, being positive examples, having enthusiastic attitudes, giving outstanding effort, showing integrity, and a willingness to serve others. We have an award named after a former student from Barker who passed away, the Floyd Smith Award, which goes to a student who shows perseverance, leadership and a strong work ethic. There are several other awards like the Barker Bruin Award, the Citizenship Award, and the Kathy Dougan Award that recognize students for overall achievement. These awards give ALL students a chance to be recognized for those attributes that make them a better human being and will affect them in every part of their lives, not only at school. Organizational Support Ruth Barker Middle School (RBMS) is an educational community, arranged to support and sustain a trajectory towards excellence. Our district vision statement sums it up in one phrase: “Where Excellence Lives”. As we strive towards excellence, our school has a shared vision for learning environment as well as academics. Feeling safe is the major driving force for students and faculty to be able to perform at high levels. We want students to feel safe to explore new concepts, make mistakes and learn from those mistakes. Our vision also includes our commitment to be enthusiastic, self-disciplined, respectful, considerate and encouraging to all people. As a staff we have landed on four core beliefs which are evidenced throughout everything we do as school community: ● Provide a rigorous academic curriculum ● Be intently focused on the needs of the whole child ● Be actively engaged in learning with our community ● Committed to increasing capacity and legacy building within the teaching profession. Barker’s principal has the responsibility and authority to hold the schoolimprovement enterprise together, including day-to- day know-how, coordination, strategic planning, and communication. This is our principal’s third year as building principal at RBMS. Over the course of the last three years, we have went through the process of establishing core beliefs for our school. This process was inclusive of all stakeholders in the school community. Based upon survey results and multiple academic data points, decisions are made to best serve kids. Communication methods are continuously evaluated to best reach all constituents. Currently, we have a principal’s advisory committee comprised of student leaders, a parent advisory committee, and a school leadership team of teachers. Surveys among these groups along with opportunities for teachers to analyze structural components of our school to provide feedback for growth is used on a frequent basis. School improvement is based off of data and vetted at multiple levels to ensure all student needs are being met. We are a community of practice in which learning, experimentation, and time and opportunity for reflection are the norm. Students are grouped according to teams so they have smaller learning communities as part of the larger school. Team teachers are scheduled time within the regular school day to meet with one another to address needs of individual and groups of students on their team. Professional Learning Communities (PLC) are subject based and are established in which teachers can meet during school hours at least once week to collaborate and reflect on what is working and to share best practices. At various times during the school year, all teachers will be asked to reflect in surveys how they feel about the success of certain programs being utilized. Using survey data, programs are then modified and refined. Numerous in-service trainings areas are available to meet the needs of teachers to be sure they are appropriately trained for new situations. We are piloting different student schedule models to find out what works best for improved student learning. Both RBMS and the Bentonville School District devote resources to content-rich professional development, which is connected to reaching and sustaining the school vision and increasing student achievement. Our school and district will either provide high quality professional development. The district maintains a summer institute with all the training needed from technology, to curriculum, to the emotional and social needs of students. A middle school institute is held at RBMS at the beginning of the year to provide new professional development opportunities for the upcoming year for educators at all of the district middle schools. Supporting our vision of academic curriculum, math and literacy coaches and curriculum specialists are available throughout the school year and during these training sessions to work with teachers on understanding and implementing their curriculum with rigor. The school and district support our arts programs through funding of training outside our district. Our local museum (Crystal Bridges) provides high quality training in the visual arts and our band program is part of a Midwest clinic. Pre-Advanced Placement (Pre-AP) training is provided to all Pre-AP teachers to insure they meet needs of advanced students. Specialized training on literacy and mathematics intervention programs is also provided to certified staff member. Supporting our vision of the “whole child,” the school counselor provides training on emotional and social needs which in turn will impact academics. Our school is not an island unto itself; it is a part of a larger educational system, i.e. districts, networks and community partnerships. Our school communicates and shares teachers with other middles schools within our district. The high school orchestra teacher works with beginning orchestra students to ensure a rich music experience throughout a student’s school career and support the vertical alignment Bentonville has for all our music programs. The junior high and high school bands and choirs come perform for our students in order to let our students recognize future opportunities they will have in their education. Our sixth graders visit the junior highs in the spring to prepare for their next school year and know expectations. The visual arts program has representation on the teacher advisory committee at our local museum. Numerous other high school partnerships exist with high school students leading RBMS students through robotics and civil rights studies, participating in lunch groups, serving as mentors, and just being present at our school to greet our students in the morning or play games with our students at the annual RBMS Tailgate Party before we all head over to support our high school football team on game night. Supporting our core belief to be actively engaged in learning within our community, we have many business partnerships which includes mentors coming to meet with our students during lunch and recess, volunteers helping with our annual school wide events, and guest speakers demonstrating the use of outdoor sporting equipment and bicycles with our physical education classes. Our library has special parent day(s)/night(s) opening up to support literacy and providing muffins with mom and donuts with dad events. Our district math and literacy coaches and curriculum specialists help facilitate communication in programs across all middle schools and the understanding of state and district student learning expectations and curriculum maps. Open house, parent teacher conferences and PTO further our line of communications with parents and their resources to our community. Our school staff holds itself accountable for the students’ success. Supporting our core belief of rigorous academic curriculum, we practice and teach our students about growth mindset. Teachers have students keep track of their own data through charts and rubrics for self-reflection and teachers use this data to help students find appropriate targets. Many interim formative assessments are used in which students make projections and predictions before tests and then use goal setting forms with teacher guidance. Teachers then use the collected data to determine if extra lessons should be conducted over certain material. Our special education department has quarterly monitoring and adjustments are made as needed. Each student in our building is partnered with an advisory teacher and through regular advisory time, has the opportunity for one on one conferencing about grades. One of our most effective tools is our RTI, response to intervention meetings. Teachers meet monthly to create fluid groups of students in need of intervention. Teachers review multiple data points on each student and determine if the student is on tier I, which is the goal for all students; tier II, in need of intervention from the regular teacher or a team teacher during a scheduled intervention period each week; or tier III, which moves the student into a three-day- a-week program with a math or literacy specialist or interventionist. The ultimate goal is moving all students back to tier I, or regular classroom instruction and support. Our PLCs help keep teachers on the same page about what is working best in reaching students within their own subject area. Teachers collaborate to help students with goal setting after formative testing. Many teachers participate in committees to update curriculum and all teachers seek our professional development to enhance learning. The school and district staffs work with colleges and universities to recruit, prepare, and mentor novice and experienced teachers. Our district fully supports many of the local higher education institutions by providing observation and student internships within the district. When a new teacher begins in our district they will participate in a new teacher orientation and gain support in their buildings through PLC’s. We have partnered with the College of Education at the University of Arkansas for the 2017-18 school year to provide multiple internship opportunities. These interns begin their internship during teacher in-service prior to the start of the school year to get the entire picture of what education is really all about. A partnership with the University of Arkansas Office Of Educational Innovation and the Walton Family Foundation allows travel for our teachers to make observations of schools which have seen large growth in student achievement. Bentonville High School and Bentonville West High School students who are interested in the education profession are invited in from career classes to job shadow. We include families and community members in the process of setting goals and supporting the school’s trajectory toward high performance. The needs of the whole child is a core belief we have at RBMS. Part of these needs are filled through extracurricular activities. Families support those activities by helping our school during our annual events such as the book fair, dodgeball dance party fundraiser, tailgate party and end of the year celebrations. Parents take leadership roles in helping design activities of high interest for their children. Many parents as community members take part as guest speakers in class and during career day presentations. To support academics, parents have anytime access to our online gradebook and can contact a teacher at any time to schedule a conference. Our district and school provide confidential parent surveys allowing them to assess how we are doing at communication between the school and the community. As a result, we have altered our PTO meetings to occur at different times each month to accommodate the needs of multiple parents wishing to participate. Our WatchDog Dads program trains and communicates with fathers to come be a part of the school day to help patrol hallways, support students in academics and participate in recess and lunchtime activities. Parents are also involved and represented in committees such as the parent involvement plan, school improvement plan, and the ways to spend growth money related to testing outcomes. Parents are a crucial part to the whole child and have welcome input at RBMS.

2023 Bernice Harrell Chipman Junior High Bakersfield City School District Kern County Tomás Prieto, Principal Enrollment: 727. Grade Levels: 7-8. School Characteristics and Replicable Practices Daily advisory for academics and SEL MTSS Tier I/Tier II provide school-wide and individual student supports Reading intervention model addresses foundational literacy gaps GPA credit recovery includes recovery coursework, tutoring, mentoring Culture of literacy with school-wide and individual student goals

2023 Ellen Fletcher Middle School Palo Alto Unified School District Santa Clara County Melissa Howell, Principal Enrollment: 540. Grade Levels: 6-8. School Characteristics and Replicable Practices Inclusive community with respect for diversity Unique bell schedule with alternating course choices for learning, intervention, enrichment Weekly PRIME SEL period with lessons reviewed by counselors and teacher leaders Common team prep times allow for teacher teaming and collaboration Flexible support structures support a variety of student needs

New Jersey Arizona | Arkansas | California | Colorado | Florida | Georgia | Illinois | Indiana | Kentucky | Michigan | Missouri New Jersey | New York | North Carolina | Ohio | Oregon | Pennsylvania | South Carolina | Texas | Utah | Virginia State Director Rick Delmonaco rdelmonaco@clarkschools.org Aimee Toth toth@mendhamboroschools.org Participating Organizations New Jersey Association of Middle Level Education NJ Schools to Watch 1977 North Olden Avenue, Suite 245 Trenton, NJ 08618 Email address: njschoolstowatch@njamle.org Website: njschoolstowatch.org Twitter: @njstw1 Joined National STW Program 2007 Schools to Watch Application 2027 Application Instructions New Jersey Schools to Watch (Initial Designation Year) Belhaven Middle School (2011) Black River Middle School (2010) Byram Intermediate School (2018) Carl H. Kumpf Middle School (2014) Dwight D Eisenhower Middle School (2016) Eisenhower Middle School (2022) Franklin Avenue Middle School (2024) George Washington Middle School (2020) Leonia Middle School (2014) Macopin Middle School (2025) Mountain View Middle School (2008) Pleasant Valley School (2017) Randolph Middle School (2019) Richard Butler Middle School (2024) Richard M. Teitelman Middle School (2022) Ridgedale Middle School (2025) Thomas A. Edison Middle School (2020) William Annin Middle School (2016)

Utah Arizona | Arkansas | California | Colorado | Florida | Georgia | Illinois | Indiana | Kentucky | Michigan | Missouri New Jersey | New York | North Carolina | Ohio | Oregon | Pennsylvania | South Carolina | Texas | Utah | Virginia State Director Seeking a state director. It is a great opportunity! Participating Organizations Utah Schools to Watch Utah State Board of Education 250 E 500 South PO Box 144200 Salt Lake City, UT 84114 Phone: 801-538-7793 Joined National STW program in 2007 Schools to Watch Application 2027 Application Instructions Utah Schools to Watch (Initial Designation Year) Albert R Lyman Middle School (2019) Alice C Harris Intermediate School (2020) Bear River Middle School (2016) Cedar Middle School (2010) Ecker Hill Middle School (2013) Fort Herriman Middle School (2010) Kearns Junior High (2011) Lava Ridge Middle School (2019) Milford High School (2020) Mount Logan Middle School (2007) Sunrise Ridge Intermediate School (2021) Sunset Ridge Middle School (2007) West Jordan Middle School (2016)

2023 The STEAM Academy @ Burke El Rancho Unified School District Los Angeles County Lorin Yannarella, Principal Enrollment: 544. Grade Levels: 6-8. School Characteristics and Replicable Practices 7-period schedule means SWD and emerging-bilingual students get an elective STEAM approach addresses the whole child with 27 elective choices Teacher collaboration/project-based learning to engage students, connect subjects Meaningful integration of technology from TinkerCad to GarageBand Counselors, PBIS and mental health supports ensure a positive environment

Contact the National Forum about the Schools to Watch program. Contact Us Interested in more information about the Forum? Contact us. Over the phone or online : hello@middlegradesforum.org | (800) 326-1880, ext. 1 Conference Questions? stwconference@middlegradesforum.org

2016-2017 Greenbrier Middle School 2016-2017 SCHOOL STATISTICS Designated in 2017 School Enrollment - 546 Grade Levels - 6-7 Free/ Reduced Lunch 39.19% English Learners 1.9% Demographics African American - 1.5% Asian - 0.8% White - 93.2% Filipino - 0% Hispanic - 3% Native American - 0.2% School Characteristics and Replicable Practices Academic Excellence “It is the mission of Greenbrier Middle School to empower students to be successful, productive leaders in society. We are devoted to an engaging and rigorous curriculum, to a safe and student-centered environment, and to innovative teaching and learning that is built on stakeholder collaboration to educate the whole child.” These are not just words to the staff at Greenbrier Middle School, instead they are what drives us each and every day to be the best for our students and their families. We hold high expectations for teaching and learning, which is evidenced by the following practices that take place at Greenbrier Middle School. Teachers have collaborated and developed YAGs (Year at a Glance) documents that identify both content and literacy standards, topics/themes, texts, resources, and student projects for all units of study throughout the year. Training has been provided for teachers on identifying power standards so that emphasis can be placed on skills that will help students across the curriculum. LDC (Literacy by Design) modules are used in Literacy classrooms, as well as content areas of social studies and science in order to develop student’s competencies in reading research, and writing skills. MDC (Math by Design) units are utilized in all math classes to supplement the CMP curriculum with pre and post assessments that drive daily instruction. Based on work done by the school’s Leadership Team, an intervention period called Fast Focus, takes place 4 days a week, targeting math, literacy, and science remediation based on student needs. Once a week this period is used as student club time, and the last week of the month it is used as a student data day. Both grade level and content level PLC’s use student data from common formative assessments to plan for re-teaching skills during a daily Fast Focus intervention time. In addition, quarterly meetings are held to review student data based on summative testing and teachers use a visual, interaction assessment wall to move students to quadrats as based on their achievement and growth patterns.’ As evidence of our “whatever it takes” district motto, Greenbrier Middle School has developed a no zero policy, with the expectation that all students will complete every assignment. Using the Power of ICU book study and accompanying database parents are notified at the beginning of the week if students have missing work from the prior week. Working lunches for students to complete their assignments are held beginning on Wednesdays and continue each day until Friday. On Friday, our No Fail Friday time kicks in and students are pulled from elective and athletic courses to complete any work that is still not complete. The use of technology in instruction is an expectation for all classrooms at GMS, to include tools such as Google classroom, Smart boards, Kid blogs, Apple TV’s, and many others. Teachers utilize over 10 Google Chromebook carts to ensure that students are learning how to participate in digital learning communities and develop their technology skills. Our EAST (Environmental and Spatial Technologies) classes are open to students in both 6th and 7th grade, who demonstrate an interest in using tehccn9ology to learn problem solving skills as well as participate in project based learning, to conclude projects focused on serving the overall community. Students are encouraged to keep their own data notebook throughout the year, where they are able to reflect on their own individual test scores including the NWEA MAP, ACT Aspire interims and classroom assessments, grades, and work samples. Students have a data day on the last Wednesday of each month where they work on developing a SMART goal A variety or courses are available to students to differentiate as based on student needs including Pre-AP in all core subjects, co-teaching for math and literacy, and Learning Strategies courses to further met student’s individual learning needs and provide remediation. Teachers work to use a variety of instructional methods with emphasis on cooperative learning and projects. Middle School OEP Awards 2014 Grade 7 Literacy-GMS #8 Overall in Arkansas 2014 Grade 7 Math Achievement-GMS #1 in Central Arkansas Region 2014 Top 5 Overall Middle Schools by Grade in Literacy Benchmark Achievement-GMS #2 2014 Top 3 Schools by Grade Level in Central Arkansas-Literacy Achievement-GMS #1 2015 Top 25 Schools in State based on the Science Benchmark Exam-GMS #4 2015 Top 5 Schools in the Central Region based on the Science Benchmark Exam-GMS #1 2016 Overall High Achieving ACT Aspire-GMS #6 2016 Overall High Achieving ACT Aspire Central Region-GMS #1 2016 Overall High Achieving in Math ACT Aspire 2016-GMS #8 2016 Overall High Achieving in Math ACT Aspire Central Region-GMS #2 2016 Overall High Achieving in Literacy ACT Aspire-GMS #8 2016 Overall High Achieving in Literacy ACT Aspire Central Region-#3 2016 Overall High Achieving in Science ACT Aspire-GMS #6 2016 Overall High Achieving in Science ACT Apsire Central Region-#1 Developmental Responsiveness Greenbrier Middle School evidences high performance in the realm of being sensitive to the unique developmental challenges of early adolescents. The environment of Greenbrier Middle School is personalized in many ways. Intellectual development is supported through strategic creation of Fast Focus groups so that students receive enrichment and/or remediation based on their current levels of learning. Through these groups, each student also creates a data notebook that identified their current progress in learning through many data sets, such as through student and family input in selection of elective courses. Every GMS student has an advocate via their Fast Focus teacher. Fast Focus is a period built into the school day that incorporates relationship building, teamwork, personal and academic growth, goal setting, and more. Each teacher also identifies “claimed kids” on our assessment wall who are in need of an additional adult advocate, and writes SMART goals on how to specifically build stronger and better relationships with those identified students Core teacher and student teams in 6th grade and math/literacy teacher and student teams in 7th grade are created for smaller communities with the goal of increasing and improving collaboration and communication to support students. Content teams with elective teacher members make up several professional learning communities throughout the school, who meet at least weekly on topics to improve teaching and learning. These PLCs created team identities based on individual strengths identified in Marcus Buckingham’s Stand Out Strengths assessment, then created charters in order to establish norms, responsibilities, and goals. The Student Intervention and multiple other teams and committees collaborate regularly to support students, families, and improvement. Staff members participate in training on how to handle student problems prevalent for this age group,, such as the book study of AMLE’s This We Believe and connecting each school initiative and program to one of the 16 characteristics. Ruby Payne’s poverty research and materials have provided additional support for staff members, while they also receive specific professional development on suicide prevention, identifying abuse or neglect, bullying, and more. Teachers are trained in the Response to Intervention model, SIT procedures, and a wide variety of instructional strategies in order to maximize support for academic problems. GMS offers many co-curricular activities such as the Clubnections described above, 7th grade athletics (basketball, football, volleyball, track, cross country), other clubs and student groups (books clubs, ACS, G4, student ambassadors, student council). Interests in the fine arts are also supported through many Clubnections (Drama, Art, Photography I, Photography II, Voices, Fashion with Attention to Details) as well as courses (art, band, general music, choir). Unique fitness and health opportunities exist through Clubnections such as Movin’ and Groovin’, Baton Twirling, Weight Lifting, and Lifetime Sports. The school wide fitness program increases interest of these students as well with morning courtyard fitness, brain break, Google Classroom for embedding physical activity across the curriculum, and stability balls. Through many of these groupings students are continually involved with other students with very similar interests and goals, and therefore increasing opportunities to practice effective social skills outside of the regular classroom setting with peers with whom they are comfortable. In addition to science labs taking place at least weekly, a Maker Space Classroom, Mobile Makerspaces, choice boards, Ignite 360, coding in business classes, student and teacher facilitated Digital Learning Day, and other opportunities outside of the classroom further develop interests of students with such focuses. A goal for the VIP program is for students to understand appropriate behavior, attire, and social skills for various settings, and therefore lessons on etiquette, hygiene, ordering from menus, use of formal table setting, etc, are embedded into bi weekly VIP sessions after school. Social Equity Greenbrier Middle School is socially equitable, democratic, and fair, and provides every student with highquality teachers, resources, learning opportunities, and supports. Positive options are continually open for all students. All faculty and administrators are committed to helping each student produce proficient work and master skills. Essential questions and student learning objectives communicate the learning expectations, rubrics are used across the content, students have opportunities to improve their work and re-take tests, and teachers focus on the quality of work even when turned in late because of our ICU program. Teachers specifically plan for differentiation for co-taught, regular, and pre advanced placements classes in order to help all ranges of learners reach proficiency. Other opportunities include before school Homework Club, lunch time and after school tutoring, Very Important Panther after school program, learning strategies courses for students to receive double blocks of math or literacy instruction as needed, pre advanced placement core courses, Clubnections, Destination Imagination, Quiz Bowl, Chess competitions. Protected time and teachers for accelerated, short term interventions for students with similar needs is provided through Fast Focus built into the master schedule. Math & literacy teachers facilitate small, fluid intervention groups while all other students participate in tier 1 instruction or enrichment activities with assigned teachers. All students participate in any of the services that support their learning, regardless of ethnicity, disability, language proficiency, or gifted status. Teachers include methods for differentiation for co-teaching, regular, and pre advanced placement classes in their lesson plans, including time, processes, learning products, student choices, level 2 co-teaching strategies, learning environment, etc. A wide variety of learning experiences include integrated Literacy Design Collaborative modules, science labs, interactive notebooks, extensive cooperative learning, field trips, service based learning projects, hands on activities, use of manipulatives and equipment, and a variety of digital and technology tools. Every GMS student is recognized throughout the school year with academic, PRIDE, and/or Clubnection awards at quarterly awards assemblies based on their strengths, growth, and/or achievement. Teachers also nominate students weekly who are noticed going above and beyond in PRIDE. Conversations and collaboration about students are results oriented with the 95/5 mindset (5% problem, 95% solution). Conversations about late, missing work are directed by four common questions used by all staff that are all focused on completing the work rather than irresponsibility or organization. GMS’ PRIDE matrix gives multiple positive examples of what each character word looks like in action rather than a list of “do not” rules, which is an asset in discussions about behavior and choices. Every student has an adult advocate through their Fast Focus teacher. While our assessment wall tracks achievement and growth with quantitative data, it also uniquely tracks qualitative data of relationships and connections with students. Students with minimal or no connections with adults at school are selected by each teacher as his/her “claimed kids,” and teachers write SMART goals on how to strengthen the relationships with those students. Greenbrier Middle School has well established norms, structures, and organizational arrangements to support and sustain its trajectory toward excellence. Staff members, students, parents, and community all shared input in the process of creating the GMS mission, vision, and core beliefs. Question stems regarding what the perfect school looks like, sounds like, and feels like to each shareholder group guided the creation while the leadership team crafted the statements. The GMS Vision, “To be the turning point in teaching, leading, and learning,” describes the mindset of constantly looking down the road to how we want to be described 10 years from now. GMS strives to be the most effective turning point for middle school age students as they transition from elementary to secondary school, from childhood to teenage years, while also be the leading trend setter and model school locally to nationally. The shared mission and vision is the foundation of our culture of distributed leadership, including student leadership via student council, ambassadors, Student Leadership Team, Clubnections, and academics. The Student Leadership Team was a leading force in communicating problem areas on campus in regards to behavior and developing the PRIDE matrix. Leadership is distributed to parents through Parent Advisory Council, PTO, and the abundance of parent input tools used. PAC has the specific goal to become more informed about aspects of GMS and tell our school story in the community, while also giving input and parent perspectives to the parent involvement facilitator. Evidence from its impact include when PAC shared confusion between Home Access Center, Google Classroom, and ICU, which led to a technology family night to teach parents the purpose and how to use each. Community members are included in leadership through our Smile Starters program, allowing for them to serve as door greeters at school, continue the morning with learning walks through classrooms, and debrief with administrators or lead teachers about current education topics, our school or district, and any other questions they may have. Community members also share leadership as they are connections to each Clubnection. A teacher leadership team represents each grade level and content/team, including elective teachers and special education, who studied Professional Learning Communities at Work, lead PLCs, developed initiatives such as Clubnection, Walk in My Shoes Night, etc. A branch of this team is the Arkansas Leadership Academy Team, which is participating in year 2 of Team Institute for its own leadership development and to develop school improvement goals. An evidence example is this team moving GMS from a weekly intervention period to a daily intervention period built into the master schedule (Fast Focus). “Be the Turning Point” and related arrow logos are posted on newsletters, communication tools, throughout the campus, on apparel, on social media. GMS continually collects, analyzes, reflects on, and uses data to make decisions, with data sets from pre/post Measures of Academic Progress assessment, ACT Aspire assessments, behavior data, SAI and other perception surveys, ICU, IXL intervention/enrichment, Edutyping, assessment wall, relationships/connections as qualitative data, Stand Out results, interest inventories, and more. This data is used to identify areas of growth and make improvements, such as tally marks used on student assessment wall photographs to communicate which teachers have a strong relationship with each at risk student. Teachers then “claimed” students who needed to be more connected with adults at school and wrote SMART goals to carry this out. MAP data analysis completed by all teachers helps them identify whether each of their course sections need more support in vocabulary acquisitions or informational text components. Other other data sets are used for the same purposes, to improve our school and student learning. By these constant cycles of action research taking place throughout the school, staff members continually strive to meet the mission and vision collaboratively created and determine which actions may or may not be meeting the expectation set out in core beliefs. The leadership team and family night committee facilitate Walk in My Shoes Family Night each May so that families of all entering 5th graders can tour the campus, meet and have conversations with staff members, receive important information about programs and courses, and ease the transition to secondary schools. Throughout the summer, families attend fluid, flexible registration days to better familiarize themselves with the campus, set up and practice lockers, complete paperwork, etc, and then are invited to a formal Parent Orientation to further communicate with teachers. Similar transition occurs through Career Action Planning conferences for exiting 7th graders going to GJHS. The district supports all of the above mentioned adult learning experiences and funds ALA Team Institute, the annual retreat, PBIS, EAST, and other specific professional learning experiences. Time is allowed to visit other classrooms and even other schools as requested to broaden networks and support continual improvement. District wide focuses on RTI, power standards, curriculum development, use of assessments, and PBIS maintain solid collaboration between GMS and the district, showing GMS as an integral part of our district and educational system. GMS’s extensive collaboration with the larger Greenbrier community and region is evidence through Clubnections and Smile Starters, while in the educational realm both teachers and administrators present GMS’ work from regional to national levels while also hosting several other schools on campus to learn from our programs, hence striving towards our vision “to be the turning point.” Organizational Support Our practice of shared leadership across the building helps ensure that we work every day to fulfill our mission statement and provide the best possible environment for student success. As a Professional Learning Community, we have embraced the belief that "all" means "all" and that learning cannot be optional for students. Content specific collaborative teams meet weekly to determine essential learning outcomes, create assessments for those outcomes, and analyze data to identify which students need additional time and support to reach proficiency, as well as which students are ready to extend their learning. As a leadership team, we are intentional about modeling for our staff the characteristics of continuous learning, experimentation, and reflection on a daily basis. We continually read about and expose ourselves to new ideas, then share with each other what we are learning. At Elmwood, we work hard to develop relationships with all the members of our larger educational system. We work very closely with our feeder schools to host events that invite families of future raiders into the building to begin learning about our culture.