Cover Page

School Improvement Plan

                                   

SAU#:              37                           

                                      

District Name:                       Manchester School District

School Name:                         Smyth Road School

Address:                                 245 Bruce Rd.

City:             

Manchester, NH

Zip:03104

Principal:                                 Jennifer Briggs

Tel: 624-6340

Fax:665-6839

E-mail:jbriggs@mansd.org

Contact person if different from Principal:

Name:

Title:

Address:

City:

Zip:

Tel:

Fax:668-6835

E-mail:

Page 1

Improvement Plan Abstract

The Manchester School District serves a population, which reflects Manchester's increasing diversity. The student population is comprised of students born on six continents. Seventy- six languages and dialects are spoken in the city's schools.

There are fifteen (15) elementary schools, preschool through fifth grade, four (4) middle schools, and four (4) high schools for a total of 17,258 students.

Smyth Road School is a non-title one school with a population of 397 students. This school serves a majority of students of middle class blue color workers. Sixteen percent (16%) of the students are on free or reduced lunch. The school's population consists of 84% Caucasian students in grades kindergarten through grade five. The remaining 15% of students are African American, Asian, American Indian, and Hispanic. Forty eight percent (48%) of our students are female and fifty two percent (52%) are male.

The disaggregated data showed that students with disabilities, as a subgroup, did not make AYP in Language Arts and Math. The focus of Smyth Road School's language arts plan will concentrate on writing to improve reading scores across this subgroup. The root cause for the language art scores is a lack of scheduled time committed to writing and teacher professional development in this area. In Math, the focus will be on geometry and measurement. The root cause for the math scores reflects the lack of sufficient current materials and professional development to implement the new curriculum that aligns with the state standards.

Smyth Road School is part of a grant bringing Picturing Writing to grades one through four. Along with Picturing Writing, the classroom teachers will implement the writing process for a total of 300 minutes of writing instruction per week. Math will also have 300 minutes of time dedicated to instruction. The Math implementation specialist will mentor and/or coach the use of manipulatives into the curriculum. Selected teachers in grades one, three and five will pilot a new math series.

Page 2

School Demographic Information

Is the school (check all that apply) :

            

            Title I Schoolwide    ¨ Title I Targeted Assistance    ¨             Non-Title I   ¨            

2006-07 School Enrollment:   392        Grades levels of the school K-5      

   STUDENTS                                                        SCHOOL YEAR

2005-06

2006-07

2007-08

% Caucasian

84%

84%

% African- American

4%

6%

% Asian/Pacific Islander

4%

5%

% American Indian

.2%

.2%

% Hispanic

8%

5%

% Other

0

0

% Female

45%

48%

% Male

55%

52%

% LEP

0

.3%

% Special Education

10%

17%

SCHOOL STAFF

    2007-08

Total Number of Instructional Staff

26

New Instructional Staff

5

Total Number of Paraprofessional Staff Providing Instructional Support

17

New Paraprofessional Staff Providing

Instructional Support

4

Total Number of Administrative Staff

2

New Administrative Staff

1


Page 3

  Improvement Plan Monitoring Team

Jennifer Briggs             Principal

Ruth Broderick             Math Implementation Specialist

Beth Olshansky            Center for the Advancement of Art-Based Literacy at UNH'

Devin Bandurski          Learning Disabled Specialist, Teaching Assistant Principal

Kathleen Nelson           Teacher             Grade 2

Jamie Bressler              Teacher             Grade 3

Melissa Chase              Teacher             Grade 4

Gayle Paige                  Teacher             Grade 5

Jeannette Smith            Parent Representative

Monitoring Implementation and Effectiveness

Collecting student data, running records, writing prompts, and other district language arts assessments will be document each trimester. There will also be pre and post testing for Picturing Writing. In order to monitor effectiveness adherence to Picturing Writing timetable will be kept. Principal trimester walk throughs, and staff wide meetings, as well as analysis of trimester assessments

Over several meetings, which included staff, parents, and outside experts, the completed mission and vision statements were shared as well as an outline for the direction the improvement plan would take. The Data Team reviewed all input and modifications were made accordingly.

The Peer Review Team (see plan) met the week of June 11 th to review the proposed plan using the criteria that was developed by the NHDOE. The Data Team accepted these recommendations in order to make modifications to the plan.

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