Whittier EL - School Plan 2001 - 2002 School LAND Trust Program

School: Whittier EL

The committee viewed the video "Using the Trust."
Yes

Duration of the plan:
Single year

Areas of academic need addressed by the plan (check all that apply):

This plan specifically addresses the needs of students with Limited English Proficiency (LEP).
Yes

School Plan description:
The academic area of focus will continue to be reading. We expect students to make approximately a two year gain in reading with the Accelerated Reader (AR) program. We expect 75% of our students will reach this goal. We also expect that CRT scores will increase by ten percent per grade level. Students will have greater access to books and quizzes. Computer access will be available for the entire year before, during and after school hours. Funds will be used to purchase additional software (quizzes),library books, paper (to run reports for teachers and parents) and student incentives. , For the 2001-2002 school year, we would like to continue with our academic focus on reading through the use of the AR program. This past year has seen a reading level increase of 1.7 years growth (on average) for students who were actively involved in this program. This next year should produce even greater gains, as we are already set up with our computer system, software, etc. We will not need to physically move into a new building as we did this past year, so disruptions will be minimal. In addition to our current program, we intend to purchase approximately $1,500 worth of new quizzes for our 6th and 1st grade levels as these areas were neglected lst year. We will also need to continue purchasing more AR books for the media center. Currently our 6th grade titles are very few in number, as are the 1st grade books. We also intend to increase the incentives for our students to read by providing traveling trophies to move from one class to another. These trophies would go to the class (one at each grade level) that has earned the most AR points in a given month. Now that our teachers are familiar with the AR program, we will include more inservice training for our faculty so they may be better equipped to support this program. We will continue to look at pre and post tests for students using the STAR reading assessment. Parents and teachers will be surveyed to determine the time students spend reading as well as their attitude toward the subject. Finally, we will compare the total reading battery on our end of year test (CRT) to determine the amount and direction of improvement. Parents will be encouraged to read with and to their children. They will be asked to schedule family trips to the local library and to make an effort to cut back on television watching by the children. The community will be notifed of our progress through newsletters, PTA mailings, and PTA meetings. The principal will write letters to elected officials informing them of the progress and to personally thank them for their support of the Utah Trustlands Fund. , , ,

Detailed description:

Estimated School LAND Trust funds for 2001-2002:
$6718

Estimated School LAND Trust funds carried over from 2000-2001:
$327

TOTAL: $7045

Proposed financial plan:

Professional Development
$0

Equipment / Repairs / Maintenance
$1500

Textbooks / Supplies / Software / Audiovisual
$5145

Salaries / Benefits
$0

TOTAL
$6645

Clarification of the proposed budget.

Is this plan being implemented with additional funds? No

Yes - sources and amounts

Person responsible for implementing the plan.
Jim McCasland

Position of this person:
Principal

School personnel and volunteers will be involved in the following ways.
Thirty faculty members, one administrator and five parents will be involved in the implementation of this program. Additionally, our school partnership will also help by offering small incentives to students for reading.

There is an accountability program developed for the school strategic plan.
No

Relationship of this plan to the school strategic plan.
Our Trust Land plan focuses on improving reading skills and reading interest levels for our students. Our school improvement plan focuses on three areas: Improved Language Arts Performance Citizenship Decreased Tardies and Absences The implementation of the Accelerated Reader program is one of five steps that our school is taking to improve reading.

Accountability measures to be used.
 Stanford Achievement Test (SAT/9e)
 End-of-Level or End-of-Course Tests
 Performance Assessment
 Other Assessment or measurements

Goals for student improvement.
Student reading levels will increase. Library use will go up, and students will develop a more positive attitude toward reading.

Student improvement will be measured as described below.
STAR reading assessments CRT Scores (reading) Parent & Teacher surveys

The school will publicize the plan in the following ways:

 Letters to your local school board, governor, state senator, representatives, congressional delegation, and State School Board
 Letter to the editor of the newspaper
 Local school newsletter
 School Assembly
 Articles in local newspaper - title:
 Radio/TV - station:
 Other - description

2. Evaluation

School's identified most critical academic need approved by the local school board:

3. Narrative report

This past year has provided us with baseline data that will be helpful in subsequent years as we evaluate student progress. As this is our first full year with the AR program we can only offer a school wide summary that indicates 671 students participated. School enrollment is 750. The average comprehension grade for the school was 76.5 % and a total of 13,896.1 points were earned. This data will be compared next year at this time to note student progress. According to the STAR reading program, which measures student comprehension levels, the student body has increased 1.83 grade levels in seven months time. The Accelerated Reader Program (AR) invites sutdents at Whittier Elementary to read, track, and be rewarded for choosing books on their individual reading levels. The correspoinding STAR testing program enables teachers to determine the level in which each student is capable of reading at, and correlates directly with AR. Students are able to choose books from a list of hundreds of book titles, purchased by the school with the Trust Land money. They earn points for correct answers and are able to spend these points at a "store" which provides the desire to read more. Store items, as well as individual recognition items, are all purchased with the same money. Students who participate in this program have made great reading gains...up to two and three year gains over a one year period. This would not happen without the aid of the AR Program which has been made available to us through the Trust Lands grant.