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Brevard Public SchoolsSchool Improvement Plan

2015 – 2016

Name of School: Area:

Principal: Area Superintendent:

SAC Chairpersons:

Superintendent: Dr. Desmond Blackburn

Mission Statement:

Jefferson Middle School will serve our community and enhance students’ lives by delivering the highest quality education in a culture of dedication, collaboration, and learning.

Vision Statement:

Start Strong…Finish Stronger!

Stakeholder Involvement in School Improvement Planning: Briefly explain how stakeholders are involved in the development, review, and communication of the SIP.

We communicate our mission, vision and school improvement plan through several avenues. Our vision and mission is included in all of our school publications including newsletters, handbooks, and websites. Our school improvement plan is developed with input from all stakeholders and then is shared on our website and in our parent communication avenues. Our school-wide goal is a foundation for teachers’ PGPs, classroom objectives, and professional development programs.

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Jefferson Middle School North Area

Dr. Lori Spinner Dr. Laura Rhinehart

Charles Parker-Community Member and Michelle Freeman-Staff Member

Brevard Public SchoolsSchool Improvement Plan

2015-2016

Part 1: Planning for Student Achievement

RATIONALE – Continuous Improvement Cycle Process Data Analysis from multiple data sources:What are the areas of successful professional practices and what data shows evidence of improvements? What are the concerns with professional practices and how are they revealed with data?

Based upon the analysis of our current school data, Jefferson Middle School teachers worked diligently during the 2014-2015 school year to implement standards-driven formative assessment and feedback practices to provide more consistent in-progress monitoring and feedback for our students. They made agreements as a departments to administer at least two common formative assessments each nine weeks. They would discuss the results, analyze and share best practices based on each assessment during department meetings. The Jefferson Middle School Administration committed to this dialogue by ensuring DAILY common department planning. This would afford the departments the time needed to make quality decisions about standards, concepts and assessments. Each interdisciplinary instructional team at Jefferson Middle School committed to using common formative assessment procedures. The assumption being that common language and expectations for assessment for the academic team would yield reliable results from all students. Every teacher at Jefferson was given a list of 60 different formative assessment strategy ideas. Each department and academic team chose common strategies to be used with their students. Teacher Observations:

The Jefferson Administration conducted Classroom Walk-Throughs weekly and informal observations monthly. When pulled for monthly status checks, the data shared that 52% of the times classroom observations were conducted formative assessments were taking place. The number teachers using formative assessment was school wide.

66% of Jefferson’s departments were actively using common formative assessments. This number is derived from all of the MESH areas.

Student Achievement:At the end of the first semester (2015) the number of students with D’s and F’s was 237. This was 36% of our student body. This was down 5% from first semester during the 2014 year. At the end of the second semester (2015) the number of students with D’s and F’s was 228. This was 34% of our student body. This was down 6% from second semester during the 2014 year.

Areas of Concern:Based on the 2015 school data Jefferson Middle School made incredible strides in the way of formative assessment. Common formative assessments were implemented by all and the results analyzed by role alike curriculum groups. It was discovered (through review of the assessments given, analysis of common assessment scores and deeper understanding of the Florida Standards) that ensuring increased rigor and commitment to the full rigor of the standards was a need. In order to meet the gaps between the rigor of the standards and the curriculum Jefferson Middle School will implement the framework Understanding By Design. Understanding by Design (UBD) is a framework and accompanying design process for thinking decisively about unit lesson planning. Understanding by Design is a way of thinking purposefully about curricular planning with the end goal of understanding and the ability to transfer learnings – to appropriately connect, make sense of, and use discrete knowledge and skills in context. Learning objectives are developed from the Florida Standards with an emphasis on increased rigor and transference of understanding. This will afford more opportunities for teachers to collaborate on instructional strategies and lesson planning.

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The chart below simulates the formula by which Middle School Grades will be determined across the state. The achievement scores for Jefferson Middle School that have been released for the 14-15 school year have been populated.

English/ Language Arts Mathematics Science Social Studies (Civics EOC)

Performance PercentageTBA

Performance PercentageTBA

Performance Percentage71%

Performance Percentage77%

Learning GainsTBA

Learning GainsTBA

Learning Gains of the Low 25%TBA

Learning Gains of the Low 25%TBA

Based on 8 components for a total of 800 points possible points.

Over the past three school years, Jefferson Middle School has demonstrated high levels of performance on state assessments. The summation of the data is shared in the chart below:

CATEGORY 11-12 12-13 13-14

% Proficiency Writing 78 59 56

% Proficiency Reading 73 67 72

% Proficiency Math 76 75 74

% Proficiency Science 74 67 72

% Learning. Gains Reading 67 64 72

% Learning Gains Math 68 72 75

% 25% Reading Gains 63 64 68

% 25% Math Gains 52 67 64

Acceleration Participation 22 25 25

Acceleration Performance 50 50 50

TOTAL 636 610 628

GRADE A A A

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The FSA reading and math scores have yet to be announced. Due to its inception during the 2015 school year, we have no way of comparing two years of data. Therefore, it is important to see how Jefferson performs compared to other middle schools in Brevard County. The following charts have been included in pursuit of this end.

Civics:

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1 2 3 4 5

Civics EOC ASSESSMENT 195,669 402 65 16 19 26 20 18WESTSHORE JUNIOR/SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL 164 431 99 0 1 13 28 58EDGEWOOD JR/SR HIGH SCHOOL 179 427 97 0 3 19 32 46DELAURA MIDDLE SCHOOL 336 419 92 1 7 29 30 33COCOA BEACH JUNIOR/SENIOR HIGH SCHO 169 410 78 7 15 26 27 24THOMAS JEFFERSON MIDDLE SCHOOL 304 410 77 9 15 28 26 22HERBERT C. HOOVER MIDDLE SCHOOL 274 412 76 8 16 22 26 27JOHN F. KENNEDY MIDDLE SCHOOL 291 411 74 8 18 24 23 27SPACE COAST JUNIOR/SENIOR HIGH SCHO 228 406 73 10 17 27 25 21CENTRAL MIDDLE SCHOOL 579 406 71 10 19 30 22 19ANDREW JACKSON MIDDLE SCHOOL 282 404 70 14 16 32 20 19RONALD MCNAIR MAGNET MIDDLE 233 403 69 13 18 30 24 14SOUTHWEST MIDDLE SCHOOL 420 405 69 13 18 28 24 18COCOA HIGH SCHOOL 270 397 62 19 19 31 21 10LYNDON B. JOHNSON MIDDLE SCHOOL 377 400 62 16 22 25 21 15STONE MAGNET MIDDLE SCHOOL 384 398 59 18 22 31 16 12JAMES MADISON MIDDLE SCHOOL 197 396 57 16 27 30 20 7

Science:

School Name 1 2 3 4 5EDGEWOOD JR/SR HIGH SCHOOL 163 223 0 7 23 30 40 93WESTSHORE JUNIOR/SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL 146 221 0 9 24 32 36 91THOMAS JEFFERSON MIDDLE SCHOOL 331 212 8 21 25 21 25 71DELAURA MIDDLE SCHOOL 347 211 6 23 27 20 22 70COCOA BEACH JUNIOR/SENIOR HIGH SCHO 174 208 10 23 30 21 16 67HERBERT C. HOOVER MIDDLE SCHOOL 275 208 11 29 26 14 21 61JOHN F. KENNEDY MIDDLE SCHOOL 298 203 12 32 32 14 10 56ANDREW JACKSON MIDDLE SCHOOL 303 204 15 33 24 16 13 52

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RONALD MCNAIR MAGNET MIDDLE 212 203 17 31 26 14 12 52CENTRAL MIDDLE SCHOOL 612 202 19 29 25 16 12 52LYNDON B. JOHNSON MIDDLE SCHOOL 375 203 12 37 30 13 8 51SPACE COAST JUNIOR/SENIOR HIGH SCHO 260 200 17 36 32 11 5 47SOUTHWEST MIDDLE SCHOOL 448 201 16 38 23 15 9 46JAMES MADISON MIDDLE SCHOOL 223 198 21 39 21 12 6 39STONE MAGNET MIDDLE SCHOOL 370 197 27 34 21 11 7 39COCOA HIGH SCHOOL 260 195 28 38 22 9 3 34

Algebra 1 EOC:Middle Schools #N #Y %N %YDistrict MS 264 1736 13.2% 86.8% 2000JEFFERSON 3 182 1.6% 98.4% 185HOOVER 3 147 2.0% 98.0% 150DELAURA 6 210 2.8% 97.2% 216MCNAIR 7 92 7.1% 92.9% 99KENNEDY 16 142 10.1% 89.9% 158JACKSON 22 152 12.6% 87.4% 174STONE 20 124 13.9% 86.1% 144SOUTHWEST 29 139 17.3% 82.7% 168MADISON 18 76 19.1% 80.9% 94JOHNSON 49 205 19.3% 80.7% 254CENTRAL 91 267 25.4% 74.6% 358VS and Charter #N #Y %N %YBREVARD VIRTUAL F 2 7 22.2% 77.8% 9

SCULPTOR CHARTER 3 44 6.4% 93.6% 47PALM BAY ACADEM 2 23 8.0% 92.0% 25VIERA CHARTER 12 73 14.1% 85.9% 85ODYSSEY CHARTER 12 72 14.3% 85.7% 84ROYAL PALM CHART 6 11 35.3% 64.7% 17

Analysis of Current Practices: Current practice at Jefferson Middle School is extremely focused on implementing standards-driven formative assessment and feedback practices. We strive to provide consistent in-progress monitoring and feedback for our students as they are challenged to master the Florida Common Standards Meta-Analysis research conducted by Dr. John Hattie (Hattie, 2009, Visible Learning) and reviewed by Dr. Cathy Lassiter summarized the findings of over 800 educational research studies, conducted over 15 years, targeting the highest-yield strategies for improving student achievement. Research findings were categorized into five areas: Teaching, Curriculum, Student, School, and Home. Strategy “effect size” (ES) was determined to facilitate identification of highest-yield strategies. Two strategies from the “teaching” category demonstrated significant impact (Formative Assessment (ES 0.90) and Feedback on Student Performance (ES 0.73).

Additional research from Max Thompson’s Learning Focus Model (Learning Focused, 2013, Effective Assignments and Assessments for Learning) support the high-yield impact of formative assessment and feedback on improving student performance. Max Thompson’s research supports that standards-driven formative assessment and feedback (to and from students) is a high-yield strategy, resulting in student achievement gains. Learning Focus Research supports the “What?

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So What? Now What” model which emphasizes using the following process for formative assessment and feedback: What? Status of the individual student (and/or class) on mastery of a specific task/concept/benchmark (results of

standards-driven formative assessment. So What? Analysis of what this data represents. Where are the gaps? What are the missing elements? Now What? – How do the teacher and the student move forward towards the end goal of mastery? What steps

should be taken to close the gap and/or help student move towards mastery?

Jefferson Middle School was identified as a “Top Quartile School” from the EDI Instructional Culture Insight Study. In fact, elements that reflected the most positive responses were Learning Environment, Instructional Leadership, and Peer Culture. This validates our efforts over the past few years to build a collaborative culture that focuses on instructional growth and achievement. However, a closer examination of some of the categories and responses indicate that teachers at JMS expressed the need for additional teacher leadership opportunities and that those in teacher leadership positions were not necessarily the most deserving. This indicates the need to review my efforts to recruit, develop, and build a more diverse teacher leadership culture.

Based upon the 2015 Student Survey Results on 21st Century Skills, only 54% of students indicated that they completed meaningful projects often in their classrooms. In addition, only 58% indicated they completed work that involved real world issues on an often basis. This reflects a need to increase rigorous and relevant learning opportunities for students.

Best Practice:

Understanding and underscoring the importance that formative assessment and feedback plays on instruction has been an incredible shift on the assessment practices at Jefferson. It also has highlighted the need for prioritization of standards and the creation of units to ensure the knowledge of those standards. Prioritizing standards within a unit allows teachers to focus on the depth, rigor and transfer of knowledge necessary for students to master the standards. Prioritizing standards is in contrast to an emphasis on covering and exposing students to as much content as possible without an in-depth understanding of knowledge (McTighe, Wiggins, 2011) Cognitive psychology and neurology research conducted by Bransford, Brown, & Cooking, How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience and School, states that “superficial coverage of many topics in the domain is a poor way to help students develop the competencies that will prepare them for future learning and work.” Dr. Max Thompson shared in Learning Focus, “The first step toward improving achievement and eliminating achievement gaps is the development of explicit, clear, curriculum standards. …There remains an enormous gap between the written curriculum standards and the classroom taught curriculum”.

In order to meet the gaps between the rigor of the standards and the curriculum, Jefferson Middle School will implement the framework Understanding By Design. Understanding by Design (UBD) is a framework and accompanying design process for thinking decisively about unit lesson planning. Understanding by Design is a way of thinking purposefully about curricular planning with the end goal of understanding and the ability to transfer learnings – to appropriately connect, make sense of, and use discrete knowledge and skills in context.

During the 2015 school year the Jefferson Middle School teachers took the EDI Instructional Culture Insight Survey about instruction at Jefferson. Three specific areas in the survey were extremely useful when looking at the need for backward planning and ensuring the rigor needed to master the standards. They were Student Growth Measures, Professional Development and Instructional Planning. When analyzed the results (see chart below) share a need for teachers to have support in lesson planning. Only 33% of teachers at Jefferson (when compared to top quartile schools) feel that they get regular assistance on lesson planning. Jefferson Administration along with Dimension 1 of the Brevard County Instructional Personal Performance Appraisal System have chosen to accentuate the notion of Unit

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Planning. As mentioned previously, the research asserts this as “best practice”. Only 60% of the faculty shared that they worked collaboratively to review the assessments prior to instruction. Understanding By Design would be an extremely beneficial tool for the departments to use prior to planning assessments and lessons (which is the emphasis of Stage 2 and Stage 3 of UBD). This is a practice that only 50% of the faculty were committed to consistently. The introduction of weekly Early Release Wednesdays is paramount for ensuring quality school site based professional development and an opportunity for collaborative planning. The Jefferson teachers and administration are committed to using one Wednesday per month for professional development and three additional Wednesdays for collaborative planning. Understanding By Design will be the focus of this professional development and collaboration. This will improve instructional practice for all and assist Jefferson in increasing its percentage in commitment to improving instructional practice.

Student Growth Measures JMS:7.4 Brev:7.6 Nat’l:8.2

Teachers at my school track the performance of their students toward measurable academic goals.

83% 96% 94%

Before the start of the year, I reviewed the assessments my 60% 65% 70%students are expected to take with other teachers or withschool leaders.After each interim assessment, I collaborate with others at 63% 68% 79%my school to make action plans based on studentperformance.Teachers of the same content area at my school share a 83% 69% 83%common set of rigorous interim assessments that ensurestudents are ready for college.My school has dedicated time for teachers to analyze interim 50% 49% 77%assessments and to re‐teach content based on studentperformance.

Professional Development 7.2 8.3 8.3

My school is committed to improving my instructional practice. (*Index)

77% 93% 92%

Professional development opportunities at my school are well planned and facilitated.

77% 85% 86%

Professional development opportunities at my school include demonstrations (either live or in video) of what effective teaching looks like in practice.

60% 82% 81%

In the past six months, I have practiced teaching techniques in a professional development setting outside my own classroom.

40% 60% 67%

In the past six months, I have learned new skills that I was able to immediately use in my own classroom.

67% 88% 88%

Instructional Planning 7.4 8.0 8.4

I am satisfied with the support I receive at my school for instructional planning.

47% 74% 84%

A leader at my school regularly helps me to improve my lesson plans.

33% 56% 72%

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I regularly meet with other teachers throughout my school or district who teach in my same grade or subject area to plan and share resources.

77% 75% 82%

My school implements a rigorous academic curriculum. 83% 96% 92%

School-Based Goal:

The Jefferson Middle School teachers will use a backward planning model (Understanding By Design) to blend short-term and long-term learning goals, provide appropriate assessments and deliver more purposeful teaching to meet the intended rigor of the Florida Standards. Teachers will collaboratively identify desired results, determine acceptable evidence, and plan learning experiences/ instruction that will result in deeper level of understanding and transfer for students.

Strategies: Small number of action oriented staff performance objectives.Barrier Action Steps Person

ResponsibleTime Table

Budget In-ProcessMeasure

1. Need for JMS leadership and staff to be trained on the Three Stages of Understanding by Design (UBD) Unit Planning.

1A. Send Principal, Assistant Principal, and two teacher leaders to the two day Understanding By Design Training.

-Lori Spinner-Jasmine DeLaughter-Heather Mason-Michelle Freeman

July District Professional Development Budget Needed

District Created PowerPoints and UBD training Materials.

1B. Create PD Calendar for UBD Training throughout the first semester.


July No Budget Needed

UBD Training Calendars.

1C. Implement Training Plan for school wide training on UBD Stages 1-3


August- December

1D. Provide Teacher Collaborative Time to analyze existing sources in CPALMS and


August- December

$1500.00 substitute funding providing teacher release time for

-content PLC minutes-creation of iCPALMS account with district clones.

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CMAPS which reflect UBD planning models.

collaborative days.

1E. .Purchase Understanding By Design Guide to Creating High Quality Units

Lori SpinnerJasmine DeLaughterBeth Blocker

July $969.60 CalendarPurchase Order

1F. Establish voluntary book study of UBD guidebook.


September- May

Meeting Agendas

1G. Protect Early Release Wednesday time for content area collaboration of UBD.

-Lori Spinner-Jasmine DeLaughter-Department Heads

August-May (Ongoing)

No Budget Needed

Agendas

2. Need for new faculty members to be trained on school-wide formative assessment practices (as implemented in 14-15 SIP) which support Stage 2 of UBD.

2A. Facilitate training for new staff using Battelle Formative Assessment Pilot Program.

-Lori Spinner-Jasmine DeLaughter-New staff members.

September -- April

District Professional Development Funds

Training Agendas and Calendar and completed Formative Assessment Modules.

2B. Establish collaboration opportunities for pilot program participants to share best practices and module formative assessment strategies to provide reinforcement during Stage 2 training.

Lori SpinnerJasmine DelaughterNew Teacher Leaders

Feb- May No Budget Needed

Training AgendasShare Site of Formative Assessment Resources.

3. Need for faculty Buy-In with UBD Process.

3A. Identify one teacher in each Department who will volunteer to implement an established UBD unit during the first nine semester.

Lori SpinnerJasmine DeLaughterJMS Department Heads

August -October

CPALMS, ICPALMS, District UBD and LDC units.

UBD Lesson Plans and Sharing Session with UBD Pioneers.

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3B. Provide Best Practice Sharing Time for UBD Pioneers during faculty meetings and PD time.

-Lori Spinner-Jasmine DeLaughter

August- December

Faculty Meeting Agendas

3C. Establish collaboration opportunities for all faculty to provide support during UBD development process.


January -- June

No Budget Needed

UBD Lesson Plans, Meeting Agendas, Department Sharing Sessions

3D. Provide supportive feedback to teachers through UBD implementation process.


August -June

-Feedback forms-Informal observations

EVALUATION – Outcome Measures and Reflection- begin with the end in mind .

Qualitative and Quantitative Professional Practice Outcomes: Measures the level of implementation of professional practices throughout your school.

Quantitative Practice Outcomes: 100% of the Jefferson Middle School Faculty will be intensely trained on the Understanding By Design

Framework. 100% of the Jefferson Middle School Faculty will produce an Understanding By Design Unit by the conclusion of

the 15-16 school year. 100% of the Jefferson Middle School Faculty will implement the unit by the conclusion of the 2016 fall semester. 10 % of the Jefferson Middle School Faculty will implement an Understanding By Design Unit to implement in

their classroom during the 2015 fall semester. These “UBD Pioneers” will share their “aha’s” with the faculty and create school wide UBD Best Practices.

Qualitative Practice Outcomes: The Jefferson Faculty will achieve an average score of “Proficient” on the revised IPPAS Dimension 1:

Instructional Design and Lesson Planning. A post survey utilizing the EDI survey instrument will reflect a 5% increase in faculty members agreeing with the

elements reflected in Student Growth Measures, Professional Development and Instructional planning. Informal and Formal observations in Dimension 1/Elements 3and 4 will reflect a 6% improvement in the % of

teachers demonstrating distinguished performance on their annual summative evaluation as compared to 2014-2015 observational feedback (14-15 resulted in 49% and 69% earning distinguished).

Informal and Formal observations in Dimension 3/Element 4 will reflect a 10% improvement in the % of teachers demonstrating distinguished performance on their annual summative evaluation as compared to 2014-2015 observational feedback (14-15 resulted in 37% earning distinguished).

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Qualitative and Quantitative Student Achievement Expectations: Measures student achievement.

Student Measurement: -The Civics EOC percentage for level 3 and above will increase from 77% to 79%. -The FCAT Science percentage for level 3 and above will increase from 71% to 73%. -The Algebra 1 EOC percentage of passing will increase from 98% to 100%. -JMS students will meet or exceed the 75th percentile in outcome proficiency on the 2015 FSA ELA. -JMS students will meet or exceed the 85th percentile in outcome proficiency on the 2015 FSA Math. -JMS student responses will increase 4% in frequent use of meaningful projects and real world issues as

measured by the 21st Century Skills section of the annual Student Survey.

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Part 2: Support Systems for Student Achievement(Federal, State, and District Mandates)

For the following areas, please write a brief narrative that includes the data from the year 2014-2015 and a description of changes you intend to incorporate to improve the data for the year 2015-2016.

MULTI-TIERED SYSTEM OF SUPPORTS MTSS/RtI This section meets the requirements of Sections 1114(b)(1)(B)(i)-(iv) and 1115(c)(1)(A)-(C), P.L. 107-110, NCLB, codified at 20 U.S.C. § 6314(b) and Senate Bill 850.

1. Describe the process through which school leadership identifies and aligns all available resources (e.g., personnel, instructional, curricular) in order to meet the needs of all students. Include the methodology for coordinating the use of federal, state and local funds, services, and programs.

2. Describe your school’s data-based problem-solving process: including types of data used to monitor effectiveness of core, supplemental, and intensive instruction; and school based structures in place to address MTSS implementation.

Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS)

At Jefferson Middle School our MTSS Leadership Team is comprised of guidance counselors; the guidance services professional; the school psychologist, staffing specialist, and behavior analyst; and our administration. This MTSS Leadership Team is expected to assist teacher teams in the development, implementation, and efficacy analysis of intervention plans. An exaggerated emphasis is placed on student data to paint a picture of the “whole” child. The MTSS team pulls data from the sources listed in the chart below, and solicits input from parents and care givers. We employ instructional, curricular and personnel resources through many venues, the one most popular with students and parents is the use of the Jefferson Middle School Tutoring Schedule. This matrix shares additional help sessions each teacher at Jefferson has committed to providing for students throughout the week. Another is our use of Extended FLEX. This is 40 minute period once a week that students use to make up assignments, tests and get extra help in the subjects they are struggling. The students are given a pass from their teachers and sent to the appropriate class for the week. This type of fluid placement assignment affords the teachers to meet each student’s specific need. We also offer our Zero Tolerance for Zeros zone. In which teachers refer students for a working lunch with a classroom teacher to provide opportunities for students to complete missing assignments.

MTSS Leadership Team Data Sources Data Management Training

School Counselors/GSPAdministrationStaffing SpecialistSchool PsychologistBehavior AnalystLiteracy Coach

FCAT/FSA/EOCFAIRGradesDiscipline ReportsAttendance ReportsStudent RecordsObservation/Anecdotal

Performance MattersAS400PMRNSite ReporterMinutes from team meetings documenting interventions

Faculty MeetingsDistrict TrainingsLiteracy CoachSchool PsychologistGuidance CounselorsBehavior AnalystStaffing Specialist

PARENT AND FAMILY INVOLVEMENT: Jefferson has a very active parent organization, the Jefferson Parent Organization (JPO). Jefferson’s JPO participates in

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numerous school activities throughout the year. Our JPO also provides funding for many of our student activities. In addition, JPO members volunteer approximately 10,000 hours each year at Jefferson. As a result of the amount of time our parents volunteer, Jefferson has earned the Five Star School award annually. The JPO also sponsors mini-grants for our faculty and staff in $500.00 increments. The administration meets with the JPO on a regular basis. We communicate with our parents through website news postings, Synervoice calls (and now Blackboard Connect communications), email distribution lists and Edline. District approved social media outlets are also used to communicate with parents, including Twitter and Facebook. All teachers are required to use Edline to communicate with parents and keep them informed about student progress. Jefferson involves parents as stakeholders in the school improvement process as members of our School Advisory Council. The School Advisory Council (SAC) and JPO meet monthly with school staff and administration to insure a collaborative effort in school and strategic planning/decision-making. Parent Survey Results for the 2014-2015 school year reveal the following trends regarding school-to-home communication and parental involvement:

95.71% of parents use Email and 72.86% use Edline as their primary means of staying informed. On average, 91% of parents rated staff, administration, and faculty as Excellent/Good in responding to needs.

(1% increase from 13-14). 82% of parents responded they had participated in informational meetings and events at JMS. 92.73% of parents responded that those informational meetings and events were useful and informative. 86.14% of parents rated information provided by the school as Excellent/Good. (2 % increase from 13-14) 85.72% rated classroom instruction as Excellent/Good. 88.73% felt the safety in the school environment was Excellent/Good.

Based upon Parent Survey Results, a focus for the 2015-2016 school year will be to increase opportunities for parents to gain information in High School Readiness planning, standardized testing requirements, student academic support and virtual course opportunities. In addition, the school will increase its communication with parents of upcoming school events and activities in coordination with the JPO via the school website, Blackboard Connect, email, and Edline. STUDENT SURVEY RESULTS (Required):The 2015 JMS Students Survey gave a multitude of insights on the pulse of our student body. Some of the major “take a ways” are shared in the following tables. The following table illustrates the opportunities Jefferson students have to use technology to create projects in each of their classes. Analysis of this data shares the need to encourage teachers to increase their use of technology for students to show their knowledge of the standards and project based performance tasks.

Never 1 Never 2 Sometimes 3 Often 4 Often 5% % % % %

Math 24.45% 14.26% 35.48%11.38% 11.54%

Science 15.62% 17.32% 38.71%15.11% 11.21%

Social Studies 25.64% 20.03% 31.92%11.38% 7.13%

Language Art/English 20.37% 15.79% 32.77%16.47% 9.68%

World Languages 19.52% 8.15% 12.05%7.13% 3.90%

Career and Technical Education(CTE) 9.34% 7.81% 13.58% 13.92% 23.09%

Physical Education 47.37% 9.85% 11.88%4.07% 6.79%

Art 23.26% 7.81%10.70% 4.75% 8.32%

Music 38.03% 8.83% 11.38%6.11% 8.15%

Other electives 17.66% 8.66% 22.92% 6.96%12.05%

When asked to rate how Jefferson students are learning to use 21st Century Skills at school, every skill was used consistently. It is apparent that each course and project underscored a unique 21st Century. Increasing the need

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and use for these skills in the classroom will be of importance during the 2016 school year. Never 1 Never 2 Sometimes 3 Often 4 Often 5

% % % % %

Teamwork (working in groups,

sharing responsibility) 2.89% 4.41% 24.79% 35.82% 30.73%

Effective communication(speaking, writing, listening) 2.21% 7.47% 23.26% 37.18% 27.50%

Meaningful projects (criticalthinking, problem solving,creativity) 3.90% 7.98% 31.24% 33.45% 20.71%

Practical use of technology(presentations, wordprocessing, spreadsheets) 4.24% 10.70% 30.22% 27.84% 23.43%

Real-world issues(environmental, community,healthy life style) 6.28% 12.73% 28.52% 29.20% 19.35%

How to research (findingbooks, articles, reliable onlineinformation) 5.60% 9.85% 27.33% 31.58% 22.92%

Organizational skills (planning,prioritizing, budgeting) 6.62% 13.58% 29.37% 23.77% 22.75%

Personal character (work ethic,leadership, independence) 4.41% 7.81% 21.56% 28.18% 34.13%

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When asked 84% Jefferson students responded that they had learned about online safety during their school day. An emphasis has been placed on online safety through the JMS Anti-Bullying club. The JMS School Resource Officer is extremely visible on campus and presents information and scenario based warnings to students about online safety via the Jefferson Back to School Assembly.

Response Frequency PercentYes 500 84.89%No 31 5.26%I don’t know 46 7.81%Total Responses 577 97.96%No Response 12 2.04%

EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS (SB 850) Please complete 1 – 3The average attendance rate for 2014-15 school year was 95.75%. Our goal in 2015-2016 is to improve our attendance rate to 97% or above.

Our system for monitoring attendance and communicating with parents is as follows: We make phone contact with parents via automated calls for each day’s absence. We mail home attendance letters for each student as they reach their fifth unexcused absence from school. Weekly attendance reports are run to monitor teachers taking attendance to check for accuracy. We worked closely with our Attendance Resource teacher to have personalized conferences with those exceeding 9 days each term. We had 12 students who failed due to absences for the second semester of the 2014-2015 school year.

Our tardy policy to school and class will continue to be implemented. Parents will receive daily calls to notify them if their child is late arriving to school or any class during the day. When students receive their fourth tardy to school per nine weeks, they will receive a dean’s detention in an effort to curtail this behavior.

At the end of the first semester (2015) the number of students with D’s and F’s was 237. This was 36% of our student body. This was down 5% from first semester during the 2014 year. At the end of the second semester (2015) the number of students with D’s and F’s was 228. This was 34% of our student body. This was down 6% from second semester during the 2014 year. As a safeguard against students failing for the year, Operation Recovery has been offered. Operation Recovery is a time when four major stakeholders get together to assist in student achievement. The guidance counselor, administrators, parents and students meet to problem solve and create strategies that will foster achievement. This year, we will work to meet the parents of struggling students in their communities. This will surely increase our parental participation which will increase parental support for students.

There were 141 students who received two or more behavior referrals for the 2014 school year. JMS also had 143 students who received one or more behavior referrals that led to suspension, as defined in s. 1003.01(5), F.S.,.

Whenever possible, depending on the nature of the incident, a suspension pending parent conference, is issued to prevent a student from missing school. In the 2014-2015 school year, Jefferson had 672 discipline incidents, 143 resulting in suspensions and 15 resulted in suspension-pending-parent conferences. Our goal is to continue to work with students and parents to find alternative consequences that will keep our students in school whenever possible.

In addition to Operation Recovery and our MTSS Team which meets with students demonstrating “Early Warning” signs, we provide weekly academic intervention time during the school day during “Extended Finish Stronger” Time, which is a 40 minute period at the end of the day every Thursday for academic interventions. Also, each instructional team provides published tutoring times on a weekly basis. Every teacher provides academic support before or after school each week. Finally, for the 2015-2016 school year, ASP Funds will be used to provide additional content-specific tutoring twice a week in each MESH Content Area, as well as a “no zero zone” during our lunches, in which students will be referred by teachers to remediate or make up missed work during a “working lunch”.

A summary of the JMS Early Warning System Plan is included the following table:

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Attendance Suspensions Course Failure Level 1 Test Score

Who will identify students?

Dean/Scheuerer Dean/Scheuerer3 Suspensions

Counselors(Site Reporter)

AP/DeLaughterJury-ESE/SLP, Price-Reading

CoachWho will set

appointments with parents and do

mailings?

Counselors/Miller & NeilData

Clerk-Calderin/Mailings

Dean/Scheuerer Counselors Miller & Neil

AP/DeLaughter

NA

Who will participate on data teams? Who will

chair?

Chair/AP DeLaughterTeam: Counselors, Dean,

GSP

Chair/AP DeLaughter

Team: Counselors, Dean,

GSP

Chair/AP DeLaughter


GSP

Chair/AP DeLaughter


GSP

When will the data team meet?

Monthly: First Tuesday Monthly: First Tuesday

Monthly: First Tuesday

Monthly: First Tuesday

Who will document the progress?

What system will we use for

documentation (A3, Performance

Matters, Excel, Google Docs.

Google Docs(GSP Yates-create;

whole Team can edit)

Google Docs(GSP Yates-create; whole

Team can edit)


Team can edit)


Team can edit)

Who will attend trainings and

meetings?

Yates-GSPScheuerer-Dean

Yates-GSP Scheuerer-Dean

Yates-GSP Yates-GSP Jury-ESE/SLP, Price-Reading

Coach

What additional programs will we

put in place?

Operational Recovery (every 9 wks-new kids)Weekly Site Reporter Chats-Admin. Team

Caughta Coupons

Operational Recovery

(every 9 wks-new kids)

Weekly Site Reporter Chats-Admin. Team




Caughtcha Coupons




This section captures a snapshot of the total number of students exhibiting a respective indicator or set of indicators

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during the 2014-15 school year. These data should be used as part of the needs assessment to identify potential problem areas and inform the school’s planning and problem solving for 2015-16.:

The number of students by grade level that exhibit each early warning indicator listed above.

Fill in BLANKS with data from 2014-15 School Year - Number of StudentsGrade Level K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Total Attendance <90 52 55 1071 or more ISS or OSS

69 74 143

Level 1 in ELA or Math

TBA TBA TBA

Course Failure in ELA or Math

22 18 40

Students exhibiting 2 or more indicators

28 35 63

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STUDENT TRANSITION AND READINESS

1. PreK-12 TRANSITION This section used to meet requirements of 20 U.S.C 6314(b)(1)(g).Describe the strategies the school employs to support incoming and outgoing cohorts of students in transition from one school level to another. The JMS Administration and Guidance Department are committed to ensuring an easy transition to and from Jefferson. 6 th Grade Transition: Jefferson Middle School is committed to building a sense of family and connectivity for all incoming sixth grade students. For this purpose the Jefferson Administration is committed to providing instructional teaming. Which places students with a common cohort of classmates and MESH teachers. The Assistant Principal and Guidance Chair visit all feeder elementary schools twice. Once to speak to 6th grade teachers to ensure they are well informed about 7th grade at JMS (they are viewed as JMS’s first line of contact for future parents). The second visit is to speak to 6th grade students. It is imperative that they receive information directly from JMS staff to promote open communication and accurate information. It also give Jefferson a “face” for the students. JMS also puts on the Elective Showcase. This event invites 6th grade students and parents to our school and allows them to experience our electives. 9 th Grade Transition: Providing information about High School is easy and unique at Jefferson. We feed into only ONE high school, so ensuring access to Merritt Island High School is simplistic. Jefferson provides two days for the MIHS guidance counselors to visit and input course requests for 8th grade students. Jefferson advertises through synervoice and edline all freshman “happenings” for MIHS. MIHS special programs and academies visit the elective classes and the lunches to promote their offerings for incoming freshman.

2. COLLEGE AND CAREER READINESS This section is required for schools with 9, 10, 11 or 12. This section meets the requirements of Sections 20 U.S.C. § 6314(b).

Describe the strategies the school uses to support college and career awareness, which may include establishing partnerships with business, industry or community organizations.

In 2014-15, Jefferson Middle School offered several STEM related experiences for students including (the Galileo Program; Lego League/Robotics Team; and Future Problem Solvers). For 2014-15, Jefferson Middle School looks to expand these offerings by increasing the number of students participating in each of these programs, including adding Science Research back into our curricular offerings. For example, enrollment in the science research has increased ten times! Over the past two years (2013-2016) enrollment in high school level courses has doubled.

Identify the career and technical education programs available to students and industry certifications that may be earned through those respective programs.

In CTE, Jefferson Middle School only had 1 student in 2013-14 complete an Industry Certification Course/Exam in CTE. Guidance counselors, faculty, and administration implemented a recruitment plan during the course selection process in Spring of 2014 to address this deficit. This resulted in an increased enrollment in high school level CTE courses for the 14-15 school year of 23 students. This trend continues for the 15-16 school year with two full sections reflecting similar high levels of enrollment.

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