Island High School Plan 2005/06

Island High School was a 9-12 continuation school with an enrollment of 186 in 2005/06.

Disclaimer: Single School Plan were hand typed and transcribed from source documents. Please pardon the typos as the webmaster is a poor typist. While an effort was made to spell acronyms, here is a reference guide for those acronyms.

Single School Plan Components

What Did You Learn from 2004/05 Cycle of Inquiry?

1. Looking at your data what general trends do you see? What does the data tell us about how the focus group did? How much progress did they make? How does this compare to growth of other subgroups? Is the student achievement gap closing?

At teh beginning of this year, Island had 102 students not yet passing the CHASEE math test, and 87 not yet passing the CAHSEE ELA. Of those students just lass than half had taken and failed the exam and just more than half had never taken the CAHSEE.

We examined subtest data among those students who had taken and failed the exam to try to pinpoint which skills individual lacked. Data from other standardized test (CST, CELDT) were examined when no CAHSEE subtest data was on record. In many cases, no relevant student was available, either because student had been absent during all recent testing, because the student was a 5th year senior and had not been offered either CAHSEE or STAR testing the prior year, or because student was a recent transfer from out of district with incomplete records.

Among those students with scores, several clear patterns were visible. In the math CAHSEE, the lowest scoring students subtests in order were Algebra, Probability and to a lesser extent, Geometry. In English Language Arts the lowest scoring subtest were generally the Reading Comprehension and the Writing Application.

Because this is the first year where all students must pass the CAHSEE to graduate, there is no relevant comparison data from previous years.

2. What evidence/data do you have regarding the level of implementation of the teacher/instructional practice and/or schoolwide practice that you planned in your last Cycle of Inquiry? Include information about what was not implemented as well as what was implemented.

In last year's cycle of inquiry, Island ran an orientation class for all students at the start of the year. During orientation, all students were given a battery of Literacy and Numeracy tests designed to supplement the spotty standardized assessment available when students arrive at Island. The class was implemented and the data was collected. However, no further use was made of the data, either for placement in classes or differentation of instrucion.

This year the team decided to continue with the orientation class. All incoming students were enrolled in orientation. The assessment component was revised to make it more useful for placement in intervention classes.

In Math, the numeracy tests were eliminated, as passing a full year course in Algebra is a much better indicator of success on the CAHSEE. Students who have not passed the CAHSEE and have not completed Algebra are enrolled in Transitions to Algebra class. Seniors liekly to complete all coursework requirements this year are also enrolled in a CAHSEE support class. Currently we have one general CAHSEE math class for students needing to work further on Algebra or general CAHSEE math. We are also running a six week long intervention in Probability. If the need exists after CAHSEE scores are received in January, we will offer a six week intervention in Geometry.

In English Language Arts, students were given a comprehension screen. Studnets failing that screening test were given a vocabulary assessment (sna Diego Quick) and a fluency test (AIMS Web). All students were given the REACH Reasoning and Writing Placement Test (but this was a mistake we won't repeat). This data combined with CAHSEE subtest data to place students in one of two intervention classe. We also opened a Reading Comprehension intervention for students scoring poorly on that subtest who had intermediate or above fluency scores.

In both Math and ELA our theory of action is that broad spectrum "spray and pray" intervention classes do not work; the only effective intervention is that which uses assessment to identify specific skills gaps and then provide targeted instruction aimed at filling that specific skill gap. All data gathered are being used to identify needs, place students, and assess student progress in intervention courses.

3. What evidence do you have that your focus on these students has positively impacted their learning?

There is no evidence as yet that focus on these students has impacted their learning. Currently we can only verify that 42 students who would otherwise be receiving no intervention are receiving highly targeted intereventions based on their identified skill gaps. Ongoing assessments demonstrates that students are making gains. Summative data will be available in January.

4. Is there anything else you learned in examining your data that will inform your revised problem statement?

The take away from last year was that simply having more data about our student does not cause a change in teaching. This year, we made explicit attempts to utilize data to place students. It was successful, within limits, but it showed up our limitations. One, most incoming students were assessed during orientation class held first period. Low attendance in period one left us with gaps in our data. We had no back up system for students who were not assessed during orientation. Second, we had made assumptions about our studnet reading level which wer wrong. (Our students are better readers than we had guessed) so some placement testing was too specific at the low end and not specific enough at the high end. This is easy to remedy. Last, and most complexly, we discovered that we lack some of the knowledge to make sense of the data we gathered. This is the work of this year's problem statement.

Fall 2005

1. What are your problem statements?

Problem Statement

Student Achievement Problem Statement

Many students arrive at Island without having passed the California High Schol Exit Exam (CAHSEE). Of those students, some have not passed because they have not attempted the test, while others lack the academic skills. Among those students lacking the skills to pass, the school has little information about their specific skill gaps. There is a need to identify their individual skill gaps through assessment and fill those gaps with instruction targeted to their needs.

Teacher Practice Problem Statements

Teachers at Island lack both literacy instructional skills, appropriate and identified instructional materials and scheduled teaching time to provide intervention for students lacking the skills to pass the CAHSEE.

2. What are your inquiry questions?

Student Achievement Questions

• Among the students not passing the CAHSEE/ELA, what literacy skills are lacking? For each individual focus student, are they lacking skills in decoding, fluency, comprehension and/or writing?
• Among the students not passing the CAHSEE math, what mathematical skills are lacking? For each individual focus student, are they lacking skills in Algebra, Funcions, Number Sense, Geometry and/or Probabilty?

Teacher Practice Questions

• How can this data be systematically gathered, analyzed, and used to place students in intervention classes targeted to their specific skill gaps? How can progress in each instervention course be measured?
3. What are your measurable goals?

Student Achievement Goals

Focal students will pass the CAHSEE.
For focal students still unable to pass the CAHSEE...

• using matched scores, students will increase their CAHSEE subtest score on the substest(s) which measures the skill taught in their intervention course by a greater amount than they increase their overall CAHSEE score.
• or, students will make greated than one year of progress in the the target skill for each six weeks of intervention course as measured by course specific assessments.

Teacher Practice Goals

• All incoming students attneding their intervention class at least 80% of days will be assessed for literacy interventions by their orientation teacher during orientation class.
• At least 50% of classroom teachers (5 of 11) will be trained in and implement one targeted intervention course during the 2005-06 school year. Teacher will gather agreed upon summative assessment from all intervention class students in attendance during the last week of the class.
4. What are your major strategies?

Major Strategies

• Form leadership team
• Formative assessment of students
• Develop intervention courses
• Place studnets in intervention
• Assess success of ongoign inteventions
• Place studnets in intervention

Island 2004/05 Single School Plan

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Last modified: February 8, 2005

Disclaimer: This website is the sole responsibility of Mike McMahon. It does not represent any official opinions, statement of facts or positions of the Alameda Unified School District. Its sole purpose is to disseminate information to interested individuals in the Alameda community.