Comprehensive Needs Assessment

1. How was the comprehensive needs assessment conducted?

Teachers and the ACIP team met and analyzed school data. Data from SIR, parental surveys, ASA results, ACT ASPIRE results, attendance reports (student & teacher), AAA scores, Educate Alabama profile (school summary), DIBELS, transform 20/20 (technology survey) and student enrollment by grade level was used to determine needs to be addressed in the plan. The assessment showed that the student-teacher ratio was 63:2 in 1st grade which indicated a great need for an additional teacher. After the hiring of a third teacher in Grade 1, the student-teacher ratio will be 21:3. The need for a full-time counselor was based on the increased number of office/counselor referrals from 24 referrals in 2012-20213 to 138 referrals in 20213-2014.

2. What were the results of the comprehensive needs assessment?

The results of the comprehensive needs assessment

Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) Spring 2014:

Strengths:

91% of kindergarten (upcoming 1st graders) benchmarked on phoneme segmentation fluency.

84% of 1st graders (upcoming 2nd graders) benchmarked on phoneme segmentation fluency.

Weaknesses:

16% of kindergarten (upcoming 1st graders) were not proficient in letter naming fluency.

32% of 1st graders (upcoming 2nd graders) were not proficient in nonsense word fluency.

35% of 1st graders (upcoming 2nd graders) were not proficient in ORF.

42% of 2nd graders (upcoming 3rd graders) were not proficient in ORF.

ACT Aspire: No previous data to compare.

Strengths: Grade 3 - Scored 1 point less than minimum proficiency level in math.

Grade 6 - Achieved benchmark score of 420 in math.

Weaknesses:

Grades 3-6 are not prepared for the reading demands of college and career (not able to read and understand complex texts).

Insufficient progress percentages for grades 3-6 range from 65% - 81%.

74% of the 3rd grade students were insufficient in reading on the ACT Aspire.

81% of the 4th grade students were insufficient in reading on the ACT Aspire.

74% of the 5th grade students were insufficient in reading on the ACT Aspire.

65% of the 6th grade students were insufficient in reading on the ACT Aspire.

AAA:

Strengths - 2/2 students tested scored Level III in reading, math, and science.

Weakness: 1/1 student tested scored Level II in math.

ASA:

Strengths: 74% of students could identify major body systems and their functions; 75% of students could compare distances from the sun to the planets in our solar system.

Weakness: 44% of students could not identify/understand concave and convex lenses.

Parental Surveys:

Strengths:

99% of parents feel welcome at SCES.

83% of parents understand their child's report cards and/or test scores.

61% of parents know what it means to be a Title I school and what their rights are.

Weaknesses:

52% of parents did not know about volunteer work they can do at school.

SIR: Office/Counselor Referrals Strengths:

Provided individual and/or small group counseling intervention related to bullying (66%) - 1/2 day counselor/grade 1 submitted

Weakness:

41% of the student body had disciplinary infractions and student counseling.

68% of out of school suspension occurred during the school year 52% of corporal punishment was administered during the school year

Student enrollment by grade level:

Strengths:

Kindergarten, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grade has a student-teacher ratio of at least 23:1.

Weakness:

1st grade has a student-teacher ratio of 32:1.

Attendance report(student & teacher)

During 2013-2014 school term, faculty and staff absentees consisted of the following: 31 personal leave days.

Weaknesses:

During 2013-2014 school term, faculty and staff absentees were contributed to the following: 92 detached duties; 246 sick leave (includes unforeseen medical illness which requiring extensive treatment).

During 2013-2014 the SCES student body members of 364 were absent 3736 days.

Technology Survey(Transform 20/20):

Strengths:

63.64% of the teachers stated that " I am interested in learning more about planning and implementing a 1-1 (device to student ratio ) initiative in my classroom).

Weakness:

27.27% of the teachers have stated that " They have sufficient digital devices and tools to effectively integrate technology into my teaching".

3. What conclusions were drawn from the results?

Conclusions:

-Students in grades K-2 require more practice with the alphabetic principle and oral reading fluency.

-Grade 2 is a challenging grade level and in order for students to receive effective and explicit instruction, a third teacher is needed in grade 1.

-Office/counselor referrals increased from 24 (2012-2013) to 138 (2013-2014) indicating a need for a full-time counselor.

-Continue to involve parents in school activities by forming an active parenting committee in which parents are key factors.

-Use data in bi-weekly/monthly data meetings to improve instruction and student proficiency.

-To hire a class size reduction teacher for Grade 1 (student:teacher ratio - 63:2)

-Continue implementation of The Leader in Me to build positive character traits which impact student achievement and discipline.

-Offer extended learning opportunities to improve student proficiency on state assessments

4. What information was concluded as a result of analyzing perception, student achievement, school programs/process, and demographic data?

As with all schools and/or school programs there is always improvement which needs to be made for the school, students, parents, and community to become true partners in the educational experience. Student/staff survey feedback indicates that the implementation of the Leader in Me has already had a positive impact on school perception, the understanding of proactive behavior and teamwork. There was more than a 70% increase in office/counselor referrals from 2012-2013 to 2013-2014. Based on this data, we elected to hire a full-time counselor for small group sessions, etc.

5. How are the school goals connected to priority needs and the needs assessment?

The school goals are concentrated on reading and math which are integrated with technology with additional emphasis on increasing parental involvement. The goals were determined by the data collected from the comprehensive needs assessment which indicate the areas most in need as being class-size reduction teachers, full-time counselor, and professional development to improve reading, math, and technology instruction.

6. How do the goals portray a clear and detailed analysis of multiple types of data?

Multiple types of data were used, analyzed and incorporated in the goals of the plan. Through the analysis, it was determined what the goals should be and how the goals of the school should be written, especially in the areas of personnel.

7. How do the goals address the needs of the whole school population and special recognition to children who are disadvantaged?

The goals address the needs of the whole school population and special recognition to children who are disadvantaged by offering differentiated instruction and Tier III intervention.