State of ACS Board Presentation
Here are the notes from a presentation I gave to the Compass board on March 13.
Aspen Community School At-a-Glance 2007-2008
Enrollment: 121 Full Time Teaching Staff: 13
Teacher Aides: 4 Budget: $1.2 million
Grants to Date: $54,700 Annual fund to date: $70,000
Families contributing to annual fund: 65%
Students participating in: Outdoor Education: 99%,Celebrate the Beat (all school interdisciplinary arts): 100%, Spring musical:100%
Students trained to prevent intentional acts of mistreatment on campus: 21
Number of out of school suspensions: 0
Current 8th graders who scored Advanced on 07 Math CSAP: 50%
Current 8th graders who scored Advanced on 07 Reading CSAP 40%
Current 8th graders who scored Advanced on 07 Writing CSAP 30%
Staff members participating in ongoing professional development: 100%
Full time Staff turnover 07-08: 0%
School Improvement Plan 07-08
Academic Excellence: The goal is to foster and encourage academic excellence by meeting every student where they are scholastically and challenging them to succeed further.
- Comprehensive understanding of each student, their learning style, strengths and challenges, early identification and remediation for learning difficulties.
- Differentiated Instruction; Different instruction for different levels of learning and learners.
- Depth of study over “coverage”
- Interdisciplinary Connections (arts, outdoor education, wellness)
Measurement – Improvement on CSAP Scores and in class assessments
3-5 Grade 6-8 Grade
Reading 80% proficient/advanced Reading maintain 90%
Writing 70% proficient/advanced Writing 85%
Math 80% proficient/advanced Math 80%
Relevance of Subject: The goal is encourage, and support interdisciplinary “connections” between subjects.
- Cross curricular instruction within regular classes i.e.: visual art and literacy
- Whole school interdisciplinary arts and outdoor education units
Measurement –
Students will perform in before a live audience twice in December and twice in May as the culmination of all school interdisciplinarrty arts units.
Students will document cross-curricular activities in portfolio and present three times per year.
Relationships: The goal is to foster mutual respect and cooperation within the school community and with the Aspen School District.
- Focus of positive school climate: Programs include social emotional education, Safe School Ambassador training, All School meeting, in school councilor, on going staff development and training.
- Increased communication student-student, student to teacher, and teacher to parents including: new school web site, effective parent communication and conferences.
- Increased collaboration with Aspen School District: i.e.: new math curriculum project, professional development collaboration.
Measures of Success / Tools for Assessment
- Decreased referrals to Principal’s office
- Increased staff participation in professional development
- Student participation in Safe School Ambassadors Program
- Direct classroom observation
- Parent feedback on annual survey
- Student portfolios
- Teacher evaluations
- Principal evaluation
- Teacher retention
- Relationship with Aspen School District
- CSAP longitudinal data
