Sydney Academy Accreditation

1. Sydney Academy Accreditation School Improvement Plan

2. Where have we been? Data Collection

3. Goal Selection * 1 Student Achievement * 1 School Performance * 1 (Best of the Rest)

4. Student Achievement Potential Goals included: • Literacy Across the Curriculum • Second Language • Student Engagement

5. School Performance Potential Goals included: • Communication • Parental Involvement • School Climate

6. Who was involved in Goal Selection? • Teaching Staff (Teachers, Administration, Guidance, etc.) • Support Staff (C.U.P.E. Employees) • Parents (S.A.C Committee) • Students (Head Boy/Head Girl) • Community (S.A.C Committee)

7. S.M.A.R.T Goals Strategic and Specific → Focused on specific actions to achieve results and linked to priorities that are part of the larger vision. Measurable → How will we know if our actions made a difference and what data will we collect to provide evidence that we made a difference? Attainable → Can we do what we want to do? Results-based → What do we expect to achieve? Time-bound → Have we established a timeline for achieving our goal?

8. Tentative SA Accreditation Goals Goal: Communication By May 2011, 75% of school community members will report satisfaction with communication methods being used.

9. Goal: Student Engagement By May 2011, there will be an increase in student engagement across the curriculum demonstrated by an increase in baseline survey data and a 5 % improvement in various assessment measures.

10. Goal: Literacy Across the Curriculum By May 2011, there will be an increase of 5% from baseline on a variety of literacy assessments.

11. Where did we go from there?

12. Tentative Strategies and Action Plans What we’ll do to achieve our goals?

13. “Goal Committees” • “Goal Committees” were established. • “Goal Committees” were in charge of meeting to create “Action Plans” for each strategy. • “Action Plans” do not commence until September ’08.

14. Goal: Communication Strategy #1: To provide a variety of assessment tools/practices to enhance student/teacher communication.

15. Action Steps for Strategy #1 1. Each department will develop rubrics for evaluation. • “Office Hours”. Each teacher will hold regular office hours once a cycle to allow student and teacher to meet if necessary. • Student/Teacher conferencing will be used as part of assessment and recorded.

16. Goal: Communication Strategy #2: To provide a variety of practices to enhance home/school communication.

17. Action Steps for Strategy #2 1. Introduce a message board on Townsend Street 2. Parent E-mail distribution list 3. K-12 Planet 4. Telephone in classrooms (voice mail) 5. Answering machine for after hours

18. Goal: Communication Strategy #3: To Improve the school website

19. Action Steps for Strategy #3 • Develop a plan to keep the website up to date 2. Department news/student column 3. Investigate/Research other school websites

20. Goal: Literacy Across the Curriculum Strategy #1: To provide students opportunities to develop better reading comprehension skills.

21. Action Steps for Strategy #1 1. Information session/review/orientation for all teachers and staff on Literacy SMART goal. 2. Introduce the Reading Improvement Program to all staff. 3. Improve resources and access to resource material for RIP 4. Implement the RIP program for 4-20min blocks (Mon-Thurs), last 20 minutes of 2nd double.

22. Purchase, acquire dictionaries for each classroom • Form a committee to research and select appropriate reading comprehension strategies across the curriculum. The creation of a handbook for all teachers. • In-servicing of all teachers regarding reading comprehension strategies. 8. Development of baseline testing instruments for measuring reading comprehension.

23. Goal: Literacy Across the Curriculum Strategy #2: To develop stronger skills which emphasize precision, clarity and accuracy

24. Action Steps for Strategy #2 • Create a link on the website and an insert in the student handbook which contains helpful and comprehensive information for various written tasks. • Create a committee to compile, organize and implement the use of proper resources for written tasks. • Provide each class with a copy of Canadian Writer. • In-service teachers and support staff on the use of appropriate writing techniques across the curriculum. • Development of a series of rubric templates, exemplars of writing .

25. Goal: Student Engagement Strategy #1: To develop an ongoing system of continuous evaluation to support student engagement.

26. Action Steps for Strategy #1 1. Research available professional development resources on portfolio development 2. Develop a Sydney Academy Portfolio System. 3. In-service staff on use of portfolios. 4. Implement Portfolios as a tool for evaluation.

27. 5. Each teacher will include a variety of assessments ie. portfolios, projects, home assignments, tests, in-class assignments. 6. Professional development will be provided regarding addressing different learning styles in the classroom. Assessment must reflect these learning styles. 7. Compile a collection of assessment tools, techniques, and templates that support diverse learning needs across the curriculum.

28. Goal: Student Engagement Strategy #2: To establish an in-house peer-tutoring/tutoring program.

29. Action Steps for Strategy #2 • Enlist a member of the teaching staff to act as staff advisor to oversee the peer-tutoring program. • Select student tutors based on demonstrated ability in specific subject areas. • Provide inducements for peer tutors to become involved in the program. • Provide training for Peer Tutors.

30. 5. Establish a tutoring schedule and provide a suitable location. 6. Research opportunities to provide homework/tutoring support by qualified professionals. 7. On school website, advertise extra-help sessions provided by teaching staff, CBU Chaplaincy Program, and the Youth Peer Tutoring Program

31. Goal: Student Engagement Strategy #3: To establish a school-wide policy regarding attendance, punctuality, assignment deadlines and test-writing.

32. Action Steps for Strategy #3 • Create a drive on the school server to house all school policies and procedures to be assessable by all teachers. • Ensure all applicable policies and procedures are printed in the student handbook and on the school website. • Establish an in-school suspension program to deal with habitual attendance and punctuality problems. • Ensure all teaching staff are in their classrooms on time to greet their students

33. 5. Teachers will contact parents in regard to student absences, punctuality, behavioral issues and academic progress in a timely fashion. 6. To ensure school-wide communication, teachers will use the action comments in Win-school, on a consistent basis, to record any issues regarding attendance, punctuality, and student performance. 7. When five or more absences occur, a parent conference will be held with the student, an administrator and guidance.

34. Goal: Student Engagement Strategy #4: Administration will provide regular, visible support and feedback to staff and students.

35. Action Steps for Strategy #4 • Administration will make short, bi-weekly visits to each classroom to observe teaching and learning and offer support and encouragement. 2. A video message center will be installed in the cafeteria to support communication and feedback to students.

36. 3. Administration will meet with all new teachers, term teachers and long-term substitutes at the beginning of their placement to review attendance and other policies, as well as to direct them to the computer drive where all policies are to be stored. 4. Guidance and/or Resource Teacher will meet with all new teachers, term teachers, and long-term substitutes to review course adaptation and IPP policies and procedures.

37. External Review Team Visit When? - April 20-23, 2008 Why? • To Evaluate our School Improvement Plan Who? - All stakeholders