Sounds like a plan
Carroll schools present plan for improvement
By Jennifer Archibald Staff writer

Indiana believes there's always room for improvement when it comes to education, so it requires schools to develop a yearly School Improvement Plan, under Public Law 221.

The written plan is to include information about the school, the standardized tests it uses, and its goals.

Carroll Elementary School and Carroll Jr.-Sr. High School presented their plans to the Carroll School Board at its meeting June 19.

Elementary principal Carolyn O'Connell said the whole school staff was involved in writing the plan. The steering committee was made up of the principal, assistant principal, five teachers, five parents, a PTO member, and a representative from the community.

The plan contains a summary of the results of standardized testing, and the goals for improving performance.

O'Connell said the percentage of students passing the ISTEP+ in 2006-2007 was 80.3 percent. She said this is above the state average.

The school uses a variety of other testing and assessment means to help determine curriculum, remediation, Title I, at-risk programs, enrichment programs, and goals for improvement.

One of those other assessments is DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Literacy Skills), to determine basic reading skills. The test is given three times a year to kindergartners, first graders, and second graders.

"The test shows that our kindergarten students are well prepared to move on to first grade," O'Connell said. "Only 6 out of 81, or 7 percent, do we have concerns about."

The same test showed 7 percent of first graders at-risk and 12 percent of second graders.

Enrollment data is included in the plan. Carroll Elementary shows an enrollment of 614 for 2006-2007. This is down from 627 in 2005-2006. Ten years ago, the enrollment was 659.

O'Connell pointed out that the school's percentage of students receiving free and reduced lunches is 30.5 percent. Ten years ago it was 15 percent.

The latest attendance rate, for 2005-2006, is 96.9 percent, compared to the state average of 96 percent.

The school's improvement plan is reviewed and revised every year, based on accumulated data.

Elementary goals

The plan lists three goals, with accompanying strategies and evaluation. The goals are:

1. All students will increase in mathematics scores annually.

"Math computation is one of our weaknesses, and is across the state, too," O'Connell said.

2. Students in third through sixth grade will increase scores annually in reading.

"Students have difficulty in vocabulary," O'Connell said. She added that one thing that will be done to help increase vocabulary is to designate a "word of the day" for each grade level.

3. Students will continue to develop further writing strategies and skills that are appropriate to their grade level and aligned with The Indiana Academic State Standards.

Jr.-Sr. High School plan

The steering committee for the junior-senior high school's 2007-2008 plan was comprised of the principal, assistant principal, guidance director, guidance counselor, two teachers, two parents, a business partner, and one student.

The 2006-2007 enrollment was 524 students.

According to the curriculum description in the report, Carroll will be adding two more Advance Placement courses next year (AP History and AP Environmental Science) in addition to the four AP courses already offered.

The North Central Association and Accreditation program for the school was completed last November. This is a fiveyear process. Huckstep said Carroll was asked to make very few changes.

A summary of ISTEP+ data shows that for 2006-2007, Carroll was above the state average in percent that passed the test in each testing grade level and in all subjects tested. Grade levels tested were 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th grade in English/ language arts and math, and 7th grade in science. Huckstep said Carroll has consistently been above the state average since 2000.

CJSHS goal

The stated goal for Carroll's improvement plan for 2007- 2009 is: "All Carroll students will improve writing skills across the curriculum as they write for many purposes and in all subject areas."

Accountability ratings

Each year, as a requirement of Public Law 221, the state places schools and school corporations into one of five categories, based on performance and improvement, using ISTEP+ results. The categories are: Exemplary Progress, Commendable Progress, Academic Progress, Academic Watch, and Academic Probation.

For 2006, according to the Department of Education website, the Carroll School Corporation was placed in the commendable category. Its percentage of students passing the ISTEP was 80.1, and its improvement percentage was .8. Of all the school corporations in the state, 18 percent were found to be "commendable." Eleven percent qualified for "exemplary."

Individual schools are also rated. Of the 404 elementary schools in the state, 35 percent, including Carroll Elementary, are in the exemplary category. Carroll's percentage of students passing the ISTEP+ was 80.9 and its improvement percentage was 2.8.

Carroll Jr.-Sr. High School was placed in Academic Watch. Fifty-five percent of all middle schools and 59 percent of all high schools are in that category. Although CJSHS had a respectable percentage of students passing the ISTEP (78.8 percent), its improvement percentage was .1 percent.

Elementary book rental

In other board business, elementary book rental fees were approved as follows: Kindergarten, $61.40; first grade, $84.30; second grade, $77.46; third grade, $106.66; fourth grade, $90.42; fifth grade, $90.67; and sixth grade, $96.13. A comparison with last year's fees shows increases in kindergarten, fifth grade and sixth grade, and decreases in grades one through four.

The board approved an update in its computer security system at a cost of $10,943.50, to be purchased through the Capital Projects Fund.

Michelle Simmons resigned as sponsor of the Cougarette Dance Team, and Charlotte Rohrabaugh was hired as a food service employee. A 12- month vocational agriculture contract was renewed for teacher Steve Keown.

Meeting change

The time and place have been changed for the next board meeting. The meeting will be July 3 at 4 p.m. in the conference room at the elementary school.