A+ Schools of Excellence Cover Sheet
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A+ SCHOOLS OF EXCELLENCE COVER SHEET
Official School Name: Basha High School District Name: Chandler Unified School District
Level: Previous A+ School? ___Elementary (Pre K- or combination) ___Yes _X_No _X_Secondary (9-12) If Yes, Year(s) _____
Name of Principal: Ken James School Mailing Address: 5990 S. Val Vista Drive, Chandler, AZ 85249 Primary Phone: (480) 224-2100 Principal Phone or ext.: (480) 224-2107 Principal Email Address: [email protected]
Name of Superintendent: Dr. Camille Casteel District Mailing Address: 1525 West Frye Road, Chandler, AZ 85224 Primary Phone: (480) 812-7000 Superintendent Phone: (480) 812-7600 Superintendent Email Address: [email protected]
Street Address City & Zip: Same as mailing address Detailed travel directions indicating surface streets that lead to school: From Scottsdale, travel south on the 101 passed the 60 to the 202. Head east on the 202. Exit at Val Vista Drive, turn right. Travel approximately five miles south on Val Vista Drive. The school is located on the north/west corner of Val Vista and Riggs. Enter the parking lot located on Val Vista. Administration is located in building A.
From Phoenix, travel south on I10. Take 202 east towards SanTan. Exit at Val Vista Drive, turn right. Travel approximately five miles south on Val Vista Drive. The school is located on the north/west corner of Val Vista and Riggs. Enter the parking lot located on Val Vista. Administration is located in building A.
Calendar information: Best days of week, and times to observe: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday (this is a block day) Time school buses begin arriving in the morning: 7:00 a.m. Time classes begin: 6:30 a.m. (zero hour); 7:25 a.m. all classes Time classes dismiss: 2:14 p.m.; 3:16 p.m. (seventh hour) Spring Break dates: March 15-March 29, 2010 Standardized testing dates: February 23, 24; March 2, 3; April 7, 8, 13, 14, 15, 16
SIGNATURES:
I have reviewed the information in this package, including the eligibility requirements, and certify that to the best of my knowledge it is accurate. If my school is recognized as an A+ School of Excellence, the contents of this application may be made available to the public.
Basha High School 2010 A+ Schools of Excellence Application Page 1 ______Date: ______Principal’s signature
I have reviewed the information in this package, including the eligibility requirements, and certify that to the best of my knowledge it is accurate.
______Date: ______Superintendent’s signature
I have reviewed the information in this package, including the eligibility requirements, and certify that to the best of my knowledge it is accurate.
______Date: ______School Board Member’s signature
Printed name of School Board Member: ______
Basha High School 2010 A+ Schools of Excellence Application Page 2 Preparation of A+ School Self-Assessment Representatives of all relevant stakeholder groups (including administrators, teachers, other school staff, students, parents, and community representatives) should be involved in the preparation of the application. List the individuals actively involved in preparation. Insert additional pages as needed.
Liza Sejkora, English teacher Terri Wattawa, Assistant Principal Devon Adams, English teacher Melanie Alexander, Early Childhood teacher Paul Andersen, English teacher Sean Casey, Special Education teacher Jon Coombs, Spanish teacher Ehrin Fountain, Special Education teacher Tiffany Frane, Social Studies Department Chair Ian Johnson, English teacher Becky Pitney, English teacher MaryAnn Rezzonico, Economics teacher Amanda Yocum, Business teacher Vance Acker, Choir Director Melissa Austin, Culinary Arts teacher Matt Barber, Counselor Qiana Bonham, Special Education teacher Becky Clark, Counselor April Crupi, parent volunteer Elizabeth Curran, community member Lynne Curtis, World Language Department Chair Kathy Deakin, English teacher Chris Evans, Social Studies teacher Jacque Genung-Koch, Dance teacher Kristi Glassmeyer, Science teacher Michelle Good, Assistant Principal Candice Holiday, English teacher Christina Jahr, Science Department Chair Ken James, Principal Erica Jensen, English teacher Heather Johnson, Special Education Department chair Karen Johnson, Math teacher Matt Kozacek, Band Director Darin Lawton, Physical Education teacher Ashley Levy, English teacher Toni McGraw, Art teacher John Marcilionis, Special Education teacher Carol Miller, Attendance Clerk
Basha High School 2010 A+ Schools of Excellence Application Page 3 Julie Mitchell, Special Education teacher Gena Navitskis, World Language teacher Lindsay Palbykin, English teacher Ben Peterson, Social Studies teacher Audra Police, English teacher Brent Rincon, Assistant Principal Nicole Scarbrough, Social Studies teacher Janeen Scaringelli, Counselor Cassie Skufca, English teacher Nancy Spilsbury, Counseling Department Chair Patty Weingarten, Registrar Jean Wilhelm, Math Department Chair Julie Wilkinson, Social Studies teacher
Basha High School 2010 A+ Schools of Excellence Application Page 4 PART I—DEMOGRAPHIC DATA
DISTRICT INFORMATION: 1. Total Number of students (pre K-12) enrolled in the district: 38,000 2. Number of schools in the district:
29 Elementary Schools 0 Middle Schools 0 K-8 Schools 7 Junior High Schools 4 High Schools 2 Alternative Schools 42 Total Schools
SCHOOL INFORMATION: 3. Category that best describes the area where the school is located:
_____Urban or large central city __X_ Suburban _____Suburban w/characteristics of urban areas _____Small city/town in rural area _____Rural
4. Number of years the principal has been in her/his position at this school? 1.5 years
If less than three years, how long was the previous principal at this school? 5 years
5. Number of students enrolled at each grade level (or its equivalent) in the school applying for A+ status:
Pre K 70 5th 9th 633 1st 6th 10th 517 2nd 7th 11th 566 3rd 8th 12th 565 4th Total Enrollment: 2,351
6. Racial/ethnic composition of students in the school: __1__% American Indian or Alaska Native __5__% Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander __8__% Black or African American __14__% Hispanic or Latino __72__% White __0__ % Other; specify 100% Total
Basha High School 2010 A+ Schools of Excellence Application Page 5
7. Student turnover, or mobility rate during the past year: _1.10____% (Calculate this rate by taking the total number of students who transferred to or from your school between October 1 and the end of the school year, divided by the total number of students in school as of October 1, and multiplying by 100.)
8. Limited English proficient students in the school: ____0.6_%_____ a. Total Number of languages represented: _5___ b. Specify languages: Spanish, Korean, Swahili, Russian, and Vietnamese
9. Students who participate in free/reduced-priced meals: 114 Total Number __5__% of total student population If this method is not a reasonably accurate estimate of the percentage of students from low income families or the school does not participate in the federally-supported lunch program, specify a more accurate estimate, tell why the school chose it, and explain how it arrived at this estimate.
10. Students receiving special education services: _230__Total Number _10_% of total student population 201__Specific Learning Disability _25__DD/Heath Impaired/Autistic __4__Other Severe (specify) MDSSI, MD
Indicate if your school is the district site for any specific special education magnet program(s); if so, include student enrollment for that program(s). Not Applicable
11. Indicate number of full-time and part-time staff members in each of the categories below:
Number of Staff Full-time Part-time Administrators 4 0 Classroom teachers 105 2 Specials: Therapists 2 0
Resource teachers 11 0
Other specialists 2 0 Paraprofessionals 13 0 Other Support Staff 52 1 TOTAL FTE 189 3
Describe any significant changes in the data reported in items 1-11 that have occurred during the past five years. Explain why the changes occurred and the impact on your school programs (use additional page if necessary).
Not applicable
Basha High School 2010 A+ Schools of Excellence Application Page 6 PART II—VISION/MISSION
Vision Statement: The Mission of Basha High School is to exemplify Benevolence, Honor and Scholarship in all endeavors.
With the arrival of our new principal two years ago, the school community felt the need to implement a new mission statement that better reflected the spirit of Basha High School. What originally began as a lunch conversation at an AP summer institute conference evolved into the mission statement that is firmly embedded in the BHS culture: Benevolence, Honor, Scholarship. This simple, yet powerful statement is easy for staff and students to remember, yet inspirational enough to produce results. Posted in every room on campus, this vision has become a reality on our campus because everyone understands the meaning of the carefully chosen words and the desired outcome from putting the mission into action.
Our Goals
The Basha High School community has identified several goals that intersect with our guiding principle of Benevolence, Honor, and Scholarship. In keeping with best practices, we ensure that these goals are data-driven and have measurable outcomes that enable us to evaluate the effectiveness of our efforts. At Basha High School, we are committed to these goals for our school community: Benevolence 1. Developing an effective support network for all students at Basha High School to ensure that personal needs are met as well as academic requirements: LINK, Peer Mediation, BEAR Team. 2. Providing multiple opportunities for students to actively engage in the larger school community, no matter how their individual differences may set them apart. 3. Supporting student, staff, and community initiatives that seek to improve the lives of others. Honor 1. Pursuing Victory with Honor at all levels and formats of athletic, scholastic, and activity competitions. 2. Expecting high levels of performance within the entire student population and providing means for students to achieve these expectations. 3. Celebrating varied student successes throughout the school year with the greater Chandler community. Scholarship 1. Enabling all students to participate in honors and Advanced Placement courses: School wide PSAT testing paid for by BHS, AP Potential, AVID, accelerated math courses. 2. Academic support for students at all levels of performance: tutoring sessions, weekend study sessions, test preparation, data driven differentiated instruction, Lift Lab, ECAP preparation. 3. Embracing professional growth opportunities and developing a learning community culture among staff at BHS: Writing Across the Curriculum, Content Literacy, Active Engagement Strategies, Advanced Placement Conferences and Seminars, AVID Training.
Basha High School 2010 A+ Schools of Excellence Application Page 7 PART III—SCHOOL SUMMARY Established in 2002, Basha High School is a four year comprehensive high school serving a suburban student population. The southeastern Chandler, Arizona community that surrounds the campus includes agricultural, residential, and light commercial properties. This area has experienced rapid population growth blending families and cultures from various geographic areas around the globe. Basha High expanded our student body from a mere 370 students in 2002 to 2,667 in 2009. We have enjoyed a steady influx of open enrollment students from outside of the CUSD boundaries. In choosing BHS, parents cite the following reasons: “to get the best quality of education that your prestigious school has to offer”; “Excelling academic programs, variety of clubs, and organizations, extracurricular programs, supportive teachers, and staff”; “high academic standards that will challenge my daughter”. These accolades are not unfounded as BHS earned the highest AIMS scores in the Chandler Unified School District and ranks in the top ten across the state. Our academic successes are not limited solely to state results as this past year we joined Newsweek’s 2009 Best High Schools list. This honor becomes even more significant as there were only 15 other schools recognized in the State of Arizona. In our first seven years, Basha High has embraced practices and traditions that align with our core beliefs of Benevolence, Honor, and Scholarship. In welcoming our “bear cubs” (incoming freshmen) to high school, we have established a LINK crew whose specific function is to orient and familiarize students with the Basha High campus. These junior and senior Link Crew leaders serve as mentors to younger students throughout their first year at BHS. This marks the start of many other traditions they will experience throughout their next four years. Other Basha High traditions include: Bear Down Days, Welcome Back Pool Party, Club Fair, the Annual Homecoming Carnival, Homecoming Grocery Cart Parade, Homecoming Tailgating Party, Basha Breakdown Cheer, AVID Canned Food Drive, Winter Charity Dance, Quarterly Spirit Weeks, Catalyst Fair, World Language Fair, Senior Pool Party, and Yearbook Signing Party. Additionally, our students have extensive opportunities to participate in athletic events, extracurricular clubs/activities and curricular events that extend beyond the classroom. As our student population has grown, so to have our awards and recognitions. For four of our five AIMS testing years, Basha High School has earned recognized as an Excelling school by the Arizona Department of Education. Nationally, our students are honored for their exceptional academic abilities. In 2009, BHS produced 83 AP Scholars, which included 6 AP National Scholars and 20 AP Scholars with Distinction. To date, we have produced five National Merit Scholars, five U.S. Military Academy appointments and one National Hispanic Scholar. Our students excelled at the 2009 Arizona Science and Engineering Fair (AzSEF) as four of the five research projects submitted took first place in their respective categories. These same projects went on to the 2009 International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), where they represented 44% of the projects sent from AzSEF, and two projects placed 3rd overall in Microbiology and Social/Behavioral categories. Athletically, we have captured the 5A-1 State Championship title in Softball for the past two years, 2008 Varsity Co-Ed Cheer Title, and 2008 Region Football Championship. The BHS student body, led by Student Government raised over $33,000.00 to build a school in Mali, Africa so that those children would have the benefit of an education. Basha High School shares facilities with the community which enable us to forge effective partnerships. Basha High hosts a comprehensive day-care center, Chandler Public Library, community pool, and park facility. We routinely invite community groups to our fine arts, athletic, and extracurricular events. Many clubs pair with community organizations for public service projects to benefit those in need.
Basha High School 2010 A+ Schools of Excellence Application Page 8 PART IV—LEARNING CENTERED SCHOOLS CRITERIA
A. School Organization and Culture
A1. What are the school’s underlying values, beliefs, and traditions that have built up over time as people work together, solve problems and confront challenges? At Basha High School, we believe that all children can rise to the challenges that lie before them academically, socially, and personally. We acknowledge that as a school community we have an inherent responsibility to provide the support and guidance necessary to equip our students with the skills and knowledge to best meet these challenges. We also acknowledge that along the path to preparation, relationships between students, teachers, and the BHS community may be tested. Therefore, we strive to ensure that we connect with our students and families on a positive, interpersonal level. To this end, we welcome incoming freshman and their families with spring informational night. This evening is designed to provide parents and students the opportunity to “meet and greet” their teachers, counselors and staff. Upperclassmen continue to provide support to our incoming families through the LINK program. Kicked off with a day-long orientation, prior to the first day of school, the LINK Leaders facilitate interpersonal activities with small groups of about ten freshman students. This way, on the first day of high school, every freshman knows at least 9 other freshmen students, as well as an upper classmen. During the first week of school, LINK Leaders wear brightly colored t-shirts to clearly identify themselves as LINK Leaders. These freshmen know that any LINK Leader will assist in any situation. This program assuages much of the anxiety felt by the freshmen. Similar programs are available for students joining BHS throughout the year, no matter their age. For example, foreign exchange students are welcomed by Student Government leaders at a luncheon hosted by administration. During these informational exchanges, BHS students are offered opportunities to learn about schools outside of the United States as well as making our new students feel welcomed and accepted. We routinely celebrate our students for a multitude of achievements, whether they are academic, athletic or interpersonal. Last fall, one of our students was featured on American Idol for her vocal talents. Although she did not win the title, we celebrated her accomplishments at one of our pep assemblies. Throughout the school year, we share student accomplishments on our school website, through school newsletters, and leaflets, and our site council and staff meetings. These celebrations serve to reinforce the pride we share in the achievements of our students and our belief in them as individuals. Recognizing that student successes require support and guidance that may extend further than the classroom, Basha High Staff go beyond what is expected of a public educational institution. From the principal through support staff, adults avail themselves as mentors for our students. Adults are available outside of the classroom by school and email, web pages, and networking sites. Teachers regularly attend sporting events, extracurricular activities, and participate in student club activities. The interest in student activities helps to build strong community relationships. These relationships are evidenced when students come back from college to visit teachers, counselors, and administrators each year. These students value not only the academic influence of the adults on campus but also the mentor relationships established through years of mutual respect. One former student noted, “When I graduated high school, I thought I’d never look back. Whenever I come home, I can’t help but stop by to see [the teachers]. I miss them.” Student input and ideas are sought out through a number of formal and informal means. Each year, administration fields
Basha High School 2010 A+ Schools of Excellence Application Page 9 several student body committees to serve as advisories on a number of issues. These committees are formed through student volunteers as well as personal invitations by the principal. In doing so, we can capture student voices that may have otherwise been lost among the larger populace. The benefit of these committees is their ability to participate in the decision making processes of the school. Policy changes, school community concerns, and opinions are discussed through these committees and administration draws upon their ideas and insights as a part of the decision making process. For example, recently Basha High made changes to the tardy policy and consequences. The Student Advisory Committee, provided insight and opinions as to what would make an impact to diminish the behavior as well as what currently was not working.
A2. How does the school foster positive interactions and respect between students and adults, and promotes a healthy peer climate among students? In addition to relationships between staff and students, Basha High School focuses on fostering positive interactions and respect overall. This process begins in the classroom as clear behavioral expectations are established for our students. Every teacher includes a diversity statement in his or her syllabus that reads: All individuals have a right to an educational environment free from bias, prejudice and bigotry. As members of the Basha High School educational community, students are expected to refrain from participating in acts of harassment that are designed to demean another student’s race, gender, ethnicity, religious preference, disability or sexual orientation. Within each classroom, teachers establish clear behavior expectations so that each student will feel safe to grow as a learner. Students who are in violation of this policy are counseled and redirected in order to extinguish the behavior. Our students recognize the benefits of the expectations and have reported, via 2008 district survey, that 92% felt safe while they were on campus. As further evidence of this safe environment, students participate in many activities made possible by dedicated teachers who view their job as extending beyond the classroom. For example, SHADESS is a club where students mentor disabled students both in a social and academic capacity. SHADESS holds a district-wide dance for special needs students during the holidays. SHADESS, as well as the other 38 clubs on campus affords students the opportunity to interact with their peers in a community environment. When students are experiencing negative interactions with their peers, our guidance department serves as a bridge to mediate disagreements and assist disenfranchised students to find healthy peer groups. Employing peer mediation techniques, the guidance department is able to de- escalate many social situations that may otherwise result in disciplinary action. Students can seek assistance from a response counselor who is available throughout the day to attend to their needs. Additionally, our guidance department offers student support groups to assist students with academic issues (e.g. freshman organization strategies) or emotional needs (e.g. grief/divorce).
A3. What is the school’s plan for school-wide safety, discipline and drug prevention? Students can only thrive in an environment where they are safe to challenge themselves and try new things; therefore, safety in paramount to social and academic pursuits. Therefore, Basha develops a school safety plan that is reviewed quarterly. Recognizing that ideally discipline should be used to teach responsible behavior, as well as extinguish negative interactions, Basha High School utilizes progressive consequences where appropriate. Working within the parameters of district guidelines, consequences for inappropriate behavior consistently applied and repeated infractions lead to increased penalties. Investigations by administration
Basha High School 2010 A+ Schools of Excellence Application Page 10 reflect on all germane factors prior to assigning disciplinary action. Severe infractions that threaten the well-being of the school population are not tolerated. For example, mutual combat (fighting) results in a maximum suspension; drug possession may result in a long-term suspension and will involve police interaction. To assist in school safety measures, Basha has security cameras positioned throughout campus, as well as six security guards on duty during school hours. Teacher presence in the hallways is evident before school, after school, and between classes. Clear policies are outlined for fire drills and lock down drills, which are practiced regularly so that students know what to do in those situations. Our School Resource Officer, Officer David Woodard, also serves as a significant resource for students and staff. He is highly visible throughout the day as he works with students in an instructional and advisory capacity. He presents drug prevention seminars to the sophomore classes as well as instructing highly popular police science elective. Students view Officer Woodard as someone they can go to if they need help. Staff and administration rely on his expertise and assistance during investigations and disciplinary actions.
A4. How does your school foster a sense of cooperation and collaboration among adults and students? Ongoing throughout the year, information regarding attendance, discipline, community, and staff perceptions, and achievement data are collected. This information is shared with the larger Basha High School community through focus groups such as Site Council, Classified Staff (A/B) Meetings, Department Chairs, and Student Advisory Committees. These groups then disseminate, discuss, and reflect the data in order to provide input and guidance as to how Basha can refine our current practices. These conversations serve to engage the larger community in the challenges that Basha faces as well as lending a voice to potential solution. This process can prove to be lengthy at times as focus groups loop out and research potential solutions to issues. However, we feel the time is well spent as it ensures a vested interest by stakeholders in the success of our school community.
B. Student Focus and Support
B1. How is the school’s population best described? Basha High School’s student population continues to evolve as our surrounding community becomes more diverse. At present, our student population is 72% Caucasian, 14% Hispanic, 8% African American, 5% Asian/Pacific Islander and 1% Indian/Alaskan Native. Over the past seven years, we have experienced an increase in our socio-economic diversity. At present, we have approximately 5% of our population who qualify for free or reduced lunch. In addition ethnic and socio-economic diversity, we recognize the diverse nature of our student population with respect to IEP services. At present, approximately 10% of our population qualifies for special education support. In considering the needs of our student population, we established a proactive educational environment where all students can find success. To ensure that all students receive the intellectual challenge and academic support they need, Basha High School offers a variety of curricular programs. Depending upon their motivations, students may participate in Advanced Placement/Dual Credit, Career and Technical Education, or advanced/honors courses. In keeping with best practices, Basha High School promotes an open access policy for all students with respect to AP/Dual Credit and honors programs. To best assist students in achieving success in all courses, BHS teachers utilize state standards as the basis for
Basha High School 2010 A+ Schools of Excellence Application Page 11 their instruction. Curricular teams sequence state standards and identify academic skills necessary for content mastery. These teams work together to develop common assessments that are used for progress monitoring throughout the school year. Teachers conduct pre-assessments to determine student prior knowledge. Based on this data, instructional decisions are made to reduce redundancy and provide appropriate challenge or remediation as needed. In addition to use by instructors, data is discussed within department and levels to share best practice wisdom. To meet the needs of our inclusion learners, students are offered extensive support in mainstream classrooms. To this end, we have created several co-taught math and English courses, where two teachers (one regular education/one special education) work simultaneously in the regular education classroom. Both teachers are seen as equal partners in the educational setting and share the responsibility for student achievement. These practices have yielded notable successes for Basha High School as we have maintained our Excelling label and our students scored above 90% on all AIMS tests last spring.
B2. How is your school structured to meet the varied needs of your student population? Recognizing that many students need additional content, skill, and affective support, Basha High School has adopted a number of school wide practices. The first of these is the AVID program. AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) is a school wide program that mentors students new to honors or AP by providing additional reading and writing curriculum and college age tutors. This program embodies the ideals that all students are expected to push themselves towards excellence, and all have the opportunity to do so. A notable outgrowth of this program has been that many of the practices that are employed by the AVID program have been disseminated to the campus at large. Cornell note taking, interactive notebooks, Costa’s Levels of Questioning and structured tutoring sessions are a few of the AVID strategies that core content teachers have adopted to assist students in their classes. Student clubs, athletic programs, and organizations have embraced academic expectations for their members. Black Student Union members participated in mentorship and academic support with the Sun Lakes Rotary Club. Departments offer tutoring session before or after school to assist student athletes in maintaining their GPA. The guidance department meets with all students on their caseload several times a year. These meetings are opportunities for the counselors to advise and support a student’s academic goals BHS also ensures there are nonacademic opportunities for students to receive support. To guarantee that all students have the opportunity to participate in clubs, two thirty minute conference periods are built into our Thursday and Friday block schedules. All students are able to attend club meetings during this time. As many students take the bus home immediately after school, this decision guarantees that all students can participate in clubs such as German Club, International Thespian Society, and National Honor Society. In the fall, we hold a club fair during lunches so that students have the opportunity to gather information about the various nonacademic opportunities on campus. Other clubs, such as Math Club and Academic Decathlon allow students to come together to collaborate in a competitive nature. Math club promotes student learning and encourages students to explore various disciplines of math. It encourages the members to compete and exceed their levels of potential within the scope of a general education classroom. Academic Decathlon promotes competition against other schools in the areas of written expression, comprehension of texts, and oral expression. Both clubs offer further mentoring in the areas of math, reading, and writing, benefiting not only the teams in competition, but also the students in these academic areas.
Basha High School 2010 A+ Schools of Excellence Application Page 12 Recognizing that students enter at multiple points of preparedness, Basha High School has provided our teachers with professional development in effective teaching practices such as differentiated instruction, direct instruction, accelerated instruction, and remediation. Teachers utilize classroom data, as well as state and national indicators, to determine what interventions are necessary for key student groups. Knowing that not all students learn or demonstrate their learning in the same manner, teachers offer differentiated assessments opportunities. For example, teachers may offer verbal assessments for IRP interviews, and creative assessments in different mediums other than writing including video, poster, acting, or singing. Senior English classes offer students an opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of Dante’s Nine Levels of Hell by applying the concept to the novel’s theme. Over the past few years, senior English students have imagined a Star Wars Hell, Starbucks Hell and Musician’s Hell. Teachers have also applied other differentiated teaching formats through the use of flexible grouping within the classroom. Since BHS teachers strive to know their students well, teachers are aware of the needs of students, especially in grouping them into learning environments. Teachers use anecdotal, observational, and test data to form these groups. At the high school level, this additional support planning can be very difficult with the master schedule. Most students’ schedules are created using the automated scheduler and teacher matching can be the luck of the draw; however, in special education, when we partner teachers for inclusion classes, we do consider what teachers will work best together and what teachers are open to a partnership that will benefit the students. There are a select few students in special education who are hand scheduled to make sure that they have specific teachers, but this is only in certain instances to better meet the needs of the student. In addition, in each setting, teachers must have sufficient content area knowledge to provide adequate support in order to service student needs. Additionally, teachers must possess the skill knowledge to effectively deliver instruction to their classes. At BHS, teachers are encouraged to gain knowledge about many different learning formats, challenges, and needs. In doing so, they have a diverse background in order to meet the needs of the students as they arise. For example, all BHS teachers are encouraged to attend Advanced Placement Conferences, attain Community College Certification, and complete Sheltered English Instruction endorsements. Each of these develops strong instructional support that can meet the needs of students - instead of selecting only one teacher that can teach a particular type of student.
B3. How does the school address students’ physical, social and emotion needs, and intervene when student personal needs are preventing academic success? The guidance department helps students with emotional, physical, and social needs. As mentioned earlier, the guidance department is available to mediate issues and provide support for students when they are in need. Another intervention is that counselors are available to students who are struggling emotionally or socially to talk with them and receive some helpful advice using what they call a counselors toolkit, which has some helpful tips for students to cope with the issues that they are having. Also, counselors have access to community resources to help students with physical needs (i.e. addiction recovery programs, homeless shelters). Counselors and teachers hold Parent/ Teacher Conferences to discuss and address concerns regarding students and develop a coherent plan to assist them. For students new to Basha High School, the school has a team of teachers, administrators, and counselors, affectionately called the BEAR (Basha Educators Assistance Resource) Team, that works together to help students who have been identified by teachers who are struggling academically, socially, or emotionally.
Basha High School 2010 A+ Schools of Excellence Application Page 13 In the Basha High School educational community, students are expected to refrain from participating in acts of harassment as delineated earlier in the report. Students are given a student handbook, which clearly states the student conduct policy, student responsibilities, and discipline procedures. FERPA rights are also discussed in the student handbook. Students and parents sign a Student Citizenship Contract, which is located in the student handbook, and returned to BHS. Visitors to the campus must enter through the front office, sign in, and wear a visitor’s badge further securing the safe educational environment. BHS works in conjunction with the Chandler Fire Department to ensure safety of students and school. BHS participates in monthly fire drills. BHS works with Chandler Police Department to guarantee safety by participating in scheduled and unscheduled lockdown drills, discussing the results and any improvements that need to be made. Our School Resource Officer is visible on campus and is available to speak to classes on safety concerns or issues, and assist with maintaining the overall safety of the students. With administration, teachers, security guards, and the SRO working in collaboration to ensure student safety, discipline issues are minimal; teachers are able to focus on providing an environment conducive for all students to achieve academic success.
B4. How has your school demonstrated a commitment to addressing the accessibility of its facilities and programs to students with disabilities? Basha High School addresses the accessibility of its facilities and campus to students and others with disabilities by implementing the following: handicap buttons to automatically open doors to all buildings on campus, elevators in two-story buildings, ramps, handicap accessible bathrooms for students and staff, doorways wide enough for a wheelchair to easily maneuver through, buildings clearly marked, lowered water fountains, and wheelchair friendly desks. The school is currently requesting remote access to the automatic doors for students that are unable to press the button on the wall. BHS has made the bus drop-off and pick-up in a separate location for students who ride the special education bus from the regular education bus. The parent pick- up area is also separate and clearly marked. BHS and Chandler Unified School District work in conjunction with the city of Chandler to ensure appropriate zoning before building a school and to maximize safety of projected site through city planning. CUSD, BHS, and the City of Chandler continue to work in collaboration to ensure the safety of the students. BHS and CUSD work closely with the Chandler Police Department to ensure the safety of students such as enforcing speed limits, notification of accidents, etc. The SRO for BHS also works with the police department to improve safety of the students and the school.
C. Professional Learning Communities
C1. What opportunities do teachers/other staff have to participate in professional learning communities that enhances their ability to support student learning? The professional learning communities at Basha High encompass various professional development opportunities for teachers and other staff members to increase student learning. The identification of professional development needs often begins with dialogue among focus various focus groups. The Basha High Site Council, Student Advisory Committee and Support Staff Teams all serve to generate, review, and analyze school data trends. These identified areas of need then become the focus of refinement for the BHS community. Data is shared readily
Basha High School 2010 A+ Schools of Excellence Application Page 14 with all members of the BHS community with the intention that it will spark inquiry as well as ownership to improve the current state of affairs. As evidence of this, department chairs are provided quarterly grades, district and site assessment data. This information is shared with the department with the intent that it will develop discussion regarding student achievement and instructional practice. Research is conducted within these professional learning communities to identify best practices within the content levels. Throughout the last several years, this been facilitated on a school wide level. In each department the process is a little different but what is common is the use of data to understand the most about our students, our school, and our community. Teachers were provided with release time so that they could attend an in service meeting to disaggregate data from multiple sources and then interpret it as it relates to our school. Teachers determined what they thought would make the most impact on student results and focused on that area. Several PLCs resulted that allowed teachers to increase their own knowledge so that they would be more prepared to teach their area of focus to their students. This greatly increased teacher-knowledge base because we were able to self-select the topics that we felt we identified as most relevant to the current issue. After becoming familiar with the Professional Learning Community format, we have incorporated the practice into grade level and departmental meetings related to our current school-wide goal of writing across the curriculum. Trainings have been provided to all teachers in the use of a common rubric and a common vocabulary to use when teaching and evaluating writing. Individual departments then held additional PLC meetings to learn from each other and refine their own classroom techniques based on student data (artifacts) collected after instruction.
C2. How does a coherent approach to professional development ensure ongoing learning for staff? Professional development is automatically built in throughout our school year. Several days are built into the school calendar that are specifically designated for professional development purposes. This professional development ranges from content specific training to best teaching practices. Depending upon the focus and content topic, these in-services may be facilitated by content area experts or in-practice teachers (train the trainer model). Recently, we have sought to draw upon those teachers with extensive expertise in Writing Across the Curriculum and Content Area Literacy to provide not only the content knowledge, but the relevancy of a “real” practioner. Knowledge gained through these professional development opportunities is expected to be applied in the classroom. Accountability for implementation is found through administrative walk-throughs, student data collection, reflective discussions, and student achievement data.
C3. How has teacher professional development improved teaching, school culture, and student achievement/success? All teachers are evaluated during the year by the school’s administrators. These classroom observation visits provide an opportunity to evaluate teacher skills and provide valuable feedback to the instructor. After each visit the instructor is provided informal feedback on positive aspects of the classroom instruction and also provided with data that may indicate areas that need further refinement. Along with their administrator, Basha teachers remain abreast of current research and practices by developing and implementing an annual plan for professional growth. This plan outlines the professional development activities the teacher
Basha High School 2010 A+ Schools of Excellence Application Page 15 intends to undertake within the next school year. With diligent care and analysis they identify specific teacher short and long term goals in professional development education and training. Basha High School certified and support staff, along with six students are recognized for their achievements every month during the school year. Nominations from the staff are gathered and evaluated by a 12-person panel comprised of a cross-section of staff and administrative personnel. Award winners are recognized with their peers in their appropriate work areas and presented with Balloons and a Basha Bear mascot stuffed animal. Award winners are further recognized through a monthly luncheon where the principal reads the winning citation and presents the award recipient with a Basha High School “You Make a Difference” plaque.
D. Active Teaching and Learning
D1. How are teaching practices and learning experiences consistent with current knowledge/research about successful teaching and learning? Recognizing that time is the currency of learning, Basha High School staff work diligently to plan engaging, relevant curricular units and utilize data collection to reflect upon their effectiveness. This process does not occur in isolation, as all curricular areas recognize the need to dialogue as a learning community. Within the site, our core academic departments have utilized vertical teaming opportunities to inform and review classroom assessments and instruction. Vertical teams are comprised of Honors/AP teachers as well as on-level teachers that meet quarterly throughout the school year. These meetings allow for necessary adjustments to instruction in order to ensure that all students are stretched beyond the base level content standards. In addition to site level meetings, many of our vertical teams have served to assist us in networking with feeder and sister sites at the district level. This networking has developed effective collaborations in order to discuss identified areas of need, as well as what materials and activities have been taught prior to students entering the high school. This is a critical piece for effective instruction as the Arizona Academic Content Standards are not written for classroom activities; rather for student academic outcomes. This leaves teachers with significant freedom to develop their own activities, in concert with district adopted curriculum. In doing so, students may experience repeated units, and may lose the opportunity to deepen their learning experiences. For example, our science department was able to eliminate a duplicated lab activity, DNA extraction, from our Biology curriculum as incoming freshman have already experienced this in their junior high school classrooms. Once this was discovered, our biology teachers were able to capitalize on student background experiences and created a more challenging experience through the use of biotechnology labs. Additionally, Basha High teachers look to information gathered through professional performance data. For the past seven years, Basha High School has participated in “Teach for Success” data collection events that are conducted by district staff. Initially introduced to CUSD by WestED, Teach for Success is a data collection protocol that evaluates the engagement of teacher and student in the educational environment. As the instrument delineates student engagement in and levels of instruction within the classroom, administration and staff can review trends within our collective instructional environment. This data can then be juxtaposed with student achievement data to discern what is working, and what is not, for our student population. Furthermore, we utilize this data in the development of site improvement goals as well as reinforcing identified effective practices in the formal evaluative process.
Basha High School 2010 A+ Schools of Excellence Application Page 16 D2. What does the school do to accelerate the learning of students who fall below basic standards, and/or mastery? During the past several years, we have identified areas of continued student need and weakness. One such identified area was content literacy skills as measured by the AIMS examination. To address this concern, professional development and resource materials were provided to staff for implementation in their disciplines. This process, which has continued since Basha High’s inception, has supported out students in developing core literacy skills. This focus has also highlighted the necessity of content area reading and writing throughout the school year. As mentioned previously, our teachers have risen to the challenge of implementing literacy into their classrooms and assessments. Our school schedule provides for differentiated instructional formats throughout the week. Monday through Wednesday, students have a traditional classroom schedule with 6 50- minute periods. On Thursday and Friday, students attend classes in a block schedule format. The intention with the schedule is to provide time for instructors to diffentiate lessons and activities, while recognizing that students also need consistent reinforcement of information. During these longer block periods, teachers utilize flexible grouping, small group instruction as well as laboratories, explorations and primary research to deepen student understanding. For students that are in need of additional assistance, that requires assistance beyond the regular class period, tutoring sessions are available to students daily as well as weekend study groups. When necessary, students are able to re-gain credits through computer based recovery programs (LIFT Lab). These classes are available after school as well during the school day for students who are significantly credit deficient. For students who demonstrate ambition and aptitude for accelerated coursework, Basha High School offers an accelerated math program, and open access to all honors and Advanced Placement courses. We have found that our student population has been responsive to these options and we have enjoyed significant growth in these programs as a result. As evidence of our success, we have grown our AP program from just one course in 2004 to over 23 course offerings this year. Additionally, we have seen our AP Equity and Excellence rating rise to 23.2% from 0% in 2005.
D3. What processes, strategies and management systems are used to assure a safe and orderly school/classroom environment? Policies and reinforcement of those policies are of major importance in any school. Basha High School has developed a well-organized system to accomplish the goal of distributing information as well as reinforcing these policies. To begin each school year, students are provided with a school agenda which includes all rules and policies. Teachers are instructed to go over the agenda including these policies during the first week of school. Students are then given a contract to sign not only personally, but also for their guardian to sign. Once signed these contracts are collected and filed for future use. Important policies that are contained within the agenda as well as the contract include but are not limited to the following items: Student tardy policies, a 10 day absent policy, dress codes, appropriate language use, as well as respect for faculty, staff, and students on campus. Various other polices are also covered that are of major importance such as violence and weapon policies. There are several management routines, which are in place to assure a safe and orderly environment. These policies are designed to develop student adaptability, responsibility and self-directed skill development. These items include but are not limited to: Students are given bell work, which immediately focuses students on the learning process as soon as they enter a classroom. Teachers also list the
Basha High School 2010 A+ Schools of Excellence Application Page 17 daily objectives for each lesson on the board. Homework and all other project and assignments are to be listed in the students' agenda which can be evaluated for responsibility. The school makes sure that all policies are equitable, fair, and consistent in various ways. The zone administrator acquires a syllabus from each teacher to verify inclusion of our diversity statement and that all school wide policies are included. It is reviewed for accuracy as well as policy balance and correctness. The syllabi are also developed by grade level teams so that policies are consistent across departments and the campus as a whole. Special needs and circumstances are notified by the special education department to each teacher and meetings are held bi-annually or more if necessary to provide student support. Meetings involve the student, teachers, as well as parents and/or guardians of each student.
D4. What opportunities do students have to apply learning to real world situations? Students are encouraged to apply new learning and skills in a relevant manner. To this end, our marketing courses involved the maintenance of an on-site student store (affectionately termed the Grizzly Shack). Students in the course must run the store at a profit, as well as maintain inventory, and oversee the day to day operations. Other CTE courses offer similar opportunities for their members, either through solving engineering problems, raising Poinsettias for sale at the holidays, or producing five course meals for student luncheons. These applications are not limited to our CTE programs as our science curriculum requires authentic scientific research opportunities. Several students work with University scientists and local science industry professionals to develop independent research projects that are evaluated each spring. Students in leadership organizations, such as Student Government and National Honors Society, perform service learning projects to help identified areas of need. In giving back, our student leaders are able to demonstrate service above self and gain valuable experience in philanthropic tasks.
D5. How are resources made available to teachers and students for instruction, gathering information and sharing the results of their efforts? The school contains a library maintained through the City of Chandler. Classes use this shared-use facility at various points throughout the day. The library hours are from 7:15pm to 8:00pm.Students may enter the library anytime throughout the day except between 9:15-9:45 which is a conference/study hall scheduled in each class. Teachers may sign-up for computer lab use within the library where 34-54 computers may be used. One of the benefits to a shared-use library facility is that funds for books and equipment are shared between both entities. Our school website was recently revamped and improved. The website is accessible through the Chandler Unified School District website or access it directly at www.bashabears.com . There is a menu bar displayed prominently across the top where users can easily access pertinent school information including academic, department, extracurricular, and athletic information. The website is kept up to date daily by the webmaster who is a teacher on campus, guaranteeing that the information is up to date and accurate. Teacher information including email addresses and class websites are available through the school website. Every teacher on campus has access to a customizable web page that they can utilize for communication with both parents and students.
D6. What technology application is the school using? How do they relate to the curricular goals, and how do they support teaching and learning?
Basha High School 2010 A+ Schools of Excellence Application Page 18 All teachers on campus at Basha High School have a vast array of technological resources available to them for use in instruction. All classrooms are equipped with a computer, an LCD projector, a document camera, and an Easiteach computer slate which serves as a portable chalkboard. The equipment is attached to the teacher computer and allows the teacher to project from the computer or the document camera in the classroom. This up to date technology allows the teacher to circulate around the room with the Easiteach, which operates similar to a Smart Board and controls what is on the desk top and projected on the screen. Teachers can engage and involve students by allowing them to work problems using the slate from anywhere in the room or by projecting content from the internet. Many classrooms also have additional computers available for student use during class and throughout the day. Basha's campus includes seven fully equipped computer labs available for teachers to use with classes; in addition, teachers may also use the computer labs available in the city library located on campus. The Graphic Design Program utilizes a state of the art Apple Macintosh Lab that students use for the course. All teachers can sign up to use a computer lab during any class period. The computer server here at Basha High has a shared data drive where teachers can post information which is available for use by other teachers on campus. This has proven to be a valuable resource allowing teachers to easily gather and share information supporting each other with up to date information for classroom instruction. Teachers are also able to share information with students through the teacher websites available the Basha High school website.
E. Challenging Curriculum Standards
E1. Describe the content curriculum for each of the following areas; describe the scope and sequence, high-quality, integration of content areas, and how skills are integrated across grades. English, Mathematics, The Arts, Foreign Languages, Science, Social Studies, Physical Education E2. Select two of the above content areas (OR one of the above and one other unique curricular area) that should be highlighted because of their central importance to the school’s vision/mission, and the special significance to the school. E3. How does your curriculum address 21st century content; including civic literacy, financial, economic and business literacy; global awareness; health/wellness? E4. How is the curriculum in each content area and grade level developed, monitored, evaluated and improved at your school? E5. What requirements must be satisfied before a student is promoted to the next grade or level of schooling? E6. How does the school ensure that all student, including learners with unique needs (e.g., students with disabilities, students identified as gifted and talented, students with limited English proficiency, students placed at risk, etc.) have the opportunity to learn challenging content and achieve at high levels? E7. What curricular offerings provide rigorous education opportunities that transition students to post-secondary education and/or careers? Basha High School has a rigorous curriculum, designed using district, state and national benchmarks, which is designed to prepare our students for their futures. Students are required to complete four years of English, three years of math, three years of social science, two years of science, one year of fine art/career-technical education, ½ year of comprehensive health and one year of physical education. In addition to these 14 ½ required credits, students have the
Basha High School 2010 A+ Schools of Excellence Application Page 19 opportunity to take 7 ½ elective credits to earn the 22 credits needed for graduation from the Chandler Unified School District. We have provided information below regarding the courses offered at Basha High School.
English Department: As every student is required to take four years of English, the English department is a particularly integral part of the curriculum here. Our curriculum goes beyond the state minimum standards as our English department has revised assessments which require that students utilize higher level thinking skills. The scope and sequence of the English department covers a variety of literary genres and time periods. English 9 is an introduction to World Literature, covering the ancient Greek epics and Shakespeare, and finishing with the Civil Rights Unit and World War II. Sophomore English begins to focus on the elements of effective writing, especially persuasion. This is essential for the students who will be taking the state examination for graduation this year. English 11 reviews classic works of American Literature as well developing written argumentation skills. Senior year culminates with British and World literature. Philosophical works and literature analyses are included in senior English studies; thereby building upon composition knowledge and skills gained in previous years. Our honors and AP courses offer students the opportunity to accelerate and broaden their abilities beyond the parameters of the on-level courses. For example, Honors English 9 offers students the chance to explore literary works by British and contemporary authors, such as the Life of Pi by Yann Martel. Our AP courses align with first year college course competencies, while encompassing the AZ Academic standards. We use common formal cumulative assessments as well as common projects. Intradepartmental cooperation and collaboration are vital to ensuring clear articulation across and within levels. A high standard is expected by each faculty member, with an importance on innovation and creativity in teaching the curriculum. Unique projects have been developed to bring in practical applications and help students establish a relevancy that enhances understanding. English requires assessment in a variety of ways of reading, writing, listening, and speaking activities. These also involve inquiry and self-reflection. For example, the English department integrates the use of Socratic style discussions, which allow students to develop their own sets of questions about an assigned reading. This inquiry is student-driven, and the discussions are engaging for all the students involved because they have to pay attention to the questions being asked, as well as the responses of other students. Another unique feature of the English department is the vertical teaming aspect. For three consecutive years, the English Vertical Team has developed a number of scaffolded units to allow for the spiraling of curriculum. For instance, this past year we implemented a structured grammar unit for review of concepts to improve students’ abilities in writing. The freshmen level introduces one concept, and this concept is built upon in the succeeding three years in greater depth and complexity. For example, sentence structure and fluency involve more complicated structure, such as the required usage of sentence patterns that do not follow a “subject-verb” structure. One common project is the research paper, which carries the same requirements for all students across a grade level. On the senior level, each senior completes a personal college portfolio full of research that will help them apply for schools and college, a vocation, or entrance into the military. The seniors also complete a cumulative senior project, where they choose a theme or symbol that represents who they are, and then develop a multimedia presentation and speech to present this to their classmates. English is divided into literary and writing components that are developed at each level. Beginning as freshmen, students are taught
Basha High School 2010 A+ Schools of Excellence Application Page 20 writing components using the Six Traits Rubric and how to apply those into different forms of writing. Students are instructed on all steps of the writing process and how each is vital to the success of the students’ writing. Also, students are instructed on the many applications that their writing will have, including expository, persuasive, and research based. All focuses are integrated throughout students’ four years so that they are building on the scaffolded skills previously established to achieve a high level of writing. For students who are interested in integrated studies, Basha High School offers an American Studies program for on-level and Advanced Placement students. These courses combine English and Social Science curriculum to promote student application and transfer of information from one content area to another. Next fall, we are adding a World Studies option for our incoming freshman students. The English department continues collaboration with other departments in addressing the school wide improvement goal – Writing Across the Curriculum. The department served as trainers for the staff on effective composition skills and teaching strategies. This process has led to several opportunities for natural integration with other subjects. One example of this natural integration has been the integrated research paper with freshman and junior level history classes. Students will be able to apply knowledge and skills across content areas. Departments have collaborated to ensure that students are held accountable for both the quality of their historical research as well as their analysis of literature and themes that cross between the two areas. Along with these accomplishments, it is of note that the English department has nearly doubled student participation in the Honors and AP programs over the past 5 years. With open access, many students take the challenge of an AP English course having never been in an advanced course before. We encourage the students to challenge themselves in the core curriculum as well, working closely with AP to assure that the students are being challenged at all levels. By working as a team, the English department continuously evaluates the curriculum and uses ideas from College Board and AP seminars to implement a rigorous curriculum. The final piece that contributes to the success and challenge of the content area is that many of our teachers have been trained in Advanced Placement seminars and workshops, despite the level they teach. Our school is dedicated to getting all teachers trained for AP level work, so that all teachers can challenge their students to exceed.
Mathematics: The math department scope and sequence ranges from algebra courses to Advanced Placement Calculus and Statistics. The goal of the curriculum is to teach all students in all grade levels (with the new 4 years of math requirement) the basic algebraic and geometric functions. On-level math courses begin with Year 1 (Algebra), Year 2 (Geometry), Year 3 (Algebra II), and Math Year 4 (College Algebra). Students who are accelerated in mathematics enter the math sequence at least a year ahead of their peers. This acceleration provides these students opportunities for second or third level college mathematics courses in their 11th and 12th grade years. Advanced Placement courses are available for Statistics, Calculus AB, and Calculus BC. Next fall, Basha High School will offer Multivariable Calculus and Differential Equations for several students who have met the prerequisites, and have exhausted our current math options! Students that wish to accelerate after they have entered Basha High School are able to do so through our accelerated math program. Currently, these 90 students have self-selected into our two year program which enabled them to meet the prerequisites for AP Calculus. For those students that struggle with mathematics, Basha High School offers study courses for the AIMS exam as well as specialized tutoring. The students continue to exceed the standards and are given
Basha High School 2010 A+ Schools of Excellence Application Page 21 common assessments that unify the department to assure equity and access throughout all courses. For their efforts, our BHS students achieved a 92% meets and exceeds rate on the 2009 AIMS exam. With the recent changes to the AZ State Standards for Mathematics, the department continues to revise dialogue and refine their curriculum and assessments. Regarding integration, the math department works closely with science as the content areas serve complementary purposes. Statistical analysis is the basis of supporting scientific results and scientific explorations serve to provide the context for mathematical applications. As evidence of this integration, AP Statistics students worked with Honors Science Research participants in developing and refining their science research projects. This collaboration resulted in significant gains for one participant, Ariel Wiley, as she won a special award at the 2009 AzSEF fair for her statistical analysis. Within the department, grade levels teams to work on developing the lessons based on district standards. The curriculum is evaluated by a departmental administrator and assessed utilizing through district benchmarks and site exams. The instruction is improved through various workshops and through involvement at the district offices, as well as by using tests, quizzes, and district benchmarks to analyze student strengths and weakness to adjust curricular decisions to best meet the needs of the students. The math department has a scheduled tutoring program for each level. The math teachers themselves are the volunteer tutors after school, and therefore they can most effectively help the struggling students. The honors students also volunteer to assist the teachers so that the students can have more one-on-one tutoring during these sessions. The math department’s interventions have increased the school test scores and have decreased the number of students who fail the math courses each year.
Science: The Basha High School science department is rapidly producing the innovators and problem-solvers of tomorrow. Over the last five years, Basha High has sent student representation to district, state and international science competitions. Our students have not gone unnoticed as they have won several awards and been invited to present among the worlds rising science scholars. As evidence of this, Scott Boisvert was invited in 2009 to present his environmental research at the Stockholm Junior Water Prize. To produce this level of scholarship requires a deep commitment to rigorous content and developing inquiry skills. The scope and sequence for science courses is aligned with district and state standards; however, additional skills and experiences are built into the curriculum to provide challenge for students at all levels. The standard progression through science involves the following courses: Investigative Science, Biology, Chemistry and Physics. In addition to these courses, Basha High offers Engineering (Dual Credit), Biotechnology (Dual Credit), AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Physics, AP Environmental Science. Students who wish to accelerate their learning experiences can participate in honors science courses, which serve as introductions to college level curriculum. The Basha High science staff has participated in a number of professional development courses, action research projects and on-site instructional growth activities over the past seven years. Each of these activities served to deepen content knowledge and create a cohesive professional learning community among the science staff. As an example, over half of the BHS science department participated in Project Pathways, a NSF funded research project designed to deepen teacher content knowledge and promote math and science integration. Throughout two year study, the science department strengthened is integrative and collaborative abilities as they employed much of the content and community norms that were demonstrated through the professional learning community recitations. This collaborative process continues as science
Basha High School 2010 A+ Schools of Excellence Application Page 22 staff continues to examine data, ask questions, research answers and reflect on their instructional effectiveness. All subject areas give a variety of standardized assessments and teachers analyze results to determine areas of strength and areas needing improvement. Basha High also possesses a team of highly qualified professionals. Many science teachers at Basha have graduate degrees; one is a retired Arizona State University Chemistry professor and several have had experience working in the science industry. Teachers routinely work with the three major universities in the state as well as local community colleges to keep their content knowledge and pedagogy strong and focused on best practices. Our teachers utilize current technology while providing authentic science experiences. Our students have access to Vernier Lab Pros and Lab Quests to collect and critically analyze data. State of the art biotechnology equipment, such as thermocyclers, DNA electrophoresis machines, and DNA imaging equipment is available to our students in life science courses. Every classroom is equipped with a document camera, LCD projector, and CPS chalkboard for use by both students and teachers. Students work daily with the technology they will be using in college and in their careers.
World Languages: World Language curriculum is aligned with district and state blueprints. To best meet the needs of a diversifying world, Basha High Students can select among the following languages: Mandarin Chinese, French, Spanish and German. Each language offers a full complement of courses through first year college courses. Within each language, we have a "Level Lead" assigned to monitor and articulate the development of each language. As with all departments, data is collected and analyzed throughout the year to determine areas of refinement and celebration. Another aspect to this data review is discussion of attrition rates. As graduation requirements increase, it becomes necessary to identify why students choose not to continue in a language beyond college entrance requirements. To this end, we have surveyed student focus groups and acted upon the data received. One of the outgrowths of this process was the World Language Fair. This fair highlights the cultures and languages that are taught at Basha High School. We have found that this sparks interest in courses that are offered as well as serving as a natural outgrowth of world language curriculum. The entire school is invited to learn about another language at this night of activities and fun! We have also worked with our feeder schools, as we collaborate with them at the World Languages meeting prior to the start of the school year. These meetings provide opportunity to network as well as share in a vertical teaming format. World Languages incorporate critical thinking skills into the curriculum as teachers use higher order skills found on the Bloom’s Taxonomy chart. Practical skills are incorporated in the foreign language program by requiring students to use their target language outside of the classroom in everyday activities. For example, one teacher requires the students to video tape themselves having a conversation with a native Spanish speaker. Teachers also provide hands-on opportunities for understanding and practicing their new skills. For example, one teacher has created a restaurant scene in the class, and the students must create a dialogue using the vocabulary from the chapter to act out at a restaurant. A unique and innovative feature in our department is the extensive use of technology. Our new textbook offers an online textbook that is available to all students, a website for each student to access with grammar tutorials, interactive quizzes, online tutoring and an online workbook. At the touch of a button, students email their teacher the results of their online work. Each student has been assigned a password for access to the online book. Also, each World Language teacher has a website with their assignments are accessible on the each teacher’s class calendar.
Basha High School 2010 A+ Schools of Excellence Application Page 23 Physical Education: The Physical Education Department believes that academic success and student physical well being are highly related. Students participating in P.E. courses demonstrate proficiencies that are aligned with state and district benchmark standards. Using these proficiencies, units of study are developed that are relevant and interesting to our student body. For example, units of study include aquatics, aerobics, team sports, dual sports, gymnastics, self- defense and dance. While developing overall athletic conditioning is important, we also design our curriculum to incorporate historical information, sportsmanship vs. gamesmanship practices and safety skills. We feel this helps to build a well-rounded athletic participant who can then apply this knowledge through the rest of their lives. For more advanced athletes, Basha High offers athletic weight lifting courses that specializing in strength and conditioning. The philosophy behind this practice is to strengthen students so that they are less likely to experience injury and fatigue in their athletic events. Student interest and participation in these classes has been significant; so much so that the weight room is utilized each period throughout the school day. We also offer a comprehensive health course targeted for our sophomore students. Much more than the driver’s education courses of years past, this course covers content related to mental, social and physical health topics. In collaborating with the guidance department, the health classes have been able to address substantial issues that have arisen on our campus. Most recently, these classes have worked with IMPACT, a suicide prevention organization, to provide accurate information regarding teen suicide for the sophomore class. These informational presentations have served to provide another source of support for students who may be in need.
Social Science: Students have the opportunity to explore and engage in their world through the social science curriculum. Starting in the freshman year, students begin studying World History and Geography. This content serves as a foundation for subsequent historical studies as students progress through the scope and sequence. As juniors, students study American History and build upon this knowledge in their senior year in studying Government and Economics. Students can choose to participate in college level curriculum as AP courses are available for American History, Government, World History, and Economics. Additionally, several Advanced Placement social science electives are open to students. AP Human Geography, AP Comparative Government and Politics and AP Psychology are open to interested students. As with all of our curricular areas, state standards and district guidelines serve as the foundation for lessons and assessments. Common assessments are created within content areas and reviewed afterward by the team to determine problematic areas. Instructional changes are made as a result of this analysis. Administration works closely with the department to review student progress and encourage dialogue among levels. Writing and reading skills are incorporated throughout units as students are often assessed using performance assessments in addition to standard selected response formats. Content areas have incorporated appropriate historical research skills as they ask students to review primary documents, evaluate students using document based questions and integrate skills gained in other curricular areas. As in all classes, teachers have access to document cameras, LCD projectors and Easiteach slates. The social science department uses this equipment as they prepare interactive lectures that feature media clips and auditory samples from their unit topics. Web quests, virtual tours and other technology guided research enables students to gain information as a historian would; rather than looking it up in the
Basha High School 2010 A+ Schools of Excellence Application Page 24 textbook. These efforts have enabled our teachers to make social sciences come alive for the students in their class.
Fine Arts: Basha High offers a comprehensive collection of visual, performing, and instrumental courses for students to enjoy while they are in high school. We find that many of our students discover their strengths in these courses and develop a strong sense of pride and accomplishment from their work in them. These courses offer multiple entry points, beginning through advanced/AP, depending upon student proficiency and interest. In each area it is evident that our programs have established a tone of excellence in all endeavors. Our instrumental programs, Band, Steel Drums and Orchestra have enjoyed significant success on the state and national levels. The BHS Band has a handful of superior and excellent ratings at numerous band events from the past five years. They have also won three straight winter drum line state championships and will be going for four this year. Color guard has been in the top ten in our state the past three years. Most notably our students captured the following awards: 2007 WGAZ Scholastic A Marching State Champions; 2008 and 2009 WGAZ Scholastic Open Marching State Champions; 2009 WGI World Championship Finalist (finished in 6th place); 2009 Division 2 Marching Band State Champions; 2009 Fullerton College Jazz Festival - 1st place; 2009 State Jazz Festival - Superior with Distinction; 2008 State Jazz Festival – Superior. Our choir program has participated in numerous state and regional festivals where they have consistently earned superior ratings since the opening of the school in 2002. The choirs have traveled to Anaheim, California and most recently will be traveling to Boston, MA to compete in an East Coast choral festival. The Basha choirs team up every year with two neighboring high schools to produce a Veteran's Day concert honoring past and present service people. The visual arts department showcases the talents of our students through various media. Basha students can choose from photography, sculpture, and drawing and painting courses depending upon their interests. Students within these courses have represented Basha High in district and national art shows. Most recently, photography students have won the District show four times as well as placing 2nd thru 3rd every year. In the Congressional Show, Basha students have finished 2nd and 3rd with the second place print now hanging in Congressman Jeff Flake's office in Washington D.C. Our theater and dance courses provide many students the chance to capitalize on their natural strengths and preferred interests. Basha’s Kinesis Dance Company annually attends the University of Arizona Jazz Dance Festival where students work with university and professional dancers from around the US. KDC annually attends the State Dance Festival, and each year earns Superior and Distinction ratings in the areas of technique, choreography, and performance. KDC annually tours US cities known for dance education and performance, taking master classes, touring college dance departments, and experiencing live professional dance productions. Cities toured have been New York, San Francisco, and Chicago. Advanced Dance annually attends the East Valley Dance Festival where students work with college and professional dancers from around the state, and are invited to perform a selected dance piece. Our dance awards include: 2008 Hip Hop Dance State Champions in Varsity category; 2009 Hip Hop Dance State Champions in Varsity category; 2009 Jazz Dance Varsity Category - 3rd Place in State. The Basha High School Drama department produced the first drama ever performed on the Basha campus with "The Diary of Anne Frank". The theatre department also joined the National Comedy Theatre's High School League with the Sudden Impact Competitive (S.I.C.) team as it expanded to include the state of Arizona. This competitive improvisation team won
Basha High School 2010 A+ Schools of Excellence Application Page 25 2nd place at the battle of the all-stars and performed at the Chandler Center for the Arts 20th birthday party.
JROTC: For those students interested, Basha High School offers an AFjROTC program. These students learn about the Air Force as well as aviation principles throughout their studies in the program. Students also have the option of participating in the unit’s honor guard during zero hour. While the program may be small, it is certainly might as Basha High School’s AFJROTC unit was selected by Headquarters, United States Air Force Air University as a Distinguished Unit for the 2008-2009 school year. This award recognizes Air Force Junior ROTC units that have performed above and beyond normal expectations, and that have distinguished themselves through outstanding service to their school and community while meeting the Air Force Junior ROTC mission of producing better citizens for America.
Career and Technical Education: In keeping with 21st century workplace skills, some of our students choose to participate in career and technical programs. Students can explore their interests in business, medical career sciences, biotechnology, industrial technology, fashion design, early childhood education, culinary arts, agriculture and informational technology. In each of these areas, the instructors work with business and industry mentors to ensure that their programs adequately prepare students for the realities of the workforce. At a curricular level, these courses are guided by state competencies. These competencies are outcome based results that students must master before they progress to the next course. Students in these programs are expected to utilize real world skills, for example students in biotechnology are working with the same equipment and conducting protocols that would be required in a medical research lab. Students in our medical career science courses work with training “patients” that provide real time feedback and scenarios that student have to appropriate solve and address. These many of these programs extend out into our community, for example, Early Childhood Education students work with the on-site day care facility. In doing so, they are able to apply new learning and skill sets gained in the classroom. Additionally, we have found that this provides positive interactive opportunities for our students as they are seen in another capacity by the greater community. As evidenced above, Basha High School offers a wide range of rigorous educational opportunities that transition students to post-secondary education or career fields. A plethora of Advanced Placement courses are offered in every department on campus. Students have the opportunity to attend the East Valley Institute of Technology, or EVIT, to begin training for a career after high school. Extended school day options are available for students who are interested, or who may require the additional time in their day. These offerings include remediation programs, such as Lift Lab, or accelerated options, such as honors/AP courses. Students at all levels are encouraged to enter the Advanced Placement program. Special Education students are placed in the least restrictive educational environment. For the majority of our students, this involves mainstreamed classrooms with inclusion support. As a part of individual learning plans, students may also be eligible for additional study support through strategies classes. These classes are designed to help students remain abreast of their assignments and track students’ progress. A certified special education teacher provides support and instruction in these classes. Other students may qualify for remedial educational settings based on their specific needs. These courses align to grade level standards; however, pacing and instruction are differentiated to best meet student needs. Second language learners (ELL) students are provided consultative and intensive support depending upon their language
Basha High School 2010 A+ Schools of Excellence Application Page 26 proficiency. Basha High has an ELL coordinator, Ms. Bonnie McNamara, who works with the student’s educational team to ensure that adequate language support is provided in the content classrooms. For students who are Limited English Proficient, additional class periods are scheduled as need to provide appropriate language acquisition instruction.
F. Leadership and Educational Vitality
F1. What leadership roles and functions are important in the school? Roles and functions are key components for leadership within a school setting. The principal provides these roles and functions within his leadership; proceeding down the academic path needed with fellow administrators, department chairs, teachers, staff, students, parents and other stakeholders for positive movement towards one common goal; continuing to excel in all aspects of our mission: Benevolence, Honor and Scholarship.
F2. How is the school improvement process organized and managed to ensure the school is always moving forward? The Principal and the administrative team provide leadership and educational vitality that show a clear delineation of responsibilities that have been established to ensure student performance, school effectiveness and that curricular programs support student achievement at all levels here at Basha High School. The school leadership meets regularly with department chairs to discuss curriculum, allocation of resources and student achievement data. Each department also has “level leads” that are responsible for facilitating a shared and viable curriculum at each level within each department. Basha High has established a culture that empowers all stakeholders to give input on school improvement and is open to suggestions that will make the school a better place for students, parents and staff via booster clubs, site councils and the principal advisory committee. The guidelines for rules, procedures and policies of the school are communicated at student orientation nights, curriculum night, “Bear Down Days” and from the student handbook.
F3. How does the school engage its staff, teachers, students, parents, and the wider community in formulating the school’s vision/mission, goals, and priorities? The engagement of administration, staff, teachers, students, parents, and the wider community produces the continuation of stakeholder knowledge and acknowledgement towards the Basha High vision/mission, goals and priorities. The stakeholders show involvement with discussion, planning, and implementation of communication and relationships. This involvement is provided for the parents and community with site council committee meetings that are utilized for listening and sharing ideas and strategies to enhance school improvement. One parent indicated, “The principal has an open door –physical, via phone and email for hearing and resolving concerns. The site council is a great way to learn what is happening at the school and to provide input.” Another parent indicated, “Basha High School, I believe, sets many avenues to involve parents. We have monthly meetings with site council, email access to each teacher or administrator, and I also feel that if I had any concerns I am able to call and have any of my questions answered. The school does everything to allow parents to have access to meetings.” The school leadership provides an “open door” policy with a positive respectful environment that builds mutual trust. School leadership provides the option for stakeholders to voice opinions and concerns through an open line of communication. As one parent indicated through a parent
Basha High School 2010 A+ Schools of Excellence Application Page 27 survey, “Through customer service surveys, surveys such as this and site council participation I am able to discuss and plan any school improvement goal I wish to work on with the administration team at Basha.” Students are also able to voice opinions through multiple avenues of formal communication via campus clubs, student body government and the Principal Advisory Committee, which is comprised of a diverse student representative population. Stakeholders have acknowledged various programs that demonstrate Basha High School’s mission: 1) Benevolence – student blood and food drives and the student generated “Africa Basha” project; 2) Honor – sportsmanship (Victory with Honor program) and a clean campus; and 3) Scholarship – high academic achievement noted as one of the highest points of pride across all stakeholder groups. Basha High’s leadership encompasses the roles and functions of all stakeholders providing the necessary collaboration with the entire school community to support student success and strong academic achievement.
F4. How does school leadership model the use of 21st century tools and application in the roles of principal/manager, and teacher/staff leaders? The efficiency and effectiveness of school-integrated technology has allowed the stakeholders to improve the educational vitality. The use of computers, LCD Projectors, Document Cameras, and Smartboards provide school leadership the tools and applications to lead students, parents and the community stakeholders in the direction needed for A+ success. Faculty and staff are provided with trained professional development technology sessions through the Chandler Unified School District; which is mandatory once to twice an academic school year. The opportunity of instruction through technology that is given on a daily basis through most classes provides each student an excellent opportunity to use the resources that he or she is presented to for an effective, positive outcome. School leadership maintains various communication avenues for the parent community. Parents and the community are informed throughout the year via the district and school web sites, BHS electronic marquee (that provides parental information, student recognition and all up-coming BHS events), a variety of flyers, postcards and progress reports. The use of STI (Software Technology Incorporated) system for both parents and students is an excellent tool for families to keep informed on individual student achievement. This allows parents to be active partners in their children’s academic progress.
F5. How is a long-range Strategic Plan developed and how does it drive and target school improvement efforts? School leadership has established and implemented a continuous process of improvement that will maintain a strong, collaborative departmental foundation, structured with the focus on continual communication with key stakeholders. This plan will in effect allow Basha High School to sustain all core curriculum and elective classes to state standards; continue to evaluate all data to insure that BHS is meeting the needs to all our students; continue to receive input, concerns, and opinions from educational and community stakeholders; provide students and parents with information concerning post secondary education opportunities; continue providing the students at BHS the opportunity to take the PSAT, SAT, PLAN and ACT entrance exams; expand our PLC’s (Professional Learning Community); and continuing to excel in all aspects of our mission: Benevolence, Honor and Scholarship.
G. School, Family, and Community Partnerships G1. What community collaborative alliances and partnerships are in place at your school?
Basha High School 2010 A+ Schools of Excellence Application Page 28 How do these relationships result in the school being a respected and valued partner? Through the Rotary Club, community members present a program to students called CHOICES. This program encourages students to realize that the choices made now affect and impact their futures. Included in the program are modules covering time management, work ethic in academics and careers. Another partnership involves our Catalyst Fair. BHS hosts the CUSD CATS (k-8 gifted students) to involve them in problem based activates and model science fair exhibits. Student government participates in ICAN (Improving Chandler Area Neighborhoods). By involving our staff and students in the surrounding community, Basha becomes an asset. After the success of the CHOICES program and because of a mutual respect, we have now partnered with Rotary to help in their campaign to eliminate Polio. By hosting future BHS students in an imaginative day of science, we generate excitement for future students who will enter our community familiar with their surroundings. Lastly, we are a valued partner in our community because we recognize that, although our benevolence has spanned the globe, it is always of primary importance to give back to the community that surrounds our school.
G2. How does your school involve all families in their children’s education and student programs? Parents have continuous access to student grades through STI Home, our grade system. Additionally, parents and teachers frequently hold conferences to discuss student progress. Furthermore, beginning in January during the fall registration process, we host two different nights designed to involve all families in their children’s education. The first night is dedicated to incoming freshmen. During this orientation, academic and elective teachers meet and talk with parents and students about the benefits of each program. These young students may not be aware that we have coursework in drafting and architectural design that will prepare students to enter the workforce as a drafter. Additionally, we have Rising Night where current students come to explore their educational options for the following year. During this night, parents are able to interact with their students and discuss the courses they will register for during registration. For parents unable to attend these nights, counselors are available to meet with students and parents to review, reevaluate, and alter their Four Year Educational Plan. Volunteers participate in an orientation where they are paired with an office staff member as a point of contact. The Counseling Department, along with the office staff have numerous resources to offer the community should the need arise. Additionally, our district employs a community liaison whose primary role is to work with homeless students. Lastly, we offer spirit busses from our school to various away games to ensure family and community members are able to support our athletic programs. We also offer a late bus that departs from our campus two hours after the regular school day ends ensuring that those students who are dependent up bussing are able to receive tutoring, participate in clubs, or attend athletics practice.
G3. How does your school welcome and respect families from all walks of life, solicit and value their input, and find multiple ways to invite and involve them in school initiatives to build a shared commitment to student success? Two way communication between families and our school occurs via phone, email, or in person. We have bilingual staff available to translate for those families who do not speak English. During this challenging economic times, we have tried to organize activities on our campus that allow communication beyond orientation nights and parent/teacher conferences. One of the more successful events was the Junior/Senior PowderPuff game. Used as a fund
Basha High School 2010 A+ Schools of Excellence Application Page 29 raiser for Africa Basha, this game brought together students, families, and staff in a fun environment that facilitated parent and community involvement. Another way we involve families in school initiatives is through the CEF 100% awareness campaign. The Chandler Educational Foundations asks that every family donate $1 to their campaign. In turn, this money is donated directly back to the school through teacher grants and student scholarships. Parents see that their partnership directly affects the classroom and their students’ future. Families from all segments of the school community are involved based on feedback from parent/teacher conferences, IEP meetings, and local community surveys administered through the mail.
G4. How are educational resources in the school and the community used to extend learning and opportunities for students, teachers, and families? Aside from our shared use public library, we also partner with other public institution to extend learning opportunities. Last year, we attained a grant for green art that used recycled materials to create sculptures. As a result, we had an artist in resident who colleted our recyclables and modeled for students that art extends beyond paint and canvas. Many students are currently being trained as mentors in the "Science is Fun" program. They will partner with local elementary students to explore science topics. Our Future Educators of America complete internships at two of our local elementary schools. These students work with the elementary teachers in preparation for entering the field of education. Lastly, Honors Science Research students conduct research using Arizona State University’s labs, and through the Biodesign Institute. Reciprocally, our facilities are used for community activities. We annually host the Nike Basketball Tournament in December, frequently host district professional development, and have hosted local college and university classes. Lastly, in January, our Career Center hosts a FAFSA night where families come to obtain assistance in completing the FAFSA so that students will be eligible for scholarships and financial aid.
H. Indicators of Success
H1. Describe your school’s balanced assessment system/approach that includes high quality summative, benchmark and formative classroom assessments used to improve teaching and learning? Basha uses the backward design approach to assessment clearly stabling the assessment, then using is to drive the curricular decisions. As scholarship is clearly stated in our mission, backward design ensures that teachers know where they are going, which allows for lessons that are clearly articulated with the standards. Expectations for students then become clearer as a result of this type of curriculum design. As such, teachers clearly display the student objectives on the board. Individual Education Plans at a glance are distributed to teachers at the beginning of each semester, and if an IEP is amended. However, teachers also use common assessments, and then analyze the data to inform planning. Beyond that, the core areas administer district sponsored benchmarks. Again, that data is analyzed. Finally, through common final exams, teacher self reflect about the curricular choices they have made throughout the semester. To address such negative issues as absenteeism, we have instituted a policy that tracks student absences. Parents are notified at five and eight absences, and then administration holds a parent conference at absence eleven. No other challenges, such as discipline or high turn over of staff, face our community.
Basha High School 2010 A+ Schools of Excellence Application Page 30 H2. What evidence do you regularly collect and analyze to judge the effectiveness of your school? Teachers at Basha regularly collect data from sources such as anecdotal data, test item analysis, unit, semester, and benchmark exams, and grade distribution reports. Additionally, we used surveys at the school level surveys and district surveys to judge our programs. To garner information pertaining to student, parent, and staff participation we rely heavily on our STI program to track trends in participation from these stake holders. For example, various departments have the goal to increase minority participation in honors and AP courses. After looking at the PSAT AP Potential report, it was clear that we should target those on level students who demonstrated readiness for the rigors of the AP program. Alternative assessments are used across campus. Many of our elective utilize portfolio assessments, including art, photography, and yearbook. This allows students to demonstrate growth in a class in a manner other than a subjective test. Furthermore, students in Government class participate in class debates where students choose political topics focused within the current unit. Students are assigned a topic that may not mesh with their personal opinion; however, they are responsible for researching and preparing information to defend their side of the essential question. This type of evidence of student success is factored into the overall course grade. The use of alternate assignments is imperative to encouraging students to take rigorous courses. Because of the ongoing collection of data at BHS, teachers discuss issues pertaining to curriculum on a daily basis. It is not uncommon to enter the teacher work room to hear a teacher sharing a new way he collected data or a different type of assessment she used.
H3. What are the data for the past five years that serve as quantitative indicators of improved school climate and engagement? Basha High School analyzes AIMS test data as well as SAT, ACT, AP and PSAT to determine our collective improvement. For the past five years, our AIMS test scores have consistently improved, despite dipping slightly in 2008. In reviewing the disaggregated results, we believe that our slide reflected changes in testing for our special education students and what accommodations we could provide. Additionally, we noticed this past year that while our reading scores continue to improve, our writing scores have not kept pace. We feel that this may due to focus on one area (content area reading) over another which led to our current professional development focus. Special education students who meet specific criterion are eligible to take the AIMS-A exam. This test is designed to test the functional curricular standards that are provided to these students throughout the school year. As with our on-level students, special education teachers review student progress and adjust instruction accordingly to ensure that students meet mastery. This subcategory is the only group that is administered a different exam; all other Basha students take the AIMS exam. Other indicators of success are found in our community and staff survey that are conducted yearly. These instruments provide administration and staff the opportunity to examine climate issues related to the campus. Over the past five years, Basha High has taken specific measures to improve communication and transparency within our community. This has substantially improved community and staff opinions from almost a 69% dissatisfaction rating to over 92% approval rating.
Basha High School 2010 A+ Schools of Excellence Application Page 31 H4. Data Collection
Criteria 2008-2009 2007-2008 2006-2007 2005-2006 2004-2005 Daily student attendance 93.7 94.1 93.7 93.2 94 Daily teacher attendance 94 92 ** ** ** Teacher turnover rate 3.68 11.11 15.29 8.82 10.16 Graduation rate 87 88 91 91 n/a **Data unavailable
I. Challenges
I1. Reflecting on the last five years, what major challenges have been addressed? How have they been resolved? What subsequent changes have contributed most to the overall success of the school? In the few years, one of the major challenges BHS faces has been finances. From the school’s budget we lost $170,000 in 301 money. Our capital budget was reduced by $130,000. These were two accounts we were able to use to provide professional development for our staff and to provide resources for our staff and students. This year, we have had to reduce our travel for staff and field trips for students. We also reduced much of the professional development for teachers. Teachers have had to be creative with the use of textbooks for students because we are not able to purchase extras. We have made a major push in seeking donations and tax credit dollars. Through direct mail, we sent out fliers to over 20,000 homes asking for the community to donate through tax credit funds. By opening the school over the holiday break, we allowed parents and community members to bring in their donations. We mailed a newsletter home to all parents asking them to donate through tax credits and were successful in collecting over $100,000 which will alleviate some of our issues.
I2. What are the major educational challenges the school must face over the next five years, and how does the school plan to address them? Outline how you will develop an Agenda for Action based on relevant information and data. An educational challenge we face is providing consistency among all teachers in the core areas. Why are some teachers successful with students and other teachers, who teach the same subject and same objectives, are not successful with students? We will use data and training to ensure consistency among common subject teachers. Teachers meet regularly to create common finals. They will have consistency in their grading practices. The teachers will use the objectives and results of their tests to guide their curriculum. The school will pay the teachers to work in the summer time on curriculum for the school year. Although this is an additional draw on our budget, the cost is worth the outcome. During this time, teachers will share best practices among themselves, providing model lessons and exemplary assessments. Their teaching techniques may vary, but consistency of objectives will increase and the quality of the assessments will improve.
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