Westminster High School

School Improvement Plan 2017-2018

School Vision / Mission Westminster High School is a progressive school with a long tradition of academic excellence. Our mission is to prepare students for the future by fostering intellectual, social, and personal skills through a rigorous and relevant curriculum.

Carroll County Public Schools Vision 2018: Focus on Excellence Objectives Prepare Globally Competitive Students  Fully implement a CCPS curriculum aligned with the Maryland State Standards.  Partner with local institutions of higher education to ensure college readiness.  Enhance programs to ensure career readiness for all students. Meet Each Student’s Instructional Needs  Close the achievement gap between highest achieving and most struggling students.  Provide appropriate education services for students identified with Autism Spectrum Disorder.  Enhance alternative programs responsive to the needs of at-risk students.  Implement a Gifted and Talented Program aligned with COMAR requirements.  Enhance alternative learning opportunities through the use of digital resources. Develop and Maintain an Effective Workforce  Attract and retain highly qualified, effective, and diverse employees.  Promote a culture of diversity in the workplace.  Develop an electronic observation, evaluation, feedback, and professional development system.  Continuously monitor the organizational structure to support the Vision 2018 Plan. Provide a Secure, Orderly, Modern Environment  Reduce incidents of bullying, violence, intolerance, and behavioral disruptions.  Improve and modernize the environment within our school facilities and school buses.  Enhance security for all CCPS students, staff, volunteers, and visitors. School Needs Assessment Process Data: Teacher Survey Data June 2017 Outcome Data: Retention Data GPA data by Grade Suspensions by Grade; Suspensions by offense - Attendance Advanced Placement Trends; AP Performance by Grade; AP Scores by Exam; AP Results Discipline Referral Data and Trends D/F Data Career Connection Data

School Improvement Goals to Target Areas from Needs Assessment 1. By June 2018, 80% of graduates will earn CCR status

 The incoming class of 2018 is currently at 77% CCR

2. By June 2018, the freshman unweighted GPA will increase by .1 (on a 4.0 scale) from the previous freshmen class, by focusing on sub groups

Year Unweighted GPA 2013-2014 2.89 2014-2015 2.91 2015-2016 2.93 2016-2017 2.93 Pillar Goal Strategies Progress monitoring I: Provide opportunities for By June 2018, 80% of graduates  Create 10 Committees to  SIT co-chairs and student success will earn CCR status focus on creating SMART Administration team will  Score of 4 or 5 on PARCC goals and strategic actions collect data and goals from English 11 and Algebra 2 to meet our two school groups at SIT meetings  Score of 500 or greater on goals  Each faculty meeting the SAT Reading/Writing and  Task force team first half hour will be Mathematics -Education that is devoted to working on  Score of 21 or greater on Multicultural strategic actions created by ACT English, Reading, and -Academic Instruction each task force team Mathematics -Attendance  Each task force team will  Score of 3, 4, or 5 on AP -FARM’s present their progress to Language and Composition -Career Readiness the staff at designated or AP Literature and -College Readiness faculty meeting times Composition and AP -Special Ed Calculus or AP Probability -D/F’s and Statistics or AP -Discipline Computer Science -Advisory/Flex  Accuplacer scores of  Each task force team will Reading 79+, Writing 6+, have a poster around the Sentence Skills 90+, and school with their SMART college level Math 45+ goal and strategic actions  Enrollment in an approved written on them Dual Enrollment course and duel completers  Technical Skill Assessment score recognized by MSDE leading to a license or an industry certification

1: Provide opportunities for By June 2018, the freshman  Create 10 task force teams  SIT co-chairs and student success unweighted GPA will increase by .1 to focus on creating Administration team will (on a 4.0 scale) from the previous SMART goals and strategic collect data and goals from freshmen class, by focusing on sub actions to meet our two groups at SIT meetings groups school goals  Each faculty meeting the  Minority  Task force teams first half hour will be  FARMs -Education that is devoted to working on  Special education Multicultural strategic actions created by  Gender -Academic Instruction each task force team -Attendance  Each task force team will -FARM’s present their progress to -Career Readiness the staff at designated -College Readiness faculty meeting times -Special Ed -D/F’s -Discipline -Advisory/Flex  Each task force team will have a poster around the school with their SMART goal and strategic actions written on them

Task Force Team SMART Goal Strategic Actions Attendance By June 2018, FARM’s students who have  Gather attendance data to determine missed 15% or more school days last year list of students- Stephen Byrnes in will improve to 85% attendance rate. guidance  Assign each committee member a student to set up the program and to be a liaison for the chosen mentor  Meet with students to choose a mentor and rewards  Connect students with mentors, after getting approval from the mentor, and give the mentor the calendar to record attendance  Check in with mentors during pilot month and provide awards  Evaluate effectiveness of program  Determine next steps College Readiness Increase Math CCR percentage from 55% to  Counseling for scheduling, place at 65% in this school year. This will require risk students in Integrated Algebra 25 more students to achieve either 4/5 on class, rather than level 6 Trig, or PARCC Algebra 2, >500 on SAT Math, 45+ Probability and Statistics on Accuplacer  Posters reminding students of SAT dates and registration  Math homework drop in  SAT practice sessions  Accuplacer practice sessions  Faculty reminders that unless the above scores are achieved, students will be forced to take remedial math classes in college that will not count towards their degree and they will have to pay for out of pocket. Once class at Carroll Community College will cost them approximately $500. One math class at a 4-year college can cost in excess of $2000. Career Readiness By June 2018, 40% of 9th grade students will  Present at the November faculty enroll in dual completer programs on ECP’s meeting by the end of the 2017-2018 school year  Advisory Lesson- awareness of completer programs and Career Readiness Standards  Staff field trip to CCCTC for faculty PD ETM By June 2018, the GPA of freshman African  Develop supportive environments for American Males will increase by .1 (on an a African American Males in and unweighted 4.0 GPA scale) from the outside the classroom previous freshman class.  Establish a mentoring program during FLEX  Use upper classman mentors  Gather student’s ideas related to solving problems, removing barriers to learning, studying, being successful, and belonging in the school community for mentors to use D/F’s By June 2018, the percentage of freshmen  Work with 9th grade teachers to with D’s and F’s will be reduced from 30% utilize Flex more effectively with to 25% students who earn a D/F in first quarter  Set up a 9th grade advisory GPA contest. Focus is on achievement for Q1 and on Growth for Q2. Award food prizes for highest achievement/most improved  Encourage counselors to meet with 9th grade D/F students with to focus on available tutoring and support programs Academic Instruction To educate WHS staff of CCR requirements  Create a reference sheet for each so that they can better inform students of academic subject listing the paths to their options for fulfilling this requirement completion of this requirement  Create a pre/post assessment activity to get input and output on what staff knows prior to PD and after  Develop PD for a faculty meeting to inform staff of CCR requirements Advisory/FLEX Increase college and career readiness of our  Introduce a word of the week students through an increase vocabulary program with advisory lessons  Establish a word of the week bulletin board  Use the outdoor marquee to place the word of the week Discipline Reduce the frequency of  Assign mentor (by student choice, disrespect/disruption by 5% across the with approval) to each student with 3 freshman class or more major referrals to be flexed twice a month to discuss positive strategies  Assign mentor (by student choice, with approval) to new freshman after 3 major referrals, for flex/mentorship twice monthly to discuss positive strategies Special Ed By June 2018, the freshmen with IEP’s  FLEX- IEP case managers will unweighted GPA will increase by .1 (on a FLEX students with D/F’s 4.0 scale) from the previous freshmen class.  Support Mod- Support Mod Overall Freshmen GPA 2016-17 = 2.9 Teachers will monitor student Freshmen with IEP’s 2016-17 = 2.4 progress. Incentives may be given We will also focus on gender due to the for raising a D/F to a C/D higher number of males with IEP’s than  Communicating with General females Education Teachers- IEP Case Managers will monitor their students grades and communicate with the Gen. Ed. Teachers to determine appropriate interventions and supports  Communicating with parents by telephone- Administrators and IEP Case Managers will work collaboratively to reach out to parents of IEP students with D/F’s by calling them to express concern and/or inviting them to Parent- Teacher Conferences FARM’s All teache3rs of 9th grade students will  Send out and/or show teachers how identify the FARM students in each of their to use TAC reports to identify the classes and conference with them in FLEX FARM students in their classes at least once per quarter unless they already  Teachers of 9th grade students will have an A or B average conference with the FARM students in their classes during FLEX at least once per quarter unless they already have an A or B  Teachers will send an email to the committee when this happens